Adrenaline coursed through Riley’s veins and her heart thumped wildly in her chest as she bounced on the balls of her feet. Her lip was split and the coppery acidic taste was thick on her tongue, but a twisted grin warped her features and her brows were furrowed with concentration. She had a moral rule for herself that she could never throw the first hit or purposefully incite an unwarranted attack, but once someone swung at her, anything was fair game. Jeremy Fletcher had surprised her with how quickly his temper had flared and she had failed to dodge in time. Her split lip was the consequence of getting clipped, but she fully intended to even the score.
Jeremy was quite a bit taller than her, with broad shoulders and poorly shaved stubble on his chin. His dark gaze gleamed manically as he lunged for her again, but Riley was ready this time and she ducked under the wild swing and retaliated with a jab to his gut hard enough it made her knuckles burn.
The sting was worth it to hear Jeremy choke. It served him right. He was a senior and a grade above her, but he had a penchant for bullying younger students. Really, anyone who couldn’t fight back was fair game to Jeremy. Riley was equally prone to stepping in, and this was not the first time their standoffs had become physical.
Jeremy recovered quickly from her blow and swung at her again. She managed to dodge the blow, but couldn’t get out of the way when his other hand came around and caught her in an open-palm blow across the side of her face. Riley stumbled with a wince and it gave Jeremy time to grab her by her ponytail and yank. Tears burned instinctively in her eyes as he tugged on the follicles. “You should just learn to shut up and mind your own business,” Jeremy hissed.
Riley growled and drove her elbow into his groin. When Jeremy grunted and hunched, she reached behind and grabbed him by the back of the shirt before tucking her shoulder and flinging him to the ground. He still had ahold of her hair and it burned fiercely. She winced as he pulled her head down by it and was unable to pull away as he punched wildly at her jaw. It clacked her teeth together and momentarily scrambled her vision. Pain seared through her mouth as her teeth clipped her tongue and she really tasted blood as it began to fill her mouth. She groaned and drove the heel of her shoe into his face.
It was a cheap shot, but so was pulling hair in her book, and it worked because he let go with a cry as his nose crunched under her foot. Unfortunately, that was the same moment that a teacher finally reached them, attracted by all the commotion, and got to see her particularly violent stomp.
Blood gushed from Jeremy’s nose and he howled obscenities at her as he covered his nose with his hands.
Riley was still shaking off his last blow when someone grabbed her arm and yanked her backwards. She spun to find herself staring into the furious face of her mathematics professor, who gave her a firm shove away from Jeremy. “Last straw, Riley. Office. Now,” the teacher barked.
Riley grimaced and spat a bloody wad into the grass. She had been sloppy today and was going to be sore because of it.
One of the other students stepped forward and gestured at the scene. “Mr. Braidy, Riley was just defending herself. Jeremy swung first. He was harassing Jenna and I, and Riley stepped in to tell him off when he attacked her. She shouldn’t get into trouble,” she protested.
Mr. Braidy held up a hand. “Be that as it may, the school does not condone violence or excessive force, and this isn’t the first time.” He turned and gestured to two of the other boys lurking in the area. “Nick, Jackson, help Jeremy down to the nursing station to see about that nose. You’re both excused from the start of next period to see that he’s brought to the office afterwards,” he instructed. Once he was certain his instructions were being followed, he turned back to Riley, who met his gaze evenly. He gestured towards the school building. “I suggest you get a move on,” he warned.
Riley swiped at some of the blood dribbling down her chin and then stuffed her hands into the pocket of her hoodie. It was not worth the argument, so she turned and began walking back towards the doors.
She didn’t know the two girls she stood up for – not that she needed to – but they both scurried after her, thanking her and protesting Mr. Braidy’s verdict.
Finally, Riley waved them away with a sigh. “Do not get in trouble too,” she urged. It was partially true, but she also just did not feel like an audience right now. Thankfully, the two freshmen got the hint and scurried off. Riley sighed again. Mr. Braidy was hot on her heels as she made her way back inside.
“Your face is swelling up,” the teacher commented as they walked.
