by Nadia Aguiar
It was only when all the mermaids vanished that Maya saw that what she had thought was one of the large volcanic rocks was in fact a very enormous man sitting cross-legged beside the lagoon. He wasn’t just a very tall man or a very fat man, he was a gigantic man, and he cast a great gulf of shade onto the sand. Sitting down he was still twenty feet tall. He saw Maya and a grin broke out over his broad face. His teeth—several of them gold—were the size of small boulders. Maya realized that he must be the giant that Mathilde had told her about. Maya could hardly believe that he was real. When he lifted his arm a great shadow flew over the trees and sand and water, and as she watched, he picked up a fallen palm tree and, reaching behind him, used it to scratch his back. Maya noticed then that there were fallen palm trees strewn on the sand all around him.
“A visitor,” he said. “How tremendous! Are you with the Peaceful Revolution?”
Maya opened her mouth to speak, but nothing but a squeak came out.
The giant—for he must be the giant—laughed, and his laughter rolled up against the steep hillside above the beach, where it startled several parrots who flew out and coasted in circles over the beach.
“Don’t be afraid,” he said to Maya. “Ladies,” he said. “Be sociable.”
A mermaid surfaced, the water streaming down from her long hair. She looked at Maya curiously. The other mermaid in the lagoon bobbed up beside her.
“I’m Desmond and these are the Seashells,” said the giant. “This is Casmeria and this is Melo Melo. Tellin is out there.” The giant waved his hand toward the sea, creating a wave that rippled across the surface and buffeted the third mermaid, whose head was out of the water, watching Maya from a distance.
“She’s not the friendliest,” said Casmeria.
“Diva,” muttered Melo Melo.
“Ladies,” said the giant warningly. “Pardon us,” he said to Maya. “We’re not used to an audience anymore. Now, are you one of the Sisters of the Peaceful Revolution?”
“Um . . . one of what?” stuttered Maya.
Casmeria looked at Maya sharply. “She’s not!” she said to Desmond.
Maya introduced herself, and frowning, Desmond changed the subject quickly.
“What brings you to us, Maya?” asked the giant. “We never have visitors anymore.”
“Have you come to hear our act?” asked one of the mermaids from the lagoon. Casmeria, Maya thought.
“Um, not exactly,” said Maya timidly.
“Well you should have,” said the mermaid. “We’re the best act in Greater Tamarind.”
“It’s true,” said Desmond. “Or it used to be.”
Maya studied him. His skin was dark and shiny from sitting in the sun all day. His clothes were made up of huge bolts of bright, multicolored fabric stitched together. Now that she was closer, Maya could see that the bits of fabric were actually curtains and carpets and the sails of ships, all things large enough to cover the giant’s vast body. The effect was quite stunning. Sunlight flashed on his gold teeth and the rings he wore on his fingers. Something was hanging around his neck at the end of what looked to be a rope from a ship. After a minute Maya realized that the thing on the end of the rope was a ship’s wheel! A huge ship’s wheel, so big that in a storm it would take two men to turn, was dwarfed on this giant’s chest!
“Where have you come from?” Melo Melo asked.
“Port Town,” said Maya. “But I’m going to Maracairol.”
“By yourself?” asked Casmeria and Melo Melo in amazement. Tellin had swum up to the rocky ledge that separated the lagoon from the sea and she hovered there, watching Maya, too.
Desmond shook his head, frowning. “Not a good idea,” he said. “The road between Port Town and Maracairol is very dangerous. In the old days it was full of people, day and night. But hardly anyone dares to go on it anymore. Sometimes even from here we can see the rebels robbing people on the highway. You’re lucky you made it this far without getting into trouble, but it only gets worse from here on. You can’t keep going.”
“You’d be sold into slavery,” said Melo Melo.
“Or your head would be cut off,” said Casmeria.
“You’d be doomed,” said Tellin.
The giant nodded. “It’s far too risky.”
“But I have to get to Maracairol—I have to!” Maya cried, suddenly distressed.
“Shhh,” soothed the giant. “Don’t cry. It’s bad for your vocal cords. Why do you need to get to Maracairol?”
“My brother and sister are there. They were kidnapped. I have to find them. We were looking for our parents when the pirates . . .”
Maya broke off. She was so tired and hungry and the sun had been beating down on her head all day, and who knew where Simon and Penny were, and it was all her fault that they had been kidnapped. She hadn’t been careful enough. How would she ever explain it to her parents—if she ever even saw them again? Would she ever see anyone in her family again? Maya put her head down and wept sorrowfully.
Melo Melo hopped up on the rock beside Maya and patted her shoulder. The giant leaned forward so his big face was near Maya’s and she was in cool shade for a moment, which was a relief. Even Tellin leaped over the rock divide between the sea and the lagoon and swam over to Maya.
At their prompting, Maya told them everything that had happened since the storm.
“Well,” said Desmond when she finished. “That is some story.”
“I did see a pirate fleet sail past last night,” Tellin said.
