Mermania

What goes around comes around

speaking "Why?" I see two pairs of legs standing beside the sled. Then I hear the door fly open, and my mother screams. Lunging forward, I slice into the first thief's thigh, high up where I know the blood will flow too quickly to stop. The knife is sharp enough that it takes him a moment to realize what's happening. Climbing to my feet, I lunge at the next man, who is much quicker than I hoped, and he waves off my attack. I spin, a move I've practiced more than once with the butcher's children when we used to play wooden swords, and crouch below his grasp, slicing a line through his gut. The smell is thick and sour as his innards spill out, sloshing to the ground as he falls. I gag, and bile rises in my throat. My eyes water immediately, and it's all I can do not to collapse to my knees. But Dr. Lerwick merely smiled. "Officer," he said pleasantly, "I would prefer not to be arrested this evening." He broke into fluent Spanish. "Did I say I could?" Sara interrupted. "You assumed. Thank heaven you assumed right or I would be dead. And I told you I was terrified of the water. I can't believe you pulled me under anyway." A moment later, the sounds of battle ceased. Sara continued to scream as she felt an arm clamp around her waist and a hand slap over her mouth. Shane motioned like he was about to object, but I cut him off. "How's everybody doing?" I knew I looked tense. I couldn't seem to put on pretenses any longer. I was so worried about her that I bordered on being physically sick. "Hi, Mom. How are you?" "Any news?" Darmik asked, his voice raspy. They shook their heads. "What's Scotland like?" Katie's blue eyes were wide and innocent. She pretended to be interested, but I knew she was just digging for information. She wasn't going to get much. Even Kim got modified information when I called her earlier this week. She was happy for me and jealous that I was going to Europe before she could. If only she knew. "Yes," the king answered. "The previous royal family. It goes back over one hundred years." Zach shook his head in reply. "Who are all these people?" "Gael said I didn't smell as compelling as other females." I knocked on Evan's door as quietly as possible in case he was asleep. When he opened it, my heart thumped painfully in my chest. He looked so cute in his faded save the whales t-shirt and black track pants, a dimple showing when he grinned at me. Triton should have dropped Gael and his father on a sand dune in the middle of the Sahara Desert, but Sara made him swear to her that he wouldn't kill them. And even though technically, it would have been the heat and baking sun that killed them, Triton knew his daughter wouldn't see it that way, so he did the next best thing. He turned them into humans and left them stark naked on the Kansas plains, surrounded by hundreds of miles of dry, golden wheat fields. Xanthus turned and swam straight into his father. "Xanthus, what are you doing here?" saw a fifty on it. Thomas put it in his pocket. She must have been mistaken. These drinks couldn't have cost twenty-five dollars apiece, even with a big tip added on. ***"Yes." "Come insides," Dr. Lerwick invited in a voice that sounded not surprised, but...disappointed. "These quarters are small, but they will suffice for our purposes this evening."Pretty awesome, all right," Craig agreed, sharing a grin with Derek. He was going in. "I don't know Meara." She sounded tired. "But I would guess wherever you find seals, you'll find Selkies." "What happened to the mermaids?" "You're so not going in a muumuu." Running my fingers through my hair, I took a step toward her. I had no flippin' clue what I was going to say, but my need to talk to her was overwhelming. Reaching behind her with her free hand, Kara pulled her backpack from her shoulder. "Beach rules, Zach," she began. "Number one: get your scales wet. I have towels in here." She patted the backpack. "Number two: take your shoes off first. Number three: try not to get your shorts and shirts too wet. Although," she added, looking up at the clear sky, "I guess it's warm enough that you'll be okay if you do Number four: don't touch the jellyfish." "David." Dr. Riley shook my dad's hand before he motioned to all of us. "Please come to my office." "Why mustn't you keep this gift, Elizabeth?" he asked, expectantly. "How is he going to feel when he finds out he belongs somewhere else?" Perhaps the babe was born with sirenomelia- legs fused together. That would be shocking to see. "Well, next time I won't." Zach's breath caught. Already? No! I tried really hard to be good today! I even took a bath without being told! Mom said she thought I was awesome! But, came another voice in his mind, she also said, "Until the day you leave." Dad and Derek had worked it out yesterday. Why shouldn't they be ready for it to happen tomorrow? Ms Faber lowered her voice. "Something has been going on. I don't know what. His grades are okay, but not for him. They would be better if he turned his homework in consistently. And," she whispered, "that's what got me worried. He always did his homework until January." King Barjon laughed. "Impossible." He leaned back in his chair, assessing Darmik with cold, black eyes. "What are you getting at?" Rema's aunt and uncle insisted she know proper etiquette. She was using it now- not to fit in or because she cared what others thought of her- but because it came to her naturally. Glancing around the room, Rema noticed several people watching her with curiosity. One or two were even pointing in her direction while they spoke. Sara flailed and gulped in sea water. The glow from the surface faded to black as the sea enveloped her. It couldn't be. She'd escaped this nightmare years ago. But here she was, and here she would die, at the bottom of the ocean. "But no party at home, huh?" "You have to tell Evan," Katie said. She sounded angry, bordering on furious. "If you don't, I will." "What else?" A door slammed on a shack near the road, and an