Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings (7 page)

I
WOKE UP SHIVERING
.

Every cell in my body screamed as I sat up and pulled my knees to my chest.

Knees! That was good sign. I shook with a mixture of cold and relief. No tail, no scales, just my normal, beautiful, pudgy knees and stubbly legs in desperate need of shaving.

The bridge drew long shadows across the inky depths of Talisman Lake. A cool evening wind swept up the canal from the ocean, transforming the aspens lining the lake-shore into trembling shadow-makers.

How long was I passed out? I wondered. Long enough for my T-shirt and jean skirt to dry into crunchy, stiff versions of their former selves, apparently. But, just as I expected, my underwear was gone. This mermaid thing could wreak havoc on a girl’s wardrobe.

I struggled to my feet and pulled on my hoodie, welcoming its warmth, and tried to remember the string of events that had me down for the count behind a couple of scruffy bushes by the creek. That’s when the terrifying
memory of hands emerging from the water cleared the brain fog from my thoughts.

“Mom…” I rasped.

I shivered and stumbled over rocks and tree roots, trying to follow the creek as the bushes scraped my legs. A powerful waft of fried foods attacked my nostrils. I must have been getting close to Bridget’s Diner.

“Mom?” I strained my ears to hear over the noise of the trees and passing cars but the ringing sound was gone. My head spun with questions. If the ring was gone, did that mean Mom was gone too? I ran up and down the creek, but she wasn’t there. Where had they taken her?

My throat burned. I must have swallowed a gallon of water because the inside of my stomach roiled like a snake trying to escape from a burlap sack.

“Au-augh…” The snake escaped. All over the ground.

Ew.

Waffle fries and Wigwags did
not
make such a great combination in their semi-digested state. I spit the bitterness that hung on my tongue and wiped my mouth on the sleeve of my hoodie, then stumbled to the base of the bridge to find my flip-flops near the bench where I’d kicked them off earlier. I looked back to the bushes by the creek. What if someone had found me there?

My hands shook as I pulled my cell from the pocket of my skirt to call Dad. I jabbed the buttons. Nothing. The water must have killed the phone when I was in the lake. What was I supposed to do now?

I hugged myself and looked up to the bridge. The streetlights were already lit. A lone car meandered across, heading downtown. Pedestrians strolled along Main Street past the bridge, looking in the shop windows. A couple entered the thrift shop like it was just another Saturday in Port Toulouse.

But this wasn’t just any old day. Something had happened. Something important. My mom was alive! Though what would anyone think if they found me along the shores of Talisman Lake screaming about my dead mother? I could imagine all the billable hours it would take Dr. Becker to deal with that!

I needed to get to a phone to call Dad. He was going to go nuts when he found out what just happened. I scrambled up the bank to the road. Cars pulled into the parking lot at Bridget’s. Could it be the dinner rush already? Was it really that late?

“Hiya, Jade.” Bridget looked up from a table full of customers as I pushed through the door of the diner. I must have looked as wrecked as I felt, cause her face went from its usual cheery expression to creased concerned. “You okay, hon?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I waved and hurried to the dark hallway that led to the restrooms where an old pay phone hung on the wall. My whole body shook from cold and shock. I fished into the pocket of my jean skirt and found some change.

One ring. Two rings. Why wasn’t Dad home? I hung
up after the fifth ring before the machine picked up and jammed the quarters back in the slot to try his cell. Maybe he popped out to Home Depot for his latest DIY project. I checked my watch. The glass pane blurred with a fine mist. Geesh. I
knew
no good ever came from swimming. First my cell, now my watch. My whole repertoire of personal technology was now soggier than a three day-old diaper.

Pick up, Dad, pick up!
I willed him to answer his cell but I knew chances were slim due to Engineer rule #1. If Dad couldn’t walk and chew gum at the same time, how did I expect him to drive and talk on the phone? I left a message.

“Dad.” I glanced around the diner to make sure no one heard. “I’m at Bridget’s. You’re never going to believe what just happened.” I lowered my voice as much as I dared. “It’s Mom. She’s alive. She’s in Talisman Lake. Just come quick, okay?”

