THIS WAS ABANDONED BY ME LAST YEAR BUT I HAVE MANAGED TO RECRAFT IT AND MAKE IT (HOPEFULLY) SOMETHING WORTH READING. THANK YOU TO THOSE PEOPLE WHO REVIEWED THE FIRST DRAFT.
The Followers
“Evabelle! EVABELLE? Pay attention when I am speaking to you!” Scolded Mrs Jenks, as Evabelle Merphy stared out of her classroom 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 the 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 shuttleclams, and her friends, Marina, Oyston, Shellella and Delphino. She didn’t have any friends in her ‘land’ 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 was trying to 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 at 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 of Pacifica.
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 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 didn’t even question 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 Crabsreefe 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 Evabelle had 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 Atlantis 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. You know what my mother’s like…”
But before Evabelle could reply…
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 Crabsreefe. 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.
“Why wouldn’t I believe you?” Asked Peter curiously.
“You’re a human. It’s not in your nature.”
“But, you look like a human, too. You are, aren’t you?”
“No I bloody am not!” Snapped Evabelle, flushing. To call a mermaid a human was the worst possible insult.
“I’m sorry,” Apologised Peter, gloomily, “I didn’t know. What are you then, if you aren’t a human?”
“I am a mermaid.” Evabelle explained, tossing her white blonde hair out of her face.
“You don’t look like one. Where are your fins? Your scales? Your glass-like eyes?”
Evabelle stood up.
“You think all mermaids are like fairy stories? Ha! I am a mermaid of the Merphy clan. That’s my family. Then I have friends who are part of the Coralston and Reefworth clans.”
“You’re a real mermaid?” Peter asked, his jaw dropping. “I thought you were kidding!”
“No, I’m not. I knew you wouldn’t believe me! Humans never do!”
Peter stared at her in disbelief. He was talking to a mermaid!
“Why are you here, can I ask?”
“I don’t have anywhere else to go.” Explained Evabelle, “I’m looking for someone called Marilia, who can help me to get back in the ocean.”
“Marilia? Never heard of her. So, why can’t you go back to the ocean?”
“The Followers have stripped me of my tail, and they are using my power to steal priceless artefacts from the ships. Without my tail, I cannot go back home.”
At which point, she began to cry.
“Hey, what’s your name?”
“Evabelle.” Muttered Evabelle, through stifled sobs, “what’s yours?”
“Peter.”
“Pleased to meet you, Peter.” Evabelle held out her hand, which she noticed had five fingers instead of her usual three webbed ones. Peter shook it gingerly.
“Well, I know you said that you didn’t know anything about Marilia, but maybe your parents will?”
“They’re asleep.” Peter told her, “best not to wake them. Eva, or Belle, do you mind me asking why you’re here?”
“Well, I don’t actually know. Peter, I’m a mermaid, we don’t think the same way that you humans do.” She turned around and stood up warily.
“Wow, now you have a big house, Peter.”
“Why, how big is your home?”
“It’s under the sea, on a reef. We have a clamshell-tiled roof, porthole windows and a anemone shed.”
“Anernemone.” Peter repeated.
“No, anemone.”
“Anermone.”
“Anemone! Typical human.”
“Sorry.”
“What you apologising for? It’s only to be expected of humans. Peter, where’s the nearest library?”
“You take the first turning on the left outside my house, then walk a bit to the traffic lights, turn left again and there’s a big old building in the square. That’s the library.”
“You lost me at the first turning outside your house.”
“I’ll take you there.” Peter offered, “Let me get dressed. We need to make you look more human, too.”
“What do you mean?”
“No-one walks around with only a baggy T-shirt on, Belle.”
“It’s Evabelle, and anyway, what if I want to?”
“You want to find this Marilia person?”
Evabelle nodded.
“Then do as I say.”
And with that, he raced back into the house and came out minutes later wearing a stripy T-shirt and shorts.
“Wow, you look just like Delphino.”
“Delphino?” Peter asked as they walked along the empty street.
“My friend, he’s a trainee merman, trusted to guard the secrets of our beautiful city.”
