Another fantasy I'm working on. Please review!
The Followers
“Evabelle! EVABELLE? Pay attention when I am speaking to you!” Scolded Mrs Jenks, as Evabelle Shelton stared out of the window onto the beach in the distance.
“Evabelle, are you deaf? Answer me when I speak to you!”
Evabelle shook her white-blonde hair back and smiled weakly at Mrs Jenks.
“I’m so sorry, Mrs Jenks, you see I was thinking of the bay. It’s so beautiful at this time of year and I was wondering if…”
“You ‘wonder’ all the time, Evabelle. Now sit up and pay attention!”
Evabelle continued to stare out of her classroom window into the distance, where Clearston Bay beckoned. She wished that she could be back in the sea, surfing the waves and playing badminton with the clamshells, and her friends, Marina, Oyston, Shellella and Delphino. She didn’t have any friends in her school, just a few girls that she hung around with. They weren’t really her friends, and even if they were, she couldn’t reveal her secret to them. The other members of her class found it odd that she never talked about her home, or her family. She couldn’t exactly tell them the truth. They’d think she was mad, and probably tease her about it.
“I heard that you’ve been talking to yourself again, Evabelle,” Commented Mrs Jenks, at the end of the class.
Evabelle gave her one of her ‘looks’ as Tina called them. Tina was a very influential member of Evabelle’s class.
“I have not been talking to myself, Mrs Jenks, I just try and talk to the others. They just ignore me.”
“I understand that it can be upsetting, my dear, but you will not get very far if you do not listen in class.”
Evabelle wanted to say, “well, where I come from, grades matter very little.” But instead, she had to say, “yes Mrs Jenks, I’ll try, I promise.”
“Very well then, Evabelle, you may go.”
Evabelle left the classroom, but she did not head in the direction of her next lesson. She headed for the back gate of the school, down one flight of stairs, through the fire exit door, and out through the playground to the back gate. She checked to see if anyone was looking, then licked her finger and traced it down the chain that held the gate closed. It loosened and fell away instantly.
Evabelle was now free of the strict timetable of Clearston Comprehensive, and couldn’t wait to get down to the bay so that she could socialise with her real friends. She crossed the back staff car park and vaulted over the small gates into Pepper Street, before walking down towards the bay, which looked magnificent in the sunlight. As Evabelle gazed at it, she smiled.
“I’m so lucky to live in a place like that.”
She walked down the hill into the high street, crossed the road at the traffic lights, and made her way across the seafront to the bay. She could hear laughter and cries of ‘yes, I’ve won again!’ coming from the Clear as Crystal Pier Arcade, and when she finally reached the steps that led down into the bay, she gave a sigh, opened her schoolbag, munched away a Bounty bar and threw the rubbish into the nearest bin. She had no idea that someone was watching her from the lighthouse on the edge of the cliff.
“Bit cold for swimming.” Remarked an old man, who was relaxing on a blue and white striped deckchair embedded in the sand.
“Oh, I don’t mind.” Replied Evabelle, treading across the pebbles onto the sand. She saw the man watching her, and she waited until he began reading his Reader’s Digest before sneaking under the boat ramp and diving into the water.
At once she felt her body transform back into it’s usual form. Her turquoise tail glistened as she swam lower and lower into the sea, and although you and I probably feel cold when we go into the sea, Evabelle felt pleasantly warmed to be back in her natural environment. Now all she had to be careful of was that someone might spot her and tell her parents, who worked at Finish Line, a company that dealt with secrets and funerals within the heart of the big city.
Evabelle swam to the edge of the shallows, then saw the familiar lights of MackerelDonalds, it’s glamorous golden arches entwined with a fish gleaming in the light reflected down from the surface of the water. She poised herself, then dived headfirst into the city, blazons of light reflecting her exquisite pedicured tail. She passed Starfish Coffee House and the Clownfish Theatre with a queue of merpeople outside, gazing at a poster for the new film Oceania’s Fifteen. As Evabelle passed the theatre/cinema, a limousine with gold-sprayed driving wheels from shipwrecked boats drew up outside. A famous actress got out, and the merpeople took out some baby eels to make sure that they caught a snapshot of her. The famous actress tossed her sky-blue jewelled hair and struck several poses for the eel-cameras. Her name was Goldie Fisher, and she had the most beautiful tail which she was famous for showing off. It looked as though it had just been polished, and Evabelle noticed that Goldie had managed to impress everyone and was surprised to see Goldie’s tail flashing a ruby around.
“Come on, tell us, Miss Fisher, where’d you get that beautiful ruby?” Yelled one merman.