“I’m fine,” Riley muttered.
He hummed in the back of his throat. “Wait here.” They were passing by the nursing station as he said it, and Riley reluctantly planted her feet to the floor as he disappeared inside. She reached up and pulled her elastic from her hair. Jeremy had pulled the tail halfway undone already anyway. She combed her fingers through the blonde locks a few times and then left them hanging freely over her shoulders.
When Mr. Braidy returned, he was holding a sandwich baggie filled with ice and he passed it off to her. Riley reluctantly accepted it but winced as the cold made her face sting more. She would not be surprised if she got a black eye from the tussle. Oh well.
“Did you have to break his nose?” Mr. Braidy pressed as they neared the office doors. “I could have used you on the team for the Math Olympics next month.”
Riley snorted. “Jeremy Fletcher is a brute and he deserved what he got,” she hissed.
Mr. Braidy pursed his lips. “Yes, well, it’s a shame regardless. Sit there,” he instructed as he nodded to a triple set of plastic chairs along the wall. “You’re still a minor, the school will have to call your parents.”
Riley dropped down into one of the seats and crossed her legs at the knee. She pointedly avoided the teacher’s gaze as he disappeared into the office to make the report.
She picked at her fingernails as she waited in relative silence. Classes changed over and the halls grew busy for a few minutes before becoming a ghost town once more. She grimaced as she thought of the phone conversation likely occurring on her behalf right now. Riley despised that the incident was going to drag her mother down here. She hated disappointing Sophie.
Her thoughts drifted to her adoptive parents. Sophie Brooks and her husband, Lewis Patter, had taken Riley in when she was younger and she would never be more grateful to anyone in her life. When she was five years old, Riley had been removed from the custody of her birth parents and placed in foster home after foster home. Nothing ever stuck because she had a penchant for running away. She had hated each place and each place had seemed worse than the last. But a child that young, unattended, never went unnoticed for long, so it was a vicious cycle for nearly two years. Even then, Riley had imagined that was how things would always be. That was until she met Sophie and Lewis.
She had been on the cusp of her seventh birthday and had managed to avoid social services for almost three days when hurricane-like weather had struck. There had been a garage left open that she had huddled up in to get out of the rain, and that was where Sophie had found her.
She didn’t remember the initial event very well now, but she knew that Sophie had required no explanation to bring her inside and treat her to a warm meal. She’d called social services, but the weather delayed them until morning. And that one night had been all it took. Riley had never warmed up to people before because her past had taught her not to trust and that love came at a steep price. But Sophie and Lewis shared it so unconditionally that Riley had latched to them and the social worker had needed to drag her kicking and screaming out the door.
Thankfully, the agent had known enough about Riley’s situation to recognize that she had found her people and know that was it, and he worked many long hours to ensure Riley ended up placed with them again. Her mom and dad had fostered her for two more years before the adoption was finalized.
Her life was a lot better now. She had grown up with a thirst for knowledge and a knack for athletics – though she preferred solo sports to team sports – and her parents encouraged her with both. She wasn’t very good socially, and tended to feel awkward around people, but was happy in her bubble.
Riley ran a hand through her hair and glanced at the clock on the wall. She had been sitting there for nearly twenty minutes now, so it was no surprise that the next set of footsteps she heard belonged to her mother. Riley chewed her lip and averted her gaze as Sophie came and took a seat beside her.
Her curly red hair was pulled back off her face and she was wearing work clothes. It made Riley’s spirits sink further.
“Are you hurt?” her mother checked. Riley winced as her mother’s hand brushed the tender side of her face. The ice pack had begun to melt, so Riley had set it aside. Now she wondered if she should pick it up again.
“I am fine,” Riley replied.
A moment of silence passed between them before Sophie laid her hand on Riley’s back. “I’m going to go talk to the principal, okay? See what’s going on. Are you going to be alright for a few minutes?”
“I don’t really have much choice,” Riley muttered.
Sophie hummed and patted her back a few times before she stood up and made her way into the office. Riley stared after her and watched through the glass as her mother shook the principal’s hand and disappeared out of sight.
