Mermaid 51

Vera scooped up Levi, pulling him away from Cordelia. “You are a troublemaker,” she told him affectionately. “You can stay longer than the night. We have enough for Levi when he grows, we can support you for a week at least.”

“Really?” Dylan asked. “How big is this lake?”

“Why don’t you go and see,” Neville suggested, motioning for them to swim around. “There are a lot of very pretty places in it. Perfect for a couple.”

Dylan and Cordelia looked at each other in confusion. “We aren’t a couple,” Dylan told them.

“Of course not,” Vera agreed with a knowing smile.

“Let’s look around,” Cordelia said pulling him away before the merfolk said anything else.

Mermaid 50

"Where are you going?”

“Upstream,” Cordelia said, feeling better. “I’m looking for my mother and Dylan told me that all of your folk meet in the mountains in the spring.”

“That’s true, but we won’t be up there for another month at least,” Vera said. “There is still damming upriver. The floods are coming.”

“Flood,” Cordelia said, again it was a new word to her.

“When the water rises over the banks,” Neville explained.

“High tide?” she answered and they all looked at her funny. “Never mind, I understand. Thank you, for letting us stay. We won’t stay long.”