FINNED (The Merworld Water Wars) (23 page)

Once under one of the sparkling tubes, Troy touched a small shell to the rim.

“Hang tight,” he said, grabbing a tighter hold of my hand.

“Whyyyyyy?”

Like little bits of dust trying to resist the suction of a vacuum, Troy and I flew uncontrollably up the tube…and sideways…and diagonally…until we reached room five thousand three hundred and thirty-three.

“Are you okay?”

“How…did I…not puke,” I muttered, after landing flat on my face.

Troy laughed, helped me up, and then slipped the shell through a curvy slit on the door; the slit then disappeared and the door melted away.

“Wow! Look at the view! If a certain apprentice witch could see this, she would totally ditch the bed knob for a merman,” I said, staring over the busy underwater city Troy calls home.

“It’s a good thing I watch a lot of old human movies, otherwise I would never be able to keep up with how your brain references things. How about you take a nap, and I’ll sneak off and pick up your surprise?” said Troy.

“I’m well on my way to winning a gold medal in napping, but you’ve already won the gold in gift giving. You don’t have to get me anything.”

“It’s not so much a ‘have to’ as it is a really strong want.”

“Oh, well, if you must. Present me up!” Troy kissed my forehead and hurried off.

Once he left, I acted like a complete idiot and did some spastic bed jumping. I knew it was time for a nap when I bounced a little too high, slipped off the bed, and pulled my hamstring.

After the most wonderfully relaxing sleep ever, Troy took me down to the hotel dining hall for dinner and dancing. I felt confident walking into the crowded restaurant wearing the flirty bubblegum pink dress Troy bought for me in the hotel boutique. I really need to learn not to get ahead of myself.

Every merp, both Fairhair and Ravenflame, wore everything from appalled to enthralled expressions. To make matters worse, Troy was the only merp using his legs.

“This puts the Eiffel Tower to shame,” I said, gawking at the lavish dining hall, with its views of the city and passing sea life.

“This room is about even with some of the mid-sized buildings around the city, so you get a good view of everything going on around you. It revolves, you know. Oh, um, you don’t get motion sickness, do you?” Troy asked warily.

“Nah. We gaggers reserve our weak stomachs for very special raw fish dishes and, you know, dating.”

After the Ravenflame begrudgingly seated us, I eagerly buried my head behind the menu.

“This is probably the world’s freshest sushi,” I said, reading the menu.

Troy looked crestfallen. “They do crisp ulva and serve it with dressing. It’s a lot like those Caesar salads you always eat.”

“Super. I’ll get that, then.” I did my best impression of a carefree girl. In reality, I knew I would barf all over the table if I had to smell raw—GAG—fish from Troy’s plate.

“Ooh, not the gags. Look, I’ll get the same,” he said, closing his menu.

After a sparse meal of crispy sea lettuce covered in a surprisingly yummy dressing, Troy felt like a dance.

“I think they’re about to play the perfect song for our first underwater dance. Shall we?”

I took his hand as he escorted me to the crystal dance floor. I swear we caused traffic jams among the hundreds of fish traveling beneath our feet; I tried not to think about them staring up my dress. The golden-jacketed merswing band had just started a familiar song.

“
Deep Purple Dreamers
,” I sighed. “My great-grandfather’s song. You remembered. He was the best man I’ve ever known.” The words caught in my throat.

“He’s in your heart. That’s why you still feel him so strongly when you think about him—he’s answering your thoughts through your heart.”

Troy Tombolo just might be prince charming after all. I snuggled against his chest and looked around the dance floor for the first time. You would think we had some highly contagious disease by the way no one danced near us. Wait. I AM the disease—the disease of humanity. One pretty Fairhair literally high tailed—er, finned—it across the room when she saw me.

“We’re the only two with legs. Maybe if you flash your fin, they’ll stop moving away from us. Maybe they don’t know who you are?” I asked hopefully.

Troy grinned. “They know with or without my fin.”

“Oh. Right.” Duh. He’s a prince, idiot!

“We should probably get you to bed. No doubt my sister will drag you all over the city tomorrow.”

“I’m good with leaving,” I said as another couple approached the dance floor, saw me, scoffed, and then zipped away.

I managed to stay on my feet after riding the tubes this time. My hotel room was dark, but for the brilliance of the sparkling city lights.

