"Unbelievable! Where'd you get it? Did you make it? How many shells are on it? Oh my gosh, is that seaweed? Do your mama and papa know you have it? Are you allowed to keep it?"
Annith was beside herself when I pulled out the shell necklace at recess. She was my best friend next to Lysi—although she thought she was my only best friend because she didn't know about Lysi.
"I found it on—near the beach," I said, slipping it around my neck. "There are twelve shells on it and, yes, my mama knows, and she thinks it's pretty."
Annith's mouth gaped open, stretching her long face and making her look comical. She was sweet and freckled, but always wore her sister's hand-me-down dresses, giving her a distinctly frail appearance.
She reached out and touched one of the shells. I let her gawk.
"Maybe a mermaid did it," she whispered.
"Maybe." I forced myself not to agree with too much excitement.
She leaned in, hazel eyes wide, and dropped her voice even lower. "D'you think mermaids wear jewellery, too?"
Before I could answer, we were interrupted by a loud, disapproving voice. "What is that?"
We turned and looked up into the thin, pointed face of Dani, who put her hands on her hips when we didn't answer at once. She glared at us with slitted eyes. Dani had to be the nastiest person I knew, ever since the day I'd met her in kindergarten, when she slammed the classroom door on my fingers and laughed when I started crying.
Her eyes bore in the direction of my necklace, wide and malicious. "Did your brother mail that to you from the bottom of the ocean?"
I zipped my jacket up over the necklace, protecting it from her glare. "Watch what you say about my brother."
She laughed, dismissing my threat.
"I mean it!" I said, my face heating up. "Or someone will have to mail you home from the bottom of the ocean!"
Annith gasped. "Meela!"
Dani straightened, her face souring.
"You shouldn't have shells," she said. "Unless you're trying to show the whole island you're siding with flesh-eaters."
"Are you calling her a traitor?" said Annith.
Dani ignored her. "They're a bad omen and you know it. Get rid of them, or else—"
"Or else?" I said. "What are you going to do about it?"
She dropped her arms, fists clenched. Annith stepped between us, looking wary. "Maybe we should all—"
"Stay out of this, Bucktooth."
I pushed my way around Annith, a little too forcefully in my anger. "Don't talk to my friend like that!"
Annith turned and pushed me back with two hands before I could do anything. "Let's just go."
She took my hand and led us away. I looked over my shoulder, where Dani was already striding back to her friends, three boys who always fought over who would be her partner in gym class. They lingered a small distance away, avoiding our exchange.
"You have to ignore her," said Annith, bringing my attention back. "You always let her make you so angry."
"She needs to mind her own business."
"I know."
I huffed. "It's a wonder she has any friends at all. I don't know how those boys can stand to hang around a porcupine like her."
"Boys don't care if a girl's mean, as long as she's pretty."
I watched the way the boys looked at Dani, with her extra long legs and extra wavy hair and extra plump lips, and I decided Annith was right.
We trudged through the muddy field until we reached Eriana Trench, and Annith deemed it safe to let go of my hand.
Our field had the most giant puddle in the entire island, so big that none of us knew how deep it was in the middle. Years ago, some older kids had named it Eriana Trench. If anyone was ever brave enough to try and get to the middle—usually on a dare—he would only get up to his waist before a teacher would come over and get us all in trouble. Most kids played there at recess and lunch, battling paper boats and seeing whose could stay afloat the longest. I imagined the trench floor to be a graveyard of paper shipwrecks.
"Maybe you should keep the shells a secret," said Annith. "Dani won't be the only one who thinks—"
"Man overboard!" I said, pointing into the Trench.
Annith looked, but I knew she didn't see it.
"A bumblebee," I said. "It's drowning."
I stood at the edge of the puddle and watched it thrash in the water.
"Let's save it," I said, scouring the ground for something useful.
Annith just watched me in silence.
"My big sister says we have a famine coming," she said eventually.
