Seaweed (16 page)

Yes, brother, you are right.
Dex turned to Tor
, You have to take her back. We knew that this could happen when we agreed to let her come.

I wanted to jump up and down and stomp my feet.
Stop talking about me like I’m not here!

All the eyes in the room widened. I didn’t think they all realized I could hear them.

Why am I such a danger?
I demanded
. Why do they want me?

Silence. No one wanted to tell me. Why? Was it really that horrible?

I’ve told her about the legend
, Tor said, finally.

So, then you know about the two clans
, Uncle Dex said,
and the blessing that the clan of Lars missed out on?

I nodded. Little nervous twitches shot through my tail. I wanted to know and I was afraid to know. I waited for someone to tell me. Tor? The king or queen? Or Barney, who appeared suddenly out of the darkness and hovered by the queen’s shoulder?

It was Dex who spoke.

More than anything the clan of Lars wants to be able to go ashore, to be able to dwell among the humans. They hate us because we can and they can’t. Our ability to go on land gives us many advantages, primarily with information and technology. The clan of Rai is like the early land tribe who had fire; it gave them potential and power. All the other tribes would war with that one tribe just to get the fire.

Okay.
So, what does that have to do with me?

Dex shifted his arms uncomfortably. Now I was really nervous.

The only way the tribe of Lars can ever hope to be land dwellers is for their prince to mate with someone who is human. Of course, since they can’t go on land, this can never happen with someone who is fully human. They need a girl who is part human and part merfolk, so that their offspring can share her traits.

Someone like me?

Yes
, Uncle Dex said. I looked at Tor; he found it hard to keep my gaze. This kind of talk was uncomfortable for them.

And they will fight you to get me,
I said, the truth working like a vice grip around my heart. I felt faint.

Kon was right. I had to go. It was the right thing to do, not only for the sake of the clan of Rai, but also, I was finally admitting, for my family in Eastcove.

My heart was crushed. Going home meant being away from Tor, for who knew how long.

I didn’t have a chance to worry about this. A deep voice bellowed from the cave entrance.

On guard!

Kon and Dex quickly moved in front of the king and queen. Kon pulled Shava in behind him. Tor moved in front of me.

What’s going on?
I said to Tor

Cho’s returned and he’s not alone.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Dex swam toward the guards.
Keep them back
, he instructed Kon. Then to Tor.
Don’t let go of her.

I could see through a sliver opening between Dex and the guards. A handful, maybe five or six Larsfolk, treading water like egg beaters. They were the ADHD version of Tor’s clan.

I was freaking out because I knew they wanted me, and now I knew
why
.

There’s only five
, Tor said to Kon.
Why?

They must have had a small pod stationed nearby. They’ve come to see if the spy’s news was true or not.

What will they do?
I moaned.
Will they fight?

Not this time, their numbers are too low,
Tor said.
Besides, they must know the king and queen of Rai are here.

Dex’s voice boomed.
What is your business here?

A high-pitched whiny voice responded.
We want to see the girl.

What girl?

We know there is a girl, neither Lars nor Rai. Our spy provided a strand of hair as proof.

I turned to Tor.
How could they tell by a strand of my hair?
I imagined them examining it through an underwater microscope.

They could smell it.

Smells again? I was going to get a complex.

What did they smell?

Human.

Oh. I didn’t smell like merfolk. I smelled human. I really didn’t belong here.

If there is a girl such as you claim in our midst
, Dex said
, I have no intention of presenting her to you. Therefore, I urge you to leave.

We will not leave until we see her.

Are you declaring war? You are aware that the king and queen of Rai are with us?

This information seemed to shake them. I shot Tor a questioning look.

It is against merfolk rules of war to engage battle directly with royalty, unless their own king or prince declare war first.

Tor turned to Kon.
Is there another way out?

Kon nodded then questioned his parents.

Should I take them?

I believe we are fine for the moment,
King Playo said
. You and Tor remove the girl. Dex and the guards are handling the matter.

Tor squeezed my hand.

The king continued,
You should move on. We’ll find you at the next stop.

Oh, Tor!
The queen reached out for her son, her eyes full of motherly concern
. It’s not safe for you to travel alone right now.

There’s no other way. I’ll be careful Mother, I promise.
Tor kissed her quickly on the cheek.

Then he turned to Shava. Her eyes were wide with fear and, I would dare to say, longing. The look she shared with Tor was like a punch in the gut to me. There was nothing that would keep Shava from pursuing Tor when he returned without me. I was sure of this.

All the stress was causing my lungs to seize up again.

This way
, Kon said. He swam farther into the back regions of the cave. I held tightly to Tor’s hand, praying my eyes would continue to adapt to the growing blackness. I hoped the way out wouldn’t take long. The walls of the cave felt like they were pressing in, and I fought the growing panic of being trapped in dark, closed in spaces.

