“I don’t know yet.” I wrapped the tissue fully around the bottle and lay a hand on Conway’s elbow. “I’m sorry about your sister. I will find out what happened to her. You must leave this area now. I want to examine it fully.”
Conway looked back at Nerita and tears escaped from his eyes. “I can’t leave her lying here on her own.” He blinked rapidly. “Father. What will I tell Father? His heart will break when he hears about Nerita. What will we do without her?” His voice caught in his throat and more tears flowed down his face.
I gently steered him out of the cave. The crowd of merpeople moved to one side and their heads hung low. As I walked through them, I was dismayed to see many footprints in the sand. That wouldn’t help my investigation at all.
Isla came rushing towards him. She pulled him into her embrace and patted his back. “Conway, I’ve just heard the terrible news. You poor thing. You must stay strong at this awful time. You have to be in control. Your people need you to be strong. You must take over Nerita’s duties and obligations immediately.”
Conway untangled himself. “Isla, I can’t think about things like that now.”
She stared intensely into his eyes. “You have to. You have to think about the future. Your sister has gone. Your father is too old to do anything any longer. You have to accept your responsibilities. Don’t worry, I will help you. I’ll be right at your side.” She placed her hand on the sparkling comb in her hair and patted it. “It’s time for us to think about our future. I’ll deal with things now. You must go and talk to your father immediately.” She led him away from me and pushed him in the direction of the sea.
Conway looked too shocked to argue with her. His head was low as he dragged his feet towards the sea. Isla watched him go and then walked towards the cave.
I jogged after him and said, “I can speak to your father if you like? Ask him to come here and I’ll reassure him that I’m looking into how Nerita died.”
Conway’s voice held no emotion as he said, “I can’t do that. Father never leaves the sea. I’ll be alright. I have to be.” He didn’t look my way as he walked slowly into the water.
I heard raised voices behind me and quickly returned to the cave. Isla had her hands on her hips and was glowering at the sobbing merpeople in front of her.
Isla ordered, “Don’t stand there crying. There’s work to be done. I’m in charge now until Conway’s sorted himself out.”
I moved in front of Isla and said, “This is a time for grieving. I don’t know how your ruling system works, but I do know that I have authority over your people.” My voice wavered. Was that right? Or did I just have authority when it came to justice work?
Isla looked unsure at my words. I steadied my gaze and tried to look as serious as I could.
Isla folded her arms. “How long are they going to take to grieve? There’s business to attend to.”
“That can wait. I’m investigating Nerita’s death and that could take a while. I’ll be interviewing everyone.” I noticed Isla’s gaze slipping to the left. I added, “Including you. Where were you at the time of Nerita’s death?”
Isla looked back at me. “I don’t know. What time did she die?”
I paused and then admitted the truth. “I don’t know yet. I’ll ask you again when I do know. Did Nerita have any enemies?”
“Yeah, plenty. Me included. She was a bossy mermaid who ordered everyone around. She tried to take over King Taron’s job before he was ready to retire. Conway would have done a better job of ruling our people. I told Nerita that many times. I told her to share her duties with him, but she never listened to me.” She patted the comb in her hair again. “Conway will be taking over now. As his future wife, I’ll be helping him. Have you got any more questions for me? I want to see if Conway’s told his father yet. I’ve got plans for my people and this beach.”
“Your people?” I felt my eyebrows rising in surprise.
Isla let out a nervous laugh. “Oops. I’m getting ahead of myself. Can I go? Everyone else has gone back to the sea.”
I looked over my shoulder to see she was right. The merpeople had all returned to the sea. Heck. I hadn’t taken the opportunity to make a list of their names. I really must hone up on my investigation skills.
Isla was already halfway down the sand when I looked back. I sighed. I’d catch up with her later.
Gia came floating over the sand with a roll of ribbon in her hand. She said sadly, “I thought you might need this to cordon the cave off. Your mum used it sometimes when she was investigating an injustice. Would you like me to help you put it up? I’ve also brought a sign that your mum used.”
I looked at the sign that Gia took from her pocket. I had letters and cards at home which Mum had written to me so I recognised her handwriting. The sign told creatures of all species to keep away from the cordoned-off area. There was a polite thank you on the end of the sign which made me smile.
Once the cave had been secured, I asked Gia about Nerita and whether she had any enemies.
Gia said, “I wouldn’t say enemies as such. She was a strong-willed mermaid who was determined to do her job well. She took her responsibilities seriously and a lot of merpeople didn’t like that. Especially Isla. Nerita often gave her security work to do at the outer boundaries of the sea. There are a few krakens and sea serpents out there who don’t obey the rules and like to cause havoc. The merpeople have to keep them in check. Isla didn’t like that kind of work and preferred sunning herself on the beach with her friends.”
I told Gia about the water bottle and added, “I’m going to get the water analysed. How easy would it be for someone to put pure water in a saltwater bottle?”
“I suppose it would be easy enough for someone to do that as I have a tap of clear water on that wall behind my café.” She pointed towards a small wall which had a silver tap halfway up it. “There’s a warning sign above it and all the merpeople know to keep away from it. Even a drop of pure water could hurt them. If someone did put pure water in that bottle, I don’t think it would be a merperson because they would put themselves at considerable risk by going near that tap.”
