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The look on Kai’s face was a mixture of fear and disgust as he watched Marshmallow with the chew bone.
“That bone should keep him busy,” I said. “Sorry. He was being so good; I thought I could let him loose for a while.”
I felt bad about my dog’s behavior, though I was also surprised by his reaction to Kai. Marshmallow hadn’t attacked him at Bishop’s Creek. I was already suspicious given the Perlnaut’s sudden ability to read human text. I wondered whether he was an impostor that just happened to look like Kai.
“Anyway, let’s see what you brought to show me,” I said.
He lifted what looked like a pile of flat stones. Grinning, he motioned for me to follow him into the water. I slipped on my goggles and snorkel, and jumped in.
Kai smiled and gestured for me to move closer to him.
“There wasn’t always animosity between Perlnauts and humans,” he said. “At one time, some of our ancestors—ancient ones—could take human form.”
He showed me the etchings on the top stone. I followed his fingertips, though none of the symbols made sense to me.
“The Lake Maiden,” he said, pointing to the first line of symbols. “That’s what this story is about.”
He turned to the next tablet. In addition to the symbols, there was a drawing of a tiny mermaid, except she had only half a tail fin. Where the other half should have been, there was a leg and a foot. The mermaid had one arm outstretched. Her palm was filled with small round objects, possibly freshwater pearls. A clam shell hung from a chain around her neck.
Kai smoothed his hand over the surface of the tablet, and then read:
Having found no Perlnaut mate to claim her heart, Lorelei set her sights beyond the sea.
She raised her head above the water and breathed in the dry air. A human was working on the land, gathering food for his people. She admired his strength, as well as his ability to walk on two legs.
She called to him, but to her great surprise found that her voice did not carry above the water. The man continued his work, his face flushed red from the heat and sun. Beads of water dropped from his forehead and nose.
Lorelei wanted to help the man, but she could not walk on the land, and was unable to use her beautiful voice to draw his attention. She longed to sing to him—to ask him to join her for a swim in the water.
(The story was certainly poetic. I wondered whether this was something that actually happened in the Perlnaut world, or if it was a metaphor for something else.)
Each morning afterward, Lorelei rose above the water and watched the man, hopeful that some day he would find her there. She swam and splashed, trying to attract his attention, but to no avail. The man, taking no notice of her, continued his work. She repeated her attempts, anyway. Until one day, when the man did not return.
Lorelei mourned his absence. Though they had never locked eyes or exchanged words, she knew she was meant to meet the man. And yet, she was not sure how that could be. She decided that if he resisted the water, then she must join him on the land.
She dressed herself in a gown of moss and petals, woven with threads of silk. And then adorned her neck with a clam shell filled with L’even pearls.
(My fingertips dug into my palms. It took everything I had to let Kai continue with the story—to not jump up to the surface and ask questions.)
Drawing on the power and strength of the L’even pearls, she transformed. Her tail fins became legs, and her voice sounded through the air. She followed the path through the grove of ficus trees she had seen the man disappear through each day. And then won him over with her song.
Instead of turning to the next tablet, Kai stopped.
“The rest are a collection of notes and interpretations of the text,” he said. “In summary, Perlnaut abilities followed the maternal side and were passed on if she bore a daughter. Once her Perlnaut abilities completely faded, the younger progeny’s abilities would begin. Sometimes they would overlap.”
My eyes widened. An eerie feeling crawled across my neck and arms. I drew in a breath through the snorkel and exhaled through my nose, releasing air bubbles into the water. Kai had said the title of the story was The Lake Maiden. The name of the jewelry store popped into my mind: Treasures of the Lake Maiden. Had Grandma known about this?
“And if said progeny wishes,” Kai continued, “she may use her abilities and the power of the L’even pearls to transform.”
I lifted my head above the water.
“You mean to turn back from a human into a Perlnaut?” I sputtered around the snorkel’s mouthpiece. Then I quickly ducked below the surface, eager to hear his answer.
“Yes,” he said. “In that form, the then-existing maiden will return to the lake.”
I pointed up. He followed.
