“Maybe you are supposed to have it. Maybe you’re the queen, Brinley.”
Daphne was joking, but Brinley’s brown eyes didn’t waver.
“No, Daphne. You are the queen.”
“I don’t feel like a queen. That’s for sure.”
Brinley burrowed under the covers; poking only her head back out like a turtle.
“O.K. I’m ready, Daffy. Read slow so I don’t miss anything,” she ordered.
Daphne took a deep breath and carefully flipped the fragile pages all the way to back to the beginning.
What a crazy end to a crazy day.
“Here I am reading Brinley the Mermaid her fancy magic book. Chapter One: It’s Good to Be Queen …”
.
CHAPTER ONE: GOOD TO BE QUEEN
The transparent turquoise waters of the royal throne expanded for miles like a sheet of glass. A bright white flame burning from below the glass sea transformed the surface into a magical mirror of rainbows and prisms. A window to the soul, the glass sea mirror provided every creature of the sea with a unique virtual reality experience catered specifically to one’s wildest dreams and most euphoric imaginations. The latest in magic from the Great King Loch Ness, the virtual reality throne was known throughout the kingdom of Mer as Pleasure Palace.
King Loch Ness, a seasoned magician, delighted in his ability to transform himself into any sea creature in the ocean, his favorite being a humble merman with fading silver fins and a sprinkling of white across his stately beard.
Twenty-four great white whales formed the perimeter that marked off the inner courts of the throne, a small amphitheater reserved for nobility only. The outer court amphitheater was considerably more spacious, requiring a fence of 144,000 great white sharks serving as watchman to Pleasure Palace. While the outer courts were open to commoners, the guarded gate of the stadium served as a barrier to the very lowest class of sea creatures – the Bottom Dwellers and the Sea Servants.
A rainbow forming a complete circle hovered horizontally over the glass sea and served as the royal chair. The King sat comfortably suspended in the center of the rainbow like a child in a tire swing. A bed of clouds formed a soft white nest at the King’s feet just below the rainbow circle and hovering over the glass sea like a misty morning.
From time to time the King descended into his rainbow chair and disappeared into the nest of clouds. The masses stood in fearful reverence as the King went where no sea creature could ever go – beneath the glass sea.
The nobles of the inner court stood upon the glass sea gazing down into the fire beneath the water. Mesmerized by the blue center of the white flames that everyone could see but no one could feel. The cool hard surface of the glass sea provided protection like a glass bottom boat.
How the King survived in the ocean of fire beneath the glass sea was the biggest mystery in the kingdom of Mer. For no mortal fish could ever return after descending below into the second ocean – the ocean below – Hades. The only exceptions were for the harem mermaids, who accompanied the King during his specific mating seasons.
A hushed silence fell over the crowd the day the first chosen harem of mermaids stepped inside the rainbow – the Most Holy Place. Wide-eyed with wonder they slowly descended together to the world below. Mer legend could only wonder what went on down there because King Loch Ness had a fool-proof plan to make sure his secrets were never revealed.
When the harem mermaids returned from their mating, they could no longer understand the language of the commoners. They were no longer able to communicate with anyone outside of Loch Ness and his harem.
They were given a new language – a language that when spoken elevated the heart and the mind to a joyful delirium no other sea creature could comprehend. They were living in a dream world in their own beautiful minds. They had no capacity to comprehend pain – only pleasure - from the time they learned that secret language.
CHAPTER TWO: THE SECRET LANGUAGE
Medallia Merryweather lowered her whisper to only a mouthing of words as she muscled through the turquoise waters heaving the cumbersome sea shell chariot. Although it took more effort, she found it most pleasant to pull the carriage faster than usual. At higher speeds, the ocean rushing past her ears drowned out the sprightly mermaid giggles and left her alone with her imaginations.
She preferred it that way.
Even as a dolphin child, Medallia Merryweather had longed to know the secret language of the harem mermaids. She’d heard tales and stories of these incredible creatures – how they been the only ones to see the world below the glass sea – the second ocean.
They could not even communicate with anyone, yet they all swam around in a daze of ecstasy. Most sea creatures assumed the mermaids were happy because they were nobility. Medallia didn’t believe it. She knew it had something to do with that secret language, and she could only dream to know it.
She closed her eyes as she swam along with the cold water pouring past her slick face. She whispered gibberish words, imagining it to be the secret mermaid language.
Hi-pitched and crackling, dolphin language pierced the ears of the mermaids. Dolphins weren’t allowed to speak in their royal presence.
Medallia kept her rambling to a low whisper.
While no one understood how the harem mermaids withstood the fire, the second ocean was clearly were Loch Ness mated with his harem to father every fish and creature in the sea. Although no one knew the specifics, Mer Legend told of gigantic floating pleasure pearls suspended in the flames of the second ocean.
The pleasure pearls were as large as a whale and full of hot bubbling water, fertile mermaid eggs, and the sprightly giggles of the royal harem. Whatever sort of pleasurable shenanigans went on in there, the sea would never know.