I peeled a soggy maple leaf off the ground and cupped it in my hand. "That's stupid."
"Is not. She says it isn't safe enough to go fishing anymore. Even if we did go fishing, the mermaids have eaten all the seafood."
"That's why we're getting food from the mainland," I said, tossing aside the maple leaf and picking up a muddy stick.
"But the mermaids are attacking the ships that bring the food over."
I stretched as far as I could with the stick, but I still couldn't reach. I waded further into the Trench until the water touched the tops of my gumboots.
"Regardless," I said, trying to sound like a grown-up, "I do not agree with the Massacres and I think they should stop immediately."
"Why?"
The icy water sloshed heavily inside my boots, threatening to suck them off my feet.
"Just because the mermaids are eating a bit of our fish doesn't mean we need to kill them all."
"They started killing us first! Besides, they totally don't belong in the Pacific. My mama calls them an invasive species, and says they're the worst problem—"
"We saved him!"
The bee clung to the end of the stick, and I held him high above the water as I trudged back to shore.
Annith sighed, offering me a hand when she saw me struggle against my water-filled boots. When I got to land, I sat to take them off.
Footsteps approached behind us and a boy's voice spoke up. "Whatcha doing?"
I looked up to see Tanuu and four of his friends staring at me.
"Nothing," I said, dumping the water from my boots. "What are you doing?"
Tanuu squinted at the bumblebee on the ground. Behind me, Annith was as mute as she always was around boys.
"Whatcha saving a bee for? He'll just sting you, soon as he gets his breath back."
"Bumblebees don't sting," I said, jumping to my feet and preparing to defend the bee from the underside of a boot. One of the boys scanned my muddy clothes and smirked. I crossed my arms.
"Do, too," said Tanuu.
"Not this one. He knows I saved him."
Tanuu looked at me, then at the ground, then scooped the bee up with cupped hands. "Better get him to a dry place, then."
Tanuu moved the bee into a clump of bush where nobody would step on it, and I pressed my lips together to keep from smiling. Maybe he wasn't as bad as other boys.
"Wanna play Demon Tag at lunch?" he said.
I glanced back at Annith and saw her peering shyly at one of Tanuu's friends, Haden. I rolled my eyes. "Sure. We'll play with you."
Tanuu flashed his stark white teeth at me. I looked down.
"See you at lunch," I said, and turned back to the puddle as if very busy cleaning the mud from my hands.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Annith give a small wave to Haden, and then she squatted next to me.
"Oh my gosh, he's so cute," she said in the same tone the older girls used when they gushed about boys.
"You wouldn't know a cute boy from a toad."
"Do, too. His cheekbones just make me melt."
I pictured her melting into the puddle at our feet and giggled. "That doesn't even make sense. You've been listening to your sister too much."
The bell rang, signalling the end of recess, and Annith stood and smoothed her oversized dress.
"Well, I think you should go out with Tanuu. He's totally cute and he's always talking to you."
I made a face. "I think I would rather go out with a toad."
I kept my eye on Dani the whole day, ready to pounce if she stepped anywhere near my backpack in the cubby room. But she stayed put. With Miss Paige watching, she was a lamb. Grown-ups always thought she was "such a delightful girl," and I hated her even more for it.
Annith was right. All the boys might have liked Dani, but she didn't have many friends. The thought satisfied me in a vengeful sort of way that probably should've made me feel guilty. Whenever Dani did make a friend, only a month or so would pass before I would see the other girl crying by herself at recess. One time, that girl was Annith. In grade one, Dani picked her as her new best friend and they spent every day together for a week. It was when I found Annith crying in the cubby room that she and I became best friends. Real best friends.
The school bell sounded, and the class hesitated before standing. My own problems dropped like stones. The Homecoming bell never rang today. Miss Paige bowed her head, maybe owing the sailors a moment of silence before we were dismissed.
"There's still the evening," Annith whispered to me, sounding forcibly hopeful.
