I stared at her, unable to speak.
She’s real! I thought. And she’s so beautiful!
At last I found my voice. “You—you saved me,” I stammered. “You saved my life. Thank you!”
She shyly lowered her eyes and cooed at me through shell-pink lips. What was she trying to say?
“What can I do in return?” I asked her. “I’ll do anything I can.”
She smiled, and uttered that haunting low hum.
She was trying to talk to me. I wished I could understand her.
She reached for my hand and examined it, frowning over the red burns from the fire coral. Her hand felt cool. She passed it over the palm of my hand, and the pain from the burns began to fade away.
“Wow!” I exclaimed. I must have sounded pretty stupid, but I didn’t know what else to say. Her touch was like magic. When she held my hand, I could float without treading water. Just as she did.
Was this another dream?
I closed my eyes and opened them again.
I was still floating in the sea, staring at a blond-haired mermaid.
No. Not a dream.
She smiled again and shook her head, making those low singing sounds.
I could hardly believe that only a few minutes before I’d been frantically fighting off a hungry shark.
I raised my head and searched the waters. The shark had vanished. The water had calmed, shimmering like gold now under the morning sunlight. And there I was, floating in the sea off a deserted island with a real mermaid.
Sheena will never believe this, I thought. Not in a million years.
Suddenly, the mermaid flipped her tail and disappeared under the water.
Startled, I searched around for her. She had left without a trace—not a ripple, not a bubble.
Where did she go? I wondered. Is she gone, just like that? Will I never see her again?
I rubbed my eyes and looked for her again. No sign of her. A few fish darted past me.
She had disappeared so instantly, I began to think I had dreamed her up after all.
Just then, I felt a tiny pinch on my foot.
“Ouch!” I yelled, quickly pulling away. I began to panic. The shark was back!
Then, behind me, I heard a small splash and a whistlelike giggle. I turned around.
The mermaid smiled mischievously at me. She snapped her fingers in a pinching motion.
“It was you!” I cried, laughing with relief. “You’re worse than my little sister!”
She whistled again and slapped her tail against the surface of the water.
Suddenly, a dark shadow fell across her face. I raised my eyes to see what it was.
Too late.
A heavy net dropped over us. Startled, I thrashed my arms and legs. But that only tangled them more in the rope.
The net tightened over both of us. We were thrown together.
We struggled helplessly as the net jerked us up.
The mermaid’s eyes widened and she squealed in terror.
“EEEEEE!” she cried.
We were being pulled up out of the water.
“EEEEEEE!” The mermaid’s frightened wail rose like a siren, drowning out my feeble cries for help.
15
“Billy—I don’t believe it!”
I gazed up through the holes in the net and recognized Dr. D. and Sheena. They struggled to pull us aboard the dinghy.
Sheena stared down at me and the mermaid in amazement. Dr. D.’s eyes were wide, and his mouth hung open.
“You’ve found her, Billy!” he said. “You’ve actually found the mermaid!”
“Just get me out of this net!” I cried. Somehow, I didn’t feel so great about capturing the mermaid anymore.
“The zoo people were right,” Dr. D. muttered to himself. “It’s unbelievable. It’s astounding. It’s historic….”
We landed in a heap on the floor of the dinghy. The mermaid squirmed beside me in the net, making sharp, angry clicking noises.
Dr. D. watched her closely. He touched her tail.
The mermaid flapped it hard against the bottom of the boat.
“Is there any way this could be a hoax?” he wondered aloud.
“Billy—is this one of your dumb tricks?” Sheena demanded suspiciously.
“It’s not a trick,” I said. “Now will you get me out of this net? The ropes are digging into my skin.”
They ignored me.
Sheena gently reached one finger through the net and touched the scales on the mermaid’s tail. “I can’t believe it,” she murmured. “She’s really real!”
“Of course she’s real!” I cried. “We’re both real, and we’re both very uncomfortable!”
