Sink or Swim (9 page)

Nelly blinks. And then blinks again. “Unless you have something better than a watch to trade, then we’re done here.”

Now what are we supposed to do? Wait. “Why is Lana’s dad a jerk?” I wonder.

She ignores my question and instead says, “I guess we’re done. Samuel! My dear Samuel! Show these children the door!”

My dear Samuel? “Don’t tell me she has a boyfriend,” I say.

But no. Just then a shark — an actual shark — swims up to us with a menacing look on its face.

I’m not that surprised her only companion is a shark — no person could love someone that mean.

“We’re getting out of here,” I say, and pull Jonah straight out of the house.

By the time we reach the black water, my heart is beating about three thousand miles a minute.

“That didn’t go well,” Jonah says.

“No, it didn’t,” I say, leaning against something soft and squishy that I hope won’t eat me. I try to catch my breath. “Now what?”

“I can think of one person who might help us,” Jonah says.

“Who?”

“The Sea King.”

I nod. “It’s time to find Lana’s dad.”

I
remember that, in the movie, the king offers to trade places with the Little Mermaid,” Jonah explains as we start swimming again. “Maybe he’ll want to do that now.”

My heart clenches. “So the king dies instead of Lana? We don’t want that, either!”

“Hopefully he’ll have a better idea than that,” Jonah says. “But we have to find him and ask. Don’t you think our parents would want to know if we were facing a life-or-death situation?”

“We face life-and-death situations every time we go into the mirror!” I say.

“True,” Jonah says. “But still.”

“Okay,” I say. Maybe the king can force the witch to recant her spell. Or maybe he’ll have something to trade. Clearly he knows the sea witch — she called him a jerk.

So we’re going to talk to him. But first we have to find him. Which we can’t seem to do. We swim and swim, but we keep passing the same cave.

We’re lost. We’re very, very lost.

And there’s something really freaky about being lost underwater in the dark. Beige coral reef sways in the wind and looks like fingers trying to grab us. Silvery fish appear to have teeth.

I light up my watch. It says six thirty, which means it must be around midnight here. How much longer can we swim in circles?

“We know you,” a voice says.

“Did you say something?” Jonah asks.

“No,” I say. “I thought it was you.” A chill creeps down my spine. “Hello?” I say timidly. “Is someone there?”

“Yes,” another voice says.

“We are,” says a third voice.

We’re surrounded.

“Who are you?” I ask, and aim my watch light at the voices. The light reveals a mermaid. No — five mermaids. All with green-and-orange swishing tails. The tops they’re wearing look familiar, but I can’t figure out from where.

“We’re Lana’s sisters,” the one in the middle says. She has short, butter-colored hair and she’s wearing a white sweater. “We’ve been spying on her, but we can’t get too close to the shore. Is Lana okay?”

“Not exactly,” I say, before explaining the whole story.

“We have to go talk to my dad!” one sister wearing a purple hoodie cries. “He has to help.”

“We were trying to find him,” I say. “Isn’t it the middle of the night? What were you guys doing?”

“We were at a party,” another one says, giving the necklace she’s wearing an anxious twirl. Her brown hair is tied back in a tight braid and she’s wearing a light-green shirt with a collar. “It’s past curfew, though — we’re definitely going to get in trouble.”

“It’s worth it for Lana,” the mermaid in the hoodie says. “Follow me!”

We follow her through a winding path, past schools of striped and speckled fish, sparkly red coral, and even a twenty-foot-long shipwreck that’s jammed into a bunch of rocks.

Two of the sisters swim by me, both wearing what look a lot like pajama tops.

Familiar pajama tops.

I glance at all the sisters. Purple hoodie. Green shirt. White sweater. Wait a sec.

“Those are my clothes!” I exclaim. “You found my suitcase!”

They spin around. “That was yours?” the one in the hoodie asks.

“Yes!” I say. “I thought I lost it.”

“You did lose it,” the one with the braid mutters. “Finder’s keepers.” She looks like the youngest of the bunch.

“Sasha,” the one with the short hair and white sweater scolds. “We’ll give them back their stuff.” She looks like the oldest.

“Can we keep the wood paddles and the ball?” the one in my hoodie asks. “We made up a whole game with them where we hit the ball back and forth.”

“That’s how you’re supposed to play,” Jonah says. “It’s called Kadima.”