I hung up and rested my head against the cool molded plastic of the pay phone. My useless watch clicked-clicked, ticking off the same second over and over. Seconds lost without Mom. Would we ever see her again?

Headlights flashed across the diner’s back wall as a car turned into the parking lot.

“Dad?” I turned to the window.

Pickup truck. Not Dad. Plus, Dad had yellow fog lights. I’d laughed when he told me he’d paid $280 to get the safety lights installed, especially when he insisted on using them even on clear days. But the yellow lights were nowhere in sight.

The sun hung low over the ocean bay at the end of the canal. Half an hour, tops, and it would be dark. Should I go back to the lake to try to find Mom myself? Scary mer-dudes or not, going back to the lake was the only thing left to do without Dad there.

I tied my hoodie around my waist for extra security, given that I was going commando under my skirt, thanks to my wardrobe malfunction back in Talisman Lake. Once I’d managed to arrange my scraggly hair around my face, I walked back out into the diner.

Oh. Shaky Eddie.

I’d been on such a mission to get to a phone, I’d missed him on the way in. He sat at his usual spot, trembling mug of coffee in hand. He glanced my way. His eyes squinted in a smile as he brought the mug to his lips. I forced a smile back and tightened the hoodie around my waist, but something niggled at me. What would have happened if I hadn’t seen Eddie there earlier? I would never have gone to the lake like he’d suggested.

I would never have seen Mom.

Then it hit me. The hoodie! I’d put it on the bench at the base of the bridge. How did it get draped over me, a hundred feet away by the creek where I’d passed out? The only person who knew I was down there was Eddie. Had he…

“Jade! Where were you?”

“Oh!” I jumped and turned to see Cori enter the diner with Lainey at her side. Luke and Trey hung back, deep in conversation.

“Don’t tell me you’ve been here this whole time?”

“Hi, uh, me? No…I went home.” I worked to get my heart back into my chest cavity as my head swirled with thoughts.

“Why didn’t you come over to the skate park?” Cori brought a hand up to my cheek. “What happened to your face?”

The scratch from the mer-jerk. I reached for her hand and pulled it down, laughing.

“Ha-ha. You know me. I can be such a dork.” I needed to come up with an excuse. Something believable. Something quick. Not like I could admit I just spent the last couple of hours, out cold, beside Talisman Lake recovering from tail-like symptoms.

Think. Think.

“I just…well, I had to catch up on studying.” Weak. I pulled at my damp hair, trying to pad my story. “Then I grabbed a shower and I guess I was still a bit woozy from being sick all week because I slipped in the tub and whacked my face on the towel bar. Brutal, huh?”

I could feel my nerve endings fray with each lie. I felt like pond scum, misleading Cori like that. This was worse than the Lie. This was the Lie to End All Lies.

“Aw, that’s too bad. You gonna be okay?” Cori asked.

“Oh, yeah. I’m fine.” But I wasn’t fine. I was standing in the middle of Bridget’s Diner, trying to find my dad because my mom was being held captive by criminal mer-people at the bottom of Talisman Lake.

I was anything but fine.

Lainey let out an impatient sigh and flicked her hair over her shoulder to glance back at Luke. She turned and looked me over. I caught a glimpse of a sneer. No doubt she’d noticed that I had the same clothes on as earlier, pre-supposed-shower. I hoped there weren’t mud or grass stains to give me away.

“Well, we missed you,” Cori continued. “And, oh, skateboarding gave me the best idea! I was thinking I could design a whole skater kind of look. What do you think?” She moved her hands side to side and narrowed her eyes like she was attacking a half pipe. “Kind of an edgy, urban-chic skater vibe?”

“You could definitely pull it off with those fierce moves.” I laughed, but meanwhile I wondered how I could put an end to our conversation and get out of there. Every minute spent talking meant another minute lost trying to find Mom. Plus, I had to talk to Eddie. I stole a glance at the counter. It was empty. Where did he go?

I caught Trey giving Luke a warning kind of glance when they looked up from their conversation. What was that all about?

“Well, we’ve gotta bounce, so see you guys later!” Trey gave Luke a brotherly jab to the arm. “Come on, bro.”

