And there she walks into the conversation. My foot tastes rather
nasty.
“How was I supposed to know I was drinking a mermaid roofie? I
won, didn’t I?”
I think of Elias’s fiancйe. The black film over her eyes. Kurt
said not all mermaids have powers. Maybe it was just the light. But
how else could Elias lose?
“I thought you were dead meat, ladybird,” Marty says, pulling her
down so that she sits on his lap. I don’t know what it is about Marty,
but he’s easy to be comfortable with. She doesn’t even smack him the
way she would’ve smacked Angelo or one of the boys.
“I don’t know what you were thinking,” Kurt says, “challenging
Elias like that. And you. You’re a champion. There are things you’re
not supposed to do. It’s a wonder the entire court didn’t get into an
uproar.”
“Oh, they had an uproar,” Layla goes. “Your grandfather just put
an end to it right away. After two of the guards pulled you out,
another two went back to look for Elias. No one knew what happened.
His girlfriend was screaming, ‘ I want him dead! I want revenge! ’
about you and went crazy.”
“She’s hot, too hot for a creep like Elias,” Marty says.
“Does she have any magic?” I wiggle my fingers.
“No. It would’ve been common knowledge if her family still had
magics. The king decreed that those who still do must make it known.”
Kurt eyes me curiously. “Why do you ask?
“No reason.”
Thalia swings from the mast deck to the main deck on a rope. She
crashes between her brother and me. “She’s not very nice. Then again,
I wouldn’t be nice either if my father had promised me to marry
Elias.”
Part of me feels ashamed. I know I didn’t like Elias. But I didn’t
kill him. He was alive. I know he was. Hell, if he hadn’t passed out,
he would’ve probably killed me.
“Did you tell them what you are yet?” Thalia says, looking from
Marty to us.
His eyes go wide and he stares at her. “That’s so uncool,
ladybird.”
Thalia giggles, her green hair flying all over my face as we ride
against a small wave and strong wind.
“Well?” I’m waiting.
“I’m not going to tell you.” Thalia puts a finger to her lips.
Marty looks more relieved.
“It’s not my fault I’m cleverer than you all.” Thalia stands. She
holds on to the side of the ship and looks out at the night. The
barely there sliver of moon casts a silver glow on the water. There’s
a dark mound out there that must be Coney Island. She looks back at us
over one shoulder and winks. She pulls her shirt over her head and
pulls her puffy skirt down. I look away because it’s just weird
looking at her like that. She steps on the rail and jumps over. I
catch a shimmer of green scales and the translucent tip of her fins.
“I love skinny-dipping.” Marty stands, pushing Layla to the
ground. He’s undoing his belt buckle.
“Whoa, whoa. Technically she’s dressed, as far as mermaids go,” I
say.
Kurt shakes his head. “No, some of us wear more clothes than
others. Purely for decoration, like the princesses. But it’s
bothersome when you’re in and out of the water.”
“See, that settles it.”
“Marty, gross!” Layla shields her eyes as he drops his jeans and
boxers, which are white with little red kisses. There’s a second
splash.
Suddenly I nudge Layla. I think of her face sleeping, the way she
pulled me closer and lay on my chest. “Remember when we went
skinny-dipping off the pier this winter?”
Layla shakes her head and tries to suppress a laugh. “I don’t know
who had a bigger heart attack, the police officer who found us or my
mother when he told her.”
She hugs her knees and stares at her toes. It’s like we’re in my
living room again, talking smack about the girls she doesn’t like and
letting a movie run in the background for white noise. Her hair
tangles in the breeze, and when she looks up, I can see her eyes are
glazed over. “What’s going to happen now?”
“Guess I have to search for an oracle and get the trident pieces
back.” When I say that, it doesn’t sound so hard. Then I let my mind
go dark. “What if the others get to them first? They have entire
kingdoms as a resource. I have you.” I nod to Kurt. “No offense.”
“I’m not hurt. You’re right. I’m but one source of knowledge. We
also have your mother and Thalia, who has her own resources, believe
it or not.”
“And me,” Layla adds.
“You’re not in this. I can’t have you almost killed again .”
She picks at the chipping yellow nail polish on her toes. Her
lavender scent is thin in the sea breeze, but it’s still there. Her
lips are pursed, stubborn, decided. She’s all You’re not the boss of
me, Tristan Hart. “Remember when you had that harebrained idea to sail
off to the Mississippi like Huck and Jim?” she says.
“Yeah, I needed someone to make me some sandwiches while I
sailed.”
“Shut up.” She gets up in my face. Her pretty hazel eyes stare me
down; her hair gets blown right in my face. I could kiss her now if I
wanted to. “I went because I knew you wouldn’t make it a day without
me,” she says. “Plus, it’s not a Coney Island summer without you. So
I’m in. Because you’re the biggest jerk on the planet, but you’re my
jerk.”
“Don’t spare my feelings.” I press my hand to my heart and change
the subject. “So what’d you get?”
Her expression flits from confusion to duh. She pulls out a thin
gold chain with a shell dangling from it. It’s a simple little thing;
it looks like a spiral that starts off small and ends in a horn-shaped
opening.
Kurt nods, Mr. Know-It-All. “ Spirula spirula. The symbol of your
family. May I?” He takes the necklace from her hands and undoes the
clasp. He kneels behind her, and she gathers her hair away from her
neck and lets him put it on.
I was going to do that.
Maybe I wasn’t, but if she’d asked me to, I would have.
Arion clears his throat. “Sire, we’ve reached the shore.”
I run up to the mast deck and grab on to a rope. The mist that’s
been clinging to Coney Island for the last couple of days is still
there, but it’s thinning. Luna Park isn’t lit up, which is weird for
this time of year, but the rest of Brooklyn is there. The entire city
is still awake in its own way. The dark shape of the south pier comes
into focus. The urchin brothers are flashes of blue and purple,
running along the deck and up on the sails, getting ready for us to
stop. My stomach flips like when I’m at the top of the Cyclone, and
just like that we’ve landed. There’s a hard splash when the anchor
drops down.
“Honey, we’re home,” Layla says, sneaking up behind me and leaning
her head on my arm.
“Yeah.”
“This is where I leave you, sire.” Arion’s black ropes bring him
down to where we stand. His black and white scales shimmer in the hazy
yellow lights on the pier. “Should you need me, I am but a call away.”
He pats the golden horn hanging on a leather strap across his chest.
“Thanks a lot, man.” I hold out my hand to him. I don’t know how
merpeople say hi and bye. I guess I should add that to the things I
still need Kurt to teach me.
Arion stares at my hand like he doesn’t know what’s required of
him.
Layla laughs. “Look, Arion.” She slaps my hand, our fingers
hooking in the universal Hey, man, what’s good? hand slap. I guess