hand examining the face of a long-gone sea king and the other tugging

on the tip of their chin. They even say, “I suppose,” at the same

time.

“He said he taught the king’s daughters.” I wave my hands in the

air to get their attention back. “So you’re one of the king’s

daughters and Kurt doesn’t know how to read these symbols.”

“It’s not that I don’t know how to read them. It’s that I never

learned.”

“Mmm. Hmm. Which means you don’t know how to read them.”

“Enough!” Mom puts her hands up between us. “Kurt, you wouldn’t

know how to read this. This is the language of the gods. Only the

oracles can translate it. Greg wanted us to learn, but after a few

years Father changed his mind and forbade it.”

“The king forbids his kids to get all bilingual and has a

disagreement with Gregorious, who ends up fired. Sounds like Grandpa

was hiding something.”

“Don’t say that,” Mom whispers.

“Sorry. It sounds shady, that’s all.”

Kurt takes the paper once again, trying hard to see words in the

symbols, but it’s like all those times I tried to fake my way through

Spanish. “Mom?” She looks unsteady and I reach a hand to hold her.

“I think this word is ‘death.’ Yes, I remember because we were

trying to translate the prophecy of the hero Milanos, destined to die

at the hands of a sea prince during the age of the Greeks. I wonder-”

“Death never sounds good,” I mutter.

I flip the crumbling paper over and smooth it out. “What’s this

bit right here? 1907?”

Mom looks to Kurt. “You were born that year. I remember because I

was in the room with the midwife, and my sister Avelia kept saying

there was a rainbow over the human island in the distance and it was a

good omen for you.”

“That’s all awesome and kind of weird, but how do we find someone

who would know about this?” I feel like I’m chasing my own tail again.

Mom places a hand over the face of King Ellanos. She gasps, pain

spreading all over her face. Her hands fly to her stomach. She’s going

to be sick. I can see it in the green flush of her face. She breathes

deep and long.

I get up. “Are you okay?”

“Lady Maia, perhaps you should sit.”

“I haven’t felt this terrible since-” Her big blue eyes scan my

face, and before she can finish, she runs to her bathroom. We can hear

the puking all the way out here.

Dad stands at the kitchen entrance.

“Should I go to the pharmacy?” I start to run to the bathroom and

stop. “Should I bring her water?” I run back to the kitchen and fumble

trying to get a glass and the pitcher of purified water from the

fridge.

Sure, when it comes to fires and evil merpeople, I can be

concentration guy, but put me in front of a girl crying or puking, and

I don’t know the difference between my ass and my elbow.

Dad shakes his head. He’s part worried, part nervous, and the

combination smells acrid. And that’s coming from a guy who showers

three times a day in the summer. “There’s no easy way to say this, so

here goes.”

“Dad? Spit it out. You’re freaking me-”

He fist-pumps the air. “Your mom’s pregnant.”

I get a broom for the broken glass on the floor. When Kurt tries

to help me, I shoo him away and he sits next to my dad at the kitchen

counter, watching.

“I didn’t mean to tell you this way,” Dad says. “We were going to

wait. Maybe ’til after this championship stuff. We didn’t want you to

worry.”

“Why? Why would I be worried, I mean.”

The acrid smell of nervousness is replaced by the smoky sweetness

of excitement. It’s what I felt when I set fire to the roof. I tie the

garbage bag in a knot and pass a mop over the floor. This is the most

I’ve ever cleaned. Look at me being a grown-up.

“I believe congratulations are in order?” Captain Awkward says.

“And much merriment,” Dad says in a mock-Kurt voice. Dad goes to

the fridge and gets three light beers. “I know these go right to your

head because of your bodily water ratio, but hell.”

Together, the three of us pop the lids of our beer cans.

Dad and Kurt start talking about names and hoping it’s a girl

because Maia wants a girl, and I just sit here giving him a thumbs-up

while still trying to drink this thing.

Not only is it incredibly gross to picture my parents still doing

it, but I’m sixteen. Most people who want to have more kids usually

pop them out all at once, right? Angelo’s one of seven, and that’s not

counting the kids his dad has from his first marriage. Come to think

of it, Layla’s one of the few friends I have who’s an only child.

If I’m Sea King, how am I supposed to be someone’s older brother?

I’d want to teach him how to swim, how to play ball. Tell him about

the first time I shifted. Wait, Mom wants a girl, so I’d have to be

around and chase guys away from her. I’d have to make sure she’d

always be protected. Wait a minute. What if the baby isn’t half merkin

after all? What if they get to have a no-complications, fully human

life?

I’m on autopilot, getting more beers from the fridge. Kurt just

says yes to being the unborn baby’s godfather. We’re not even

Catholic. How come I don’t have godparents?

“When my boy here becomes Sea King, we’ll use his college money as

a down payment on a house.”

“Wait, we’re moving ?”

I hate that I’ve put such a hurt look on my dad’s face. He says,

“Too much too soon? I knew we shouldn’t have said anything. We weren’t

planning it, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“Ew, Dad. You don’t need my permission. I mean, you guys should

get the chance to raise a normal kid and a normal family that doesn’t

involve a freak son and his new life under the sea.”

My own hurt is twisting into my chest like screws. I can’t believe

how selfish I sound. Here is my dad really happy, and I’m taking it

away from him. So I put on my best smile and give another thumbs-up,

even though this is somehow worse than Archer kicking me in the gut.

Dad slings his arm around my shoulder. “There is nothing more

wonderful than having you as a son. We didn’t even think we could have

another baby until it happened.”

“No, totally.” My face hurts from smiling. “This is awesome.”

“This isn’t about getting another shot,” he says. “You have to

know that.”

“I do. Don’t worry about me.”

At some point, the sun starts setting, and Dad goes and checks on

Mom. I clink Kurt’s beer and Thalia walks in. Her hair is damp and she

smells strangely of pizza.

“Where have you been?” Kurt’s voice is a boom, but it has to do

with the beer and not anger. He scoops her up in a bone-crushing hug.

Thalia is too stunned to even push him away. “I was hungry.”

But her cattish green eyes find mine and I know she’s lying. I

shake my head once, wishing I could tell her we saw her on the

boardwalk.

“You were with those people,” Kurt says. “I saw you.”

Thalia’s eyes go wide. She takes the drink from her brother and

sets it on the table. “Is this a celebration? Did things go well with

Sarabell?”

I hold up my hand to show her teeth marks but my heart jumps. The

teeth marks are gone except for the pearly shadow of her canines to

match the bite on my other arm from fox boy. I didn’t expect that

trying to do the right thing would lead to becoming a human chew-toy.

What the hell was in that vial I drank at Greg’s?

“Uh-she wanted to be my queen and then bit me when I stopped her

from drowning happy beachgoers.”