just maybe, if I think of it that way, it might be better.”

“Is it better?”

“No. But you’re meant for big things. I always said so.” He

reaches out and grips my shoulder. “Even without your mermaid tail.”

“Merman.”

“That’s what I said.”

I raise the volume on the radio. The song carries through the

thick summer air. The strain in my shoulders loosens just a bit and I

lean back into the passenger’s seat.

“What was it, anyway?” Dad asks.

I consider lying, but I’ve never lied to my dad. “Sea dragon.”

Then typical Dad, he busts out laughing. “What’s so funny?”

“And here I was wondering what to get you for Christmas.”

***

I’m ready for my mom to go into hysterics when we come through the

door. I’m ready for the news report, but thankfully, the camera crew

arrived way too late to get any footage of the beast. There are only

fuzzy videos and low-resolution photographs. What I’m not ready for is

Kurt and Gwen sitting at Command Central looking pale and green.

Gwen rushes to me and punches me on the shoulder I banged up

during the dragon attack, throwing all of her weight into it.

“Gwen!” Kurt shouts.

My face must be blue from holding my breath. “Why are you hitting

me?”

“You left us!” She sees Dad carrying sleeping Kai into the living

room and takes a second to process the information. “Then we couldn’t

find you and saw the wreckage.”

I cradle the aching side of my body until I nearly double over. “I

was making a love connection after Violet said she wanted to have

Kurt’s babies. With his eyes and her hair they’ll be the biggest

purple-oh my god, this hurts-”

Kurt tries to grab me but I recoil from him. My reflexes are slow

and his thumb is digging into my shoulder. “It’s dislocated.”

“No. It’s not.” I walk backward around the kitchen table and he

follows me. “It’s just a bruise.”

“Let me see you roll it, then.”

I bite on my lip, and my eyes water when I try.

“Come here.”

“No.”

“Trust me.”

“No, no. It’ll just heal on its own. I mean it-” And then he grabs

hold of me, and I swear the pop can be heard all over my building.

“Better?”

I squeak out a “Thank you” and lie spread out on the cool tile of

the floor. Dad walks over me to get something out of the fridge for my

mom. On his way back, he holds out his hand and pulls me up. “What’s

with Sleeping Beauty?”

I grab the stool beside Kurt.

“Kai tried to stop me from stabbing the dragon. She was all Oh

don’t kill it - it’s going extinct .”

“Hippies,” Dad jokes.

“She’s right.” Mom takes the bag of popcorn Dad is still holding.

“I had one once. It wasn’t meant to be mine. Pretty little thing. She

had this funny tail, like a rainbow fish-”

“Uh-and lots of venomous spit? If I want an evil pet, I’ll get a

cat.”

Mom shoots me her “You be quiet” glare and points to the living

room. “Get me an aloe leaf, will you?”

“Fine.” The leaf crunches when I rip it off and leaves a sticky

trail.

Mom cuts it down the center. She likes to drink the liquid, which

is disgustingly bitter. Growing up, I had so many cuts, rashes, and

scrapes that an aloe plant in the house came in handy. I still make an

ick sound when she scoops up the jelly and eats it. The second scoop

she takes to Kai and rubs on her wound. Dad throws away the bloody

paper towels.

“Remind me again, why were you out with this girl today? I just

thought-”

“ Dad .” I don’t want my love life to be a topic of discussion,

ever. But especially not right now. “The princesses are like a

resource. My cousin Brendan has a boatload, literally. We picked out

the ones who might lead us closer to the next oracle.”

My parents exchange skeptical looks.

“It’s true,” Kurt says.

“It doesn’t matter, because all three of my dates have Bombed.

Capital B. One tried to chew my arm off. The next one was using me to

get to Kurt. Yeah, I’m talking to you. And Kai got pissed off because

I was trying to slay the dragon that was going to eat her. What does

it take?” I take the bag of frozen peas my mom hands me and let the

cold numb my shoulder. “I used to be good at this.”

“Wow,” Dad says. “You really are a bad date.”

“Thanks. That’s comforting.”

“How did you manage to escape its grasp?” Kurt asks.

“This guy from the freak show. He’s got this cool staff thing and

he’s a beast master.” I tell them all about Charlie Comit and his

welcome save.

“I don’t like this,” Mom says. For the first time, I smell her

fear. It’s real fear, like sand coating my tongue.

“I’m fine, Mom. Look.” I raise my hands in the air but hold my

breath at the angry stiffness in my muscles. She’s all pregnant with

her shiny new baby, and I have to show her that I can be fine, that I

can take care of myself. I go to her because I’ve been the worst son

ever and hug her. I whisper, “I’m sorry,” and she rubs my back. She

has that face Kurt’s so good at-focused and all business.

“Focus on your next target,” Mom says.

Gwen points at the living room. “Kai is the answer. Her father has

the most archives. There has to be something about the location or

existence of Eternity in his records.”

“She’s really passed out, Gwen,” I say. “In the meantime, we

should figure out a way to disaster-proof this apartment. That sea

dragon knew just where to find me.”

“This apartment is still under the king’s protection.” Kurt stands

and closes the blinds. “For four more days, anyway. And then the

championship will be over.”

“So was Greg’s house,” I say, “and look at what happened.”

Kurt paces around the kitchen counter. “What if Kai-”

“What if Kai what?” Kai says, walking from the living room into

the kitchen/Command Central.

“Kai, these are my parents. And you probably know Kurt and Gwen.”

Still with a dazed look, she takes the stool my dad gives up for

her. Then she takes in the room, the framed family pictures, the

rooster magnet collection on the fridge. She smiles at the maps on the

wall. Then she gets to my mom and freezes.

“Lady Maia!” She gets up so fast that she fumbles with the blanket

around her shoulders. “I forgot myself.”

Princess Kai takes my mother’s hand and bows. Even though she

reminds Kai that she’s not royalty anymore, Mom isn’t exactly shooing

her away. Maybe it’s hard to forget everything about being the

daughter of the king.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. You’re safe here.”

I fill Kai in on what happened after she passed out. Assuring her

a hundred times that “Yes, the dragon is fine.” Even though I don’t

know that for sure. “Remember what we were talking about before the

dragon came? About the trident?”

“Yes,” she says, embarrassed. “Forgive me for not being more

grateful for saving my life.”

“No sweat.” I give Kai my full attention. It makes her

uncomfortable, as if no one ever looks at her. “Do you think you could

look at something for me?”

She rests her hand on the bandage around her arm, thumbing the

unfamiliarity of it. “What is it?”

I grab the parchment drawings from the kitchen and rest them on

her lap. “This is-”

“The Star of the Sea.”

“Come again?” I say.

“It’s the symbol, right here. This star? It’s the symbol of an

ancient oracle. She was called the Star of the Sea because she was so

beautiful. Her magics made mortals believe she was a goddess. Though