Ellie and the Prince (Faraway Castle #1)(62)

“What happened to you?” another female asked.

“Strange to see a girl out here alone in the lake.” That was a deep voice edged with amusement. “She doesn’t look like she’s drowning.”

I flung hair out of my face and peered up at the boat. One of the females was driving, of course. Men were forbidden to drive any of the resort’s boats, and for good reason: My sisters loved to siren call any young man who got close to our island, smile and beckon to him, then send a whirlpool or wave to crash his boat or canoe against the rocks. They never harmed anyone, yet such activities were generally frowned upon. By the human women, anyway. Mother once told us that some humans talked about banning us, but everyone knew that the sirens at Faraway Lake attracted new young men to the resort every summer. Even though few of them ever caught a glimpse of us, there was always that chance.

The boat drew near, and a large hand appeared in front of me. It had soft skin, like my hands, but there was black hair growing on the arm above it. How hideous! Why did male and female humans both have soft hands? A man should have webbed hands and feet, and scales on his arms and face. My sister Moselle often wondered aloud how humans tell the males from the females, and the rest of us always nodded in agreement.

But now that I looked at a human male up close, he was obviously not female. He wore no clothing on his top half, and only baggy short trousers on his bottom half. That much seemed familiar: Mermen wear trousers and their chests are bare. But this human male’s chest and belly were hairy—not thick fur like a beaver’s, but it still creeped me out. I allowed him to grasp my arm and haul me up into the boat in one swift movement. He was strong, as a man should be, and his muscles were well defined. I tried not to notice this, but I couldn’t really help it.

I turned away and looked at the females. “Thank you,” I panted. Not until I noticed their garments did it occur to me to wonder what I was wearing. I glanced down and saw, with a tremendous sense of relief, that I wore not only my usual traditional wrap-top decorated with paua-shell chips, but also a short pair of merman trousers of the same seaweed-filament fabric.

Now that I was out of the water, wind blew on my skin and chilled me further. My clothing clung to my skin and strange bumps rose on my arms. As a siren I had never felt the cold, but I seemed to have lost that power along with my tail. “I’m freezing!” I said, and my chin quivered as I spoke.

“Here, take my towel.” A young female who wore her black hair in a long braid wrapped me in a thick cloth and pushed me into a seat in the back of the boat. “How did you get out in the middle of the bay all by yourself? Were you trying to swim across the lake?”

I shrugged and nodded. That seemed as good a reason as any.

“Don’t talk nonsense, Eddi,” said the other female, who appeared to be around my age. She looked at me with perceptive eyes and smiled. “You’re a siren, aren’t you? Or rather, you were. And now you’re human. How exciting!”

The younger girl’s mouth dropped open. “A siren? Like, a real mermaid?” Her bright eyes looked me up and down. “You’re right. She’s too gorgeous to be human.” She gave the young man a pointed look. “Like you, Mike.”

He stood looking down at us, feet braced as the boat rocked, arms crossed over his broad chest. “I am not too gorgeous to be human, Eddi. I am simply the handsomest human you’ve ever seen.” He flashed her a smile. “You enjoyed watching me waterski.”

Eddi blinked dreamy eyes. “You were rather amazing to watch.”

Human girls found this sort of man attractive? I had never been more thankful to not be human. But wait. I was human. Oh dear.

“My name is Beatrice. What’s yours?” the older girl asked as she sat sideways in the driver’s seat, still facing me.

“Kamoana.”

“What a pretty name!” She looked intrigued. “I’ve heard stories about merfolk taking human form, but I never in my life imagined I might meet one!”

When I coughed and sneezed (another new experience that startled me), Beatrice’s smooth brow wrinkled. “Here I am, waiting to hear your life story, while you might need to see a doctor. Sit down, you two.”

Eddi sat beside me, and the man, Mike, dropped into another seat as Beatrice started the boat moving. His chair spun around until he faced me, and I felt his stare like a concentrated beam of sunlight, burning and uncomfortable. Foam and spray dashed up on either side of the boat as it accelerated.

“You were coughing awfully hard. We thought you were drowning at first,” Eddi told me, shouting above the noise of engine, wind, and waves. “I’m Princess Edurne of Bilbao, but everyone calls me Eddi, so please do. Beatrice is my companion.”

“Companion?”

“A fancy name for a maid,” Beatrice called back over her shoulder. She must have excellent hearing, I thought.

“More like a big sister,” Eddi amended. “She tries to keep me out of trouble. So, will you ever tell us why you’re here? I mean, as a human?”

“Maybe,” I said, glancing from Eddi to Beatrice to the man. In truth, what little I could remember was fuzzy. But I did know one thing for certain: “I really need to see the resort director.”

“We can take you to her,” Beatrice said, then called back over her shoulder, “Your Highness, do you wish to be introduced to Kamoana?”