The Murdered Mermaid (A Brimstone Witch Mystery Book 6) Read online

  “Okay.” My heart was already thudding in my chest and panic was settling in my stomach and getting ready to grow. I took some deep breaths before moving further into the warm water. I reminded myself why I was doing this. There had been a murder and it was my responsibility to find the creature who had committed it.

  Jeremy walked briskly forwards and dipped under the water. I followed him and as I fully submerged myself, I started to swim. My instinct was to hold my breath, but I forced myself to breathe normally. It wasn’t an easy thing to do and my mind was telling me to get back out of the water.

  Jeremy looked over his shoulder at me and said, “How are you doing? Are you breathing normally? Speak to me. That will show me that your breathing is normal.”

  I opened my mouth to talk and fully expected water to come rushing in. It didn’t, but I did get a waft of cold air coming in. I said, “I think I’m okay. How long does this spell last?”

  “A good hour or so.” He smiled. “I wasn’t sure I had the right words for this spell. I surprised myself! Follow me. I know where King Taron lives.”

  I swam downwards. Now that I’d got used to breathing underwater, I started to look around me at the beautiful sea creatures swimming along. I saw multi-coloured seahorses bobbing next to me. Fish of all colours darted around me as if they were in a rush to get somewhere. Crabs scrabbled over rocks beneath me and a starfish was trying to hide behind a piece of pink coral. Seaweed drifted on the current and gently curled around my hand.

  Jeremy shouted, “Cassia! The grindylows have got you!”

  The seaweed on my hand tightened and I was pulled to one side. I saw that the seaweed was actually a small green creature. It had an impish face with wide, blue eyes and a cheeky smile. Its limbs were long and floaty giving the impression of loose seaweed. Another grindylow was behind that one and it reached out a green hand to me.

  “Come and play with us,” the first grindylow said in a childlike voice. “We want to play. We want to talk to you.”

  I tried to pull my hand free. “No, thank you. I don’t have time to play.”

  The smile fell from the grindylow’s face. “But I want to tell you something. Come and play with us.”

  Jeremy darted to my side and raised his hands at the little creatures. “Be gone!” he boomed. “Now!”

  The grindylows yelped and swiftly turned away from us. They swam away and I could have sworn I heard them crying. They sounded like children.

  “Jeremy, you didn’t have to shout at them. You scared them.”

  “You don’t know what they’re like. They’ll trick you into playing games down here until your air runs out.”

  “But they said they had something to tell me. It could have been something important.”

  Jeremy shook his head. “It’s a trick to get you to go with them. Come on; we’re not far from King Taron’s palace now.”

  I cast a glance at the retreating grindylows before swimming away. I hadn’t got the feeling they were trying to trick me. I turned my attention back to Jeremy and had to increase my speed to keep up with him.

  Even though we were swimming into the depths of the sea, the sun’s rays still made their way through the water and lit up everything around us. I was thankful for that as I didn’t fancy swimming through dark waters.

  Jeremy stopped swimming and pointed to the structure in front of us.

  I gasped. It was a real palace. A real sunken palace. It was made of white marble columns and a marble roof. It looked like an old Greek palace. There were elaborate steps surrounding it and many sea creatures had taken up residence on the steps.

  I said to Jeremy, “How did this get down here?”

  “I’m not sure. It’s been here for thousands of years, just like the merpeople have. Let’s go inside.”

  We swam between the columns and came to an open room. I spotted a huge, white chair at the back of the room on a small, marble platform. A merman was sitting in the chair and staring silently into the distance. As we got closer, I saw his resemblance to Nerita and Conway in his facial features. The merman had long, flowing hair which matched his long beard which moved gently on the sea’s currents. There was an immense sadness in his eyes.

  He looked our way and raised a hand slowly in greeting. “Cassia Winter? Is that you? Come closer. I thought for a second you were Rosalyn. You look so like her.” He let out a heavy sigh. “You know the pain of losing someone, and now, so do I.”

