A Tail of Two Mermaids

Chapter Six: NIXIE

It felt so nice for Nixie to be able to stretch her graceful fins in the cool, murky waters of the Northeastern Ocean. That was quite a refreshing change after being cooped up in the Sea-Carriage for a couple days. The Tailmaiden swam, at a leisurely pace, several meters behind Princess Lorelei. Her little Viking seax was tucked under her arm.

Before putting "Operation Princess Switcheroo" into motion, Nixie had intended to test the waters, so to speak, by subtly bullying Lorelei. Nixie had very little patience for merfolk who let others swim all over them, and so far, the princess was proving herself to truly be a "spineless jellyfish" who was ridiculously easy to manipulate. She recalled that Lorelei had been reluctant at first to explore the shipwreck, but a simple "scaredy-catfish" jibe was all that it took to change her mind. Similarly, Nixie had convinced Lorelei to forage for food in the Wilderness by suggesting that "most mermen these days prefer strong and capable mermaids to pampered sea princesses who can't take care of themselves".

"Your Highness, you're swimming the wrong way!" Nixie called to Lorelei. "My father says that bivalves are generally found closer to the shoreline".

"The shoreline...?" repeated Lorelei apprehensively. Some mermaids were fascinated with the surface world, but Nixie knew good and well that the Baltican princess was not one of them.

As Lorelei hesitated, Nixie led the way through the swaying strands of seaweed. Just as her father, Dr. Finnean Undine, had once taught her to do, she began to pry a fat, ridged mussel from a rock. Nearby, a cluster of smooth, oval clams nestled in the gritty sand.

"See, Your Highness, I told you there's nothing to it!". Nixie triumphantly held up the freshly caught mussel.

That's a far more useful skill than reading or writing or drawing pretty pictures, Nixie thought bitterly. Dr. Undine may have believed his daughter to be a complete and utter barnacle brain, but Nixie's survival instincts were surprisingly sharp.

Lorelei nervously studied the cluster of clams. Her fins fluttered uncertainly in the shallow, coastal water.

Nixie's pretty blue tail flicked back and forth, her seax glinting in the dim light. "Well, don't just gawk at them, Princess!" she snapped. "Get to work!"

Lorelei nodded and bent over to dig for clams, getting dirty sand underneath her well-manicured fingernails for the first time in her sheltered life. Her special bracelet, that was woven out of a lock of her mother's golden hair, quickly slipped off her slender wrist and floated away in the current. Before she had a chance to grab it, a dark-colored leatherback sea turtle, which was six feet long and weighed almost two thousand pounds, rapidly swooped down. The Wild reptile opened its massive jaws wide, and swiftly swallowed the bracelet in a single gulp.

"Oh no...!" Lorelei gasped. Salty tears streamed down the princess's pale cheeks.

"That's too bad..." remarked Nixie, who was lounging on a big rock, in a tone of voice as flat as a seaweed pancake. Of course, the Tailmaiden had been grateful that the apparently magical bracelet had helped save them from the horrifying Kraken, but without it, Lorelei would be even more vulnerable. "Operation Princess Switcheroo" might be much easier than Nixie could have ever anticipated.

After dining on some of the raw shellfish and kelp that her and Lorelei(well, mostly Lorelei...) had gathered hours ago, Nixie stared out the small, porthole-shaped window of the Sea-Carriage. Far off in the distance, she could make out the dazzlingly bright city lights of Atlantis. That meant that the time to enact Operation Princess Switcheroo had come at last!

Nixie's blue eyes narrowed as she turned to Princess Lorelei. "Your Highness..." the Tailmaiden purred, clutching the bone handle of her trusty Viking seax. "I've come to the realization that I'd make a much better princess than you'll ever be...".

She suddenly pointed her rusty human knife mere inches away from Lorelei's throat. Nixie truthfully had no intention of taking the pathetic princess's life. For all of her faults, she was not a cold-blooded murderer. But the gullible little mermaid princess didn't know that...!

Lorelei's beautiful eyes were as wide as sand dollars. Clearly horrified out of her wits, the poor princess was speechless. "Nixie...!" was the only word she managed to utter.

"So, what do you say? Will you agree to switch identities with me?". Nixie waved her seax threateningly in front of Lorelei's lovely, petrified face. "Or will I have to take matters into my own fins...?"