The Mermaid's Dolphin by Coral Ripley

Author:Coral Ripley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2021-01-28T15:23:18+00:00

Chapter Seven

Effluvia gave a cruel smile. “I see you know who I am,” she said. “And this is my little pet, Fang.” She pointed to a small, round fish with sharp fangs and a light dangling in front of its face. “But aren’t you going to introduce yourselves?” Her voice was soft and lilting, but her tail flicked angrily.

That’s what Nemo does before he pounces, Emily thought to herself.

Marina swam forward bravely. “I am Princess Marina of Atlantis,” she said, swimming in front of Effluvia and raising herself as tall as she could on her purple tail.

“Nice to meet you, Your Royal Highness!” Effluvia gave a mocking bow.

Now Grace swam forward. “And we’re the Sea Keepers,” she said, looking Effluvia right in the eye.

“So, you’re the mermaids who are going to stop me from getting the Golden Pearls, are you?” She stopped and looked at them closely. “But you’re not mermaids, are you?” she said slowly.

The siren suddenly swam past Marina, Fang bobbing after her, and inspected Emily, Layla, and Grace from their heads to their fins.

“You’re human girls! This is who they send to defeat me?” She gave a laugh that sounded beautiful, like tinkling bells, but still sent chills down Emily’s spine. Layla squeezed her hand reassuringly.

“Get away from them!” Marina called out.

Effluvia pointed her finger and let out a high note, like an opera singer. The girls watched in horror as the ghost net twitched and rose up, pulling free from the huge pile of rocks, before twisting around Marina. The mermaid struggled against it, but the net held her tight. Effluvia smiled coldly and turned back to the girls.

“Now, I know you don’t want any trouble. You’re not even from the sea. This isn’t your fight. Tell me what I want to know, and I’ll let you go. I’ll even send you back to shore. Now wouldn’t that be nice? Then you can be among all the other two-legs”—she spat the word out—“and leave the mermaid world to me. So, I’ll ask you nicely: Where are the Golden Pearls?”

Emily shook her head. Next to her, Grace did the same.

“We don’t know!” Layla burst out. “And even if we did, we’d never tell you!”

“Fine,” Effluvia snapped. “We’ll do it the hard way.”

She took a deep breath, and Emily shut her eyes, half expecting her to breathe fire or shout at them.

Instead she stared directly at the girls and started to sing, and it was the most strange and wonderful thing Emily had ever heard. She couldn’t make out the words, but she felt the music with her whole body as the song flooded her mind. It was mesmerizing and magical, and it made Emily feel that Effluvia was beautiful and good and kind. Emily knew she had to help her and tell her everything she knew about the Golden Pearls…

Faintly, in the distance, she could hear Marina shouting. “Don’t listen, it’s a siren song! She’s putting you under her spell!” But the words didn’t seem to make any sense.

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