The Magic Mirror of the Mermaid Queen - Delia Sherman [38]
“So you can poison us better,” said Pondscum, obviously unimpressed.
“So I can find a reason not to poison you.” His voice was steadier now.
Algae and Pondscum looked at each other and shrugged. “Seems fair to me,” Algae said. “What about you guys?”
The naiads murmured softly to each other. “What if he’s all salty, and poisons the water?” one of them asked nervously.
Airboy knelt down and held his hand over the water. “Taste,” he said.
I had to admit it: the kid had guts. The water women had pointy little teeth that showed when they talked, teeth that could have stripped his fingers to the bone. He had to know that they were tempted. But he offered them his hand just like he trusted them.
Pondscum gave his forefinger a little lick. “You can relax, ladies,” she said. “He’s no saltier than Neef here. Okay, young mortal. Show us how they swim in the Harbor.”
While I wondered how Pondscum knew what I tasted like, Airboy took off his outer clothes. Underneath he was wearing short, scaly-looking pants and a kind of chest harness with pouches on it. I watched him unbutton a pouch and pull out what looked like an oversized acorn cap, patterned with scales.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“My merrow cap.”
I added merrow caps to my mental list of Folk lore Astris had never taught me. “I’ve always wondered what they looked like,” I remarked.
Airboy’s mouth twitched a little, like Astris’s whiskers. “It lets me breathe underwater.”
“When I was in the Harbor, they put me in a magic air bubble.”
He dunked the cap in the Reservoir and pulled it over his close-cropped hair. “Air bubbles are for tourists,” he said. Then he stepped up to the edge of the Reservoir and disappeared into the water. He didn’t even make a ripple.
I stood for a while, watching for him to surface. When I got tired, I sat down, took off my sneakers, and dangled my feet in the water.
What if Pondscum changed her mind about Airboy and snatched the cap off his head? What if the other Water Folk hurt him or threatened him? What if someone told Astris? What if someone told the Lady?
A fury of bubbles roiled the water’s surface, followed by a swirl of sleek, wet bodies. I saw Airboy leap out of the water, twist, and dive back in, lithe as a fish. Was he playing or swimming for his life? He was too far out for me to see. I pulled a curl into my mouth and chewed it.
The roiling moved closer. Airboy dolphined again. This time I could see he was laughing.
Laughing. Airboy.
I spat out the curl. Airboy liked my friends. He’d be my ally in the court of the Mermaid Queen. Maybe he’d be help me find her stupid mirror.
The game moved to the middle of the Reservoir. The water surged and boiled like Astris’s tub on wash day. It looked like the whole Reservoir had joined in.
Algae’s head popped up by my feet. She looked amused. “Trouble. One of the naiads tattled to a vodyanoi. He and his friends are going for the mortal tooth and nail. Your boyfriend’s still in one piece, but the girls are starting to lose interest. Just thought you’d want to know.”
I panicked. Totally and entirely. On land, there were things I could do, words I could say. I was totally helpless dealing with Water Folk I couldn’t talk to. My fingers clumsy with fear, I fumbled in my pocket for the Pooka’s tail hair. I wasn’t supposed to use it except in case of extreme emergency, but if this wasn’t an emergency, I didn’t know what was.
The hair was long and black and coarse. I held it in my fingers, blew on it gently, and whispered:
“By thy oath and by thy faith,
Come thou quickly by me.
Gallop, gallop to my aid;
Danger draweth nigh me.”
At the third line, I heard the pounding of unshod hooves on the Reservoir path. By the last words, a wild black pony was prancing by my side.
“I’m here,” said the Pooka, blowing down his nose. “Where’s this danger I’m to save you from? Are you hurt, at all?”
“It’s Airboy—a friend of mine from school. He’s in the Reservoir, and the vodyanoi are after him. You’ve got