FINNED (The Merworld Water Wars) (30 page)

“You are two minutes late!” squealed Airianna.

“Sorry. Unexpected delay. Um, hello G.I. Bob. What are you wearing?” I asked, eyeing Bobby’s camouflage garb.

“The back alley rascal who sold me this ensemble said one cannot be too prepared for a night of criminal activity,” he said, slipping on his night vision goggles. “I figure if anyone would know…”

“All right then. Are we ready to go?” I asked, trying hard not to laugh.

“All set,” said Mrs. Waterberry. “Marina, you have everything? You made your list?”

“And checked it twice. I OC’d the heck outta the D.”

“Good,” she said, handing Bobby a pair of car keys. “Bobby, go on ahead. Park the car on the leftmost side of Pallamay road. Head to the lookout point on Granbury Hill. Here, y’all will need these.” She handed each of us a pair of blue starfish clips. “Clip them on the rims of your ears now.”

We did as she said, and, to only my surprise, the clips molded to the shape of my ears.

“You okay, Marina?” Airianna asked sweetly.

“It feels weird…and now my ears look like they’ve been smurfified.”

“Easiest way to communicate. If one fails, you have a second. They will only last for two hours, so you have to get this mission done by eleven,” said Mrs. Waterberry, carefully placing a pair on her ears. “I’ll be able to hear everything and help guide you if necessary. Consider me your backup.”

“Thanks,” I said. “Bobby, we’ll meet you by the car at eleven.”

“Right,” he said, struggling to get in the car with his heavy costume.

“Honestly, that boy! Marina, do you have the map of the mansion’s underbelly?” asked Mrs. Waterberry, snapping her fingers at something down the alley.

“Yep, got it.”

“Two of my friends will get you to the underbelly’s entrance,” she said, waving towards nothing.

“I don’t see anything,” I said.

“Exactly,” said Mrs. Waterberry, affectionately petting the empty air.

“They’re invisible seahorses!” yelped Airianna. “Aw, I thought they were all slaughtered in the war!”

“All but four. These two are mine. Geaux and Beaux. Airianna, you jump on Geaux here, and, Marina, you take Beaux.”

“Um, how? I can’t see it,” I said, more than a little befuddled.

“Oh, it’s easy as lobster on snail shell, Marina! Just reach for their guardian ribbon, right near the base of their neck. Once you feel it, clasp your hands around it, and you’ll see them,” said Airianna, giddily reaching for hers, which she found with ease. With one graceful leap, Airianna took her mount.

“Still feel like Velma without her glasses, Airi,” I said, watching her sit on air.

“Well, of course, silly. You can’t see mine, only yours,” she said, stroking and cooing at the invisible seahorse beneath her.

“Give it a go, Marina. Beaux is as steady as she is brave,” said Mrs. Waterberry, placing a tender hand upon nothing.

Moving towards the area of Mrs. Waterberry’s hand, I tentatively searched the air for Beaux’s guardian ribbon. The ribbon eventually slipped into my hand like the delicate tendrils of a willow tree, brushing against my skin. Once I had hold of the glistening ribbon, a striking creature materialized before me. Sparkling like thousands of pale blue sapphires, the colossal seahorse eloquently bowed, inviting me to take my place upon her.

“Climb on up, now, there ya go! Good girl,” said Mrs. Waterberry. “You can see Airi because you know she’s there. Otherwise, so long as you’re on your mount, no one else will see you. My babies know where to take you. Just hold on tight. Theroffla!”

In one effortless movement, the marvelous creature rocketed forward so fast that I nearly slid off its steep, bony back. The speed of these beauties puts even the fastest mermobiles to shame. Beaux’s smooth gait left nothing to see but rapidly streaking lights as we passed through downtown Saxet Shores and surrounding neighborhoods. The balmy summer air felt uncomfortably cold against my face; my fingers grew tingly and numb from gripping the guardian ribbon for dear life. I wasn’t sure where we were or even how far we’d traveled, but I really wished I could decipher the blur.

WHOA! Beaux jolted to a sudden stop, leaving me soaring over her head and flopping flat on my face. Lovely.

“Are you okay?” Airianna asked, smartly sliding off her mount.

“Still alive. Still mobile. Why is it I’m always falling off sea creature-y things?” I muttered, still holding the guardian ribbon. Beaux floated forward and gently nudged my shoulders. “I’m okay, Beaux. Just not as eloquent as you.” I swear on my very favorite pair of jeans that Beaux just chuckled. Gotta love an invisible seahorse with a sense of humor. “Okay, Beaux, head on back, now,” I said, releasing the guardian ribbon. “Mrs. Waterberry, do you read?”