Melo Melo tucked a starfish behind Maya’s ear. “You can stay with us,” she said. “We could turn your story into part of our act—we could write a song about you. People would love it.”
“I could choreograph something for it,” said Casmeria, dipping beneath the surface and turning a dizzying series of underwater somersaults.
“Can you sing?” asked Tellin. “If you can’t sing, you can play the drums. Or something.”
“Can you—” began Melo Melo.
“No,” Maya whispered. “Please—stop. I have to get to Maracairol.”
The mermaids fell quiet and looked at her.
“All right, child,” the giant said. “We’ll get you to Maracairol. Tomorrow these girls can tow you there. It’s much quicker by sea and much safer. If you see pirates, you can hide in a cove or sea cave. But not until the morning. You need to rest and eat first. And I don’t want these ladies out late.”
Maya started to protest, but realized that the giant was not about to give in. She supposed that giants seldom had to.
“You can hear our act!” cried one of the mermaids, bursting out of the water and arching her back through the air.
“Yes,” said Desmond. “It will take your mind off things. We’ll give you a good meal, then you can spend the night in the old hotel—” Desmond motioned to the abandoned palm huts behind her.
Maya wiped her eyes, relieved. They would help her tomorrow—if she went by sea she would have a better chance of catching up to the pirates. The mermaids swam off and returned with an overturned turtle shell filled with green kelp and raw oysters and savory fish eggs. It was not exactly Maya’s favorite meal in Tamarind so far, but she did the best she could at chewing the kelp and swallowing the jelly-like eggs. The mermaids swam in long lazy circles underwater, and Maya was left with Desmond.
“Who are the . . .” Maya began to ask. “What did you call them? The Sisters of the Revolution?”
Desmond looked wary for a moment and then he seemed to decide that Maya could be trusted.
“The Sisters of the Peaceful Revolution,” he said, dropping his voice to a whisper. “You’re the right age, so I thought you might be one of them. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions and I should never have mentioned their name—it’s all top secret. They’ve started an underground peace movement in Tamarind. They’re going around the countryside now, into all the towns, trying to get girls and women to join them.” Even whispering, Desmond had a deep, dramatic voice. “
Something is going to happen soon, something big.” He lifted his arms as he spoke, so that huge shadows flew up and down the beach and the sea.
“What?” asked Maya. She had stopped eating and was staring at him. “What’s going to happen?”
Desmond lowered his arms and the shadows fell away.
“I don’t know,” he sighed. “I don’t know. But something.”
Maya wandered off down the beach so that Desmond and the mermaids could rehearse before they performed for her. evening was falling swiftly and the lagoon glowed fiery in the sunset. The mermaids were bickering in the water about part of their routine. From the lagoon came strains of music, now starting, now stopping for the giant to call an order to the mermaids.
“Tighten the strings, Tellin. Casmeria, you’re coming in too late after Mel.”
The mermaids dissolved into petty squabbling. Maya heard splashing as one of their tails beat the surface of the water. The others shrieked in outrage. The skirmish was interrupted by a long, loud bellow that seemed to make the blades of grass vibrate on the hills and send a shiver over the water. It echoed off the tall hills, blue now above the beach, and when it ended, the mermaids had fallen silent and there was no sound but the gentle lap of water against the shore. Maya glanced behind her and saw the giant put down a large conch shell.
“Maya!” called Desmond. “We’re ready for you.”
Maya jogged back to the lagoon. Desmond motioned her to sit on a crop of rocks facing the water.
“We put together a show for you!” said Melo Melo. “It’s a variation of the last act we used to do. People used to love it— that’s why we’d save it for the end.”
“I still can’t believe we’re doing all this for just one person,” grumbled Tellin. “What kind of a comeback is this?” She slapped her tail viciously on the water, then sighed. She turned over in the water and looked up at Maya. “This place used to be packed,” she said. “Especially for the weekend shows. People used to come from all over Tamarind to see me.”
“To see us,” corrected Melo Melo.
“I was the star,” said Tellin, turning to glare at Melo Melo. Then she looked back up at Maya. “I was the star,” she repeated. “They loved me. And now—no one!”
“Until tonight!” cried Casmeria.
“We’re so glad you’re here,” said Melo Melo soothingly.
The last of the daylight was gone, the moon had risen, and the hillside above the beach was dark. Desmond began to tap on the hulls of the overturned ships, making a soft echoey thud of drums. Maya sat back from the lagoon a little and watched as the mermaids swam to the other end of the lagoon and finished fussing with the shells in their hair. As the rhythm on the ship drums picked up, they slipped back underwater and began to follow each other in a swift circle underwater.
The mermaids moved faster and faster until they became a living green ring, spinning like quicksilver in the moonlight. It was hypnotizing. Desmond beat the drums louder and louder and the circle spun faster and faster until one by one the mermaids shot out of the water and high into the air, the moonlight radiant on their green scales. Silvery droplets of water sprang off them and hung suspended in the air for a moment before splashing back into the lagoon like chimes. The mermaids arched their bodies in the air and dove soundlessly beneath the surface.
