There are four of them, from the princess with a lush head of
chestnut waves who wears a shirt so tiny she might as well be wearing
two clam shells on her breasts, to the one with ivory skin and
plum-purple hair gathered in a bun. Like Thalia, nothing disguises the
slight point to their ears or the gem-like eyes that glance giddily
around the classroom.
“Dude,” Angelo goes, “can I come to your next Christmas party?”
Sure, if Christmas is going to be ten thousand leagues under the
sea and Rudolph is going to be a sea horse named Atticus.
Gwen takes the empty seat behind me just as the bell rings. I get
up right away, because part of me is afraid she’s going to take out a
knife and stab me in the back. She thinks I killed her fiancйe, and
now she’s going to try to kill me on my own turf.
My classmates stand aside to let Gwen leave first. I lean against
the lockers just outside the door, and she stands in front of me. The
metal bits of her leather jacket clink, clink . The gray of her eyes
is harsh, and they’re set on my face. Still, when she smiles,
everything about her softens.
“I’m guessing this isn’t your first time on land,” I say.
She shakes her head slowly. “I’ve got a few years on you,
foot-fin.”
“You’re not allowed to call me that.”
“I can do whatever I want.” She crosses her arms over her chest,
which pushes her cleavage up and out. Not that I’m noticing or
anything.
“What do you think you’re doing here?”
She shrugs. “It’s tradition for eligible princesses to seek a
champion for courtship. Brendan and Dylan are being visited by dozens
of mermaids from every inch of the seas. Technically, I’m betrothed,
so I don’t have to be here. But my fiancй’s gone missing because of
some half-breed claiming the throne.”
Fine. If she wants to go that route. “I’m flattered you’ve chosen
me to rebound on, especially after what you did to your champion.”
If she weren’t already so white, I’d say she goes pale at that.
But the shock that registers on her face is all the proof I need that
she helped Layla win, that she did something to Elias, which makes her
guiltier than it makes me.
“That’s right, Princess. I know .”
She purses her full pink lips, seething. For a moment, I think
she’s going to hit me, but she just turns on her heel and struts down
the hall as if she’s done it a hundred times before.
When the other princesses come out, they walk past and touch my
face and poke my abs and my butt. The one with the plum-purple hair
tries to go right for the goods, and then the princesses disappear.
They mingle into the flow of students. Angelo pushes past me, hot on
the trail of a girl who could probably eat him alive in a second, not
that he’d complain.
At the first glimpse of Kurt’s face, I throw my hands in the air
and yell at him. “I have to court the princesses? Why didn’t you tell
me?”
He seems as surprised as I am. “I honestly didn’t remember that
part of the championship. I didn’t think they’d be interested in you.”
“ Thanks . I really feel the love, bro.”
“That’s not what I meant. I meant that you’re human. Part human. I
should’ve taken into account that you’re the grandson of the king. The
princesses are sort of-”
“Shallow?” Layla suggests, seemingly too happy at my misery.
“I’ve swum in deeper puddles than them,” Thalia snarls. “They
don’t want mates, they want meals.”
“Cool, so mergirls are easy,” Layla says. She shoots a finger
toward me. “Hey! That explains you.”
When I don’t laugh, she pats Thalia’s shoulder. “No offense.”
“None taken. I absolutely loathe those girls.” Her cheeks puff up.
All things considered, Thalia is pretty cute when she’s angry.
“They don’t seem so bad,” Ryan says, strutting out of the
classroom and slinging his arms around Thalia’s waist. He picks her
up, and they’re suddenly in their own world, away from the merrows,
the princesses, the sea witch, and my championship. They’re in high
school.
Layla looks away from them guiltily. I wonder if she’s thinking
about Alex. Maybe she’s thinking about Kurt. She sure isn’t thinking
about me, the way she keeps avoiding my face. “Maddy really said she
doesn’t have it?”
I nod. “Yep.”
“Explain to me why you can’t give the oracle something else.”
Layla reaches over to my chest and picks off a bit of lint. She
smooths the fabric on my chest, absentmindedly, then pulls her hand
away like she didn’t realize what she was doing. I wonder if she can
feel my skin grow hot at her touch.
Kurt answers, “That seems like the best idea, but all the other
champions will be taking similar gifts-from family jewels to promising
their firstborn children. This is specific. The Venus pearl is
something that was taken from her.”
“So then don’t give her something else,” Layla corrects herself.
We’re in front of Ms. Pippen’s English class.
Jerry runs out of the room. “Pippen’s a no-show.”
“Again?” Thalia goes.
“Figured I’d wait a few more minutes in case the sub shows and I
can get attendance in, but she’s not here either.” Angelo runs past,
saying something about “red-hot girls in school in the caf.” He jets
down the hallway, chasing the hot mermaid trail.
•••
Under the cacophony of students shouting, singing, or just being
general pains in the asses is the same lullaby hum of the princesses.
If I weren’t so irritated, I’d say it was the greatest thing I’ve ever
heard-it makes your heart sigh and burn all at once.
We take a smaller table away from the swim team. On a regular day
it would be considered a huge diss to leave your team’s table. Today
they’re all fawning over my mermaid cousins and don’t even notice.
That explains the way everyone was behaving in the halls before. Well,
except that you never really know with Angelo. If I don’t do
something, the whole school may end up either making out or duking it
out.
Over at the swim team’s table, Gwen and the mermaid princesses
have formed a makeshift court with Gwen at the epicenter. Their
shoulders peek from their sheer dresses, and their legs-which would
normally be hidden beneath layers of scales-are crossed and exposed by
the slits of their skirts for the enjoyment of every guy, girl, and
pervy lunch monitor in the cafeteria. Their gem-like eyes, so much
like mine, watch their surroundings carefully.
“I’ll be right back,” I say, ignoring Kurt’s warning not to do
anything irrational and to remember this is all court politics.
Gwen settles her stormy gray eyes on me. They’re lined with black
makeup. She arches an eyebrow, which is kind of funny, because she’s
so blond and fair that it doesn’t look like she has eyelashes or
eyebrows unless you’re up close. “Have you been formally introduced
yet?”
I smile as charmingly as I can. “Can’t say I have.”
“That over there is Violet, Adaro’s cousin. She’s got the
prettiest purple hair in her region. This is Kai, Brendan’s aunt.
She’s a bit shy, but she’ll come along. And that’s Menana, a
freshwater princess from the Rocky Mountain lakes. She’s like our very
own Pocahontas.” They wave with their fingers, some more interested
than others. Then again, I shouldn’t mistake interest for amusement.
I feel like I’d rather take my chances with Nieve than try to calm
down a horde of mermaids. Like my dad says, hell hath no fury like