My arrival to the Place of the Merpeople comes quicker than anticipated. “Now to find a mermaid that is willing enough to kiss River.” As I say this, a mermaid with shimmering golden-blond hair similar to my own and a starfish barrette swims over to where I am sitting on the moistened rocks. “I heard your boyfriend drowned near here, in Riptide Cove. If you need a mermaid to kiss him, I will. There is a big tub over by the entrance to this place. Why don’t you get those nice boys over there to fill it with water and carry it for you?” I look over by the entrance and see Ciro and Adam standing there. “What are you boys doing here?”
Adam speaks now. “Well, you said to follow you, so we figured we’d better listen.”
When we get River back to my uncle’s house, we lay him by the magnanimous pond in the backyard, so the mermaid can kiss him without herself dying. “I never got your name” I say.
“Talia” she replies “my name is Talia.”
“Just kiss my boyfriend. He won’t be able to tell it’s a different girl, because you and I pretty much look the same.”
I wait for a while, and then Talia kisses River. I see that as my cue and jump into the water, remove the barrette from her hair and put it into my own, so that River thinks that it’s me kissing him, and not some random girl. Luckily, my hair does not turn blue as normal.
I see River wake up from his artificial sleep. He notices Talia next to him and, says to her, without any inkling of what is going on “Violet? What happened?”
I say to him “You know you can’t swim, River.”
“Who is this?”
“This is Talia; she’s a mermaid. I got her to kiss you to bring you back.”
“How did you know that a mermaid’s kiss would revive me?”
“I actually listen to the Old Ones at Meetings. It was the topic of discussion a few weeks ago; had you paid attention, you would have known such an important thing as that. You however, think you can get out scot-free with everything.”
“For the record, Aiden’s injury was Adam’s fault.”
Adam’s facial expression changes from one of trust to one that says ‘you just went too far, bro’. “My fault; how was it my fault? You poured the water on him, and then you tossed the pitcher to me to put all the weight on my already sore shoulders. I have enough problems with Marie, thank you very much! Also thanks to you, she no longer wants to be around me because she thinks I really did throw the water on Aiden, my best friend!”
After that, Adam storms out. Ciro follows, shaking his head in distrust and astonishment at River’s actions. I, however, happen to care about River’s feelings, so I stay behind.
