Ten

Eadric was staring at the bowl with a skeptical look on his face.

"Are you sure you want to go with me?" I asked. "You don't have to, you know. You can stay here until Grassina gets back."

"I'm going," he said. "Although that bowl is awfully small."

"We'll just have to use the comb and see what happens. I'm sure Grassina knows what she's doing."

"Maybe, maybe not," said Eadric. "Look at the way she handled your grandmother, not to mention the flying carpet. Here—if you want to take the crab, you'll have to carry him. I can't stand his chattering." Eadric handed Shelton to me and wiped his fingers on his tunic.

I glanced at the little creature. "I didn't know you were royalty when I met you," the crab said. "It's too bad, too, because I'm sure my family would have wanted to come with us if they'd known. My sisters—"

I shook my head. "No more talking, please. We have important work to do, so you'll have to be quiet."

"If that's what you really want, Your Highness, but I know all sorts of—"

"Starting now!" I said. Waving his eyestalks, Shelton scampered into my loose sleeve, pulling the lace down behind him.

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves, then undid my hair from its plait and separated the sections with my fingers. Before I could change my mind, I pulled the comb through my hair three times, then did the same for Eadric. I tucked the comb into my pouch, reached for Eadric's hand, and dipped my free hand into the salt water. There was a sound in my head like a thousand bubbles popping, and the next thing I knew we were swimming in the salt water, fully clothed.

I could see the outline of the bowl and the room beyond it, but they were enormous and far away. The castle lay below us, bigger than I'd thought it would be, although in every other regard it looked the same. To my amazement, I could breathe underwater and it seemed perfectly natural. Since Eadric looked the way he always did, I assumed that I did as well, so I knew we hadn't grown gills or turned into merpeople.

Enjoying our new abliity, we smiled at each other and then turned toward the castle. It was obvious that Eadric had some experience swimming as a human, but I had not, and so I resorted to the strokes I'd used as a frog. It was awkward, as the fabric of my long gown hampered the movement of my legs.

The castle door had looked ordinary from a distance, but upon closer inspection, we found that it was made of a single slab of a smooth, white material, like a fragment of a giant seashell. We knocked, and after a few minutes a strange creature with a soft, sack-shaped body and eight ropelike arms answered the door. When it saw us, it blushed a fiery red and flung one of its arms across the doorway, blocking us from entering.

"What do you want?" said the creature, examining us with two bulging eyes that moved independently of each other.

Flustered by the way it was looking at us, I cleared my throat and said, "We've come to see Coral, the sea witch."

"Well, then, hurry and come inside before you let the cold water in."

The water seemed warm enough to me, but I followed the creature inside with Eadric bumping into me from behind. Once the door was closed, the creature looked us over again as if it wasn't sure it should have let us in.

"Wait here," it said, and floated through a nearby opening, leaving us standing in a narrow hallway.

I was tugging on my hair, gathering it into my hands, when I realized that someone had entered the hall. Turning my head, I saw Eadric's face first, his expression so foolish that I had a good idea who it was before I even saw her.

"May I help you?" asked a voice melodious enough to make a nightingale sound like a half-strangled dog. When I saw her, I understood Eadric's reaction. She was gorgeous, with silver and dark blue hair even longer than mine, slanted dark blue eyes and pale skin with a faint tinge of green.

"I'm Emma, and this is my friend Eadric," I said, before Eadric could say anything. "My aunt Grassina suggested that we come visit you, if you're Coral, that is."

"I remember you!" said the sea witch. "I saw you in your aunt's room when you were just a little girl. You looked almost as surprised as I felt."

"That was me," I said.

"Come in, come in!" she said, ushering us down the hall. "You're just in time to join us for lunch. I have some friends over today and we were about to start, but there's plenty of room and more food than we could possibly eat."

"I don't know if we have time for—" I began.

Eadric grabbed my arm and pulled me toward him. "Be polite," he whispered in my ear, adding in a louder voice, "That would be wonderful."

We followed Coral through the door, down a short hallway and into a magnificent room. The walls and high ceiling were pink coral, the floor a bed of pure white sand. A table and eight chairs carved from some enormous creature's bones occupied the center of the room. Purple and yellow fanlike decorations had been arranged in a centerpiece around which tiny pink and yellow fish darted.

"These are my friends," Coral said, gesturing to five beautiful mermaids seated around the table. "This is Marina." A young mermaid with violet hair and amethyst eyes smiled in greeting. Another was named Kelpia and had dark green hair pulled back by two living starfish. Sandy had pale blond hair laced with darker strands of gold. She nodded hello to me, then turned and blew a kiss to Eadric. I was watching the color creep up his cheeks, so I almost didn't catch Pearl's name; she was a mermaid with striking sliver eyes and pure white hair. At the far end of the table sat Starr, whose scarlet locks made my own hair look washed out. Each sat with her fishlike tall curled under her chair. Each had skin that bore at least a touch of green. Food and a room full of beautiful, green-skinned women. Eadric would certainly like it here!

"My friends and I have been rehearsing all morning," said Coral. "We get together to sing a few times a week. People call us the Sirens."

Eadric's eyes lit up. "I think I've heard of you. Aren't you the ones who sing to passing sailors?"

