“Arion’s more than that. He’s been my friend and I will free him.”

Kurt shakes his head, sighing. “Don’t make easy promises.”

“Isn’t that the point of having a new king?” I cross my arms over

my chest. “Just because we’re supernatural beings doesn’t mean we have

to live in the Middle Ages, slaying dragons and having squires and

shit.”

Kurt sharpens the sword with a black stone, sending sparks flying

with each strike. “I’ve killed my share of dragons.”

“Is that why you wanted to come down here?” I sit facing him on a

barrel of sea mead. “Because this isn’t a two-man job, and Triton’s

dagger doesn’t need sharpening.”

He stops. Sets his weapons down carefully. “I didn’t want to say

this in front of Gwenivere-”

“Because you don’t like her?”

He rolls his eyes. “That isn’t what I said.”

“But you don’t deny it?”

“Does it matter to you?” he asks defiantly.

Truthfully, I don’t know anything about their relationship before

they joined up with me. Maybe they dated and it didn’t work out. That

might explain all the venom.

“Why don’t you like her?” I ask. Other than her general air of

entitlement and her finger-snapping attitude.

“What has she done to make you two so close?”

“ That was subtle.” I instantly think of Gwen’s eyes turning black

for a flash, her magic. “It’s not like that.”

Even in the shadows, I can see him flush. “Forget it.”

“Oh, come on. Learn to take a joke. You should know me by now.

What did you want to say that you couldn’t say in front of Gwen?”

“Thalia has been gone too long,” he says. “I trained her myself. I

know she can take care of herself. But with the boy’s-Ryan’s-death…She

was rather attached. I don’t know if she’d be reckless.”

Thalia’s the only mermaid I’ve met, other than my mom, who loves

being on land. When she left this morning to scout the distance to the

cove, I figured it’d be good for her to be alone. But that was hours

ago.

“Maybe we should go now,” I say. “Make sure she’s safe, then just

you and me keep on going.”

“I’ve been to the oracle here before. I told you. And while

strategically it’s safer to enter through land, there are also the

tunnels beneath. I’m willing to take the chance. If you are.”

That’s a challenge. I match the smirk on his face. “Of course I’m

willing. Though, the girls are not going to like us leaving them

behind.”

He seems startled. “Haven’t you ever said ‘no’ to a girl before?”

“Plenty of times. Doesn’t mean I like to do it. Then they get all

sad and it’s my fault and I’m the one who’s the jerk.”

“We could have the urchins whip up a calming brew.”

I punch him in the chest. “Are you crazy? We don’t drug our

friends to stop an argument! What’s wrong with you?”

“Then you’ll have to be the one to tell them. They listen to you.”

“Since when? Between the four of us, our stubbornness could fill a

black hole.”

Kurt bursts out in a rare laugh. “Let’s get our weapons ready.

I’ll meet you on deck in fifteen minutes. Which one of these do you

prefer?”

“I don’t need a sword.” I duck back the way we came from and start

climbing up the ladder. “I’ve got something even better.”

The captain’s chambers are small and unused.

There’s a long, stiff bed and a table with some old maps, a

magnifying glass, and a rusty water pitcher. The gas lamp swings

precariously above my head. In the three hours of sleep I was able to

get last night, I woke up sweating because I dreamt the quartz scepter

was gone. Even now, removing the long rectangular box from the trick

compartment under the bed, I’m afraid of opening it.

But that’s stupid, because it only opens to my touch.

Then her voice makes me jump, and when I stand, I hit my head on

the gas lamp.

“Weren’t you just talking about how we don’t want to swim down

there?” It’s Layla. She’s jittery, like the minutes before a meet. She

lets all of the nervousness wash over her. Then when she stands on the

ledge, she uncrosses her arms and lets it all go.

“What else do you want me to do? Sit here and duel with Kurt?” I

set the box on the bed, trace my finger from top to bottom. The effect

is instant. Symbols etched carefully in golden leaves, circles, and

flurries hum beneath my finger. I think, this has to be what magic

feels like. Buzzing, kinetic, electric. It purrs under my skin,

shooting pinpricks of energy until something unhinges and the box

sighs open.

I let go of the breath I’ve been holding.

The scepter is still there.

I grip the dusty golden hilt and pull it out. The quartz piece

comes to a sharp point. A soft glow emanates from inside the crystal.

It comes and goes like the fluorescent tubes in my old classrooms.

Kurt says it could be because the three pieces are meant to work

together, and when they’re apart, they’re erratic.

Layla hooks her thumbs on the back of her shorts. “Is it heavy?”

“Not really.” I hold it horizontally and press on its weight, like

a too-thick branch I can’t snap. “It’s solid, though.”

“Can I touch it?”

“ No .” I hold it over my head and away from her. “Did you see

what my dagger did to Gwen’s hands?”

“Fine, I’ll get my rock candy on a stick.”

I make like I’m going to throw it at her, a fake basketball pass,

and she flinches. “See? You don’t really want it. You just want it

because I have it. Like when you stole my G.I. Joes.”

“Only because you stole my Barbies. Which makes so much sense

now.”

“I took better care of your Barbies than you, Ecuadorian scissor

hands .”

“They looked better with short hair!”

I strap on the leather harness Blue made for me. I can sheath my

dagger at the center of my chest, and my scepter between my shoulder

blades. I use Layla as my mirror. Her eyes flick from my feet to my

weapons and settle on my face. She reaches out to my cheek where Kurt

nicked me.

Layla’s never been delicate. She’d rather punch you than kiss you.

But right now in the captain’s cabin, with her sun-kissed hair and her

chin tilted up in that stubbornly cute way, I wonder-

I close the space between us one step at a time. She can step back

if she wants to. She knows that.

But she doesn’t.

Her hands unhook from her shorts and fall on my hip bones. The

pads of her fingertips press firmly on my sticky, sweaty skin.

I tuck a strand behind her ear, trace the length of her neck. “I

think you only like me when you think I might die.”

“I think I like you better when you aren’t talking.”

We exhale at the same time. The heat of it is like the hum of the

quartz piece in my hand, and because she’s frozen still, I know I have

to be the one to banish the gap between us and I lower my lips to

hers.

But then the heat is gone.

“You said fifteen minutes.” A very naked Kurt stands at the door,

which I forgot was open.

I put a hand over Layla’s eyes. “Why are you naked?”

“Those are my last trousers,” he says. “I didn’t want to ruin

them. This is why we have armor on the Sea Guard. Too bad-”

Layla’s batting my hands away. “Really Tristan, It’s not anything

I haven’t seen before.”

“ What ?” Kurt and I shout in sync.

“I don’t mean Kurt. I’m one of three girls on the swim team. The

guys aren’t exactly shy. Neither are you.” She pinches my abs and

walks right past Kurt, like it’s just another Sunday morning.

I put my hands on his chest and shoo him out of the way. “Come on,