Maybe a Mermaid Page 16

  Kurt hit her in the arm. “Then shut up!”

  The lights in the windows let out a reassuring glow, and I felt a little calmer. We weren’t lost. We weren’t completely disconnected from civilization. We passed a second house, and Julie whispered, “DJ and his aunt live there. But I bet you already know that.”

  I rubbed the quartzite in my pocket and tried to look in the windows, but the shades were drawn. I wondered if DJ was inside. Was he going to show up at the dock? I’d left him a note on The Black Bear after swimming lessons, and later, I found it crumpled on the ground. What if Charlotte didn’t show either? She’d said she’d leave the lights on at The Black Bear and that would be the signal she was at her mark and ready to go. Part of me hoped she would change her mind and decide to scrap the whole thing. It would probably be for the best.

  We followed a bend in the path, and finally I could see the windows of The Black Bear through the trees. They were filled with yellow light! From outside, the kitchen looked warm and cozy. I could see the butterfly sun catchers hanging above the sink and DJ’s rocks spread out on the picnic table. The lights meant Charlotte was ready, and I was supposed to get into costume and give DJ the sign to turn on the spotlight.

  Except DJ wasn’t there.

  I kept walking, but DJ wasn’t by the spotlight either. I stood at the top of the stairs and peered down to the dock. The moon was behind a cloud, making the pine trees around the lake look thicker and darker than usual.

  “Hello?” I called down the stairs. “We’re not going to do it. DJ’s not here.”

  Julie gasped. “What? We came all the way here. We have to do it!”

  “Boo-hoo … DJ the Weird isn’t here,” Kurt said. “Why do we care about that mess?”

  I almost shoved him. It was like a switch went off and all of the sudden, I’d had it with Kurt and his mean jokes. I wished I could morph into diamond form and knock him to the ground so hard the smirk would fall right off his face. Instead, I exploded.

  “DJ’s not a mess! He’s the nicest person here, and if you weren’t such a jerk, you might notice that he’s also smart and funny, and I’d rather hang out with him than you any day of the week!”

  I clenched my teeth. Julie sucked in her breath and Maddy gaped at me like I had knocked him out.

  “I…” Kurt opened his mouth and closed it again. He looked weird. Embarrassed, or … sorry?

  “Holy cow.” Maddy whistled through her teeth. “She broke Kurt’s snark machine!”

  A voice hissed in the darkness. “Places!”

  “What was that?” Maddy flashed her headlamp around the dock. A shadowy figure cloaked in black sat on the edge.

  “Places!” the voice hissed again. It meant I was supposed to go to my mark and start the show.

  “But I don’t think we should…”

  “Places! Spotlight! NOW!”

  I didn’t know what else to do. Charlotte was ready. Waiting for the finale she’d been preparing all week. I couldn’t walk away and leave her sitting on the dock alone. Until I could think of something, forward seemed like the only direction to go.

  Reluctantly, I unzipped my backpack and tied the cape around my neck. I set the top hat on my head.

  “Julie,” I said. “Want to run the spotlight?”

  I showed her the numbers that marked the spotlight angles. “Whatever number she shouts out, move it to that spot.”

  “Who?” Julie whispered. “Who’s shouting?”

  “Char … the mermaid,” I said. “Start it here.” I turned on the light and tilted it toward the spot on the stairs where I was supposed to stand.

  “This is so exciting!” she whispered.

  I led Maddy and Kurt to the wooden bleachers. The dread I’d been pushing down was fogging up my brain. I felt like I was sleepwalking and my tongue weighed a thousand pounds. But I walked into the spotlight halfway down the stairs, and threw my arms wide like we’d rehearsed.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” I said, taking a deep bow. “You are about to see something so specTACular, so aMAZing, that you won’t believe your eyes.”

  I couldn’t remember the next line. I froze. Maddy giggled, and as hard as I tried, I couldn’t hold back the flood of Negative Thoughts. DJ was right. This is a terrible idea. The plan is going to fail, they’re going to make fun of Charlotte, and I am going to lose my last chance with Maddy Quinn.

  But my next thought hit me like a pile of bricks: Who cares?