“You mind walking me home, Luke?” Lainey followed and grasped his arm. She turned back. “You coming, Cori?”

Finally. Even though I still felt the urge to pluck out Lainey’s eyelashes, I could feel my whole body sigh.

“I dunno,” Cori said. “What about you, Jade? You wanna come over to my house?”

“Oh, no thanks! I’m gonna head home.”

“You sure?” she asked quietly.

“Yeah. My dad’s picking me up.” I looked past her, through the window. The streetlights spanning the bridge were already lit. Was Dad on his way home? Should I try him on his cell again?

“Hey.” Cori gave me a nudge. “Feel better, ’kay?” she whispered and gave me a quick hug. I smiled to try to reassure her, but her eyes searched my face. I could tell she knew something was up, though I doubted “mermaid” and “risen from the dead” were on her radar.

“I’m fine. Don’t worry.” Another lie. They piled one on top of another in an ugly heap. I caught a glimpse of Luke as they all turned for the door. His face had an expression that was hard to read. Did he think I was being a flake, blowing them off twice in one day? Could he see through me too?

Oh, I should tell him about his cell…but he was gone. Again.

I couldn’t think of that just then. I couldn’t think of Dad driving somewhere along the streets of Port Toulouse, his message light flashing on his cell, or of Cori heading home, worried about her best friend. I couldn’t wonder why Eddie disappeared or imagine Luke and Lainey walking off into the sunset.

And I definitely could not waste one more second
standing in the middle of Bridget’s Diner while Mom was lost in the vast expanses of Talisman Lake.

It was dark by the time I made it back to the lake. Aspen leaves shook all around me like rattling maracas as I walked along the shoreline, guided by the light of the bridge’s streetlamps.

I stuffed my hands under my armpits to warm them and called over the lake, not daring to yell in case people from the street could hear.

“Mom…Mom…” Was she there, waiting for me to come back? I watched for any ripples or splashes, careful not to get too close to the water. Maybe they were all still there, watching me, just under the surface of the water. Would the Freshies come after me again? I shrank back at the thought. No way was I setting one duck-webbed tippy-toe in
that
lake any time soon.

Cars rumbled over the bridge on their way home for dinner but Dad’s yellow fog lights were still missing along the road. I pulled branches out of my way to check the creek one more time. Still empty. Mom was gone. Long gone.

I sank to the ground against a moss-covered rock and felt a new wave of sobs collecting in my chest. Why didn’t I stay with her to help fight off those guys when I had a chance? I buried my face in my hands and let the tears flow. Sure
I
was safe, but what did that matter if Mom was still in there, somewhere, with Finalin and Medora making her life miserable?

Would I ever find her? Would we ever get her back home?

I stood and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand.

Dad’s yellow fog lights turned on to Main Street.

“Dad!” I stumbled through the alders, past the park bench, and up the incline to the guardrail skirting the road.

“Dad!!” I yelled again, waving my arm high in the air.

His car passed by Bridget’s and headed toward the bridge. Could he see me? I moved closer to the streetlamp and waved.

“Daddy!”

He looked up and rammed on the brakes. The tires skidded and clinked gravel against the metal guardrail. Dad put on his hazard lights and jumped out of the car.

“What? What is it, Jade? Why are you out here all by yourself?” He reached for me and hugged me. “Are you crying?”

“Didn’t you get my message?”

“What message?” Dad pulled his cell from his pocket. “Oh, sorry. I must have had the music on too loud. What’s the matter?”

I looked up into his eyes. He didn’t know. He had no idea Mom was still alive. That she’d been living in the lake all this time. That I’d found her and hugged her and talked to her.

Then abandoned her.

And now, I had to tell him.

H
OW MANY TEARS CAN
you cry before your body gets squeezed dry?

I felt completely wrung out by the time Dad and I arrived home well past midnight after combing the banks of Talisman Lake for Mom. Nothing. Not a ring in my ears. Not a trace that she’d been there in the first place. I was seriously beginning to question my sanity.

Dad promised to stay with me until I fell asleep.

“You believe me, don’t you?” I asked into the darkness of my bedroom.