More footsteps drew her attention and Riley’s pale blue eyes narrowed as she watched Jeremy come up the hall. He was still flanked by his escorts and his nose had been wrapped obnoxiously with cotton wads and gauze. He was glowering at her the entire approach but then he disappeared into the office without a word.
As the other two boys walked away, Riley found herself alone once more to twiddle her thumbs. Jeremy was a tool with a terrible temper and she did not like that he was in the same close quarters as her mother now, but there was not much she could do except sit and wait.
A few minutes later and shouting could be heard from the office, then the door flew back open and Jeremy came storming over with a red, blood-engorged face. He was waving a finger at her and spittle flew from his lips as he began to shout. “Are you happy now? You should have just minded your own bloody business, Riley. I swear I’ll-”
“Mr. Fletcher!”
Riley’s fingers had curled into fists and she had braced herself for another brawl when the principal had appeared in the doorway. The woman had short black hair and blue eyes and was always seen wearing a pantsuit, but despite her shorter stature, her tone carried absolute authority.
“I suggest you move along.”
The warning was final and Jeremy growled at both women in the doorway. He turned to walk away, but not before aggressively giving Sophie the finger.
Riley pushed herself to her feet, but before she could say anything after him, her mother cleared her throat. “It’s okay, Riley. Come on,” Sophie urged.
Riley stared after Jeremy for a few seconds longer before reluctantly caving and following them both into the office, where she sat in a chair next to Sophie and across the desk from her principal.
The woman sighed and tapped a pen against the desk. “Would you care to explain to me why I keep hearing about you getting into physical altercations with other students?”
“I did not start it,” Riley replied.
“Yes. Conveniently, you never seem to start the fights, only instigate them.”
Riley shook her head. “I did not instigate a fight either. I stood up for a couple of freshmen being harassed by a jerk. Jeremy Fletcher-”
“Has been dealt with,” her principal interrupted. “This meeting is about you, Riley. I don’t really care who threw the first punch, I take issue with the fact that every time there’s a scrap on my campus, you seem to be involved. Your actions are the ones I take issue with right now.”
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“Hang on,” Sophie protested. “I’m not saying I condone Riley getting into fights either, but I hope you’re not suggesting that defending herself is wrong.”
“I’m suggesting that there’s a difference between defending herself and using excessive force. There is very little tolerance for violence at this school, Mrs. Brooks. If your daughter cannot respect that, perhaps this is not the institution she should be attending.”
Riley leaned forward in her seat and scowled. “He hit me in the face three times! Had me by the hair. Damn right, I broke his nose, he would not let go. What was I supposed to do?”
“Not get involved in the first place,” Principal Peters responded. “Riley, if this were simply a self-defence matter, we would not be having this conversation. But this is not the first, or even the second or third altercation that you have been involved in within the last several months. I am glad that, as a young lady, you have the means of defending yourself, but I cannot allow this sort of behaviour to continue and quite frankly, the only reason you have not been kicked out yet has been due to your exceptional academic record, but that will not protect you any longer. This is your final warning. If there’s one more incident, you will be expelled, am I understood?”
“Yes,” Riley sighed.
The principal hummed. “Good. Now go home. You are suspended for the rest of the week. Come back on Monday with a clear head on your shoulders or do not come back at all.”
Riley chewed her lip and looked away. She knew if she tried to say anything, it would likely land her in further trouble.
When she offered nothing up, her mother cleared her throat instead and rose from her seat. From the corner of her eye, Riley saw her mother’s hand extend across the desk to shake the principal’s. “I’m sorry about all the trouble,” Sophie apologized. “There won’t be any more issues.”
“See that there isn’t. You’re a good student, Riley, I’d hate to see you jeopardize your future.”
“Come on, Riley,” Sophie encouraged.
Riley was more than eager to be out of the office, so she quickly followed her mother out of the building and towards the parking lot.
Sophie did not say a word as they walked and Riley felt her heart sink. Worry gnawed at her gut as they approached her mother’s minivan. Riley climbed into the front passenger seat and buckled up while she waited for her mom to come around and get settled.