  I stuck my hand in my pocket, touched DJ’s quartzite, and thought it again: WHO CARES? So what if Maddy liked comics and had a smile that made you feel all tingly? A True Blue Friend wouldn’t make fun of you in front of her friends. She wouldn’t dare you to swim to a raft when she knew you couldn’t do it. If she really liked you, she wouldn’t ask you to do something dangerous. Unless it was important. Like saving the planet from a meteor attack. Or helping a friend escape from Mr. Sinister’s lair. A True Blue Friend had your back. Always.

  It was that simple. Charlotte was my friend and I was asking her to do something dangerous. I remembered Mom’s words during our fight: Sometimes you have to know when to give up on a plan.

  I unzipped my backpack and took out Josh’s floaties.

  “I’ll swim to the raft,” I said, snugging the floaties up onto my arms. “I made it all up. There’s no mermaid. We’ll go back right now, and I’ll swim to the raft.”

  Kurt groaned, but Maddy looked lost. Sad, even. Then she pulled herself together. “I knew you were lying!” she said in her snarkiest evil-Maddy voice. “Let’s go. And I said no floaties. You swore it.”

  “Fine,” I said, but I couldn’t bring myself to take them off.

  Charlotte’s voice bellowed into the darkness. “ZIP IT!” she boomed. “What a bunch of ninnies. You are ruining the effect!”

  “Who is that?” Maddy asked, pointing her headlamp toward the cloaked figure again.

  “What do you think introductory remarks are for?” Charlotte asked, exasperated. “Introductions! Now sit down and shut up! Spotlight two!”

  We stood in silence, and she yelled it again. “I said, spotlight two!”

  “Oh! Me!” Julie squeaked.

  The spotlight moved shakily to the dock, and the shadowy figure dropped her cloak, revealing the Boulay Mermaid. She sat on the edge, smiling and waving at her audience like nothing at all unusual had happened. Her orange hair was held back by a butterfly headband, and her face was painted with thick makeup—gaudy red lipstick that matched the round circles of rouge on her cheeks. She wore a bikini top that made the skin under her arm look especially flabby—it waggled as she waved. Her body seemed impossibly white and wrinkled in the light. But I couldn’t take my eyes off the tail. Huge and green, it hung over the dock into the water, shimmering in the spotlight. The Boulay Mermaid looked spectacular.

  Maddy sucked in her breath and sat down.

  Charlotte lifted her tail and flopped it back into the water. She smiled at her audience and waved her hands in some sort of seated mermaid dance. Then, without warning, she dove.

  Nobody moved a muscle.

  We heard a splash of water before we heard her call out, “Spotlight three!”

  Julie shone the light on a spot farther out in the lake. The Boulay Mermaid did some more arm dancing. Then, she jumped like a dolphin into the air, flashed her tail, and dove back down. Maddy gasped, and I sat down on the stairs, mouth open. How did she do that?

  At spot four, the Boulay Mermaid did two dolphin dives and another twirly arm dance.

  At spot five, she was out too far for us to see much, but we heard some splashing until she dove down again, and it was quiet. The moon came out from behind the clouds and the white light twinkled on the water. My body felt like it was standing on another planet. Like I’d been transported into a completely new world where anything was possible. Including magic. Including mermaids.

  Kurt spoke first. “Where did she go?”

  I stared out at the water and th
e feeling of wonder evaporated. She’d been down a lot longer than she had been between spots two and three, but from the window seat of The Blue Heron, I’d seen her stay down impossibly long. She was probably trying to play up the suspense.

  “Do you think she’s all right?” Julie asked loudly.

  “Of course,” I said. But my voice wavered. “Try scanning the spotlight. Are you on the right number?”

  Julie moved the spotlight along the water, then abruptly stopped.

  “Anthoni! There’s a rope moving at my feet! And I’m not even touching it.”

  The emergency line.

  I felt sick. Charlotte said it was just a safety precaution—we’d never have to use it, but we had to know how it worked. If she got in trouble (which she wouldn’t), she’d pull it and we could send for help.

  Everything seemed wrong and out of focus. My heart beat like it wanted to escape from my chest. I felt Maddy’s fingers on my arm as I untied the cape from my neck. Her eyes were shining.

  “I can’t believe it,” she whispered. “She’s actually … swimming down there.”

  I brushed her hand away. The emergency line had been pulled. Whatever Charlotte was doing, it wasn’t swimming.

