courts happy. It’s a fairly new thing with a treaty signed in magical

blood, fairy tears, unicorn horns-you know, that kind of stuff. Didn’t

really work for Versailles, but it’s a wait-and-see.”

I nod, like I know what he’s talking about.

“I’ve seen things. Nothing like this before, though. Pretty cool,

huh? It’s like waking up one day and taking the blindfold off.” He

stands and dusts sand off his jeans, even though I’m sure he’s got

sand in places he won’t be able to dust off for days. Trust me. “Now

if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go let the mermaids seduce me.”

It goes on for what seems like hours. The sun stays at a high

point, like perpetual noon. Layla and Marty are welcome, and I guess I

am too. The kids sure think I’m something special. The ones who can

walk come up and poke me, and then run away. Girls walk up to me and

bow their pretty little heads. It’s like the mermaid version of the

Lifeguard Catwalk. They walk past with their glittering scales beneath

flowing skirts that look more like sheer scarves wrapped around their

bodies.

My grandfather sits beside me. “I’m glad you are enjoying your

people.” He’s been standing around just watching for hours, and I

almost forgot he was there.

“What happens next?”

“Are you in a hurry?”

“No, I’m just-wondering.”

“How is your father?”

“He’s good.”

“And my daughter?”

“She’s, you know, good?”

He chuckles. “How very… good. ”

“Grandf-Sea King?”

He nods but doesn’t correct me as to what I should call him. He

waits for me to talk.

“I have about a million questions to ask you.”

He smiles like my mom, all cheeks, even with his beard. “How about

we start with one.”

That’s totally unfair. How about we start with how the hell is

this island moving on its own? Or how come I can’t turn into a whole

fish like Thalia and Kurt, not that I actually want to? Or what

happens if no one likes me? That grizzly Elias guy looked like he

wanted to kick my ass, and I’ve never even seen him before. It’s like

starting high school all over again.

Finally I settle on, “Why didn’t you come sooner?”

The blue of his eyes get dark like dusk. “Believe me, I wanted

to.”

“Don’t get me wrong. I love my mom and dad, and my dad’s sisters

are okay. But it would’ve been nice to know that I at least had a

grandfather. I don’t know.” I shake my head. I’m being stupid and

sentimental in front of the king. I’m never like this. I take a deep

breath to loosen the tightness in my chest.

He sets a firm hand on my shoulder. “Let me show you something.”

“What?”

“Something you should’ve known much, much sooner.”

He leads me through a passage behind his throne. I let my fingers

trace the walls. The rock is ancient and smooth, shaped by water and

glistening with dew. Tiny lights float in the crevices of the

stalactites, which hang like icicles.

The air is cooler here. I can even smell the sea.

We take a right, the lights ahead of us like tiny beacons, and I

realize they’re leading us. We’re in a cavernous room. There’s a

natural pool of crystal-clear water that looks cold to the touch. When

I get up close to it, I can see something behind my reflection, a dark

shape taking form. Suddenly the surface breaks, and I hold up my arms

to shield my face. I push myself backward.

“Easy, boy,” my grandfather says. I wish he wouldn’t talk to me

like a pet, but when I open my eyes, I realize he isn’t talking to me

at all.

“What is that?”

The king sits at the edge of the pool and holds out his massive

hand to a creature I’ve never seen before. With bright yellow eyes and

a long horned snout, it’s completely familiar. A sea horse. But when

it grunts, its arms come out like webbed paws and lead to a body that

ends in a curling tail. It nuzzles into my grandfather’s hand like a

puppy and a horse all at once.

“This is Atticus,” he tells me. “He gets lost in the lower tunnels

and ends up here instead of Thalia’s chambers.

I still can’t pull myself off the floor. “When Thalia said she

missed her sea horse, Atticus, I was picturing something-smaller,” I

say, careful of my words, because something in its yellow eyes tells

me he can understand me. I have some food I’ve been stowing away in my

pockets instead of eating, and I feed it to him.

“He is the last of his kind,” Grandfather says. “Just like us.”

“What do you mean?”

He walks across the room to the pool, where there’s a tall golden

chair with spikes that end in jeweled points. It doesn’t look very

comfortable, but he seems to like it. I notice the trident for the

first time, softly glowing in its stand beside him. Not like the dinky

little toy I’d pictured. It’s practically as tall as he is. The fork

crackles with lightning on its own. I want to touch it. I wish it were

mine.

I take a step back and the feeling dulls a bit.

“It’s calling to you,” says the king.

“It’s strange. Like I know it’s mine.” Then I look at his serious

face and add, “Only it’s yours.”

He takes the trident with one hand. Even from here, I can feel it

humming. The lighting sparks start at the forks and lead down its body

of twisted gold that ends in a jagged and long pointed white crystal.

“What do you want with me?” There. I said it. It’s only taken me

all day. “Why me? Why not one of your sons?”

He sighs. I hate when people sigh, like they’re deflating and

giving something up. “Because I don’t have sons.”

“Oh.”

“I have scores of daughters. I had a few boys, but I’ve outlived

them all. My daughters have sons, but your mother is my favorite.”

“You’re not actually supposed to admit to that.”

“Why ever not? I’m the Sea King. Maia was my favorite. When she

chose your father-I almost killed him.” The trident sparks some more,

and I take a step back. “During our last visit, I let more of my

people go on shore. The Betwixt Alliance had only just been born, a

treaty establishing peace between the worlds, courts, and kingdoms.

And everyone played on human soil. Maia always loved people. She’d lie

on the beach and watch them. Their laughs, their loves, their deaths.

We don’t die easily, and when we do, we return to the sea.” He coughs,

and when he does, I see him shiver from head to toe. It’s like

watching a great statue teeter.

“Kurt said you chose me to run for king or something.”

“To be king you must own the trident. The trident can be won

during a championship, or it can be taken by killing the owner. You

are my blood. And yet you are a stranger. If I simply made you king, I

would be breaking the trust of my people. I would leave you with a

broken kingdom. With a war you would not know how to fight. I cannot

be like the kings of old.”

Championship. Kill. War. The words are on the tip of my tongue

like razors on their edge. “What-what if I say no?”

He scratches his beard, and I’m afraid something is going to crawl

out of it and he’s going to eat it. Instead he stands and holds the

trident with both hands. He points it at the pool where Atticus was

swimming minutes ago. “Do you know where you come from?”

It feels like a trick question. I come from my mom. I don’t really

want to have that conversation again in my life, ever.

“You come from the sea.” The trident hovers over the pool, and

shadows dance over the surface, until the water is reenacting his

words. “Poseidon owned the seas, and his sons after him. They mastered