Real Mermaids Don't Need High Heels Read Free Page A

turned and finally noticed I was there.
    Jade, Serena rang to me in her mer voice, smiling broadly.
    Most people would probably think the ringing sound of Serena’s mer voice was actually buzzing from the overhead fluorescent lights because that’s what it sounded like to non-mers. I thought mer rings were one of the most annoying sounds on the planet, but that was how all mers communicated.
    I still didn’t know what on earth was going on, but if Serena was going to be human again, I had to break her mer-speaking habit as quickly as possible.
    You need to use your human voice, I rang back and hugged her. Remember?
    Serena knew the basics of English from what she’d learned from me and Mom last time she was human.
    â€œJ-shade…” Serena tried again. Her eyes widened in surprise at the sound of her voice. She turned to Gran and pointed to the map. “Grr-ansh. Water? Mother, Father?”
    â€œYes, honey,” Gran said in a hushed voice. She pointed at the map as if giving a stranger a tour of local landmarks. “This is the bridge we crossed at the canal between the ocean and the lake. And here’s the school where we are now, and there is where I live, remember?” She pointed to Dundee on the map, halfway up the lake.
    â€œThish what?” Serena asked as she pointed to the northernmost part of the lake where it connected to the Atlantic Ocean again.
    â€œThat’s Folly’s Passage,” Gran explained. “It connects the lake to the ocean up north, but it’s only open during the highest tides of the year. There’s actually a famous shipwreck around there from the Second World War called Fortune’s Folly . The captain missed the tide and ended up capsizing. Divers have been trying to find the ship ever since.”
    â€œYou mean the canal by the bridge isn’t the only way in and out of the lake?” I whispered to Gran, trying to talk quickly so Serena wouldn’t catch on.
    â€œWell, Folly’s Passage hasn’t been used since I was a girl,” Gran mumbled back as Serena kept studying the map. “The cliffs have eroded so much from all the forestry people clear-cutting the trees that the passage has filled in, making it pretty shallow. You’d be crazy to take a boat through there now.”
    I considered this for a second. Most of the Freshie mers hung out by the boat lock at the south end of Talisman Lake where salt water spilled in from the canal. Other than Finalin and Medora, who’d been in the lake the longest, none of the Freshies had made it further north than Dundee because the lake water was too fresh. There was no way any of them could ever get past the freshwater barrier in the middle of the lake and reach the northern passage to escape. The Mermish Council had the Freshies trapped and imprisoned in the lake, just like they wanted.
    â€œOkay, then.” Gran pulled out a sheet of paper from the stack Ms. Wilma had given her and handed it to me as we headed out of the office. At the top it read: New admission: Serena Finora . “Give this to your homeroom teacher and let her know Serena is a new student. She’ll have all her classes with you. Here’s her class schedule, some school policy information, and this one…”
    â€œWait, wait. Back up the truck for a sec,” I said, balancing the papers Gran had handed me. “New student? What’s going on?”
    â€œCome.” Gran guided Serena and me out of the office to where Cori, Trey, and Luke were waiting. Gran shuttled us to the bench just outside the school office door.
    â€œThe thing is,” Gran whispered, looking around to make sure no one was eavesdropping, “Serena’s father and your parents and I have come to a bit of an agreement.”
    â€œYou met Finalin?” I asked.
    â€œYes, such a charming fellow.” Gran smoothed her slacks and looked from Serena to me. “Serena had left your necklace on