blue sky to burst with the first signs of pink and yellow.

Kurt is at my side. We sit alone watching our companions eat and

drink the strange new flavors, dive into the cool water, and laugh.

“Congratulations.”

“Where the hell have you been all day? Shaking hands and kissing

babies?”

He looks a bit embarrassed. “I’ve been asked to give accounts on

what your character is like.”

“Did you tell them I took you to the mall and fed you swine,

because that’s what I do to all the merpeople who come out of my

faucet?”

“I was gracious, I promise.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“I believe you already have.”

“Don’t hang around Marty so much. You’re starting to joke like

him. But seriously. What’s a fortnight?”

Kurt laughs, actually laughs. “Fourteen days.”

“How was I supposed to know?”

“The important thing is that you know now. You must also know the

king would like to speak to us privately before we leave.”

“Is he going to give me a cloak of invisibility or something

useful? I mean, all I’ve got is you and Thalia. If I can get her to

sit still for more than a second.”

He doesn’t acknowledge me. Not just because I’m being a smart-ass,

but because Elias is standing in front of Layla and Marty with his

finger pointing in their faces. When he yells, he spits. The music

stops, and everyone drops their instruments, their food, their

turtle-shell Frisbees to hear what the yelling is about. Marty stands

in front of Layla to block her and shoves Elias right on the chest.

Elias shoves him back, sending him splashing into the lake.

We rush over to them.

Kurt becomes all political etiquette and calm. I pull out my

dagger. “What seems to be the problem?”

Elias points at my friends. “These humans have stolen from me.”

“Do not forget that she is my sister and of the court. The boy is

of the alliance, and the girl-the girl belongs to Tristan-who is a

champion-” As well-spoken as he is, Kurt really does seem to be making

all of it up.

Layla stands but wobbles. “I don’t belong to anyone,” she says

indignantly. “This is the twenty-first century.”

Elias is the first to laugh. “There! She denies being his.

Therefore, she is a thief.”

“I am not!” She’s drunk. She’s drunk, and now she’s going to get

herself killed.

“They’ve stolen drink from my family’s tent.”

Thalia gets in between Elias and her brother, holding a long, thin

glass full of bubbly green liquid. If I didn’t know better, I’d say it

was champagne with green food coloring, like we tried to do last St.

Patrick’s Day. “ This is of the court, not just for you and yours.”

“The human girl is not of the court, which makes her a thief.

Guards!”

The guards trot around us. “Whoa, whoa! Easy.” I look to my

grandfather, but he shakes his head as if he can’t help me. “Is there

a different way to resolve this?”

Kurt leans in to my ear and whispers, “Elias is very influential.

He’ll argue his way into having her beheaded. Your grandfather is no

longer truly Sea King, and other than some loyalty, he doesn’t have

the same power he did before giving up the trident. Elias knows that.”

“You’re not so scary.” Layla presses her finger on Elias’s bare

chest.

“This is ridiculous,” Elias says, exasperated because the guards

can’t move in on her and the king can’t take sides.

“I can take you,” Layla says again.

“ Shut up ,” I say between gritted teeth. “Do you have a death

wish? I can’t save you.”

“Since when do you save me ?” She turns back to Elias. “I

challenge you to a race. Little ole human me versus big ole

champion-of-the-wicked-East you.”

The crowd eggs them on. It’s like I’m watching a fight break out

in the cafeteria because someone stared at someone else too long.

Elias turns to the king. “She is a disgrace to our people, and the

only way is to punish her.”

“I wouldn’t think a guy your size would be afraid of little me.”

Leave it to Layla, standing up to guys three times her size. When I

was in middle school-tall but really skinny-the ninth-graders picked

on me, and Layla once kicked a kid in his shins with her little

cowgirl boots. That’s when I knew I couldn’t live without her. But

this isn’t a junior-high bully we can just run away from. This is a

holier-than-thou merman who doesn’t like either of us breathing the

same air as him.

“I take your challenge as an insult. Disgraceful. The champion of

the king brings humans among us. He does not deserve to be champion.”

Every other word is laced with a kind of hatred I don’t recognize.

People usually like me. I mean, I’m a pretty nice guy.

“He cannot help bringing humans among us,” Grandfather says, “as

he is half human himself.”

I realize he’s just made a joke, and so does everyone else. He may

not have his trident, but he’s still seen as king, and the crowd

laughs at his joke. See, my grandfather is a pretty nice guy too.

“I’ve seen her swim, sire,” Kurt says, his face turning red

suddenly. “She is exceptional, even for a human.”

Layla crosses her arms and bobs her head at me.

“You have a courageous heart,” my grandfather commends her. “But

it is also a foolish heart. If you lose, you will be set on a sailboat

without an escort to face the sea on your own. Should you win, you

will be an honorary member of this court. No harm can come to you by

my people.”

“As long as they are still your people.” Elias growls loud enough

so that only we who are nearest can hear him.

“I’d like to take her place in the challenge,” I say.

Kurt shakes his head. “You can’t. It’s done. They’ve accepted.”

“What happens if Elias loses?”

Thalia shrugs. “This never happens. If he challenged another

merman and lost, he’d have his fins stripped and he’d be left out in

the sea to die.”

My laugh is bitter, nervous. “Comforting.”

Layla pulls on the straps of her dress, and the silk pools around

her feet. She’s down to her bra, the same lacy pink-and-black thing

she was wearing when she decided to surprise me in the pool.

I hold my hands out to them. “Are you sure there isn’t anything to

be done?”

Kurt and Thalia shake their heads. Even Thalia’s pretty smile is a

tight line.

I follow behind Layla. “Why, why, why , couldn’t you have just let

me talk?”

“You don’t talk for me, Finn . Don’t you believe in me?”

“It’s not that, Layla. I do.” I just can’t have anything happen to

you. I leave it unsaid.

“Not enough, I guess.”

I grab her wrist. My whole body is hot. I don’t know what to say

to her now. I love you? Please don’t die? She’s almost a better

swimmer than me. On my bad days she beats me. But this guy is a

full-blown merman. The whispers of the court surround us like a swarm

of mosquitoes. She pulls her hand free from my hold and practices her

breathing. Just like at any other meet.

I rub my hands over my face. This is happening.

This is happening, and I’m not doing anything to stop it.

They dive at the same time.

There is one giant intake of breath from all of us that makes the

hair on my body stand on end. She hits the water. A clean, perfect

dolphin dive. That’s what Coach calls her, his pet dolphin. I don’t

know how the water is, but it looks warm at least. She doesn’t come up

right away for breath. Her body is a blur beside Elias’s.

My heart feels like the time I spent an entire homeroom making a

rubber ball, twisting and snapping rubber band after rubber band into