A Song Below Water

A few days after Camilla Fox’s announcement video, Effie thinks Tavia seems stronger and calmer. She wants to find contentment with her identity too, admiring her first mermaid tail costume and recalling Renaissance Faire days spent with her mother. Effie thinks she could be a mermaid, like Naema said, since she swims like a fish and her hair moves. Elric and his father enjoy Renaissance Faire myths, so Effie stalks Elric online, hoping he’ll have answers.

Effie’s assumed great-grandmother, Mama Theo, arrives and asks about the last time Effie visited her mother’s grave, pressing for the exact date. Effie can’t recall, and Mama Theo seems scared and agitated. She nearly cries, but won’t tell Effie what’s wrong, other than “You have to stop this if you can” (118). Effie is bewildered. She’s itchy all over, and her hair moves. 

Priam’s father, the police officer, visits the house, interrupting Effie and Mama Theo. He talks to Tavia’s mother about Tavia getting pulled over. Mama Theo and Tavia’s mother are skeptical, acting polite and confused. Tavia is returning from a walk, so Effie hugs Mama Theo and races outside, warning Tavia that Priam’s father is there. She asks when Tavia was going to tell her about using her siren song in front of cops, but Tavia goes still. Effie promises that Priam’s father won’t denounce her; he actually came to warn the family. They hope he won’t suggest Tavia wears a dampening collar. 

To distract Tavia, Effie brings her along to stalk Elric, but doesn’t tell her. They find him at the movie theater with friends. Effie is shy around her crush, but he doesn’t know about the “gifts” she says he left on her porch. He only leaves her gifts in the Cove. Elric (Rick) only speaks in an old-fashioned language, perfectly in character and calling Effie “Euphemia.” Effie is confused and humiliated, and decides not to ask about her mermaid theory. Rick kisses her hand and leaves. Tavia soothes Effie.

Tavia drives Effie’s car, insulting Elric for not loving her “for real” (128). She speculates that Effie loves Elric and their shared fairytale, not Rick the actual person. She wonders why Rick wouldn’t own up to the gifts on the porch. Tavia says she would have loved Priam to accept her as a siren, connecting to Effie’s performance as Euphemia. Tavia’s mother advised her to let the Renaissance Faire be Effie’s thing. Effie admits her mermaid theory and Naema’s verbal abuse, and Tavia thinks of her strange symptoms—her skilled swimming, dry skin, and blackouts. Tavia tells her that mermaids don’t appear this far North in cold waters, adding that she should forget Naema.

Tavia reminisces about Priam. At a football game, Priam took her behind a school bus and kissed her until she giggled. When she said he was tickling her, he bit her neck instead. He bit too hard, drawing blood, which led to fear, since elokos were rumored to be cannibals in their myths: “[E]veryone saw that I’d been bitten, maybe being an eloko wouldn’t be such a charmed life anymore” (135). Tavia reassured Priam that she knew the myth was a “heinous untruth,” but he dropped her off and ghosted her afterward. 

That night, Tavia decides to attend the same protest for Black rights as Camilla Fox, and Effie agrees to join. Tavia tries to fall back asleep, but indigo waters stain her vision, and suddenly she’s at a construction site. These waters are a sign of her grandmother, but a replica of Naema appears. Tavia tries to stir the fake Naema, then says her name as a siren song, and awakens. 

Tavia wakes up and begs Gargy the gargoyle to take her to the construction site. He finally speaks to her and flies her there, where she searches until she finds her grandmother’s spirit in a stream. Gramma tells her that the song she used on Naema is called Awaken. Tavia tries it on Gramma, but the song can’t awaken the dead. She then asks Gargy where he goes when he’s not on guard. He tells her that she’s not his ward. Tavia realizes he’s Effie’s guard. She asks if he knows what Effie is becoming, and Gargy replies, “[h]erself.”

Effie visits her great-grandparents Paw Paw and Mama Theo. Crying, she tells Mama Theo that she’s quitting the Renaissance Faire, though Mama Theo is preoccupied with her not being with Tavia. Effie asks why she’s so concerned about her being with Tavia, but she says, “I thought you loved your sister, pardon me” (145). Even when pestered, Effie doesn’t admit she’s quitting her job as she thought Elric truly loved her and is heartbroken. 

Mama Theo avoids Effie’s questions about her identity, then asks her to never go back to her mother’s grave. Effie shouts that she can’t promise that, and that maybe she’s a chameleon, as most orphans are, forced to change and adapt. She pushes for the truth, but Mama Theo won’t budge. Effie leaves in a rage, but sits with gentle Paw Paw on the porch beforehand. He holds her and tells her that she’s going to be alright. 

Effie heads to the pool to cool off. Wallace flirts with her, asking about the Renaissance Faire, which Naema mentioned. She explains she isn’t normally mean like she was to him and Naema, but Wallace brushes it off. Effie adds that she isn’t participating in the Renaissance Faire this year, and is instead going to the protest in Vancouver on opening day. Wallace asks to come along, and he surprises her by knowing Black history and the Black Lives Matter movement. Effie agrees he can come. 

Isabella texts Effie about their sprite project, checking on her. Effie assures her that she hasn’t had any strange encounters lately. She says they can meet in an hour, but then gets lunch with Wallace instead. The two chat and flirt. Naema appears at the restaurant, calling Effie “Ariel” (a reference to Disney’s The Little Mermaid). Effie tells her off this time, hair swirling.