Loch Ness was truly a King who had anything and everything his heart desired with the exception of one thing – a lovely queen with whom to share the luxury. And now as time went on and the ocean was full to the brim with the king’s offspring, he began to grow weary of his success. What good was it to be so successful without a true companion to enjoy the fruits of his labor? The black beard framing the handsome face of King Loch Ness had long ago developed a splash of white about the chin, and he was finally feeling as it were time for something real – something more.
Sure, he’d enjoyed the variety and spontaneity of his lovely harem mermaids, but as he increased in age and wisdom, the King longed for something more – a deeper connection.
He knew the general population was envisioning him with a curvy mermaid starlet, but the King was considerably more eccentric than the masses – and he felt strangely intrigued by a thick and more bulbous fish. Dolphins to be specific. There was something so enchanting about a chubby dolphin. The servants of the sea -- they were so shiny, so humble. He wanted to make one his own. Mermaids were overrated, but there was just something so enchanting about having one’s own dolphin.
Dark clouds gathered over the top of the palace and over the heads of the entire assembly as the rumbling of the crowd subsided.
It was time for his appearance.
He crashed a bolt of lightning, leaving the crowd dead quiet in fearful reverence.
Light poured in as King Loch Ness appeared out of nowhere suspended in his rainbow. The dark clouds over the assembly dissipated.
The masses roared.
King Loch Ness shouted out from his rainbow circle.
“Look down!”
Every eye looked down into the glass sea illuminated by fire below. Mesmerized, the crowd watched the blue and white electric flames dancing beneath their bodies. Standing on the fire, and marveling to not feel the heat.
Furthermore, continuing to stare into the flames produced virtual reality experiences catered to each individual imagination. Mer Folk saw whatever they chose to see.
Loch Ness knew how to please a crowd.
Lightning crashed to summon the crowd from their euphoric reveries.
It was time for the big an
nouncement.
The King called out from his holy rainbow, “My dearest friends and children of the sea, today is the day for which you’ve eagerly awaited. Your King has finally chosen a mate to co-rule our kingdom. Although I appreciate all of your submissions, I’ve based my decision on an intense amount of soul searching and feel convinced in my decision regardless of public opinion.”
A hushed silence fell over the assembly.
The voice of King Loch Ness bellowed out from the rainbow chair.
“MEDALLIA MERRYWEATHER.”
An awkward silence ensued – no applause.
Every sea creature wondered “Who in the seashells is Medallia Merryweather?” Clearly she wasn’t nobility.
Even those in the outer courts murmured amongst themselves having never heard the name, and soon the reason was clear.
Medallia Merryweather wasn’t even a commoner, she was a Sea Servant.
The Bottom Dwellers and Sea Servants crowded about outside the palace stadium in hopes of overhearing the ceremony. Now they were unsure if they had heard correctly.
They had.
The outer gates to the palace opened and the 144 sharks made way for the outsider – the big nosed blue dolphin from the middle of nowhere. Medallia Merryweather.
Hearing her name had paralyzed her with fear at first. But, her sister shoved her forward forcefully as the sea of Mer people parted way.
Her heart skipped at least six beats at a time as she swam through the line of shark soldiers standing at attention. She then passed through the sea of faces in the outer court, wondering if it were all a dream. The great white whales parted at the inner gates and she felt her breath grow shallow with fear. As she reached the other side of the gates, she felt lightheaded. The assembly. For the first time in her dolphin life, she beheld the glory of the royal assembly.
She saw the masses, the fire beneath the sea, the rainbow circle, and more incredible than anything, she saw the king illuminated in a bright cloud of glory, silver fins shining, radiating with waves of pleasure that could be felt all the way down to her fish spine. There was no one like him.
Pale with fear she slowed her swim as she approached the inner court and the bright light of the rainbow nearly blinded her.
Every eye stared in disbelief.
She knew what they were thinking.
A dolphin was approaching the King!
Medallia had never met Loch Ness. She’d only responded to his decree entreating all eligible mermaids and creatures to submit to the King’s scribe a legitimate reason she should be queen
Medallia replied, “I want to know the secret mermaid language.”
That was a good enough reason for Loch Ness.
Four living creatures parted as she approached the King.
She fell to her fins unable to look into the light of his countenance.
As she bowed her head and gazed down into the fire beneath the glass sea she didn’t recognize her reflection. Instead of a dumpy dolphin, there was a beautiful mermaid with long locks of purple hair, large round breasts and shimmering green scales.
“You are who you think you are.”
The voice of Loch Ness thundered from above her and left goose bumps on her dolphin skin.
“Lift up your head, my dear.”
She obeyed.
Loch Ness stood inside the rainbow circle, hand extended, and ready to pull her into the innermost circle.
She closed her eyes and grabbed his hand feeling waves of pleasure streaming down her body like the ocean current.
She stepped into the rainbow.
The masses roared.
Was she dreaming?
Was she really marrying the King?
“And on this day I reveal to you my latest magic – behold the Icarus!”
