The Sea Witch (The Era of Villains Book 1) (3 page)

“
You
know she’s just in a bad mood because of Queen Amphitrite’s
ridiculous declaration,” Hazel finally said. “She didn’t
mean any of those things she said about me.” She turned back
to Serena with a small smile, looked at the already fast healing cut
on her cheek, pointed to it, and said, “She didn’t mean
that either.”

Serena
knew Moira had meant every word and had relished giving Serena the
cut, but pressing the issue would only push Hazel away again. She
said nothing.

Hazel was
right about one thing, though. Moira was in a horrendous mood over
the royal declaration given by Queen Amphitrite a fortnight before
that said it was now illegal for merfolk to deal with sea witches,
punishable by imprisonment. A lot of Moira’s regular clients
were not returning for their weekly anti-aging, anti-stress, and
talent-granting potions or healing balms (like the one on Serena’s
face now). Some, those who were the most desperate for the perks
Moira could give them, still showed. She would still make the same
amount of dark, under the table deals, but losing a large chunk of
her daily revenue made her absolutely furious.

What
Serena, Moira, and Hazel knew, unlike the other merfolk, was that
Queen Amphitrite had suspected King Poseidon of cheating. When she
discovered him sneaking off one day a fortnight ago, she followed
him to Moira’s cave and overheard him buying his usual
anti-aging potion—yes, even the king used to come to Moira. At
first she was relieved that he was not going to meet a lover, but
then she deduced from Poseidon and Moira’s conversation that
he came there weekly for the potion. She realized he had never once
shared the anti-aging potion with her, and this made her wonder if
he was trying to look younger for another woman, that perhaps he was
planning on replacing her with someone who didn’t need to use
an anti-aging potion. She even began to suspect that perhaps he made
weekly visits because he had a thing for Moira herself, with her
fierce beauty and mysterious lifestyle.

Amphitrite
had caused quite a scene in the cave, slapping Poseidon with her
hand and her tail and knocking over Moira’s ingredients
containers. Moira had gotten the gist of the situation during
Amphitrite’s tirade. Serena and Hazel had heard it all from
their bedchambers. Moira had called the girls out after the king and
queen had left, and they had watched the fight that had ensued at
the palace as well, from the depths of Moira’s cauldron. Moira
said an enchantment and the water inside the cauldron became like a
one-way window into the palace. They had learned the rest of the
story through watching that fight. Serena had felt terribly guilty
about eavesdropping, especially alongside her mother, but her
curiosity had gotten the best of her.

Talk of
Amphitrite made Serena remember why she had been so happy on her way
home.

“
Oh,
Hazel, you’ll never guess what happened today,” she
said, ignoring Hazel’s comment that Moira hadn’t meant
anything by her rage.

“
What?”

“
I
spoke with Prince Triton; a face-to-face actual conversation…well
sort of. He was mostly apologizing for bumping into me.”

“
He
bumped into you?” said Hazel, a smile brought on by Serena’s
infectious excitement forming on her face, despite the familiar
twisting feeling of jealousy rising in her gut.

“
Well
really, I bumped into him on purpose, but he doesn’t know
that,” said Serena with a sly smile, wiggling her eyebrows
playfully at her sister, who giggled. “Anyways, he was so kind
and charming, and guess what, Hazel.”

“
What?”
said Hazel when Serena paused with her lips pursed in an attempt to
hold back a giant smile. “You’re killing me here.”

“
When
he was apologizing, he asked me if he hurt me,” said Serena,
speaking quickly and breathlessly now, “and I said no, and he
said ‘I would never want such a pretty face to come to harm.’
And he smiled at me! Just like he smiles at all those wealthy,
eligible girls. Can you believe it, Hazel? Prince Triton called me
pretty and he smiled at me! And he asked me my name. He knows my
name, Hazel!”

