Sink or Swim (5 page)

W
e try to convince Prince Mortimer to hang out on the beach that night, but he says he’s too tired from his day of windsurfing. So we use the next best thing we can find.

Prince Mortimer’s wet-suit portrait.

We wait until the middle of the night.

Then we sneak downstairs and very, very, very carefully lift Prince Mortimer’s portrait up and off the wall.

“Careful!” I whisper as it leans toward Jonah and almost turns my brother into a pancake.

It’s a good thing Vivian lives in the basement with Carolyn and the other staff, or she would definitely hear us right now.

“Got it?” I ask. “Lift on three and then we’ll carry it out. One! Two! Three!”

We lift. But it’s so heavy that we end up dragging it across the foyer and out the back terrace to the sand, as close to the water as we can get.

“Do you really think this is going to work?” Jonah asks when we’re finally outside.

“Hopefully the Little Mermaid will see this and want to swim right up to it,” I say. “She
is
madly in love with him.”

“Unless she hates him now that the story’s already different,” he says.

“Then all of our problems would be solved,” I say. “But I doubt it.”

“I just hope she can see it,” Jonah says. “I could figure out how to build a fire.”

I snort. “You could not.”

“I could so,” he huffs. “You just need the sun and a piece of glass. How hard could it be?”

“Hard, considering it’s the middle of the night.”

“Oh, right.”

Luckily it’s a full moon, so we don’t need to rely on my brother’s nonexistent fire-starting skills. Everything on the beach is lit up. Including the portrait. Including the water lapping at the base of the portrait. Wetting the paint.

“Quick! Jonah! The prince is losing his feet!”

We hurry to move the portrait back a few feet. I doubt we’d be the royal family’s welcome guests if we ruined one of their prized paintings.

“So, what now?” Jonah asks.

“We wait. She’ll see the portrait and swim up to us and we’ll talk to her. I’ll sit behind the painting and hold it up while you keep watch.”

At least an hour passes. Jonah’s eyes are drooping.

Another hour.

Jonah’s eyes are closed.

“Jonah, wake up!” I yell. “I can’t do both jobs at once!”

“Not sleeping!” he announces, and opens his eyes wide.

“Let’s switch,” I say. “That way you can pretend not to sleep while you balance the portrait, and I’ll look for her.”

We switch. Jonah dozes. I scoop sand from one hand to the other, keeping watch.

When I feel my own eyes start to droop, I decide it’s time to call it quits. This is getting us nowhere. I’ll give it ten more minutes, and then we’re going to —

Splash.

Did I just hear that? Or is it my imagination? I spring to my feet and run closer to the shore.

I see her! I see her! Long green-and-orange tail. Really gorgeous blond hair. It goes down to her waist and is almost the color of butter.

She’s treading water by a rock, gazing at the wet-suit portrait of Prince Mortimer.

I want to yell, “Hello!” but I’m afraid of startling her and sending her back under the water. She’s not too far out — maybe twenty feet. The water is calm.

If only I could swim out twenty feet. If only I had on a life jacket.

Maybe I can swim out a little. Not too deep. Just to where I can still stand.

Luckily I’m wearing my bathing suit under my sundress. I slip off the dress and wade into the water. Slowly. Carefully. Without making a sound. Without making a splash. Wow, the water is cold at night. I wish
I
had a wet suit.

I almost reach her when the water hits my waist. That’s as far as I’m going to go.

“Abby?” Jonah’s voice echoes along the beach. “Where are you?”

Uh-oh.

Jonah stands up on the shore, still holding the painting. “Abby!” he yells, blinking the sleep from his eyes. “Where did you go?”

I want to yell, “SHHHH,” but I don’t want to scare the Little Mermaid.

“Abby! Abby!”

The Little Mermaid sinks her shoulders and tail under the surface.

“Wait!” I cry. “Little Mermaid! Please don’t go! We want to help you!”

She disappears under the water.

I lunge toward her. “No! Don’t go! We know you love the prince! That’s why we brought his painting! To get your attention!” Suddenly my feet no longer touch the ground. Oh, no.

“Abby!” Jonah hollers. “I see her! She’s in the water.”

“No kidding, Jonah! Can you lend me a hand here, please?”

“You’re the girl from the other day, right?” a voice asks timidly. The Little Mermaid! She’s talking to me!

“I am,” I say, frantically doggy-paddling to stay afloat. “Don’t be afraid. We want to help you.”

Her face peeks out from behind the rock. “Is that your brother?”

“He definitely is,” I say, finally finding the sand with my tiptoes. “You only have sisters, right?”

She nods.

“Lucky.” I laugh. “And you’re the youngest, huh?”