  As Julie scanned the lake with the light, my eye caught something not far from the dock. A bubble? A flash of hair?

  “There!” I shouted. “Julie! Stop there! Somebody go get my mom.”

  As I ran down the stairs, I heard footsteps behind me. I could have sworn I saw DJ as I threw the top hat onto the dock and jumped into Thunder Lake.

  33

  SPLASH! TAKE THREE

  “Gills!”

  I heard DJ shout, but it was too late. I was in the water, kicking like crazy toward the spotlight. I guess when I jumped, I expected to feel like Storm, taming the waters in an act of daring heroism. But as I kicked, panic settled in. The water was pitch-black, and the spotlight lit the surface with an eerie white glow. I couldn’t see Charlotte. I couldn’t see anything. The floaties helped me stay above water, but my shorts and T-shirt felt like deadweights pulling me down.

  Even if I found her, what was I planning to do?

  I heard a splash, and the next thing I knew, DJ was treading water beside me.

  “Your cast! You’ll ruin it.”

  DJ shook the water out of his eyes. “Better than watching you drown.” He moved closer so I could put my hand on his shoulder for stability. I immediately felt lighter.

  “Any sign of her?”

  I shook my head. The panic was threatening to suffocate me.

  “Come on, Gills,” DJ said. “Come back to the dock. Kurt went to get help.”

  “I can’t. It’s my fault. I can’t leave her here.”

  A lump swelled in my throat, and I swallowed it down. DJ tried to pull me back toward shore, but I kicked against him and we both started to sink.

  “Maddy,” DJ’s voice sounded strained, almost like a growl. “Help me help Gills.”

  I looked back at the dock where Maddy stood, and I was surprised to see that I’d only gone about five feet. So much for power swimming.

  Maddy hesitated.

  “Now!” DJ yelled, and she jumped in the water with a splash. Off in the distance, a second splash echoed in the night air.

  “I see her!” Julie yelled, and moved the spotlight several yards away from us. Charlotte’s head bobbed in the white light, and she sputtered, looking disoriented and scared.

  “We’re coming!” I shouted.

  I kicked furiously, ignoring my fear and trying to focus on one thing at a time. Swim to the spotlight. Help Charlotte. Swim back. The water was inky black, and I forced myself to remember that the only things below my feet were rocks and sand and minnows. Not water snakes. Not evil night serpents with teeth.

  “Just reach out,” DJ whispered at my side. “If you need help. We’re here.”

  We swam closer and closer to the light and when it flooded around us, I could see Charlotte was treading water with one hand. Her thin hair was plastered to her head in wet clumps. The butterfly headband was gone, but her bright makeup was still perfectly intact. Her painted red cheeks glistened in the spotlight.

  “I’m tangled,” she said. “I got as close to shore as I could, but I can’t move any farther.”

  Her left arm was pinned back by a thin rope that had wrapped itself tightly around her tail. She locked her eyes on mine.

  “Well, what’s the plan, Stan?” She asked it in a low, mobster voice, but her smile was pinched. Charlotte Boulay looked scared.

  I tugged on the rope.

  “It’s really stuck,” I said.

  DJ and Maddy took turns pulling as we tried to untangle Charlotte’s arm. It was no use.

  “Julie!” Maddy yelled. “We need scissors! Or a knife!”

  The spotlight wobbled as Julie let it go. What if it took too long? My legs were getting tired of kicking, and I’d already swallowed two mouthfuls of dark, fishy lake water. Even with the floaties, I didn’t know how long I could keep it up. Charlotte seemed to be sinking lower and lower every minute. DJ pulled her free arm over his shoulder and the pinched look on her face relaxed.

  “Hold on to me like that,” I said to Maddy.

  I draped one arm over her shoulder and struggled to get my other hand into my wet shorts. DJ’s Baraboo Quartzite was still there. Stone Age humans used it as a tool—but was it sharp enough to cut rope?

  I gripped the quartzite and sawed as hard as I could. Nothing happened.

  I sawed harder. It had to work. I imagined the iron particles fused in the rock, like the adamantium fused to Wolverine’s bones. He didn’t let the scientists use him as a weapon. He turned himself into a hero instead.

