Page 3 of A Merman's Tail
Huffing, I spun with my fists up, ready to fight. Familiar laughter made my eyes narrow as my gaze settled onZolo, one of the mermen I hated the most. He laughed harder, the lines around his eyes becoming prominent as he turned to his friends and pointed at me.
“Look at the human lover. Such apapayah.”
His friends sniggered, and I gritted my teeth at his use of our old language. The word he’d used wasn’t spoken often because it was insulting in all the worst ways, but it was something Zolo had called me since we were younglings. I didn’t understand it at first, not until he’d called me the name in front of my brothers, who’d gasped in shock. It was Pru who had attacked Zolo, and he was punished for it. No one believed that Zolo, as perfect and charming as he was, would call me that.
“What are you doing?” I snapped, crossing my arms. “My grandfather wants to see me.”
“Ah yes, it’s time for you to go to the surface.” Zolo shook his head, his long blond hair—darker than mine—floating around his shoulders. “I bet you’ll like it up there, human lover. Why don’t you just go to the sea witch and make yourself human for good? It’d save us from seeing yourpapayahface again.”
His friends snickered, and I glanced around at them. Aza was the only one whose name I knew, though only because he was the cruelest after Zolo. His tail was a rare gold and as beautiful and glittery as his eyes, which were the same color.
Aza smirked. “He’s a coward, that’s why.”
“I am not!” I’d thought about it, of course, going to the sea witch, who’d been banished by the elders hundreds of years ago. I’d never seen him, but I’d heard rumors about how ugly he was. He’d once been a merman, they said, until his greed turned him green and wrinkly. I didn’t know how much I believed of the whispers, though. It was said he’d studied the darkest magic, born from the days when we’d had predators called theMayas. They’d since died out, but not before the witch could learn the most despicable magic from them.
“You are weak,” Aza sneered, his mouth curling. “It’s embarrassing to call you our prince. You’re a weakling. You haven’t been on one hunting trip with your father and brothers.”
“I don’t like the way they hunt.” I flicked my tail in annoyance.
Aza snorted. “Nay, you’rescared.”
“He’s a coward,” another of them bellowed and then laughed. I remembered this one’s name, too. Ribbins was the son of one of the lords.
With a shake of my head, I glanced in the direction of Atlantia. It wasn’t a long swim, and I could possibly make it home before they caught me. Other times they’d chased me and grabbed me, they’d held me down while they mocked me and pinched my skin. They were bullies, cruel as theMayaswere rumored to have been.
I took the chance, flicking my tail hard in a way that gave me a push forward. Swimming as fast as I could, I slotted my arms against my side to allow me to slip through the water even more swiftly. I heard them, yelling and laughing, giving me a chase that I knew they wanted. The sooner I got away from them, the better.
I managed to reach the boundary of Atlantia just before Zolo caught me, and he growled because he knew he couldn’t hurt me inside the thick stone walls built centuries ago. I turned and grinned at him. “You can’t touch me here, Zolo.”
Zolo smiled politely at a mermaid who swam past us and raised his hand in a wave. She giggled and fluttered her fingers at him as she floated past, and then he turned his attention back on me, eyes narrowed. “You won’t stay here forever, human lover. You’ll want to go back to yourtreasuresooner or later, and when you do, I’ll catch you.”
His friends laughed and sneered at me as they turned, swimming away. Zolo gave me a hard glare before he followed them.
I breathed out a sigh of relief, placing a hand over my pounding heart, before I headed toward the castle where Grandfather, and Father, too, would be waiting for me. Nodding at the guards as I sped through the water past them, I hurried onward between the open large golden doors and swam into the throne room. Father and Grandfather were waiting for me like I expected, with Father sitting on his throne and Grandfather floating beside him. They both smiled when they saw me, and I hesitantly returned the gesture as I finally made it to them.
“My king. King-Father.” I bowed my head at them.
“My son. You made it. What took so long?” Father frowned at me, his gaze stopping just below my belly, and I glanced down at my fins. A piece of seaweed hung from my red tail, but not just any. The purple leaves gave me away because this plant was the same type that could only be found around the wreckage. Father sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose. “Lyric, have you been near the human boat again?”
I inclined my head. “Yes, Father.” There was no use lying to him.
“Why?” He glared harder, those blue eyes of his demanding answers. No one quite did that kind of stare as Father did. It sent a shiver down my spine. He’d always been a hard merman, but he’d become even stricter since Mother died when I was six.
“My treasure is there.”
“Your treasure?” He turned his strong gaze to my grandfather. “What did I tell you? He’s not ready to go to the surface. He’d sooner try totalkto the humans than stay away from them.”
“I am ready,” I pleaded. “Please, let me go to the surface. I’m twenty-five summers old now.”
Father shook his head. “It’s dangerous up there, Lyric, and humans are not fish. You can’t control them. They are murderers.”
“So are you.” The words were out before I could stop them. I pressed my mouth together into a thin line when fury slid over Father’s face. I quickly continued, “You hunt for food. Does that not make you a murderer?”
“That’s different. I kill so our family can eat.” He pushed himself off his throne, green tail flipping in annoyance. Pru had inherited his looks, not just the same tail, but the same hair and strong brow, too.
“How do you know they don’t do the same thing?” I asked, although I knew the truth. Father and my brothers didn’t just hunt for food, they hunted for humans, too. The one time I followed them without my father knowing, I’d seen him drag a human who’d fallen out of a boat deep under the water where the poor soul drowned. My family was not innocent.
Grandfather shook his head at me, holding up his palm. His silver hair glinted under the light that glimmered through the glass windows, made from items they’d found in human wreckage. The merfolk chose what they were scared of and what they thought they could use. “Enough, Lyric. Do not speak back to your father.”
