How to be a Mermaid (The Cotton Candy Quintet #1)(21)

“Could we get it?”

“No. It has to be fresh. It’s been way too long for it to work. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a problem.”

Frustration threatened with angry tears pricked at the corners of my eyes. “I thought you said she’s hurrying?”

“She can’t take that long,” Finn muttered, combing a hand through his swirls of hair. I must have looked crestfallen, because his expression softened and he put a hand on my shoulder, giving it a quick squeeze. “Listen, I’ll take you to my father. He’ll know where Nereia is and then we can find her. See if she can change you back from being a merwalker.”

His words didn’t promise anything. I realized that, yet he seemed so genuine that I managed a small smile. In fact, I might have been teary-eyed, but because we were in the water, I wasn’t sure.

“Now,” he said, frowning, his gaze drifting downward to my silicon mermaid tail. “Can you swim with that thing?”

***

It took Finn a bit of convincing that the flipper at the end of the fake mermaid tail would help me swim faster than my two feet by themselves. After I made a good case for it, he finally obliged, although he made his thoughts about the fake tail abundantly clear.

“Anything’s better than a fake fin,” he grumbled not unkindly.

I begged to differ, especially because it did help me blend in. Even though it was nowhere near an accurate imitation of the beauty of a real mermaid’s tail, I was thankful for the camouflage my tail offered. After all, Ponce had been fooled by it; he even said he thought I was an unfortunate mermaid with a bad tail.

That was better than a human with a fake tail in these parts.

“Ready?” Finn asked.

“I’m ready.”

I wanted to prove that I could make the journey, that I wasn’t a human making fun of mermaids. “Thanks for your help, Ponce,” I told the snapper. If it wasn’t for him, I’d probably still be searching for Finn. “I guess I’ll see you around.”

“Are you kidding?” the fish exclaimed. “I’m coming with you guys. Oceanus is going to flip when Prince Finn brings a human to his palace. You know how much they both hate humans, right?”

I glanced back at Finn, both curious and a bit mortified. What had happened to make them hate humans? My eyes drifted down the scars and I knew. Maybe it wasn’t that particular event that had caused their hate, but I was sure that was a good indication why.

My stomach sank at the thought.

“I don’t hate all humans,” Finn said slowly. Concern flashed in his eyes as our gazes met. “Only the ones that kidnap my people.”

I nodded, although I still didn’t feel right. How many sea creatures were wrongly taken from this beautiful undersea world like Kai?

“You did not kidnap Kai,” he added with a wry smile.

“So you believe me,” I teased.

“I believed you last night. I just had a lot going on.” He looked remorseful for a moment, then he gave himself a little shake. “We should get going. It’s a bit of a long swim.”

“Are you sure you’re coming, Ponce?” I asked, hoping he would. I was starting to like him.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” The snapper looked about to bubble over with excitement.

Hours later, I knew Finn wasn’t kidding when he said it was a “bit” of a long swim. If it hadn’t been for that burst of extra swimming skills that I’d picked up, I would have been left in his wake. As it was, I only barely managed to keep up with him, and I could tell that he was still slowing down for me. We kept going deeper and deeper, yet the pressure didn’t squeeze me like a bug between a shoe and the ground like I had expected.

Ponce swam in wide zigzags in the space between Finn and me, singing songs that were perfect for an underwater road trip. Road swim. Whatever. He was obviously having more fun than either Finn or me.

I took the opportunity to talk with Ponce, who was all too happy to chat back.

“So you knew Finn before this?” I asked.

“Oh yeah,” Ponce said with the flippancy of a gossiper. “Everyone knows Finn. You see him around all the time.”

“‘Cause he’s a prince?”

Now in front of us, Finn looked back at us and actually rolled his eyes. “I hate being called ‘Prince’.”

“I suppose,” Ponce mused, unfazed by Finn’s comment. “It’s because he’s the protector of the sea, more or less.”

“What do you mean, ‘protector’?”

“As in protector,” Ponce insisted. “As in, he saves us sea creatures from danger. He’s like a superhero!”

“I’m no superhero,” Finn muttered. I looked at him, and his cheeks were so red with embarrassment, I could see them from about fifteen feet behind.

I thought back to that first instance when I met Finn when he’d climbed up the rocks to save Kai.

“How are you a superhero?”

“It’s not what it sounds like,” Finn said quickly. “I just...look after the ocean.”

“Saved all of us a few times,” Ponce cut in. “Explosions, earthquakes, pollution...”

“It’s my job,” Finn shrugged, swimming further ahead at a faster speed, obviously hoping to outswim the conversation. I pushed myself to keep up with him at a speed where I couldn’t catch my breath enough to keep talking. That didn’t stop Ponce, who was happy to keep singing as we went along.