Hazel’s
smile had grown with Serena’s, but when her sister finished
her story, Hazel’s neck and cheeks felt hot despite the cool
water all around them, and she had to bite her lip to keep from
saying, “Great, now he can address you directly when he needs
you to fetch him something.” The jealousy warred in her gut.
Whenever Hazel looked at Serena, a battle between love and hatred
clashed inside her. Between interactions with her mother and her
sister, Hazel was always in the midst of inner turmoil. Jealousy
usually won out, but Serena had been so kind to her, and she looked
so very happy.

“
That’s
amazing, Serena,” said Hazel, forcing the smile back on her
face. “I can’t believe it. It must have been like a
dream.”

“
Oh,
it was,” said Serena, tilting her head back and lifting her
eyes to the green orbs above them. “Just like a dream, Hazel.
And maybe that’s the reason that I’m starting to believe
it can actually happen.”

“
What
can happen? You and Prince Triton?” Hazel wasn’t able to
hold in her derisive laugh. “Serena, you’re a maid. It’s
never going to happen no matter how many pretty smiles he flashes
you.”

Hazel’s
words seemed to have no effect on Serena. She just looked over and
gave Hazel a knowing smile that seemed to say, “Just you
watch, Hazel. Just you wait and see,” and then she swam to the
doorway with that same dreamy look on her face. She turned around
with one hand resting on the stone archway.

“
Think
about what I said, Hazel, please,” she said. “Don’t
let Mother make you feel bad about yourself. You’re better
than her, Hazel—a better mermaid. Don’t let her tell you
otherwise.”

As Serena
swam into the hallway, Hazel thought,
Being a
better mermaid means nothing. I want to be the better witch.

Serena
took the back corridors to her room, not wanting to cross the foyer
and run into Moira again. Whereas Hazel had chosen green orbs to
line her hallway and room, Serena had chosen blue to match her own
tail. Serena’s bed was a stone frame she’d packed with
blue and purple seaside flowers. An enchantment kept the flowers
fresh even though they were plucked. Serena had asked Hazel to
perform the enchantment, and she had done a perfect job. Serena
often reminded her of this, but Hazel just said the spell was
child’s play and that if she couldn’t do that then she
shouldn’t even call herself a witch. Serena wasn’t sure
Hazel was even aware of copying their mother’s words when she
said it.

But now,
as she lay back on her bed, her arms splayed behind her, her tail
flipping slowly up and down, she wasn’t thinking of Hazel.
Behind her closed eyelids, she saw herself at Triton’s side in
the throne room, sitting in the queen’s throne, the one shaped
like a dolphin holding itself up out of the water. She sat in the
curve of the dolphin’s tail, her back resting against its
belly. Triton sat beside her in the king’s throne, shaped like
an octopus, with six legs attached to the ground serving as the
chair and two held up as armrests. The Trident sat in the curl of
the right side tentacle of the throne.

Subjects
were lined up before them, Queen Serena and King Triton. They
listened to the merpeople’s needs. They cared for all merfolk,
giving priority to those in the most need, caring for the little
merpeople, even the maids.

She would
be a just queen. She knew she could be everything Triton needed in a
bride. He had a noble sense of duty. She had seen it in him. When he
was outside the palace, he always stopped to speak with those who
called out to him. She had heard him make speeches about making
Adamar a peaceful place to live, where royalty did not hold
themselves above all other merfolk, but instead took time to
understand their needs and desires. She was sure he would deliver on
his promises when he became king. The merpeople who whispered that
it was all just talk were wrong. He was a great and noble merman,
and she ached for him so fiercely it was physically painful.

She
thought of his smile, the flirtatious one and the caring one. Though
she loved the caring one best, it was the flirtatious curling of his
lip that she held on to. It made her heart flutter with hope. He
could want her too. It was possible. Now she just had to make it
happen.

The
atrium rang with girlish laughter. Serena froze in the corridor. She
had just come from the grand dining hall, which she and all the
other maids had been preparing for the following night’s
dinner party under the watchful eye of the Head Maid, Marissa.
Serena was on her way to do her daily cleaning of the atrium, but
the sight in the middle of the atrium floor made her stop short in
the doorway.

