Real Mermaids Don't Sell Seashells (14 page)

Thankfully, Macy and Nick were happy to trade their extra Taylor 'n Tyler tickets for a personalized autograph, so things were starting to come together.

That night, we had an early dinner with the Martins at a diner by the pier, so that afterward we could walk to the concert at the Wonderment cruise ship, which was docked a half mile or so away.

“Oh, before I forget—here,” Cori said as our parents went to pay the bill. She hunted in her bag and pulled out three badges on strings and handed them to Luke, Trey, and me.

“What are these?” I asked, but I had a feeling I should know since the string looked so familiar.

“The Taylor 'n Tyler ticket passes,” Cori replied.

I studied the passes. The cards had the concert information along with a Wonderment Cruiselines emblem and a black magnetic strip on the back.

“What's with the strip thingy?” I asked.

“It's a security thing. We probably need to swipe the cards to get on the ship,” Cori replied. “We had the same kind of passes on our Alaskan cruise.”

“Oh!” I said in realization, dangling the pass from its neon blue string. “This is so weird!”

“What?” Luke asked.

“The string on this badge,” I said, holding it up. “It's the same type of string I found in Dillon's speedboat at the shipyard the other day. Look—” I showed Cori— “it has the same metal clip.”

“Why would Dillon have a string from a Taylor 'n Tyler concert pass?” Luke asked.

“Not a concert pass but maybe he has a ship pass,” I said. “Cori, you heard Kiki say how badly he wanted to get on the ship. What if he swiped a pass from someone?”

“Rayelle's mom
did
say he got caught pickpocketing at the market once,” Cori said thoughtfully.

“Yeah, but it doesn't take four days to look around a ship,” Luke said. “So, why is he still missing? That doesn't make any sense.”

“Nothing about this situation makes sense—all the more reason to get on that ship to see what the heck is going on,” I said, stashing the concert pass in my bag.

“Then let's bounce,” Trey said.

We joined our parents at the cash register to say good-bye.

“Say hi to my mom and dad when you guys meet up at the comedy club,” Cori said.

“We will, sweetie,” Mom said. “You guys have fun but be careful.”

“Don't worry,” I said. “Between two fourteen-year-olds, a fifteen-year-old, and a sixteen-year-old, it's like we're practically as responsible as a senior citizen.”

“Hey, don't let Gran hear you say that!” Dad said with a laugh.

“Here, take my phone and stick together,” Mr. Martin said. He reached into his pocket and handed his phone to Trey. “We'll come meet you in a cab once the concert's done, but call if you need anything.”

We said our good-byes and headed down the waterfront to where the Wonderment cruise ship was docked. I wasn't sure what we'd find out about Dillon once we got there, maybe nothing, but all the clues we had so far pointed to that ship.

Along the way, Cori kept dropping hints to Trey about how Taylor 'n Tyler did the soundtrack to an upcoming romantic comedy, but he was engrossed in a game of Angry Birds on his dad's phone.

“So, I was thinking maybe we could all go to the movie when we get back home,” Cori said.

“Ohhhh! That was close!” Trey exclaimed, staring at the phone's screen.

“That's
it
.” Cori stopped dead in her tracks.

“What?” Trey asked, looking up from the phone to see what was going on.

Luke and I glanced at each other, preparing ourselves for whatever wrath Cori was about to unleash on Trey.

“First you ruin a perfect moonlit walk on the beach, then you wreck a potentially romantic stroll around the marina, and now you can't stop playing on that stupid phone long enough to have a normal conversation with your girlfriend?” Cori asked.

“But—” Trey started, looking completely confused.

“You, Trey Martin, have no clue when it comes to being a boyfriend. Right, Jade?” She turned to me.

I cringed, not knowing what to do.

Trey finally found his voice.

“Well, maybe your definition of ‘boyfriend' is a little whacked,” he said.

“Whacked? Is it whacked to want a little romance?” Cori asked, her eyes welling with tears as she stalked away.

I dropped Luke's hand and jogged ahead to Cori's side to put an arm around her.

Trey called after her. “Not when ‘romance' means comparing me to all those guys in your teen magazines.” I looked over my shoulder and saw him turn to Luke. “Back me up here, bro!”

Luke looked from me to Trey.

“Come on,” Luke said, slapping his brother on the back. “Let's just get to the concert.”

We walked in silence for a while, with Cori and I up ahead and Luke and Trey lingering behind. If this was how it was going to be with Trey and Cori, what did that mean for Luke and me? I could see Cori's point, but was it fair to fault Trey for just being Trey? Was there a right and a wrong side to all this?

We were almost at the ship and I could hear music pumping from the upper deck, making my ears ring. Or was that another kind of ring?

Help…

I spun around, looking to see if Luke was talking to me, but his face was just as confused as I felt.

Help…

“Are those the dolphins again?” I asked Luke.

“I'm not sure,” Luke said.

“What are you guys talking about?” Cori asked.

“A ringing sound,” I said, straining to hear.

“Don't forget us mere mortals,” Trey joked. “You mind clueing us in?”

