Jessica rolled her eyes. “Come on,” she ordered, sounding like a bossy babysitter. “Let’s get inside before we all turn into fish!”
Or merpeople, Lindy thought, glancing out at the stormy sea. Then she turned and followed the others into the bug house.
That night Lindy dreamed about being a mermaid. In the dream, she lived with Coral and Sealily and Finneus in an undersea castle made of barnacles, coral, and life jackets. Whenever she wanted to go somewhere, she called a friendly whale. Once, the whale carried her all the way to Lake Michigan. When they got there, Tara was waiting on the shore. She didn’t believe in mermaids at first. But when she saw Lindy’s shiny new tail, she laughed and laughed at the top of her lungs.…
Lindy woke up. Tara’s laughter turned into a seagull’s shrill cry. Several of the birds were calling loudly right outside her window.
Strong morning sunshine poured into Lindy’s new room. The storm was finally over. The sky was an endless ceiling of blue except for a few high, fluffy clouds. Everything on the ground was still wet, though. Water droplets sparkled like jewels wherever Lindy looked.
All through breakfast, she couldn’t stop thinking about the mermaid sisters. In the bright sunshine, even the storm seemed unreal. Could she have imagined the whole adventure?
Maybe I tripped and hit my head on a rock, she thought, stirring her cereal. The banana slices floating in it looked like little bald merpeople peeping up at her. I heard people imagine weird stuff sometimes when they’re unconscious.
“Any plans today, Lindy?” her father asked, pouring himself more coffee. “Want to come help out at the dock?”
“What? Um, maybe.” Lindy was too lost in thought to worry about her family’s new business. “First I think I’ll look around outside. Okay?”
Her parents traded a glance. “All right,” her mother said. “Why don’t you put on your swimsuit? It’s going to be a hot one out there today.”
“If you’re on the ocean side of the yard, don’t wade out any deeper than your knees, okay, kiddo?” her father added. “I hear there’s a wicked undertow just offshore.”
“Don’t worry.” Lindy carried her bowl to the sink. “I’m not crazy enough to go swimming in the ocean. There could be sharks out there.”
She went back to her room and put on her favorite pink and white swimsuit. Grabbing her backpack, she pulled out Tara’s going-away gift. It was a Chicago Cubs T-shirt signed by several players. Lindy didn’t care that much about sports, but Tara did. Lindy loved the T-shirt because it made her think of Tara.
Tara had warned her not to wear the shirt much so the autographs wouldn’t fade. Lindy planned to ask her father to make a frame for it. She would hang it in her room to remind herself of Chicago.
“Maybe I’ll wear it first, though,” she whispered. “Just this once.”
Soon Lindy was hurrying down the wooden steps wearing the Cubs T-shirt and a pair of shorts over her swimsuit. Her mother was right—it was hot. By the time she reached the bottom of the stairs, Lindy was already sweating.
She sat down on the beach just below the tide line. The waves were still rough and foamy after yesterday’s storm. They splashed over her legs, cooling her off.
For a long time she just sat there looking at the ocean. Were there really merpeople out there? It was still pretty hard to believe, even though she’d seen them for herself.
Or at least she thought she had.…
After a while her parents came out. “We’re heading over to the dock now,” her dad said. “Sure you don’t want to come?”
“No thanks,” Lindy said. “I’m okay here.”
Her mother looked worried. “You should get out and see more of the island, Lindy. That will help you settle in faster.”
“It’s not that,” Lindy said. “It’s too hot to walk that far, that’s all.”
Finally her parents left. As soon as they were out of sight, Lindy felt lonely. This place was too empty. Too quiet.
Well, maybe not exactly quiet. There was the constant pounding and sighing of the sea, plus the cries of seagulls overhead.
Then she heard a different sound: “Lindy!”
Lindy gasped. Bobbing just beyond the surf were two heads. One had bright silvery-blond hair. The other had hair of coppery ginger.
It was the mermaids!
Lindy waded out as far as she dared. The busy waves grabbed at her legs, soaking the hem of her shorts.