  I swam over to King Taron and settled on the floor in front of him. I moved my hands gently at my side to stop myself from floating away.

  I said, “I’m so sorry about Nerita. I will find out what happened to her.” I paused before adding, “If she was murdered, I’ll find the murderer.”

  King Taron gave me a slow nod. “I know you will. I have every faith in your abilities as a justice witch. I was good friends with Rosalyn. We shared many good swims together. I’m glad you’ve come to see me. I haven’t been up to the surface of the sea for years. I’m not strong enough to do so these days.” He sighed again. “I’m not strong enough to do much now. I was getting ready to hand my royal responsibilities over to Nerita.”

  “Will Conway take over now?” I asked.

  “He’ll have to. However, I don’t think he’s quite ready to do that.” King Taron gave me a wry smile. “But I think his betrothed is ready. Have you met Isla yet?”

  “I have. I hope you don’t mind me asking you questions so soon after your loss, but I’d like to get on with my investigation quickly. Can I ask how you get on with Isla, please?”

  “Well enough,” King Taron said. “I like ambition in a mermaid and Isla has more than her fair share of it. Nerita also had ambition and often clashed with Isla. I suppose you’re going to ask me if Nerita had any enemies.”

  I nodded. “I’ve already heard that she upset your people by the way she spoke to them.”

  King Taron let out a short laugh. “She did! She was abrupt, that’s for sure. But she got results. She was a wonderful organiser. Once she set her mind on something, she’d see it through to the end. Our community was the most important thing in her life. She was extremely protective of our people and would go out of her way to keep everyone safe.”

  “What do you mean by that?” I asked.

  “There are other merpeople communities out there who are jealous of our Brimstone way of life. Nerita has seen a couple of their leaders getting too close to our borders now and again. She had fierce words with them and warned them off. I suspect those same leaders were bothering her again recently because Nerita kept disappearing for hours on end these last few weeks. When I asked her about it, she said it was nothing important, and that she was dealing with it.” He hesitated before continuing, “I know about the sirens disappearing. Nerita tried to keep that from me, but I’ve been king for a long time and I have many loyal subjects. One of the older vampire squids told me about their disappearance last week. I was waiting to get Nerita on her own to talk to her about the sirens. Alas, I didn’t get the chance.”

  I asked, “What do you know about the sirens disappearing?”

  King Taron gave me a long look before answering, “Nerita had something to do with their disappearance. A week ago, I overheard her talking to the leader of the sirens about a mission in another land. I thought she was getting ready to go into battle with another community of merpeople. I asked her about it afterwards, but she said I must have misheard her and that she had no plans to go into battle with anyone or to enter another land. I knew she was lying, but I couldn’t get her to admit the truth.”

  “Do you think someone from another community could have caused her harm?”

  “It’s possible. She made many enemies with the other communities.” He sighed heavily. “It’s possible one of the leaders wanted Nerita out of the way for some reason. What that reason was, I don’t know.”

  “How would I find out more information about her involvement with them?” I said.

  �
��You should talk to Isla. She had a knack for knowing exactly what Nerita was up to. I think she often followed Nerita as she went about her duties. Cassia, be careful. Ambitious merpeople can be ruthless.”

  Chapter 11

  We stayed with King Taron a while longer as he wanted to talk about Mum and the adventures they’d been on together. I was more than happy to listen to him and my knowledge of Mum grew even more. It made me feel warm and happy inside. I knew that I hadn’t been ready to talk about her before, but now I wanted to know everything I could about her.

  Before we left, I did my best to reassure King Taron that I’d find the creature responsible for Nerita’s death.

  He gave me a sad smile and said, “I know you will, Cassia, I know you will.”

  When we returned to the beach, I used magic to dry myself. I didn’t want to blow my own trumpet, but I was pleased with how well it worked and I was completely dry within a minute. I reckoned that if I used my powers after a shower at home, I could do away with towels altogether.