I looked around to make sure it was safe to speak. A couple strolled a few dozen feet ahead and a family with a dog played in a nearby park with their backs turned to us, but other than that, the coast was clear.

“Luke and I can hear something calling for help in the water down there.” I looked into the harbor to see if I could spot anything. There were no signs of dolphins as far as I could tell, yet the ringing continued. I turned to the others.

“You're getting that look in your eyes again,” Luke said.

He was right. It was like one of those ancient mer laws that forced mers to help people in need, but this time it wasn't a human who needed me. Was it a dolphin? Another mer? Something else? I had to find out what was happening down there and see if I could help. “There's something wrong.”

I looked along the dock for a place to climb down into the water then ran toward a ladder.

“Jade!” Cori called after me. “Not this again. You can't go chasing after every stray dolphin in the ocean.”

“That's just it,” I said as I flicked off my flip-flops, ditched my bag, and made my way down the ladder into the water. Thankfully, I'd worn a sundress with pockets, so I disrobed from the waist down and slipped my unmentionables in my pocket before anyone could notice what I was doing. “I'm not sure this is a dolphin.”

“Okay, okay. I'll hold your bag,” Cori said, clutching it to her chest.

“And we'll be your lookouts,” Luke said as he and Trey sat on the side of the pier, their backs to the pillar.

“Thanks, guys.”

I dove into the water and tried to sense the sound, but I couldn't hear the ringing just then. After a couple of deep breaths of water, I was tail-ified and swimming deep into the harbor to see what I could see.

Help
, the voice came again. It was definitely not a dolphin.

Hello
? I called out, trying to swim in the direction of the sound.

Then I saw him a few dozen feet underwater. A mer about Dad's age at the base of one of the dock's vertical pillars, with a green backpack at his side.

I could hear several dolphins now, off in the distance. They were staying away, probably because of the double whammy of mers in their midst. This was the other mer the dolphin had talked about the night before! It had to be.

Are
you
okay?
I said as I reached him.

Who…who's there? Where did you come from?
The mer blinked quickly and stared past me through the water.

My
name
is
Jade. Is there something wrong with your eyes?
I asked.

I
can't see you.
His face creased into a pained expression.

You're blind?
I asked.
How
can
you
survive
underwater
if
you
can't see?

My
sight
has
been
getting
worse
and
worse
since
I
was
forced
underwater
with
this
thing.
He reached out and searched through the water until his hand rested on the backpack beside him.
At
first, I could see in shadows but now everything is dark.

What
do
you
mean? Who forced you underwater?
I asked. Whoever it was, it must be a human to have access to a backpack. The mer uttered the next few words in low, garbled rings, as if trying to make sense of his situation.

No
hair.
He let go of the backpack and touched his face.
Goatee.

Bald with a goatee. The guy we saw at the marina?

Wait
a
second, how do you know the word “goatee”?
I rang to the merman. That's when I noticed he didn't have long hair and a beard like all the other mermen I knew.
Are
you
a
Webbed
One?

Yes. My name is Henry.
The merman forced out the next few sentences.
That
bald
man
found
out
my
secret
back
in
Florida
and
kidnapped
me. He forced me onto a ship and threatened to hurt my family unless I helped him smuggle this bag onto the island.

How
long
have
you
been
underwater
like
this?
I asked.

Four
days, I think
, Henry replied.
It
feels
like
forever.

I did the reverse engineering on that and realized Henry had been stuck underwater since Monday. The same day we arrived in the Bahamas and I met Dillon at the Straw Market. My mind worked to connect the dots on everything that must have happened since then.

Did
this
guy
toss
you
into
the
water
from
the
ship's porthole?
I asked on a hunch.

Henry nodded.

So, that body Dillon and I saw being thrown overboard from the cruise ship wasn't a body at all. It was a mer! A mer with a backpack.

I
was
supposed
to
deliver
this
backpack
to
a
yellow
hook
below
a
place
called
Señor Frog's so the bald guy's customer could pick it up
, Henry rang, rubbing his eyes.
But
as
soon
as
I
hit
the
water, my eyesight went bad and I couldn't find the drop-off.

He explained how the blindness was the reason he became a Webbed One in the first place. It reminded me of how my old boss Bridget was given Land Status because of a tail condition called scaliosis. She couldn't survive in the ocean as a mer because her tail would swell to the point that she couldn't swim.

I'm supposed to meet the bald man at the marina once I make the delivery, so he can take me back to my family in Florida, but I can't find the marina either.
Henry blinked again.
I've been staying close to the ship ever since, so I don't get lost.

So Baldie from the marina and Baldie from the porthole
were
the same guy. And that's why he'd been at the marina the night before. He was looking for Henry, trying to figure out what happened to his package.

I
thought
for
sure
he
was
leaving
me
behind
when
the
ship
left
port
the
other
day,
so
I
tried
to
follow
it
back
to
Florida
when
I
could
at
least
see
shadows, but it only led me back here
, Henry continued.
Now
I
can't see anything.