Dessert managed to distract me, at least temporarily.
“Let’s hear it for Delphine!” cried Zadie, and we gave her a standing ovation as she circled the table with a tea cart, showing off the enormous mermaid cake she’d made for us. The mermaid’s tail sported sparkly scales, and I figured her curly hair—made of red licorice laces—had to be inspired by Sirena. Fondant seashells coated in edible glitter lined the edge of the platter.
“I can’t believe you made all those decorations from frosting!” said Cha Cha, and Delphine nodded modestly.
There was a longer-than-usual siesta after lunch, to give us time for naps and to make one last trip to the Brewster Store for souvenirs and to finish packing.
“I’m going to miss being a mermaid,” Jasmine lamented as she folded a T-shirt and put it in her suitcase.
My cousin sighed. “Me too.”
“At least we have our tails to bring home with us,” said Cha Cha. “Maybe we can all get together for a swim next time you’re in Pumpkin Falls, Mackenzie.”
I wouldn’t be going home with a tail—at least not one I could swim in. The shimmertail was only a loaner. I was tempted to throw away the stupid too-short reject I’d started out with, but then I remembered how much Aunt Louise had spent on it, and I stuffed it into my suitcase instead. Pippa would be thrilled to have the hand-me-down.
When the gong sounded again—“The last one!” Mackenzie said mournfully—we gathered back at Mermaid Crossing. There was a light meal of tuna fish sandwiches, chips, and fruit waiting for us, but Sirena was right, we were all too nervous to eat.
“Don’t worry, this happens every session,” she consoled us. “Delphine will pack everything up for you to take along on the ride home. You’ll be starving after the revue.”
I glanced up at the clock on the wall. Sixty minutes from now, I would be making a complete fool of myself in front of a bunch of strangers. The butterflies, which had been largely quiet since lunchtime, began to stir.
All too soon it was time to head down to the pool, where people were already starting to show up. Word had gotten out, thanks to Carson Dawson and Hello, Boston!
“Into the cabana, mermaids!” said Sirena. “Your tails and costumes are waiting. Delphine will be along shortly to help with makeup.”
We crowded inside. Our tails were hanging on a row of hooks that lined the small shed, each one marked with a tag that had our mermaid name on it. Our swimsuit tops and bling were neatly piled on the benches below. I sat down under the hook labeled GRANIA and took a deep breath. There was no going back now.
“Oooo!” squealed Hayden a few minutes later, peeking out the window beside me. “Channel Five is here!”
The other mermaids wiggled over and crowded around us, and we all craned to see. Sure enough, Carson Dawson and his cameraman were just getting out of the news truck. The butterflies in my stomach were rocking and rolling now.
The Channel Five team weren’t the only familiar faces to show up, though.
“Hey!” exclaimed Cha Cha, as the Abramowitz’s SUV pulled in beside the news truck. “My family’s here!”
We watched as her parents and little brother emerged.
“They brought my parents—and my brother!” said Jasmine.
My heart sank. I was going to have to perform in front of Scooter Sanchez?
That wasn’t the worst of it, though. There was one more passenger in the SUV.
“I am not going out there in this thing in front of Calhoun! ” I sputtered, clutching my clamshell bra to my chest and crouching down below the windowsill. The butterflies were legit stampeding now.
“You’re the queen,” said Hayden. “You have to, or you’ll ruin the show, and the rest of us will look stupid.”
You already look stupid, I was tempted to reply, but didn’t. Not with Delphine standing right beside us. I just glared at her instead.
When it was my turn for what Delphine called the “glam chair,” I sat quietly as she swiped bright red lipstick—a nod to Esther Williams—onto my lips. I didn’t flinch as she brushed glitter onto my cheeks and eyelids, and onto the strands of fake seaweed she wove into my hair. But when she reached for the can of glitter spray to give me one final spritz, I pulled away. “I’ll blind everybody when the lights go up!”
Delphine laughed. “Nonsense. Mermaids love glitter, and so do our audiences.”
“Bling too, right?” I said with a reluctant smile, rattling the sparkly necklaces I was wearing. I was loaded with enough of them to send me straight to the bottom of the pool. We all were, I thought, looking around.
Some of the others had even decorated their bikini tops. Hayden and her mother had added plastic pearls to theirs to match their pearly tails, and the high school girls must have spent hours hot-gluing sequins and tiny shells onto theirs.
“Tiara time!” Delphine told me.
I sighed. “Are you sure I need to wear that thing?”
“Quit complaining, Queen Grania! You’re going to look very regal.”
I didn’t feel regal at all. I felt like an idiot.
Hayden watched as Delphine pinned the glittering ornament to my hair. I’d caught her practicing my routine a couple of times this week when nobody was looking, and I was pretty sure she was hoping for a last-minute chance to switch places. Not if I have anything to say about it, I thought. Not even if it meant abandoning stealth mode. I didn’t intend to give her the satisfaction.
“Truly!” Mackenzie grabbed my arm and pointed out the window.
“What?” I leaned over to take a look, then gave a little yelp of surprise.
My parents had come for the performance too! And not only my parents but also the rest of the Magnificent Seven—Hatcher and Danny and both of my sisters, who must have been sprung from camp for the occasion. As they took their seats, another