Coral and Sealily waved, then dove beneath the surface. Seconds later they appeared closer to shore. The waves picked them up and carried them along.
“You came back!” Lindy cried when they reached her. “Hi, Finneus,” she added when the sea horse popped into view.
Finneus chirped and bumped at her leg with his head. Lindy smiled and patted him.
Sealily laughed. It sounded like water trickling over bells. “We came to thank you again, Lindy the hero.”
“Yes.” Coral glanced around nervously. “But we can’t stay long. It’s not safe for us to be so close to the Drylands.”
“I still can’t believe you guys are real.” Lindy stared at the mermaids’ graceful, shimmering tails. “I didn’t believe there were really mermaids.”
“We weren’t sure what Drylanders would be like,” Coral said. “We never know whether to believe the stories Pelagos tells us.”
An extra-rough wave rushed past, shoving at Lindy’s legs so fiercely that it almost knocked her down. For a second Lindy panicked. What if she lost her balance and the waves pulled her out to sea?
Then she remembered: Her new friends were there. They wouldn’t let her get washed away.
“Who’s Pelagos?” she asked them.
“He lives in the next cave with his merlady, Thetis. They taught us everything we know about Drylanders,” Sealily said.
“Oh! That reminds me,” Coral said. “Thetis told me something once. I’ve always wondered if it was true. Wait here—I’ll be right back.”
She turned and swam back out to sea, her coppery hair streaming behind her. With a flip of her tail, she disappeared into the depths.
“Where’d she go?” Lindy asked.
Sealily shrugged. “I don’t know. Here, watch this—I’ve been teaching Finny a new trick.”
For the next few minutes, she tried to get Finneus to do a flip by swirling her hand around in the water. Finneus watched her but stayed right where he was. When Sealily tried to turn him over to show him what she meant, he spit water into her face and darted away.
Lindy laughed. “I guess Finny doesn’t want to do tricks.”
Finally Coral returned, breathless and excited. “I found it!” she cried. Clutched in her hand was a pair of tiny white blobs.
“What’s that?” Lindy asked.
“Thetis told me that in long-ago days, Drylanders used a special type of sea sponge to breathe underwater,” Coral explained. “That’s one reason Sealily and I first came to this spot. Thetis says it’s one of the only places these sponges are found.”
“It is?” Sealily cried. “You didn’t tell me that, Coral!”
Coral looked sheepish. “I wasn’t sure it was true.”
Sealily giggled. “Right. Thetis doesn’t know everything she thinks she knows.” She spun in the water to face Lindy, her eyes sparkling. “You have to see if it works, Lindy Drylander!”
Coral held out the sponges. “If you plug your nose with them, you should be able to breathe just like a mermaid,” she told Lindy. “Then we can show you our world!”
Swimming around under the sea had been fun in Lindy’s dream. The thought of doing it for real was pretty scary, though. The idea of sticking those slimy little things in her nose wasn’t much better.
“I wish I could,” she said. “But I’m not a very good swimmer.”
“We’ll help you,” Sealily urged. “Please, will you try it, Lindy Drylander?”
Just then another big wave rushed in. Finneus squeaked as it grabbed him. Sealily reached out
and caught him before the wave could carry him all the way to shore. Lindy had to hold out both arms in order to keep her balance.
“Sorry,” she said, suddenly nervous even that far out. Her father had told her not to go in above her knees. The water was up to the bottom of her shorts. “I really can’t.”
“But—” Sealily began.
Coral shushed her. “It’s okay, Lindy,” she said. “Here—take the sponges. Maybe you’ll want to try later.”
“Um, okay.” The sea sponges felt squishy and slimy in her hand. Lindy quickly stuck them in her pocket. “Thanks.”
“If you want to visit us, swim straight out to the east,” Sealily began eagerly. “Then after you cross the big current …”
Lindy didn’t bother listening to the rest of her directions. If she was too chicken to go with the mermaids now, no way would she have the guts to try it on her own! But she didn’t want to hurt their feelings by saying so.
Finally Coral tugged on her sister’s arm. “We should go. We can’t let any other Drylanders see us.”