As soon as she had closed the door behind her, Sophie leaned across and brought a hand up. “Let me see,” she instructed. Riley reluctantly turned her face and remained still and silent as her mother prodded at her. “Who was this kid, exactly? He really did get you good.”
“Yeah, well, the first shot was a surprise, the second was luck, and he still had me by the hair when I flipped him, so I couldn’t do much to stop the third one. I was just…off, I guess,” Riley muttered. “He’s just some thug that likes to pick on the newer students. Most of them are coming out of middle school and don’t know how to handle themselves.”
Sophie hummed. “You broke his nose?”
Riley shrugged. “He wouldn’t let go, so I kicked him in the face.”
“Well, you’re definitely going to be bruised for a bit, but I don’t think it will be worse than that. Are you sure you’re alright? You’re not dizzy, no blurred vision? Any reason to see a doctor.”
“No.”
“Alright. Let’s just go home then.”
The radio came on low when her mom turned the key in the ignition, but Riley just twisted her body and leaned against the window. Neither of them spoke for a long time, until Riley saw her mother take a different turn than usual. Turning right would take them to the highway and have them home in minutes. This was the long way, usually reserved for serious conversations or avoiding home. Riley chewed her lip and guilt rose in her throat once more.
“I am sorry,” she caved finally, after a few minutes down the scenic backroads.
“For what?”
Riley swallowed the lump in her throat. “All of it. For getting in a fight, for getting in trouble, for them dragging you down to the school…I don’t like making you mad.”
“I’m not mad.”
“Disappointing you, then. Upsetting you, whatever,” Riley muttered.
Her mom reached over and squeezed her arm. “Riley, I’m not mad. I’m not upset, I’m not disappointed in you. I’m concerned, but I’m not mad.” There was another pause before her mom continued. “Riley, you stood up for others and you defended yourself, I can’t be disappointed in you for that, I’m proud of you. I think maybe you were a touch aggressive about it and that perhaps we should work on the in-and-out tactic of helping others walk away, but I am proud of you. You’ve never been the type to turn a blind eye to the needs of others and I would expect nothing less.”
Riley cracked half a smile and tears stung in her eyes. She shook her head to clear them and gestured out the window. “Then why are we going the long way?”
Sophie chuckled and rolled her eyes. “That obvious, huh? I’m not mad, but we do need to talk about this. Suspension is no small thing, Riley. I’m proud of you for standing up for what you believe in, but I’m concerned that the fighting is going to become a regular thing. Do I need to be concerned about that?”
“I-” Riley broke off, realizing she did not know exactly what to say. She had been getting into more fights lately.
Her mom sighed and fumbled for her hand. When Riley took it, her mom squeezed her fingers. “Just promise me that this will be the last one, okay? I’m not saying don’t defend yourself, but don’t go looking for a reason to need to. You’re fast and you’re capable, dodge and get away, okay? You don’t have to beat the other person to win a fight. Riley, you’re so smart and generous and you may be awkward about it, but you have such a big heart and concern for other people…I just…I don’t want you to risk your future with a bad reputation on your file. Right now, with your grades and your thirst for knowledge, you could go anywhere, do anything…as your mother…I have to be concerned when that’s put at risk, you know that.”
“I know,” Riley agreed. “I am sorry…I guess I just wanted an excuse to blow off steam. I hate when guys like Jeremy push others around for no reason. I…I was hoping he would swing at me.”
Sophie nodded and hummed in the back of her throat. “I’d like to swing at him,” she replied. “But sometimes it’s better and braver to avoid a conflict. Just…try for me, okay? If you want to switch schools, we can do that. If you just like the physical side of it, maybe a class, yeah? We could do it together. But no more schoolyard brawls, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Promise?”