  Jeremy attempted to use his magic to dry himself but somehow ended up giving himself an electric shock. With his permission, I directed my hot air hands at him.

  We headed over to the café and found Stanley fast asleep on a cushion behind the counter. Gia told us he’d fallen asleep soon after she’d fed him. I quickly told Gia about our talk with King Taron.

  Gia looked around the café before taking us to one side. She said, “I wasn’t sure whether to tell you this earlier, but I think it could be relevant to your investigation. Isla has been engaged to other mermen from different communities. From what I’ve heard, she goes for those mermen in a position of power in the hope of sharing that power.”

  “What happened to the other engagements?” I asked.

  “The merman broke it off with her. Apparently, they got fed up of her controlling ways and her lust for power. She’s been engaged to Conway for three months now, and he seems happy enough about the situation.” She considered her words. “Perhaps compliant would be a better way of describing him. I think Conway likes Isla to make the decisions in their relationship. Now that he’s going to take over from Nerita, I dread to think what Isla’s going to be like around here. She’s already asked me for a so-called royal discount on my goods.”

  Jeremy asked, “How many times has she been engaged?”

  “Three times, that I’ve heard of.”

  Jeremy continued, “And which communities are these? Do they back onto the border of the Brimstone waters?”

  Gia’s eyes widened. “They do. You don’t think Isla and her former boyfriends have something to do with Nerita’s death, do you?”

  Jeremy gave her a slow nod. “I’ve met some of the merpeople in the other communities. Some of them have an intense hate for Brimstone and its inhabitants. Isla could have convinced one of her exes to do away with Nerita so that she could come into power here. Perhaps she’s going to give her partner in crime a piece of Brimstone in return.”

  Following Jeremy’s logic, I said, “What if Nerita found out about Isla’s plans? She could have gathered the sirens together to fight them. The sirens could be at war with another community right now.”

  Gia looked nervously towards the sea. “What if the sirens have been taken prisoner or worse? What if another community of merpeople are on their way here to attack us right now?”

  Jeremy said, “That can’t happen. There’s a protective spell around the borders of Brimstone. Cassia’s mum put it there years ago. I check it every week to make sure it’s still working. I actually checked it earlier this morning. Everything is in order.”

  Gia gave him a small smile. “That’s a relief. But where have the sirens gone? And are they okay?” She turned her expectant face to me. “Cassia, what are you going to do about this?”

  I was saved from answering that difficult question by the arrival of a green Brimstone butterfly. It headed towards me and I knew it had a message for me. I opened my palm and it landed softly there.

  Some butterfly messages are written on the wings of the creature, and some messages are vocal. This message was a vocal one - a very loud one.

  Rex’s voice boomed out, ‘Cassia! This is Rex. We met earlier. I found one of the sirens on the other side of the Brimstone border. I ordered her to tell me where the rest of the sirens were. She refused and then began to sing one of her evil songs which made me and my colleagues fall asleep. When we came round, the siren had gone. We will not be put off that easily, we will continue to search for the sirens! End of message!’

  Stanley woke up, yowled and jumped off his cushion. He looked left and right. “What’s happening? Who’s shouting? What’s going on?”

  I explained, “It was a butterfly message from Rex.” I turned to the butterfly and gave it a reply for Rex. I told him I would await further details from him.

  As the butterfly flew away, a yellow butterfly came in and alighted on my shoulder. The message was from Dr Morgan this time:

  ‘Cassia, I’ve examined that water bottle and it is pure water. I won’t go into details, but I’ve checked the corpse and found the pure water to be her cause of death as it turned her into her tailed self and stopped her from being able to breathe. I’d put the time of death between 11:30 and midday. I’ll give you a full report later.” Her tone turned indignant. “I haven’t heard a word from Blythe or your gran since they went missing. I’m furious with the pair of them! And as for that useless guardian, Luca, I asked him where you were an hour ago and he yelled that he didn’t know and he didn’t care. Then he stormed away from me without a word of explanation. How rude! I don’t know what’s got into the residents around here lately. No one has any good manners left. Anyway, I’ll catch you later. Bye for now.’

