Read Mer Tales 01 - Everblue for Free Online

alone drink down here. Plus the few pieces of fish I’d eaten for breakfast had already burned through me and I craved some substance like French toast or pancakes.
    If it wasn’t for Dad’s mission, I’d be on the deck of the Empress right now, sipping a good Sumatra and showing tourists the bay in full sunlight. Instead I was listening to some guy named Chauncey explain the rules for today’s hand-to-fin combat tournament. The only reason I paid attention was because the winner got a golden trophy cup filled with rubies—not a bad reward.
    When Chauncey finished his rhetoric, I floated among the group, trying to look like I fit in. Where was Azor?
    “ Aye, son,” a redheaded merman with a thick Irish accent said. “You’d be Jack’s son, right?”
    “ Yeah,” I said, unsure if that was a good thing.
    Without hesitation, he swam over and gave me a bear hug. “I’m Badger. Good to meet ya. You’ll be my partner today. How’s that?”
    “ Okay.” I guess.
    I followed him over to the edge of the field. Memories of Dad talking to me about him vaguely came to mind.
    “ What’s with you, lad?” Badger asked.
    I pressed my thumb against my temple, willing away my caffeine headache. “Don’t you ever crave something other than fish?”
    Badge threw his mane of hair back into the current and laughed. “Aye, lad. Every day. I’d love me a thick Guinness right about now and me mum’s fried shredded potato.”
    His full-bodied holler echoed over the field, which lightened my spirits. “That does sound good.”
    “ Ya missin’ the food from the Pacific already, aye?” He raised one hairy eyebrow.
    “ Dad’s on a mission, so I’m stuck here training on temporary assignment until he returns.”
    “ That’s what I’ve heard. Well, we aren’t half as bad as ya think, but then, most of these boys would start blubberin’ like wee girls at the first sign of combat.” Badger flared his fin to reveal the deadly barbs just under the surface. “You’re with the best.”
    I smirked, suddenly remembering the time Dad came home from Natatoria with a limp. Badger was the one he was sparring with that day. “So I’ve heard.”
    Badger beat his hand on his tattooed chest, inked with obvious important issues of his past. “The Irish Republican Army is where I got me battle scars. But me thinks ye be needin’ some real home cookin’ to deal with yer homesickness. Sandy’s makin’ me somethin’ special tonight.” He looked left then right and whispered. “Somethin’ from me country.”
    “ How’d you get—?”
    “ Oh, I’ve got me ways. And with that air gizmo, it’ll be something to savor. Me mermaid’s an excellent cook.” He nodded and under his knobby beard, his lips pulled into a smile, revealing a gold incisor. My taste buds watered at the possibilities of what she’d make on a real stove in an oxygen-filled kitchen. “Now let’s get to sparrin’ so I can bring home that cup ‘o rubies fer me doll.”
    “ Oh, like that’s gonna happen.” I swam back and poised my tail, barbs out. “On guard.”
    Badge shot past me like a cannon, knocking me right into the coral. I shook my head and leveled myself.
    He floated above me and held his belly, howling. “Son, ya need to keep focused.” He grabbed my hand and yanked me off the seabed. “Get yer head out of yer arse and hold your fin up like this.”
    He positioned himself to show me how to hit my opponent by just bending at the waist and angling my tail for a faster hit. I copied his example.
    “ Aye, there ya go,” he said with more confidence. “Try again. But whatever ye do, don’t let me pass.”
    Badger rushed me, faster this time, and with ease promptly knocked me on my backside into the sea kelp. I spit out the sand and cursed under my breath.
    “ Now don’t start blubberin’ on me. You’ll get better. Keep yer eyes open. That was yer last freebee.”
    Freebee ?
    I growled. Part of me wanted to close-line him with my arm