“I’ll look into it for you,” Hazel blurted.
She blinked a few times. “L-Look into it?”
The witch shrugged, returning to her work as though nothing unusual had just happened. When she raised her head again, there was a smile on her lips, the casual amusement she normally wore instantly returning. “I pegged you as a half-witch from the start, child,” Hazel explained. “I’m sure those memories lead to your magical past. So, I’ll look into it.” She beamed, hands outstretched. “Free of charge!”
Maggie felt like her head was spinning. “T-That’s kind of you, Hazel. Thank you.”
As she turned around to take her leave, Maggie couldn’t help but feel as though there was something entirely wrong about the conversation. The witch seemed to know more than she was letting on, and Maggie could feel the inherent rope that bound them together. There was something there, and she wasn’t one to ignore signs like those. She reached the front door and grabbed the handle, determined to try and forget about it for the rest of the day – at least until the moon coral could be healed.
But, even then, as her hand turned over the knob, Maggie could’ve sworn she caught a glimpse of Hazel watching her as she left.
18
When Maggie and Peter returned to the moon coral, the Shadow Fungus had grown exponentially. The sickness crawled up from where it began, down by the roots and the sandy ocean floor, and ended up at the coral’s tips. The dark and sticky residue could be seen from yards away and above the surface, where the coral grew so tall that it poked through the water. The merpeople hung close to the inside of the cove as Maggie and Peter approached the coral. Only the King’s daughters, Coralyn and Selina, remained nearby, their eyes watching dutifully.
Maggie held the wide brimmed bottle in her hands. The pink liquid within was warm through the glass, the natural energy almost seeping into her own skin. Even without any contact, Maggie could sense how much the potion would help the coral. Its aura alone made her smile, no matter the circumstances.
Coralyn had asked her a slew of questions when they had arrived. She wanted to know everything that had happened, leading up to that very moment. It was a total surprise, but Maggie diligently listed out every detail she could remember. Peter chimed in to add whatever he felt was necessary, and Coralyn’s attention never once waned. She listened attentively,one hand resting thoughtfully against her chin. After their story was told, Coralyn was unmoving, her eyes shut as she considered the information.
Once she opened her eyes, the Princess moved with a determination no one had ever seen before. She dragged her sister along beside her, who was usually the one to be more on top of those sorts of things. But even after Coralyn described everything to her, Selina remained the opposition, acting as the one wall they never expected to face.
“How can you two be so sure it’ll work?” Selina asked for a third time since they arrived. She floated in front of the moon coral, nonchalantly blocking Maggie from pouring the potion over the sickened tentacle. Though she looked harmless, the Princess remained unmoveable to Maggie. “That potion could destroy the coral altogether, or harm the entire reef, for all we know!”
Maggie shook her head. “That won’t happen.”
“Like I said before,” Selina snapped, her lips pursed. “How can you be so sure?”
“Honestly, if you asked me that a few days ago, I’d tell you that I was lying,” she replied.
Selina’s eyes narrowed skeptically.
“But there’s a lot I’ve learned since then,” Maggie continued, her hold over the potion tightening. She suddenly became acutely aware of Peter’s presence beside her, his warmth beginning to spread onto her back.
“And what would that be?” the Princess asked in a sharp voice.
Maggie drew in a long, deep breath. There were many things that remained unsolved. Some part of her believed that it would be that way for the rest of her life, and it was meant to be that way. There were questions that she craved answers to, that she’d trade ancient artifacts to uncover. But just because thereweren’t any answers didn’t mean that they weren’t worth asking, and it certainly didn’t mean that they would be left unheard for forever. Hope was a pesky thing, but it lived in all things, whether it was Lost Boys, blue-eyed Kings, golden cats, or women who were just beginning to believe in themselves.
Hope was not a thing to be given; it was something to be earned. It came when it was needed, and it never arrived too late. Just because it might’ve been absent then didn’t mean that it would never show its face. Maggie reached behind her and slipped her fingers around Peter’s hand. He eagerly accepted the embrace, intertwining their fingers in the same, fluid motion. It felt like second nature, now.
“Sometimes there needs to be a period of darkness before you are capable of seeing the light,” Maggie said to the Princess. “A friend told me that recently, and I understand it now. The moon coral has been protected by you for so long, but you couldn’t prevent it from being hurt. No one can prevent everything, no matter how hard they try. And when things go wrong, we need help. Everyone does.” Maggie stepped forward. “Trust and hope is needed if you want it to be returned as it should be.”
Selina’s face was contorted in a pinched way. She stared relentlessly, her eyes flickering to the potion resting in Maggie’s hands. The hesitation was written across the mermaid’s face, though there was a crack in her armor. Beside her, Coralyn reached for her rosy colored sister, pinching her arm.
“Father would want us to try,” Coralyn murmured.
Selina’s expression softened. “He would.” The mermaid pushed the waves until she was on the other side of the moon coral, giving Maggie the room to wade closer to the infected coral. “Go on, human. The sea…she smiles on you.”
Maggie felt a heat rush to her cheeks as she swam forward. The eyes of the merpeople lingering nearby clung to her as sheapproached the moon coral. All who watched expected to see the beloved coral come back to life, to fill the cove with light once more, as the sun neared the horizon in the distance. If nothing were to happen, if it were to fail at the very last minute, Maggie wasn’t sure what she would do.
Uncorking the top of the glass bottle, Maggie shoved the cork in her pocket before letting the inky pink serum fall over the coral’s extended branch. The pink potion sunk into the branches, swallowing the black sickness the moment they touched. It spread until every last inch of the moon coral that was visible to the eye was freed from the Shadow Fungus. A brilliant glow already began to smolder at the organism's center. The light spread until the cove erupted in a sea of unstoppable light. Cheers erupted through the crowd as the merpeople sprang in and out of the waves. They soared through the air before crashing through the water another time, their excitement heard from even above the surface.
“It’s done,” Peter said, smiling proudly.
Maggie looked at the royal mermaids. “We kept our end of the bargain.”
Selina gathered a handful of merpeople. “Begin removing the blockade over the streams,” she commanded, pointing a finger toward the dam.
With Coralyn leading the way, the mermaids rushed to the dam, already pulling the layers of stone out from the hole. The water began to rush forward instantly, the stream picking up speed as it raced to return to normalcy. Soon, perhaps within minutes, the water would reach the Everything Plants, and the steady source of water would return. It would take some time, but the effects of undaming the stream could see the fruits return to the plants.
