Real Mermaids Don't Sell Seashells (6 page)

“My parents and the Martins are flying in on Friday,” Cori added.

“So everything needs to get organized in the next five days?” I asked, picking up a brochure for wedding cakes.

“It's going to be tight but honestly, I don't want this to take over our whole week,” Mom said with a smile. “Hopefully we can enjoy a bit of our vacation in the meantime.”

“Can we go Snuba diving?” Cori asked, leafing through a few of the flyers she'd nabbed in the lobby. “Oh, and paragliding. And, oh right! We can swim with sharks!”

“Gah! Not the sharks again,” I said with a laugh.

“Yes—let's do it all,” Mom said, stroking Cori's hair. We're on vacation, after all. Let's have as much fun as possible and keep our time in the Bahamas as drama-free as possible.”

Thinking about what had just happened at the Straw Market and how much I'd let my imagination run wild, I had to agree.

“Drama-free,” I repeated. “Sounds like a great idea to me.”

“
This is probably the worst idea in the history of bad ideas,” I whispered to Cori on Tuesday morning as we got ready for our Snuba-diving excursion off the coast of Paradise Island. I'd convinced her to put off shark diving for a few days (hopefully
forever
), but there was no way Cori was going to leave the island before we at least went Snuba diving.

I wriggled my way into a damp, rubbery wet suit and cursed the makers of neoprene with every fiber of my being. It didn't help that my stomach was grumbling. The boat had left bright and early, so I'd only had time to scarf down a bowl of cereal and a banana since the rest of the hotel's breakfast buffet wasn't supposed to be served for another hour. Talk about a letdown!

Mom and Dad had tagged along, and about a half a dozen other tourists crammed the boat, getting ready for our underwater adventure.

“You're just saying that because you got to spend all summer underwater while I was stuck in
The
Lady
Sea
Dragon
with Mr. Romance,” Cori said as she tucked her dark curls under the strap of her face mask. Cori and Trey had been squabbling ever since the Fall Folly dance when he was supposed to be our date but spent most of his time at the snack table with his buddies. It didn't help once Cori found out Trey hadn't actually ordered the corsages our friend Reese had brought to the dance, even though Trey had jokingly taken credit for them. Things sounded like they had sort of gone downhill from there.

I remembered my conversation with Luke and how I'd practically jumped down his throat defending Cori. Didn't he realize his brother was being a lamebrain? Guys could be so dense sometimes.

“So what's happening with you and Trey anyway? Is it going to be weird when he and Luke get here?” I wasn't sure if Cori and Trey were still actually dating by the time we left on our trip, but Cori was getting fed up with Trey's total lack of a romance in the boyfriend department. It might be awkward for me to be dating Luke if Cori broke up with his brother. We all had so much fun together.

“I dunno. We kind of had a fight before I left, so it's been weird.” Cori looked sad for a moment, but then her face brightened in a kind of fake-happy way. “But I don't want to think about that. Come on, Jade. This is my chance to see what you've been seeing all this time. I bet it'll be amazing.”

“Believe me, being underwater all summer was anything but amazing. Don't you remember that crazy Dame Council who turned out to be my own grandmother?” I whispered.

“Don't worry. Nobody's trying to rip your arms off around here,” Cori replied. She fiddled with the strap on one of her flippers. “Besides, you already know more about this equipment than I do after all that underwater hockey stuff you've been doing.”

“Sure, I know how to use a snorkel and mask, but I've never scuba-dived before,” I said.

“It's
Snuba
diving, not scuba diving. Much easier and completely safe because all of us are attached to a breathing tube connected to that air tank over there,” Cori insisted, pointing to the huge tank of air floating on the water above where we were about to dive. “Totally idiot-proof.”

“Idiot-proof is good, I guess. What do you think, Mom?” I asked as I put on my flippers. A few breaths of water instead of air were all it took to switch our “mer” gene on and then it was Tail City. Salt water made the change even quicker, but I'd even transformed into a mermaid in the Port Toulouse community pool a few weeks before, so all these water sports were making me a bit nervous. “This hardly seems like a sane choice for people from our particular culture.”

“It'll be fine,” Mom whispered to me, looking gung ho. “We'll only be a couple dozen feet underwater, so we can always hold our breath and swim to the surface if anything happens. I'm really looking forward to seeing the ocean in this part of the world.”

