Mutante: Chapter 4
Copyright 2023 Elizabeth Frerichs
Robert shifted his grip and pulled up on the harness. “Up, Waterdancer.”
The seahorse responded instantly, swimming with all its might towards the tips of the kelp that towered above them. More trailing leaf-tentacles reached for them and Robert continued weaving in and out, always upwards. Eventually, they burst from the top of the kelp trees and into a void of darkness.
“Hold this for a minute,” Rosie murmured, handing Robert her glow lantern and shaking out her aching fingers. The lantern did little to illuminate the thick darkness, barely showing more than their faces, but she still hurried to unfasten the enchanted bag. Even scant light would be a beacon up here, and who knew what horrors lurked about them? Reaching inside, she felt for her emergency kit, her arm sinking into the bag all the way up to her shoulder. The compass might not be something she used regularly, but she still brought it with her whenever she went into the kelp forest.
Robert flinched, and Waterdancer twitched, shaking his head from side to side.
“Please stay still,” she begged. “It’s hard enough to find things without the light—I don’t need you jostling me. If I drop the bag—” Then they would all be in trouble.
He nodded vigorously.
A few minutes of rummaging finally produced the compass her Grandma Essie had made for her a lifetime ago. Back before the curse, Grandma used to take her to a small air-filled cave she always called “Fairy Island.” It had been their secret as Mariya disapproved of anything that smacked of the surface. “Hold this. Don’t drop it,” she said, handing him the compass.
“This is a compass?” he asked dubiously.
Rosie nodded. It looked like a dead starfish, but her grandma had created it from a rock. She returned the bag to her belt, thankful once more that magical kelp fibers were so strong.
“Now, all we have to do is ask it to take us to the cave,” she said, holding out her hand for the compass.
Robert looked at her as though she were several tentacles short of an octopus, but he returned the compass.
Rosie put her mouth right next to the Starfish’s “mouth.”
“Show us the right direction. Take us to the right section
of the ocean.
Let’s get in motion.
To fairy cove we want to go, in a way that is not slow,” she whispered.
One of the starfish’s legs began to pulse with a soft blue light.
Rosie gestured in the direction that leg was pointing. “It’s that way.”
“If you say so.” Robert returned her glow lantern to her and then commanded Waterdancer to go in the indicated direction. “What is Fairy Island?” he asked as Waterdancer swam.
She smiled. “It’s a cave with an air pocket. I don’t know if my Grandma named it that or if that’s what everyone called it. There’s even a little beach you can walk on—it’s where my grandma taught me to walk.”
“You know how to walk?” he exclaimed.
Rosie nodded. “Grandma considered it the sort of thing everyone ought to learn. ‘You never know when you might have to walk somewhere,’ or at least that’s what she used to say.” Rosie threw him a curious glance. “I know lots of merpeople don’t know how, but wouldn’t someone as daring as you visit the surface?”
Robert gave her a half-smile. “No, but not for lack of trying. My mother used to say that she had to keep me tied down if she wanted to keep me out of the bay.”
She laughed. “So you’ve been trying to sneak off to dangerous places your whole life, then? I’m surprised your mother allows you to be a kelp harvester if she didn’t even take you to the surface.”
“Well, ‘allow’ might be a bit strong,” he said with a wince. “She isn’t thrilled about my choice of profession, but it is lucrative and with my—well, I haven’t exactly told her how deep into the forest I go, but what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”
“Won’t she be worried? How long have you been lost in the forest?”
Robert shrugged. “It often takes me a couple of days to find enough kelp and to return. I have some time before she worries. I left home only yesterday morning, and I was nearly certain Waterdancer was headed back in the right direction when I heard you.”
“I see. Well, once we get to the cave and lose our pursuers, I imagine you can return home.”
Robert’s eyebrows shot up. “I can return home? Don’t you mean we can return home?”
Rosie suppressed a shudder, imagining how upset her mother would be by her failure to even reach Grandma Essie. Perhaps upset enough to hire someone to take supplies in the future instead of allowing Rosie to make the trip. She might be doomed to being on display for the rest of her life, never allowed to just be without having to behave like a councilor’s daughter. No, far better to keep looking for Grandma and get in trouble later for being late.
“No, I still have to find my—um, finish what I was doing,” she told him.
Robert frowned. “What were you doing? I mean, really, you’re the first mermaid I’ve seen in here. It’s not exactly the safest place, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“It’s safe enough if you stay on the path,” Rosie said primly.