Jeremy came jogging across the sand to us. He said, “I’ve sent a message to the doctor. I’ve already received a reply to say she’s on her way.”
“Thank you.” I looked towards the sea. “I’d really like to speak to Nerita’s father. Do you think he could be persuaded to come onto the beach?”
Gia shook her head. “No. But you can go to his palace, can’t you? Your mum used to do that when needed. She used magic on herself so she could breathe underwater.”
Jeremy clicked his fingers. “The underwater spell! Of course. I know how to do that. Cassia, do you want to give it a go? You might feel as if you’re about to drown, but that feeling should pass eventually.” He gave me a big smile of encouragement. “And if you do actually start to drown, I’ll pull you to safety.”
I looked down at Stanley. He said, “I’m not going back into the water. Those grindylows will be after me again.” He lifted his chin and I saw the slight tremble there. “Unless you want me to go with you? I can do that. If you really want me to.”
I picked him up and cuddled him. “I won’t ask you to do that. You stay here while I go in the water with Jeremy.”
Gia held her arms out. “I can look after Stanley. I made far too much fish ice cream earlier. It needs using up.”
Stanley said, “Thank you, but I think I need to be brave and help Cassia.”
I passed Stanley over to Gia and said, “Stanley, you don’t have to do that. You stay here and keep dry. I’ll be back soon.”
Stanley looked at me for a moment and then said, “Okay. Don’t be long. Take care. Please don’t drown.”
“I won’t.” I stroked Stanley’s head and gave him a reassuring smile.
Jeremy led me to the water’s edge. He rolled his sleeves up and said, “I hope I’ve got the right words. Your mum used to say the words and I wasn’t always pay
ing attention when she performed this spell.” He pressed his lips together, thought for a while and then nodded. “Yes, I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
Chapter 10
Jeremy mumbled something and then waved his arms over himself and me. He tutted, shook his head and muttered something about that being a spell for everlasting sleep. He started with his mumblings again and flapped his arms in my direction. My confidence in his spell casting capabilities decreased by the second.
Jeremy eventually gave me a satisfied nod. “That should do. By the way, are you a strong swimmer?”
“Not really. Just average, I suppose.”
“Ah. But you can float? You must be able to float. Everyone can float. Can’t they?” He grinned at me. “Let’s give this a go.” He made a move towards the water.
I pulled at my T-shirt. “What do we do about our clothes? Will they stay dry or should I take some items off?”
“They won’t stay dry, but you can strip down to your underwear if you like?”
With one thing and another, I hadn’t had the opportunity to do a full wash of my clothes and I was now down to the underwear which had seen many better days. I was wearing my slightly grey, slightly baggy underwear now, and no one needed to see that.
I shook my head at Jeremy. “I don’t mind them getting wet. I can use my magic drying hands on myself afterwards.” I almost felt like adding ‘if we survive’ but I didn’t want to upset Jeremy.
I took my shoes and socks off before following Jeremy as I didn’t want them weighing me down. As I did so, I said, “What’s going to happen to us? How are we going to breathe underwater?”
Jeremy moved his hand over my head and face. “There’s an invisible barrier here. It continually fills with fresh air. It’s like one of those old-fashioned diving helmets that people used to wear, but it’s lighter and much more efficient. Just breathe normally when we go under the water. The worst thing you can do is panic.”
“Okay.” My heart was already thudding in my chest and panic was settling in my stomach and getting ready to grow. I took some deep breaths before moving further into the warm water. I reminded myself why I was doing this. There had been a murder and it was my responsibility to find the creature who had committed it.
Jeremy walked briskly forwards and dipped under the water. I followed him and as I fully submerged myself, I started to swim. My instinct was to hold my breath, but I forced myself to breathe normally. It wasn’t an easy thing to do and my mind was telling me to get back out of the water.
Jeremy looked over his shoulder at me and said, “How are you doing? Are you breathing normally? Speak to me. That will show me that your breathing is normal.”
I opened my mouth to talk and fully expected water to come rushing in. It didn’t, but I did get a waft of cold air coming in. I said, “I think I’m okay. How long does this spell last?”
“A good hour or so.” He smiled. “I wasn’t sure I had the right words for this spell. I surprised myself! Follow me. I know where King Taron lives.”
I swam downwards. Now that I’d got used to breathing underwater, I started to look around me at the beautiful sea creatures swimming along. I saw multi-coloured seahorses bobbing next to me. Fish of all colours darted around me as if they were in a rush to get somewhere. Crabs scrabbled over rocks beneath me and a starfish was trying to hide behind a piece of pink coral. Seaweed drifted on the current and gently curled around my hand.
Jeremy shouted, “Cassia! The grindylows have got you!”
The seaweed on my hand tightened and I was pulled to one side. I saw that the seaweed was actually a small green creature. It had an impish face with wide, blue eyes and a cheeky smile. Its limbs were long and floaty giving the impression of loose seaweed. Another grindylow was behind that one and it reached out a green hand to me.