“I’m here, Marina.”

“Beaux and Geaux are on their way back to you, and we’re about to go in,” I said, pulling the map from my bag. “Bobby, are you in place?”

“Frightful gnat! Shoo! Where’s my bug repellant? Oh, um, yes, I’m in position. I have a perfect view of the mansion. So far, everything is quiet and dark, except for these massive gnats!” said Bobby.

“Are you at the underbelly?” asked Mrs. Waterberry.

“Unfortunately, yes. Couldn’t you have warned us about the creepiness factor?” I asked, staring at a cave carved into the shape of a tortured mermaid.

“No time for a history lesson,” said Mrs. Waterberry.

“Airi, grab the lumclaires from my bag,” I said, unfolding the map.

“I’m not sure I can do this.”

“Don’t ya get clucky, Airi. In order to get inside the underbelly, Marina needs a merp, got it? If you lay an egg, y’all are nuggets!” shouted Mrs. Waterberry.

“Wow, that’s a family size bucket of chicken references. Airi, you’re my smoking gun. I need you.”

“But, I don’t smoke…and I’m anti-guns…in Texas. What does that tell you?”

“You can do this, Airi. I believe in you.”

Airianna took a deep breath, nodded, and handed me a lumclaire. The area on the map marked underbelly was, indeed, in the shape of a mermaid.

“The mouth must be the entrance,” said Airianna, pointing to a sign over the mermaid’s mouth.

Studying the map, I spotted a handwritten note near the stomach section of the mermaid cave:
Use belly entrance to the underbelly. Mouth has traps. D.T.

“Doctor Tenly says ‘no’ to the mouth. Look here,” I said, showing Airianna his note. “We need to find an entrance somewhere between the fin and bellybutton.”

“There! A gap right below the bellybutton. Looks just big enough,” said Airianna.

“Let’s go,” I said.

“Marina, how far do you think we are from the mansion?”

“By the looks of it on the map, not more than half a mile,” I said, squeezing through the very tight gap. “We’re in.”

“This isn’t exactly what I expected,” said Airianna, alarmed.

“Definitely not your typical drippy, dreary den,” I said, gazing around, my mouth hanging open.

Everything in the endless corridor sparkled silver, including the walls and ceiling. Crystal chambers lined both sides of the corridor, and brass-coated seaweed branches held red-flame candles that flickered and popped as we passed.

“We just follow the corridor…Airi?”

Airianna stood very still, staring into one of the crystal chambers. “I didn’t think it was real,” she whispered, a single tear traveling down her cheek.

Following her stare, I cautiously looked inside the chamber. “My God,” I gasped. “But they’re…they’re…”

“Merps,” said Airianna.

“They aren’t sand sculptures are they?”

Airianna shook her beautiful head. “There were always rumors that the Zale’s kept mementos of those they conquered. I thought they meant certain artifacts, like jewelry or something. I never believed they’d actually keep the bodies.”

Like taxidermy, only with sand, every chamber housed a different merp—men, women, children, and even tiny little babies who never had a chance. Their frozen faces ranged from horrified to tearful pleas to resignation. There had to be hundreds, maybe thousands. Now I understand why they call it the underbelly—the mermaid cave houses the bodies of dead merps, almost as if she ate them.

“Airi, I’m so sorry.”

She breathed heavily, turned to me, and said, “Let’s do this.”

I smiled, patted her arm, and forged ahead. “Follow me.”

We briskly walked down the winding corridor until we reached a dead end and a small trapdoor.

“This is it,” said Airianna. “This is our way in.”

“This should lead us to the main hall,” I said, referencing the map. “Bobby, how do we look?”

“Still dark. No movement,” he said, slapping at what I assume was a gnat. “Ow.”

“Marina, make this fast. Once that stone is out, there’s no telling what sort of alarm may go off,” offered Mrs. Waterberry.

“Got it,” I said, cracking the trapdoor to peek. “All clear. Let’s go.”

Crawling through the trapdoor, I immediately recognized the hallway from Halloween. “It’s down here, the door nearest the ballroom,” I said, running down the hall with Airianna right on my heels.

“Locked,” I said, trying the handle.

“Allow me,” said Airianna, effectively kicking in the door.

“Impressive.”

“Thanks,” she said, beaming.

“I can see the blue light from here. Come on,” I said.

“I should stay near the doorway to keep an eye on the hallway.”