I could tell Mom was totally into it. I guess if you were a full-fledged mermaid like Mom, seeing a part of the ocean you hadn't even known existed could be fairly interesting. In fact, most mers never got a chance to swim outside the habitat where they grew up. The mers off the coast of Port Toulouse didn't even know that other mers existed beyond their pod.

“Okay, if you say so,” I said with a sigh. If Mom thought Snuba diving was okay, I guess it was okay. I switched to my mer voice so only she would hear.
But
if
we
sprout
tails, we'll have to get Dad in a bathing suit for your wedding and I can't see that ending well.

Mom smiled at me while the Snuba instructors helped us with the rest of our equipment, and soon we were all set to go.

“You ladies be careful!” Dad said. His hearing was better but he didn't want to risk making it worse with Snuba diving because of his swimmer's ear. He sat on the boat's deck in shorts, socks, and sandals, with his pasty white legs making him look exactly like the tourist he was.

“You be careful too!” I yelled before putting on my mask and jumping into the water. “And put on some sunscreen!”

As we splashed into the Caribbean waters, our Snuba leader gave us last-minute instructions, repeating some of the highlights from our on-land lesson earlier. Then soon we were all underwater, our hair swaying all around us as we dove and swam, taking in the gorgeous coral, colorful tropical fish, and sea life off the coast of Paradise Island.

This
is
amazing
, Mom rang to me in her mer voice.
It's even more beautiful than I imagined.

A few tourists from our group looked around the water when Mom spoke, trying to find the source of the ringing noise, but to them, the high-pitched ring of our mer voices probably sounded like a passing Jet Ski or speedboat. We mers had the added bonus of emitting a frequency that jammed boats' sonar and radar signals so we were invisible on depth sounders and fish finders.

It's so different than the water back home, isn't it?
I rang back. The colorful fish and sparkling blue waters of the Bahamas were completely different from the mackerel, lobster, and bottle-green waters off the coast of Port Toulouse. Plus, the Caribbean water was warm and soothing, not freezing cold like in the North Atlantic.

Hey, Mom. How many other pods of mers are there around the world?
I rang.

Who
knows?
Mom replied.
I
always
thought
it
was
just
us
back
in
Port
Toulouse. It's not like we have the Internet and television to share that kind of information.

What about the ocean where Mr. Chamberlain was from, I wondered. How many mers lived there? Or the mers near Bobbie off the coast of Florida? Swimming with my Snuba hose connected to the tank floating above us—as a human underwater—made me marvel at how amazing it was that there were mers in other places in the world, living their aquatic lives without the leash of a Snuba tube.

All
I
know
is
that
swimming
underwater
is
much
more
enjoyable
when
you're not being chased by homicidal mer-dudes
, I joked.

Just as I thought the thought, I saw a flicker out of the corner of my eye. My heart rose to my throat as I imagined the worst, images of Cori's shark video flashing through my mind.

What
was
that?
I rang to Mom. Were we all about to become shark bait?

Just
another
diver. Looks like we're not the only ones enjoying the sights today
, Mom replied.

Off in the distance, a couple hundred feet away from our group, I could make out the outline of what looked like an actual scuba diver. He (or she) had long flippers and swam through the water with green air tanks on his back. My heart settled back in my chest, safe in the knowledge that I wouldn't get gnashed up into mermaid sushi after all. At least for now.

Maybe
we
can
get
Dad
to
try
scuba
diving
back
in
Port
Toulouse
once
his
ears
clear
up
, Mom said.
Then
he
could
visit
our
mer-friends back at the village. I bet he'd get a kick out of it.

That, I'd like to see
, I rang with a laugh.

Cori swam a dozen feet or so in front of us. She turned to show us a conch shell she'd found that was like the kind Dillon sold at the Straw Market. A cloud of sand rose from where she'd picked the shell from the ocean floor. I wished I could communicate with her in my mer voice like I was doing with Mom, but I nodded enthusiastically and gave her a thumbs-up.

Cori picked up another shell and handed it to me, but the Snuba instructor motioned for us to leave them because tourists weren't supposed to scavenge anything they saw on underwater dives.

Maybe I'd have to make another trip to Dillon's Treasures after all—if Dillon would even sell shells to me after what had happened. Was Dillon right? I knew I wasn't some spoiled, rich princess, but had I left him high and dry with Officer Ensel because I didn't want to “get my hands dirty”?