  One thread snapped, then another. I handed the stone to Maddy. She took a turn, then DJ. It seemed like we sawed at it for hours, the four of us treading water, holding on to one another for support, but in reality, it could only have taken a minute. The quartzite was sharp and each time a strand of rope broke, our hope grew and we sawed harder.

  I was holding the rock when the last thread snapped. The shock of it made the stone slip from my hand. DJ’s quartzite!

  I let go of Maddy’s shoulder and lunged for it. I felt the cold stone cut into my palm as I grabbed it, but I held on. I’d already made a disaster out of things. I couldn’t bear to let DJ down one more time.

  Charlotte wriggled herself free, stretched out her left arm, and let go of DJ, treading water with both arms now. She smiled weakly.

  “That’s the breaks, kids,” she said. “Some days you eat the bear, some days the bear eats you.”

  She leaned her head to the side and started singing in a low, wobbly voice: “We’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when…”

  It was the song that was supposed to be her finale number. The one she would sing right before one final, spectacular dive. Then the spotlight would flip off and the audience would go wild with applause, hooting and hollering, shouting for an encore. “Always be prepared for an encore,” she’d said.

  But now, her voice cracked, and she simply paused mid-song and side-stroked away from us. After a few strokes, she gave a tired jazz-hands wave, and dove. The tip of her tail flicked briefly to the surface. And then she was gone.

  With Charlotte untangled, I was suddenly too tired to tread water anymore. Josh’s floaties were still keeping my arms up, but my clothes dragged me lower, and another mouthful of water went down my throat. I tried to spit it out, but I only sucked in more. I started to sputter as reality sank in. What had I been thinking? I couldn’t swim. We’d saved Charlotte, but now what? The murky water felt like it was closing in. It was freezing. How had I not noticed how cold I was?

  DJ placed his shoulder behind my neck.

  “You can do it,” Maddy said. “Tip your head back. Relax. Just float and we’ll help you to the dock. We’re not far.”

  I leaned back and water rushed in my ears with a live, pulsing sound. I felt Josh’s flo
aties and DJ’s shoulder hold me up. Maddy put her hand under my back and they towed me to shore. When we got close enough, Maddy squeezed my arm.

  “You can touch here,” she said.

  I let my feet sink to the bottom of the lake and stood. My legs felt like rubber and my entire body was covered in goose bumps. For a second, the world stood quiet and still, and then with a lurch, everything kicked into high speed. Julie ran down the stairs waving the pair of scissors we didn’t need anymore. Seconds behind her, Mom and the Quinns showed up with Kurt, his mom, and DJ’s aunt. We weren’t even out of the water before the adults started talking a mile a minute. They didn’t let us get a word in edgewise.

  “What in the world, Anthoni? Kurt said you jumped in after a mermaid?”

  “Who started this nonsense?”

  “Julie, make-believe is fun, but swimming at night is dangerous.”

  “I don’t care what you thought you saw. You are getting in the car and coming home.”

  I felt like everything was happening and not happening all around me. Like it was a dream or a play I was watching from a hundred miles away. DJ’s aunt practically fainted when she saw his waterlogged cast. She dragged him up the stairs and down the path, and I couldn’t make my mouth say anything. Thank you. Or goodbye. Julie went home with Kurt and his mom. I hardly noticed that someone took off my floaties and wrapped me up in a towel. I was so tired. I deserved to be tired. It was my fault. All my fault. Charlotte could have died because of me and my stupid plan.

  Charlotte. With a burst of energy, I spun around.

  “Where is she? Where’s Charlotte?”

  Mr. and Mrs. Quinn were the only ones left on the dock still talking with Maddy and Mom. All four of them seemed confused.

  “Boulay? Probably in bed,” Mr. Quinn said. “Like we should be.”

  I scanned the water and the shore. I’d thought she was swimming back. She was ahead of us. She should be here already. But she wasn’t.

  “Mom!” I cried. “Call an ambulance! Call somebody! We have to help her. What if she got tangled again? What if she’s hurt?”

  “Oh, sweetie.” Mom made me sit down on the dock. She put her hand on my forehead. “I think you have a fever,” she said. “And what happened to your hand?” She took the quartzite out of my palm and set it on the dock. The cut wasn’t deep, but there was blood on my towel. “Come on, now, let’s go home.”