"Last door on the right," Oli called up, and Austin looked up. Doors seemed to be everywhere in this huge building. Is this like, their government? Austin thought, looking up and down the hallway. The walls were a pearly white, the doors a forest green. I wonder how they got all this material, Austin found himself thinking, when all the mermen could master up was a table and a few chairs.
Austin approached the door Oli had told him to. The other members of the Teach followed him. "Wait," Oli said, grabbing Tristan by the shoulder. "You should wait out here." He rose an eyebrow, but stayed behind as the door was shut.
On the other side lay a large, principal-esque wooden desk, accompanied by three wooden chairs in front of it and one plush chair behind. A dark purple carpeting filled the room, and one shelf was on the wall, a thick scroll atop it. A woman sat in the plush chair, writing something down on a sheet of paper. Austin shook his head. If there was one thing that didn't make sense here, it was that.
"How does paper even work down here? Isn't that like, weird and kind of impossible?" Austin said, and the woman looked up from her desk.
"It's waterproof paper. Specially made using heavy, tightly bound fibers which prevent the paper from saturating and falling apart. Real paper down here would be impossible. Now, before you ask any more questions-"
"Wait, but Wyatt's FR book was made of paper," Austin said, and the woman glared at him.
"Austin, that was not made of paper, but human skin," Ian said, matter-of-factly. Austin's eyebrows shot up, and Ian shrugged.
"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted. Please hold your questions until the end," the woman said, standing. She walked over to the shelf, picking up the scroll. "And please take a seat."
Ian sat on the chair farthest to the left. Tanner sat next to him, in the middle, and Austin took a seat on the right.
"You are the second group of mermen to enter these territories, yes?"
"I don't really know," Tanner said, wringing his hands together. He was obviously nervous.
"I mean, we know Ian followed Mason here, because of their... bond, I guess," Austin said, trying not to mention the Kaitiaki Connection. "So that means that Gavin's Teach must have been through here."
"As I figured," the woman said. She pushed a strand of her short teal hair behind her ear, unravelling the scroll. "I assume you're looking for a lost soul."
"How did you know that?" Tanner asked, without missing a beat.
"I told you to hold your questions," the woman said, staring pointedly at Tanner. He seemed to shrink in his seat. "What is his name?"
"Mason," Ian said, his eyes meeting hers. "Do you speak sign language?"
"What is it with you boys and questions?" she said, and Ian sighed. He signed something to her, and she nodded, signing something back. "Okay, so what does this merman look like?" From now on, as she spoke, she signed along with it.
"Dark brown hair, light brown skin, deep brown eyes, um..." Austin trailed off.
"His tail is that of an Aries, but he is an Aquarius," Tanner said, and Austin silently thanked him. He wasn't very good with words, and had no idea how to describe Mason in the least.
"What does his Zodiac have to do with anything? I am asking his physical descriptors, psychological ones aren't going to solve any problems here."
"His tail. Like, you know, burning red embers, sparkly? The tail of the Aries," Tanner said.
YOU ARE READING
Mermaids in Massachusetts
Fantasy{Book Two of the "merpeople are ruining austin's life." Series} The bang. The sound. The snap. With that, mixed with the looks on his companions faces, it wasn't hard for Austin to tell that whatever was happening was bad. Very bad. Dust skittered f...