“Your beautiful city? You mean, it’s a real place?”
“Of course, you humans are so narrow-minded.” Evabelle sighed, twirling a strand of her blonde hair.
“Ok, I’ll take you to town. It’s early so no one will be up. We must get you some clothes.”
“You want me to go around wearing humans slave labour? I don’t think so.”
“Well, it’s that, or we don’t find this Mara person.”
“Marilia, human boy! MARILIA!” Evabelle retorted, “But if you say it’s the only way to get to the library, then fine, but I don’t want any la-di-da fancy stuff. I’ll have a plain top and those things you’re wearing.” She gestured at Peter’s jeans.
“These things?”
“Yes, those. What are they?”
“Jeans.”
“No, I didn’t ask you what your mum’s name is. I asked what are they?” She gestured again at Peter’s jeans.
“They’re jeans, Eva.”
“Jeans? Stupid name for them.”
“Not as stupid as the idea that you want to wear them, they’re really only for boys. Girls are meant to wear dresses and skirts, well, so my mum says. She doesn’t agree with girls in jeans.”
“Well your mum isn’t my mum, so she can’t tell me what to do.”
“Maybe not.”
“Well, are we going to stand around here or are you taking me to your city?”
“Yes, I am, the town centre’s just around the corner.”
They turned the corner and Evabelle gasped, the tall buildings around her were so bright and inviting and everything seemed similar to her dear city back home.
“This is where we want to go.” Peter dragged her across the street to a small boutique opposite the clock tower and closed market.
“Can I help you?” Asked the shop owner as Evabelle stepped into the shop.
“Yes, do you know where I might find…”
“Sorry about that,” Interrupted Peter, hastily, “my cousin’s new to this area, she needs some new clothes.”
“Yes, I can see. Did you come from Terminal 5? Useless, they are, losing your stuff like that.”
“What do you mean…”
“Eva, let’s find you some clothes,” Peter pulled her over to a rack of summer dresses in different shapes and styles.
“I like this one.” Evabelle held out an orange dress patterned with clamshells.
“Are you sure? How about…”
“No, I want this one.” Evabelle insisted thrusting it into Peter’s hands.
“Can she try it on?” He asked the owner.
“Of course, she can wear it if she wants. Anything to get out of that filthy old smock.”
Evabelle snatched the dress and marched to the changing rooms where she threw on the dress and kicked away the slimy grey t-shirt.
“You have the most beautiful hair, young lady.” Exclaimed the shop owner, as Evabelle admired herself in front of the mirror.
“I like it. I’ll take the dress.”
“How much?” Asked Peter.
“£75.”
“What?! Eva, take the dress off. I can’t afford it.”
“Can’t you?” Evabelle snatched Peter’s bag, clicked her fingers and drew out a wad of cash. “There you go. I told you.”
Peter’s jaw dropped. How had Evabelle made the money appear?
“Thanks.”
Evabelle rushed out of the shop in her new dress, followed by Peter who still looked bemused.
“Evabelle! How did you make that stuff appear?” He demanded.
“It’s a secret of the sea, my dear friend. Things are not always what they seem.”
“Meaning?” Persisted Peter, excitedly.
“The money will last as long as you believe it will. It’s a professional secret, and I can’t misuse it.”
“You can make things appear?”
“Yes, in a way. I can’t do transport yet, but food and general objects, no problem.”
“Wow, can you make some biscuits appear? I’m starving.”
“You don’t understand, like all humans. Our magic is different. If we need something, we can make it appear, but if it’s just a case of want, then no.”
“Oh, I see. Shall we go to the library now?”
“Yes please.”
Peter eyed Evabelle as she swept across the road and up to the entrance to the library. It was a very old building and badly needed renovating, but Evabelle was staring at it as though it was a palace.
“You don’t have libraries in your city, I take it?” Asked Peter.
“Yes we do! They’re a little different, all on one level.”
“Oh, the modern library in Tilbrook is like that.” Peter told her, “I don’t like it much. Ours is much better.”
“Can we go in?” Demanded Evabelle, her eyes dancing excitedly.