He reached out from the chair next to my bed and found my hand.

“Of course I do,” he whispered.

“She said to tell you she loves you.” My face screwed up as I remembered the last words Mom called out before forcing me out of the water.

“I know, honey. We’ll find her. I promise.” But from the way the outline of Dad’s shoulders shook in the low light of the window, I wondered if we ever would.

The next morning, Main Street looked like it had been covered in a shroud of grey. A fine mist hung in the air, smelling of damp ocean seaweed. I greeted Cori in front of Bridget’s on the way to school.

“Hey.” I handed her a hot chocolate, a Monday morning ritual.

“Hey, yourself, sunshine. You like?” Cori breezed past me. Her hair was stacked high on top of her head like a model from
Real Runway
. She wore a version of the asymmetrical dress from her sketchbook.

“You finished it!” I reached out and felt the silk material between my fingertips. That expression about something taking your breath away was really true, because I could barely manage the next few words. “It’s awesome…”

“Lainey’s mom wants me to come by her studio this afternoon to show her. I figured I’d get some mileage out of it in the meantime.”

“She’s gonna love it.”

“Hope so!” Cori flipped back the plastic top from her hot chocolate’s lid. She took a sip and winced. “Hey, I thought it was my turn to treat. I was even going to get my free one from Mug Glug’s.” She dug into her satchel and fished out her Frequent Sipper card.

“Save your freebie. We’ll celebrate at Mug Glug’s when Mrs. Chamberlain signs you up for next year’s co-op term.”

I took a drink and sucked in my cheeks at the bitter taste. Yeah, Mug Glug’s would have been a better choice. Bridget’s Diner may have been the waffle fry capital of the
world, but their hot chocolate wasn’t going to win any Reader’s Choice Awards in the
Port Toulouse
Herald
.

But I hadn’t dropped into Bridget’s for their hot beverage selection. I needed to see Eddie to try to figure out if he knew anything about Mom. When I got there though, he still wasn’t at the counter. Strange, considering the guy had permanent butt impressions on that stool of his.

“I think he decided to take a few days off while the lock is closed for maintenance,” Bridget had said when I asked where he was.

“Maintenance?”

“Yeah, Eddie had to turn a boat away earlier this morning when the motor blew on the controls as he tried to open the lock. They’ve got a crew out there right now, trying to figure out why the gate won’t open.”

So the stacks of rocks the mers had piled up against the lock had worked! Though, I was pretty sure “Mermish Sabotage” wouldn’t be one of the options on the maintenance crew report.

“How long will the lock be closed, you think?” How would Mom ever get back to the ocean if her only exit was blocked? And how long could the mers keep up the blockade?

Bridget didn’t know, but sure enough, the sound of rumbling trucks and heavy equipment pierced through the cool June morning air as we headed toward school.

Cori took another sip and fell in step with me. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you look like you got run over by that truck back there.”

“Thanks.” I slapped her arm with my free hand. “I feel like the crud between the tire treads, so I guess that qualifies.”

“Hey, I tried you on your cell last night, but I couldn’t get through so I left a message at your house. Why didn’t you call me back?” Cori asked.

“Oh, my cell is toast and we got in really late…had to drive to Gran’s to help fix her air-conditioner.” I stared straight ahead and tried to shake the lie from my voice. “Then she made us dinner…” I was laying it on a little thick “…by the time we got home, it was way too late to call back. Sorry.” I blew on the hot chocolate and took a careful sip, hoping that part of the conversation was over.

“I wanted to tell you about the music I downloaded. I thought we could do this whole Caribbean theme, you know?” Cori swayed her hips, holding her hot chocolate like she was sipping cool iced tea on a far away beach.

“For what?” I snuck one last glance at Talisman Lake before it disappeared behind Main Street’s buildings.

“For my pool party!” Cori grasped my arm. “You’re still coming right?”

“Um.”

Crap. Pool party. This new mermaid development might put a kink in those plans.

Cori was quiet for a few steps. Then she tugged gently on my arm and turned me toward her.

“What’s going on with you, Jade? It’s like we’re not even on the same wavelength anymore.”

“I, uh.” What could I say?

