Read Online The Sea Witch (The Era of Villains Book 1) by S.J. Valfroy - Free Book Online Page A

from
shipwrecks to trade with pirates for potion ingredients. His tail
was only a shade lighter. His eyes were a blue so icy the irises
almost disappeared into the whites. He was alarmingly thin, and his
fingers were long and spindly like a spider crab’s legs. He
had a habit of rubbing his thumbs against the tips of his fingers.
He did it before performing any sort of examination—checking a
heartbeat, checking throats and ears for infection, or inspecting
underneath scales for bothersome parasites. He was always cracking
odd jokes that made Serena and her fellow nurse and fast friend,
Annabelle, look at each other, confused.
    “ That old mermaid’s as crusty as a walrus
on grooming day,” he said to Serena and Annabelle, jabbing his
thumb over his shoulder to indicate the door he’d just come
out of where he’d been inspecting an elderly mermaid with a
bad scale fungus. He laughed at his own joke. His cackling laugh
always cracked at the end and turned into a cough. As he hacked
away, Serena exchanged a look with Annabelle, who mumbled, “I
don’t get it either.”
    When he had finished coughing, Victor held out a closed
clam shell to Serena and said, “Rub her down with antifungal
ointment please, Serena, and send her home with some more of it.”
    Ever since Serena had learned that Victor had been in
and out of jail in Adamar for using experimental medicines on
unwitting patients, she always double checked the labels of Victor’s
prescriptions before giving them to patients. She flipped the clam
shell over and inspected the information written in squid ink on the
back. She recognized the manufacturer’s name and none of the
ingredients listed stuck out as odd. She was growing more and more
familiar with such things. Though she’d only been in Arcanus
for a month, she spent most of her days at the infirmary. She,
Annabelle, and Victor were the only staff, so even though Arcanus
was a very small place, they were kept busy.
    Serena swam into the examination room. The old mermaid
was rather beautiful despite the wrinkles and the tail fungus. Her
long hair was as white as a beluga whale. It fell in a surprisingly
thick braid all the way to the top of her pink tail.
    “ There’s really no need for you to rub me
down with that, dear,” she said before Serena could even open
her mouth. “I can do it myself.”
    “ How about we do it together,” said Serena.
“It will take less time, and I can show you how much you need
to apply to each affected scale.”
    “ Alright then.” The old mermaid
straightened her back and rubbed one hand in a dignified gesture
down the front of her tail.
    “ You really only need a thin layer, but you have
to apply it twice a day. If you get it too goopy, it will get
uncomfortable. Flip your tail up for me, please.”
    The old mermaid leaned back in the water and flipped
her tail up so that it was level with Serena’s chest. The
fungus was scattered down the length of it, the blue-grey spores
poking out from under the scales in little patches.
    “ Now make sure to lift the scale and apply the
ointment to the underside at the base. You see?”
    The old mermaid nodded.
    “ Now you can do the ones at the top, and I’ll
do the ones at the bottom.” After a few moments of silent
application, Serena said, “Tell me a little about yourself.
It’ll pass the time.”
    “ Well,
I never thought I’d be here—an old mermaid with an old
mermaid’s fungus.”
    “ You
look great, and anybody can get a fungus.”
    “ That’s
sweet of you, dear.” After a few moments pause, she said, “I
used to be a singer. I was pretty famous back in my day.”
    “ Oh,
really?”
    “ Mmhmm.
My name could reel in the big crowds. I sang at the palace in Adamar
a lot. King Marten, he was Prince Marten back then though, was sweet
on me.”
    Serena thought of Triton, and there was a twinge in her
heart. It had been so long since she’d seen him.
    “ I didn’t much care for him though. He
liked