by B. J. Smash
Out of the blue, I heard a knock, knock, knock on the underside of the boat. Just great. Magella leaves and all the sea monsters come out. I didn’t dare lean over the side to look. If it was Barnabee the Big Brute, he’d probably reach a tentacle up and haul me off to the bottom of the sea for dinner, crushing my body into a burrito.
Another knocking sounded. It was then that I heard it. A familiar sound—the whinny from a seahorse, and then laughter. I ran to the edge and peered over the side. Below me in the water floated all of my newfound friends, plus two others that I’d never met. I dropped the blanket from my shoulders and jumped ship, splashing in the water between Eadgar and Nicoli. My legs instantly shifted into my mermaid tail. I surfaced and said, “What are you guys doing here?”
“Come to pay a visit, that’s all,” Harleena said.
“We were in the neighborhood,” Nicoli said with a touch of sarcasm.
“Not really,” Jina said. “We rode the seahorse the whole way. It was fun but long.”
Eadgar introduced me to the other two merpeople. “This is Stella and Byron.”
I had heard of a mermaid called Stella once. She looked to be the same age as my sister. I had heard that Izaill had stolen her brand-new pearl comb, in order to place a spell over Ivy. It had failed, thanks to GG Edmund and Izadora.
“Byron and Stella are brother and sister. Byron is Harleena’s boyfriend.”
“Oh. I see. He’s her eek eeeek ock,” I said plainly.
To this they all laughed, and Harleena asked, “How did you know how to say that in our language?”
“Just a good guess,” I said.
“Well, we are off to visit our distant relatives for a while. We’ll be back,” Nicoli said.
“But wait, you just got here!” I said, thinking Eadgar was going to leave too. I turned to him and he was waving at the others, who were already twenty feet away.
“I have come to visit with you while the old sea witch go away. We heard about what she did. She stole you away, and cover her tracks. We could not find you. The dolphin told us of your whereabouts.”
A wave of relief washed over me when I realized Eadgar would be staying with me. Whether I wanted to admit it or not, he was the one I truly wanted to see, and I couldn’t thank that little dolphin enough for what he’d done for me.
***
We sat on the deck, watching the brilliant stars. Magella had been gone for some time now, and the gray clouds had all dissipated. There were millions of sparkling stars in the sky, thick bands of them. One thing about being in the ocean: when the sky was clear, the view was spectacular.
We sat hugging our knees into our chests. He sat close to me, so close that I could feel the heat from his body. Although he was ice-cold underwater, on the surface he was warm. As he looked up at the night sky, I watched him. His profile looked like something an artist would sculpt out of clay, just to show the world a beautiful piece of art. He pointed to the Big Dipper, and I was forced to pull my gaze away from him to look up at the sky. He went on to show me other clusters of stars that I had never heard of. The merpeople had their own theories of the sky and what was out in the universe.
A short while later, the subject had changed to my family—a subject I had intended to avoid, but couldn’t. It was inevitable. And if I thought he knew little about us, I was wrong.
“I hear that your family is quite powerful,” he began. “They can do many thing that ordinary people cannot.”
I nodded my head yes. And then I said, “We are connected to the Fae.”
“Did you know, the distant relatives we spoke of earlier—the ones Nicoli and the others are going to see—they are called the Ingla.”
“The Ingla?” I’d never heard of them before.
“The Ingla are actually mermaid with wings.” He looked to me and smiled. “They are part Fae and part mermaid. They are very rare species of mermaid.” He took my hand in his. I let him.
“Really? They have wings?”
“Yes, they do.” He stared up at the sky again. “I hear your great-grandmother is from a long line of great sorcerer, Augustus Seaforth.”
I had to laugh then. “It’s Augusta—with an ‘A’ at the end. And, yes, she is quite powerful. We call her ‘Aggie’ for short, but I have never met her.”
“Ah, yes. And it was Aggie’s book you stole, right?” He paused and then said, “Do you remember any of her spell?”
