Don't Tell Him I'm a Mermaid. Laura Steven

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      ‘OMG, have you guys heard about the new kids?’ Briony asked. She had a very high voice, like a chipmunk. ‘There’s like, some new kids apparently.’

      ‘No way!’ Ada said. Her amazement was genuine. This hardly ever happened. SPLUM was tiny, Little Marmouth was tiny, and nobody in their right mind ever moved there unless they had big dreams of becoming a chip-shop mogul and ending the Seabrooks’ decades-long reign over the town’s fast-food scene.

      ‘Yep,’ Jenna said, nodding so hard her topknot came loose. ‘Twins – a boy and a girl. Really, really fit, apparently. Like, super-hot in a totally fit way.’

      ‘And kind of like, mysterious?’ Briony said. ‘That’s what I heard, anyway.’

      Despite the inward eye-roll at Jenna and Briony’s inane commentary, Molly couldn’t help feeling a little bit excited. What if the girl was cool enough to rob Felicity of her queen-bee status? What if the boy was Molly’s future husband? Maybe they could double date with Penalty and Ada.

      ‘They are real,’ Felicity confirmed conspiratorially. ‘Finn and Serena Waverley. Quite cool in like, an obvious and completely unoriginal way. But everyone’s obsessed with them.’ She sounded rather bitter at this last part. ‘Oh, there they are now!’

      The volume in the cafeteria dropped about a hundred decibels as the twins walked in. Everyone with necks turned to look.

      Finn and Serena Waverley were both blond, tall and high-cheekboned – vaguely Viking-looking, Molly thought. They strutted into the cafeteria with chins tilted high and charismatic grins on their symmetrical features.

      To be fair to Jenna, they were like, super-hot in a totally fit way.

      ‘Fetch me my longboat,’ Molly whispered to Ada across the table, ‘for I am adrift on their tide.’

      ‘What?’ Ada said.

      ‘Vikings,’ Molly explained, not really explaining anything at all.

CHAPTER THREE

       I Didn’t Know There Was a Meire in West Lothian

      Myla’s bedroom was right at the top of Kittiwake Keep. She liked the quiet for studying, but a few weeks ago, she’d admitted to Molly that she sometimes felt hurt that nobody went to visit her up there. Molly had been making more effort ever since, bringing Myla cups of milky tea and asking what subject she was revising, even though she understood precisely none of the answers.

      Considering how sensible she was, Myla was surprisingly messy. Tonight her bed was covered in wrinkled clothes, dog-eared textbooks and random pieces of half-eaten toast. Molly tried to clear a small corner of duvet to perch on. As she did, something tiny and furry scurried out from under a navy school sweater.

      Molly screamed at the top of her lungs. ‘A rat! A rat! It’s after your toast!’

      Myla laughed and scooped the little grey furball up from its terrified spot on the wooden floor. ‘It’s a rabbit. She’s called Boudicca.’

      ‘Right,’ said Molly after a moment. ‘Of course. Boudicca. I . . . where did Boudicca come from, exactly?’

      ‘She was queen of the Iceni people of East Anglia.’

      Molly fought with all her might, but her eyes rolled regardless. ‘I meant rabbit Boudicca.’

      ‘Ah, yes. I should’ve deduced that from context,’ Myla said in her very best Sherlock voice.

      ‘Don’t beat yourself up,’ Molly muttered. ‘Not everyone can be as intelligent as me.’

      ‘Rabbit Boudicca is a rescue. I adopted her two months ago. Nobody has noticed yet.’

      Molly gaped at her. ‘But I’ve been in your room loads in the last two months!’

      ‘You never were that observant. Honestly, I’m surprised you didn’t notice the smell.’

      ‘I did. I just thought you were too busy studying to wash your hair.’

      Myla smirked, stroking Boudicca absent-mindedly. ‘That too.’

      With no subtle way to segue into what she really wanted to talk about, Molly plonked herself down – watching out for any other rogue mammals nesting in the chaos – and said, ‘Do you ever study Meire?’

      ‘Meire?’ Myla blinked. ‘The mermaid queendom?’

      ‘No, Myla. Meire in West Lothian.’

      Myla frowned. ‘How interesting. I didn’t know there was a Meire in West Lothian.’

      Molly snorted. ‘Myla.’

      ‘Oh. It’s that sarcasm thing you do.’

      ‘Yes. I am famously the only person in the world to use sarcasm.’

      Myla peered disapprovingly over her thick-rimmed glasses. Boudicca purred in her lap. ‘I read about Meire a lot. The books beneath the trapdoor are an endless source of knowledge.’

      There was an ancient library hidden below the lighthouse, underneath the broken dishwasher. Molly remembered running a finger over those dusty tomes as though it were yesterday, although it hadn’t occurred to her to revisit them. She was no good at reading long, complicated things.

      Plucking at some stray crumbs on the bedsheets, Molly mumbled, ‘Maybe . . . maybe we could talk about Meire sometime. I’m not good at reading, but I’d love for you to teach me some cool stuff.’

      Myla grinned then, as though all her nerdy dreams had come true at once. ‘I can do more than teach you about Meire. I can show you.’

      Heart skipping a beat, Molly asked, ‘What?’

      ‘I’ve found a place. A little shelf of seabed from which you can just make out Balaena, the old capital of Meire.’ Eyes glittering with a kind of mischief Molly had never seen in her big sister, Myla added, ‘I have a special underwater telescope which was passed down by our ancestors.’

      Molly’s chest was pounding with excitement now. ‘But won’t we get in trouble? Mum doesn’t like us going in the sea. And you of all people hate breaking the rules.’

      Then it was Myla’s turn to roll her eyes. ‘I’m smart, Mol, not a goody-goody. That’s Melissa. In fact, my curiosity often wreaks havoc with my moral compass. I’m happy to bend the rules if it means discovering something new.’

      Molly beamed. ‘You know, I really like you, Myla.’

      ‘I like you too, kid. So what do you say? Meire at midnight?’

CHAPTER FOUR

       Not the Kind of Place You Want to Go on Your Jollies

      Melissa, Molly’s older sister and pedantic roommate, did not like to be left out of Mermaid Fun. She had a rota of mermaid activities that she regularly referred to, including Margot’s Clamdunk matches and family card nights playing Snapfish, the mermaid card game. Molly suspected that if Melissa discovered she was missing out on an impromptu trip to the sea, she would not be all that happy. And yet Molly could really do without the incessant rules and lecturing. She just wanted to enjoy the outing without being reminded every forty seconds about seaweed safety procedure.

      Melissa