“But...how?” I said.
Kai paused a moment. He seemed to consider my question carefully before descending this time.
“It would be similar to how I can transform to navigate thin tunnels of water and pipes,” he said.
Like how Kai had been able to travel to the creek, and how whoever this Perlnaut was had shown up in Pap’s toilet.
And also how the Lake Maiden must have transformed into a human being to begin with.
***
DURING MY DRIVE HOME, I thought about the story Kai, or rather Impostor-Kai, read to me. After telling me more about The Lake Maiden, he’d started going on about all the human books he’d read and the poets he admired. I grew bored, and was grateful when Marshmallow began fussing and barking again. I told the impostor that we had to leave.
I knew none of what he was saying about being literate in human works was true. Before traveling to Bishop’s Creek, Kai hadn’t been able to read the note I’d left him. He couldn’t even read what was printed on a box of fish sticks. Why would he suddenly make up lies to try to impress me?
I shook my head. There was no way the Perlnaut I’d met with was Kai. Given his knowledge of the kingdom, he seemed to be someone who’d been close with Kai and his family. But who? If he was ruling and pretending to be Kai, then where was Kai? I needed to know whether the Perlnauts’ true ruler was alive or dead.
Before I’d left the lake, I’d agreed to meet there again the following weekend. I planned to show up way earlier than the impostor expected. I had to find the real Kai, even if that meant searching the underwater kingdom. If he was alive, I hoped it wasn’t too late to help him.
I twisted around the corner onto my street, turning again once I reached my driveway.
***
I SET TWO STEAMING mugs of tea onto the kitchen table and flopped into an empty chair.
“I think something’s wrong with Kai.”
Mom looked over her glasses at me and set down her book. “How do you mean?”
“He’s been acting differently since he left the creek. He seemed awkward at first, but the more I talk to him, the more I feel like something is seriously wrong.”
“Do you think he got sick?”
“I don’t know. He expected to be weakened by the return trip. As we saw when we visited him with Pap, he physically looks okay.”
In fact, his looks were identical, but it was like he was a different person.
“Hazel, you’re making a funny face. What is it?”
My voice dropped to a whisper. “Mom, what if I’ve been meeting with an impostor since Kai left Bishop’s Creek?”
She frowned. “What makes you suspect that?”
“Kai never would have shown up at Pap’s house uninvited.” I pressed on my fingers as I made each point. “He’s gotten way too mushy with me, way too fast. The Kai I knew wasn’t able to read, but his impostor does.”
Shivers trailed across my shoulders. “If I’ve been meeting with an impostor, then what happened to Kai?”
Mom shrugged. “I’m still getting used to the whole idea of there being creatures such as the Perlnauts.”
“Someone needs to go back to the lake and find him.” I wrapped my head in my hands. “And I’m beginning to think that person is me.”
“Why you? What difference would it make?”
“During this last visit, whoever that Perlnaut was told me the strangest story.”
I repeated the tale of The Lake Maiden as best as I could remember it. Mom’s face reflected a multitude of emotions—from doubtful to stricken to stunned. She swallowed, and then stared at me as if she had no idea what to say.
“Mom, this might explain why Grandma was so obsessed with collecting and owning the pearl jewelry. She wanted you, and any female descendants in her direct line, to be protected.”
“Are you saying my mother was this Lake Maiden?”
“No. The story—the tablets I saw—seemed too ancient. But given all the strangeness surrounding the pearls’ response to you and me, I’m certain Grandma was in the direct line of Lake Maiden descendants, right before us.”
“The pearls’ response to...you?”
Whoops. I hadn’t told her about that part. I wasn’t sure how much Mom needed to hear about my underwater breathing incident at school. I’d given her enough to worry about already.
“Yes,” I said, attempting to keep my explanation short and simple. “The L’even pearls on the bracelet glowed for me, without you or any of the Perlnauts being nearby.”
Mom slowly exhaled. “If the pearls glowed for you, does that mean you were in danger?”
I frowned. I knew Mom would think searching for Kai would be too dangerous for me. Unless I could convince her that I could breathe underwater.