The Mermaid's Mirror

by L. K. Madigan

  Still Amphitrite did not answer.

  Lena kept her eyes locked on the mermaid. “I want to hear you take back your command,” she said.

  Amphitrite’s eyes lit with an unearthly power. “We do not bow to the will of humans,” she said.

  And she swam out of the cave.

  Chapter 47

  Lena watched Amphitrite’s retreating form, and her heart sank. Then she felt the gentle pressure of her mother’s hand.

  “She is formidable,” said Melusina. “But so is her granddaughter.”

  Lena nodded and kissed her mother’s cheek. She swam out of the cave.

  By the time she caught up to her, the mermaid was near the circle of stones in the center of the village. “Grandmother,” she called.

  Amphitrite turned.

  Keeping her fears Clouded, Lena swam up to the mermaid and said, “Please let me speak. My father has obeyed your command for so many years.” Her voice quavered, and she paused to gather her courage. “It has been a terrible sacrifice for him. He loves the sea! Surely you can imagine how hard it has been to see it and smell it every single day, but never to be able to touch it. He would have moved away years ago, if not for me. He knew I needed to be near the ocean, because . . . because”—tears came to Lena’s eyes as she realized for the first time what had kept her family in Diamond Bay—“to leave would have killed me.”

  The hard glint in Amphitrite’s eyes seemed to soften, although she remained staring at the circle of stones. Melusina and Merrow floated just behind Lena.

  “My father stayed out of the water for me. And everyone else he loves. Now I ask you to take back your command. I beg you.”

  Amphitrite looked at her then. “Yes . . . it would have been a terrible sacrifice,” she admitted, “to forsake the embrace of the sea.” She shifted her gaze to a point behind Lena. “However, I did not issue the command against your father.”

  Lena stared at her for a moment, then turned slowly, looking at her grandfather. “You?” she whispered.

  Merrow did not answer. His expression—usually so warm and kind—was impassive.

  Melusina gasped.

  The four of them floated in silence for a long moment.

  “Husband,” said Amphitrite at last, “the child implores. Will you show clemency?”

  The powerful merman, his scarred tail reflecting a century of survival in this harsh world, turned to his daughter. “Melusina.”

  “Yes, Father.”

  “What would you give up . . . to protect the human you once called husband?”

  Without hesitation, Melusina said, “My life.”

  Lena shuddered. What was her grandfather planning to do?

  “You have a loyal heart, daughter. But that will not be necessary,” said Merrow. “However, you must cease your visits to the place where your husband and child found you.”

  Melusina’s lips trembled, but she did not demur. “I agree.”

  Merrow looked satisfied. “Selena,” he said.

  Lena squared her shoulders. “Yes.”

  “You must give me your solemn vow that your father will not attempt to journey to our village, or bring disruption to our lives.”

  “I promise,” said Lena.

  “Be certain that you understand: he is welcome to enter the sea, but he is not welcome here.”

  Lena nodded.

  “And there is one more condition.”

  Lena waited in dread.

  “You must not attempt to contact anyone here.”

  Lena’s stomach dropped, and her heart began to thump painfully, as if it wanted to push its way out of her chest in protest. “What?”

  “You leave damage in your wake. Do not imagine all will be well in the village after you depart. Once you have gone, there will be no healing for Nix or your mother unless they know themselves free of your power.”

  “I . . . I don’t have any—”

  “Your word, Selena. Your word that you will surrender contact with our people . . . and I will give you my word that your father will be safe again in the sea.”

  Lena hesitated, then she nodded.

  Merrow held out his hand, and Lena took it.

  With frightening strength, Merrow pulled Lena into the circle of stones. He dropped Lena’s hand and said, “Fix your gaze upon me as you speak your truth.”

  Lena stared into the merman’s stormy eyes. After a moment, she felt the strength drain out of her body, and she would have begun to sink, except that she seemed to be held in place by the merman’s gaze. The deep, ancient power of magic flowed from Merrow’s eyes into Lena’s soul. She could not move, she could not turn away, she could not speak untrue words.