After hearing Mrs. Waterberry agree with Airianna’s suggestion, I nodded and made my way to the porthole. All of Katrina’s lame Halloween decorations were gone. Ironically, the room was scarier now. Facing the sheer black curtains, I silently wished I didn’t have to confront the ghostly faces on my own for a second time. Working to own my breath and maintain a calm mind, I slowly parted the curtains. As before, the same faces swirled in and out of view, only this time there were two new faces…faces I knew very well.

“No. NO! Polly! Trey! God, no!” I shouted, touching the glass.

“Marina! Focus!” said Mrs. Waterberry.

“Marina? Are you okay?” cried Airianna.

I could hear their voices, but I couldn’t answer; my mind drowned within the depths of the porthole as a blur of visions overtook me: a baby seal…Trey’s house…books stuffed with pictures and papers hiding under some floorboards…Meikle, sitting in a hospital bed holding a near empty hourglass…me, walking down the pier with two figures…Troy screaming my name…a red flower with six petals and six red stones at each point…

“Marina! Get the stone!” screamed a chorus of voices, and not just those of Airianna, Mrs. Waterberry, and Bobby.

Like a cry in the distance, Trey’s voice brought me back. Whipping out the mermaid hammer, I prepared to smash the frame and grab the stone, but the hammer had other ideas. The ends of the hammer’s head sprang to life, forming two claws that slipped and twisted around the stone. It delicately removed the gem without a scratch to the frame. The hammer placed the stone in my hand and returned to its original shape.

The stone felt hot, almost unbearably so. Placing it in my bag, I spun around to face the porthole once more.

“The guards are coming! You two need to get out of there!” said Bobby, his voice shrilly.

“Do you have the stone?” asked Mrs. Waterberry.

“Yes,” I said firmly. “Just one more thing.”

“What?” asked Mrs. Waterberry, panicked.

“This,” I said, smashing the glass with the hammer.

Bloodcurdling cries came from all over the room.

“Marina! We need to get out of here!” shouted Airianna.

“There’s another door back here! Come on!” I hollered, opening the back exit. “Run!”

Running as fast as we could, Airianna and I fled down the hall, trying to get back to the trapdoor. “We can’t get back out that way,” I whispered, peering around the corner, towards the trapdoor. “It’s covered.”

“And so are you,” said a Ravenflame guard from behind us.

I looked at Airianna, subtly gesturing the outermost pocket of my bag. “Looks like you got us,” I sighed, facing him, while Airianna discreetly searched my bag for the soar-spheres.

“I’ve got them down here!” he yelled.

“Not for long,” sang Airianna, throwing a soar-sphere at his feet.

Pouf! A sparkling purple cloud engulfed him. “Come visit us again, your majesty. Maybe bring some cookies next time,” said the guard, waving at the wall.

We sprinted for the front door, only to find a flood of guards and Kyle Zale bursting through.

“Terrace!” I screamed, dragging Airianna by the arm.

Deadly purple trident beams barely missed our heads, blasting the walls and toppling sculptures around us.

“Don’t kill them!” bellowed Kyle.

Once we reached the terrace, Airianna tried to radio for help. “Mrs. Waterberry! We need help! Mrs. Waterberry? They’re not working! We must have passed the two-hour mark! Now what?”

“Jump,” I said.

“What?”

“You can swim your way out of here. Go,” I said, looking down at the sea.

“I’m not leaving you!”

“They’re getting closer. Airi, please, GO!”

Wearing a terribly guilty expression, Airianna jumped into the water; I watched as she safely disappeared beneath the surface.

I quickly shoved two Hazyfy cookies in my mouth and hoped.

“Well, well, we meet again,” said Kyle, whipping me around. “How nice.”

“Forgive me if I don’t share your enthusiasm.”

His eyes narrowing, he asked, “Who was that with you?”

“A ghost.”

“Don’t lie to me, Normal. Who were you with?”

“A girl.”

“Her name?”

“Well, she goes by many. She has a first name, last, middle, nicknames...for instance, your name is Kyle, but I call you jacka—”

“First name,” Kyle said through gritted teeth.

“Now, would that be her full first, shortened first…”

“STOP PLAYING GAMES! ANSWER THE QUESTION!”

“Ooh! This is new!” I said, my feet gently lifting off the ground.

“What’s she doing?” Kyle asked one of the guards. “Grab her!”

Kyle and two guards lunged forward and grabbed my ankles. I tried kicking them off, but they were too strong. The kicking would only delay the inevitable; I had to come up with something. While trying to think, an oddly unnerving buzzing sound from somewhere in the distance grew closer.