But the whole way back down the dirt road, through the bush and across the beach to my meeting place with Lysi, the Homecoming bell still didn't ring.
Lysi jumped on me as usual, but I wasn't paying attention and didn't even see her.
I laughed and pushed her off me, but she seemed to sense something wasn't right. She studied my face with her thin eyebrows knitted together.
"The bell didn't ring today," I said.
She continued to stare at me in confusion. I realised I hadn't known her long enough for her to understand what that meant. "Our sailors were supposed to come back from . . . um . . ."
I couldn't finish the sentence without looking down. She knew about the Massacre, anyway. I fixed my eyes on the dark rocks beneath my legs, wet from where we'd splashed them and continuing to dampen in the mist.
"Oh," she said after a moment. "Well, I hope they come back. For your sake."
I looked up at her and smiled a little.
She didn't smile back. "They've killed our troops. A lot of mermaids haven't returned."
"When did the last ones get sent out?" I said, wondering if the ship got attacked since the lighthouse sighting yesterday.
She shrugged. "A few days ago. The attacks start once a ship gets close to the army base, near Utopia. Then they go out in hordes until . . . well . . ."
I bit my lip, imagining swarms of mermaid warriors attacking our ships. A few minutes passed where neither of us said anything, and the sharp, cold rocks pressed into the backs of my legs.
I took my gumboots off and dipped my bare feet in the tide pool, wanting to bury my toes in the rough sand.
"Lysi?" I said, breaking what looked like a serious thought process. Her hard expression softened a little when our eyes met. "Why are mermaids even here? Why didn't you all stay in the Atlantic?"
Her mouth fell open, and I quickly added, "Not that I don't want you here! I'm happy you're here. I'm just curious."
"Well," she said, rolling onto her stomach in the lukewarm tide pool, "my parents came over when the Ice Channel melted."
"I knew that already. We call it the Northwest Passage. But why didn't they stay in the Atlantic?"
"My mama and papa said Adaro didn't like the way the Atlantic Queen was ruling. So he came to the Pacific to make Utopia."
"Adaro is your king?"
"Yes."
"What happened? Did he get a divorce from the Queen?"
"No. Adaro was never King before. I don't know who he was before he came here."
"So now that he's made Utopia, why doesn't he stop attacking sailors?"
She grimaced, but didn't answer.
"He should know my people are going hungry because—"
"Well, humans have land to live on."
She pushed her jaw forwards, and I thought she looked a little angry. I averted my eyes to a piece of seaweed lodged in her coppery blonde hair.
Part of me knew that was true, but part of me was appalled that she didn't care about my people being attacked.
"We need to eat fish, too," she said.
"Isn't there enough to share?"
She dropped her gaze, looking uncomfortable.
I stared at her lashes. She waved her tail up and down, making ripples that dampened the rocks on the other side of the tide pool.
"You would also get in big trouble if someone found out we were friends, wouldn't you?" I said quietly.
Her eyebrows pulled down and her shoulders slumped, but then she threw herself at me in an icy-cold hug that smelled like brine.
"All the kings and Massacres in the world couldn't make me stop being friends with you, Mee."
I giggled and squeezed her back.
She pulled away and smoothed my hair down affectionately. "One day there won't be any Massacres."
The thought lifted my spirits, until I remembered Homecoming. Mama would need my company. I stuffed my gumboots in my backpack. "I better go help make dinner."
"Wait." Her icy fingers clamped around my wrist.
"Ouch!" I said before I could stop myself, and she let go quickly.
I rubbed my wrist, surprised at her strength.
Lysi picked up a rock. "I just wanted to show you . . ."
She stacked a few rocks on top of each other. "This will help us visit. I'll make a pile of rocks when the tide is up, and when the tide is down and you see it, you'll know I'm close."
I returned her smile, and with it a promise that this was our special secret.
