destruction of New York City by a little merman.”

“Wh-”

“The door , Mr. Hart. Answer the door. ”

I can’t shake the numbness spreading through my body. I turn the

knob, and when I open my eyes, the silver mermaid is there. She bares

her shark teeth at me. The hallway is full of water. She moves her

hands to try and grab me, but she can’t breach the glass wall between

us. I shut the door in her face and press my back against it.

Mr. Van Oppen stares at me with a furrowed brow and a crooked

smile. “My, my. And here I was wondering what all the fuss was about.

Hmm?”

When I breathe, I breathe hard.

Breathe like I haven’t had any air in years. Layla’s face is right

over me. Her eyes are wet, and she wipes her hand across them. She

brings her closed fist right down on my chest. Dйjа vu.

“Easy, girl,” I hear Marty say.

“Where am I?”

“You’re alive is what you are,” Thalia says. She’s in between

shifts. Her deep green scales cover her breasts, and she’s still

wearing her puffy pink skirt. She’s rubbing a black paste onto my

chest where I’ve got more long red scratches.

“You’re in the king’s quarters,” Kurt says from somewhere. I

recognize the bed, the throne across the room, the empty stand where

the trident used to be.

I stretch my arms out and feel the sheer blanket, too fine to be

silk but the softest thing I’ve ever felt. Then I glance at Layla’s

face again and think of the kiss I stole from her. No way, her lips

are definitely the softest.

But other memories push past that one-the silver mermaid, over and

over again. She’s here. She’s somewhere on the island.

“Elias. That shark mermaid was down there. Where’s my

grandfather?”

“The king is calming the crowds,” Thalia says. Her cuteness is

replaced with that all-knowing, kick-ass attitude she doesn’t always

let peek through. Shit must be serious then.

“Elias’s followers want your fins stripped on a platter.”

“He’s not back?” Of course he’s not back. I remember him trying to

choke me, then letting go and sinking into the abyss.

I can see it in their faces. They think it was me.

“I didn’t kill him! I didn’t!” I sit up, past the ache in my legs.

“The last thing I remember is trying to reach for him. He was beating

me, and then he just started-sinking. Then I got this feeling like my

brain was ripping in half. I saw her, the silver mermaid. The shark

mermaid from my dream! It’s like she was inside my head.”

Heavy footsteps enter the room. “Why didn’t you tell me of this,

Kurtomathetis?” The king’s voice booms through the glittering stone

walls.

“I didn’t know-”

“Do you know how severe this is? How dangerous she is?” His face

is red. His white mane curls wildly around his leathery shoulders.

“Wait, hold up. Rewind.” I cross my hands in a T for time-out.

Grandfather walks over to his chair and sits. He slumps in his

chair like he’s beaten, like with every minute the trident is gone,

more of the power he’s held for centuries is washing away.

Layla and Thalia link arms at the edge of the bed. Marty leans

against a wall, looking exactly the way he did when I first saw him,

coffee straw and all.

“Tell me, Tristan,” says the king, “when did the mermaid first

come to you? What did she look like?”

“The day of the storm. I have zero memory of surviving except for

this dream. She comes at me and attacks me, but this shark wearing

some kind of helmet comes and saves me and drags me to shore.”

“That explains the missing sharks on the guard,” Kurt says.

“Indeed,” my grandfather responds.

I tell them about all of my memories of her, the storm, the

hospital, the dreams, the tunnel and pool right here in Toliss. “And

when I was fighting Elias, it felt like she was trying to get into my

mind. It’s always like that, but there’s a barrier and she can’t ever

break through. Who is she? What does she want with me?”

“She is my sister.” My grandfather leans back on his tall golden

chair and concentrates on the fireflies. “She is Nieve-a murderer and

a deceiver. She’s a sorceress and a traitor to the throne. When we

were young, she killed my mother’s newest babe out of jealousy. She

was banished for two hundred years by my father, who feared the

harpies’ fury if he killed his own daughter. Then she was released,

and she tried to become part of us again, but there was something

rotting inside her, so she never could. Her blood is wrong, poison.

When Father made me king in her stead as eldest, she killed him. So I

locked her up below the sea, and she’s been there for centuries.”

“Why didn’t you just off her?” Marty asks. I’m afraid my

grandfather is going to turn around and drown him or just smack him,

but he doesn’t.

“Because I am an utter fool.” He sighs long and hard. “I am

foolish to think our kind can change. I am foolish to think that my

people can find their way in this new world when I’ve clung to my

father’s tradition for so long. My father could not kill his own

daughter, no matter how dreadful she was. She was still his. I knew I

should’ve destroyed her when I took the throne. But there is no

greater crime than killing your own family.”

“But she killed her own sister and her father!” Layla yells.

“And she was punished. The Caves of Tartarus were supposed to

contain her.”

“Now she’s out,” I say, and I’m surprised at how even my voice is

when I’m actually trembling. “So if my dreams weren’t dreams, and

someone was feeding her in the pool, then we’re not the only ones who

know she’s out.”

“Traitors in my own kingdom.” Grandfather shakes his head.

“Kurtomathetis, send guards to the Narrow Caves and report.”

“Thalia, the two of you will remain with Tristan and guard his

family.” He looks at Layla and his face softens. “And friends,

naturally.”

“What should I do?” I stand with empty hands, unknowing. “She’s

definitely coming after me.”

“When you were born I bound you. You have my protection. I

released most of it so that you could shift into your true self, but

my power is still there. Only when I am truly no longer king would she

be able to harm you. Now that I no longer have the trident, my magics

will ebb.

“You must find the trident. You should be king, as it is our

family’s right. No matter what blood you share. It is your

birthright.” He nods to the dagger slung over my shoulder.

“That was mine when I was your age, before I became king.” I

wonder about the things he’s had to do with it, the things I’ll have

to use it for. “It was my father’s and his and his and his. Well, I

can go on for quite a long time. It was a gift from Triton.”

“ The Triton?” Marty goes, the excitement in his voice so rich

that it’s like he’s the one getting the present.

“Yes, the Triton,” Kurt answers irritably, returning from the

tunnel.

“Son of Poseidon, god of the sea,” Layla says.

The merpeople stare at her.

“What? My mom’s Greek,” she says, rolling her eyes.

My grandfather rummages through what looks like a bunch of junk.

Now I know where my mom gets it from. “Now, where is that-ahh-yes,

this’ll do-Miss Layla?”

Layla rises slowly from the bed. She stands in front of him with

damp curls and clothes. “Yes?”

“Because I am a merman of my word, and a king is only worth the

promises he keeps, this is a token from my court. So that harm may

never come to you by me or mine. I’d say you’ve earned it, quite