“Well, it’s hard to believe anything you say,” Sheena snapped. “After all, you’ve been talking about sea monsters ever since we got here.”
“I did see a sea monster!” I cried.
“Quiet, kids,” said Dr. D. “Let’s get our discovery back to the sea lab.”
He started the dinghy’s motor and we roared back to the big boat.
Alexander stood on deck, waiting for us. “It’s really true!” he cried excitedly. “It’s really a mermaid!”
Sheena tied the dinghy to the side of the Cassandra while Dr. D. and Alexander hoisted me and the mermaid aboard.
Dr. D. opened the net and helped me out. The mermaid flopped her tail and got herself even more tangled in the net.
Alexander shook my hand. “I’m proud of you, Billy. How did you do it? This is amazing.” He gave me a vigorous pat on the back. “Do you realize this is the greatest ocean find of the century? Maybe of all time?”
“Thanks,” I said. “But I didn’t do anything. I didn’t find her—she found me.”
The mermaid flopped violently on deck. Her squeals became higher-pitched, more frantic.
Alexander’s face fell. “We’ve got to do something for her,” he said urgently.
“Dr. D., you’ve got to let her go,” I said. “She needs to be in the water.”
“I’ll fill the big tank with seawater, Dr. D.,” said Alexander. He hurried off to fill the tank.
“We can’t let her go just yet, Billy,” said Dr. D. “Not without examining her first.” His eyes were shining with excitement. But he saw how upset I was. “We won’t hurt her, Billy. She’ll be all right.”
His eyes dropped to my leg, and he frowned. He kneeled down to look at it.
“You’re bleeding, Billy,” he said. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I said. “But the mermaid isn’t.”
He ignored me.
“How did this happen?” asked Dr. D.
“A shark grabbed my leg,” I told him. “Just as he was about to clamp down, the mermaid came. She saved my life. You should have seen her fighting that shark.”
Dr. D. turned to the mermaid as if seeing her for the first time.
“Wow,” said Sheena. “She fought off a shark? All by herself?”
The mermaid’s long green tail pounded angrily on the deck of the boat.
“EEEEE! EEEEEE!” she cried shrilly. She almost sounded as if she were screaming.
“Forget about my leg,” I shouted. “You’ve got to let the mermaid go!”
Dr. D. stood up, shaking his head. “Billy, I’m a scientist. This mermaid is an extremely important discovery. If I let her go, I’d be letting down the entire scientific community. I’d be letting down the entire world!”
“You just want the million dollars,” I muttered.
I knew it was cruel, but I couldn’t stop myself. I hated seeing the mermaid so unhappy.
Dr. D. looked hurt.
“That’s not fair, Billy,” he said. “I think you know me better than that.”
I avoided his gaze. Lowering my head, I pretended to examine the cut on my leg. It wasn’t very deep. Alexander had given me some gauze. I pressed it against the cut.
“I only want the money to continue my research,” Dr. D. went on. “I would never u
se this mermaid to get rich.”
That was true. I knew Dr. D. didn’t care about the money for himself. All he wanted was to keep on studying fish.
“Just think about it, Billy. You’ve found a mermaid! A creature we all thought didn’t exist! We can’t just let her go. We’ve got to find out a little bit about her,” he said excitedly.
I said nothing.
“We won’t hurt her, Billy. I promise.”
Alexander returned. “The tank is ready, Dr. D.”
“Thanks.” Dr. D. followed him to the other side of the boat.
I glanced at Sheena to see whose side she was on. Did she want to keep the mermaid? Or let her go?
But Sheena just stood there, watching. Her face was tense. I could tell she wasn’t sure which of us was right.
But when I looked at the mermaid, I knew I was right.
She had finally stopped squirming and flipping her tail. Now she lay still on the deck, the net draped over her. She was breathing hard and staring out at the ocean with watery, sad eyes.
I wished I’d never tried to find her in the first place. Now all I wanted was to find some way to help her get back to her home.