“Are you mad at me or something?” Cori searched my face.

“No. No! Of course not.”

“Because it doesn’t seem like you’re that into the pool party anymore. I thought after we found that bathing suit…”

Bathing suit—period—bath—mermaid—Mom.

The thoughts connected in my head like beads on a string. Then I remembered the white stitching with Mom’s name on the tag, making the connection from bathing suit to Mom far closer. The memory set off a flare inside me.

“I’ve gotta go.” Before I knew it, I shrugged Cori’s hand away and took off down Main Street. Hot chocolate sloshed from my cup, burning my hand.

“Where are you going?!” Cori called.

I turned, not long enough for Cori to see the tears streaking down my face. I knew if I stayed with her one more second I’d spill my guts. I ached to tell her everything just to have one more person in the world understand what I was going through. But I remembered the promise I’d made to Dad. If the truth ever got out, who knew where that would lead?

“I forgot! I told Higgins I’d help set up for Sports Day!”

Lie. Lie. Lie.

“Jade!”

The lies chased me past Mug Glug’s, past the post office, past the blurring images of Main Street, nipping at me like rabid dogs. Running away would solve my problem
for now, but it didn’t change the fact that I was part mermaid, my mom was alive, and that she was being held captive by an underwater lake monster and his posse of aquatic barbarians.

How could I continue being Cori’s best friend if I had to keep hiding my deepest, darkest secrets from her?

The sun had burned off the morning dew by the time I reached the sports field. A whistle blew farther down-field, urging a gym class through a series of punishing-looking soccer drills. Mr. Higgins was all too happy for the extra help, though he seemed a bit surprised by my sudden enthusiasm for relay games. He dropped a mesh bag full of balls next to the Gatorade table and untied the bag’s drawstring.

“I wasn’t aware you were so invested in sports, Jade. You know, we always need girls for the field hockey team. Or, better yet, have you ever thought of water polo?” He poured the balls on the grass and bunched the bag into his hands.

Water polo. I snorted.

“Oh, sorry. I’m usually not much of a joiner. Just trying to do my good deed for the day. This counts for community credits, right?”

Higgins sighed and started back toward the school for the next load of gym-inspired torture devices. “Just bring your credit form to the office for me to sign,” he called over his shoulder.

“Water polo,” I muttered as I grabbed a stack of pylons and started setting up the obstacle course. “As if.”

“Hey!” Someone called from behind.

“Ah!” I stumbled back, tripping over one of the pylons.

“Whoa!” Warm arms wrapped around me to keep me from falling. The scent of sunscreen and gym class enveloped me in a not-unpleasant way.

“Luke.” I turned in his arms, surprised by how close he was. Heat rose in my cheeks. I looked up into his crystal blue eyes, framed with impossibly long eyelashes. The early June sun cascaded off the sheen of his cheeks…

“I hope you have good accident insurance.” Luke laughed. He let go and stooped to pick up his sports bottle that had fallen to the ground.

“Well, ahem…” I turned off the
Sweet Valley High
soundtrack in my brain and met his gaze as he straightened from retrieving his bottle. “You’re going to have to come up with a better M.O. than knocking me over every time you want to say hi.”

“Hey, you should be thanking me. I just rescued you from a pylon injury.”

“Well, if you’re playing the dashing young hero angle, you should really shower first.” I waved a hand across my face, but couldn’t help smiling.

“If you think this is bad, don’t go near the guys’ locker room after gym class. It would curl your toes.” Luke got a strange look on his face then busied himself at the Gatorade table, refilling his bottle.

“Do you get many girls wandering into the boys’ locker room?”

Luke snapped the top of his sports bottle shut and laughed. “Sadly, no.”

“Poor you.” I patted his shoulder, a gesture which, in more expert hands, might pass as flirting. But that was Lainey’s department, not mine, so it wasn’t like I had anything to lose.

“Hey, I keep meaning to ask you; did you lose this?” Luke fumbled in his pocket and held out a strip of crumpled paper. “It must have gotten mixed up with my stuff at Dooley’s.”

I took the paper in my hands and unfolded it.

Michaela 2-piece/Swimwear $76.99.

