Chapter One

We interrupt this program to bring you a
severe weather warning. Flash storms
are affecting
many coastal regions again this morning. The
authorities are advising people living in these
areas to avoid going out unless they have to.
Coastal roads still flooded from yesterday’s
downpour will remain closed until further
notice.”
Mom switched the TV off and got up
to put the kettle on. “These storms are getting
ridiculous,” she said. “It’s the middle of summer!
We should be outside sunbathing, not huddled

inside or dashing around under raincoats and
umbrellas.”
Mom’s best friend, Millie, nodded at the torn,
inside-out umbrella standing upside down in the
trash.“Third one I’ve been through in a week,”
she said. “I wouldn’t mind so much if it were
just the rain. It’s the howling wind I don’t like.
It’s been giving me bad dreams.And the waves
crashing over the pier don’t exactly help create a
calm space for my Meditation and Visualization
group.”
Meditation and Visualization was Millie’s
new class that she ran from King, the boat she
lived on near us in Brightport harbor. King was
our old boat, but we’d moved to a new one
when my mom and dad were reunited. Mom’s
human and Dad’s a merman and our new boat,
Fortuna, was specially adapted so that you can
live above and below water on it. I’m a semi-
mer — human on land, mermaid in the water —
which means I get to live both above and under
water.
Millie was on week three of her Meditation
and Visualization group. She’d set it up after
she’d had what she called “an enlightened
moment of synchronicity.”
“Enlightened moments of synchronicity” are
the kinds of things Millie has a lot of. She doesn’t
worry too much that no one knows what such
things actually mean.
“I don’t see what the fuss is about,” I said. “The
storms only last half an hour and the rest of the
time the weather’s been beautiful.” I glanced out
the window. “Look, it’s clearing up already.”
Mom and Millie exchanged a look.
“What?” I asked.
Mom reached for a couple of mugs and put a
tea bag in one of them. “Well, I’m not surprised
you can look on the bright side,” she said, a hint
of a smile twitching the corners of her mouth.
“What do you mean?”
“She means it’s funny how everything looks
ros- ier to those of us who have a boyfriend,”
Millie said. Then she cackled with laughter and
got up from the sofa.“Only teasing, love, don’t
worry,” she went on, squeezing my cheek as she
passed me. “Earl Grey for me, Mary P.,” she
added, joining Mom in the kitchen.
“Whatever,” I said, turning away from them
both, so they couldn’t see the flames creeping up
my cheeks — or the smile that I couldn’t seem to
keep off my face.
But they were right. I was finding it hard to
look on the downside of anything at the moment.
So what if it rained a bit? Who cared? As far as I
was concerned, my world was full of sunshine.
And yes, it was because of Aaron. My
boyfriend.
I still felt a bit weird calling him that, and I
hadn’t actually used the word out loud yet —
especially to him! But I said it in my head — a
lot. And I liked it.

