Cordelia Blue has been terrified of water ever since her mother and her twin brother Dylan were killed in a shark attack almost five years ago. As her eighteenth birthday approaches, she decides to overcome her fear and start swimming again. But when she does, she discovers that she has the ability to turn into a mermaid.
The books in the series:
- Secrets of the Deep (March 2021)
- Quest for Atlantis (September 29, 2022)
- Fight for Freedom (March 30, 2023)
- Ghost Pirates (TBA)
- Vendetta (TBA)
The Mermaid Chronicles contains examples of:
- The Alcoholic: In Fight for Freedom, Dylan becomes an alcoholic due to trauma from being separated from his family for so many years and being Alone Among the Couples.
- Antagonistic Offspring: Blaze is the son of the dragon king Gal and the evil sea witch Aquaria. In Fight for Freedom, he fights against his mother in battle to protect the humans, merfolk, and selachii. He breathes fire and burns her to death.
- Atlantis: Three thousand years ago, the mermaids lived on the island of Atlantis, able to transform between human and mer form whenever they wanted. Dragon kings wanted to take the island for themselves, so the selachii - people who can turn into sharks - were created to defend it. They did so successfully for hundreds of years, but eventually became complacent, and the dragon kings took Atlantis and transported the whole island to another dimension. As punishment, the High Council took away both species' ability to walk on the land, with the exception of people descended from the original line. Selachii suffer the additional punishment of being attacked at night by creatures called ashrays.
- The Bro Code: During a rift in Cordelia's relationship with Wade, Cordelia makes out with her friend Trent Summers, who is taking a break from his relationship with Maya. When Maya finds out, she yells, "Trent is my boyfriend!" When Cordelia protests that they were on a break, Maya says, "What difference does that make? What happened to the girl code?"
- Broken Masquerade: In Quest for Atlantis, mermaids and selachii start being caught on film. Then Cordelia's friend Nerida is captured by the lab Cordelia's dad works for. Cordelia, Dylan, Trent, and Wade all smuggle her out. But other mermaids are being captured all over the world, and Cordelia can't do anything about most of them. One baron in Europe even tries to engage in Superhuman Trafficking of a captured merman, although the government makes him let him go before the merman can actually be sold.
- Bunny Ears Picture Prank: In a family photo taken right before the attack, Dylan makes bunny ears over Cordelia's head.
- Child by Rape: In Fight for Freedom, Cordelia meets her older half-sister Raina, who was conceived when their mom was raped as a teenager. Raina was put up for adoption and raised in the Midwest, and doesn't learn she's a mermaid until she's twenty-nine.
- The Chosen One: There's a prophecy that the curse will be broken by a "fire mermaid" who can walk on land. Cordelia thinks the prophecy refers to her because of her red hair and tail, and because she is the only remaining mermaid who can turn all the way into a human. At the end of Secrets of the Deep, it turns out the prophecy refers to both her and Wade, one of the few land-walking Selachii left. Together, they're able to use the pearl to open a portal to the High Council to plead their case.
- Climb, Slip, Hang, Climb: In Quest for Atlantis, Wade sees a man on the rocks at Corona Del Mar, taking pictures of a mermaid in the ocean. Wade climbs after him to preserve The Masquerade. On the way up, he misses a handhold and hangs from his fingertips for five seconds before he gets his footing again.
- CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable: In Quest for Atlantis, Wade's ex Stephanie is electrocuted by eels while in shark form, faints, and turns back into a human. It's several minutes before the other characters can get her back to the surface and out of the water, by which point she doesn't have a pulse. Wade revives her with a few minutes of CPR. Cordelia can't help but feel jealous of the way Wade is touching Stephanie, especially with the skimpy bikini her human form is wearing, although she's annoyed at herself for feeling that way when Stephanie's life is in danger.
- Dead Guy Junior: In Fight for Freedom, Cordelia decides to name her unborn son Gal, after the ancient dragon king who was killed in the fight for Atlantis with the other dragon kings.
- Drowning My Sorrows: In Quest for Atlantis, Cordelia sees Wade kissing Stephanie. Trent has been arguing with Maya over her desire to be turned into a mermaid and his refusal to turn her, so the two of them drown their romantic woes in a bottle of Mexican tequila. Then they drunkenly kiss, which only worsens their problems.
- Easy Amnesia: In Quest for Atlantis, the protagonists travel in a submersible to the bottom of the Challenger Deep to retrieve one of the Keys to Atlantis, as well as a map showing what to do with it. On the way up, the submersible starts to leak and flood, destroying the map. Maya has already memorized it, but when the submersible implodes, Maya gets Identity Amnesia from being thrown against the ceiling. Later she hits her head again and gets all her memories back, including what was on the map.
- Eye Scream: In Secrets of the Deep, Zale, in shark form, bites down on Dylan's shoulder. Cordelia digs her thumb into his eye. Zale screams, releasing Dylan.
- Foster Kid: Maya lives in foster care and doesn't know who her biological parents are. Her family actually seems pretty good - she loves her foster siblings even though they annoy her. It turns out that she comes from a long line of prophecy interpreters. Her parents were killed at sea while protecting the mermaids.