The receipt from Hyde’s. Instant tear alert. What was it with this bathing suit?

“Um, yeah. Thanks.”

“’Cause I figured you might need it. The receipt, I mean. The bathing suit too, I guess.” He took a swig of Gatorade.

Blink. Blink.

“Thanks.” I peeled my eyes off Mom’s name and stuffed the paper in my pocket. “Oh, did you get your phone back?”

Luke pulled out his phone, flicked it open, then snapped it shut.

“So, fluke1019, huh?” I asked. “Is there a story behind that?”

“You saw that, huh?” Luke looked at me for a moment
then smiled. “There is a story, but you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

I laughed. “Secret double agent for the French Foreign Legion? Deep cover for the KGB?”

“Close.” Luke smiled and shoved the phone back in his pocket. “So, do you swim much?”

“Hate swimming.”

Luke laughed.

I put a hand on my hip. “Well, that’s nice. I might have a paralyzing water phobia for all you know and all you can do is laugh?” It was meant as a joke, but one obviously lost on Luke.

His face fell. He started to talk and stopped a few times before managing a sentence.

“Sorry, that was really stupid of me. I just thought…” He stared at the ground and jammed his toe into the turf like he was trying to loosen the dirt from the bottom of his running shoe. “I heard about what happened to your mom last summer,” he added quietly.

Me and my big fat mouth! Of course he’d feel bad about that, even though it was the first time in a year I hadn’t connected swimming with Mom’s supposed drowning. Why did I have to choose that precise moment to have a lapse in memory? And why, why, why didn’t I have those idiot filters replaced between my brain and my mouth during my last moron tune-up?

“No, no. I was just joking.” I caught his eye. “Hey, listen. The sooner you embrace your inner klutz and the sooner you understand what a smart mouth
I
am, the
better. Let’s just stop apologizing to each other for our glaring shortcomings, okay?”

Luke looked at me with his curvy lip, trying-not-to-smile smile and extended his hand.

“Deal.”

We shook on it.

“But no more talk about swimming or bathing suits or anything aquatic, okay? Makes me wanna barf.”

“Got it. But do sailboats qualify? ’Cause, my family always does this end-of-school boating trip to D’Escousse. Wanna come?”

All my brain filters unclogged spontaneously. My neurons snapped to attention. The fact that Luke was inviting me on a boat cruise registered on boy-girl level, but something else clicked too.

“When?!”

“Last day of school. It’s early dismissal that day so we’ll probably leave around lunchtime. That’s if they have the lock fixed by then.”

That was it! If I knew exactly when their boat was going through the lock, I might be able to get Mom safely to the ocean. Then she could find the tidal pool to help her transform into a human again. Then, she could come home. Of course, I’d have to find her first, but I would. I had to. And hopefully, the Freshies would have run out of rocks by then. But how could I help Mom and be on the boat at the same time?

Think, think…

“So, like a boat cruise?” I filled in the dead air, hoping to buy time so I could sort things out in my head.

“A boat cruise!” Lainey pranced over, appearing out of
nowhere
, sporting a jewel beaded crop top and spotless white capris. Cori followed, talking to Trey. She didn’t look my way. I can’t say I blamed her. Lainey grasped Luke’s arm. “That sounds like so much fun. I can’t wait!”

I’m sure the visible tremor working through my body must have looked like I had some sort of neurological disorder, but I couldn’t help it. How did she do it? How did Lainey Chamberlain manage to include herself in every conversation where Luke Martin was concerned?

Unless Luke had already invited her too…

“Yeah, should be a blast,” Trey added. “We’re going to pick up our cousin, Stewart, in D’Escousse. Jade, you coming?”

“Uh…” I did the connect-the-dots on the group dynamics.

Cori and Trey.

Lainey and Luke.

Me and some cousin named Stewart from D’Escousse.

Pity date.

Idiot.

I turned, trying to hide the burning fire in my cheeks. In my usual graceful manner, I bumped the nearby table, toppled over the Gatorade cooler, and sent it careening onto the ground. The top of the cooler popped off and I watched in silent horror as a fountain of orange liquid sprayed everyone within a ten-mile radius.