Rap rappity rappity rap! A tap at the door
broke me from my thoughts. I recognized the
knock, and right on cue, my cheeks burned again.
Mom reached the door just ahead of me. “Hello,
Aaron,” she said with a big smile. “We were just
talking about you.”
Aaron glanced past Mom to catch my
eye.“Were you?” he asked shyly.
I squeezed past Mom. “See you later,” I
said. “Be careful out there,” she warned.
“It’s fine. Look — the storm’s finished
already. Told you it wouldn’t last long.” I headed
down the jetty with Aaron.
“Have fun with your boyfriend!” Millie trilled
from inside the boat.
I stole a glance at Aaron. “Sorry about them,” I
mumbled.
He smiled.“I don’t mind,” he said,“if you
don’t.” I looked down, too embarrassed to meet
his eyes. “No, I don’t mind either,” I said to the
wooden slats
of the jetty.
Aaron reached out a hand without saying any-
thing else, and I slipped my hand into his as we
walked. As I did, I felt my whole body tingle. I’d
never felt anything like the way I felt when Aaron
held my hand. It was as if someone were tickling
all my nerve endings at the same time. It made me
want to jump up and down and burst out laughing.
We’d only met this year. Aaron used to live
with his mom in a castle out at sea, but they’d
recently moved to Brightport with us. We’d put
on an amazing concert recently, and ever since
that night — when he’d kissed me — I’d felt this
way.
I didn’t tell him, of course. The only person I’d
said anything to was my best friend, Shona.
“You’re in LOVE!” she’d squealed delightedly
when I’d told her. Shona is the most traditional,
sappy mermaid in the entire world, and she loves
nothing more than a good romance.
“Don’t be ridiculous!” I’d said at the time. “I’m
too young to be in love. I don’t even know what
it means.” Like her, I was nearly thirteen — way
too young to start thinking about things like love.
But I did find myself wondering about the
word. And I was aware that there was nothing
I liked more than being with Aaron. I was also
aware that lately this had meant I hadn’t seen as
much of Shona as usual. And I had the feeling it
was becoming a sore point.
I wasn’t sure if she was bored of being the odd
one out, or fed up with me talking about him, or
maybe even a tiny bit jealous. Either way, she’d
stopped asking me about Aaron. And whenever I
tried to talk about him, she’d changed the subject
or swum off to do something else.
I didn’t really blame her. I must have become
quite boring, talking about Aaron all the time.
And to be honest, I missed hanging out with her.
The only trouble was, I always wanted to hang out with
Aaron more.
“What do you want to do?” Aaron asked now,
as we walked up the jetty.
What I really wanted to do was go to the
Rushtons’ fairground and take a ride on the ghost
train again so we could sit really close and hold
hands in the dark.We’d been on it the other night,
and even though it was the tamest ride in the
world, Aaron put his arm around me and it felt so
nice I didn’t want the ride to end.
But I hadn’t seen Shona since the beginning of
the week, and it was Friday now.
“Shall we go to Shiprock?” I suggested.
Shiprock was the merfolk town under the sea
where Shona lived.
“Sure!” Aaron agreed, and we walked down the
beach to the water’s edge.
Aaron waded into the water. I looked around
nervously.
“It’s fine,” he said. “Come on.” Then he turned
away and ran, splashing and jumping, into the
water.
I still hadn’t got used to the fact that we didn’t
have to hide what we were anymore. It was only
last year that I’d discovered I became a mermaid
when I went in water — and for most of the time
since then, it had been a secret. Neptune, who
ruled the seas, used to be really strict about these
For years and years, he’d kept the human and mer
worlds apart and used a memory drug to make
humans forget if they ever saw a mermaid. He
even had laws that said humans and merpeople
couldn’t mix. My dad had been sent to prison
because he’d married my mom!
But everything had changed recently. Neptune
had decreed that humans and merpeople had to
get along. And he’d gotten rid of the memory
drug — at least in Brightport — so everyone
knew about merpeople, and we no longer had any
reason to hide.
Even so, it still felt weird to go into the water
without panicking about what would happen if
someone saw my tail.
“What are you waiting for?” Aaron called to
me. Then he ducked under and flicked his tail
above the waves. As he dived down, his tail shone
like silver in the bright sunlight that was beaming
down on us now that the morning’s storm was
over.
Aaron was a semi-mer like me, and his ease in
the water reminded me how much I loved it, too.
I shrugged off my worries and ran into the sea to
join him.
Within seconds, I felt my body begin to change.
First, the familiar tingle in my toes; then my legs
went numb and joined together; finally, my legs
dis- appeared altogether, my clothes melted away,
in their place my tail formed. I swished it around,
stretching it out and spinning in the water to join
Aaron.
We swam along side by side, and I smiled to
myself and wondered if I had ever felt so happy
in my whole life.

Shona’s mom hovered in the door of their home
in Shiprock Caves and smiled apologetically.
“Sorry, Emily, Shona went out earlier with some
of her school friends.”
“No worries,” I said. “We’ll find her.”
She went inside and Aaron and I swam back
down the tunnel and out to the open sea. A line of
silver fish followed us, swimming just below me
and tickling my tummy as I swam.
“Now what?” Aaron asked.
I had a tiny pang of jealousy at the thought
of Shona hanging out with other friends — till
I remembered I had no right to feel jealous. I
was the one who kept abandoning her to be with
Aaron. I could hardly complain if she chose to
hang out with some of her friends from Shiprock.
Real friends who didn’t drop her when they got a
boyfriend.
Then I had an idea. “I know where she might
The water grew colder as we made our way out
to sea. Fish glanced furtively at us as we passed.
“Look,” Aaron said, laughing, as two fish swam
toward us. One was fat and yellow with a purple
blotch all over its face. It looked like a grand
lady who’d smudged her lipstick. The other
one had black-and-white stripes the length of its
long body. It swam elegantly beside her, like an
obedient butler.
We swam through a couple of arches in the
rocks, going lower and lower till we came to a
huge rug of brown seaweed flapping lazily in the
tide.
“What’s this place?” Aaron asked as we swam
across the seaweed to a sandy patch covered in
fishing nets, old bicycles, and oil drums.
“It’s our playground,” I said, swimming
through a large tube and indicating for him to
follow me.
We swam to the end of the tube and looked
around; Shona wasn’t there. Half of me was
disap- pointed — but the other half felt relieved.
At least she hadn’t shared our special playground
with all her other friends. Plus it meant I was still
alone with Aaron.
“Hey, look at this,” he called, swimming across
to a black sheet at the far end of the playground. I
hadn’t seen it before.
I swam over to join him. “What is it?” “Looks like a sail to me.”
“A black sail?”
Aaron grinned.“Must be from a pirate ship!
Let’s check it out.”
The sand scattered below me as I swam down,
and the sail wafted upward, swishing with the
tide. I swam onward, only stopping when I heard
Aaron call out.
I turned back. He wasn’t there.
“Aaron?”
No reply.
“Aaron?” I called louder. “You
OK?” Still nothing.
I started swimming back to the edge of the
sail, but my tail snagged on something. A piece
of seaweed? I twisted around to see what it was.
As I turned, the seaweed pinched harder. My tail
was completely stuck. A moment later, something
grabbed me around my middle.
And then the world went black.