We said goodbye and I traipsed back to the road, shivering against the biting wind. I'd never thought so much about merpeople before, and I started wondering about other things I'd never thought to ask Lysi. Were there countries beneath the water? How long had merpeople lived in the Atlantic? How did they cross the Northwest Passage when the water was so cold?
Mama was quiet when I got home, and I put on my best cheerful face as I helped her make rice and cabbage for dinner. But the Homecoming bell still didn't ring, and Mama's face wilted, and she moved slower and slower. And I remembered the time my brother didn't come back.
"You said Nilus would still come home one day, right?" I said. "Maybe this is it. Maybe this year's sailors found him while they were on the Massacre."
I thought the hope of seeing her son again would make her happier, but she said nothing. I wondered if that was the wrong thing to say.
The front door banged open and I screamed, dropping the lid for the pot of rice. Papa stormed across the kitchen, heading straight for me. I jumped off my chair and backed away from his dark eyes.
"Where is it, Metlaa Gaela?"
"Papa?" I tried to look innocent—but I already knew. My insides clenched painfully.
"You know what I'm talking about." His voice boomed through our small house. "Bring it to me or I will turn your room inside out and dig it up myself."
How did he know? Who told him?
My eyes burned as I put my head down and went to my room. Papa followed me, giving me no privacy as I opened my closet, reached for the back corner, and dug up the shoebox I'd hid so carefully. I pulled out the necklace and turned to him.
His face was purple. His calloused, dirt-creased hand trembled as he took it from me. Mama stood behind him, and she nodded to me solemnly.
"Do you have any idea how you've shamed this family?" Papa's voice was so angry it made my lips quiver. "The sea is our enemy. It's an inferno, not a pretty pool of water we cherish and make jewellery from."
My eyes sprung with tears. I wanted desperately to tell him he was wrong, that the ocean was not an inferno, that it was the most beautiful place, filled with coral and orcas and friendship. But I'd learned long ago never to talk back to Papa.
"The entire Pacific Ocean has been infested with sea demons since I was a boy, and our people have suffered because of it." He shook the necklace in his fist as he talked, and the delicate seaweed began to fray. "Don't you wonder why we need to import food from the mainland? Don't you wonder why this island is slipping into poverty? Sea demons! Mermaids! They steal our food, sink our ships, murder our children!"
I closed my eyes, wishing he would be swept away by the hollow wind blowing at my window. Nothing he could say would change what I knew about Lysi.
"You put yourself in serious danger by going near the beach, Metlaa Gaela. One swipe by a mermaid and you'll be gone forever. They'll feed on your skin and bones like a wolf on a rabbit."
"That's not true! They're not all evil," I shouted, the words bursting from my mouth.
His eyes widened, and his face grew an even deeper shade of purple.
"You don't know what I've seen." He whispered, probably because if he spoke any louder it would erupt from his mouth in a roar that would be heard across the island. "Do not forget about my Massacre. I won't let you take that pride away from this family."
The door slammed, leaving me alone in my room.
His Massacre. I lost count of how many times he'd bragged about it. The year he was chosen, the sailors killed more mermaids than ever.
"Five hundred and four kills," he always said. "The vermin stopped coming after two weeks! There hasn't been another Massacre like it."
How could he think mermaids were demons? How could Lysi be a killer? I didn't believe it.
"I hate you," I mumbled.
I swiped the tears from my cheeks and flopped on my bed. I wanted to shout after him that he couldn't take away my things. That necklace was mine.
How did he find out about it? Did someone see me with it? Or did Annith tell someone? She would never. We'd kept each other's secrets for years, and I'd never known Annith to be a snitch.
The only other person who saw the necklace was Dani.
I sat up. Dani. It had to be her. She was jealous the moment she saw it. She probably ran straight home and told her papa, who told mine. The two of them did work together at the woodshop, after all.
Everything made sense. That was why she stayed so quiet for the rest of the day: she had planned to tell her papa, knowing I would get in trouble for it later.
I looked out the window where the sky was darkening and the trees began to look grey, and I swore I would get her back for it.