Tor! I can’t do this. It’s too deep, too dark. My pulse. I can’t breathe.

Hold up, Kon
. Tor stopped and wrapped his arms around me.
Close your eyes, Dori. Count to ten
. I breathed in and out, my eyes pinched close.

Imagine we’re sitting on our rock in Eastcove
.

He called it
our
rock. It was our rock! I felt myself calm as I pictured us sitting there, the wind blowing in our hair. Sidney barking. I let the peace of that image settle over me.

I focused on my gills filling my being with oxygen until I felt light.

I think I’m okay now
, I said.

Good
. Tor took my hand and we followed Kon deeper into the cave tunnel.

There was a system of caves strung together like beads of various sizes. Large cavernous spaces connected to much smaller caves with only room for two. Each was attached by a narrow passage we had to swim through horizontally and in single file.

Okay, I was panicking. It didn’t matter how much I thought about our rock or the fact that my gills did an adequate job of supplying my oxygen requirements, I hated, hated, hated being in tight, dark enclosed places. I hadn’t known that about myself, but I’d never squished myself into a barrel and had someone throw me into the ocean before either.

My mouth was wide open and I knew I was screaming. I squeezed Tor’s hand so tightly, I was sure I must’ve been cutting off his circulation.

He sensed my distress.
Dori? Are you okay?

No, I’m freaking not okay. Get me out of here!
As an afterthought I added
, Please.

How much farther?
Tor said.

We’re almost there
, Kon answered.

Almost there, almost there.

I squeezed my eyes shut and forced myself to picture Eastcove, the beauty of the boats at the pier, the summer energy of the boardwalk. My mind flashed to Becca and Samara doing normal things like lying in the sun and reading magazines. I thought of the endless cycle of school and ordinary school days where nothing was ever new, especially some hot guy. I focused on all the summers before this one that were totally uneventful and boring.

Anything but what I was experiencing now.

I remembered swimming in a nice symmetrical rectangle pool, totally safe, when my only enemy was my swim competition. And sometimes Colby. I thought of his buzz cut and how soothing it was to rub his head.

Tor jerked my arm slightly.

Oh, man, could he tell I was thinking about Colby?

I was overwhelmed by a hollow sense of defeat. My romantic dream of joining my underworld family and swimming away into the sunset with the love of my life was a complete and miserable FAIL.

Honestly, what else could go wrong?

Finally, the darkness brightened slightly. Kon pointed at the exit and came to a full stop.
I’ll see you at the next meeting point, brother.
The earlier animosity he displayed was absent now that he was getting his way.

Thanks for bringing us this far,
Tor said.

Kon nodded goodbye to me and turned back into the blackness of the cave tunnels. That was all the farewell I deserved, seeing the trouble I’d caused in such a short time.

We swam away, and I was relieved to see open water. My lungs were really screaming now.

Tor, I need to surface. Please.

When we broke the surface, I sucked in a deep, ragged breath.

“Just make sure you don’t break the water with your tail,” Tor said–not, are you okay? Or, come here, let me hold you, not anything reassuring.

The wind had picked up and the surface was choppy, splashing waves over my head.

Tor scanned the horizon over my shoulder. “A storm’s brewing.”

Great. More problems.

“We have to keep moving, but we can stay near the surface until you feel up to submerging again.”

The wind whipped up overhead, the waves capping with frothy white tips. Tor’s expression remained stern.

“Let’s keep going.” He was all business now, and I was certain that I had dropped down the ladder of importance for Tor. The question was, how far?

We swam in silence for so long, I’d lost track of time. Maybe it was the gray sky blending with the water, or the noise of the wind overtaking any other sound, or maybe we were just too focused on our destination.

I didn’t see Crazy Jim’s fishing boat until it was too late. And I made the worst possible mistake.

I broke the water with my tail.

Of course Crazy Jim would see that. Not my sailboat yesterday in calm water or me screaming for help, but my tail in stormy weather.

Then I heard a gunshot.

Tor heard it too. He grabbed my hand and pulled me under. Crazy Jim didn’t mean he would catch a
live
mermaid to prove his claims. He meant dead or alive.

Tor pulled me deeper and I breathed hyperactively through my gills, my lungs felt like they’d flattened my chest like heated lead.
Tor! I need to go back up!

We can’t. He’s shooting at us.
Tor placed his hands on both sides of my face.
Look me in the eyes, Dori. You’re breathing. You have gills, just focus on them.

I tried to focus but all I could think about was how stupid I was to think, that after having a tail for less than an hour, I could seamlessly integrate with merfolk and life under the sea.

Dori, we have to keep going
.

I nodded weakly and let Tor guide me.

I wasn’t sure how fast Tor could swim, but even as a mermaid, I couldn’t out swim a boat going full throttle. My only hope was that the rough weather would continue to be our ally, and force Crazy Jim to slow down.