  “My land-father will not attempt to journey to the village,” she vowed. “He will leave your people in peace.”

  Quietly implacable, her grandfather said, “And you relinquish your claim on the ones you love in this world?”

  Pain flooded Lena’s heart. “I do.”

  And she remembered that today—in this very circle—she and Nix would have announced their love.

  Still Merrow did not remove his gaze. Lena felt the history of generations of mer-folk demanding vows in exchange for wishes granted.

  Her grandfather raised his arms and spoke in a voice that exploded in Lena’s mind like a thousand shouts: “Then my command is withdrawn.” When he lowered his arms, a mysterious ripple spread out in all directions from his fingertips, surging through the sea. Its force pressed against them . . . a flash of electric power.

  Then it was gone.

  Lena felt herself released from a spell. She turned blindly to her mother, who gathered her into her arms.

  Amphitrite swam closer to Merrow and put her hand on his shoulder. “Thank you, my love,” she said. Then she gazed at Lena with her uncanny pale eyes. “You are brave . . . for a land-child.”

  Lena straightened her spine and answered with bitter pride, “I am a child of sea and land.”

  Chapter 48

  The journey to the surface was long. Lena was weakened from the shock of her departure and had to rely on her mother to support her. Every mile that took her away from Nix felt like a fresh wound opening in her heart.

  Close to an hour after they had left the village, Lena felt a tumult in her mind. She seemed to hear Nix’s tortured cry as he discovered her betrayal.

  She stopped swimming as the irresistible call of a merman came to her:

  Heed my call.

  Come to me.

  We are bound.

  Do not flee.

  The pain and rage in his voice were so awful that she nearly turned back, instinctively wanting to comfort him. Then the image of Cole came into her mind again, and she forced herself to ignore the summons of her beloved. No human could have resisted the siren song, but Lena was not human.

  When they reached the surface at Magic Crescent Cove, Lena’s and Melusina’s heads emerged from the waves simultaneously, far from shore. It was night, and rain speckled the surface of the ocean.

  Lena took a breath of air and began to choke.

  “You must breathe out the seawater,” murmured her mother’s voice in her mind.

  But Lena sank below the surface again in a panic. Her lungs were breathing the ocean now. Would she be able to go back, or was she trapped here? She was afraid to leave this element.

  “Do not fear,” said her mother. “You can pass between the worlds now. Rise above the surface and breathe out the seawater. Go!”

  Lena broke the surface again. Before trying to inhale, she forced the water out of her lungs, feeling tears come to her eyes with the effort. She coughed out the last of the salty liquid, then sweet night air was flowing in and out of her lungs.

  Mother and daughter swam to the rocks where they had found each other, after so many years apart. Melusina found a place to pull herself up and reached for Lena’s hand, helping her onto the rocks. Once out of the water, Lena began to shiver, her clothes and hair dripping, her legs bare.
Rain pelted her, and after being immersed in water for so long, Lena felt like she could feel each raindrop individually.

  “You must not linger,” said her mother. “The night is cold, and they await your return.”

  Lena nodded. “Mama,” she whispered.

  Melusina held out the mirror, her eyes glistening with tears. “Whenever you wish to see your loved ones in the world beneath the waves, you need only look for us here. Merrow’s edict did not forbid you to look.”

  Lena took the mirror. Now that she was here on land, about to lose her mother again—and abandon the man she loved—her determination began to fail. “What if—?” she whispered.

  But Melusina’s expression was blank and shattered. “No, darling,” she said.

  How will we survive? she thought. When Mama goes back to the village without me . . . how will she manage?

  Although her hand tightened with her need to keep the mermaid’s mirror for herself, Lena handed it back to her mother.

  “You keep this,” she said. “It’s yours.”

  She put her arms around her mother’s small body and hugged her tightly. “I love you, Mama.”

  Melusina clung to her daughter with primal strength, then released her.