“I suppose so.”
Peter held the door open for Evabelle who seemed to float in rather than walk, and they walked into a bright room surrounded by hundreds of old bookcases.
“Are they real?” Asked Evabelle, pointing at a tank of fish next to the issuing desk.
Peter nodded, and Evabelle frowned.
“You humans! Keeping our friends in tanks so that you can admire them for your own amusement! How dreadful!” Evabelle leaned her face against the tank and began to speak in a language Peter had never heard nor recognised. He stared blankly at Evabelle who continued to talk. Who to though? Surely not the fish. That was ridiculous, Peter knew, but if Evabelle was a mermaid, then it was possible that she knew some special language to communicate with the fish. The language sounded like someone speaking with bubbles in their mouth.
Suddenly, Evabelle stopped, and spun around to face Peter.
“The fish say that they are not happy and want to be set free.” She told him, crisply.
“They told you that, did they?”
“Yes. Unlike you, I can speak Bubble.”
“Bubble? Are you serious, Eva?”
“It’s EVABELLE! And I’m going to set my friends free!”
And she slammed her webbed fist into the glass and pulled out a large bubble full of the fish. Peter stared at her in horror.
“Evabelle! Put the fish back! They aren’t yours!”
“Well they aren’t yours either.” Evabelle blew lightly on the bubble and watched as it sailed out of the window.
“Where did the fish go?” Peter asked, looking around.
“Back to the ocean.”
“But, Eva, the tank!”
“It’s EVABELLE! And, for your infination I can fix it in no time.”
“I think you mean information…” Peter trailed off, aware that Evabelle was ignoring him.
Peter watched as Evabelle replaced all the shattered glass like a puzzle, and when she clicked her fingers the tank completely resealed itself.
Peter, who had been soaked by the water when Evabelle had smashed the glass was now feeling as though he’d never been near water, he was so dry.
“Eva, what on earth was that?” Peter asked.
“Oh, just a little trick my father taught me. He says that if you make a mess you should clear it up. That’s what I just did.”
Peter stared at her, gobsmacked.
“Show me how to do that, Eva?”
“Sorry…can’t. I’ll break the S.H.E.L.L and F.I.N Code.”
“The Shell and Fin code?”
“Yeah,” Explained Evabelle, “I told you, I’m a mermaid.”
“I thought you were joking!” Spluttered Peter, tapping the newly mended glass with his finger.
“No, I’m not. Now, where can I find books on the ocean?”
“Over there.” Peter gestured vaguely at the many bookcases lined neatly in rows in front of them.
Evabelle rushed to the shelves and began chucking books off the shelves at an alarming rate.
“Evabelle! No!” Cried Peter, clutching at his face in horror.
Evabelle ignored his plea and continued to clear the shelves. At last she found a book with a picture of a mermaid on the cover and slowly as though she was floating drifted into a sitting position on the floor. She turned the pages hurriedly, unaware that the book was upside-down.
“Evie, can I suggest something?” Asked Peter, gingerly stepping over the mounds of books covering the faded red of the carpet, “how about reading the book this way.” He took the book from her hands and turned it up the right way.
“Thanks but I want to read it this way!” Evabelle snatched the book back and attempted to read it again.
“What does it say?” She asked Peter, “you have lots of squiggly lines in your books.”
Peter gave a sigh and settled himself on one of the beanbags.
“Those squiggly lines are words, Evabelle, we read them.”
“You ‘read’ these weird lines? What do they mean?”
“Surely you have words back in your home?” Peter persisted.
“Of course but they are Bubbles.”
“Bubbles?”
“Yes, Bubbles.” Evabelle tossed her hair back smugly.
“Well, firstly we have an alphabet.” Peter explained, and pulled an ‘Early Readers Alphabet’ from the children’s section. He opened the book and pointed at the letters in bold.
“That is the alphabet.”
“It’s like Bubble!” Evabelle cried excitedly, “the Bubbles are the letters of your alphabet.”
“That’s right!” Peter agreed, “I guess I’ll have to do the reading for you.”