She nods again and runs her fingers through her wet hair. “How did you know that?” she asks. “Humans never know anything about me.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve read your story. That’s what I want to talk to you about. I know that you’re a mermaid and that you love the prince and that you want to trade your tail for two legs.”

She gasps. “I haven’t told anyone that.”

“I read it. In a book.”

“You know how to read?”

My eyes widen. “You don’t?”

Splash.
I turn to see Jonah swimming toward us.

The Little Mermaid shakes her head. “No one underwater does. Books and ink don’t last underwater. They disintegrate.”

That makes sense. “Well, we read. And that’s how we know who you are. And what happens to you. And it isn’t good.”

She pulls on a lock of her hair. “What happens?”

“You go to the sea witch and make a deal with her. She turns your tail into two legs but makes you give her your voice as payment.”

She touches her throat. “My voice?”

I nod.

“Your tongue!” Jonah adds, now beside us.

“That’s disgusting,” the Little Mermaid says.

I agree. “That’s why we don’t want you to do it.”

“Is your name really Little Mermaid?” Jonah asks.

She shakes her head. “It’s Lana.”

“I’m Jonah,” my brother says. “And my sister is Abby.”

“Nice to meet you, Abby and Jonah. I’ve never spoken to humans before.”

“We’ve never spoken to a mermaid before,” Jonah says. “Most people here haven’t even heard of mermaids. They’re weird. They don’t use ketchup, either. Is there ketchup where you live?”

It’s very late, I’m very cold, and I do not feel like chatting about ketchup. “Lana, let’s get back to business. Are we all clear? You can’t trade your voice and tail for legs to make Prince Mortimer fall in love with you. It doesn’t work. He marries someone else and you end up …” My voice trails off. A wave hits me and I struggle to steady myself.

Lana squints. “I end up what?”

“Dead,” Jonah says matter-of-factly.

She shivers. “I don’t want to be dead.”

“Exactly,” I agree. “That’s why you have to learn to be happy with your life in the water. You get what you get and you don’t get upset.”

In the moonlight, I see Lana’s eyes tear up. “But I don’t want to stay where I am! I love Prince Mortimer! And I want to live on land! Where there are sunsets and flying fish!”

“What are flying fish?” Jonah asks.

“You know,” she says. “Fish that fly through the air. My sisters told me all about them!”

“You mean birds?” I wonder.

“Flying fish!” she insists. “And shoops!”

“What are shoops?”

“The things you put on your feet. You know — shoops.”

“You mean shoes,” Jonah says.

She shakes her head. “Shoops!”

“Forget about shoops,” I say. “Didn’t you hear what I said? You’re going to lose everything! Your tongue! Your life! You can’t make a deal with the sea witch! You can’t give up everything that makes you who you are. It’s just not right.”

Lana crosses her arms and pouts. Her tail slaps against the water. I guess that’s her way of stomping her feet. “But I love him.”

She’s being ridiculous. “You’ve never even spoken to him!”

“You don’t need to speak to someone to know you love him,” she insists. “You don’t know what it’s like. You’re just a kid.”

I snort. “You’re practically a kid, too.”

“I’m fifteen,” she huffs.

“That’s not even old enough to vote!”

“Vote on what?” she asks.

“The president,” I say.

“We don’t have presidents here. My father is the king. He runs the ocean. And I’m a princess. And I want to marry the prince.”

Jonah floats on his back. “Maybe she could still marry the prince, without making a deal with the sea witch. Maybe they
can have a long-distance relationship. Or maybe she can live in the pool. Or he can go live with her in the ocean. He can use the underwater spit potion!”

Lana cocks her head to the side. “There’s an underwater spit potion?”

“That’s what Carolyn said,” I say. “But she hasn’t been right about everything. She’s the chef at the palace. Apparently her great-great-grandmother met a mermaid.”

“I’ve never heard of a potion,” Lana says, “but if it really worked, then the prince could stay with me!”

“Carolyn said it lasted only for twelve hours,” Jonah says. “So he’d have to come back on land eventually.”

“Maybe we could alternate,” Lana says hopefully. “He could spend some time underwater with me, I’ll spend some time in his pool …”

“It’s doable,” I say.

“But …” Lana hesitates. “Do you think he’ll love me even if I’m a mermaid?”

“A guy should love you for who you are,” I say. “If you have to change yourself, he’s not right for you.”

We all nod. Sounds right, doesn’t it?

“I like the potion-plus-pool plan,” I say. “That way you can
still be together without trading anything with the sea witch. I think the prince has to meet you. Once he sees that you’re real, and once you tell him that you’re the one who saved him from the shipwreck, I’m sure he’ll fall in love with you.”

“Yeah?” Lana asks.

