Chapter 28: Cold and Alone
Wendy did not know how long or how far she fell through the ocean. But each moment was terrifying; helplessly the girl sunk as dark shapes and sharp teeth billowed by her.
Suddenly the girl bumped over something supple and luminescent. Tail flopping like a damp rag, Wendy tumbled head over fin until she bounced against an identical spherical object. Head spinning, Wendy squinted through the dark water too see a trail of large, opaque bubbles.
Inspired, Wendy clutched the next bubble that bumped against her tail. Expecting it to pop, Wendy was surprised at the bubble's resiliency. Relieved, the girl managed to sit by curling her mermaid tail around the glowing bubble.
As Wendy floated down through the darkness, the thoughts she had been trying to ignore resurfaced. Pirates, humiliating her aboard a vile ship. Captain Hook's crooked hand scraping against her cheek. A bloodthirsty pirate named Shark, forfeiting her life. The crawling tentacles of a devious sea witch. Three mermaids, taunting her ugly complexion. Brine, begging her forgiveness for an evil dead. And Peter…laughing at the girl he called a liar.
Shivering, Wendy hugged her shoulders for warmth, but the memories stung like ice.
'GO AND NEVER EVER COME BACK!'
Wendy buried her head in her hands. All the girl wanted was to cry.
But someone was already crying.
Lifting her head, Wendy distinctly heard small sniffles, interjected by an occasional hiccup. The girl's first instinct was to float by unnoticed. Whatever was making the noise, Wendy could not see it in the dark; it could be a trap or a hungry sea monster. But whether it was her own sadness or nurturing instinct, Wendy was drawn to the unseen crier. So, with a small scoot, Wendy hopped off the bubble in search of the mysterious tears.
Luckily, for the mermaid novice, Wendy did not have to search far. Sitting in an oyster bed, lit by a pearly glow, was a sobbing mermaid and a hiccupping leopard shark. With each hiccup, the black and white patterned shark spouted a large opaque bubble then nestled his vicious head into the mermaid's lap. As the mermaid absently stroked the leopard shark, her face captured the pink light of the pearls. Wendy gasped; it was Nixie.
Nixie noticed Wendy's gasp. Even as she cried, the mermaid watched Wendy approach with an intense stare. Nixie's gaze was objective, which Wendy felt kind as she floundered hopelessly over the oysters with her new tail.
Without cue, Nixie's tail twitched to life. A flick later she was at Wendy's side, guiding the girl easily toward the leopard shark.
"Breathe," the mermaid said quietly, "relax. Up and down smoothly with your tail. Up and down…up and down. Arms down. Relax. Breathe."
It was terrible to imagine, but Wendy obliged by deeply inhaling the sea water. Miraculously, the cool water rushed inside her body, flowing through her gills, cleaning her lungs, and clearing her head. Calmed by the refreshing water, Wendy settled and her tail moved more rhythmically.
"Thank you."
Nixie did not respond. Resting Wendy beside the leopard shark, she scraped slime from the girl's fin, leftover from the polyp garden escape. Wendy sat rigidly as the leopard shark swerved sharply to investigate the newcomer.
"Phineas," Nixie said warningly as the leopard shark sniffed Wendy with his rounded snout, "be nice."
Phineas flared his triangular nares three times then hiccupped. An opaque bubble bounced gently off Wendy's nose as Phineas cuddled against Nixie's side. Adjusting the shark's pectoral fins over the pearl bed, Nixie smiled, "Good boy, Phin."
Nixie whipped her silver eyes, "You're the girl? The human girl?"
Wendy nodded, watching the shark doze in Nixie's lap.
"How did you escape?"
Wendy glanced up. The light of the pearls faded into miles of darkness. "A mermaid from the lagoon wanted…my…um…my eyes." Wendy touched the tender spot in the corner of her eye where the blonde mermaid had dug her nail, "She didn't know about those …creatures."
Nixie nodded. "Polyps. They were mermaids once. And other sea animals. Before the sea witch cursed them. She harvests them there to eat."
Wendy clenched her stomach. "Dreadful."