One thing was for sure—Snuba diving was awesome. It was so peaceful and amazing with the beautiful, colorful fish darting in and out of swaying seaweed and corals. We didn't see any dolphins (or sharks!) but there were plenty of fish to keep us entertained. We even saw an orange, white, and black “Nemo” fish, which Cori wanted to take home too.

By the time we got back onto the tour boat, we were exhausted but happy.

“So, it was a success?” Dad asked as we pulled off our gear and got ready to return to the island.

“Yeah, it was much more fun than I expected,” I replied. “Plus, Mom and I decided we're signing you up for scuba lessons.”

“Speaking of which, where did that other scuba diver go?” Mom asked, looking around for another boat.

“Scuba diver? A cruise ship passed earlier but I haven't seen anything else the whole time we've been out here,” Dad said.

The captain started up the boat and soon we were heading back to the hotel.

That's strange
, Mom rang.

I shrugged, not really giving it a second thought. Honestly, Snuba diving had worked up a bit of an appetite, and cereal and a banana just weren't cutting it anymore. The main thing on my mind just then was the mile-long buffet table waiting for me back at the Asylum.

Nom. Nom.

After pigging out at lunch, followed by all the desserts I could possibly pile onto my plate at the Asylum's buffet, I conked out for a nap on a lounge chair under a huge umbrella next to the pool while Cori caught up on all the “Boyfriend or Bust?” and “Crush or Crushed?” relationship quizzes in her teen magazines.

Mom decided to stay back in the room with Dad because he had layered a Snuba boat-ride sunburn over his Señor Frog's sunburn and she wanted to keep an eye on him.

Honestly, I wasn't sure how Dad had managed without Mom for the past year. Since she got back home from the ocean, he'd managed to need six stitches in his hand after an unfortunate encounter with the recycling bin, gone partially deaf from swimmer's ear, gotten tipsy on fancy umbrella drinks at the local Bahamian watering hole, and possibly given himself sunstroke. All in all, though, I had a feeling Dad didn't mind all the attention.

A couple of rowdy college frat boys splashed me awake from my drool nap an hour or so later, just in time for Cori and me to meet Rayelle in front of the hotel to get our hair braided.

“My mom said we have exactly one hour to get our hair done or else she's calling Officer Ensel,” I said to Rayelle when Faye dropped her off in front of the hotel. Faye tooted her horn and sped off to her next pickup. Mom was still a bit nervous about letting Cori and me roam around on our own, so it helped to know that Rayelle was with us.

“No problem,” Rayelle said. “I texted my cousin, and she's going to meet us on the beach below the Eutopia Resort where she usually braids hair.”

“Well, if we can't
stay
at the Eutopia, at least we can get their braids,” Cori joked.

“Are you still bitter about Taylor 'n Tyler possibly bumping our reservation?” I asked.

“Possibly?” Cori retorted. “I swear if I see Taylor 'n Tyler anywhere, I'm going to give them and their sappy love songs a piece of my mind.”

I had a feeling Cori took more offense at Taylor 'n Tyler's sappy love songs than the idea that they'd bumped our reservation. She'd once told me Taylor 'n Tyler's song “Make Me Wanna Fly” was playing on the outdoor speakers at the skate park the first time she went there with Trey, and she played that song over and over whenever she came to my house.

We cut through the outdoor pool area of the Asylum, past the college boys splashing each other at the swim-up bar, and took the stairs down onto the beach. The crystal blue Caribbean Sea glittered in the afternoon sun, and the white sand squished between our toes as we chatted the whole way along the half-mile stretch of beach from the Asylum to the Eutopia. We walked along the shoreline, splashing our feet through the water.

“Hey there, Kiki,” Rayelle said once we met up with a pretty girl in her early twenties who wore a colorful, flowered wrap dress, her hair in super-long, black corn-row braids that were beaded at the bottoms. The beads clinked together musically as she turned to greet us.

“My favorite customer,” Rayelle's cousin said in a singsong voice.

“Cori, Jade, this is my cousin Kiki,” Rayelle said, turning to us.

“You girls ready to get some braids in that pretty hair of yours?” Kiki asked with a toothy white smile.

We all chatted about what type of style we wanted. Cori decided to get the whole front of her hair done, leaving the back of her hair unbraided. I opted for just a few braids off to one side. Kiki got started on Cori first.

