The Fate of the Muse - By Derrolyn Anderson Page 0,84
lost in the power of the ocean’s rhythms. The mermaids tackled the surf with complete focus, obsessively gliding through each wave as if it were the very first one, never seeming to tire. I could feel myself growing weaker, increasingly having to pause and rest my shaking legs. I told Lorelei that I needed to stop and she pulled me out to calm water.
“That was fun,” I sighed wearily, “But I need to go home now.”
“This is your home. We are your sisters.”
I rolled my eyes at her, too tired to argue, but my sarcastic look was completely lost on her, and she took my silence as a sign I was considering her suggestion.
“You should stay!” she cried, as if the thought just occurred to her. If she wasn’t being exasperatingly vague, she was annoyingly persistent. I wondered if she’d ever stop asking me.
“Yes! Swim with us!” Nixie chimed in, tugging at my wrist.
I smiled weakly down at her, “No. I have to go back to the land.”
Nerissa rested her cheek on the end of my board, “She’s going to leave,” she sighed, tracing the wave design printed on my surfboard with her finger.
I relaxed on the tow back to Aptos, and was deposited on the beach in the densest fog I’d ever seen. I hauled my board ashore and trudged onto the wet sand with a satisfying feeling of tiredness. There were faint strains of music in the background, and I looked around the foggy darkness suspiciously, unable to make out more than just the sand around me. I hauled the board up the beach, feeling my way to the dry sand, plunking down with a grunt to take off my boots and gloves. Suddenly, the fog swirled and parted to reveal a large ship docked at the end of a pier, rows of lights along its side burning through the swirling mist.
I startled, and sprang to my feet in confusion. Where had Lorelei brought me? The dense fog moved back in, obscuring my view of the ship and its surroundings. My heart beat in my throat as I looked around for any sign of a landmark to get my bearings, hoping I wasn’t too far from home.
A lone figure walking along the shoreline approached me, and I tensed up, ready to ditch my board and break into a run. As it drew closer, the silhouette of a young girl was revealed in the faint misty light. She wore a vintage polka-dot party dress that nipped in tightly at the waist, with cap sleeves and a petticoated full skirt. A pair of high heels dangled from her hand, swinging to and fro as she walked along the shoreline barefoot. Her dark hair was softly waved and rolled up at the sides. She seemed oddly familiar, and yet I was certain I’d never seen her before.
I couldn’t imagine what she was up to, dressed like that, all alone in the middle of the night. I found myself staring at the incongruous sight as she drew near, singing to herself softly and staring straight ahead. I stood watching her silently, and just when I thought she was going to pass right by me without any acknowledgement she paused.
She looked up at me with a sly smile, wagging a finger at me, “Hey Kiddo, I see you’re up your old tricks again. You best be careful, because that big cheese is still out to get you. You got a real hellhound on your trail.”
“What?”
She put her hands on her hips, leaning towards me with a gentle, knowing look, “They already pulled the wool over your eyes once… Gosh! Whoever woulda thought that creep was in cahoots with his sis?”
“Um, excuse me, but I’m afraid you must be–”
“Listen Dollface, things aren’t always the way they seem. You be on the lookout!” She smiled warmly and continued on her way down the beach, shoes swinging alongside her billowing skirt.
When I finally recognized Stella’s voice, my knees gave out. I was kneeling on the sand when she called back over her shoulder, “And watch out for that red-headed dame. She sure gives me the heebie jeebies!”
When I looked up again she’d disappeared into the fog. I was trembling, shaking with a combination of fatigue and shock when the swirling fog receded again, revealing the wrecked hull of the cement ship, sitting low in the water. I don’t know how long I sat there, awestruck, but finally, when the first blush of a pretty pink dawn