The crowd gasped as the bright white and blue flame from below the sea rose up inside a crystal, slowly ascended up through the rainbow circle and lit King Loch Ness and his new bride on fire with glory.
Applause broke out. They stood together hand-in-hand, completely untouched by the flames. King Loch Ness handed her a skeleton key.
A red door appeared out of the flames.
“Only the queen may unlock the red door.”
Applause broke out as Medallia opened that door to behold a crown of twelve pearls, clear as glass, suspended in the flames.
Lightning bolts dancing about in fury lit up the pearls like fireflies.
Enchanted, Medallia reached for the lovely crown, but it evaded her hand, floated above her and placed itself atop her slick blue dolphin head.
Instantly she transformed, becoming an exact replica of what she had seen earlier in the magic mirror. Finally, her imagination was real.
“Behold, my Queen,” the voice of Loch Ness thundered.
The masses roared as the King and Queen sat suspended in the center of the rainbow as if by an invisible web of white flames.
A gigantic clear pearl emerged around them as if a child blew a gigantic soapy bubble through the rainbow hole.
A bright electric blue glowed from the center of their crowns as the clear pearl lifted off the base of the rainbow and floated into the air like a hot air balloon.
Medallia wasn’t sure what to make of it all. She had always wanted to see what was beneath the glass sea. She had always wanted to see what was below the second ocean. She wanted to speak the special language, not float away into the sky.
Medallia peered through the glass sphere surrounding her to see the masses growing smaller and smaller and their raucous cries drowned out by the distance.
Either way, it felt good to be queen.
Daphne gently closed the book, feeling as if it were the perfect stopping place. Brinley would have never admitted it, but it was clear her eyelids were growing heavy.
“That’s enough for tonight. It’s past your bedtime, Brinley.”
“No! Please, just one more chapter. Do you think the secret language is the same language me and you can speak in our dreams?”
“I don’t know, Brinley. I really don’t.”
“Please read more.”
“How about this? I’ll come every night until we finish it.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
So much for leaving Sterling Heights.
DON’T NEED YOUR COUNSELING
Daphne walked back through her parents’ door defeated.
She hadn’t escaped Sterling Heights.
She hadn’t made it to San Antonio.
She couldn’t even save her baby.
Failure wasn’t even the word, and the LAST person she wanted to see in that very moment was the one waiting up for her – Catherine Vinson, her step mother.
Daphne’s mother died giving birth. Being a bit of chicken and scared of his own shadow, her father Rex quickly remarried Catherine.
Catherine refused to let anyone call her Cathy. She was Catherine and she was the embodiment of class. There was nothing and no one whom Catherine couldn’t impress and she daily shook her head at Daphne’s black light collection and obvious bipolar disorder.
Catherine was a product of the trailer park, but she would have died in her high heels if anyone ever knew. She had struggled, and struggled a lot, but she daily hid her shame behind a façade of nobility and poise, and that was the very charm that lured Rex in.
Catherine had two children with Daphne’s father, Rex. There names were Gracie Ann and Noah. Fine biblical names, but she didn’t stop there. She made sure every young budding life in her household was properly raised at Immanuel’s Sheep Christian School.
From the day Jesus rescued her soul from the trailer park, she set out to make a better life for herself and her children.
Daphne obviously wasn’t catering to that dream.
“Are you O.K. Daphne?”
Daphne nearly jumped out of her skin.
“Geez, Catherine … Must you sit in complete darkness? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
“It’s 11:30. You’ve been gone for two days, and you’re the one who is having the heart attack? What about your father? Do you ever consider how much you worry other people?”
As if the last two days hadn’t been hard enough, now she was going to have to deal with Catherine’s bullshit.
“Thanks for asking, Catherine. I’m absolutely splendid. You and Rex should be super happy since you wanted me to abort it anyway. So you should be glad that I fuckin’ lost my baby. Hey, it saves you $400 bucks, right?”
“Daphne, that’s not fair and you know it.”
Catherine angrily shot off the Lazy Boy and stormed off in a cloud of drama and emotions that was absolutely nothing new for the Delray house.
Completely ignoring her, Daphne headed to the kitchen to make a sandwich.
“Oh, and one more thing, young lady,” she called down from the upstairs balcony.
Great.
Daphne hated when Catherine had one more thing to say.
“Me and your father talked about it last night and you WILL be going to counseling.”
Daphne felt the strong urge to smother her with a pillow.
“I don’t think so, Catherine.”
“First, all your weird cuts, and now pregnant at sixteen! Your father says either go, or he’s sending you to a girl’s home.”
“I’m not pregnant, Catherine. The baby’s dead, so I’d appreciate it if you’d drop off that last stone you keep throwing and just stick to the basics.”
For some reason Daphne got the feeling it was Catherine, not Rex, who wanted her gone.
“You’re going and that’s FINAL!” Catherine shouted from the top of the stairs.
Daphne stomped her feet all the way to her room.
Soul Snake: Two Thrones, One Queen Page 2