“Come and play with us,” the first grindylow said in a childlike voice. “We want to play. We want to talk to you.”
I tried to pull my hand free. “No, thank you. I don’t have time to play.”
The smile fell from the grindylow’s face. “But I want to tell you something. Come and play with us.”
Jeremy darted to my side and raised his hands at the little creatures. “Be gone!” he boomed. “Now!”
The grindylows yelped and swiftly turned away from us. They swam away and I could have sworn I heard them crying. They sounded like children.
“Jeremy, you didn’t have to shout at them. You scared them.”
“You don’t know what they’re like. They’ll trick you into playing games down here until your air runs out.”
“But they said they had something to tell me. It could have been something important.”
Jeremy shook his head. “It’s a trick to get you to go with them. Come on; we’re not far from King Taron’s palace now.”
I cast a glance at the retreating grindylows before swimming away. I hadn’t got the feeling they were trying to trick me. I turned my attention back to Jeremy and had to increase my speed to keep up with him.
Even though we were swimming into the depths of the sea, the sun’s rays still made their way through the water and lit up everything around us. I was thankful for that as I didn’t fancy swimming through dark waters.
Jeremy stopped swimming and pointed to the structure in front of us.
I gasped. It was a real palace. A real sunken palace. It was made of white marble columns and a marble roof. It looked like an old Greek palace. There were elaborate steps surrounding it and many sea creatures had taken up residence on the steps.
I said to Jeremy, “How did this get down here?”
“I’m not sure. It’s been here for thousands of years, just like the merpeople have. Let’s go inside.”
We swam between the columns and came to an open room. I spotted a huge, white chair at the back of the room on a small, marble platform. A merman was sitting in the chair and staring silently into the distance. As we got closer, I saw his resemblance to Nerita and Conway in his facial features. The merman had long, flowing hair which matched his long beard which moved gently on the sea’s currents. There was an immense sadness in his eyes.
He looked our way and raised a hand slowly in greeting. “Cassia Winter? Is that you? Come closer. I thought for a second you were Rosalyn. You look so like her.” He let out a heavy sigh. “You know the pain of losing someone, and now, so do I.”
I swam over to King Taron and settled on the floor in front of him. I moved my hands gently at my side to stop myself from floating away.
I said, “I’m so sorry about Nerita. I will find out what happened to her.” I paused before adding, “If she was murdered, I’ll find the murderer.”
King Taron gave me a slow nod. “I know you will. I have every faith in your abilities as a justice witch. I was good friends with Rosalyn. We shared many good swims together. I’m glad you’ve come to see me. I haven’t been up to the surface of the sea for years. I’m not strong enough to do so these days.” He sighed again. “I’m not strong enough to do much now. I was getting ready to hand my royal responsibilities over to Nerita.”
“Will Conway take over now?” I asked.
“He’ll have to. However, I don’t think he’s quite ready to do that.” King Taron gave me a wry smile. “But I think his betrothed is ready. Have you met Isla yet?”
“I have. I hope you don’t mind me asking you questions so soon after your loss, but I’d like to get on with my investigation quickly. Can I ask how you get on with Isla, please?”
“Well enough,” King Taron said. “I like ambition in a mermaid and Isla has more than her fair share of it. Nerita also had ambition and often clashed with Isla. I suppose you’re going to ask me if Nerita had any enemies.”
I nodded. “I’ve already heard that she upset your people by the way she spoke to them.”
King Taron let out a short laugh. “She did! She was abrupt, that’s for sure. But she got results. She was a wonderful organiser. Once she set her m
ind on something, she’d see it through to the end. Our community was the most important thing in her life. She was extremely protective of our people and would go out of her way to keep everyone safe.”
“What do you mean by that?” I asked.
“There are other merpeople communities out there who are jealous of our Brimstone way of life. Nerita has seen a couple of their leaders getting too close to our borders now and again. She had fierce words with them and warned them off. I suspect those same leaders were bothering her again recently because Nerita kept disappearing for hours on end these last few weeks. When I asked her about it, she said it was nothing important, and that she was dealing with it.” He hesitated before continuing, “I know about the sirens disappearing. Nerita tried to keep that from me, but I’ve been king for a long time and I have many loyal subjects. One of the older vampire squids told me about their disappearance last week. I was waiting to get Nerita on her own to talk to her about the sirens. Alas, I didn’t get the chance.”
I asked, “What do you know about the sirens disappearing?”
King Taron gave me a long look before answering, “Nerita had something to do with their disappearance. A week ago, I overheard her talking to the leader of the sirens about a mission in another land. I thought she was getting ready to go into battle with another community of merpeople. I asked her about it afterwards, but she said I must have misheard her and that she had no plans to go into battle with anyone or to enter another land. I knew she was lying, but I couldn’t get her to admit the truth.”
“Do you think someone from another community could have caused her harm?”
“It’s possible. She made many enemies with the other communities.” He sighed heavily. “It’s possible one of the leaders wanted Nerita out of the way for some reason. What that reason was, I don’t know.”
Brimstone Witch Mysteries - Box Set 2 Page 21