“Are you sure you can’t stay longer?” Lindy said.
“It’s not safe for us,” Coral said. “Maybe we’ll come back another time.”
She sounded doubtful, though. Lindy’s heart sank as she realized she might never see the mermaids again. It didn’t seem fair. She’d just met them!
“See you later, Lindy Drylander! Come visit us soon!” Sealily waved, then dove into an oncoming wave.
Finneus let out a chirp and chased after Sealily. Coral smiled shyly. “Good-bye, Lindy.”
“Good-bye, Coral.”
Lindy watched, shading her eyes against the sun glinting off the water, until they were gone.
Lindy sat on the beach for a while after the mermaids left, hoping they might come back. But they didn’t, and finally her grumbling stomach reminded her that it was lunchtime.
Heading into the bug house, Lindy changed into dry shorts. She left on her swimsuit and the Cubs T-shirt, even though the shirt was damp. She was extra careful not to get any mustard on it as she made herself a sandwich.
By the time she finished eating, the shirt was dry. She knew she should take it off—she was lucky she hadn’t ruined it, wading into the ocean like that.
But it reminded her of her old home, her old best friend, her old life. Now that the mersisters were gone, that seemed more important than ever.
She went upstairs and looked at the sea sponges Coral had given her. They were on her dresser, where she’d set them when she’d changed her shorts. While she was eating, they’d dried into hard little lumps.
“Yuck,” she whispered. She almost swept them into her trash can.
But even though they were kind of gross-looking, they were the only thing she had to remind her of her new friends. Just like her Cubs shirt was the only thing she had to remind her of Tara. Picking up the sponges, she stuck them in her pocket.
She wandered back outside. Her heart jumped as she saw movement by the old-man rocks. It wasn’t the mermaids, though. Just Matthew poking around in the tide pool.
“Hey, New Girl!” he called, squinting up the hill at her. “Check out what I just found!”
He splashed out of the pool clutching a plastic bucket, the kind little kids used to build sand castles. Lindy wondered if he’d stolen it from his baby sisters.
“Awesome shirt,” he said when he got closer. “Where’d you get it?”
Lindy glanced down at her Cubs T-shirt. “Where do you think? I’m from Chicago, remember?”
“Oh yeah.” He shrugged. “I guess you’re a baseball freak like me, huh?”
“No way,” Lindy said quickly. She was sure she didn’t have anything in common with Matthew. “I don’t care about sports.”
He gave her a funny look. “So why are you wearing a Cubs shirt?”
“My best friend gave it to me.” Lindy played with the hem of the shirt and thought about Tara. “It was a going-away present.”
“Okay. Anyway, you’ll never believe what I just caught. Look—it’s a real sea horse!”
Matthew shoved the bucket at her. It smelled like rotten fish, and Lindy almost jumped away without looking. She didn’t want him spilling his stinky, fishy water on her shirt.
Then she saw a small yellow shape inside. A familiar shape.
Finneus!
“Cool, huh?” Matthew bragged. “It’s going to look awesome in my tank at home.”
Lindy bit her lip. Finneus was cringing in the cloudy water at the bottom of the bucket. His dorsal fin was flat against his back.
Matthew looked in at the sea horse. “Hey, you!” he said loudly. He tapped on the side of the bucket. “Come on, swim around!”
“M-maybe you should let him go,” Lindy said.
“Let him go? Are you crazy?” Matthew stared at her. “No way! I bet I’m the only person around here with a pet sea horse.”
The only person above the sea, Lindy thought. She knew Coral and Sealily must be worried about their pet. How had the shy little sea horse ended up in Matthew’s bucket?
Matthew tapped on the bucket again. “Stop that,” Lindy said. “You’re scaring him.”
“Make me.” Matthew tapped harder.
Lindy felt like crying. Poor Finneus! He would be miserable stuck in a tank with loud, annoying Matthew taking care of him. He might not even survive! She had to think fast.
“You caught him on my family’s property, right?” she said. “That means he’s really mine, not yours. And I think you should let him go.”
