Emily Windsnap and the Castle in the Mist Part 12

Mr. Beeston bowed low, holding the rings out in front of him as he flicked his tail to tread water. "Your Majesty," he said, his voice deep and intense, "I humbly return to you what is rightfully yours. I swore my allegiance to you, and I have not failed you. Finally, the rings are back with you. Once again, they may be parted and buried, safely out of trouble. And, you have my word, I will never, ever, let anything like this happen again." Mr. Beeston went on bowing so low his head was practically under water. No one else moved. No one spoke.

Then Neptune held out a hand. "Give me the rings," he said.

Mr. Beeston instantly swam forward to hand the rings over to Neptune. "Your Majesty, I am humbled by your a""

"Silence!" Neptune barked, his face contorted a" with rage, with pain? I couldn't tell.

I stared at him. After everything we'd done, everything that had happened, how could it go wrong so quickly? Now that Neptune had the rings back, he could curse us all over again a" and this time there wouldn't be a single thing we could do about it.

I sank lower in the water, my tail hardly moving. Shona swam over to join me. She took hold of my hand. "I'll always be your best friend," she whispered. "Whatever happens."

But maybe she wouldn't have that choice. None of us had any choices anymore. All the choices were in Neptune's hands. Literally.

Neptune flicked his trident in the air. Instantly, three dolphins swam to the side of the chariot. He bent down to say something to them and they disappeared, returning moments later pulling something along. Another chariot, a sleigh of some kind. There were two people in it. A woman and . . . a merman, his tail slung over the side. No! It couldn't be! But it was. Mom and Dad. Of course! Neptune said he'd bring them tonight!

I swam as hard as I could to reach the boat. "Mom! Dad!" I cried with every tiny bit of me. But the joy I felt disappeared as soon as I saw their faces.

Of course.

They had come to say good-bye.

Here a" under the full moon, on the spring equinox, a point in the year when day meets night a" earth and sea would finally be separated, and for good this time.

Mom reached out from the carriage to throw her arms around me. "Oh, Emily." She sobbed, grasping my hair, pulling me to her so tightly I couldn't breathe. I didn't care. All that mattered was that I was in my mother's arms again. "I looked for you everywhere. Everyone on the island has been searching. We found every last jewel that Neptune had been after, but we couldn't find the most precious one of all. You."

Dad had slipped into the water while she was talking. A second later, his arms were around me too. Hovering in the water next to me, he reached out to wrap me in his arms. "My little 'un," he said, his voice raw and broken.

"Windsnap!" Neptune bellowed. All three of us looked up at him. He was pointing at Dad. "Come here," he said firmly.

Dad let go of me.

"No!" I lurched toward him, gripping him around the neck with my arms. This was it. Neptune could undo everything, put an even stronger curse on me if he wanted. My dad was going to be taken away; I'd say good-bye to him for the last time. "No! Please!" I begged.

Dad unpeeled my fingers from around his neck. "It'll be OK," he said, the quivering in his voice giving him away. He didn't believe that any more than I did. Then he looked at Mom. "I always loved you," he said. "And I always will, right?"

Mom swallowed hard and nodded.

Dad glanced at Neptune, who glared back at him. "I have to go," he said. Kissing Mom's hand, ruffling my hair, he turned and swam away.

I darted through the water to follow him. Gripping his arm, I swam alongside him. Dad tried to shake me off. "Please, little 'un, don't make this harder than it already is," he said.

"Don't go," I begged. I swam to Neptune's chariot with him. "Please!" I begged Neptune, choking on sobs. "Please don't make me have to lose my dad again. Please. Please don't make them have to part. I'll do anything. I'll be good. I'll never get into trouble again. Please." I let go of Dad and wept openly. I had nothing left to say, nothing to ask, nothing to offer, nothing to look forward to.

"Stop your crying, child," said Neptune. "Listen to me." He turned to Dad, looking him harshly in the eyes. "Windsnap," he said, "do you love your wife?"

"More than anything," Dad said. He looked around for inspiration a" and found it in the sky. "More than the moon itself."

Nodding briskly, Neptune asked, "And she feels the same way?"

Dad glanced across at Mom. "I hope so."

Mom held her hands to her chest. Wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand, she nodded vigorously. In that moment, I knew what I'd known all along, really. Of course they loved each other! Everyone argues, even Shona and I. Mom and Dad were never going to split up. I'd gotten it all out of proportion. My overactive imagination, and my silly worries a" that's all it had ever been. I hugged myself, grinning with pleasure and relief.

