Vicious Deep

by Zoraida Cordova

  •••

  “For someone who is just now human and has free range to buy anything he wants, you sure are a bare-necessities kinda guy.” I know if my mom gave me her credit card, I’d go nuts.

  Kurt looks more comfortable in a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved white T-shirt that actually fit. “I learn to live without much. You leave fewer things behind that way.”

  We stand at the top floor of the mall against the railing and look down at the crowd. At people with worries like two-for-the-price-of-one sweaters, not strange cravings like wanting to jump into the fountain and splash around. But strangely, I’m having a good time, and the ink doesn’t burn anymore.

  Then the stench hits me hard. It smells like rotting fish. Kurt smells it too, because we both turn around. There’s a woman on one knee. Her dress is big and gray around her slender frame. Dull and thinning brown hair frizzes around her head. Everything about her says homeless. Except for her face. Her skin is smooth like pale porcelain, and she has sapphire eyes that stare hungrily at me. “I pledge myself to you,” she says. “I do.”

  I’m too stunned. Beside me, I see Kurt reach for something at his side, then realize nothing is there. He grabs the woman by her arm, hard.

  “Whoa, what are you doing?”

  “Stand back, Lord Sea.” Kurt shakes her. “Who sent you?”

  The woman’s eyes are cold and laughing. She sniffs at the air. “Don’t trust them. Look what they did to me.” She’s about to pull down the neck of her dress when I stop her.

  “Kurt, let her go.” And he does, without questioning me.

  She gives me one last bow, kisses the back of my hand, and pushes through the sea of shoppers.

  “What am I, the mermaid flag? How come the fish aren’t gathering around your head and following you where you walk? How come they don’t pledge their allegiance to you?”

  He rolls the sleeves of the white T-shirt up to his elbows. For the first time since he popped into my shower, his brow creases. Everything about him says that all he’s missing is a sword and something to hit. “We need to find Lady—your mother. Now.”

  •••

  This is the first time we have ever found a parking spot so close to the boardwalk. I get out of the car first and run up the wooden incline, past Nathan’s Hot Dogs. It’s not much of a beach day: the sky is so gray and there’s still police tape on the railings so that people will stay away from the water.

  Ruby’s is open, and we grab seats on the bench outside. The bartender cleans the countertop while watching the TV above him. There’s a report of more bodies washing up along the strip, the bodies all mangled up.

  I fill Mom in on what happened at the mall.

  “So talk,” I say to Kurt. “Who was that woman?”

  “There’s a faction of our people who rebelled against the king scores of years ago. They resented members of the court, who have the ability to shift into legs at will. Everyone else has to wait for the island to coast by a new shore. But it’s the way it’s always been.”

  “And you’re one of the court people?” I ask.

  “Of course,” he says, with a hint of irritation. “If I may continue—the last rebellion wasn’t the first one, but this time the king granted them what they wanted. He stripped them of their tails and let them swim to shore. Not many could have survived, but the few who did hate the throne. I believe that’s why they see you as someone to relate to. You are one of us, but you are also mostly human.”

  “Okay, what am I supposed to do for them? I’m only just a guy. A hot merman kind of guy, yeah, but still.”

  Thalia laughs, and I’m glad that at least I can do that to lighten the mood.

  Kurt and my mom share a knowing look. The kind they’ve been giving each other since he showed up. It makes my stomach turn that they know something I don’t.

  “What aren’t you guys saying?”

  Kurt looks at his lap, and my mom saves him from whatever he wants to say.

  “I can answer that,” she says. She tucks loose red strands behind her ear and looks out at the horizon. I wish she’d look me in the eye at least. “When a mermaid conceives, she carries the child like a human woman. Because I was stripped of my tail, there was a chance you wouldn’t be part merman at all. For your sake, I hoped you’d be human. But when I gave birth, I did it in water. My father visited that summer, and he brought our midwife. You were born with your fins, and he bound them so that you would not change ever again. He promised you would never change.”

