Maybe, like me, they didn’t want to involve anyone else and were waiting until I was out of Eliana’s sight. Hoping that was the case, I kept rowing. My arms didn’t tire as Eliana’s form grew smaller and smaller, but I did get thirsty. Just before she became too small to see, I lifted the oars from the water and found my drink.
“Can she still see you?” a muffled voice asked.
I used the bottle to hide my mouth before I answered.
“Yep. She’s looking right at me.”
Laughing drifted up around the boat; and I took a long swallow, relieved that I’d guessed correctly. After a quick, final wave to Eliana, I picked up the oars once more and mentally prepared myself for what was to come.
As soon as Eliana disappeared from view, the first mermaid poked her head out of the water.
“That took you far too long. You have to have the weakest arms I’ve ever seen. Are you rowing or having mini seizures?”
I ignored her and kept my pace steady.
“Does she know she’s rowing in circles?” a quieter voice asked. Several others hushed her.
This time I rolled my eyes. Did they think I was stupid? Not only could I still see the shore on the horizon, I could also see the sun. Since both had stayed pretty much in the same place, I knew I wasn’t rowing in circles. However, the question did bring up a good point.
Rowing in a straight line was all well and good, but I needed to make sure I was rowing toward the general direction of the island. At least, as far as the map in the library was concerned. I pulled up the oars once more.
“Why is she always stopping?”
“She’s going to drink so much that she’ll need to pee. I don’t want her pee in my lake.”
The boat rocked slightly.
“Poseidon’s trident! How much does this land whale weigh?”
Ignoring them, I checked my phone. My location dot on the map showed that I was barely off the shore. Leaving the app open, I resealed the phone in its baggy and set it on the seat in front of me.
This time when I went to stick the oar in the water, a hand reached for it. I jerked the oar and whacked the hand.
Laughing, along with some swearing, erupted around me.
I set to rowing again, watching the mermaids dart through the water. They made a game of swimming under the boat to bump it, making it rock continuously. I didn’t have a light stomach so the motion didn’t bother me. In fact, if that was the worst they had, I would have no problem reaching the island.
They entertained themselves like that for a time while I slowly made progress. Rowing might not have been tiring, but it sure was boring once the shoreline faded from sight.
No sooner did I have that thought than a set of hands grabbed the right edge of the boat and pulled down as the left side was lifted up. I immediately leaned to counterbalance and put the oars in the boat. As soon as my hands were free, I picked up my hard, reusable water bottle and hit the hands still gripping the edge.
A head came out of the water, and the mermaid with green-blue hair hissed at me, showing her tiny, sharp teeth. Her grip on the boat tightened as she started pulling herself out of the water. Reaching down to the bottom of the boat, I grabbed a fistful of coarse salt and threw it in her face.
She screamed and dove back into the water. All rocking stopped.
“Fun fact,” I said, starting up my rowing once more, “although mermaids can live in ocean water, they can’t tolerate direct contact with dried salt. And, wouldn’t you know, I got a boat full of it.”
“I hate her,” a voice whispered from under the water.
“I told you,” another said. “Don’t worry. She’ll get hers soon.”
I checked the water on both sides but didn’t see anything. That worried me more than when they were swimming around.
Focusing once more on the map on my phone, I rowed harder. The battery was doing well, but my progress made me worry that I’d run out of juice long before I reached the shores again. Or worse, that I’d be making the return trip in the dark.
The absence of mermaids didn’t last long. Within an hour, the number of them swimming around me had doubled. Another hour doubled that number again.
However, during those next several hours, little else changed. According to my phone, I was only a quarter of the way toward the center of the lake. And, every new mermaid asked the same dumb questions.
“Where is she going?”
“She thinks there’s an island.”
“She thinks there’s an oracle.”
Laughter ensued the last comment.
“An oracle? She doesn’t need one of those. I can see her future just fine. Dead at the bottom of our lake.”
While rowing had initially worked well to exercise the tingle of anger that kept trying to worm its way up my spine, the activity was losing its effectiveness. However, my white-knuckled hold on the oars didn’t just indicate my slipping control. It also kept the oars firmly in my grip. I easily powered through the hands attempting to steal the oars and even managed to connect with a few heads with every heave.
The cursing and hissing grew louder as the surrounding water churned with mermaid tails.
Was hitting them mean? Not based on the anger crawling under my skin. They were planning something that wouldn’t end well for me if they had their way.
“Don’t you have anything better to do? Go comb your hair with a fork or something,” I yelled, losing patience with yet another attempt to grab an oar.
“She did not just go there.”
“Oh, yes, she did,” I answered the unknown, underwater voice. “Take your chum ass out to deeper water and go sing to Sabastian or something. Just leave me alone.”
A head popped up to my right, and I zeroed in on the girl’s livid face. Seeing a real target fueled my temper.
“Did you just call us shark bait?” she demanded.
“I sure did.” I jerked the oar and hit her in the side of the head. She went under like a stone, and I laughed.
Another head popped up near the end of the boat, killing my humor. Her hate-filled gaze locked with mine. The anger I’d been feeling now made more sense, and the smell of smoldering wood tickled my nose as I stared at the mermaid who’d made me blow up my boyfriend.
“You think you’re so smart filling your boat with salt, don’t you?” She smiled, flashing her tiny, sharp teeth. “Your boat’s sitting heavy in the water. Too heavy to tip. Good job, orphan.”
I wanted to launch myself at her but held my ground. She was baiting me. Why?
“What do you want?”
Her smile widened.
“You know what I want. I want that human. But I’ll settle for you.”
I snorted.
“You couldn’t handle me.”
“Alone? No. But I’m not alone.”
She swam within arm’s reach of the boat.
“Do you know what the problem is with your salt-filled boat that’s sitting so heavy in the water?” she asked sweetly.
I narrowed my eyes at her.
“It’s heavy enough to sink.”
Something small jumped at the back of the boat a moment before water started gushing in. I pulled the oars out of the way of grabbing hands and rushed toward the back as the merbitch disappeared under water once more. Grabbing the plug, I swiped the salt away from the hole and jammed the rubber back into its place.
I looked around at all the faces staring at me from a healthy distance.
“Sink me and that means I’m in the water with you. Ever heard of a fish boil?”
They twittered with laughter and dove back under the surface.
Returning to my place, I picked up the oars and started rowing in the increasingly choppy waters with a ferocity that made them laugh harder. The scent of burning wood and hot salt grew stronger, and I struggled to control my temper. How did my mom do it? All those times I’d said something that I’d known would upset her, she’d never lost her cool. I frowned. Not true. When she’d broken her coffee cup that last day in our old house, I remembered feeling a flash of heat. Back then, I’d written it off as my imagination. But I now knew it hadn’t been.
The memory was less than helpful in calming me down, so I thought of Eliana waiting for me on shore. I needed to focus on getting to the island and back before sunset. I didn’t want to worry her. I needed to keep it together.
The plug at the back of the boat popped out, again.