A Tail of Two Mermaids

Chapter Fourteen: NIXIE

There's some stupid event today called Open Library Day..." Nixie sighed, as Lorelei combed her long blonde tresses. Crown Prince Delmore of Atlantis had told her about Open Library Day yesterday, on the way back to the royal stables. Nixie had very reluctantly agreed to help at the special event, as the false princess knew that Delmore would be majorly disappointed if she didn't volunteer.

"Oh, yeah" muttered Lorelei nervously. "I, uh, heard about that too, and, well, I said that I'd volunteer...".

Nixie's bright blue eyes narrowed. "You did what!?" she hissed, her voice low and menacing.

Princess Lorelei sheepishly looked down at her trembling, turquoise fins.

A dark expression formed on Nixie's beautiful face. "You think that you're so clever, don't you, Nixie?". She adamantly refused to call Lorelei by her real name, even in private. "Trying to get close to Crown Prince Delmore by volunteering at the library...".

Lorelei's naturally pale face turned even paler. "I was...I mean, I just wanted to help...".

Nixie let out a decidedly mirthless laugh. She then floated up and pulled the rusty human knife, that she had found in the sunken Viking longship, out of her shell-case.

"You're going to help all right. You're gonna help me keep up this charade, and make sure that Delmore never finds out the truth". She threateningly held the Viking seax mere centimeters away from Princess Lorelei's heart. "You will return to your own bedchamber, lock the door, and stay there...or else. I'll tell Delmore that you suddenly came down with a bad case of the Seagull Pox, and will have to be bedridden for days!"

"Okay..." Lorelei exhaled. Her petite shoulders slumped in defeat, the real princess's fear of Nixie clearly overriding her desire to see the Crown Prince of Atlantis.

"You really are a spineless jellyfish, you know..." murmured Nixie.

It took every ounce of Nixie's self-control not to have a full-blown panic attack in the Royal Library of Atlantis. She had never seen so many books before in her entire life.

From the shiny floor to the high ceiling, there were shelves of books. Thousands, if not millions, of books! Books in so many different sizes, shapes, and colors! The Royal Library of Atlantis made the library at the University of Baltica, where her father, Dr. Finnean Undine worked, seem quite tiny in comparison.

"You must be Princess Lorelei of Baltica" said a Civilized Atlantic white-spotted octopus. "I am Agatha, the Head Royal Librarian of Atlantis". She extended a tentacle for Nixie to shake.

Nixie tried her best not to visibly shudder. Ever since her and the real Princess Lorelei had narrowly escaped the clutches of a monstrous Kraken, Nixie truly hated cephalopods.

Crown Prince Delmore swam into the Royal Library. "Good morning, Lor" he greeted Nixie, with a smile on his handsome face. "I'm glad you're helping out on Open Library Day".

"Good morning..." Nixie said in an uneasy tone.

Delmore's smile faltered as he looked around the large, well-stocked Library. "Hey, where's Nixie, your Tailmaiden? She was supposed to volunteer today too".

"She came down with a really nasty case of the Seagull Pox" Nixie lied. "She'll probably need to rest in bed for a few days".

"Oh my!" exclaimed Agatha. "The poor thing!"

The Crown Prince of Atlantis's expression quickly turned from curiosity to concern. "The Seagull Pox is no joke, Nixie. When I had it last year, I felt sicker than a dogfish". Delmore shook his head at the memory of the illness. "I'll have the Head Royal Housekeeper send her a lovely bouquet of get-well sea flowers and a warm bowl of clam noodle soup".

Nixie forced a sympathetic smile onto her face. "Yeah, poor thing," she echoed the Head Royal Librarian's sentiment. The phony princess hoped that she sounded genuine.

"Patrons will be here soon for Open Library Day" stated Agatha. "Your Highness, Princess Lorelei, you will help me shelve returned books. Even I could use an extra pair of hands, on Open Library Days". The octopus wiggled all eight of her reddish orange, spotted tentacles, which made Nixie cringe. "Your Royal Highness, Crown Prince Delmore, as usual, you will mingle with the patrons, recommend some of your favorite titles, and make sure they're finding everything they need".

Right after the Head Royal Librarian had finished speaking, the coral doors to the Royal Library of Atlantis burst open. A flood of mermaids, mermen, and Civilized sea creatures poured in.

The majority of the patrons dropped books into baskets woven out of kelp. Nixie and Agatha grabbed the returned books out of the baskets, and carried them over to the shelves.

Because Nixie could not read or write, due to a learning disability of sorts, she had no way to tell where any of the books belonged. She swam around the Royal Library, placing books on random shelves. Fortunately for her, Agatha was much too busy shelving returned books herself to notice that Nixie was putting books on the wrong shelves.

Just as Nixie was about to place another book on an arbitrarily chosen shelf, she realized that Crown Prince Delmore was floating beside her. "Lor, what are you doing?" Delmore asked. "You're putting Of Sea and Land: The Untold Story of a Mermaid Princess by MerLisa Dwyn in the Humanology section...".

"Oh...I'm not...not familiar with this book..." stammered Nixie. Her heart rate sped up, and her blue fins were twitching anxiously.

Delmore stared at her in shock. "What do you mean, you're not familiar with it, Lor...? You told me in a letter that it was one of your all-time favorite novels!".

"Oh, that's right..." Nixie sighed lamely.

For a moment, Delmore appeared to be lost in a sea of thought. "I've been starting to think that you're not...that you're not my...". The Crown Prince of Atlantis's voice trailed off. Then he swam away from the fake princess.

Nixie had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Had she just blown her cover?