Arlie and the Mermaid's Curse [#wattys2015]

Chapter 2: In Which Arlie Embarks and Runs into Some Trouble

"What do you mean?" Arlie frowned and leaned closer. Terp had always said she was just a simple woman before joining the troupe. What could she know about the magic?

"Much longer before you were born," Terp said, "When I was a little younger than you, there was magic. And I saw them. I saw them wrap it all up and put it away, hide it."

"Why haven't you looked before?"

Terp laughed. "I have. But lookin' is harder to do with just one set of eyes. Besides, soon I had you to look out for, and I wasn't about to bring a babe along with me." Terp smoothed some hair back from Arlie's forehead. "But anything is better than being stuck here."

"But you always said it was too dangerous. How can you be willing to leave now?"

Terp slung an arm around her, jostling Arlie. "I saw your face after the curtain closed."

"I was just embarrassed—"

"No," Terp said. "You always have that face when Larkan speaks. This is no place for a child to grow up. But you were so set on performing, I didn't want to take that away from you."

Arlie supposed that was true. Before failing at performing, leaving the troupe didn't seem possible. "Let's go."

"Now?"

"Right now." Arlie walked away from the campfire and gathered up what she and Terp owned—three sets of clothes, two blankets, Terp's flute, and a lock of hair from when she was a baby.

"What about your instruments?"

"We'll leave them with Cass."

"He's not coming with us?"

Arlie took her panpipes out. "I said something...I don't think he wants to leave. Even before I said something, when I mentioned finding the magic, I could tell he didn't believe me."

"Alright, if that's what you want. You wait here and I'm going to go grab us food for the road, okay?"

Arlie nodded and sat on the back of the wagon, taking down the makeshift curtains she and Terp had hung up over the years. She expected Larkan to emerge at any moment and accuse her and Terp of leaving, but no one came.

Arlie looked to Cass's wagon, identical to theirs save the curtains. He had glued the seashells he found to the outside during their rare trips to the beach. Arlie knew that leaving would be dangerous, especially with the war breaking out. And she would miss Cass. But at least here, she knew he was safe.

She left her panpipes on top of his pillow and waited for Terp.

Terp managed to sneak away with a bag full of food. They had enough money to last them for several days, then they would need to think of a better plan. Terp however, didn't seem too concerned.

"I'm sure folks will pay to hear me play," she said. Arlie wondered how she was going to make people's tattoos dance without the troupe's manipulation, but she didn't say anything. Arlie looked straight ahead as they walked, doing her best to not think about what Cass was doing. He had to have known she was gone by now, he had to have found the pipes. She just hoped that he wasn't too angry with her. Arlie followed Terp, keeping her head down as instructed. She couldn't stop repeating Cass's last words to her in her head, over and over. What if that was the last time she heard him? What if—"Arlie?"

Arlie tensed, almost dropping her bag. She caught it, inches away from the ground. "Yes?"

"Are you alright?"

"Mhm." Arlie took a deep breath, in and out, to see if the knot in her chest would loosen. It didn't, but her veins didn't feel like they were about to burst out of her skin anymore. "It's just strange. Being out here."