“Magical night, magical day…there’s a lot of magic going around, but, you know, without actual spells. Thank you, Troy, for my dress, for dinner, for everything,” I said, moving to stare out at the great big blue and all its remarkable inhabitants. “You know, this is just about the prettiest place I’ve ever seen, even in my imagination. Still can’t believe this is happening. I’m thinking I need a pinch,” I said, flipping around to face my merman. “Troy? What’s wrong?”

Troy, with his fin blazing blue and a mini-trident in hand, floated in the middle of my room, poised for attack.

“Someone’s inside,” he growled.

I grabbed my backpack off the bed. “But…I locked the door. Five star accommodations, zero star security. Someone should report this to whoever hands out the stars,” I whispered.

GAH! Loud bangs on the window startled me. Treeva had pulled up in a sleek silver mermobile.

“Troy, they’re after her, Kyle Zale and his clan. She’s not safe here,” Treeva shouted through the window.

“They’re inside, Tree,” said Troy, keeping a steady watch in the room.

“ABOVE YOU!” screamed Treeva.

Kyle Zale and four of his henchmen darted down from the ceiling like missiles. Covering my body with his, Troy pressed me against the window. Kyle and his men fired their trusty tridents, but Troy blocked each ray before sending off a storm of his own. Blue and purple flashes filled the room; the blue ones eventually overtook Kyle and crew, pinning them to the walls with thin blue chords.

“We only have a minute,” said Troy. “Tree, meet us by the window at the end of the hall!”

Treeva whizzed off. Troy pulled me onto his back and soared out of the room and down the hall. As soon as we were in sight of the window, Troy fired his trident, blowing out the glass.

“Where’s Treeva?” I asked.

Before Troy could answer, a purple burst of light barely missed my head. Twisting me around to the front of his body, Troy took aim at the mermen behind us and lunged for the busted window. We soared out of the window and landed in Treeva’s suddenly appearing craft, having barely escaped an enormous amount of purple rays.

“What the hell was that?” I asked. “Mini-tridents actually work? Aren’t tridents only for kings?”

Troy was completely ignoring me.

“Our father has the ocean’s largest trident, next to Poseidon. We didn’t always have a mass market for weapons, but back in the days of the war, families needed to protect themselves from the Ravenflames,” explained Treeva, masterfully driving her mermobile. “So, after discovering the magical qualities of the trident, a brilliant mind replicated them for the masses. Unfortunately, the smaller tridents stuck around, even after the water pact. At least the minis aren’t as powerful or as resilient.”

“Troy, how did you overcome Kyle and his men with a single mini-trident?” I didn’t know whether to be elated over his fighting skills or unnerved. “And how do
you
know how to drive like this?” I asked, flipping back to face Treeva, while white-knuckling the seat.

“She doesn’t drive
that
good,” Troy scoffed.

“
Not
what I asked you.”

“I’ll answer for my brother. As children of the king, we were trained in all levels of defense—weaponry, escape, mental prowess, physical conditioning. With each level we satisfactorily passed, we actually earned special abilities. Damn. They’re coming.”

“I see them,” said Troy, skillfully taking out two of the five mermobiles with a single shot. “Tree, did you sense Kyle again? Is that how you knew to come for us?” he asked, nearly knocking out another of Kyle’s men.

“Sure did. It started just before the two of you left,” she said, doing a complete roll to avoid the deadly strikes.

Troy managed to take out all but Kyle, who continued following us, but did not fire his trident.

“Marina, I used to be engaged to Kyle Zale,” she said, soaring over a succession of floating mermobiles.

“You used to be what with whom?!” I yelped.

“In a nutshell, he once was kind, I loved him, he changed, and I left him…something he has never gotten over. His hate for me is strong…so strong that when it reaches a certain level, I can sense his feelings—what he’s doing, where he’s going, and the like. It’s because…oops,” she said, nearly hitting an ancient mermaid. “Sorry, Granny! Anyway, merps never lose the love they once had for someone. Some have a tiny spot, deep down, where they keep that love. Others defile their love and make it something violent, like Kyle did. My retired love for him will always sense his anger, enabling me to predict his actions.” She zoomed around the toy store on the corner, heading for the archway to the garden. “Wow. Great crowd outside the toy store. Almost home now. Marina, you’ll stay with me. I have plenty of room, and dad won’t have a clue. Not sure why I didn’t think of that before. Must’ve had the ditz-ies.”