  Spent and despairing, Lena climbed across Shipwreck Rocks. With every step, she felt weaker and more chilled. Her soul was riven—she longed to slip back into the embrace of the sea, but she was desperate to get home to her family.

  The journey across the jagged rocks seemed endless. Once she sank down on a flat stone to rest. She wanted to look back at her mother, but she was afraid that if she did, she would never leave.

  When she reached the edge of the rocks, she jumped down.

  Her legs buckled under her, and she fell to her knees in the sand.

  The mermaid watched her daughter’s progress from the farthest point of the wave-splashed rocks. When Lena collapsed on the sand, Melusina cried out. She could not go to her.

  “Selena!” she called. “Selena!”

  Lena struggled to sit up, then lay immobile, a small, drenched figure at the base of the rocks.

  “Oh, nooo,” moaned Melusina, “please don’t let her be hurt.”

  She struggled to make her way across the rocks in the direction where Lena lay.

  Then she saw a solitary figure moving across the sand, and she froze.

  The man came closer to Lena and knelt down beside her. He moved her hair out of her face and spoke to her. Then he helped her sit up.

  Melusina pressed her hands to her face, weeping.

  The man put his arms under Lena’s shoulders and knees, then lifted her off the sand. Holding her in his arms, the man looked directly at Melusina. “She’s okay,” he said.

  He Sees me, thought Melusina. He has Seen me before. There is recognition in his eyes.

  “I knew you were real,” said the man softly. “She’s your little girl, isn’t she?”

  Melusina nodded, tears and rain coursing down her face.

  “I’ll make sure she gets home,” he said. “Goodbye.”

  He walked away from the rocks, cradling Lena in his arms, his long coat blown by the wind.

  Epilogue

  On a warm spring day, Lena stood at the boundary between her two worlds—where land melted into the sea.

  Magic Crescent Cove sparkled like liquid jewels today—the waves small and unthreatening. But Lena knew its pretty postcard appearance hid dangerous tides. Maybe someday she would surf here again.

  But not today.

  “I’ll just be a minute,” she told her dad. She walked closer to the water’s edge, looking for the sight of a head in the water—she couldn’t help looking—but saw nothing but gray-green ocean. She bent down a few yards from the high-tide mark and placed the three palm-size stones she was carrying on the dry sand, their edges touching.

  Then she turned away from the lure of the sea. She walked back to her father and said, “Let’s go.”

  He nodded, and they made their way up the beach to the edge of the highway, where her dad’s car was parked, two surfboards secured to the top.

  “Hi, Denny,” said Lena. She approached the man who sat watching the cove, ever vigilant.

  He stood up, brushing sand from his long coat. “Hello, Selena.”

  She hugged him.

  “I want to see her again,” said Denny, as he always did.

  “Me, too,” whispered Lena.

  Lena’s dad walked up to them and shook Denny’s hand. “Will you come for dinner tonight?” he asked.

  Denny smiled and shook his head, as he always did.

  “Bye, Denny. See you soon,” said Lena, and she opened the passenger-sidedoor.

  Her dad stood next to Denny, both of them staring out to sea . . . the immortal, immeasurable sea.

  “Dad, come on,” called Lena from the car window. She was afraid one day he might not be able to turn away.

  To her relief, he laughed and jumped into the car. “Okay, okay, keep your wetsuit on!”

  “The waves won’t wait,” she added.

  He laughed some more. “Oh, Lena . . . the waves are eternal.” The smile on his face fell slightly, and they looked away from one another, each thinking of a village beneath the waves and a beautiful mermaid who lived there.

  Mother.

  Wife.

  Lena’s dad started the car, releasing them from their reveries. He drove south on Highway 1, away from Magic Crescent Cove.

  Ten miles farther down the road, he pulled into a spot on the side of the highway.

  “Look!” said Lena, pointing. “There’s Ani’s Jeep! Oh, and Max is here, too. That’s his car. Everyone is here!”

