I spit out a nasty chunk of meat stuck in my teeth.

“I don’t want to think about what you might have swallowed during

that battle,” Brendan says. “If I told my father of this, he wouldn’t

believe me.”

From a leather pouch slung on his belt, Brendan pulls out a long,

hand-rolled cigarette. When he lights it, I recognize the smell as

lily flower. Even when his father was presenting him in front of the

court, hands in the air, Brendan didn’t strike me as the serious type.

Not like Elias. Not like Adaro.

“How bad is the damage to the ship?” I ask.

Arion points to the sails. “The main sail’s been cut and some of

the ropes burned. Nothing the urchins and I can’t fix.”

“There’s also this,” I say, digging through the bag of loot we

managed to salvage. “The girls won this at the tavern. From the look

on your face, I can tell you know what this is.”

Arion takes the barrel in his calloused hands. He beats his

knuckle on the wood. “Aye.”

“Great,” I say. “What is it?”

Brendan laughs. “It’s potted wind, cousin. Young demigods make a

trade of their gifts. Sell a bit of rain to a city with drought. That

sort of thing.”

“With this,” Arion says, “we could return to Coney Island waters

by morning. It will suck the air right out of the skies, leaving other

ships stranded.”

Arion excuses himself to adjust the sails, taking the barrel with

him.

“Wish I’d gotten here sooner,” Brendan says between puffs. “My

crew was too far away when I saw the commotion. Arion here noticed me

and pulled me up just in time.”

“And you came alone?”

Brendan pats himself on his chest like No big deal. “Don’t be

fooled. I’m a lot more ruthless than I’d like to admit. Besides, your

mermaids here have bigger cockleshells than half the boys of my court.

You wouldn’t believe the guppies I ended up with.”

I think of the last two days. The snide comments, the sword

fighting, the death threats. And still, I wouldn’t trade them for a

ship full of heavily armed mermen. “Yeah, my crew’s all right .”

Brendan hoists himself on the ledge with one leg up. With his

cigarette hand, he points down to where my friends are gathered on the

clean deck around a toasty fire. I’ve never had a cousin before. It

makes me feel cool. This is my cousin Brendan with the killer bow and

arrows. He smokes lily flower. Awesome hair runs in the family.

“Is that the girl who swam against Elias?” He holds onto his

stomach, laughing. “You must truly have Grandfather’s charm to get

those two following you. Layla, was that her name? Exquisite. Those

eyes, like melting amber. But surely I don’t have to tell you that.”

As if she knows we’re talking about her, Layla sends her

death-beam stare at me.

“Yeah. Too bad she can’t decide if she wants to punch me or kiss

me.”

“Lucky bastard.” Brendan punches my shoulder. “Those are the best

kind. Keeps it fresh. Don’t you find the princesses boring? After a

while it’s like, I don’t care how many shipwrecks you’ve

single-handedly created this year.”

“Gwen’s okay, I guess.”

He gives me a funny smile, all “Are you serious? ” “You mean you

haven’t been with the other princesses that showed up to your court?”

“Dude, I don’t have a court. I have a high-school infestation.”

“I have no idea what that means.” He flicks the butt into the sea

and lights the next one. “As we speak, I have twenty princesses on my

ship.”

“Twenty?”

“It’s a big ship.” He smirks. “How do you think I knew to come

here?”

I’m not keeping up. “One of the princesses told you there was an

oracle here?”

“Not exactly. I was after something else. My own personal quest.”

He presses his finger to his lips. “Don’t tell the others.”

“Sure, sure. But how exactly do the princesses help you?”

He’s studying me as if I’m a totally new species, which I suppose,

in the end, I am.

“It’s part of the championship. Beautiful gems from the most

powerful families. Some, completely clueless. Others, with surprising

skills, like star charting. Did Kurtomathetis not tell you? They can

get out of hand when ignored. You know mermaids.”

Honestly, I don’t know mermaids. I don’t know anything. So I’m

like, “Totally. Out of hand.”

“Anyway, I should congratulate you on your success. The quartz

scepter was always my favorite part of the trident. When I was little,

I’d like to dare my squires to go up and touch the crystal. Wouldn’t

hurt them or anything, just give them a good jolt.” He blows the sweet

smoke in a cloud puff and laughs through it. “Did you find that oracle

back in the cove?”

“Did you?”

He holds his hands up and flips them back and forth. “Didn’t

really look, to tell you the truth. Charming little town, the cove.

Though a bit prudish for my taste.”

“I did hear something about extremely naked Sea People walking

about.”

Brendan shrugs, happily tugging on his cigarette. “You’re

Grandfather’s champion, not me.”

I turn to the calm, black sea. “I didn’t ask to be.”

“No one does. It might have been me, but he didn’t like that my

mom ran away to be with my dad.”

“My mom ran away to be with my dad too.”

“Grandfather’s a funny one.” Brendan flicks the stub of his

cigarette overboard. “They call him the best king our people ever had

because there are fewer executions.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Not when the alternative is to have more prisoners. He’s more

lenient than the kings of the past. Some see that as a weakness, but

my father says he’s smart. He wants to keep our people alive when so

few of us are left. Slow aging and wars. If only we could make more of

ourselves like vampires. I’ll tell you one thing. I wouldn’t want to

follow after him.”

I remember what Reggie said at the bar. The sea folk are

responsible for their own downfall.

“I’m confused,” I say. “Then why are you even championing , or

whatever it’s called?”

Suddenly he reminds me of Angelo and the way he shrugs when I ask

him if he wants sausage on his pepperoni pizza. The entire sea kingdom

is at stake, not to mention the safety of my Coney, and it all comes

down to a shrug.

“It’s expected of me. My father wants me to change things for our

kind. Told me I could have a ship and gold, and if I don’t become

king, he’ll fund an expedition for me. But he knows me, and me? I like

being alive. Every time I see one of us reduced to surf, it shakes me

to my core. One moment we’re whole, then the next moment we’re gone.

Poof .”

The lily flower must be kicking in because he’s grinning so hard.

“ Poof ,” he repeats.

“Hey, champions,” Layla shouts from the deck. She raises a string

of dried octopus like a ruler. “When you’re done with all your warrior

chat, come join the rest of the class, won’t you?”

Brendan jumps off the ledge and runs down to the deck, nestling

himself between Gwen and Kurt. The only one he hasn’t met formally is

Layla. He takes her hand and kisses it a little too long.

I don’t have the stomach to eat, but the urchins felt guilty over

allowing the ship to be captured. The others scarf down the plates of

food. Thalia uses Brendan’s arrow as a shish-kabob stick, which is

incredibly gross, considering the arrow was just stuck in someone’s

chest.

Layla takes a bite of the tentacle in her hand. “Is it just me, or

is anyone else freaked out that merrows can talk now?”