It wasn’t
an unfamiliar sight—Triton surrounded by half a dozen pretty,
wealthy girls. Their wealth was evidenced by the pearls and cave
crystals entwined in their elaborately braided and twisted hair.
Only the wealthy could afford to wear currency like an ornament.
Their tails were always rubbed down with whale and seal blubber
oil—very expensive stuff, since merpeople did not hunt such
creatures and thus had to harvest the oil from the fresh carcasses
of animals that died naturally. They were the sort of mermaids who
bought their shell tops instead of making them, and they had a
different one for every day of the week.

Two of
them were redheads, Triton’s favorite, and he had his arm
draped casually over the shoulder of the one nearest him. She was
gazing up at him from the crook of his shoulder, absolutely giddy.
Serena hadn’t caught whatever Triton had said to make them go
into such a tizzy, but she could imagine. He had a routine with such
girls—a routine Serena had observed far too often for her
liking. He usually regaled them with a hunting story of chasing down
great whites, tiger sharks, and even packs of orcas that attacked
merpeople or started killing sea creatures for sport. He would end
the story by saying something like, “And I’d fight a
whole hoard of them if it meant protecting you beautiful mermaids,”
or “If only I could have a pretty face to come home to after a
hunt.” It drove the bubbleheads mad. Triton rarely surrounded
himself with intelligent or sophisticated mermaids. They were not
the type to swarm and giggle and swoon at a well-placed pick up
line, and Triton seemed to be quite fond of the swooning. Part of
Serena was glad he occupied his time with the stupid ones, since
they would be easy to outshine if she ever got the chance.

Serena
swam silently into the atrium, concealing an eye roll with her
floating mass of hair. She went straight to a patch of algae trying
to take hold on the floor and started scrubbing. She did not look
over at Triton and his admirers. Normally, she could not keep her
eyes from drifting to him, but she did not want to see that
flirtatious smile (the smile he’d given her just yesterday) on
his face when he looked at those other mermaids.

“
Tell
us another one, Triton,” said one of the mermaids.

The
others started to chime in their assent when the redhead with
Triton’s arm around her—who seemed oblivious to the
other mermaids’ request for more stories—said, “Got
any plans for tonight, Triton?”

Serena’s
head whipped around. Her sponge went still on the floor. Tiny flecks
of the algae she’d scrubbed loose floated around her head,
entangling in her hair. She didn’t notice. The other
bubbleheads glared at the redheaded mermaid. Some held their hands
slightly curled, as though they were preparing to claw the redhead’s
face. Serena held her breath, trying to read Triton’s
expression.

Triton
seemed oblivious to the tension created all around him. He smiled a
lopsided, easy grin and said, “Actually, I do.” When the
redhead lifted her head from his shoulder and scowled, he added,
“With friends. Disappointing, I know. Mermaids make far better
company than mermen, but what’s a prince to do? I made a
promise to be there, and surely you all must know I never break a
promise.”

The
mermaids all giggled, the redhead rested her head on him again, and
there was a chorus of “Oh, of course you do,” and “We
know you do.” Serena let out a long breath.

“
But
you know,” said Triton, “there’s a dinner party
tomorrow night, and I still don’t have a date.”

The
answering squeals of ecstasy made Serena flinch and rub her ear. She
sighed resignedly. He would pick the petite redhead under his arm
and maybe date her for a week or two and then forget about her. She
turned back to her scrubbing, wishing she could plug her ears and
forget the whole thing.

“
Who
do you think I should take with me?”

Looking
back, replaying it over and over, Serena was never sure what it was
about the question that made her do what she did. Perhaps it was
because he hadn’t expressly chosen the redhead as she had
assumed he would. Perhaps it was the memory of the flirtatious smile
and sweet words of the day before. Perhaps it was both, because they
both suggested that she had a chance. He didn’t always have to
choose the redhead. He thought she was pretty. He could want her.
And why shouldn’t he? She was his perfect match.

