Read Mer Tales 01 - Everblue for Free Online Page A

the next time he passed. But I was to learn the proper way to tail-duel, as stupid as it was. Shooting each other evil glares, we floated in the current for a moment, ten feet apart with challenging stances. I pawed my hand forward, inviting him to try it again. He gave me a nod. I smiled. This round would happen my way.
    Over his shoulder, though, I caught a glimpse of a girl with long auburn hair, holding a tray with something on top of it. A hint of honeysuckle infused the water around me.
    Ashlyn?
    I’d lost my preparation. Badger had already set off to retaliate and fire rushed up my fin, seizing my muscles. Then the world went hazy.
    : : :
    “ Sorry about earlier, laddy,” Badger said while relaxing on his moss-covered lounge chair, smoking his pipe and wriggling his hairy toes. The golden trophy stood on the tabletop in between us filled with a small fortune in rubies sparkling from within.
    I yanked my hand from my injuries, realizing I’d been massaging the spots where he’d stung me earlier. After our short practice, he really let loose and took me out on the first round. “Oh, it’s fine.”
    In the privacy of Badger’s air-filled home, he sat in his kilt and I in my board shorts, stretching our legs. We indulged in pints of freshly squeezed orange juice—though I suspected his had a little something extra added.
    Sunlight hit various mirrors staggered on the walls, allowing self-willed conversion from fin to feet. From the kitchen, like I’d hoped, onions and garlic simmered in some type of butter sauce and the delicious smell wafted into the cramped living space, making my mouth water.
    “ This is the secret, lad. Ya need to be watchin’ at all times. All it takes is one stupid moment ganderin’ some pretty lass’s tail and ZAP, yer a goner.” He laughed and scratched at his hairy belly before perching his hand into his beltline.
    The sting from his barb felt exactly like the electric shock I’d experienced when I was ten. After Dad and I had installed electrical lines in the basement for our entertainment center, he turned on the juice but I wasn’t finished taping the bare wire. My body still throbbed in memory of the pain.
    “ Who was that girl anyway?”
    “ That be Sandy’s niece, Lily. She’s a cutie and available, if yer askin’.”
    “ No-o,” I stuttered. “I—just—she looks like someone I know, that’s all.”
    “ Oh, I see.” He winked then relaxed his head back and made O rings with the smoke. “Ah, this is just what I needed. Well, a peek at TV might have been nice.”
    I laughed and looked around the room—very untypical of a mer. An oil painting of a ship at sea hung over a simulated fireplace, one that could never be lit. On the mantle were more sparring trophies, a spyglass, and some empty bottles. On the other wall was a wooden plaque that said Sea Queen that hung on a chain from rusty nails. Next to it was a ship helm and a Celtic cross inlayed with green stones.
    “ From me ship. I was a fisherman before my Sandy came along.”
    “ Was that your ship?” I pointed to the painting.
    “ Aye,” Badge nodded his head. “The Sea Queen was a beauty before she sank.”
    “ Is that how you got here? Did Sandy save you from drowning?”
    “ Well, now. That wasn’t entirely my doing,” A sweet voice filtered into the room as Sandy emerged from underwater through the porthole doorway in the floor. She pulled herself onto the ledge and slipped behind the dressing curtain dangling next to the doorway. After phasing into legs, she walked in the room and arranged a bunch of algae sprigs and sea anemones on the table.
    “ Ah, I was a miserable bloke before the mer, fightin’ and drinkin’ away me regrets. Me first wife died of the influenza while I was off tryin’ to conquer the sea. I couldn’t forgive meself and wanted the sea to end me pain. But Sandy here, she looked past me mean exterior and saw me hurtin’ heart. She says she only found me that day, but I