“We love Kadima,” she says.

“Me too!” Jonah says. “We should play if we have time.”

“There’s no time for Kadima!” the oldest sister and I both yell. We look at each other and smile.

Soon we get to what appears to be a town. It’s pretty empty because it’s the middle of the night, but there’s one restaurant still open.

“Where are we?” I ask.

“That’s Salties,” one of the sisters tells me. “It’s the nicest restaurant on the Main Canal.”

A few mermaids and mermen are sitting outside, enjoying the night. Instead of being pitch-black, like I expected, there are little sparkling lights lining the canal.

“Where do the lights come from?” I ask the oldest sister.

“Bioluminescence,” she says. “Underwater life that glows in the dark.”

Everyone looks at us curiously as we swim past — we are the only ones without tails — but we don’t stop to sightsee.

Finally we spot what has to be the castle.

It’s just as nice, if not nicer, than Prince Mortimer’s palace. It’s made of stone and cliffs and covered in protective coral.

“Let’s go straight to Dad’s room,” the oldest says. “Follow me!”

No need for stairs in this palace. We swim right up into the king’s windowless room. Not much security here.

“Dad! Dad!” the oldest one cries, swimming over to his bed.

“What’s wrong, girls?” the king asks, opening his eyes.

He has dark hair that’s gray at the temples. He also has one of those chins with a cleft in it.

He spots us. “Why did you bring humans?”

“They’re friends of Lana’s. And Lana needs our help.”

Quickly I spill out the whole story. “… So you see,” I say once I’ve finished, “we didn’t know who else to go to. Do you have anything the sea witch would want? Or could you command her to reverse the spell? Maybe threaten to put her in ocean prison?”

The king looks shocked, yet I notice a determined glint in his eye. “Poor Lana! We must save her at once. Girls! Collect all the family jewels. The necklaces! The rings! All of Mom’s old stuff!”

“Not the jewelry!” one of the sisters cries. “It’s all we have left of Mom!”

“Your mom would want us to use it.” The king throws off his covers. “Everyone, follow me.”

I
t’s not the most inviting décor,” I say as I push a floating fish skeleton out of the way and knock on the door. I glance at my watch. We have to move fast. We’ve been underwater for almost nine-and-a-half hours. We still need two hours to get back to the beach.

“Go away!” Nelly yells from inside. “Didn’t I tell you to stop bothering me?”

The door swings open and the sea witch has a scowl on her face. But suddenly her expression changes. Softens. She blinks. And then blinks again. She’s looking above my head and I turn to see that she’s staring at the king.

And he’s staring at her.

“What do
you
want?” she asks.

The king blushes.

“Nelly,” I say, “the king is here to offer you jewelry. If you’ll save his daughter.”

“Right!” the king says, snapping out of his trance. “May we come in?”

Nelly tears her eyes away from the king and checks out our whole group. “All of you?”

“Yes,” I say. I put my hands on my hips and clench them into fists, hoping I look defiant.

“I guess.” Nelly sweeps her arm to the side in an exaggerated gesture of welcome, and all eight of us float-march in.

“I haven’t seen you in years,” the king says.

“No, you haven’t,” Nelly says, tight-lipped.

“How do you know each other?” I ask.

“We went to elementary school together,” the king says.

“We certainly did,” Nelly says, crossing her arms and slapping her tail against the ground. “How could I forget? You used to call me a horrible name.”

The king’s eyes widen in surprise. “What are you talking about? I called you Jelly Nelly!”

She scowls. “Exactly. Jelly Nelly. Because I reminded you of a jellyfish.”

“So why is that horrible?” the king asks, his forehead wrinkling.

“Because jellyfish are annoying and poisonous,” Nelly spits out.

I’d have to agree. Jellyfish are kind of the mosquitoes of the sea.

The king shakes his head. “Jellyfish are smart. And beautiful. And fascinating.”

“They are not,” Nelly says, but her voice wavers.

“They are so,” he says. “I called you Jelly Nelly because I had a crush on you.”

Nelly blushes. “You did?”

“You did?” we all echo.

Now it’s the king’s turn to blush.

Nelly makes a strange sound. Was it a giggle? She clears her throat. “Oh. I just assumed …” Her voice trails off. “I had no idea.” She wraps a strand of her dark hair around her finger. She giggles again. Is Nelly flirting? Does the sea witch
like
the king?

