Chapter 52: The Mermaid Prince

"We'll see if we can find some fresh water if you want, but you're avoiding our questions again," said Corrie. "Look, if we ask a question you really don't want to answer, you can just say so. We're not out to get you. We just want to get to know you. And what if you need our help?"

He sighed. "Sorry. I guess I've gotten used to deflecting questions. Most of the time, I can't answer with the truth to anyone's questions about myself, so I've gotten used to either telling a half-truth or deflecting the question. You wanted to know why Link thought I should tell you the truth, right?" Annie nodded. Troy continued, "That's part of the reason we go to this college specifically. Um... this is going to sound really weird."

"Weirder than the fact that you're a mermaid prince?" Edie asked.

"Maybe," Troy said sheepishly. "Okay, well, my mother is actually human."

There was a pause. No one seemed to quite know what to make of that. Finally Corrie said, "Did she go here or something? She wanted you to go to the same college she did?"

"No--well, she did, but that's not why. My father met her here." He took a deep breath. "The idea is that we come here to find a wife."

All three girl stared at him silently for a moment. Corrie felt her jaw drop. "Seriously?" Annie cried. "What the hell is wrong with Djanaea women?"

"Nothing!" said Troy, his eyes wide. "Well... I don't think so, anyway." He looked down, seeming to shrink into himself. "There was a girl I liked back home, but we had to say just friends. Rules are rules. And as my dad always says, if the people in charge don't follow the rules, then they don't mean anything for anyone else, either."

"Sounds like your government is better than ours, anyway," said Corrie. "But if all the men in your family come here to find wives, aren't you mostly human genetically?"

He shook his head. "It doesn't work that way with us."

"That doesn't make any sense," Annie said. "Genetics are genetics."

"We don't have the same science you have," he said. "That's why I'm so interested in the science in this project. It might just be that we study it differently, but I don't think that's all of it. We reproduce differently, too, and when a human woman comes to live among the Djanaea, and gets the change spell, she reproduces the same way we do."

"Let me guess," said Edie, looking slightly revolted. "You lay eggs."

"Right," he said, looking not at all put out. "We're not really mammals like you are. We're not really fish, either. I think we're most similar to amphibians, but according to the scientists we're not genetically amphibians either. Though they don't use the word genetics." He shrugged.

"Do they even speak English?" Corrie asked.

"Well, now that you mention it, no, not underwater at least" said Troy. "We don't have a word that means the same thing as genetics. Our reproduction has more to do with magic than it does with science."

"So let me get this straight," said Annie. "You come to Chatoyant College because it's the only place where people are likely to believe in magic, so you can find some girl and drag her back underwater with you?"

"I would never take anyone against their will!" he protested. "Which is why Link said, and I finally agreed, that I had to tell you three."

There was another uncomfortable pause. Corrie was sure the other two were thinking the same thing she was thinking--did Troy want one of them to be his underwater queen?

Finally Edie broke the silence, her voice as soft as a whisper and sounding choked. "What will you do if you find someone you want to marry and she says no?"

"Well, I guess I'll try to persuade her, and if she still doesn't want to, I'll try to get over it," he said, looking confused. "Just like anyone does if the person they like doesn't like them back, right?"

Edie let out a sigh of relief. Corrie smiled at Troy's confusion. "We've had some bad experiences. If you'd said you would curse her or something, we would have had to stop you."

Troy frowned. "Why would I curse her?" His eyes widened as he took in what they were saying. "You mean someone tried to curse one of you for... not wanting to marry him? He couldn't have known you for more than a couple of weeks!"

"Like I said, bad experiences," said Corrie.

"It sounds like you're more sane than the faeries, at least," said Annie.

"A faerie did that?" He sounded shocked. "The faeries are the main reason we're here! One of my ancestors made a deal with the faeries here, a really long time ago. They visit our water, and we can visit their land."