“Yeah,” Riley sighed. “I promise.” She gazed back out the window. They were driving by the coast, and Riley found her gaze wandering over the shoreline instinctively. Her mom and dad ran a marine rescue sanctuary on the other side of town. They had an attached tourism park to help generate funds, but the primary focus had always been on rescuing and rehabilitating sick and injured wildlife. Riley had been on more than a few rescues with them, and with how stormy it had been the past few days, her gaze was trained on the sand for any signs of beachings.
It didn’t look like any porpoises had gotten stranded though, and Riley was just about to turn away when something caught her eye. Down by the rocks, where the beach met the taller cliffside, was a large tangle of netting and trash that had washed up. It was foul, but not uncommon as many of the ocean rocks there acted like a natural trap for the garbage that got washed up. But now, there seemed to be something else caught up in the mess, based on how the water was being stirred up. She squinted and could see a tail thrashing against the surface of the water.
“Mom, slow down,” she urged. “Do you see that? Looks like a dolphin or something got tangled up down by the rocks over there. Do you see it?”
Sophie was silent for a moment. “Yeah, I do. It’s too far to see what it is, but something’s agitated.”
“Can we pull over here?”
“Gimme a minute.”
They pulled into a secluded lot, but Sophie bumped up over the curb of it down onto the sand itself. This time of year, there were no turtle nests to worry about, so she drove them as close to the rocks as she could. “What in the world…” her mother mused.
Riley glanced back out the window as her mother made the comment. Whatever it was, it wasn’t thrashing much anymore. There was such a mess of tight netting, rope, and plastic that Riley could barely make out the body. But trailing in the water, flipping up every time the surf crashed against the creature, was a lavender purple fin. It looked like it belonged to a fish, with thick scaling up the side of the fishy membrane, but it was easily big enough to belong to a dolphin or pilot whale. She understood her mom’s confusion.
As soon as the car was stopped, Riley jumped out.
“Get the kit from the back,” her mom called. The trunk popped and Riley hurried around to riffle through until she found the kit her mom was referring to. It had all sorts of emergency tools for strandings, including blades for cutting through netting and wire. Riley snatched it up and hurried back around to where her mom had already made it to the surf.
She pulled up short beside her mom and could not help just staring for a moment. The netting had gotten wrapped around a few of the rocks, at least knee-deep out in the water, and the waves were buffeting the creature up against the hard surfaces. The bright purple fin was attached to a long tail, coated in dark amethyst scales. While the netting concealed most of the torso, one hand was trailing in the water, twisted the wrong way like the wrist was broken, and soft brown hair was a mess with seaweed and other gunk from the storm. The girl had her head twisted at an angle and her lips were parted like a fish out of water. The waves were pushing water into her mouth and it flowed back down from her lips with every shuddering gasp. It was…a mermaid? It couldn’t just be a girl in a costume, not with how the tail was moving. She looked almost entirely immobile, except for the fin, which was thrashing and twisting as best it could.
Riley shook herself. Girl or animal, she needed help. Riley kicked her shoes off and stepped into the water, and as soon as she did, her mom shook herself and followed her. “Be careful, Riley,” she warned. “Let's cut the netting loose and get back to shore. We can assess the situation better from there.”
“Are you going to call it in?” Riley asked.
Sophie pursed her lips and shook her head. “Best that we don’t until we have a better idea of what we’re dealing with.”
As they began to approach, the mermaid stiffened and her eyes narrowed. Her whole body heaved against the nets entangling her body as she thrashed, and her lips pulled back to reveal dangerously long fangs. A waterlogged hiss gurgled in her throat. Definitely not a human girl in a costume.
“Easy. Easy now, it’s alright,” Sophie murmured as she stepped a little deeper into the water. “Riley, get me the shears out of that kit, please.”
Riley stopped and fumbled with the zipper on the bag so she could fish out the pair of handheld shears. The steel glinted as she pulled them free and passed them over. The mermaid must have seen them because she spooked and began hissing and thrashing some more.
“Riley, maybe you should go back to shore; I don’t want you getting hurt.”
Riley shook her head and fished out a second, smaller pair of scissors. “You cannot cut the netting and get this back to shore by yourself,” she refused. Her bare toes sunk into the mucky sand and she walked into the water. She was up to her mid-thighs and her mom nearly to her waist by the time they reached the jutted rock the nets were wrapped around. Riley grabbed a fistful and began cutting through it as best she could while her mother hacked at the other side.