Dr. D. and Alexander came back. They lifted the mermaid inside the net. Alexander lifted her tail, and Dr. D. held her head.
“Don’t squirm, little mermaid,” Dr. D. said in a soothing voice. “Keep still.”
The mermaid seemed to understand. She didn’t flop around. But her eyes rolled wildly, and she uttered low moans.
Dr. D. and Alexander carried her to the giant glass tank. It stood on the deck now, full of fresh seawater. They gently dropped her into the tank, pulling the net away as she slid into the water. Then they put a screen top over the tank and clamped it shut.
The mermaid churned the water with her tail. Then, gradually, her tail stopped moving. She grew still.
Her body slumped lifelessly to the bottom of the tank.
She didn’t move or breathe.
“Noooo!” An angry cry escaped my lips. “She’s dead! She’s dead! We killed her!”
16
Sheena had moved to the other side of the tank. “Billy, look—!” she called to me.
I hurried around to her.
“The mermaid isn’t dead,” Sheena reported, pointing. “Look. She—she’s crying or something.”
My sister was right. The mermaid had slumped to the bottom of the tank and had buried her face in her hands. “Now what do we do?” I asked.
No one answered.
“We have to find a method of feeding her,” my uncle said, rubbing his chin, his eyes on the tank.
“Do you think she eats like a person or a fish?” I asked.
“If only she could tell us,” said Alexander. “She can’t talk, can she, Billy?”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “She just makes sounds. Whistles and clicks and hums.”
“I’ll go down to the lab and get some equipment ready,” said Alexander. “Maybe we can find out something about her with the sonar monitor.”
“Good idea,” said Dr. D. thoughtfully.
Alexander hurried below.
“I think I’d better go to Santa Anita for some supplies,” said Dr. D. Santa Anita was the nearest inhabited island. “I’ll buy lots of different kinds of foods. We can try them out on her until we find something she likes. Would you two like anything while I’m there?”
“How about some peanut butter?” Sheena asked quickly. “There’s no way Alexander can ruin a peanut butter sandwich!”
Dr. D. nodded as he climbed into the dinghy. “Peanut butter it is. Anything else? Billy?”
I shook my head.
“All right,” Dr. D. said. “I’ll be back in a few hours.”
He started the motor, and the dinghy sped off toward Santa Anita.
“It’s so hot,” Sheena complained. “I’m going down to my cabin for a while.”
“Okay,” I said, my eyes on the mermaid.
It was hot up on deck. There was no breeze, and the white-hot noon sun beat down on my face.
But I couldn’t go below deck. I couldn’t leave the mermaid.
She floated behind the glass, her long tail drooping. When she saw me, she pressed her hands and face to the glass and cooed sadly.
I waved to her through the glass.
She cooed and hummed in her low voice, trying to communicate with me. I listened, trying to understand.
“Are you hungry?” I asked her.
She stared at me blankly.
“Are you hungry?” I repeated, rubbing my stomach. “Go like this”—I nodded my head up and down—“for yes. Do this for no.” I shook my head back and forth.
I stopped and waited to see what she’d do.
She nodded her head yes.
“Yes?” I said. “You are hungry?”
She shook her head no.
“No? You’re not hungry?”
She nodded her head yes. Then she shook her head no again.
She’s just copying me, I thought. She doesn’t really understand.
I took a step back and studied her in the tank.
She’s young, I thought. She’s a lot like me. That means she must be hungry. And she probably likes to eat what I like. Right?
Maybe. It was worth a try.
I hurried down to the galley. I pulled open a cupboard and took out a package of chocolate chip cookies.
Okay, so it’s not exactly seafood, I thought. But who wouldn’t like chocolate chip cookies?
I grabbed a few cookies and stuffed the package back in the cupboard. Alexander came through on his way up to the deck. He was carrying some equipment in his arms.
“Getting a snack?” he asked me.
“For the mermaid,” I told him. “Do you think she’ll like them?”
