The Magic Mirror of the Mermaid Queen - Delia Sherman [76]
My hand brushed against something that swayed and clattered and scattered beads of blinding light. I gave a yelp and back-finned.
“I’m going inside,” Airboy breathed. “Wait here.”
I poked at the clattering thing, catching my finger on the edge of something sharp. A tin can. More careful exploration revealed metal fragments, more cans, bits of plastic, and a strong, thin line stringing it all together. A curtain of junk.
Not far away, Airboy was talking to a merguard. I steadied myself against the slimy rock wall and tried to listen, but they were speaking some sea language I didn’t know. I was starting to get really bored when a sliver of light appeared at the bottom of the curtain.
“Come on,” Airboy hissed.
I glided through the gap as quietly as I could. After the black, black rift, the cavern was dazzlingly bright. Airboy caught my groping hands and pulled me forward. A moment later, we drifted to a stop.
“You can open your eyes now.”
We were in a dim corridor between a rocky wall and a row of rough stone pillars. I remembered from my last visit that there was another row of pillars across the hall.
I peered around the nearest pillar. A thousand lantern fish twinkled in the roof of the cavern like scaly stars, bathing everything in soft, green light. The court itself was surprisingly empty. No nereids, no mermen, no brightly colored magic fish, just a few grim merguards and selkies with HARBOR POLICE medallions around their necks.
Down at the end of the hall, I saw a giant pink scallop shell with a mermaid lounging in it like an oversized black pearl. The Mermaid Queen was In.
I couldn’t see her tattoos from this distance, but I didn’t have to: I remembered them just fine. She had fish on her cheeks, a trident on her forehead, anchors and ships on her arms, and a nuclear submarine down the whole right side of her tail. Her nose and fins and ears were pierced and her hair spiked out from her head like an orange anemone. Woolworth the punk pirate queen could only dream of being as tough as the Mermaid Queen of New York Harbor.
Two torpedo-shaped shadows crossed behind the throne, turned, and crossed again. Sharks. My mouth went dry.
Airboy tugged impatiently on my hand. It was time to go.
We swam down the dim corridor, keeping close to the floor. We were six pillars from the front. Five. Four. When we reached the last pillar, we’d dart out and announce ourselves, take the Queen by surprise.
At the second pillar, Airboy dropped my hand and whooshed out into the hall like he was jet-propelled.
“Hail, great Queen!” he said. “I bring you good news!”
I floundered out after him, blind with fury.
“No he doesn’t!” I shouted. “I do! I’m the Voice of the Green Lady of Central Park, who—”
“You!”The Mermaid Queen roared, rearing up on her tail like an angry sea lion. “Land girl! Mirror thief! Guards! Feed her to the sharks! Quick—before she makes up another riddle!”
Two muscular merguards twisted my arms behind my back and tangled my legs in seaweed. I wiggled and jack-knifed and shouted that I was an Ambassador, that I had rights, that they better let me go, or there’d be trouble.
“Trouble for you,” the merguards snickered. They towed me toward the shadows, where the Queen’s sharks circled lazily, grinning their U-shaped grins.
Now, I thought, would be a good time for my brain to come up with a clever escape plan. Maybe if my ears stopped buzzing. Maybe if I could just take a breath that didn’t taste of fish.
Airboy yelled, “You can’t do that!”
The merguards wheeled, pulling me with them. I floated between them woozily and listened to Airboy scold the Mermaid Queen. He was right up in her face, hands and feet finning to keep him there, explaining things firmly and clearly. The Diplomat would have been proud