Chapter 3 #2
“moon coral lights up during the night,” Coralyn said. “The light ignites the entire cove, and any creature can come here for a safe haven. Without it, there’s only darkness. And mermaids don’t survive in the darkness.”
“A few weeks ago, the coral grew sick.” Selina’s grave tone was unusual with the surrounding music.
“The cove became dark, and the only thing we could think about was to try to keep the water in the cove… well, in the cove. To try and help our coral. But it sounds like if the Everything Plant and the coral got sick the two could be related.”
Maggie raised her hands defensively. “I wouldn’t jump to any conclusions like that just yet.
We actually just think the Everything Plant needs the ocean water.
” She glanced over to Peter, gauging his expression.
He looked ready to do anything, ready to follow whatever it was she said.
“If we try to get the moon coral growing again, will you undam the cove?”
Selina and Coralyn shared a look. Though Selina acted like the brains between the both of them, it was Coralyn’s unflinching stare that seemed to hold the answer. Blue hair swished through the air as she turned to face Maggie, her eyes narrowed skeptically.
“We’lll undam the cove,” Coralyn said, “But only when you fix the moon coral.”
Maggie frowned. “But I don’t even –”
“There’s no survival for the mermaids without the coral.” Selina reached for Maggie and grasped onto her hand. Surprisingly, her skin wasn’t wet at all. “Do this for us, Maggie Hart, and we will ensure that the water returns to the Everything Plant.”
Who was Maggie to know what happened to the moon coral? She had never heard of it before, and it wasn’t like she was an expert on safe mermaid habitats. But the Princesses weren’t budging, and the Everything Plant needed saving.
Maggie gave Selina a firm nod. “Consider it done.”
Then, Coralyn turned to Peter. “So, we haven’t seen you around much.”
Peter gestured to Maggie. “I’ve been busy.”
“Too busy to visit?” she pouted. “Too busy to come lay on the rocks with us and keep us company?”
Selina reached for him. “Come play with us, Peter.”
Peter barely seemed to glance their way. “I’m afraid Maggie and I are on a mission. We just need to know the best place to start with the moon coral.”
Both women seemed to pout, staring up at him with big eyes, but Peter just patiently waited for an answer. At last, they seemed to realize he wasn’t falling for their games and stopped with the obnoxious expressions.
“That would be a good place to start. The moon coral is the really light one. You’ll recognize it when you see it.
” Selina pointed across the cove’s rounded shore, where the depths took a sharp dive down into the darkest parts of the sea.
Without waiting for another word, Maggie and Peter followed their direction to a large section of moon coral.
“Do you come here often?” Maggie asked within the quiet.
Peter glanced at her, one brow raised. “To the cove? Not really. Why?”
“Oh,” she murmured, growing more embarrassed by the second. Why did I even ask? “Well, t-the mermaids seemed to regard you in a very…friendly sort of way.”
He shrugged. “I wouldn’t want to be impolite in their own turf.”
“Yeah, sure, but…” Maggie wished she could’ve sealed her own mouth shut. Already she drifted too far, stepping into a conversation she didn’t really want to have. Well, that might’ve been a lie. She wanted to know the answers, though she hated to be the one to ask.
“What is it, Magpie?”
She paused at the shore, where the water was beginning to nip at her feet. “They seemed to know you more than friends would know each other.”
Peter watched from a few feet away. His stare was intentful but not aggressive, not angered for her prying, not uncomfortable at the position she put him in. He only gazed at her, unflinching, unyielding, entirely.
“A lot of men on the island vie for the mermaid’s hearts,” Peter finally said. “I’ve never really been one of those men.”
The breath hitched in her throat. “Why not?”
“They aren’t what I’m looking for.” Peter took long strides to close the gap between them, though Maggie was too far into the color of his eyes to even notice.
“I am not afraid of a woman with a body. In fact, it is what I vie for. A woman who knows what she wants, a woman with a fine head on her shoulders. A creative woman, a fierce woman, even if she can’t see that’s who she is just yet. ”
Maggie stared up at him with wide eyes. She never considered herself to be vain, but something about his words struck a chord within her.
Were those not her own attributes, things she carried on her sleeve?
Was she not far more curvy than the other mermaids, than the fairies, than the humans she once knew?
Did she not already know what she wanted, even if she was one to easily shy away from it?
But Peter was already turning back toward the sea, toward their mission, toward the inevitable future where Maggie would return to the human lands. She gathered the courage she believed herself to have and smiled at him when he gestured for her to follow.