- Fountain of Youth: Atlantis has one that, when activated, not only restores anyone who drinks from it to perfect health but also repairs all the damage done to the city by the dragon kings over the millennia.
- Friendly, Playful Dolphin: Mermaids and dolphins have always been allies. Groups of friendly dolphins swim and play near Mermaid Island, including one Dylan has named Flipper.
- Happier Home Movie: Cordelia often watches a five-minute video of her and Dylan's thirteenth birthday party.
- Heartbreak and Ice Cream: During Cordelia's temporary break-up with Wade in Secrets of the Deep, her dad serves her peanut butter cup ice cream with chocolate sauce and sprinkles.
- Holding Hands: In Quest for Atlantis, a selachii named Stephanie flirts with Wade, who is now dating Cordelia. Cordelia pointedly holds hands with Wade so Stephanie will know to back off.
- Invisible Writing: In Quest for Atlantis, the protagonists find a map that looks like a blank piece of paper. Maya realizes that it's actually a form of invisible writing that can be revealed using the ink of a particular cephalopod. Unfortunately, that species went extinct long ago, but there's still enough fossilized ink available to reveal the whole map.
- Ironic Fear: The shark attack occurred shortly before Cordelia would have become old enough to turn into a mermaid. Because of her fear of the water, it took her five years to discover her ability.
- Magic Pants: When Cordelia turns into a mermaid, her clothes disappear, replaced by scales that cover most of her body. They reappear when she turns back.
- Maligned Mixed Marriage: Wade's mother, Christina, does not want Wade to date a mermaid and is constantly pushing him to get back with Stephanie. Although she likes Cordelia, she doesn't think Wade can be a leader his people respect unless he marries a selachii.
- Moses in the Bulrushes: Maya's parents were killed at sea by the hound of the ocean. Maya, who was just a few days old, was rescued by mermaids, who left her on the beach to be found by humans.
- Playing with Fire: After Cordelia is almost killed in Quest for Atlantis, Gal uses the Power of the Sea, a blue orb with great powers, to revive her. Everyone who is healed with the Power of the Sea gains a magic power of some kind. Cordelia's is the ability to create fire, even underwater, and withstand burns.
- Plot Coupon: In Quest for Atlantis, the protagonists track down two diamonds, one in a mountain in Washington and one at the bottom of the Marianas Trench, which will allow them to open the portal to Atlantis.
- Portmanteau Couple Name: In-universe example. In Quest for Atlantis, Trent wonders if Cordelia and Wade should be called Wadelia or Corade.
- Premature Eulogy: In Secrets of the Deep, Trent is "killed" in a "shark attack" during which he was actually transformed into a selachii. During his funeral, his father gives a eulogy, and many of the people who knew him share anecdotes about his life. At the end of the book, most of the selachii get their legs back, and Trent is reunited with his family.
- Previously on…: Quest for Atlantis opens with a summary of Secrets of the Deep.
- Ransacked Room: Dylan gives Cordelia a magic pearl and tells her to keep it safe from the selachii. She hides it in her room. But a few weeks later she comes home to find her room completely destroyed - her chair, pillow, and mattress have been slashed, the contents of her closet and drawers are strewn all over the floor, and her keepsake box has been smashed open. Her father, who doesn't know about the pearl, is amazed that someone would do all that and not steal anything.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Dylan was saved after the selachii attack by being turned into a merman. Because his transformation occurred before he would have gained the ability to transform voluntarily, he can't turn into a human, and went five years without being able to contact his surviving family. In Quest for Atlantis, it turns out that their mother is also alive, and has been imprisoned in Atlantis for almost six years.
- Succession Crisis: In Fight for Freedom, the entire Presidential line of succession is wiped out in a nuclear war. Because it's not clear who's in charge, a civil war breaks out between the survivors who want revenge and the ones who just want to rebuild.
- Tears of Joy: Cordelia's father cries when he is reunited with Dylan.
- Super-Strength: In Quest for Atlantis, Wade is revived with the Power of the Sea, which gives him super strength. He discovers his ability when he uses it to lug half the submersible back to the surface after it implodes.
- Telepathy: Mermaids communicate mostly using telepathy. They instinctively move their lips while they do it, but it's hard to hear each other's speech underwater.
- This Is Reality: In Quest for Atlantis, Cordelia tells Christina, "This is the twenty-first century. We are not in the land of arranged marriages or a Shakespearian world of tragic love affairs. This is real life. This is real, modern life. You need to let Wade make his own decision."
- Threatening Shark: At the start of the series, the news reports an unusually high number of shark attacks, much to the confusion of Cordelia's father, who studies sharks and knows they shouldn't be that aggressive. It turns out the "sharks" are actually Zale and his gang, killing people in order to turn them into selachii to wage war against the High Council.
- Unscaled Merfolk: Selachii are shark people who can either look like regular sharks, or like merfolk with shark tails. Wade is one of the few selachii with the ability to turn all the way into a human.
