True Treasure Under the Sea (a short story)

Shadow looming on beachFlora’s gills flapped against her neck—why was Gemma taking so long? Vipers and water demons were only a splash away. Still, her friend knelt beside her, quiet as a conch, probing the soil. If Flora were a turf mage, she wouldn’t waste her time searching for riches. At least, she didn’t think she would. Bubbles drifted up around them as Gemma tightened her fists, summoning a ruby from deep beneath the earth’s crust. The sand in front of her shifted as the jewel rose then settled in a pile of seaweed. It gleamed, dark as old blood. Gemma picked it up, tearing the weeds in her hurry.

“No need to be so rough.” Flora scooped up the shredded plants with a frown. They were much prettier than Gemma’s lifeless stone, no matter how little their value. They sang to her as she willed new roots onto their torn ends. At the tops, tiny buds opened into spiky blooms. By the time the girls swam to the market, Flora’s arms brimmed with flowers and fluttering leaves.

Gemma sold her ruby faster than you could say whale blubber, for a tidy black pearl, three pinks, and seven abalone-shell disks. Flora would be lucky to gain a tenth of that for her creation. Too bad her magic wasn’t more useful. While Gemma wandered off to buy a shimmery rainbowfish top, Flora stayed in the swimway, determined to gain something for her efforts.

“Sea flowers for your garden, guaranteed to grow!” She waved the plants at passing families who just floated on by. A little girl tugged her mama’s tattered sealskin dress, begging for a blossom, but the woman was too busy arguing with a scrawny man over the price of kelp rope. The girl’s large, turquoise eyes followed the flowers. Flora grinned and gave her the armful. They wouldn’t have brought much anyway.

“For me?” The girl’s face lit with a glow that made it clear she was a young luminescent, not really in control of her powers yet.

“For you.” Flora wove yellow blooms into the luminescent’s green-and-brown-streaked curls. “When you’re home, plant these in a window box. They’ll keep stingrays and other beasties out of your room.”

The girl splashed off to show her mother her prize. When the frazzled woman reached for her limp pocketbook, Flora waved her away. The lady’s relieved expression was worth more than she ever could’ve paid. The little girl waved back as they drifted into the rushing crowd.

Flora picked up a scraggly bit of kelp and began humming. The door behind her opened, and with a tinkling of bells, Gemma stroked out of the store. “You didn’t charge her anything? No wonder you can’t shop here.” She twisted a strand of pearls shining on her wrist. “What do you think? I had the jewelers string them up for me in a pattern.”

Flora touched the bracelet. “Seems a bit risky to wear your money out in the open like that.”

Gemma chewed her lip then shrugged. “They’re too pretty to hide.”

The market filled with screams. A swarm of medusa jellyfish swooped into the swimway, their glowing tentacles stinging everyone they touched. Shoppers rushed into stores until there was no room inside. Gemma and Flora ducked beneath a crab cart. Families cowered under awnings. A crowd of teens dove into a bed of kelp, pulling the leaves over their heads.

A few stragglers remained in the middle of the lane, dodging jellies, searching for cover, cursing when they were stung. Flora saw the luminescent girl, clinging to her mama’s skirts as they crossed the swimway, headed for a wooden barrel half-submerged in sand. But the medusas were drawn to her faint glow. They flocked around her and the girl’s shrieks combined with her mother’s to send a shiver up Flora’s spine. She tried to wriggle out from under the cart but Gemma held her back.

Then something strange happened.

The jellyfish swirled into a cloud and pulsed dreamily away. In the middle of the market, the little girl and her mother huddled, unhurt, beneath a mass of leaves and blossoms. Flora rushed to untangle them. The girl tumbled into her arms and the worn-out mama clutched them both in a tight hug. She dug through her purse and produced the smallest sliver of sea glass that Flora had ever seen.

“It isn’t much, but I want you to have it.” Her face reddened and she stroked her daughter’s hair.

Flora closed her fingers around the tiny treasure. “It’s perfect.”

As the pair swam away, wreathed in stalks and petals, Flora gripped the glass so tight it almost pierced her skin. She’d thread it onto a necklace back at home and tuck it inside her shirt for safekeeping.

“Oh, crawfish,” Gemma grumbled. She nudged the seafloor with her toes, stirring up the sand. “My bracelet broke and half my pearls are gone.”