My head began to feel a bit woozy as my head tightened. I took in a deep breath to stay calm. So, this was why the merpeople had befriended me. They wanted information about Aggie’s book of spells. Oh my gosh. How could I have been so foolish to think they had wanted to be my friend? They didn’t care about me. They probably wanted to know if I could remember any spells so that they could get rid of Magella. Had she been right about them all along?
I pulled my hand away and scooted over about a foot.
“Zinnia? What is wrong? Did I say something to offend you?” he asked.
“Yes, actually, you did. I think you better go now. Magella might be back soon,” I lied. I stood up and leaned on the railing.
“Oh, I see. You think I want to know of spell.” He stood and made his way over to stand next to me. “I don’t want spell, Zinnia. I know my own spell—many, many of my own spell. You see, I only ask because I try to soften you up. I want to know how much you know about magic. I do not want to scare you off.”
What was he trying to say, that he and his people were very powerful? And he was afraid that I’d be repulsed or freaked out or something?
I didn’t reply; I didn’t know what to say. I just stood there, gazing out into the ocean.
He sighed then and said, “I hear what you did. With the spell. You brought up big storm and tried to wipe out elven race. Merpeople have heard.”
To this, a tear fell down my face. So, he knew. He knew and they all knew. Zinnia the terrible. Everyone hates Zinnia.
His arm went around my shoulders, and he pulled me in close and kissed the top of my head. It was so much nicer when he did it than when Jonesby the Jinxer had kissed my head.
“Zinnia. We also know that you were control upon by another. Rodinand. We never like Rodinand. He is horrible soul. We heard what your Aunt Cora did to him. The negative narcissist spell. That make us all laugh. He deserve worse than that; we believe this to be true.” He kissed me above my ear now. It sent hot tingles all the way down my neck. “We would have done worse to Rodinand. Especially because he treat you unfair. We would have destroy him. But we do not mix very often with the Fae, and we keep our opinion to ourself unless they ask us for help. The same with elven, but we are actually closer to elven than to Fae.” He softly kissed my ear now, and then said, “If Rodinand ever come to the ocean, he will die.”
He squeezed me into his chest. “Zinnia. I wish you would say something. Even two word would be good.”
I licked my lips and spoke. “Rodinand was my leader, yes, but it was my own choice to join the Fae.”
“But did you know that he would bind you with an ivy tattoo that could tighten and suffocate you? I hear that is how he got you to do his bidding. I hear he was not nice to you.”
He knew it all! He knew everything about my past. But how?
“Eadgar, how do you know all of this? Who told you?”
He laughed then. “I am good friend with Drumm.”
This explained it all! But why would Drumm tell him this stuff? “Drumm? I’m confused. Why would he tell you all of this?”
“Because I ask. I have seen you before. You strike my eye. Right away, you bore hole into my heart. Deep into my heart. It is, as your people say…love at first look.”
“You mean…love at first sight,” I corrected him.
“Yes, that is what I say already. So, I ask him, but he not tell me about you. I nearly BEG him—and he tell me everything he know.”
I had to laugh. I could almost see Drumm standing by the ocean, talking to Eadgar while he sat on t
he beach, his merman tail flicking the water. “He did, huh?”
“He did. And he tell me he love, love your sister. He really, really do.”
I couldn’t hold the smile back that spread out over my face.
“She confuse right now—she think she might like hellhound boy—but Drumm say she will come around.”
“Oh wow! He does tell you everything,” I said, astonished.
“Oh yes. We very good friend.” He leaned in then and reached his hand up to my hair, and then lowered his fingers and felt the contours of my face. Almost like…what a blind person might do, only he was staring into my eyes.
Leaning in, he kissed me gently on the lips. They were soft and warm and…oh, wow. I could feel the passion well up inside me as he pushed his lips harder to mine. The passion started in my belly and whooshed up through my chest, my face—my gosh! And then his tongue was in my mouth, and I think my legs nearly buckled. He held me up with his strong arms and pulled me in close.
