Free The Potion Diaries by Amy Alward Page A

there for both teams.’
    Teams. She’s said it, now, and I didn’t even think of it before. I am a team against Arjun and Anita. Although we will help each other out along the way, only one team can win the Hunt.
    Arjun’s mermaid is moving towards us. We’re riveted by the action, so engrossed that we don’t notice the super-yacht
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creeping in front of us. Kirsty, the sharpest of the four of us, yells, and immediately pulls at the oars to get us out of the yacht’s path. While Damian sings to Aphroditas, the yacht is going to block our path to the Rising.
    ‘Hey!’ Kirsty drops the oars, stands up in the boat and screams. The action rocks the boat severely, and water sloshes into our hull. ‘That’s illegal! Get out of our way!’
    The yacht keeps on coming. I almost laugh. Who are we going to complain to if they prevent us from accessing a pearl? No one will care. This is a Wilde Hunt. All rules except the Hunt rules are out the window.
    It’s a lot darker out here, outside of the circle. We stare in dismay as the waves rock our boat further from the action, further from the gathering of mermaids.
    Arjun’s voice breaks.
    ‘Don’t stop singing,’ Kirsty says, her voice grim. Her gaze is focused away from the boats, at a seemingly dark patch of the ocean. I follow her eyeline and struggle to see anything but the gentle rise and fall of the waves until – wait! – there’s the tiniest ripple on the surface.
    ‘There’s another,’ whispers Anita beside me. Another mermaid? I’m at once hopeful and afraid. A mermaid outside the ring of the Rising is almost unheard of. But there are other creatures in the ocean, ones that would be much less delightful to meet. A fin appears out of the water, and although I only glance at it for a second, my fear is eased: she’s definitely a mermaid. But the fin has a deep gouge out of it, as if she’s recently been attacked, and I hope she’s strong enough to produce a pearl.
    A few feet away from the boat, she re-emerges. I have to stop myself from recoiling – her face is full of wrinkles, the thick bands of her hair in tatters – she must be ancient but, if she’s like any other mermaid, she’s also vain. If she sees surprise or disgust on any of our faces, she will surely bolt.
    She approaches the boat, her lips widening into a grin. But that grin is a horror . . . teeth sharpened to a point, more shark than human. Worse still is the stench – rot, decay and mouldering fish. Anita and I both have to hold our breath, but luckily her attention is fixed on Arjun. He’s white as a sheet but holding his nerve well, and Kirsty’s hand on his shoulder is lending him reassurance and encouragement.
    He sings and his voice barely wavers. I never even knew Arjun had it in him, but as I look into his eyes I see he is locked in a kind of trance with the mermaid.
    Kirsty’s fingers dig a little deeper into his shoulder.
    ‘Can you do anything to help him?’ I ask Kirsty.
    ‘He’s doing everything right. He just needs to hold on a little longer . . .’
    The other boats are leaving now, their engines rumbling, and if their wake interrupts the trance – or more likely, if they continue to play dirty and deliberately try to break it – we will lose the pearl for ever. The fact that we haven’t even seen the pearl yet is a bad enough sign.
    Arjun’s voice takes on a more urgent quality, but the mer . . . mermaid hardly seems like the right term, mer
crone
seems more accurate, will not be rushed. Slowly, ever so slowly, she reaches down into her shell and brings out the tiniest pearl I have ever seen, barely a seed.
    Arjun extends his hand out and she reaches to meet his. But then the
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yacht blasts its horn, attempting to scatter any remaining mermaids.
    Including ours. But there’s a glint of cunning in her eye as she spooks . . . and snatches at Arjun’s arm in the process.
    All at once the boat tips, the trance breaks and the mercrone dives. Anita and I leap