How to be a Mermaid: A Falling in Deep Collection Novella by Erin Hayes Page A

only mermaid who can help her is out in the trenches looking for a fire flower. It was a waste of time to bring her here. I have an impending war against the land dwellers, and the last thing I need is a panic over an intruder on my hands.”
    “Impending war?” I squeaked. “What?”
    Finn shot me another look. Before there could be any further discussion, however, a tiny seahorse, no bigger than the width of my finger swam the distance up to Oceanus’s ear, speaking to him in hushed tones so I couldn’t hear. The king paused, tilting his head to hear the little guy better. He reeled back in horror, thundering, “What? They’re here?”
    I heard the seahorse eep something like an apology as the clamshell doors to the throne room were thrown open. I shrank back, conscious that I was a stranger in a strange land. If more merfolk were coming in here, they would notice that I was different, and there might be trouble. My only saving grace was that Prince Finn had, so far, granted me his protection.
    Two dolphins came in, one of them the size of a killer whale, while the other one was more petite, yet still possessing an air of authority. An entourage of creatures came with them into the room, clownfish, snappers, crabs, eels, and more. By sheer luck, there were no merfolk in the group though. This was a decidedly different crowd than before.
    Finn put a protective arm across me, which told me all I needed to know. We were not in friendly company. He was tense, ready to bolt or fight if it came to it. And I’d be caught in the middle because I had no idea what the hell I was doing.
    “You!” the smaller dolphin shouted in my direction.
    At first, I thought she was talking to me, that I’d been discovered. Yet as the smaller dolphin—a female—swam towards us, it dawned on me that she was addressing Finn.
    “You said that you would bring him back!” the female dolphin cried shrilly, in hysterics. “You said that you would bring my son back!”
    Finn’s cheeks colored, the only indication that he was flustered. “Queen Nadia, I am doing everything I can at the moment.”
    “No!” she sobbed. “No you’re not. You wouldn’t be here otherwise! You would be trying to bring my Kai to me!”
    Kai’s parents. My heart broke for them and for Kai, knowing he was still in the isolation pool at the aquarium.
    The muscles in Finn’s jaw flexed and unclenched. “Rest assured, I am doing everything I can. The humans are smart, they’re keeping Kai too far from the ocean for him to jump their barriers. . We will need to have the fire flower potion ready for him.”
    “You’re putting the fate of our son in the Sea Witch’s hands?” the huge dolphin demanded. If I thought Oceanus’s voice boomed in the throne room, I was unprepared for this dolphin’s voice. It reverberated deep in my bones. The huge dolphin turned to Oceanus. “Need I remind you that my deadline still stands?”
    Deadline? Did that have to do with the impending war that Oceanus mentioned?
    “Levi,” Oceanus said, “I assure you, Kai will be back by sunset tomorrow.”
    The giant dolphin, King Levi, puffed up. Beside him, Queen Nadia sniffled, which fueled his anger. “I mean it, Oceanus. I don’t make threats lightly. My people are ready to take Kai back by force if we have to. We have the power of the deep sea creatures at our beck and call and the weather and waves of the oceans if it comes to it.”
    “Finn is the best protector Thalassa has ever had,” Oceanus explained. “He will bring back Prince Kai. You have my word.” He looked directly at Finn, who continued to stoically look forward.
    “We just want our son back,” Nadia said, her voice still shrill. I’d never seen a dolphin cry before, and I was responsible for Finn’s failed rescue attempt. I tried imagining what it was like for a mother to lose her child. While my mother was always a bit cold to me, Dad had always treated me like I was the center of his world. He made