It was bad enough to live in a household of control, reeking with religious fanaticism, and a fundamentalism that actively discouraged rational thought, facts, opinions, freedom, or joy, but it was worse knowing that your own mother, the person who should protect you above all else, would never stand up for you, Betsy thought. Her mother was weak, voiceless. She would not protect her daughter from her husband, no matter what happened to her.

And yet Betsy’s mother, with black hair and golden eyes like Betsy’s, had premonitions, too. She told Betsy she did. Her mother had, too, and her grandmother and great-grandmother. They were all Irish. “The second sight,” she said. “We have it.”

Yes, they had it. The difference was that Betsy tried to help others, while Mary couldn’t, or wouldn’t, help anyone, even her own daughter. Hansen knew—Mary had told him before they married—and he had been kind while they were chastely dating, until their wedding night. Then he had thundered at her for her wickedness, and things had gone downhill from there.

If Betsy had to choose, it was her mother’s inaction that hurt her more than her father’s belt, whipping through the air until it landed and split open her back.

* * *

Betsy thought she might well lose her mind in jail.

But as time went on, she thought that might be preferable to staying sane.

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

“Serafina, with her shiny, multicolored rainbow tail, liked to help people.”

“Like me, right?”

“Like you. One day, her brothers got into trouble with an evil merman who used to be king. He was a horrible king. He wouldn’t allow the mermen and mermaids freedoms, so they had a mighty revolution under the sea and chased him out with golden swords and shields. King Koradome was not allowed in the Mermaid Village anymore. He lived miles away in an old black rock home.”

“Then what happened?”

“Serafina’s brothers swam over there one day to spy on him. They had heard he had magical powers and could turn people into fish and whales into people. It was said he could transform himself into a serpent or a snake.”

“That’s scary.”

“The brothers spied on him from behind a line of rocks, but King Koradome knew they were there. He captured all of them in a cage and would not let them go. War was going to be declared between the good mermaids and mermen and King Koradome. Serafina was not supposed to go anywhere near her brothers in the cage, but she did anyhow because she loved them so much. King Koradome, who was sneaky and dangerous, caught her and threw her in a separate cage.”

“Oh no! Then what happened?”

“To get out of the cage, and to get her brothers out, Serafina had to promise to give King Koradome something.”

“What did she promise to give him?”

Chapter 13

Chapter 13