“
Me!”
she said, before any of the bubbleheads could do much more than gasp
in delight at his question and start another round of giggles. She
pumped her tail so that she rose from the floor as she turned to
face him with her head held high and her heart beating so hard she
feared it might burst. “You should take me.”

Complete
silence. Triton raised his eyes from the mermaids all around him and
looked to the far end of the atrium. His deep blue eyes locked with
her dark brown ones. There was a glimmer of recognition in those
ocean-colored eyes, and Serena’s heart pitter-pattered its way
up to her throat in excitement. His mouth curved in a smile that
showed off his perfect teeth. Serena felt her own face begin to
mimic his, and then it happened. His eyebrows arched in comic
surprise, and he laughed. It was a brisk, happy laugh—a short,
“Ha!” There was no cruelty in it, only amusement.

Serena
crumbled. She felt the unpleasant sting in her eyes that meant tears
were forming. He thought she was joking. The idea of taking her to a
dinner party was so absurd to him that he had automatically assumed
she couldn’t possibly be serious. She told herself not to sob;
whatever she did, she must not sob. Her tears would mix with the
ocean and no one would be the wiser, but if she made a noise they
would know…he would know. She bit down on her tongue to help
hold it all in. But even though she kept silent and kept her head
high with her eyes straight ahead, her face betrayed her hurt. Her
lips pulled down at the corners, her eyelids drooped bashfully, and
her forehead creased.

The other
mermaids sensed her pain, her vulnerability, and attacked like
sharks in a feeding frenzy. They all began to laugh as one—a
cacophony of shrill cackles, tinkling giggles, and cruel snickers.

“
Prince
Triton take
you
to
the party?”

“
Just
who exactly do you think you are, little maid?”

“
Little?
There’s nothing little about her. Cut back on the clams,
honey.”

“
Keep
your eyes where they belong and go back to your scrubbing. You
missed a spot.”

“
You
really think he’d be interested in you?”

“
He
wouldn’t be able to show his face again if he showed up with
you on his arm.”

Serena’s
tears were flowing freely now. She could feel them, hot against her
lids, and she hoped her eyes weren’t getting red. She kept her
chin jutted out defiantly, but she clenched her hands into fists.
She didn’t look at the jeering mermaids. She kept her eyes on
Triton, silently begging him to do something, to say something. But
of course, she was just a maid. The fair maidens whom princes fought
for and protected weren’t maids. Triton cleared his throat a
few times but never spoke a word. His downcast eyes darted from the
mermaids around him and back to Serena. One clenched fist knocked
nervously against his tail.

From high
up in the third level balcony, Queen Amphitrite watched the whole
thing. Unlike her son, she had recognized the passion in Serena’s
eyes, in the set of her mouth, in the way she leaned toward Triton
as if longing to be as close as possible. Amphitrite knew it was no
joke. She also knew who Serena was—the daughter of that
dreadful sea witch who’d tried to lure her husband away with
magic potions. It would have to be stopped before her son even had
the chance to get wise. She was sure he wouldn’t fall for the
girl even if he did realize her feelings…but it was best to
take precautions.

Amphitrite
propelled herself over the balcony and began to swim down to the
atrium. Serena saw her when she reached the first balcony level. The
queen’s beautiful face was unreadable, but she was
breathtaking as usual. Her pink tail shimmered in the sunlight
coming through the windows from the surface. Small pink shells of
all shapes and sizes were woven together in her top to create the
shape of two large clam shells. Her long hair was a river of gold
full of pink ocean flowers, pearls, and even doubloons. The mermaids
continued to jeer as she approached from behind them.

“
Silence!”
said the queen, startling Triton and his entourage. “That’s
quite enough from you silly little guppies.”

The
mermaids pouted at being called guppies, but they held their
tongues. Serena’s tears eased, and she let out her first sound
since the jeering had started, a shaky sigh of relief. Triton had
not known how to handle the group of bloodthirsty females. And
really, what merman did? But the queen had come to her rescue.
Serena inclined her head in a bow.