  “Do you see Mom’s car anywhere?” asked her dad.

  “Not yet,” said Lena. “Oh! There it is.” She pointed at a green Volvo. Mom and Cole had not wanted to miss Dad’s triumphant return to surfing. Lena suspected that somewhere on the beach, Mom had already been roped into a game of catch with Cole.

  Lena’s dad parked the car, and she jumped out to help him untie the boards.

  She lifted down her brand-new custom-made Robbie Dick surfboard. The deck was sky blue with a smiling yellow sun on the nose, and the bottom was midnight blue with a bright moon in the middle and a spangling of stars across it.

  Lena hurried down the verge to the sand. Her dad followed, carrying his own board, also a brand-new Robbie Dick original. It was a short board, with a green and silver Chinese dragon on the deck, and a yin-yang on the bottom.

  Lena shaded her eyes against the blaze of the sun and studied the lineup. There was Pem. Farther down the row was Kai. Ani was riding a wave to shore, and Max was paddling out.

  “Pem!” she shouted, waving. “Kai!”

  Both of them saw her and yelled back. Kai was smiling.

  It had taken some time, but she and Kai were friends again—mostly.

  Lena’s convalescence from her time under water had been difficult; she had run a high fever and couldn’t speak. She’d been communicating with her mind for so long that while she was ill, she forgot, most of the time, to speak aloud.

  Her friends had been told she’d caught a virus while traveling with Grandma Kath. Pem came to see her as soon as she was allowed, but Lena refused to see Kai. How could she, when the first word out of her mouth during her fevered dreams had been “Nix”?

  Finally she agreed to see Kai. She tried to give him back the pearl earrings when she broke up with him, but he insisted she keep them. Lena was relieved that he didn’t seem devastated by her rejection—he must have suspected there had always been something lacking in their love. Maybe it had been the siren in her voice that attracted him in the first place.

  As for Nix, Lena spent every conscious moment during the weeks of her recovery wishing for the memory-stealing cloak to take his image from her mind. If he could only know of the ache that lived inside her, he might forgive her.

  But that terrible time was months ago, also, and Lena had tried to f
ind peace in her return to life on land.

  Her family and friends were safe and happy.

  And there was still the sea.

  It would never forsake her.

  Cole came racing across the sand, his sturdy legs pumping. “Hi!” he yelled, and threw his arms around Lena. She staggered a little. “Ooof,” she said. “You’re getting good at tackles. You almost took me down!”

  Allie arrived a moment after Cole, and Brian kissed her.

  “Group hug!” yelled Cole, and the four of them wrapped their arms around one another. When they broke apart, Lena saw tears in her mom’s eyes. She leaned over and kissed Allie’s cheek.

  “Safe surf, guys,” said Allie, smiling and turning to follow Cole, who had taken off down the beach again.

  Lena knelt down on the beach to wax her board before its maiden voyage.

  Her dad joined her, expertly applying wax to his own board. He beamed at her. “It’s been a long time coming, sweetie,” he said.

  “Too long! And don’t call me ‘sweetie’ out there in the lineup.”

  “What should I call you?” he asked, laughing.

  Lena considered for a moment, then said, “How about Seagirl?” With a bubble of glee rising in her chest, she stood up and hurried into the surf, calling back, “I’m just kidding, Dad! You can call me sweetie if you want.” She tossed her board onto the blue blanket of ocean. “Woo-hoo!” she yelled, flinging herself onto the deck.

  She glanced back at her dad, who stood at the water’s edge. His smile had faded, and he looked almost . . . nervous.

  “Get on your stick, Dad!” she called. You can do it.

  But nearly two decades of avoiding the sea at all costs, not even wading into ankle-deep surf, made him hesitate. His caution had kept his family safe. Now he was about to trust in the honor of an old enemy.

  Lena couldn’t bear to watch him waver. “Dad, it’s a promise!” she yelled, then faced forward and paddled out.

  Max greeted her as she joined the lineup. “Hey, it’s the Leenatic.”