My heartbeat was erratic, and the heat continued to well up inside me, to fuel my desire. I grabbed the back of his head and ran my fingers through his hair. My body was on fire.
I had never felt this way before.
Out of nowhere a loud splash sounded, and cold water flew over our bodies. The water was frigid, and it jolted me. I jumped back with a squeal. High-pitched squeaking noises could be heard, and then a few click-clicks and whistling noises.
Eadgar snickered. “You crazy, crazy bunch of dolphin.” He then spoke in their language, and one of them made noises mimicking laughter.
He grabbed my hand and said, “Maybe we should swim for while?”
I didn’t want to stop kissing him, but he was probably right. We jumped ship and landed in with the dolphins, our tails immediately taking form. We joshed around with them for a short time and then took off on our own.
We lay floating lazily, gazing up at the stars. We talked about nothing much at all. I found that I was getting really attached to Eadgar. It might have happened fast, but I had to admit I was falling in love. Eventually we ended up on board, lying on the deck. I lay my head on his chest, with his arm around me, and this was how we fell asleep.
Chapter Thirteen
I had slept so peacefully in Eadgar’s arms, and I had dreamt of every wonderful thing under the sun. But when I opened my groggy eyes, I was to see that the sun was not out. It was morning, but it was drab and gray.
I should have known something was awry when I heard the squeaks and squeals of the dolphins trying to warn us. Edgar popped up right away, sitting with a confused look upon his face. It was then that we heard the clank, clank, clank as Magella climbed the ladder. She did not need me to throw the ladder down; she could use her magic to bring it down on her own.
Seconds later, she was peeking over the railing at us. And then as she climbed up higher, I could see the big frown on her face. “Why, you little tramp!” she yelled out.
Eadgar stood and hauled me up with him. You could see the dark energy whirring around Magella’s body, and hear it as it buzzed swiftly through the air. I hid behind Eadgar. He was a good six feet tall, and I could just barely see over his shoulder.
“Magella. You are home early,” I said.
“It was a test, you fool! And you failed miserably.” She held her staff now and slammed it into the floorboards. The whole boat shook as if an earthquake had transpired. “You get off my boat, you slimy fish!” She pointed the staff at Eadgar.
“Calm down, old woman,” he said, and he began to chant something. He had said he knew his own spells.
“You have no right to be here. I know what you’re doing! You are trying to find out how to get me out of these waters, this stupid girl is falling for your every move. But you might as well stop your chanting. You have NO POWER HERE! This is my ship!”
“He has never even mentioned you, Magella,” I said. But she wouldn’t hear it. She stood about ten feet from us, and she raised her pointed staff to Eadgar’s chest. “The current from this staff will stop your heart, and you will die.”
“No!” I screamed, but it was too late. She shot forth a bolt of light that slammed into Eadgar’s chest. The breath shot from his lungs, and he flew overboard with a loud splash.
“No, Magella!” I ran toward the railing to look overboard, but instantly she had her hand in my hair and she hoisted me up. She shoved me to the deck and put her staff right between my eyes.
She could have killed me with one word. But for some reason, she didn’t. Instead, she chanted a spell that bound me to where I lay, and I could not move an inch. I remained this way the whole trip back to Merribay, even when it poured, and even when there was sleet. I was so cold that I thought I’d die, and I wished that I would. If Eadgar was dead, then I didn’t want to live anymore.
***
It was a long time, but Magella finally freed me from the spell. I was able to move my stiff, sore limbs again. I watched as we passed the glorious city of Merribay. It sat nestled into the cliffside as the ocean’s waves swept up and sloshed over the golden gates and into the lower parts of the city. The buildings were smooth and appeared to be made of alabaster. Some of the towers were painted blue, and the spires were made of pure gold. In the hills were many houses of various colors and cobblestoned pathways led down into the city. I wondered if Eadgar had ever been in there. He must have visited at one time or another. The city belonged to the merpeople, but I heard that all sorts of beings visited here.
