Sink or Swim by Sarah Mlynowski Read Free Book Online Page A

Jonah! Can you lend me a hand here, please?”
    “You’re the girl from the other day, right?” a voice asks timidly. The Little Mermaid! She’s talking to me!
    “I am,” I say, frantically doggy-paddling to stay afloat. “Don’t be afraid. We want to help you.”
    Her face peeks out from behind the rock. “Is that your brother?”
    “He definitely is,” I say, finally finding the sand with my tiptoes. “You only have sisters, right?”
    She nods.
    “Lucky.” I laugh. “And you’re the youngest, huh?”
    She nods again and runs her fingers through her wet hair. “How did you know that?” she asks. “Humans never know anything about me.”
    “Yeah, well, I’ve read your story. That’s what I want to talk to you about. I know that you’re a mermaid and that you love the prince and that you want to trade your tail for two legs.”
    She gasps. “I haven’t told anyone that.”
    “I read it. In a book.”
    “You know how to read?”
    My eyes widen. “You don’t?”
    Splash. I turn to see Jonah swimming toward us.
    The Little Mermaid shakes her head. “No one underwater does. Books and ink don’t last underwater. They disintegrate.”
    That makes sense. “Well, we read. And that’s how we know who you are. And what happens to you. And it isn’t good.”
    She pulls on a lock of her hair. “What happens?”
    “You go to the sea witch and make a deal with her. She turns your tail into two legs but makes you give her your voice as payment.”
    She touches her throat. “My voice?”
    I nod.
    “Your tongue!” Jonah adds, now beside us.
    “That’s disgusting,” the Little Mermaid says.
    I agree. “That’s why we don’t want you to do it.”
    “Is your name really Little Mermaid?” Jonah asks.
    She shakes her head. “It’s Lana.”
    “I’m Jonah,” my brother says. “And my sister is Abby.”
    “Nice to meet you, Abby and Jonah. I’ve never spoken to humans before.”
    “We’ve never spoken to a mermaid before,” Jonah says. “Most people here haven’t even heard of mermaids. They’re weird. They don’t use ketchup, either. Is there ketchup where you live?”
    It’s very late, I’m very cold, and I do not feel like chatting about ketchup. “Lana, let’s get back to business. Are we all clear? You can’t trade your voice and tail for legs to make Prince Mortimer fall in love with you. It doesn’t work. He marries someone else and you end up …” My voice trails off. A wave hits me and I struggle to steady myself.
    Lana squints. “I end up what?”
    “Dead,” Jonah says matter-of-factly.
    She shivers. “I don’t want to be dead.”
    “Exactly,” I agree. “That’s why you have to learn to be happy with your life in the water. You get what you get and you don’t get upset.”
    In the moonlight, I see Lana’s eyes tear up. “But I don’t want to stay where I am! I love Prince Mortimer! And I want to live on land! Where there are sunsets and flying fish!”
    “What are flying fish?” Jonah asks.
    “You know,” she says. “Fish that fly through the air. My sisters told me all about them!”
    “You mean birds?” I wonder.
    “Flying fish!” she insists. “And shoops!”
    “What are shoops?”
    “The things you put on your feet. You know — shoops.”
    “You mean shoes,” Jonah says.
    She shakes her head. “Shoops!”
    “Forget about shoops,” I say. “Didn’t you hear what I said? You’re going to lose everything! Your tongue! Your life! You can’t make a deal with the sea witch! You can’t give up everything that makes you who you are. It’s just not right.”
    Lana crosses her arms and pouts. Her tail slaps against the water. I guess that’s her way of stomping her feet. “But I love him.”
    She’s being ridiculous. “You’ve never even spoken to him!”
    “You don’t need to speak to someone to know you love him,” she insists. “You don’t know what it’s like. You’re just a kid.”
    I snort. “You’re practically a kid,