Nixie nodded again, stroking the shark's dorsal fin. "The sea witch said…she mentioned that…well…do you know Shark?"
Wendy shifted uncomfortably, "The pirate?"
"Yes!" Nixie's eyes sparked eagerly, "yes, you do know him? Is he all right?"
A little put out by Nixie's enthusiasm for the cutthroat pirate, Wendy replied distastefully, "Well enough to harm and kidnap."
A proud, little smirk forced its way across Nixie's lips, "He is a sly one. Oh…sorry." Nixie rubbed her short hair, "I only miss him. So, so much. He wouldn't have hurt you unless…"
Wendy's disproval softened as Nixie sighed. Phin's large, oval eyes looked up sadly. "He was good for me."
Shaking her head Nixie glanced at Wendy. "Don't be worry. Being a mermaid is not all bad, once you get use to that tail. What's your name, by the way?"
Wendy ran a hand over her bronze scales. The tips gleamed light blue as the girl's fingers traveled over them. "Wendy. Wendy Darling."
"Oh. Well…my name is Nixie."
Wendy nodded, pleased to finally hear something familiar. "I know," she admitted to Nixie's surprise, "Brine told me—"
"Brine?"
Wendy and Phin jumped at the anger in Nixie's voice. Pushing aside the shining oysters, Nixie leaned forward and demanded, "Brine? Mother of pearl—what's he still doing here?"
Confused, Wendy said, "Nothing wrong! He—he spent time with me. And I think he was trying to help."
"He was trying to help?"
Wendy's voice was small, although she could not find rational for Nixie's rage. "He seemed to know—um—Shark."
"He went to Shark? Arrrr!" Nixie raked her hands frustratedly through her hair, "Mother of pearl! Why can't he ever clam it?"
Wendy was unfamiliar with the saying, but she felt obligated to defend the merman. "He was very brave."
"Of course he was brave," Nixie griped, glaring at Wendy for interjecting, "He's stupid as a rockfish! Mother of pearl, I sold the sea witch all of my hair so she wouldn't kill him! But could Brine stay away?"
Phin snorted.
"Exactly!" Nixie nodded savagely, "I can't believe this! Off all the stupid, fish-brained—I bet he told everybody!"
Nixie's bared down on a bewildered Wendy, "Who did he tell? Which brother? Come on! Leviathan? Hadal? Teal? Tiller? Conch? Oh bet he snitched to Conch! They're like two pearls in a pod and…oh mother of pearl…"
Nixie paused in her rant long enough to look horrified, "Oh no...he told our mother, didn't he?"
Wendy backed away slightly, hands slipping over the smooth oysters and round pearls, "Brine was alone when we met…he did not tell me about his family. Oh well, that is, he did tell me about you…"
"We have five other brothers," Nixie snapped, unconvinced, "You didn't see any other mermen?"
Wendy shook her head. "Goodness no. Only the mermaids from the lagoon."
Nixie scoffed, crossing her arms. "Bimbos," she muttered, clearly still imagining herself beating up her little brother.
Wendy smiled appreciatively at the comment. She had feared that Nixie would have a vindictive spirit and try to hurt her like the Neverland mermaids. But as Nixie seethed, Wendy noticed just how different Brine and his sister were.
Brine and Nixie were noticeably a different mer species. Both had hard, sallow skin speckled with tiny scales over their shoulders and posterior forearm; the Neverland mermaids' skin was tanned and silky from basking in the sun. Brine's and Nixie's fins were spikier, less flowy, designed for strength and speed instead of lounging.
Nixie was beautiful, but not in the exotic, alluring fashion the lagoon mermaids boasted. Much like Brine, Nixie had a dramatic complexion. Both had abnormally long eyelashes, sharp chins, and black-green hair that contrasted sharply with their enormous silver eyes.
Wendy had only seen Brine enraged once, when he fought Peter, but in her current state of fury, Nixie resembled her brother all the more. Cheeks blue and blotchy, Nixie pulled on her hair, "I suppose Brine told you everything then?"
