“I didn’t mean to frighten you, Lord Sea.”

“Will you guys stop calling me that,” I hiss.

“Pardon again.” She looks back and waves at the cook visible

behind the line of yellow order tickets. He winks at her and flips a

pancake. “I’ve been looking for you. Your whereabouts are more secret

than the Glass Castle.”

“Who are you?” Mom asks, pushing herself erect.

The lady shrinks back a bit. “My friends call me Penny. I wish to

speak to Lor-”

I hold up my hand. “Call me Tristan.”

Everyone scoots over a seat to make room for her.

“You were on Arion’s ship,” I say. “You were with the turtle boy.”

She nods happily. “He’s my son, Timmy.”

Timmy the turtle. No wonder merpeople are known for their cruelty.

“I remember you,” Thalia says matter-of-factly.

“My son is rooting for you as champion.”

“How did you find him?” Dad says, staring at the spot on her wrist

where the suction cup rises again. His eyes are full of wonder, and I

suddenly wish there were more people like my dad out there. “Is there

a mer-tracking device on you we should check for?” He reaches over to

me and digs through my hair until I pull away.

“My boyfriend,” she nods toward the kitchen at the cook. “Timmy

got your picture from the papers and put it on our refrigerator. Right

next to his Batman and Superman magnets.”

“That’s real-neat?” I say, wishing I could find that part of me

that’s funny and quick and always ready to make girls laugh. But it’s

like that half of my brain is asleep, and all I can think about is

Layla almost dying because of me. “Why were you looking for me,

Penny?”

“I’m technically not supposed to do this,” she says.

“Because you’re landlocked, and the landlocked have no say in who

becomes champion,” Kurt says.

I try to kick him under the table, but I miss and hit the metal

pole. Anger flashes over Penny’s delicate face. “Yes, I’m landlocked.

Which means I’m powerless against the merrows attacking our shores.

Killing on land. The longer there is no Sea King, the longer those on

these shores will be subject to the creatures who wish there were no

Sea King at all. Believe me, just because we pay tithes for protection

doesn’t mean there aren’t those who would rather have no king at all.”

She leans closer to Kurt, practically yelling in his face. I don’t

exactly blame her.

Mom and Kurt start talking over each other, but he lets her go

first, always the gentleman. “What do you mean, the merrows? They’re

not allowed to grow past their infancy.”

“What’s a merrow?”

Penny takes the crumpled newspaper from the table and opens it to

the pictures of the attack at our school. “These are merrows. This is

the first time I’ve seen them, but I’ve heard stories of those that

grow to full size and live in swamps and small lakes. When they came

on shore, they had no fear of being caught. They tore through cars.

Some got lost in the subway and got run over by trains. Can’t say

they’re very smart, but in numbers they would be a challenge. The

alliance isn’t happy.”

“Guys, what are they?”

“Wait a minute,” Thalia says, eating the last bit of French toast.

“Merrows are tiny, and they’re disfigured. Those creatures were fully

grown.”

“Which would mean that those responsible for disposing of the

merrows aren’t doing what they’re supposed to,” Kurt’s says gravely.

I smack my hand on the table. “Hi, champion here. Would someone

mind telling me what you’re all talking about?”

Penny takes a deep breath. “Sometimes a mermaid gives birth to a

deformed child, not fully human or mer-kin. It has no reason, no sense

of speech. There was a time when they tried to acclimate them into

families. But they were too wild, and it often ended very bloodily.

Before King Karanos-your grandfather-King Erebos decreed that the

merrows born at court would be killed instantly. King Karanos thought

it was too cruel, so instead he had a prison built for them where they

would be left alone.

“What about the ones not born at court?” I find that the question

leaves me slowly. Mostly because I already know the answer, but also

because I don’t want to hear it.

Penny looks down that the table. She picks up the salt shaker and

holds it. “Sometimes the families would not want to travel that far

and would simply leave the creature at the edge of a precipice. It is

considered a curse to raise a merrow.”

“I see,” Dad says quietly.

No one touches their food anymore.

“So these creatures,” I say, “these merrows that are supposed to

be dead, are now fully grown and attacking people.”

Penny shakes her head. “Not people. They’re after you. Whatever

gets in their way is just collateral damage.”

“They’ve never attacked before?” Dad asks.

“They’re not equipped to survive on their own,” Thalia says. “If

they’re living to that size, then someone is raising them. I’ve never

seen one before-”

“Nor have I,” Kurt adds.

“The Sea King does not want to be like his father. From what my

grandparents told me, King Elanos had the wrath of the eye of a storm.

Your father,” Penny turns to my mom, “wanted to be loved by his

people, and now it’s going to haunt him.”

“Nieve is raising them,” Kurt says. I can feel his mind turning.

He’s coming up with a plan. I have no plan. I’m just trying to take

this all in. “I’m sure of it.”

“What else do you know, Penny?” I ask.

“I’m not connected to the underground as such. This was my first

tithe to the king. I was born on land, but my mother taught me the

basic rules to keep my family protected.”

I chew on a piece of bacon, just for the taste of salt in my

mouth. “Why are you doing this? I mean, if you have no connection to

the court, why would you even care about the championship?”

“Because unlike other merpeople, you know what it’s truly like to

be part of both worlds. You could change things. Change things for

real. Like I said, my boy is rooting for you.” She stands and presses

her hands on her apron. “I have to get back to work. Remember,

Tristan, it’s not just my boy and I rooting for you. You’ll find our

kind is all behind you, not just in the seas.” With that and a small

wave she’s gone.

I try to give her the best smile I can. I don’t want to disappoint

her by letting her know I’m no closer to piecing the trident back

together than I am to graduating from high school.

The minute I step into school, I remember being on that field. I

remember Kurt pointing his arrow past Ryan’s head at the creature. I

remember standing there waiting for its poisonous needles to hit me

and then feeling Layla jump in the way. The way her body stiffened

around me as the poison worked through her body. I shut my eyes

against it. I decide nothing like that is ever going to happen again,

because I’m going to find Maddy. I’m going to get the pearl, and I’m

going to find the oracles.

I try to replay what Penny said at Neptune’s Diner, but I collide

into someone. Someone who is really pissed off.

“What’s your problem, man? Can’t you see where you’re walking?”

Angelo shoves me into the locker. It doesn’t hurt, but the dagger in

my backpack hums. “What’s up, pretty boy? Need me to teach you how to

talk?”

I wave Kurt off, because he’s ready to jump right in there. We’re

gathering a crowd, people snapping pictures and running videos with

their phones.

“Relax, man.” I put my free hand on his shoulder. This is