Neptune was silent for a long time. He put his trident down on the seat in his chariot and held the rings in both hands. Juggling them in his palms, he looked back and forth between Mom and Dad. His powerful face looked different. The lines of anger streaking down each cheek seemed to have gone. His eyes looked rounder, softer. For the first time ever, I noticed how green they were.

In the darkness, rain began to fall, tiny, sharp droplets plopping onto the sea all around us. Neptune opened his mouth to speak again.

"No one has to say good-bye tonight," he said quietly. He turned to Mr. Beeston. "Beeston," he said, "you were wrong."

Mr. Beeston swam forward. Bowing so low his hair fell right into the water, he babbled, "Your Majesty, if I have failed you in any way, I a""

Neptune raised a hand to silence him. "You acted out of loyalty. But you are mistaken when you say I know what is important in life, what really matters. I don't at all. Or if I do, I have only just found out." He looked up at the mist, still swirling around the castle. The rain fell harder, bouncing off the sea all around us. "I have only just remembered."

Then he held the rings out in front of him. "Come here, Windsnap," he said. Picking up his trident, he nodded to the dolphins, who instantly swam forward, bringing the chariot and Mom to Neptune.

What was he doing? "I will no longer hide from the truth. I will no longer attempt to bury my feelings," he said.

Neptune called Aaron to him. "You are the man of the family now," he said to Aaron. "I cannot undo what has been done. But I can make amends. You are free to travel, to live where you please, mix with whomever you like. I will not hide you from the world any longer. You are my fin and blood, and I am proud of you."

Aaron smiled hesitantly at Neptune. His eyes, his deep green eyes. Neptune's eyes.

"Your Majesty, sir," he said, "What about my mother?"

"She will be waiting for you at the castle."

"Is she . . . ?"

Neptune nodded. "She will be fine," he said. "Like you, she has a long life ahead of her. I want you both to enjoy it."

"You mean she's better? We're no longer cursed?" Aaron burst out.

Smiling, Neptune replied, "I will no longer allow curses. They are forbidden a" by law!"

Aaron punched the air. Then he turned and smiled the widest smile at me.

Neptune turned back to my parents. "I am a firm ruler," he said, "and I always will be. No one can ever try to deny this." Mom and Dad both nodded, waiting for him to continue.

"But," Neptune went on, beckoning me to come to him, "this daughter of yours has brought something back to me that I lost many hundreds of years ago." He fell silent.

"The rings?" I asked, hoping to prompt him, even though I should have known better than to interrupt Neptune.

"No," he said gently, "not the rings. You and your family may never fully understand what you have given me, but, let me tell you, it is the most valuable thing. In return, I give it back to you." Then he reached out to Mom and Dad a" and handed them the rings. The diamond one to Dad, the pearl to Mom.

Silently receiving the rings, Mom and Dad gazed at each other, at me, at Neptune.

"You represent what I have lost, and you will represent its revival too." He spread his arms upward to the sky. "It is the spring equinox," he said, "the day of my wedding anniversary, the day of new beginnings. Merfolk and humans will from now on live in peace together. I order it!"

I gasped and looked at Shona. Really? Did he really say that?

"Not just on one small island. It's time for the whole world to start again. We will start a new world. A new world that is not a new world at all. The world that was there all along, to anyone who was not too blind to see it."

Then he turned back to us and frowned. "But you must make me a promise," he said sternly. I knew there'd be a catch. I knew it couldn't be that simple. Nothing in my life ever was.

"You must swear to me that these rings will never again be parted."

Dad grinned so widely that his smile almost broke his face in two. Grabbing Mom around the waist and pulling me toward him with his other arm, he replied, "Your Majesty, that is the easiest of promises to keep."

Neptune smiled. "Very well. I have said all I need to say." Holding his trident in the air, he waved it in the direction of Fortuna. A group of dolphins broke away and swam off toward it. "Your boat will be fixed by morning," Neptune said. "Now go. Travel the world. See new sights. Pa.s.s the message on to all you meet."

"We will," Mom breathed. "We won't let you down, Your Majesty. How can we ever thank you?"

Neptune waved her words away with his hand. "Just respect the rings and what they represent. I am giving you a great responsibility. You must show me you are ready for this. I shall be watching you."

With that, Neptune snapped his fingers and held his trident aloft. Motioning for Mr. Beeston to join him, he sat back down in his chariot.

"Look, I never meant you any harm," Mr. Beeston mumbled as he pa.s.sed. Blus.h.i.+ng and stammering, he added, "I didn't mean to a" you know. I mean, it was just duty, you understand. Loyalty. I mean, Neptune. He's the king. We're still friends, aren't we?"

