Hart of the Sea

Chapter 9

"Hart, why aren't you awake yet?" My mom shrilled as she burst into my room. I rolled over in my clamshell bed and slowly opened my eyes, trying to will my grogginess away. Sunlight trickled in through my only window, tinted blue from the seaglass. Loose silt particles disturbed from my mother's entrance danced around in the light, giving it a glittering quality.

"Whaa...why?" I mumbled, not awake enough yet to remember how to form full sentences. Mom stared at me as if I'd just told her I wanted to grow human legs.

"Why? Have you seriously forgotten?" Her gaze was a dagger that pierced the veil of my muddled state. I sat upright, scratching the back of my head.

"Uh...forgotten...what?" I asked meekly.

Mom's nostrils flared. "There's a royal festival being held at the palace today. It's a celebration for the princess's birthday. All villages are invited." She paused, waiting for a response. But it was futile; my brain was still trying to process that she'd barged into my room in the first place. "Doesn't that swim your memory at all?" Her fins fanned out, kicking up more silt into the water.

Oh! That festival! The princess's big birthday celebration was announced months ago, when school was still in session. I had completely forgotten about it.

"Oh, yeah, I remember now," I said, hoping that'd satiate my mom's irritation. I didn't know if it was exactly true, though. 

"Well, what are you waiting for then? Get ready! You should've been ready an hour ago. And make sure you scrub those scales of yours, there's silt everywhere in here," she huffed, swiftly turning around and shutting my bedroom door with her amber tail, blowing a cloud of the silt towards me.

With a heavy sigh, I dragged myself out of bed and to my closet. It was small; it didn't even have a door. There was only enough space for a few clothing items and some loose kelp parchments. Usually, I just wore a small satchel for carrying things around – as most mer did, in fact – which hung on a hook next to my closet when I wasn't using it. I decided I didn't need it today. Instead, I reached for a white dress shirt my dad found in the wreckage of an old human water-travel vessel - which, thanks to Talia, I now knew was called a "boat" -  a while ago. This'll have to do, I thought to myself, sliding it on over my head. I didn't want to have to deal with the buttons; they were such a frustrating human invention.

For scrubbing my scales, I used a flat, circular slab of coral cut from a thick stalk. The rough, porous surface made my aqua scales sparkle like the ocean on a sunny day. I could care less if my tail sparkled or not, but I didn't feel like getting scolded more than I already had been that morning.

Mom and Dad were already waiting for me when I got outside.

"You better pray to Aqeus that you didn't make us late, Hart," Mom growled at me before we all swam off together.

"Coral, relax. It'll be okay. It doesn't matter if we're a few minutes late," Dad said, swimming alongside me while Mom sped ahead of us.

"Tide, I really don't need to be patronized right now," Mom huffed. "Do you have any idea how bad it looks to be late to a royal event? Especially one we were given months of advance notice for?"

"Sorry," he mumbled, falling silent. None of us spoke for the rest of the swim; too involved in our own thoughts. Instead, I focused on the feeling of the water rushing over my face as we picked up speed through a small rift valley. 

Arriving at the palace was the easy part. Sorting our way through the crowd to get to the courtyard was a bit more difficult. The royal family's celebrations were always a big deal, and as such, they always drew in bustling, stress-inducing crowds.