We passed the city, and I watched until it was out of view. I could literally feel my lips sagging down on the edges. Inside, all I could feel was the agony of losing Eadgar. Tears kept surfacing in my eyes, but I wouldn’t let them fall. I wouldn’t let Magella see me cry. I hated her.
She ended up putting a binding spell on me, so that I could not leave the boat. My legs ached from not being able to change into a mermaid’s tail. It was torture. The pain was unending. She even took things to the extreme, not allowing me to fish for her and she would do it herself.
A few days later, I was allowed to go home. And when she pulled up to the dock, I numbly climbed out of the boat and stood before Ivy and my father.
I must have looked horrible, because my father yelled out to Magella, “What have you done? She looks ill! You just wait, Magella—you just wait! Yours is coming.”
Magella paid him no attention and backed her boat out of the bay and disappeared with a cloaking spell.
By this time, half of the town was watching. A large group of people, some old, some young. And while they pointed and whispered, I knew they wouldn’t and couldn’t do anything about it. I’m sure they had just seen Magella’s boat up and disappear.
They feared the Seaforths like no other. But a part of me never did like being different. In the beginning, a part of me had wanted to be normal, just like them. To fit in. When I found out it wasn’t to be so, and that everyone here thought of the Seaforths as something to be feared, something to be alienated from, that was when I decided to turn to the Fae. That was why I had sought them out.
I knew that father had planned to move here to Maine. He never told Ivy this, but I had heard him talking to Granddad and GG Edmund. They had had plans to find Aunt Cora’s fiancé. My father had said that he was moving us here to Maine for good, and leaving our home in New Hampshire.
But that was all in the past now. Let the townsfolk look and laugh and sneer. I’m sure somewhere deep down inside, they wanted to be friends. They sure appreciated my Aunt Clover and Aunt Cora’s cooking. So, that was a good thing.
Ignoring them all, I walked to the car with my father and Ivy. This time, I let Ivy open the door for me. I could barely move.
When we were in the car, Father’s face scrunched up. “Zinnia! What has she done to you? Your—your face is pale, you look like you haven’t eaten in a week.”
It was true. I had eaten very little in the past week. Just enough to stay alive long enough to come and say good-bye to my family.
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I couldn’t answer any of their questions, and I stared straight ahead. When we pulled into Gran’s, Ivy opened my door and yanked on my arm. She said in a pleasant voice, “Come on, Zinnia. Let’s get you inside for some tea.”
My legs ached and so did my heart, but I gave my grandparents a quick hug and tried to smile.
“I think she is in some sort of shock,” Granddad observed. “It’s like…she’s in there, but she can’t talk.”
“Do you suppose Magella put a silencing spell on her?” Gran asked.
At this point, I had to say something. “She didn’t put a silencing spell over me. I will be fine.”
“Oh thank goodness,” Gran said.
However, after I said that, I didn’t speak again. They knew something was wrong. Nevertheless, we drank our tea, and I forced a scone down so that they would stop worrying.
Ivy disappeared upstairs for a few minutes and came back for me. “Zinnia, I have a bath running for you.”
Apparently, I smelled.
“Thank you, Ivy,” I said, and left the kitchen.
Behind me, I heard a cupboard door open and shut, and then Gran said, “Ivy, where are you going with the salt?” And soon Ivy was behind me, following me up the stairs.
I walked into the bathroom and she still followed, shutting the door behind her. I didn’t care. I undressed and got in the oversized claw-foot tub. She averted her eyes, but then she did something that I didn’t expect. She took the box of salt and dumped it in the bath.
“Is this supposed to be a loofah for my skin or something?” I asked, trying to be sarcastic.
“No. But it might help your legs,” she said.