"Friends?" Mom spluttered. "When have we ever been real friends?"

Dad touched her gently on the arm. "Penny," he said, "it's a new world. We have to set an example."

Penny. He called her Penny! Things really were back to normal. Better than normal!

"Just like that?" asked Mom. "After everything?"

Dad nodded. "Look at all we have to be grateful for. Let's start again."

Mom turned to Mr. Beeston.

"Very well." Mom sighed. "We'll try. As long as you remember that you have to be loyal to us too now."

"I will," Mr. Beeston simpered. "I will. Thank you. Thank you." Then he gave me one last lopsided smile. "No hard feelings, eh?" he said, reaching out to ruffle my hair.

I stiffened, dodging his hand. "Mm," I said. I wasn't ready to forgive and forget yet.

"Emily," Dad said firmly.

"OK. Whatever."

And then the strangest thing happened. We looked at each other, me and Mr. Beeston. And for the first time in my life, I felt that we really saw each other a" saw, heard, and understood each other. I saw someone like me. Desperate to fit in, to please, to belong. That was all he wanted underneath his creepy, sneaky ways. And when he smiled at me, I didn't recoil and squirm and think about his crooked teeth and his odd eyes. I found myself smiling back. "Yeah," I said. "No hard feelings."

"That's a good girl," he said.

"Beeston!" Neptune called again, and Mr. Beeston swam off to join him in his chariot. As the dolphins pulled them along, the moonlight lit a trail ahead of them.

In the silence of the night, I could hear Neptune's voice as they sailed away. "I forgive you," he called to the sky. "I forgive you, Aurora."

As his words echoed through the night, Dad pointed up into the sky. "Look at that," he said. I wouldn't have thought it possible if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. The moonlight sparkled on the sea and lit up the raindrops that kept falling. In the distance, the castle stood dark and solid. But the mist had completely cleared. In its place, framing it with a perfect arc, every color bright and clear, was a rainbow.

"Just go through it once more," Millie said, blinking around at us all on the front deck. Aaron's mom was sitting on the front benches with her and Mom. She looked just like Aaron, thin and pale, with jet-black hair. She hadn't said much since she'd joined us, but she'd smiled a lot a" a great wide smile that infected everyone around her, just like Aaron's now.

Dad leaned over a rail along the side of the boat. Aaron was in the water with me and Shona.

The sky was pale blue, wispy clouds floating lazily across it, each one tinged with pink edges. Millie had only just woken up. None of the rest of us had been asleep at all. How could we have slept on a night like this?

Mom laughed as she handed Millie a cup of tea. "We've told you the story three times now!"

"Yes, but I still don't believe it!" Millie replied, closing her eyes in ecstasy as she sipped her tea.

"Nor do we," Dad said, smiling at Mom as he reached for her hand. The rings shone on their fingers. "But it's true."

Millie took another gulp from her cup.

"We can go anywhere we like," Mom said. "We don't need to hide what we are." Then she glanced at Shona. "Of course, we'll go back to Allpoints Island first. These last few days I've realized how much everyone there cares about us." She smiled at me. "And I've realized a lot about what really matters to me. We may even stay there for good if we want to."

"Swishy!" Shona and I shouted in unison.

"Can we go too, Mother?" Aaron asked.

"I don't see why not," his mom replied with a laugh.

"Of course you're coming too," Mom said, linking her arm. "We're not letting you go that easily."

"And if we ever get bored with Allpoints Island, we'll move somewhere else. Anywhere we like," Dad said, his eyes s.h.i.+ning with excitement.

"And if we don't, we'll just take lots of vacations." Mom smiled.

"We'll visit every country, every land, every sea," Dad went on. "We'll show the whole world they can get along in harmony like us!"

"We will, darling," Mom said, smiling back at him. "And maybe we'll even bring a tutor along with us so Emily doesn't miss out on school."

"Perfect!" Dad said. "She'll come back from her travels and still get top grades in s.h.i.+pwrecks and Sand Dunes."

Mom's face tightened. "I was thinking more of math and spelling, Jake."

"I'll get her a new hairbrush, a whole set of hairbrushes, and an ocean chart so she can recognize all the fish in the sea."

"Or a ruler and a dictionary," Mom insisted.

"Oh, you two." Millie sighed. "You're not at it again, are you?"

Mom and Dad looked at each other and burst out laughing. "OK," Dad said. "Maybe changing the world is a bit ambitious just now."

"We'll start small," Mom said, reaching for his hand.

Dad kissed her palm. "Lead by example," he said. "No arguing."

"Never," Mom agreed.