Starr shook her head and sighed. "Don't believe everything you hear. We never try to lure them onto the rocks. We're not responsible for the things our audience does."

Gliding to the head of the table, our hostess gestured toward two chairs. "Please be seated."

Eadric darted ahead, taking the chair beside Sandy, the blond mermaid, and leaving me the seat next to Coral. I was happy to sit beside my aunt's friend, but I was annoyed with Eadric, who was behaving as if I didn't exist. I bumped his arm to get his attention. When he didn't seem to notice, I decided to ignore him and let him make a fool of himself. I don't know what he said to Sandy, just that she found it terribly funny and burst into dainty peals of laughter that couldn't have been more unlike my laugh. I wondered how he would act toward her if I turned her into a patch of algae.

We hadn't been seated for long when the sacklike creature entered the room bearing four large bowls wrapped in four of its arms. A small parade of lobsters and snails followed. lising its free arms, the sack-creature picked up the first pair of lobsters and snails and dropped them on the table. After the monster had set a bowl on the snail's shell, the lobster climbed aboard. I couldn't imagine what was going on until the snail inched its way to Coral's plate. The mermaid nodded and the lobster dipped its claws into the bowl, serving her a portion of seaweed.

The snails continued their circuit around the table even after everyone had been served, perhaps on the chance that someone might want more. Each of the four serving bowls held some kind of seaweed. I suppose they were different, but they all looked alike to me, and I found myself wishing I'd eaten more bread and cheese when I'd had the chance.

Served raw, the seaweed was chewy, hard to swallow and too salty for me. After the first few bites, I just pushed it around my plate, wishing that a few large dogs sat under the table waiting for scraps the way they did at home.

I'd almost convinced myself to take another bite when Coral leaned toward me and said, "Now tell me, Emma, what is the reason for this delightful visit?"

I set down my fork, grateful for the excuse. "Actually, we're looking for something and hoped that you might be able to help us. We need to find some mother-of-pearl."

Coral smiled. "Is that all? Then you need look no further. I have some very fine specimens here in the castle. Octavius, please bring us one of the shells."

The sack-creature had been waiting in the corner so quietly that I'd forgotten that it was there. When it left the room, its eight arms appeared to ooze bonelessly across the floor, while the one eye that I could see jerked back and forth, looking first in one direction, then another.

"I don't mean to be nosy," I said, turning to Coral, "but how did you get a sea monster to work for you?"

Coral giggled and covered her mouth with her hand. "Octavius isn't a sea monster, he's an octopus! They make the best butlers. I don't know what I'd do without him. He can do more than one job at a time, and he's all the defense I need."

Octavius returned only a few minutes later with a large seashell. Extending his arm, he set it on the table in front of me. I heard a tiny pop as a disc on one of his arms let go of the shell, which looked like a flattened wheat bun sprinkled with sugar. Rubbing my fingers along a row of small holes, I wondered why anyone would think it special.

"Turn it over," urged Kelpia. The shell was rough and coarse, so I was surprised when I flipped it over and found a smooth, lustrous lining of creamy white with pink and blue shimmering highlights.

"Now, that's mother-of-pearl!" said Starr, the mermaid with the scarlet hair.

It was beautiful, but it wasn't at all what I'd expected. I must have let my disappointment show, for Coral asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," I said. "It's just that I don't see any hair."

A wave of laughter swept through the room. "Why in Neptune's name would you expect to find hair?" giggled Starr.

"It has to have hair. We've come here to get a gossamer hair of mother-of-pearl."

Someone gasped. I looked around and saw the white-haired mermaid cover her mouth with her hand and flee the room, knocking over her chair. The other mermaids looked away, avoiding my eyes as if I'd done something shameful. "What is it?" I asked. "Did I say something wrong?"

Coral shook her head, making her hair swirl around her like a blue halo. "Not really. Pearl's just a little sensitive about her mother. Whoever told you to get a gossamer hair of mother-of-pearl was trying to trick you. There is no hair on mother-of-pearl. However, the mother of Pearl is Nastia Nautica, who has hair so fine it's almost transparent. I suppose you can call it gossamer. Why do you need this hair?"

"It's one of the things we need to turn Grassina's betrothed back into his human self. My grandmother changed him into an otter and—"

Coral clasped her hands in front of her chin and beamed. "You mean Grassina finally found Haywood? But that's wonderful! Of course we'll help you get the hair. I'll talk to Pearl about it. Under the circumstances, I'm sure she'll be glad to take you."

Kelpia cleared her throat and gave Coral a look.

"Maybe glad isn't the right word," said Coral, "but Pearl has heard Grassina's story and I'm sure she'll do it. We mermaids have soft spots in our hearts when it comes to true love. You stay here and finish your meal. I'll go talk to her."

I felt awful about upsetting Pearl, but I had no idea how to apologize. "I didn't mean to—"

"You couldn't have known," said Kelpia. "Pearl's mother is a sea witch, and she's a great embarrassment to our sweet Pearl. If you really want that hair, you're going to have to see her yourself." Leaning toward me, she lowered her voice. "Just be careful when you go. Nastia's nickname is Nasty for a reason. Not all sea witches are as nice as Coral."