"Only a little," Wendy replied honestly. When Nixie stared expectantly, Wendy tried to piece together the few conversations she'd had with Brine. "Well…Brine was very sad that you were, um, cursed. But he didn't say what the curse was."
"Shark," Nixie said bluntly, "its Shark's curse, not mine."
"I don't understand."
"Of course not," Nixie frowned, turning an oyster over in her hand, "you're much too young to fall in love."
Wendy looked down, grateful that the glow of the pearls was too faint to show her blush.
"I saved Shark," Nixie said, a far off look in here eyes, "the pirates were cornered by sirens. Not long after, Shark trapped me in a fishing net." The mermaid smiled, "It was romantic."
Wendy inched forward. She adored love stories.
"Shark and I spent every day together. But my brother, Hadal, caught us. Hadal has a curse on him," Nixie's face darkened as she strangled an oyster, "he's a…backstabber. He found out about Shark and…" Nixie closed her eyes, "…threatened to kill me if Shark didn't surrender to the sea witch."
Phin nudged Nixie's elbow. Sadly, the mermaid scratched his spotted tail, "When I found out that Shark had given himself to the sea witch, I went mad. But my mother and father wouldn't listen. So, I ran away from home. Brine followed. We swam to Neverland…"
Nixie shook her head, "Those prissy bimbos at the lagoon tricked us. They brought me and Brine to the sea witch in exchange for…" Nixie made a face, "…a charm that would lure a crocodile. Puh...what a waste..."
"What happened?" Wendy asked.
The mermaid rubbed the back of her neck, "I bargained with her. It was the sea witch's clear weakness. She thought my hair shimmery, so I gave her all of it to set Brine free. And Shark…"
Nixie caressed the name over her tongue, "…Shark and I traded places. He was livid. Very livid. He demanded for one last bargain…one where we would be together forever."
"The price was high," Nixie continued, a tremor in her voice, "the sea witch is not use to dealing with two lovers, only unrequited love. So she set impossible deeds for Shark. Shark could choose to cover the entire ocean floor with treasure or…or…"
"Me." Wendy finished quietly, "a life for a life."
Nixie nodded, although she did not seem remorsed. "The most powerful trade of all. But it's not that simple."
Nixie chose her words meticulously. "I…I have to kiss Shark before sunset tomorrow to turn into a human. But I can't break the surface before then."
Wendy stared at her hands. Nixie hadn't mentioned that the spell would be permanent, and Wendy would stay a mermaid forever, when she kissed Shark.
"Wendy…" Nixie glanced slyly at the girl's downcast eyes. Tactfully, in an effort to promote friendship, the mermaid touched Wendy's shoulder, "…I think that we could help each other."
"How?" Wendy asked faintly.
Nixie swam forward. "I can't go to the surface, but you can." Eagerly, she took Wendy's arm, "Let the pirates capture you. Tell Shark about the kiss and that he must jump into the water."
"Captured?" Color drained from Wendy's face, "B-but—"
"You must!" Nixie urged, shaking the girl's arm, "It's the only way!"
Wendy pulled her arm away. The prospect of being aboard that dreadful pirate ship with those horrible pirates was unbearable. She shuddered, remembering Captain Hook's piercing cerulean eyes and deadly, crooked hand playing with her hair. "Couldn't I just call out?"
"No," Nixie's voice was hardening, "Shark wouldn't be able to hear you. You are small and have a small voice. Ocean waves are loud and pirates are even louder."
"Nixie," Wendy begged, "the pirates—"
"Shark will be there!' Nixie said defensively. Phin nodded in agreement. When Wendy's eyes widened, the mermaid groped for a persuasive statement.
"Please!" Nixie grabbed the girl's hands, "I love Shark. It's true love. Besides—don't you want to be rescued?"
Gloom suddenly filled Wendy's face. Nixie stared as the girl turned away, "He doesn't care."
Nixie glanced at Phin. The leopard shark shrugged.
Dismissing mysterious individual that had turned the girl sour, Nixie reached out and placed a hand on Wendy's shoulder. "How do you know he isn't trying to rescue you right now?"