  “So then why am I changing now? Why is this happening to me now?” I have to stop myself from yelling. I’ve never spoken like this to my mother. I feel ashamed and stupid and confused, and I just wish they would spit it out.

  “Because the Sea King is getting old, and he needs an heir,” Thalia says finally. “If there is not a new king by the summer solstice, that which binds us to the island, which allows us to live apart in secret, will disappear. And not all of our kind want to share a world with humans.”

  “I don’t understand. What does this have to do with me? I’ve grown up human. I don’t know your world.”

  “I’m supposed to teach you.” Kurt says. He looks at me from the corner of his eye and clears his throat. “I was supposed to find you before the storm hit. I didn’t take into account the beastly number of people who crowd that beach.”

  “That was you!” I smack the table. I remember Layla peering down at him from our post and Kurt looking lost on the shore. “The ripped pants? Not a good look for you.”

  Kurt shakes his head at me and says, “Besides, the king wants to keep the throne in the family.”

  And that’s when it hits me. A giant Duh smacking me on the face. The Sea King. My mother.

  “I’m guessing ‘My Lady’ isn’t something you say just because you’ve got that polite British thing going, is it?”

  Kurt looks pleased with himself. “The Sea King is your grandfather. Because Lady Maia, the king’s eldest, has been stripped of her tail and the king has no sons, this makes you the rightful heir—”

  Before he can finish, I run out to the boardwalk, jump the metal bars, and land on the sand. My gills itch with expectancy. If the tattoo weren’t binding them, they’d open right now so that I could jump into the waves.

  And just like that, everything inside me changes. Just like the mist rising, the tide pulling in and out, the easy shuffle of my bare feet on the sand. The hard surf crashes around my ankles—hugging, embracing, welcoming me back—and I swear it whispers my name.

  Teach me to hear the mermaids singing,

  Or to keep off envy’s stinging.

  —John Donne

  So this is the famed Thorne Hill Academy,” Kurt says.

  “It’s a high school, bro, not an academy. We don’t have any famous students. Unless you count the athletics department. Lots of Triborough champs. If we win the next swim meet, my team will be too.”

  Thorne Hill High School is not your average high school. They make you take a specialized test to get in if you don’t live in the proper zoning. In the 1800s, the building was a church. The tall Gothic kind with gargoyles and sharp pillars that would make anyone think twice before going on the roof for a smoke break. The stones have faded over the years from what must’ve been white to a dirty gray.

  The tall wooden doors that lead into the school are crowned by two angel statues. I’m not talking typical angels praying and glowing with light. These guys are tilted toward each other, like they were frozen in the middle of their fight. Their carved swords form the peak of the archway into the school.

  “What I mean is I’ve heard of it,” Kurt says. “And remember, you cannot tell anyone about us. At a time like this it would be extremely dangerous for anyone in our court to get caught. Your parents are safe. But anyone else coul
d get killed.”

  I nod and lead the way up to the entrance. The steps themselves are too high for sea level. My first day here, I felt like a less glorious Rocky climbing the museum steps. Now it’s not much different. It’s only been a few days of not working out, and I’m already out of shape.

  “Why couldn’t Mom just let us stay home?” I grunt.

  Kurt glances around, bored at the way girls trip on account of staring at him. “She wants you to resume something familiar. Once we’re at Toliss, you’ll never see things the same way.”

  “How many days did you say before we have to go to the island?”

  “Two. Until the wall is completely down.” Kurt stops halfway up the steps. First, I hope he doesn’t get into another rant about how real mermaids don’t wear shell bras. Second, I think he’s just attracting too much attention. His skin is still too slick and tan, his eyes too violet. Third, he’s staring at the angel archway like he doesn’t know whether he’s remembering something he forgot. Then I realize he’s actually staring at Thalia, who reached the top steps before us.