It took longer than Riley would have liked to get the netting free from the rock, but then they had to drag the mermaid towards the shore and the girl was no help whatsoever, thrashing and hissing. It was only managing to tangle her up more and by the time they got her beached, the mermaid was limp once more and her wheezing had gotten worse.
“Do you think she needs to breathe the water?” Riley checked.
“I don’t think she can breathe at all right now,” her mother replied. “Go around behind her so she can’t twist to bite. Work on anything wrapped around the neck, I’ll worry about the chest. It looked like she was trying to keep her head above the water earlier, but if her chest can’t expand, she’s going to suffocate.”
Riley nodded and carefully stepped over the aquatic victim. The wheezing was growing worse and the mermaid’s hazel eyes were wide and bloodshot, her jaw hanging slack as she panted.
There was blue twine and thick fishing line wrapped around her neck and shoulders, and it only grew worse down her body, where firmer wires and netting were tangled up. Riley shook her head and set to work. She snipped through the line where she could and gently tugged free anything loose. It had cut deep into the mermaid’s skin and ruby fluid oozed around her fingers as she worked. She glanced over at her mom to find Sophie working just as quickly but carefully as she could. The mermaid was pale now, and her breathing was growing weaker and shakier with each breath she tried to take. Riley grimaced and tried to quicken her pace.
When she finally peeled back the last piece around the throat, she hurried to help her mother. After a few more cuts, Sophie set the scissors aside, grabbed at the netting, and yanked. Several pieces pulled free and finally the mermaid’s chest could expand. She began to gasp and cough, and water flowed from her lips as she spat it into the sand. Her one arm was still hopelessly entangled and the blood flow was noticeably restricted, while the other arm hung limply. It was twisted wrong at both the elbow and the wrist, and Riley winced. It had to be painful.
“Keep cutting,” Sophie urged.
Now that she was breathing again, the mermaid was beginning to struggle more. She hissed and whined and chittered something in a language Riley had no hopes of understanding, and the bucking did not make trying to cut her arm free any easier.
She saw the syringe only a second before Sophie pushed it into the mermaid’s back, just below her neck. “Wait, what if she’s a conscious breather?!”
Sophie shook her head. “It’s not a sedative, just a painkiller. Hopefully, it’ll keep her calm.”
It took a few minutes, but the drugs had a noticeable effect because the mermaid was limp and breathing deeply while her eyes were rolled back and her jaw was slack. It made it a lot easier to work and by the end of the hour, they had cut away most of the netting, save a few particularly constricting pieces around the fin. The mermaid’s skin was littered with shallow, crisscrossing cuts from where the fishing line had dug into her flesh.
“We’ll need to get her back for treatment,” Sophie announced finally. “That arm does not look good and we’re going to need something better than field scissors to free that tail fluke without damaging it further.”
“Do you want me to get on with the rescue team?”
Sophie shook her head. “No, it’ll take too much time. Riley, I don’t know what this creature is, but if someone else shows up while we’re waiting and sees her…We should keep this quiet for now.”
Riley chewed her lip and nodded. “Do you think she will be alright out of the water that long?”
“She’s going to have to be. You come around to the tail. I would rather you be away from the teeth. I’ll need your help to lift her.”
Riley stared nervously at the mermaid. She really did need their help, but it was a concerning situation. Then she gritted her teeth and nodded. Here, wounded and covered in gunk and sand and trash, was someone who desperately needed help. Human or not, the creature was unnervingly person-like, and they could not just abandon her to die in the surf like this. “Alright,” she agreed after a breath. “I’ll go open the back door and come back, that way we don’t have to risk dropping her.”
“Good idea, go,” her mom urged.
Riley’s heart was thudding in her chest as she hastened to obey. Her mind was reeling at the fact that mermaids were real in the first place, but that would mean nothing if the living legend died there on the shoreline. They had to help her.