“Absolutely,” I say, and hope that it’s true.

T
he next morning, Jonah, Prince Mortimer, and I head out to the beach, as planned.

“Is she really going to be here?” Prince Mortimer asks.

“Yup. She can’t wait to see you again,” I say.

Jonah and I told him that the person who swam him to shore is here to see him. We left out the mermaid part, since he didn’t believe us the first time we told him. He’ll find out the truth soon enough.

My plan is totally going to work. He’s going to meet Lana and fall hopelessly in love. So what if she’s a mermaid? That won’t stop true love! In a few weeks, he’ll propose, they’ll get
married, and —
ta-da!
— happy ending. I glance at my watch. It’s only two o’clock back home. We’ll get Lana and Prince Mortimer together, and we’ll still have five days to find our way back!

We are really getting good at this fairy tale stuff.

As we walk down to the shore, I spot Lana already waiting in the ocean. Her upper body is above the water and her tail is underneath. From this angle, you can’t even tell she’s a mermaid.

Prince Mortimer’s eyes light up. “That’s her?”

“Yup,” I say.

“She’s beautiful.” He practically skips all the way down to the water. “Hello!”

She smiles back. “Hello!”

“Are you really the one who saved me from the shipwreck?” he asks.

She nods. “I did. I brought you to Crescent Beach, and then Abby and Jonah pulled you ashore.”

“I am forever in your debt,” he says, tipping his head. “Come out of the water so we can talk.”

“It’s so hot out,” she says, blushing. “Why don’t you come in the water?”

Nice one, Lana!

“I don’t have my bathing suit on yet,” he says. “Tell me more about how you saved me. You happened to be in the water that night?”

“Yes,” she says simply.

“I guess you were on another boat?”

She smiles. “Something like that.”

“You have beautiful hair.”

“Thank you,” she says, batting her eyelashes.

“So you brought me all the way to safety?”

She nods.

His eyes are all shiny and moony. “That’s amazing. You saved me, and you’re so beautiful.”

“Thanks again,” she says.

He clears his throat. “Will you marry me?”

Wow, that was fast! I thought it would take a few weeks, but it only took a few minutes. Maybe it really is true love!

Lana’s smile lights up her face. “I will!”

“Fantastic,” he says, his eyes twinkling. “You will be my princess.”

“I should tell you something,” she says. “I am already a princess.”

Surprise crosses his face. “You are? Princess of where?”

“Of the sea,” she says, and with that she dives into the water and shows him her tail.

His face turns white.

Uh-oh.

She reemerges, still smiling.

“You have a t-t-tail!” he spits out.

“I do,” she agrees. “I’m a mermaid.”

He shakes his head repeatedly. “There is no such thing as mermaids.”

Jonah laughs. “Prince Mortimer, she has a tail. You can’t argue with that.”

The prince waves his hands in front of his face and takes a few steps back. “I can’t marry a half person, half fish.”

What? No! “Why not?” I ask. “She can sleep in your pool! Or the hot tub! The hot tub is really relaxing!”

He keeps walking back toward his palace. “I just can’t! I need a wife who can walk and dance. Someone who can live with me on land. I’m sorry, but this will never work. I take back my proposal!”

“You can’t take back a proposal!” I yell.

“Yeah!” Jonah hollers. “Finder’s keepers!”

“There’s a potion,” I tell him. “A potion you can take. You’ll be able to live part-time with her under the water.”

“There are sharks under the water!” he exclaims. “And I’m not giving up my palace to live in some underwater cave!”

Hmph. What a romantic.

And with that, he turns and storms back to the palace.

“But, but, but …” Lana’s voice trails off. “I don’t live in a cave. My father’s palace is just as nice as this palace.”

I hurry toward her. “Lana, I’m so sorry.”

She winces. “I told you this wouldn’t work. I need legs to marry him. And the only way to get them is the sea witch.”

“Lana, I don’t get it. Why are you so crazy about him? He just insulted your palace! And he’s not willing to give anything up for you! Why are you going to give everything up for him?”

She purses her lips. “Because I love him!”

I roll my eyes. I can’t help it. She’s hopeless. “There has to be another way.” I rub my fingers against my temples. “I need to think about it.”

“Well, I need legs. I have to go, anyway. My dad is having a party tonight, and I said I’d be there.”

“Good.” At least a party will keep her from visiting the sea witch. “By tomorrow I’ll have another plan. Trust me, I’m very good at planning.”

Jonah nods. “She is very good at planning.”

“Just whatever you do, don’t go to the sea witch. Deal?” I ask.

“Whatever,” she says. And then, without even a good-bye, she disappears under the water, leaving me to come up with another plan. Fast.