“Thanks,” I said, grabbing the ceiling when she made a sharp dive to the left.

“Kyle won’t fire at us,” said Troy, watching him closely.

“Correction,” I said, “he won’t fire at Treeva.”

I could see the faintest of smiles tickling Treeva’s plentiful pink lips. “Even after he disfigured his love for me, the core remains the same…love. We’re past the threshold of the garden. We’re safe.”

I turned in time to see Kyle glaring at us from outside the garden. He looked older than Treeva; perhaps the years of hate had hardened him. He was tall, but broadly built. His shaggy, red-streaked locks hid the darkness beneath his fuming brown eyes. For a moment, I could have sworn I saw something other than hate in his dark eyes, something more befitting of a lonely, longing heart.

Troy placed his hand on my shoulder. “He can’t follow us inside. Castle grounds are protected.”

“By what?”

“No idea,” he said, setting down his trident. “Now, Tree, tell me how in Hades you could afford a model M Tide two-lift-door floatster with disappearing roof?”

“Do you remember that business I told you I was interesting in buying?”

“Yeah, some shop in the city,” said Troy.

“Well, I bought it, and money has tripled since I took over,” she said proudly.

“Thanks for letting me in on the fun,” said Troy glumly.

“Which shop?” I asked.

“The one you call Toys R Merps…Mist’s Toy Emporium. Even kept the name.”

“No way! It’s like the chocolate factory of toys, and you’re its eccentric, but totally loveable owner!” I said.

“You brat,” said Troy, smirking at his sister.

“Why’d you keep the name? Mist is cute, but I’m sure you could have come up with something better, something that’s more you,” I asked.

After a brief pause, Treeva said, “Because Mist was what our dad called our mom.”

Insert foot in mouth.

Chapter Seventeen

Misty Eyed

For the past week, I have lived in a fantasy. Staying with Treeva has been the coolest part of the entire experience; she was literally the best parts of a BFF and a big sister all rolled into one. She made sure I had a wad of ulva daily, helped me use her merpmal (merperson-to-Normal phone) to call Mom throughout the week, and shared a bunch of cute Troy stories from when he was a little merboy. While Troy took care of “obligations,” Treeva dragged me all over the city.

We visited the luxury mermobile showroom where, thanks to Treeva’s dazzling pink fin, the salesman let me test drive the Uprush 570xi. Not even stock car drivers know that kind of speed. She took me to Merlahmega Ridge, the merp equivalent of Rodeo Drive. There, I found a gorgeous starfish hair clip, and Treeva treated herself to some fin frills. I found the sweetest baby dolphin at Merlafa, a sanctuary for premature and underdeveloped aquatic life, and enjoyed petting him until an obnoxious baby whale farted in my face. Nothing compares to the smell of a whale fart.

One of the most fascinating moments was when Treeva took me to a village hidden under the sea’s floor. Sandtala reminded me of a cluster of inverted pyramids; it was quiet, secluded, and home to the friendliest Merpeople in the sea. Not ascribing to the current ways of merps, the Sandtalians maintained an ancient way of living, even speaking prehistoric Mermish. The eldest Sandtalian presented me with an exquisite bracelet crafted from pink mermaid tail to show their acceptance of Normals.

Saturday: The last day of my stay
. Today, I finally get to visit Treeva’s store, but not until after another one of Troy’s mystery meetings. To kill time, Treeva decided to take me to a “special” hideout.

“What do you think? This place is so happening,” she said, holding out her hands, greeting one merperson after the other.

“Happening in a grungy, shabby sort of way,” I commented, looking around the murky, seaweed-covered walls, crumbling coral tables, and grimy floors.

Embedded within a grubby shell wall at the end of a dark alley alongside Treeva’s toy store was The Scaly Fin. For a dump, the all-Fairhair clientele was surprisingly chic and cheerful.

“Hey, Tree! Show us some leg!” yelled a cute merman from the bar area.

Treeva, never one to hold back, gave them some leg and garnered loads of hoots and hollers in the process.

“Tree! Who’ve you brought?” asked a scholarly-type merman.

“Hiya, Nic. This is Marina Valentine, my brother’s human girlfriend,” said Treeva. Everybody in The Scaly Fin bombarded me with words of support and encouragement. “Okay, y’all, settle down. It’s time to get this girl fed! You must be starving. A diet of sea lettuce is hardly food,” said Treeva, sliding into a corner booth.