When they appeared again they began a strange, magical ballet, half in the water and half in the air. Sometimes they moved in unison, sometimes they separated into independent parts, like pieces of a clock. They snapped oyster shells together as if they were castanets and they blew through conches, adding a breathy whistling to the beating of the drums. Desmond occasionally turned from the drums for a moment to play a xylophone made from the skeleton of a whale, and he sang, his voice rich and deep as thunder.
At one point the music suddenly became soft and the mermaids vanished below the surface, and Maya held her breath. Then there was the faint shimmer of the moon on their scales from deep in the lagoon and a movement in the water and they were up in the air again, majestic and powerful. Maya, the moonlight shining on her own face, thought there was nothing so eerie and beautiful and strong as the sight of the mermaids leaping in the air. As she watched them, she temporarily forgot her troubles. And then, just like that, the music stopped and the creatures slipped back into their element. The surface of the lagoon settled and became so still that it reflected the stars and the sky.
The mermaids popped up at the other end of the lagoon a few moments later and began swimming back toward her. Maya stood and clapped as hard as she could.
“That was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen!” she said passionately. “Thank you.”
The mermaids were smiling, even Tellin.
“Thank you,” said Melo Melo. “That was wonderful for us. We haven’t had an audience in so many years.”
“The road from Port Town to Maracairol used to be called Music Road, you know,” said Desmond. “And there were other musician giants and their mermaids all over Tamarind. One day people will come back. They won’t be able to help themselves. People need music and dance and beautiful things. They forget sometimes, but never forever. You’ll see. One day this will be a magical place again. With music and dance and good times and people celebrating.”
Maya was very tired and her heart felt full of many things as she lay down in the palm hut that night. Through the open doorway she could see down to the lagoon, where the giant looked like one of the enormous volcanic rocks jutting up from the sea. His deep, gentle voice crooned a low, sweet song. It lulled Maya to sleep.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Mermaid Chariot * A Strange New City *
Pursued by a Black Sedan * “You!”
In the morning Maya ran down to the lagoon, the sand cool under her feet. The giant and the mermaids were already waiting. The mermaids had cobbled together a sturdy raft made of bamboo and driftwood, tied with locks of their own hair. Proudly, they pushed it out over the water for Maya to see. Maya stepped onto it and sat there, bobbing in the water.
“We have a gift for you,” said Desmond.
Casmeria handed a beautiful white conch shell to Maya.
“If you ever need us you just use the conch as a horn and we’ll come,” Casmeria said. “Three bellows—one short and two long. Got it?”
“Got it,” said Maya. “Thank you.” She tucked the conch shell into her backpack with the logbook. The mermaids harnessed themselves to the raft and began to tow Maya away.
“Bring your brother and sister back here to see us one day!” Desmond called.
The giant waved farewell and a shadow flew over the water. When it lifted, Desmond was lost around a curve of the coast and the green sea was bright and sparkling.
Maya had been watching the lush coast slip by for hours when Tellin finally said, “This is as close as we can go.” The mermaids brought the raft into a rocky cove. “If you walk up to the road, Maracairol is just around the bend.”
Maya boosted herself onto the rocks and then turned around to face the mermaids.
“Thank you,” she said sincerely. Beneath the water she could see their beautiful long tails swaying in the current. She climbed up the hill to the road. At the top she turned to wave.
Melo Melo was out by the reef line and as Maya watched, Casmeria and Tellin surfaced, too. When they saw her waving they leaped out of the water, the sun bouncing off their scales, and made a series of spectacular dives. Maya waved furiously. Then they were gone and she was alone again. The road was hard-packed coral, snaking pink around the curves of the coast. Except for the sizzle of waves breaking around the cliffs there was no noise—no birdsong or buzz of insects. The silence was unnerving and Maya felt nervous and alert.
Before long, she rounded a corner and saw the city below her. It was not like Port Town. There were a few tin roofs here and there, shining like coins dropped from a hole in a pocket, but most of the buildings were made of white stone. Ruined castles stood
on the highest parts of the hills. As she got closer, Maya could see that vines hung from the open windows of the towers and blew gently in the breeze. Ragged flags were everywhere—billowing from the spires of the castles and fluttering in the garden squares in the city center. Maya made her way through the deserted streets to the harbor and saw with dismay that it was empty. The fleet was nowhere in sight. There were only a few crusty old fishing boats.
Simon and Penny weren’t here.
Maya’s heart dropped a little but she told herself the pirate ships probably didn’t dock in plain view, but would be around the coast in some hidden cove.
There was an old woman wheeling a cart full of cabbages on the path ahead of her—the only person Maya had yet seen—and Maya ran to catch up with her and ask her if she knew where the fleet was.
“Yes,” the old woman said. “The ships all set sail last night. They’re going to Bembao.”
Despair welled in Maya’s heart. “Where is Bembao?” she asked.
“Oh, far!” the woman replied. “Far, far, far. I’ve never been there. I don’t know anyone who has. It’s in the North, just over the border. There’s going to be a big battle, you know.”
