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

that hook in the boathouse like you’d shown her, so I got your dad to come out to the cottage over the weekend to get the Merlin 3000 ready.”
    I’d given Serena my toe ring strung on a necklace and told her to hang it from a nail on the dock inside Gran’s boathouse if she ever wanted to become human again.
    â€œYour mom,” Gran continued, “I mean, Tanti Natasha, acted as interpreter.”
    â€œWhere the heck was I when all this was going on?” But then I remembered. I’d been at Cori’s, enjoying our final long weekend of summer with Luke and Trey.
    â€œIt all happened rather fast,” Gran said in a low tone. “Basically, Serena’s dad insists that she give being human a try again, though she wasn’t thrilled by the prospect. Once I explained that she could go to school with you and your friends and be around people her own age, she seemed to warm up to the idea.”
    â€œSo that’s it?” I asked. “Serena is a human now?”
    â€œWell, we’ve got the school part figured out for now,” Gran stroked Serena’s hair and smiled sweetly at her as if to reassure her that everything was as they’d agreed upon, “with the understanding that she can go home on weekends.”
    â€œIs the Merlin 3000 able to handle that?” I whispered, remembering all the trouble Dad and Eddie had setting up the mer-to-human synthesizer, which made the transition from water-breathing mer to air-breathing human easier. We hadn’t even been sure it would work on Luke the first time they had used it just a few weeks before.
    â€œYour father is making a few extra adjustments and upgrades,” Gran said.
    â€œBut how are we supposed to do this, exactly?” I asked. “She can barely speak English. How is she supposed to understand anything that’s going on?”
    â€œI’m sure she’ll catch on,” Cori said. “She already understands a lot of English.”
    â€œBut not just school,” I protested, thinking about how Serena had pretty much taken over every waking moment of my life for the short time she was human the last time. “What about—”
    Gran touched my arm to stop me and turned to Trey and Cori.
    â€œWhy don’t you two show Serena the bulletin board?” Gran asked them with a wink. Trey gave her a thumbs-up while Cori took Serena by the arm and led her to the bulletin board and out of earshot.
    â€œI know this is not ideal,” Gran glanced around the bustling hallway, “but I’m counting on you and Luke and your friends to help make this as smooth a transition as possible. That father of hers—Finnegan, is it?”
    â€œFinalin,” I said with a shudder, remembering the merman’s pockmarked face and scraggly beard.
    â€œWell, whatever his name is, the fella has quite a temper. He’s already damaged a lot of the boats in the area, and he’s threatened to start wreaking more havoc around the lake if we don’t cooperate.”
    â€œHe’s the one who cut our boat from its mooring!” Luke exclaimed. “And all that other stuff happening on the lake, I bet he’s behind that, too.”
    So, Finalin was sabotaging boats and holding it over our heads unless we cooperated? The guy was a menace.
    â€œYes, and given his past performance…” Gran’s voice trailed off.
    I thought back to the day last summer when Finalin and his wife, Medora, had pulled Mom underwater and we all thought she’d drowned.
    â€œDo you think he would actually hurt anyone?”
    â€œIt’s quite possible,” Gran said, making sure Serena wasn’t listening. “All I know is that we’d better cooperate or else we might find out.”
    â€œDon’t worry, Mrs. Baxter,” Luke said. “We’ll take care of Serena. Right, Jade?”
    I glanced across the hallway. Cori took a scarf from around her neck and