  She looks at the other kids with a kind of wonder I’ve only shown to the roller coasters at Cedar Point. The kids let themselves linger for too long, because they just can’t help it. They’ve never seen someone like her. Full peach lips, sharp cheekbones, and eyes so bright green they teeter on yellow. Her hair falls long and dark over her shoulders. And there, finally, you notice her ears. Still a bit too pointy.

  Shit, it’s already started.

  Wonder Ryan walks up to her. His hands are in his pockets. He lifts his chin at her in hello. I can practically hear this conversation. I’ve taught him this conversation. “I’m sorry. You’ve got to be a transfer. I would’ve remembered seeing your face.”

  Kurt and I look at each other, and as quick as a snap, we race up the second half of the steps.

  “Tristan! Where the hell have you been, man?” Ryan says. “You missed yesterday’s practice. Coach is scared we’re not going to have you for the championship.” We slap hands side to side, fists up and down, then knuckle to knuckle in a hello. “Who’s your friend, man? Don’t be rude.”

  “My cousins,” I correct. “Thalia and Kurt.”

  Even Ryan stares at Kurt in a way that’s uncool for dudes to look at other dudes. What if this is the worst idea in the history of mankind, including the time I entered the Nathan’s hot-dog-eating contest and the time I let Layla give me highlights combined?

  “Cousins from where?” Ryan goes. No one has ever heard me mention any family.

  “Italy.”

  “Florida.”

  “Ireland.”

  Part of me is kicking myself for not having planned this out smoother. The other part is mentally kicking Kurt just because doing it for real would make me feel better.

  “They travel a lot.”

  Ryan nods with this face that screams, OMG! I’m so interested as long as I can talk to the new girl some more. “Are you guys going to, like, go here?” If he had a tail, it’d be wagging right now.

  “No, we’re just visiting,” Kurt says.

  “Oh. Well, you should bring them to the after-school practices. I’m the best archer in this city,” he says, tapping Kurt on the shoulder. “Could teach you a thing or two.”

  “Archery?” Kurt’s voice softens to something similar to a sound Layla might make if she found a CD she’d been looking for on sale. “I’m pretty good with a bow and arrow.”

  “He’s more than good!” Thalia chimes in. “He’s the best on the gua—”

  “Team,” I say quickly. “He’s the best on his team.”

  “Good. Great. Awesome-possum.” I don’t think even he believes he just said that. And there goes Wonder Ryan running into the building, because no matter how cool and interesting we are, he has never been late to class.

  I stare at the ancient clock above the angels. The Roman numerals are rusty. The arms are getting closer to 8 a.m. when the bell will ring. Layla usually waits for me inside by my locker, even though hers is on the other end of the hall.

  “Are we waiting for another one of your comrades?”

  “Kurt, do me a favor,” I go. “Chill. Relax. Take it easy. You’re in Brooklyn, not at the bottom of the sea.”

  He shakes his head a bit, all I don’t know what you want me to do.

  “You’re standing like you’re ready to whip out your sword and go all Revenge of the Merman on them.”

  “Ryan is handsome,” Thalia says with a smirk.

  “And you, missy. Calm the siren allure. I don’t want any of my teammates following you off the pier.”

  “Sirens aren’t mermaids,” Thalia laughs. “They’re bird women.”

  “Whatever. I’m just saying.”

  “Come now, Tristan. Maybe you and Kurt should, how is it you said? Chill.” The bells chime long and hard. Pigeons fly. Kids run up the steps holding on to their pants and hats.

  “Are we waiting for someone?” Kurt asks again.

  I shake my head. She should be gone by now. “Follow me.”

  I turn around once and see the stark happiness on Thalia’s face. Her big yellow-green eyes take in every part of the school. The linoleum floors, the crackling fluorescent lights, the archaic mahogany trim along the doors, and the random stained-glass windows that clash with the new water fountains and rows of lockers. The stickers on the lockers. The murals on the walls.

  We stop in front of Room 311. Mr. Adlemare looks down on us through his glasses. He wears a light blue, short-sleeved button-down shirt with red suspenders that hold up brown trousers, and I wonder, out of everything that you could wear in public, why a purple polka-dot bow tie?