He shrugged his broad shoulders and said, “Who knows?”
He followed me out on deck, carrying the equipment.
“What’s all that stuff?” I asked him.
“I thought we could run a few tests on the mermaid, to see what we can find out about her,” said Alexander. “But go ahead and feed her first.”
“Okay,” I said. “Here goes.”
I held a cookie up to the glass. The mermaid stared at it. I could see that she didn’t know what it was.
“Mmmmm,” I said, patting my stomach. “Yummy.”
The mermaid patted her tummy, imitating me. She stared out at me blankly with those sea-green eyes.
Alexander reached up and unlatched the screen top. I handed him the cookie, and he dropped it into the tank.
The mermaid watched it falling toward her through the water. She made no attempt to grab it.
By the time it reached her, it was soggy. It fell apart in the tank.
“Yuck,” I said. “Even I wouldn’t eat it now.”
The mermaid pushed the soggy cookie pieces away.
“Maybe Dr. D. will have something she likes when he gets back,” said Alexander.
“I hope so,” I said.
Alexander began to set up his equipment. He put a thermometer inside the tank, and some long white plastic tubes.
“Oh, man,” Alexander mumbled, shaking his head. “I forgot my notebook.”
He hurried back down to the lab.
I watched the mermaid float sadly in her tank, with all the tubes coming out of it. She reminded me of the fish down in the lab.
No, I thought. She’s not a fish. She shouldn’t be treated this way.
I remembered how she had fought the shark.
She could have been killed, I thought. Easily. But she fought the shark, anyway, just to help me.
The mermaid cooed. Then I saw her wipe away the tears that had begun to run down her face.
She’s crying again, I thought, feeling guilty and miserable. She’s pleading with me. I put my face against the glass, as close to hers as I could get it.
I’ve got to help her, I thought.
I put a finger to my lips. “Ss
shhh,” I whispered. “Stay quiet. I have to work quickly!”
I knew I was about to do something that would make Dr. D. very angry.
My uncle would probably never forgive me.
But I didn’t care.
I was going to do what I thought was right.
I was going to set the mermaid free.
17
My hand trembled as I reached up to unlatch the screen at the top of the tank. The tank was taller than I was. I wasn’t quite sure how I’d get the mermaid out of there. But I had to find a way.
As I struggled to pull the screen off, the mermaid began to squeal, “Eeee! EEEEEE!”
“Sshh! Don’t make any noise!” I warned her.
Then I felt a hand grab me by the arm. I gasped, startled.
A deep voice asked, “What are you doing?”
I turned around to see Alexander standing behind me.
I stepped away from the tank, and he let go of my arm.
“Billy, what were you doing?” he asked again.
“I was going to let her go!” I cried. “Alexander, you can’t keep her in there! Look how unhappy she is!”
We both stared at the mermaid, who had slumped to the bottom of the tank again. I think she knew that I had tried to help her—and that I had been stopped.
I caught the sadness on Alexander’s face. I could tell he felt sorry for her. But he had a job to do.
He turned to me and put an arm around my shoulders. “Billy, you’ve got to understand how important this mermaid is to your uncle,” he said. “He’s worked his whole life for a discovery like this. It would break his heart if you let her go.”
He slowly led me away from the tank. I turned back to look at the mermaid again.
“But what about her heart?” I asked. “I think it’s breaking her heart to be stuck in that fish tank.”
Alexander sighed. “It’s not ideal, I know that. But it’s only temporary. Soon she’ll have plenty of room to swim and play in.”
Sure, I thought bitterly. As an exhibit at the zoo, with millions of people gawking at her every day.
Alexander removed his arm from my shoulders and rubbed his chin.
“Your uncle is a very caring man, Billy,” he said. “He’ll do his best to make sure the mermaid has everything she needs. But it’s his duty to study her. The things he can learn from her could help people understand the oceans better—and take better care of them. That’s important, right?”