“Oh, it’s nothing really,” Giggled Goldie, modestly, “just a jewel I found in a shipwreck.”
But Evabelle recognised it. Her father, Marshall Merphy, kept a similar jewel inside a casket on his desk. Evabelle had never questioned the possibility that perhaps someone from her father’s office had taken the jewel and given it to Goldie as some sort of publicity stunt, but still, the one thing that she had to do now, was prevent anyone seeing her as she passed the Library, Put Your Tails Up Yoga Centre and Sparkleshell Nightclub.
“Honestly, Evabelle, you pick your time to turn up here.” Remarked a familiar voice from behind Evabelle. Evabelle recognised the voice instantly. Her friend Shellella’s American accent was ‘positively unique’ Mrs Merphy had said.
“Hi honey.” Began Shellella, “you picked the right time to come downtown and see Goldie, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t mean to, I just sort of, got bored at school.”
“I can’t think why your Pa wants you to go Clearston Comp, Octoclam High’s really cool.”
“Yeah, but Shell, I don’t live in Octoclam, do I? I’m stuck in Crabsford until my parents move and my dad gets a better job.”
“D’you wanna go MackerelDonalds? I think you need a treat, honey.”
“I so do. How about checking out the Library and seeing if Marina’s there?”
“Ok. Cool. What d’you want in MackerelDonalds?”
“Just a crab burger, with cheese.”
“No seaweed? What about barbecue ink sauce?”
“Ugh! No way! I’m going to find Marina at the Library.”
“Oh, yeah. OK, see ya later, Eva!”
“See you, Shell!” Cried Evabelle, and swam back toward the Library.
As expected, Marina was there. Evabelle saw her through the large porthole windows. The Library was really a large modern shipwreck, with soft oyster sofas and crystal tables. A group of students from Atlantia University began to giggle and whisper when they saw Evabelle swimming through the doors into the library. They clutched at their books protectively and swam out toward the back of the library, where they sat in a corner, comparing notes.
Evabelle swam between the shelves, knocking several books off the shelves onto the sea-moss carpet in the process. One of the librarians, a woman with a khaki-green tail peeping out from under a brown skirt and beige blouse tutted at her, and swam over to pick the fallen books up and replace them. Evabelle was not interested in replacing the books, so she tapped Marina on the shoulder and sat down beside her, snatching a book from a nearby shelf and pretending to be engrossed in it. The librarian swam past, frowning. Her eyes almost popped out of their sockets when she saw which book Evabelle was reading.
“Put that back on the shelf now, Miss Priss!” She snapped.
Evabelle turned the book over.
“Every Merwoman’s Guide to Charming Men” she read aloud. “What’s wrong with that?”
“You’re too young for it, that’s what!” Scolded the librarian, snatching it from her grasp and pointing at Marina. “Marina, you should warn your friends before they pick up such books.”
Marina seemed completely oblivious to everything that was going on around her. She pushed her flaming red hair back behind her small ears and gave a small sigh.
“Marina! Pay attention! What are you reading?”
Marina blinked several times, her wide dark grey eyes hidden behind her round salmon-pink glasses, and looked up.
“Sorry, were you talking to me, Auntie Wendy?” Asked Marina, innocently.
“Yes, I was, but it doesn’t matter. Don’t let me catch you reading such stuff again, Miss…”
“Merphy, Evabelle Merphy.”
“Humph! I’ll be off, now, Miss Merphy.”
Evabelle leant back on the pink oyster sofa and lifted her tail.
“Marina, I wanted to see you.”
Marina did not answer at first, but then she turned to face Evabelle, frowning.
“I told Shellella that I wanted to do some study for an exam. We have one on Monday.”
“But, Marina, Shell’s treating us all to MackerelDonalds.”
“Well, I’m not allowed to eat that, anyway. Titania and Sharmaine said that I’m really ugly and that they were going to get you and Shellella at the Tesoro Shopping Centre on Saturday.”
“Wonderful. What puffafishes they are! Always swanning about like Princesses and buying everything they can.”
“You’re right, Evabelle. But what can we do?”
Just then there was an almighty crash and BOOM! The windows of the library shattered and the roof fell in.
“What on the Pacific was that?” Cried Evabelle, as she struggled out of the debris that had fallen from the ceiling.
“Help, Evabelle!” Screeched a voice from under the rubble. Evabelle pulled away the planks and glass panes and found Marina coughing and spluttering.
She pulled Marina free and backed up against the wall, her heart pounding. She couldn’t breathe. What was happening?