Matthew rolled his eyes. “Make me,” he said again. Then he grinned. “Wait, I have an idea. If you like this sea horse so much, I’ll trade him to you—for that shirt.” He pointed to Lindy’s Cubs T-shirt.
Lindy stepped back and tugged at her hair. “No way,” she said. “Um, but I’ll trade you something else. How about my allowance for next week?”
Matthew shrugged. “Uh-uh. It’s the shirt or nothing.” He turned and walked toward his own house.
“Wait!” Lindy said, feeling desperate. She couldn’t let him take Finneus home!
“What?” Matthew stopped and looked at her.
Lindy hesitated, touching her shirt. She thought about Tara, and Chicago, and her old life. Then she thought about Coral and Sealily. And Finneus.
“It’s a deal,” she blurted out.
“Huh?”
Lindy pulled the T-shirt off over her head. “Here,” she said. “I’ll trade.”
Matthew looked surprised. Then he grabbed the T-shirt out of Lindy’s hand. “No backsies,” he said.
He hurried toward the tide pool. “What are you doing?” Lindy asked.
“What does it look like?” He dumped the bucket into the shallow water. “I traded you the sea horse, not my bucket. You’ll have to catch it again yourself.”
With one last smirk, he raced away.
When Lindy peered into the tide pool, Finneus was huddled beneath a rock. “It’s okay, Finny,” Lindy said softly. “He’s gone.”
It took a few minutes to coax him out. At last the sea horse seemed to recognize her. He swam over and bumped her fingers with his head.
Lindy smiled. “You’re safe now. Let’s get you home.”
She scooped him up carefully. Then she scrambled up the hill and down to the beach. Kicking off her sandals, she waded into the surf.
But releasing Finneus wasn’t as easy as she’d expected. He was very small, and the waves tossed him back to shore as soon as Lindy let go of him.
“Sorry, Finneus!” she cried as he landed on the beach, flopping around and gasping for breath. She scooped him up and tried again, wading out farther this time. And even farther the time after that. Every time, Finneus ended up back on the beach.
Finally Lindy put him back in the tide pool. The little sea horse seemed relieved to be away from the rough waves.
“Now what?” Lindy whispered as she watched him swim around.
She wondered if she should
carry him over to the cove, where the water was calmer. But she didn’t have a bucket, and she didn’t trust Matthew not to come back and capture Finneus again while she looked for one.
Besides, Matthew’s house was on the cove. What if he spotted the sea horse over there? Or what if Finneus couldn’t find his way out of the cove to the ocean?
Lindy felt like crying. “I need to get you out to deeper water,” she told Finneus. “But how?”
Suddenly she had an idea. She raced to the house and grabbed a life jacket. Slipping it on, she fastened the buckles tightly.
There. Now she wouldn’t have to swim. If the water got too deep or a wave knocked her over, she would float.
Lindy was shaking as she waded into the surf again, holding Finneus. But she knew what she had to do. She had to get out past the breaking waves. Then Finny could swim away without being tossed back to the beach.
Soon the water was up to Lindy’s knees, then her thighs. She realized she’d forgotten to take off her shorts. She didn’t want to turn around now, though. If she did, she might be too scared to try again.
“Almost there,” she chanted. “Almost there.”
Finneus wriggled in her hands, but she held on to him. They weren’t quite deep enough yet.
Just ahead, she saw the spot where the waves started to swell up and get pushy. All she had to do was get past it. Then she could release Finny and go back.
She took another step. The waves splashed up past her waist. Almost there …
“Whoa!” she cried as her foot stepped forward—into nothingness!
She dropped Finneus and swung her arms, trying to push herself back onto the edge of the drop-off. But the push and pull of the waves dragged her. Her other foot lost its grip on the sandy seafloor. Just like that, Lindy was floating!
There was a happy chirp nearby. Finneus popped to the surface. He darted over and bumped her with his head.
“You’re welcome,” Lindy said breathlessly, realizing that she’d done it. The rough, breaking waves were behind them.
Mermaids in the Backyard Page 3
