The Mermaid's Curse (California Mermaids Book 1) by Kristina Ludwig Page B

house. From the way she wriggles her fins back and forth impatiently, her arms crossed over her chest, I can tell that she’s been waiting for me.
    As soon as her eyes land on me, she swims to my side and smacks me on the arm.
    “Ouch! Hey!” I cry out, frowning. “What was that for?”
    “I think you know,” Ula replies, glowering. “How dare you sneak out like that last night? And you weren’t even home for the sunrise swim. Mother and Father came to my house, pounding on my door, asking if I knew anything about your whereabouts and when you’d be back. They’re worried sick about you.” She narrows her eyes. “Where were you?”
    “I was on the surface visiting Xavier, the land boy. We fell asleep together, and just woke up.” Even though I’m in trouble, I can’t stop a smile from spreading over my face at the mere mention of his name, and the memory of our night together.
    Ula, however, does not smile back. She snaps her fingers at me and says, “Come on, Oceania. Wipe that dream off your face. Mother told me that you know the story of Grandmer Genevieve now, so there’s no excuse for you even thinking about falling in love with a land boy.”
    “There’s no thinking about it,” I murmur. “I’ve already fallen in love with him.”
    “In one day?” Ula scoffs. “You know love at first sight doesn’t exist, right?”
    I remain silent, looking down at my tail and knowing that there’s no way to convince Ula of my feelings. Only three full moons after her eighteenth birthday, she’d married Nereus, with whom she’d attended mer-school. They’d known each other for years before they started courting. Of course, she doesn’t believe in love at first sight.
    She drapes an arm around my shoulder and leads me into the house. “Come inside now. You’ve made Mother and Father wait long enough.”
    I feel an instant surge of guilt as Ula and I swim into the house and see Mother and Father sitting at the table, their faces tight and drawn.
    “Where have you been?” Father demands. “No, scratch that. I already know where you were. Visiting with that land fellow, I’m sure.”
    I nod, not trusting myself to speak with the huge lump in my throat.
    “How could you go back there, when you know the choice you’ll have to make?” Mother cries, wringing her hands. “The more time you spend with this boy, the harder it will be to leave him in the end.”
    “I—I just had to see him again,” I say in a quivery voice, my eyes filling with tears. “I can’t bear to be without him. And we had such fun last night, talking and falling asleep on the beach. I was going to come back earlier, so you wouldn’t worry, but we didn’t wake up until this morning.”
    “You spent the night, sleeping with a land person,” Father says, inhaling deeply. “This is even worse than I thought.” He looks at Ula, who lounges silently in the corner. “Honestly, Ula never gave me this kind of trouble.” Glancing back at me, he adds, “Why can’t you be more like her?”
    I bristle briefly at the sting of being compared to Ula; as a young mermaid, she’d been so obedient to my parents’ wishes that I know I’ll always come up short. But finally, I say, “I can’t help it. I lo—er, I mean, I care deeply about Xavier.”
    Ula snorts, probably because she picked up on the fact that I’d almost said “love,” but luckily, my parents don’t seem to notice. They simply continue to glare at me.
    Mother places a hand on my shoulder. “I know you care about him, but you have to care about yourself, too. That’s why you must stop seeing him. I’m sure that you don’t want to leave us forever for a land boy. And if you choose to live on land, you’ll relinquish your immortality.”
    “What?” This story is getting worse and worse. She’d left that part out the day before, and I hadn’t even considered the possibility.
    Mother repeats herself, and I stare at her, open-mouthed. “But why?” I