The Mermaid Trials Read online

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Epilogue

  Sneak Peek Of Vampire Princess Book 1

  Turn the page for an excerpt of DreamShifters Book 1:

  The Mermaid Trials

  Cameron Drake

  Copyright © 2017 by Cameron Drake

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  For my mother

  Sign up for Cameron Drake’s mailing list here.

  Contents

  The Mermaid Trials

  The Mermaid Trials is a new series from author Cameron Drake

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Epilogue

  Sneak Peek Of Vampire Princess Book 1

  Vampire Princess Excerpt

  Turn the page for an excerpt of DreamShifters Book 1:

  Original Witch Excerpt

  Acknowledgments

  About the author

  Also by Cameron Drake

  The Mermaid Trials

  Losing is dangerous. Winning means everything.

  Katriana has been waiting for this moment her entire life.

  Once a century, the Royals hold the Trials. Every Mer of a certain age must participate. The contests are brutal. Survival is not guaranteed. But for the victors, the prize is unimaginable.

  They are allowed to walk on land.

  She is forced to work for her evil stepmother, while ignoring the taunts of her spoiled half sister. She’s desperate to escape. So desperate, she begins the Trials without armor, or even a helmet.

  Not one to give up, Katriana gives the Trials all she is worth, even catching the eye of a mysterious benefactor who is more than he seems.

  How much will she sacrifice to become one of the elite? And if she does win, will she be able to halt mankind’s destruction of the sea?

  The Mermaid Trials is a new series from author Cameron Drake

  Prologue

  I shifted my fins, hidden behind a heavy curtain of intricately woven kelp. My formal dress was made of something called linen, and it was similarly scratchy. I couldn’t stop itching where the seams pressed into my skin. I hated the black dress with the gold trim. I hated the reason I had to wear the dress. I hated everyone in the room, which might be unfair, but I felt that way all the same. It was why I was hiding myself. I couldn’t handle the cheek-pinching fingers and pitying eyes. It felt like I’d been hiding there for hours.

  But my eyes were dry.

  I couldn’t cry here. I wouldn’t. Not now. Not until I was alone in the dark where no one could hear me.

  One of the guests laughed, and I scowled, my fingernails biting into my palms. The room was filled with tittering Mers, each one richer than the next. The upper class. They hadn’t known my father well, other than seeing him on the arm of one of their own.

  They didn’t know how he would take me night swimming through the bioluminescent algae. He’d do it when I was a tiny Mer and couldn’t fall asleep. Or sometimes, he’d cradle me in his arms, swimming faster than should be possible, until I could hear the water roaring in my ears.

  They didn’t know him, so they couldn’t know all the ways he would be missed.

  Not one of the guests is here to mourn.

  My stepmother was smiling, pressing her rounded belly. She didn’t even make an effort to look somber. For my father’s sake, I had done my best to love her. She was pretty and smelled nice, which went a long way with little Mers like me.

  Despite all of my best efforts, it didn’t stick.

  Besides, that’s not what she wanted either. She didn’t want a snot-nosed, clingy, half-wild Mer with unruly hair and a stubborn streak. She didn’t want my grubby fingers on her fancy things or my face at the dinner table.

  She caught me spying and my stomach dropped. Her face got that pinched look she had whenever she was displeased. She often wore it these days, especially whenever she looked at me. She gestured and whispered furiously to the servant who’d come running to her side.

  The next thing I knew, my nanny, Gerin, was bearing down on me. She yanked me out from behind the curtain and carried me up to my room. She gripped me firmly, so I eventually stopped squirming. Gerin wasn’t gentle about it, but she wasn’t deliberately rough either.

  “I hate it here.”

  She gave me a knowing glance.

  “You won’t be here for long.”

  “She’s not even sad! He’s gone forever and she’s not even sad!”

  She just sighed, pulling a bag from the wardrobe.

  “Pack your things. You are leaving.”

  “I am?” My heart quickened with hope. Had they found another relative? Someplace for me to go? “Where am I going?”

  “It’s best not to ask.”

  She laid her hand on my head.

  “I am sorry about your father, wild one.”

  She sometimes called me that because of my hair. It was red and unruly, to say the least. But it was my mother’s hair, the only thing I had left of hers other than the silver locket at my throat.

  Tears suddenly filled my eyes, threatening to spill over. I blinked them back, furious at the sign of weakness. I was still a very small Mer, but I knew I had no true friends here. Even that small act of kindness had me ready to crumble.

  But I didn’t.

  I packed the few things I’d come here with. My old clothes. A few unusual seashells my father had brought me from his extensive travels. A comb found in a shipwreck that had been my mother’s. The silver necklace she had loved was already in place around my neck.