We talked about the weather, the resort, and the local gossip while Kiki fashioned braid after braid in Cori's hair.

“You're really amazing at this,” I said, marveling at how quickly Kiki's creation was taking shape.

“Lots of practice,” Kiki said with a hearty laugh. “Rayelle used to help me, but where you been, girl?” Kiki asked as her fingers worked nimbly through Cori's hair. “I ain't seen you since this summer.”

“Ah, you know. Helping Mama at the market. Plus school and everything,” Rayelle said.

“Those kids still hassling you?” Kiki asked.

Rayelle pursed her lips and gave Kiki a look, shaking her head as though she wanted Kiki to drop it. I wondered what Kiki's comment was all about, but Rayelle was beginning to look a little uncomfortable.

“So…” I began, trying to change the subject, “that got a little crazy back at the Straw Market yesterday, huh?”

“You mean with Dillon? Yeah, I wanted to tell him I saw Officer Ensel talking to a Wonderment Cruiselines guy later yesterday but I haven't seen him since,” Rayelle replied.

“How'd you know the guy was from Wonderment Cruiselines?” I asked.

“He had this hat with the ship's big W crest on it,” Rayelle said.

“Well, that should make Dillon feel better,” I said. At least it sounded like Officer Ensel was taking him seriously.

“Yeah, if I could find him to tell him,” Rayelle said.

“Is Dillon still spewing his nonsense?” Kiki asked as she slid a bead expertly along one of Cori's braids. “Nothing but trouble, that boy.”

“He's not that bad,” Rayelle said quietly, as if trying to wrap up the conversation. That was interesting. Hadn't Rayelle's mom said what a troublemaker Dillon was? Why was Rayelle defending him?

“Not that bad?” Kiki said as she wound a thin elastic band around the end of one of Cori's braids. “You should have been here last night. He came to pick up my boyfriend, Johnny, with that green speedboat of his. Johnny said Dillon was trying to get him to sneak onto one of the cruise ships at the shipyard, but Johnny told him he had to get back to work.”

“Which cruise ship?” I asked as Kiki motioned for me to take Cori's place so she could get started on my braids while Cori examined her hair masterpiece in a hand mirror.

“Not sure,” Kiki replied. “Whichever it was, I'm sure that boy is up to no good.”

I thought about that for a second while I sorted through the tray of beads Kiki handed to me, trying to decide which color to choose. Could it be Wonderment Cruiselines? I'd been trying to put it out of my mind, but Dillon seemed to still be convinced that something strange was going on aboard that ship.

“That's them!” Cori put down the hand mirror and grabbed her bag, searching for her phone.

“Who?” I tried to turn to see who she was talking about but Kiki held my hair tightly as she braided it.

“Taylor 'n Tyler!” Cori exclaimed. “Those are the guys who got us kicked out of the Eutopia. I'm gonna get proof once and for all.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cori jog down the beach to meet up with a bleached-blond, tanned couple surrounded by several bodyguards.

“Hey! Taylor 'n Tyler,” Cori called out. She took out her phone and held it up to record the conversation. “Did you know you guys bumped our reservation at the Eutopia and ruined a whole wedding? I thought your songs were all about love and romance. Well, you're nothing but a couple of romance crushers!”

Looking surprised, Taylor Ariella looked over to where Cori was standing. She leaned over to Tyler Green and said, “What's that girl talking about?”

Tyler shrugged and was about to say something, but before he could reply, a beefy-looking security guard with a black T-shirt and dark sunglasses snatched Cori's phone out of her hand and threw it into the sand. He and his no-neck buddies took Taylor 'n Tyler by the arm and shuttled them back up the stairs leading to the Eutopia Resort.

“Hey! Not cool!” I called out to the security guards and leaped from my chair, leaving a chunk of my hair behind in the process. I ran to Cori's side, Kiki calling after me that she hadn't finished my braid. I found Cori's phone in the sand and shook it off before handing it back to her. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I'm fine but can you believe those guys?” Cori was about to run after them when I caught her arm.

“Forget about them,” I said.

“Yeah, they're not worth it,” Rayelle agreed, joining us. “They're just a couple of hotshots who think they can get away with that kind of thing. Some people just think they're untouchable.”