As she looked down she saw that her tail had changed into legs and she had lost the power to breathe underwater. Evabelle felt something drag her through the roof of the library and further away from the city to the surface.
When she recovered consciousness, she realised that she was lying on the sand of Clearston Beach and her tail had vanished, leaving her with human legs. Her blue-streaked hair had changed back to its white-blonde colour and her eyes had reverted to their blue shade. Nothing about her appearance suggested that she was a mermaid.
She looked around, looking for her abductor, but the beach was silent and empty, with only the soft lapping of the waves against the sand.
Evabelle stood up, and climbed onto the pier. She threw herself from it, hoping to return to her city, and her friends, but somehow, the water threw her back out.
Back in the city, Evabelle’s father Marshall was awaiting his daughter’s return from school at their home in Crabsford. At the offices in the centre of the city, everyone had gone home and the offices were dark.
In one corner of Marshall’s room was a large cage full of his pet sea-creatures, and they watched nervously as a black shadow passed over the glass windows (which seemed to float) and then another, and another. The sea-creatures hid behind their little house pretending to be sleeping as the three figures crossed the room and out of the door watching closely to see if anyone had seen them, and disappeared.
The sea-creatures came out from behind their house and peered through the bars of the cage. On the desk was a gold pipe engraved with a coat of arms and a starfish.
Evabelle was not frightened, but it seemed very odd that just before she had been pulled out of the water, that the library had been bombed. Was there a connection between the two? Or had the mysterious bombers simply wanted her and no-one else?
She turned around, sensing danger, and came face-to-face with the old man who had warned her that the sea was too cold to swim in.
“Had to find some way of warning you off.” He said simply, “You might’ve taken heed of it and saved yourself a lot of trouble. You can’t return to the city, because all of your power rests within the hands of the Followers.”
“But who are the Followers? What do they want with me?”
“With your power to breathe underwater, they can steal all of the loot from all those shipwrecked boats. All of the treasure chests, the jewellery, priceless art, they can steal everything!”
“But they can’t! I won’t let them! How can they?”
“Ask Marilia, she’ll have all the answers. Farewell.”
“But, wait, how did they get my power? Have they got it?”
The man walked away.
“Marilia will have all the answers!”
“But, who is Marilia?” Evabelle yelled.
“Marilia will have all the answers,” the old man repeated, “Beware of the Followers.”
Evabelle didn’t bother to question it again, and kicked away the seaweed furiously. If she didn’t find out what was so important about her, she’d never be able to see her friends or her family again.
She decided to follow the old man’s advice and find Marilia.
“With a name like that, I bet she’s from Spain or somewhere like that.” Evabelle mumbled. She had no money for a hotel, and in any case, if she went to the police, they’d want to call her parents, and that would be very embarrassing to give her Current number, (the pun was not intended) and then they would find out that she was a mermaid.
But what was actually blocking her from the sea? Was it some powerful enchantment that had been practised for centuries, or was it just part of being human? Evabelle didn’t know. She walked back across the wooden pier toward the town, and headed toward the river. It was the only place she could sleep. She found a soft grassy bank behind a tall seaside townhouse with yellow front and red windows and settled herself there.
The next morning, as Peter Jones opened his curtains in his blue bedroom, he caught sight of a bundle down by the river next to his garden, put on his dressing-gown over his Superman pyjamas, slipped his bare feet into a pair of red slippers and tiptoed downstairs to the French doors at the back of his house.
The early morning dew glistened on the tall blades of grass, which grew wildly around the garden, and sprung from in-between the patio slabs.
Peter crossed the patio to the fence overlooking the river leading toward the bay, leaned over and gasped.
A very pretty girl with silvery-blonde hair fanning out onto the bank was sleeping peacefully against some rocks.
Peter climbed over the fence and knelt down next to the girl’s head.
“hello?” He said, “are you hurt?”
Evabelle blinked and opened her eyes.
“Where am I?” She asked groggily.
“next to the riverbank,” Peter told her, “are you okay?”
“Er…yes, I’m fine. Who are you?”
“My name’s Peter, I live in the house next door.”
“What are you doing out here? Surely they haven’t sent you?” Demanded Evabelle, sitting up.
“Who?” Asked Peter, puzzled.
“Er…just the S.H.E.A.L.T.H and S.H.E.L.L Patrol.”
“What?”
“Oh,” Evabelle gasped, “I was only kidding.” She wanted to kick herself from attempting to breach the S.H.E.L.L and F.I.N Code of Law.
“So, where have you come from?” Asked Peter curiously.
“Why should I tell you? You wouldn’t believe me.” Retorted Evabelle crisply.