“
Finally,
you remember your place,” said Amphitrite. The way she snapped
out the words and the sneer Serena heard behind them shattered her
once more. Amphitrite was not there to help. She was there to jeer
in her own way. The betrayal was so sudden that Serena looked as
though she had been slapped, and the small sob came so suddenly she
couldn’t hold it back.

The young
mermaids still surrounding Triton, who looked even more
uncomfortable now that another angry female had been added to the
mix, smiled nastily behind Amphitrite’s back at the sound of
Serena’s anguish.

“
You
do in fact remember that you are a maid, do you not?” said
Amphitrite, her own lips pulling up in a cruel smirk as well.

“
Yes,
your Majesty.” Serena despised the weak quiver in her voice—it
reminded her of Hazel cowering before Moira—but she couldn’t
control it.

“
As
if that wasn’t reason enough to keep your mouth shut, you’re
also the daughter of the local sea witch.”

Serena
snapped her head up from her bow, and the wide-eyed look of shock
and hurt on her face made Amphitrite’s cold sneer a little
bigger.

“
Oh
yes, I know exactly who you are,” said Amphitrite. “Although,
I don’t know your name, of course. Why would I bother? Your
mother is a vile sorceress and seductress. If she’s still in
business, she’s now also a criminal under my new decree. You
are the daughter of a criminal. You are a faceless, nameless polyp
that scrubs our floors, fetches our things, and cleans up after our
parties.”

Serena
looked to Triton. He was staring at his mother with something like
incredulity. Now he didn’t just look uncomfortable, he looked
upset. Serena tried to catch his eye, to beg him silently to
intervene, but he was fixated on his mother. She silently begged him
to tell the queen that he had thought her name was worth knowing.
Tell her you know my name.
But perhaps he didn’t know her name. Perhaps it had already
slipped his mind, maybe from the moment he swam away from her the
day before.

“
Look
at me, girl, not him!” said Amphitrite. “From now on you
keep your eyes on your work and that’s it. You are not fit to
look at him. Your kind is not fit to lick the ground he swims over.
You will abandon your foolish romantic notions for my son. You will
remember your place, or you won’t even be able to call
yourself a maid anymore. Do you understand?”

“
Yes,
your Majesty,” said Serena, trying in vain to choke down
another sob.

“
Don’t
just float there. Get back to work.” With a flick of her tail,
Amphitrite turned to look at her son. “Triton, make better use
of your time elsewhere. You mermaids go home. You’ve had
enough fun for one day.”

The
mermaids stifled giggles behind their hands as they swam by Serena
to the palace doors. Triton spared Serena one last apologetic glance
that she caught out of the corner of her eye before he headed down
the corridor that would lead him to his battle training grounds.
Amphitrite did not turn back to look at Serena. She pumped her tail
in a graceful arcs and swam back up to her chambers on the fourth
floor.

Serena
scrubbed slowly, not making a sound, as they all left. Her heart was
no longer aching with desire or pounding with excitement. Her heart
felt nothing at all. There seemed to be a hole in her chest, and in
the place where her heart used to be there was only an uncomfortable
pressure from trying not to cry. When she was finally alone in the
atrium, she dropped her sponge and her barnacle scraper and punted
them across the atrium with her tail with an angry yell that turned
into a cry of anguish.

Now it
felt as though her heart had returned, but in pieces, and it was
crying out in agony. She yanked open the palace doors and swam with
all her might. She swam blindly, not knowing where she was going and
not caring, as long as it wasn’t her home. She swam all the
way to the outskirts of the city. The city was built on an elevated
piece of land that had once been a coral reef that stood only about
two-hundred and fifty feet below the surface of the water. The edge
of the city dropped off suddenly into Deep Ocean. The water below
the edge of the city was a darker blue. Eventually, as it went down,
it would turn black.