I studied Rayelle, wondering if she was talking about Taylor 'n Tyler or something else.

Cori watched as Taylor 'n Tyler's group disappeared into the Eutopia Resort. “Those guys haven't heard the last of me,” she vowed.

“If you don't watch out, you're going to end up in one of those celebrity magazines you love so much,” I teased. “Let's just finish getting our hair braided, get some snacks, and then go chill by the pool. I promise I won't even fall asleep this time.”

“All right, all right,” Cori said, tossing her beaded, braided hair over her shoulder so the beads clinked together like Kiki's. “But this hair is making me feel fierce so those guys better watch their step.”

•••

Faye picked up Rayelle on her next run to the airport so Rayelle could help at her mom's stall, and Cori and I headed back up to our room. We knocked on the adjoining door to Mom and Dad's room, and Dad came out with his shiny, sunburned face smelling like aloe vera.

“Nice braids!” Mom said as she followed Dad into our room.

“Yeah,” Dad agreed. His ears had finally cleared so he didn't have to yell everything. “Micci, you should get yours done too.”

“I need a hair intervention but I don't think braids would help.” My mom's hair had grown an inch or two since she'd cropped it short and dyed it blond to go incognito as Tanti Natasha, but it wasn't quite long enough to braid. “I really should have had it done before our trip but there was no time.”

“There's a salon downstairs near the main lobby,” Cori suggested. “It didn't look too busy. Maybe they can fit you in.”

“Yeah, Micci,” Dad agreed. He got a sly look on his face and I could tell he was up to something. “Why don't you go downstairs and see if you can get an appointment, and I'll hang with the girls by the pool?”

“Are you sure?” Mom asked, sweeping her bangs away from her face.

“Definitely,” Dad said.

“We just need to make sure we have enough time to go into town to get our marriage license now that we've been on the island for twenty-four hours,” Mom reminded him.

“Don't worry. I checked the website and we'll have lots of time,” Dad said.

We all traveled down in the elevator together, and Mom headed down the hallway off the lobby where there were a few souvenir shops, a convenience store, and the hair salon. Dad made a beeline for the hotel's front desk and soon was deep in conversation with the concierge and poring over several brochures. We sat on one of the plush velour sofas by the entry.

“So much for hanging by the pool,” I said to Cori after we'd been sitting there for what seemed like an eternity.

But it didn't look like Cori was listening. She had her phone out and seemed to be checking her email on the hotel's Wi-Fi.

“Anything happening back home?” I asked. Considering the last conversation I'd had with Luke, I wasn't sure if Cori and Trey were actually talking to each other.

“Nah,” Cori replied. “It doesn't matter anyway.
Urban
Teen
already told me my love life was ‘WTH?' and
Teen
Reality
only gave Trey and me a four out of ten on their ‘Romancerator.'”

“Are you seriously taking relationship advice from a magazine with a ‘Romancerator'?” I teased.

Cori shrugged and sighed.

“Hey, wanna go check out the convenience store?” I asked. “I'm starving.”

Sure, the buffets at the Asylum were okay, but I didn't really function well on scheduled breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. Didn't anyone in the Bahamas ever hear of the mid afternoon munchies? Late-night snack attacks?

“Sounds like a plan,” Cori said, tossing her phone back in her bag.

We waved to Dad to signal we were heading to the convenience store and he waved back to go ahead, that he'd only be a few more minutes, so we headed down the hallway. I could see that Mom was being seated in a salon chair across the hall so it looked like she was going to be there for a while. Whatever plan Dad was cooking up, it seemed to be working.

“I wonder if they have Oreos,” I said as we browsed through the aisles once we arrived at the store.

“Oh, snacks! Great idea.” Dad arrived moments later with a silly grin plastered on his face. “Make sure to get corn chips too, Jade.”

“I bet they have all the snacks you can eat at the Eutopia,” Cori muttered.

“Ah, Cori. I'm sorry I messed up our reservation there.” Dad gave Cori an understanding smile. “Your dad told me how much you were looking forward to it.”

“It's okay. It's just…” Cori said. I could tell her eyes were welling up, and I had a feeling it had something to do with Trey, but I didn't want to embarrass her in front of Dad.

“Cori was just looking forward to the waterslides,” I chimed in as I sorted through a rack of vacation T-shirts and held one with a “So Over It” logo up to my chest.