Read Online Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings by Helene Boudreau - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Helene Boudreau
Ads: Link
The sound of my voice rang all around me.
This couldn’t be happening! I didn’t want to be a mermaid. I didn’t know how to be a mermaid. I could barely remember how to swim. But I couldn’t waste time freaking out. I had to find Mom and escape from this whacked-out underwater world!
I searched around, trying to get my bearings. The water was tinted a murky brown like the color of old tea. It tasted worse as it passed through my mouth with each breath. Of water! How was that even possible?
The surface of the lake loomed high overhead. I could make out the boat lock’s large metal gate a few dozen feetaway. Fish darted in and out of clumps of swaying reeds. A rusted bicycle, partly covered in green algae, rested at the bottom of the lake.
Mom and the scary-handed water freaks, though, were nowhere in sight. Where did they go?
My body bobbed in the flowing current of the lake. I hung on to a large rock and wiggled the tail to keep from being swept away. The ringing in my ears was still there but it seemed more like a mixture of sounds, each with its own tone, like a group of people talking at a party.
Something moved near the bicycle. My whole body tensed as my eyesight adjusted to the surroundings. A face. An arm. A tail. Piece by piece, a mermaid’s body materialized from the mossy rocks and swaying reeds.
But not Mom.
A few feet away, closer to the lock, the same thing happened. This time a merman. I turned and saw more of them. One by one, like a massive underwater game of Where’s Waldo , mer-people appeared all around me. Four…seven…eleven, maybe? They huddled in groups, sneaking glances at me, whispering in the same annoying ring I’d been hearing, off and on, for the past few days.
Holy crap!
Gran’s phony curse words just weren’t cutting it this time. First of all, I was sporting a tail at the bottom of a lake, breathing water . Plus, I was surrounded by mythical aquatic creatures and had a sinking feeling I was just about to become shark bait!
But Mom?!
Where is she?! My voice came out as a ring too, like I’d tuned into some kind of mer frequency. Was this how they communicated? Obviously I’d need a Mermish/English universal translator, because no one seemed to understand me judging by the glazed over looks I was getting.
That’s when I saw him.
The ugliest, meanest looking merman on the face of the planet. (Though, I looked working from the shallow end of the gene pool.) His face looked like soggy bread, covered with a scraggly beard. Beside him, another mermaid had Mom by the hair and was dragging her away. Mom turned her head toward me.
Stop! My voice rang out. I let go of the rock and wriggled the tail to try to swim her way.
Ugly sneered and screeched a series of rings, setting the group into action. The mer-dudes broke from their huddles and began to roll large rocks along the bottom of the lake toward the base of the boat lock’s metal gate. Ugly grasped a large rock and heaved it onto the growing pile.
What were they doing? Were they trying to block the lock from opening?
I turned back to Mom and whipped the tail to go faster. Ugly motioned for two other mermen and nodded at me. Mom rang back a sound I didn’t understand. The mermen hesitated, but Ugly raised another rock toward them. He was obviously the alpha-male of the joint because the mermen snapped to attention and swam my way.
I flicked the tail to the right to try to avoid them and kept heading for Mom, but they caught up to me in seconds, making my pathetic attempt at swimming look like the mermaid doggie paddle. One of them grabbed my arm and spun me around, scratching my face in the process. I swung my free hand and connected with something I hoped was a jaw.
Hisss…
Someone didn’t like that. He grasped my wrists.
Ugly laughed.
Things kind of went downhill from there.
Chapter Nine
M Y SCALP ACHED FROM being dragged through the lake by Ugly’s henchman. What was it with those guys and hair? They
This couldn’t be happening! I didn’t want to be a mermaid. I didn’t know how to be a mermaid. I could barely remember how to swim. But I couldn’t waste time freaking out. I had to find Mom and escape from this whacked-out underwater world!
I searched around, trying to get my bearings. The water was tinted a murky brown like the color of old tea. It tasted worse as it passed through my mouth with each breath. Of water! How was that even possible?
The surface of the lake loomed high overhead. I could make out the boat lock’s large metal gate a few dozen feetaway. Fish darted in and out of clumps of swaying reeds. A rusted bicycle, partly covered in green algae, rested at the bottom of the lake.
Mom and the scary-handed water freaks, though, were nowhere in sight. Where did they go?
My body bobbed in the flowing current of the lake. I hung on to a large rock and wiggled the tail to keep from being swept away. The ringing in my ears was still there but it seemed more like a mixture of sounds, each with its own tone, like a group of people talking at a party.
Something moved near the bicycle. My whole body tensed as my eyesight adjusted to the surroundings. A face. An arm. A tail. Piece by piece, a mermaid’s body materialized from the mossy rocks and swaying reeds.
But not Mom.
A few feet away, closer to the lock, the same thing happened. This time a merman. I turned and saw more of them. One by one, like a massive underwater game of Where’s Waldo , mer-people appeared all around me. Four…seven…eleven, maybe? They huddled in groups, sneaking glances at me, whispering in the same annoying ring I’d been hearing, off and on, for the past few days.
Holy crap!
Gran’s phony curse words just weren’t cutting it this time. First of all, I was sporting a tail at the bottom of a lake, breathing water . Plus, I was surrounded by mythical aquatic creatures and had a sinking feeling I was just about to become shark bait!
But Mom?!
Where is she?! My voice came out as a ring too, like I’d tuned into some kind of mer frequency. Was this how they communicated? Obviously I’d need a Mermish/English universal translator, because no one seemed to understand me judging by the glazed over looks I was getting.
That’s when I saw him.
The ugliest, meanest looking merman on the face of the planet. (Though, I looked working from the shallow end of the gene pool.) His face looked like soggy bread, covered with a scraggly beard. Beside him, another mermaid had Mom by the hair and was dragging her away. Mom turned her head toward me.
Stop! My voice rang out. I let go of the rock and wriggled the tail to try to swim her way.
Ugly sneered and screeched a series of rings, setting the group into action. The mer-dudes broke from their huddles and began to roll large rocks along the bottom of the lake toward the base of the boat lock’s metal gate. Ugly grasped a large rock and heaved it onto the growing pile.
What were they doing? Were they trying to block the lock from opening?
I turned back to Mom and whipped the tail to go faster. Ugly motioned for two other mermen and nodded at me. Mom rang back a sound I didn’t understand. The mermen hesitated, but Ugly raised another rock toward them. He was obviously the alpha-male of the joint because the mermen snapped to attention and swam my way.
I flicked the tail to the right to try to avoid them and kept heading for Mom, but they caught up to me in seconds, making my pathetic attempt at swimming look like the mermaid doggie paddle. One of them grabbed my arm and spun me around, scratching my face in the process. I swung my free hand and connected with something I hoped was a jaw.
Hisss…
Someone didn’t like that. He grasped my wrists.
Ugly laughed.
Things kind of went downhill from there.
Chapter Nine
M Y SCALP ACHED FROM being dragged through the lake by Ugly’s henchman. What was it with those guys and hair? They
Similar Books