“Well, now you know,” he says. He’s all flushed. “It’s nice to see you again.” Oh. My. Goodness. Does he still
like
the witch?

But then he shakes his head. “No. It’s
not
nice. You have to help my daughter.”

Nelly crosses her arms. “I don’t have to do anything.”

He straightens up, flirting forgotten. “We have jewels to offer you. In exchange for you changing the spell you put on Lana. Girls, show her what you have. Nelly, take whatever you want. But please, spare my daughter.”

The oldest steps up and opens her hand to reveal a sparkling ring. “I have a diamond engagement ring.”

The second oldest opens her hand next. “I have emerald earrings.”

The third shows us a chunky bracelet. “It’s fourteen-carat gold.”

The fourth has two hoop earrings dangling on her thumb. “They’re platinum.”

Sasha, the youngest, steps up and points to her neck. “I’m wearing a mother-of-pearl necklace. I guess you can have it.”

Hold on a minute. “That’s my necklace!” I exclaim.

Sasha shrugs. “Don’t you want to help Lana?”

I sigh. “You can have it,” I tell Nelly.

Nelly eyes the goods. “Hmm,” she says. “They’re pretty, but I already have my own jewelry.” She wiggles her fingers in front
of us, and we see that they are glittering with jewels. “Do you have anything else?”

“Um …” We look at each other. We are empty-handed. We are out of stuff.

“You can have my Kadima paddles,” Jonah offers.

“What’s Kadima?” Nelly asks, intrigued.

“It’s a game,” Jonah says. “You and another person hit a ball back and forth. It’s very fun.”

Nelly’s face clouds over. “I don’t want a game,” she snarls. “Who am I going to play it with? Samuel doesn’t have hands. If you have nothing else to offer, I think we’re done here.”

A lightbulb goes off in my head. She doesn’t want Kadima
paddles
. She wants someone to play Kadima
with
.

Before I thought no one could love her because she was mean. But maybe she’s so mean because no one loves her.

I know how to save Lana.

“Would you consider reversing the spells on Lana in exchange for a date?” I blurt out.

Nelly blinks. “Excuse me?”

“A date,” I repeat. My mouth feels dry. This has to work. It just has to.

Nelly blushes and looks down at the sandy floor. “A date with whom?”

I glance at the king. His cheeks are just as red as Nelly’s. He’s just as lonely as Nelly.

He swims forward. “With me,” he says.

Their eyes meet across the room.

“Really?” she asks softly.

He nods. He takes another step toward her. “Would you like to go out sometime, Jelly Nelly? Or I can just call you Nelly.”

“Just Nelly is good,” she says. And then giggles.

Yes! This is going to work! Way to go, me! Speaking of going — we have to get a move on.

“So do we have a deal?” I ask. “A date in exchange for reversing the spells? You can go to Salties!”

“What if she hurts our dad?” the youngest mermaid cries. “She’s a witch, and he’s all we have left!”

Good point.

“Can you give us some sort of collateral?” the oldest mermaid asks, running her fingers through her short hair.

Nelly nods toward the shark. “You can keep Samuel as a pet until the date is done. He needs a babysitter, anyway. He eats the couch when he’s lonely.”

Better the couch than me.

“So,” I ask again. “Do we have a deal?”

We all hold our breath.

Nelly and the king nod. “Deal,” they say simultaneously, and then they both laugh and turn red again.

“Let’s shake on it,” the king says, putting out his hand.

“Abby,” Jonah says, tugging at my sleeve.

“One sec, Jonah,” I say, wanting to see how this ends.

Nelly takes his outstretched hand.

We wait for them to shake, but instead, they both just stand there, holding each other’s hands. And holding.

Still holding.

All righty, then.

“Abby,” Jonah says again. “I don’t feel so good. My chest feels heavy.”

I glance at my watch. The potion is going to run out in two hours! We have to go.

“Abby,” Jonah says again, and crumples into a heap on the sandy ground.

I lunge after him. But before I can reach him, the room starts to spin. I feel intense pressure on my chest. Like someone’s sitting on me. Or like I’m underwater and I can’t breathe.

Oh, no.

The potion ran out early.

“Jonah!” I try to yell — but nothing comes out. The people around me look murkier and murkier until I don’t see anything at all.