Robert shook his head. “I don’t think so—at least not right now. Maybe it used to be. The forest has changed. My friends said that things had grown more dangerous, but I didn’t believe them.”
She sighed. “Well, it has been safe enough in the past. And safe or not, I have a delivery to make.”
“Delivery? Of what?”
“None of your business.”
A hint of hurt crossed Robert’s face before he shrugged. “No skin off my nose if you want to keep your secrets.”
“It’s a delivery of—of supplies,” Rosie burst out. If he had kept fighting, she wouldn’t have felt an ounce of remorse. But this hurt . . . . “A little old woman lives in this forest, and I—she needs her regular supply shipment.”
“A little old woman? You don’t mean the forest witch, do you?”
Rosie’s tail jerked, but she managed to maintain hold of the harness and the precious compass. She sighed, wishing that she had kept her mouth shut. “It’s—probably. Who do you mean when you talk about the forest witch?”
“The witch who enchanted the forest and lures travelers to her house so she can eat them?”
Rosie burst out laughing. She had heard some ridiculous tales about Grandma Essie, but this one was the most outlandish. “Where are you from?” The people in Atlantia had known Grandma Essie and, though they often speculated, there were limits to their speculation.
Robert huffed. “I’m from Vana. What does that have to do with anything?”
“I’ve just never heard someone suggest she eats travelers. No, the witch enchanted the forest in order to keep people away, not lure in travelers.” Another gurgle of laughter bubbled out of her. “I mean, the kelp forest isn’t exactly a vacation destination anymore, is it? If she had wanted people to eat, there were probably easier ways to go about it. She could have just built a cottage and covered it with seafruit without enchanting the forest.”
“But—I mean, the rumors.” He looked abashed. “Why are there so many rumors about her if she doesn’t attack travelers?”
“Probably because people are bored and like to target anyone who doesn’t quite fit in,” Rosie said lightly, trying not to sound as though it was a question she had agonized over for years. Not only was she a target of talk due to her relationship to Grandma Essie, but her tail led to all sorts of wild speculations about whether she was even a mermaid.
Robert flashed her an uneasy grin. “Does that mean she’s nicer than I think she is?”
Rosie shrugged. “Depends on your definition of nice. She’s the most cantankerous, mean-spirited person I’ve ever met. But she would rather avoid people than attack them.”
“And you take her supplies?”
Rosie nodded, casting about for some other conversational topic. “Speaking of supplies, do you want to take a break? We could eat something if you’re hungry.”
“I’d never turn food down!” Robert declared boisterously. “I don’t think we should stop, though.” He surveyed the surrounding darkness. “Just because we haven’t encountered anything, that doesn’t mean something isn’t out here. Let’s keep moving. I have some reef apples if you’d like some.” He glanced over at her, apparently remembering that her hands were full. “We can take turns holding the compass. I can hold it first.”
For a moment, Rosie considered demurring politely, then decided she didn’t care if he thought her polite or not. “Very well.”
There was something very freeing about being around someone who didn’t know who she was and whom she would likely never see again. All the things she usually just thought instead of saying could come out without consequence—probably why she had been so forthright with him today.
Letting go of the harness, he began swimming next to his seahorse and then pulled a reef apple out of one of the saddlebags. With a friendly smile, he took the compass and then handed the fruit to her. “Here you go, fair maiden. Let me offer succor, poor though it may be.”
“Thank you,” Rosie said, raising one eyebrow. “How many of those ridiculous epics have you read?”
Robert started and then attempted to cover his surprise by adjusting Waterdancer’s harness slightly. “What?”
“‘Fair maiden’? ‘Succor’?” she said with a pointed look.
“Mere politeness—but if you prefer that I be rude . . . .” He frowned, then shook his head. “Actually, I wouldn’t like that very much. I hope you like polite people.”
“Maybe that was polite a century ago. Today, not so much.”
Robert glared at her. “Are you saying that chivalry is dead?”
“No. I’m saying that chivalry has been updated. You don’t have to use antique language to be chivalrous.”
“You are an unusual mermaid,” he said, studying her.
“So I’ve been told.” She took a bite of the reef apple, hoping to forestall further questions. Robert might expound on the virtues of politeness, but even polite people poked and prodded.
A/N: I’m trying to keep chapters short-ish until I have a beta and they’re caught up (hopefully, it’ll be less of a bear for that person then). So! If you’d like to beta, PM me 🙂 Thanks for reading and reviewing! I love hearing you guys’ thoughts on this story 😀
If you notice something that can be strengthened, please let me know!
See you on Thursday!
