shake the tale of the mermaidâs sister from her mind. âPlease, tell me about Griet. Was she beautiful?â
âOh, ya, so beautiful,â Syrena answered. âThe fishes swim up and kiss her pretty cheeks and seahorses comb her long hair with their tails. She wear necklace of diamond and pearl and dolphin always clean her so never the sea mud make her dirty.â
Sophie listened, waiting for the mermaid to continue with the enchanting story. Instead, laughter bubbles rolled from Syrenaâs mouth like a school of jellyfish.
âOh, you still such girl ,â the mermaid said. âYou think everything, what you call, fairy story!â
âWell, yeah!â Sophie snapped defensively. âI mean, thatâs what fairy tales are. Mermaids and stuff. Pardon me for being a human.â
âGriet very pretty,â Syrena said, her tone slightly teasing. âAll mermaid pretty. But alsoâshe have fangs.â
âFangs?â
âYa, like these,â the mermaid opened her mouth and tapped her own long canines. âBut more, longer than normal. They poke out, make her funny looking. Her hair, because so light, show more algae, look more like slime. Her tail very wonderful, sort of pink, but very hurt too, from war, and sharks.â
âSharks?â
âYa.â For the first time, the mermaid sounded tired. âWhen we swim away from our village, through the ships and the fighting, there be many sharks. Drawn to the fighting, all the blood. We fight them off, we dodge ships, we dodge cannons, even the dying sailors.â Syrena twisted her tail, bringing Sophieâs attention to a long, raised scar alongits back. âThis from anchor chain. The chain cracked, rough, and I become tangled. I thought I would stay forever. Griet help me. Like I help her with shark.â
âWhat did you do?â
âKill shark,â Syrena smiled. âKill shark and eat shark and swim good and healthy out from the sea and all the fighting.â
Sophie knew that Griet didnât look like a Barbie princess mermaid doll any more than Syrena did, but she also knew that the mermaid must have been beautiful, just like the one in front of her. âAnd then what?â she asked. Syrenaâs face grew dark at Sophieâs insistence, darker and suddenly older. Still beautiful, always beautiful, but it was a beauty that Sophie didnât completely understand. A beauty that scared her a little.
âTime for sleep now,â Syrena said sternly. âNo more âthis-is-mermaid-life.â Tomorrow we reach the Swilkie. Last time in Swilkie, almost lost fin!â The mermaid fingered the delicate scales of her hip fin gingerly. âVery athletic, Swilkie. Rest up.â
âI have a sister too,â Sophie surprised herself by saying. It was the first time she had spoken the truth out loud. I have a sister. âA twin.â
Syrena spun her head to gaze at the girl, her hair following slowly, rotating like a big, black cloud above her. âOh, no,â she said. âYou say there two of you?â
Sophie nodded.
âWhat her name?â Syrena asked. âIs she beautiful?â Sophie realized the mermaid was teasing her.
âSheâsâsheâs captured. Or something. By Kishka. She lives in Kishkaâs trailer at the dump.â
âWhat âtrailerâ?â
âItâs like a really little space, on wheels. But itâs so weird. From the outside, the space is little, but then inside itâs big. Like, magic-big. And thereâs a garden there, but thereâs something wrong with it. Like the leaves are poison. When I went inside, it was like I couldnât breathe, like the plants were stealing my breath. Sheâs trapped in thereâsheâs been living there, inside all the plants and trees. Sheâs so small. I think thereâs something really wrong with her.â The memory of it made her feel
Learning to Kill: Stories