  “Mr. Hart. Thank you for joining us. These must be your cousins from…?”

  “Italy.”

  “Florida.”

  “Ireland.”

  “Ah, I see.”

  Kurt clears his throat. “We travel constantly.”

  “No one place is home! Lovely. Welcome, welcome.”

  “Thank you, sir,” my cousins say in unison.

  Some people snicker. The smells of everyone overwhelm me. Their interest smells of burning sugar.

  We take the row in the back, where the Goth-punk-stoner kids sit. Homeroom gets less and less crowded toward the end of the year. I stare at the scratches on my desk and admire the announcements Mr. Adlemare has written on the board. Notice the way everyone gives us a long once-over. Anything not to look at Layla, sitting there and saving me a seat like always. I can feel her eyes on me, but I won’t look.

  Thalia takes out a notebook and pen, and I watch her draw Mr. Adlemare’s face. She’s quite good actually. I draw a mustache on her portrait of Mr. Adlemare, and she bursts into her bell-chime giggles. Kurt shakes his head, disapproving.

  Someone sighs angrily, and I know it’s Layla. But this is the only way I know she’ll be safe. I can’t drag her into this freakish sideshow. This past week has been the longest we’ve ever really been apart. It’s just, what am I going to say? Hey, guess what? I’m a merman now. I just have to keep ignoring her, the best friend I’ve had my whole life. The only girl who gets it, gets me. Yeah, I’m a good guy. But right now, looking at her as she gives up trying to catch my attention, I wonder if I have enough strength to stay away from her, even though not doing that could kill her.

  When I look at the clock again, it’s already time to leave. She’s the first one out the door, two seconds before the bell even rings.

  Yo, Hart!” Angelo’s voice carries even from down the hall. “Ball drill!” He does this every time he thinks you’re not looking. I’m the only one who ever catches the ball. It’s in the air before he finishes his sentence. I can catch it; I know I can. I extend my hand up and to the left, but so does Kurt. The basketball is in his
hands even before I hit the wall of lockers.

  “I don’t remember your name being Hart.” I push myself up right away.

  The guys walk over to us. I stretch out my shoulder. Kurt throws the ball back at him. Thalia watches them carefully. They really need to stop acting like the Mermaid Brigade.

  “So these are your cousins. Where are you from again?”

  Kurt looks to me and I answer, “Canada.”

  “Aren’t Canadians more—?” Bertie looks like he’s trying to do x2 + (a + b)x + ab = (x + a)(x + b).

  “More what?” Kurt asks.

  “Pale?” And he still hasn’t solved it.

  “We travel a lot,” Thalia says, winking in their direction. I think she likes being a teenage girl more than Kurt likes being a teenage boy.

  The effect is instant, though. The boys relax their posture and are all smiles. Angelo lets his basketball drop, and it bounces across the floor, causing three freshmen to trip over it.

  Bertie can’t seem to decide which foot he wants to shift his weight on. “Man, where have you been? You didn’t show at the Wreck and you didn’t show yesterday. The team is worried about you. They think you’re seeing a shrink or something. And that guy? You know? The reporter? Nikky’s dad? He’s writing that you’re going to be shipped into one of those psych facilities. Like in the movies?

  “Oh. Check this.” He turns around to show us the new design etched into his almost bald head. It’s a series of zigzags that makes it look like his head is getting hit by lightning. “Pretty cool, huh?”

  The bell rings, and I start to wonder if I’ll ever get my “cousins” to class on time.

  “We got Español,” Angelo tells me but looks at Thalia. “Adiós, amiga. They speak Spanish in Canadia, right?”

  “Yeah, see ya,” Jerry and Bertie singsong.

  Once they’re down the hall, we’re the only ones left except for the kids who aren’t going to go to class at all.

  “Is there a way you can fix that? Make yourselves look different so that you don’t attract so much attention?”