  “Do not pack your fancy things, Katriana. You won’t be needing them.”

  I nodded my head and changed into simpler clothes. I left the dark and uncomfortable dress I was wearing on the bed. They could use it as a rag, for all I cared.

  I was ready.

  Whatever was coming, I knew I would survive.

  I took Gerin’s hand and followed her from the room.

  Chapter 1

  twelve mer years later

  I cut through the water, twitching my fins in annoyance. I had been pushed well past my limits today. Enough was enough.

  I swam upward toward the shallows, flaunting the rules. The surface was forbidden—it was dangerous—but I didn’t care. I exhaled as I broke the surface, glaring at the shore.


  Usually, I could stare for hours. I was endlessly fascinated by the colors, the greens, yellows, and reds. Even the sky was a shade of blue you never found underwater. Everything was so bright compared to the muted world I lived in. But today, the sight of the shore only made me angry.

  It was so very far away.

  I’d waited forever for this chance, and now she was going to ruin it!

  I’d been minding my own business, scavenging for oysters in a favorite kelp bed. She must have known I was there. She probably followed me, the little sneak. My red hair and the bright blue green of my scales made me far too easy to spot, which she frequently did. It was something she had done ever since I could remember. It would have been cute if Thalia were an ordinary little sister.

  But she wasn’t.

  Only a few years younger, she had never been a real sister in any sense of the word. She was wanted. I was not. She was allowed in the main house, and I was not, unless it was to serve the two mistresses of the manor. We may have had the same father, but that was where the similarities ended.

  We lived under the same roof, technically speaking, but our circumstances could not have been more different.

  She was spoiled, petted, praised, pampered, and adored. Beautiful clothes, a bounty of delicious food, tutors, and fun and friends were hers for the taking.

  Meanwhile, I was relegated to the servants’ quarters. I was what they call in polite society ‘a poor relation.’ Only, I wasn’t really related to any of them. Only Thalia and I shared blood, so I supposed that my stepmother didn’t really owe me anything. I was there on her charity.

  And Thalia loved rubbing my face in it.

  In fact, it seemed like it was her life’s mission to make me feel awful on a daily basis. She constantly insulted me, but I could handle that. It was all the sneaky little things she did to make my life more difficult that drove me mad.

  Following me. Telling lies to get me in trouble with her mother. Even stealing my few possessions. She was so determined to make me miserable that nothing was beneath her.

  I did my best to ignore her, as I had for years.

  But today, she had gone too far.

  Thalia would not stop preening about her new armor and weapons for the Trials. She usually limited her torture to home. Now, she was even haunting me out here, the one place I was usually free of her.

  As usual, she was not alone. She’d even brought her awful friends along. Thalia never traveled without a school of sharp-tongued harpies. The Mean Mers, I called them. I didn’t think she even knew all of their names. I certainly didn’t.

  They were only there to serve as an audience. It gave her someone to talk to, I supposed. Someone to make sure her barbs landed where she wanted them to.

  On me.

  Her mother’s family was one of the wealthiest in the Northern Waters, which was a part of the Atlantak Ocean, as the two-leggers called it.

  Well, one the wealthiest other than the Royals. No one could match their wealth and privilege. I imagined them to be even more spoiled than my half-sister. More spoiled and more powerful.

  Not that I’d ever met any of them myself, but they didn’t live too far from where we were now, an hour’s swim or so further north from the rocky cliffs that marked the edge of the sea.

  Or at least, an hour at the speed I usually swam.

  I scowled, diving beneath the waves again. I nearly slammed into a large, dark shape that seemed determined to block my path. I swam neatly under it instead, muttering as I barreled forward. I was determined to ignore everything else around me.

  I wanted to be alone. I was supposed to be gathering food or practicing for the Trials with my limited free time between shifts. Instead, I wanted to go off and lick my wounds.

  It’s not fair!

  I didn’t have so much as a helmet to protect me in the Trials. No matter how many oysters I sold, I’d never have enough to buy proper armor.

  The worst part was that Thalia had no interest in actually winning. It was all a big joke to her, something frivolous to entertain her and raise her status. Not a lifelong goal. She was using the Trials as a fashion show, hoping to catch the eye of the Prince.

  I knew because she’d told everyone within earshot that little tidbit. Being wealthy and spoiled wasn’t enough for her. She wasn’t satisfied with all the privileges she had. She was lucky to have a loving mother and a full belly, never mind a soft bed and a roof over her head.

  Oh, no, not her. She wanted to be a Royal on top of everything else.

