2 Deja Blue by Julie Cassar Page A

Brennan nodded, plopping down in the sand in front of us. I just sat there, staring dumbly between the boys, mindlessly shoveling ice cream into my mouth. I suddenly heard Anya’s voice in my head, “ Talk to Brennan,” she said. Just then, Anya got up from her chair, pulling on Nick’s arm, “Come on, Nick, you owe me a re-match. I think I can beat you out to the buoy this time. I’m all energized with french fries now!” Nick looked at me, unsure of what to do.
    “Go! Go!” I mumbled with my mouth full of ice cream . I waved them on . “I’m just gonna finish eating this and lay out for a few minutes. I’ll meet you guys in the water in a few.” Nick shrugged, “Okay, but don’t take too long!” He smiled and headed back into the water with Anya. I watched them go , and then I looked at Brennan as soon as they were out of earshot. “Okay. Spill it.” I said.
    Brennan let out a big sigh and shook his head slowly. “It’s an unfortunate situation. And now, you’re caught right in the middle. Apparently, Celestine is in love with a Troll .”
    I rolled my eyes and impatiently shook my head, waving my hand around for him to continue, “Yeah, yeah, I get it. How cliché. The Mermaid is i n love with the human. Us poor- loser ‘under the bridge dwellers.’ I know all about that stupid little nick-name that the Yoopers give us. Blah, blah. How sad for her. Why is it so unfortunate , and how am I involved in this?” Brennan snapped his head up in surprise at my candor , and a slow smile spread across his face. He let out a soft chuckle as he shook his head from side to side.
    “What’s so funny?” I demanded, frowning at him. “So the Mermaid loves a human…it’s in about a hundred different f airy tales. I have seen The Little Mermaid , ya know.  I should know better by now than to think there’s not some truth to them , right? Anya’s already lectured me on that topic today.”
    B rennan snickered again, “True. But, Kansas, it’s unfortunate because she’s not in love with a human . She’s in love with a real Troll .”
    My mouth fell open as I stared at Brennan in silence.
    “What did you just say?” I asked, because I knew I must have misunderstood him.
    “I said Celestine is in love with a real Troll . Come on Kansas, I thought y ou were much brighter than this. Shall I start calling you the Scarecrow? I think you’re missing some brains, ” Brennan joked.
    “ You’re telling me that there are real Troll s? Seriously?” I don’t know why I wa s so shocked. After all, I saw F airies, slayed dragons , and just got rescued by a Mermaid , but now I’m supposed to believe in Troll s? What is this world coming to?
    Brennan simply nodded. “Yep,” his lips popped on the “p” sound, then he continued, “And it’s unfortunate because, just as the fairy tales say, most Mer people don’t like outsiders. Falling in love with a …( ahem)…an Earthener is strictly forbidden. They like to keep their bloodlines clean.”
    “ Earthener ?”
    “A member of the Earthen Court. Merpeople don’t often app rove of mating outside of their own Court.  Unfortunately, a long, long, long time ago, some very adverse events occurred, tainting the Merpeople’s opinions of those outside of their own Court.  You see, some of your fairy tales are based partly in truth. There are Danish and Swedish stories that tell of human men who went to the beach es to watch the S elkies – or Mermaid s – dance . One of these men hid the skin of a bea utiful S elkie , so she couldn’t go back to sea, and forced her to marry him. After years of imprisonment, the S elkie finally escaped, but the man hunted her down and killed her S elkie family as punishment. S he then promised to take revenge upon all of the men of the village. Without divulging too many details, I can tell you that some of this actually did happen. And some happened not only with humans, but with many members of the three other Courts of