  I sent a message to Dr Morgan and thanked her for her findings. I’d speak to the doctor later about Luca and his change towards me.

  As the yellow butterfly left the café, a haunting tune came to us on a breeze. It sent shivers up and down my spine.

  I said to Gia, “What’s that?”

  She pointed to the sea and the line of merpeople who were standing there looking out to the horizon. She said, “It’s a mourning song. They’re singing it for Nerita. It’ll last for hours.”

  Stanley whimpered and padded over to me. He said, “Cassia, I don’t like it. It’s making my heart hurt.”

  I picked him up. “It’s making mine hurt too. I don’t think there’s anything else we can do here at the moment. I’m not going to disturb the merpeople in their time of grief. Let’s go back to the apartment.”

  We said goodbye to Gia, got onto our broomsticks and flew away from the sad scene. The desolate tune followed us for the next few miles and I couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down my cheeks.

  Chapter 12

  As we flew back to Brimstone, I said to Jeremy, “You are welcome to stay at Gran’s apartment tonight. I think the sofa pulls out into a bed.”

  Jeremy replied, “That’s kind of you, but I’ve already booked myself into The Brimstone Hotel. I did that this morning before I turned up at Blythe’s house. I had a feeling I’d be staying in Brimstone for a while. Staying at the hotel will give me a good opportunity to speak to the other guests about the merpeople and related matters.”

  I nodded. “That’s a good idea. You can come over for dinner if you like? I’m sure Gilda has put something delicious in the fridge for us. She has a knack for knowing when we’ll be staying at the apartment and always fills the fridge for us.”

  “As tempted as I am by that offer, I shall decline. I’d like to get on with my discreet interrogation of the hotel guests.” He smiled. “And there’s an all-you-can-eat buffet on tonight in the hotel’s dining room. I don’t think the manager knows what he’s let himself in for with me on that score!”

  Brimstone town came into view. Jeremy said goodbye to us and aimed his broomstick towards The Brimstone Hotel. He said he’d give us a full report of his findings in the morning.
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  The sky was turning a darker blue and a tiredness was settling on me. I mentally brushed it away. I didn’t have time to be tired.

  Instead of landing outside the apartment, I landed in front of Gran’s cellar door.

  I said to Stanley, “Let’s have a quick check on Oliver. I want to make sure he’s okay. He hides it well, but I know he’s worried about Gran.”

  Stanley nodded. “Good idea. If he’s very worried, shall we stay at Gran’s house tonight instead of the apartment?”

  “Absolutely.”

  I opened the cellar door and found Oliver curled up a few feet away from the door. His little body was rising and falling and I heard a quiet snore coming from him. I didn’t want to wake him up so I quietly began to close the door.

  Oliver immediately jumped to his paws and cried out, “Esther? Is that you?” He blinked as he focused his attention on us.

  I stepped into the cellar with Stanley at my side. “Sorry, Oliver, it’s only us. We wanted to see how you were doing.”

  Oliver’s head dropped slightly. “I thought you were Esther coming back. Have you heard anything about her? Has anyone found her yet? Is anyone looking for her?”

  I put my broomstick down and sat at Oliver’s side. I said softly, “Some of the season witches are looking for Gran and Blythe. I met Jeremy Spring, and he told me the other season witches are out right now searching for them. He’s confident that Gran and Blythe will be found soon.” I was tempted to stroke Oliver’s head, but he didn’t normally allow me to do that. The few times I’d tried, he’d given me a disgusted look and then said he needed to wash himself. Instead, I said, “Oliver, have you had anything to eat?”

  “I’m not hungry. What have you been up to in Brimstone? Why have you been talking to Jeremy Spring? Does he still look young?”