Davy’s head finally broke the calm turquoise waters. Unaccustomed to the brightness, he squinted at first, until he got used to the round yellow ball hanging in the blue sky. The Pacific seemed to be clear except for a few seagulls.
He was about to head closer to shore when a shadow loomed on the horizon, and small waves formed around him. A huge wooden shape floated into his view, carried along by the gentle breezes that blew the odd-looking fin-things at its center. Davy knew this was some kind of ship from his brothers’ and father’s descriptions. He’d only seen ships that had sunk below the ocean, and they were always half-rotting and covered with seaweed by the time he was allowed near them. They looked nothing like the majestic hulk which now drifted in front of him.
He swam closer to it, hoping he wouldn’t be noticed. He wanted badly to see a real human who was still alive, but didn’t want to end up like Mike, with part of his fin gone. Two large, burly men threw the anchor, announcing that they were stopping to prepare celebrations for the Princess Winifred’s sixteenth birthday. He noticed no nets or wire traps on the sides of the ship that could catch his fin, so he decided it was safe for him to have a look-see. He climbed the anchor’s rope and hid in a lifeboat.
Humans, all of them male, rushed about, tightening ropes, hanging strange objects made of paper and ribbons and streamers of fresh flowers and seashells. Several humans reported to a human in a fancy blue uniform covered with gold braiding and brass buttons. He had two big buckles on the end of his legs.
So, Davy thought, those are what legs look like. He shrugged. They seemed to work for the humans. The land creatures were arguing over what kind of music to play at Princess Winifred’s ball that night. They threw piles of papers covered with black markings at the human, who looked like he was ready to throw every single one of them into the Pacific without a lifeboat or provisions for six months.
“May I be of help, Captain?” All Davy could see of her at first was a huge, ruffled white bell shape, trimmed with pink roses and ribbons. “This is my party, after all, and I really should have the final say on what music is played when.” Her voice sounded like all the music he and his brothers played rolled into one gorgeous, sweet song.
The bell was attached to a shapely body clad in white and pink, with dainty white lace and pink roses at her throat. Her skin was as soft and delicate as a seashell, and her pale hair glittered like the ball of light above them. Her eyes were the color of the Pacific Ocean lapping gently under the ship, and her face was round and gentle. She took one of the papers from the captain. “What’s wrong with this song? It’s pretty.”
“Well, um, Your Highness,” stammered the Captain, “it’s a rock song, and someone in your position doesn’t want something that grotesque and wild played at your party.”
Winifred made a face. “It’s a ballad, really a pop tune, and I like it.” She snapped her fingers, and two uniformed men appeared with a convenient piano. She settled gracefully on the embroidered bench and started to play a song Davy often performed with his brothers, “Sometime in the Morning.” A small sigh escaped his lips as he imagined dancing with Winifred at her party, dressed in a fancy uniform like the Captain. His beloved brothers would be there, too, singing and playing music and dancing with lovely human females of their own, even Mike.
The song ended, and Davy broke out of his reverie. The males took the piano away, and Winifred handed the sheet music to the Captain. “Now, see, Captain, its not so bad.” Her smile melted Davy into a pile of aquamarine mush.
“But it’s so primitive!” the Captain complained as Davy tried to pull himself together. “Don’t you know ‘Melancholy Baby,’ or something more appropriate?”
Davy just managed to reform the last of his tail as he felt a sneeze overtake him. He tried hard not to, but it came out in such force that he tumbled out of the rowboat and onto the deck, startling the men, who all ran over to him at once.
“Coo-EE!” exclaimed one man. “Lookit this! We got ourselves a monster here!” He grabbed Davy’s glittering tail to show the others, who gathered around him, eyes wide in surprise and interest.
Davy frowned. “Monster? I’m not a monster! I’m a merman!”
Another sailor yanked Davy’s back-length brown hair. “He’s a pretty thing, isn’t he? They’d love to have a fantastic creature like him in a museum exhibit.” He pinched Davy’s round cheek. “This cute face would really pack in the ladies, and the tail would bring in the rest.”
“But they don’t exist!” added a third sailor. “Merpeople are just stories the sailors tell each other to make excuses for listenin‘ to the waves instead of doin‘ their work.”
The Captain smirked, sauntering over to Davy, who tried to pull back to the lifeboat. “What are you going to do to me?” Davy asked. “Are you going to hurt me?”
“Hardly.” The Captain ran his hand over Davy’s bare arm. “You’re a fine, rare treasure, boy. You’ll fetch a good price from a circus or a museum when we return to land.” Davy shuddered. He didn’t like the way the Captain looked at him.
“You’ll do no such thing!” Princess Winifred pushed her way through the crowd of sailors. She was even more beautiful close up, with a stunning peaches-and-cream complexion and fire in the azure eyes. “Let that poor merman return to the sea, where he belongs! He’s not a prize, he’s a living, breathing creature.” Even angry, she was beautiful. And she was standing up for HIM.
The Captain wasn’t as pleased. “But, Your Highness...”
“Do what I say, Captain. How would you like to be taken from your home, by people you don’t know, and thrown in a cage to be stared at just because you have a tail?”
“Very well, your highness.” The men lowered the lifeboat into the sea. Davy slipped out, and they raised it back onto the boat. He smiled and waved at Princess Winifred, who waved back, then swam off to tell his brothers what he’d seen.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“You WHAT?” Mike gasped after Davy told them his tale when he‘d returned home.
“I went on the boat, Mike,” Davy tried to explain to his angry brother. “Nothin’ bad happened.”
“Those HUMANS could have KILLED you!”
“They weren’t going to hurt me,” Davy insisted. “They were going to...”
“Use you for a circus freak!” Mike hissed. “Use you ‘cause you’re not like THEM!”
“The Princess didn’t want to use me,” Davy said. “She got them to let me go.”
“See, Mike?” Peter added with a smile. “Not all humans are bad.”
Mike growled. “What would have happened if she hadn’t been there? What would have happened if she hadn’t been a princess?”
“The point is, she WAS there, and I’m going back.”
Micky grinned. “Hey, can we come? If this is a party, I want to make sure the music’s good.”
“You’re not going, Mick, and neither is Davy.” Mike crossed his arms.
”You’re my brother, not my keeper,” Davy snapped. “You can’t tell me what to do!”
“Mike’s just worried about you,” Peter explained. “We all are. We understand that the princess helped you, but you don’t need to get involved with her.”
Davy pulled away. “Stop treatin’ me like I’m a child. I just want to thank her.”
“Fine,” grumbled Mike. “You do that. See what she thinks of you when she has thirty good-looking human males around. She won’t notice a merman, and you’ll get carted off and sold.”
Davy just turned around and left, not wanting his brothers to see how hurt he was. He thought they’d think his adventure above was exciting. Yeah, it was scary, too, but Princess Winifred was amazing, and she’d helped him. He was going to thank her somehow, whether Mike liked it or not.
Chapter 1
Chapter 3
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