  I wouldn’t even have taken issue with it if she hadn’t been such a miserable, vicious Mer!

  The irony was, she really did look lovely in her armor. I had no doubt that she would catch the eye of anyone she pleased. My sister was heartless and self-centered, yes, but if she wanted to hide it from you, you would never know.

  The truth was, she looked like what the two-leggers called an angail, even though she was anything but.

  On the surface, she was nearly perfect. Beautiful, with long, silky blonde hair that did what it was supposed to (unlike my wild red curls), clear blue eyes (not dark green like mine), and flawless skin (I was born covered with freckles). She could carry a tune and make polite conversation, and she was surprisingly intelligent when she bothered to take an interest in anything other than her wardrobe, which was rare. She even had a bit of magic, something I was woefully lacking in.

  In fact, if she weren’t so awful, she might have been quite wonderful. I’d cared for her once. Loved her desperately, even.

  We’d been two lonely little girls in the same house, a palace that was stiff and formal. We should have been friends, if not truly sisters. And she’d been sweet as a child, the few times I’d been allowed to play with her. But all of my lame attempts at sisterly affection over the years had been rejected, to put it mildly. I told myself that I had accepted that she was pure evil and moved on.

  But as usual, she got to me anyway.

  I swam faster, wishing I had sponge in my ears so I wouldn’t have to listen to her. I hoped they’d give up and find someone else to torment. I knew I wasn’t their only victim. Any young Mer who got in their way was fair game.

  Finally, I was far enough that I couldn’t hear even one tiny shrill giggle from them.

  I sighed deeply in relief. It didn’t slow me down though. I wanted to get as far as I could from her. I didn’t belong here, and I couldn’t wait to escape, once and for all. I was nearly of age, so it wouldn’t be long.

  Maybe I’d even go as far as another ocean.

  I might even settle for a lake, if it was big enough.

  I thought for a minute then rejected that idea. No lake was big enough. I loved to swim long-distance too much. It was the one thing I was good at. I was a bit of a show-off, truth be told.

  Lake-dwelling Mers had to be much more careful about being spotted by the two-leggers. That didn’t sound like fun to me at all.

  Another ocean, or even a sea, would be best, I decided. Maybe the Indyan Ocean. Or the Meditoraneanne. I could pack light and take the Straight of Gibraltar. That sounded nice.

  Either way, I was getting out.

  Someday, I wouldn’t be the poor girl who lived on the fringes. I wouldn’t have to rely on someone else’s charity. I’d be somewhere else entirely.

  Someone else.

  I kicked my fins harder, determined to outswim the tears that were forming in my eyes.

  My speed didn’t stop the dark shape from pursuing me. Most Mers would be afraid if they saw what it was. I just rolled my eyes as the thick gray behemoth slammed into my side.

  It was a shark. My shark.

  Or rather, I belonged to him. Most Mers had an animal familiar. Sadly, we did not get to choose them.

  They chose us.

  Beazil was a fearsome creature. Or at least, he looked like a fearsome creature. He was a great white shark, nearly twenty feet in length, a terrifying predator that could tear his prey apart with one bite.
r />   In reality, he was as friendly and docile as a seal.

  I shook my head. Typhoon forbid he ever got into a real fight with a giant squid or something big enough to take him. He would probably try and make friends instead of defending himself, which could be disastrous.

  I remembered when he was just a baby, tugging at my fins as I ran errands for my stepmother. He’d been a pest then and he was a pest now.

  Pest or not, I loved the silly thing. He was the only family I had left. I had friends, sure. Not many, and not what you would call best friends, other than Lila, but I had them.

  But family? Someone who loved me above anyone else? Someone who would bend over backward to help me and vice versa? It was just the big guy with the teeth.

  I sighed, slowing my pace so he didn’t have to keep up. I was an unusually fast swimmer, like my father had been. He’d been a Royal Messenger. That was how we got into this mess to begin with.

  As a Messenger, he was considered to be quite a catch, so he’d been single for about two swells after being widowed after my mother’s death.

  He’d landed in another Mer’s lap within the year and married shortly after that. I’d been moved into an enormous underwater palace and spoiled rotten. It wasn’t so bad at first, though I really did not like the stiff formal clothes I was expected to wear. I did enjoy the rich and plentiful food.

  Until the unthinkable happened.

  He’d barely been wed for half a year when he was sent on a dangerous journey to deal with a rebellious kingdom on the far side of the world. His new wife was carrying his babe when he’d disappeared. He’d been called away, never to return, which left me with a vain and callous stepmother who wanted nothing to do with me and the world’s most obnoxious and self-absorbed sister.