mermen intruders. I try to concentrate on the scepter’s familiar

humming current, but it isn’t there, like the batteries have run out.

I unsheathe my dagger. Try to keep my hand from shaking as panic

floods my body.

“Who the hell are you?” I ask.

They don’t answer. On their breastplates is the symbol of a

kraken. Scarlet scales cover their brown forearms and shins. Their

hair is long and tied down to their backs. They all wield swords

except for one, who readies another arrow.

But he’s not the leader. Standing on the ledge is a familiar face.

The same amber eyes, like melting fire. The same stubborn frown

between the brow-Adaro’s father, herald of the Southern Seas. His face

is crushed, furious. I had that face when Kurt let Layla get away. The

deep grooves around his eyes mark his ancient age.

“Leomaris,” Kai says breathlessly.

“Lord Leomaris.” One of the warriors takes the end of his spear

and points it at Kai’s face.

“You killed my son,” Leomaris says to me.

The gold band around his head glints. He points his sword at me.

He’s too far to stab me with it, but the intent is clear. There are

ten of them and three of us. Blue is dead, and Vi wordlessly holds his

brother’s body.

Two men have taken hold of Arion’s ropes, stretching him as taut

as possible, immobilizing him.

“That’s not true,” I say. “Adaro was my friend.” Then instantly I

wonder, was he? His cousin Sarabell did try to convince him to kill

me. He refused. We were going to join forces against Nieve. But she

got to him first. Nieve killed him and took the staff of the trident.

“Lies!” His warriors shout. “They saw you on Adaro’s ship. They

told us.”

“Since when do you take the word of our enemies?” Kai asks.

“It is Karanos who betrays the throne,” Leomaris says. “He didn’t

listen to my counsel. Adaro should be on that throne. Now because of

you, he’s dead.”

“I didn’t kill him!”

No matter what I say, it isn’t going to matter. He blames me for

their deaths. And really, could I have saved Adaro? I stopped myself

from giving Nieve my scepter. I wouldn’t do it for Adaro, but I would

have for Layla.

“We’re doing you a favor, land mutt,” one of the guards shouts.

“Yeah, how’s that?”

“There’s a bounty on your head from the sea witch herself. The

whole of the oceans will be looking for you.”

“Then it’s in your best interest to take us alive,” Brendan says.

Leomaris holds his sword steadily. “Treasure won’t bring my son

back. What will I take from you, Tristan Hart?”

“That’s really brave,” I say, glancing at the urchin, now

clutching a decomposing mound of flesh. “Going after someone less than

half your size. He was innocent.”

“None of them are innocent.” His eyes flicker to Arion. “Besides,

I’ve found bigger targets.”

I shouldn’t turn my back to Leomaris, but I do. Arion pulls and

pulls on his ropes. The ones on his left hand are loosening. Their

archer raises his bow to our captain.

I run up the deck and aim my scepter at the bowman. A weak burst

shoots from the quartz, but it’s enough to knock him overboard.

“Tristan!” Kai shouts.

Leomaris’s shadow looms over me. Kai blocks his blow. He raises

his knee into her gut and she falls back.

“Didn’t your mother teach you not to hit girls?” I flip my scepter

like a bat and slap it across his face.

“Do not speak to me about mothers,” he says, “when yours is a

disgrace to our kind.”

I lash out blindly, but he throws me off balance with the flick of

his wrist. I roll onto my knees swinging my scepter upward, but I hit

air. Leomaris is gone.

Brendan dances around the biggest guards. The smile on my cousin’s

face hides the sheer panic in his turquoise eyes. Brendan is fast, and

he rolls between the merman’s legs. With two small blades, he slashes

at the opponent’s ankles, and the giant crumbles.

A sharp blow knocks the wind out of me. Leomaris appears once

again. I block his sword with my scepter.

“You’ve got the wrong guy!” I try to reason with him. “It’s Nieve

you want. It’s not too late. We can defeat her.”

There’s something electric in his eyes. Sarabell had it too-the

dark spark of the magic in their family. Leomaris smiles cruelly. He

raises a hand and a wave rises up in the air, following his movements.

It crashes over the deck, washing Blue’s body away. Vi picks up a

discarded weapon on the deck, a spike carved of stone. He stabs a

guard in the thigh. But the guard turns around with a fierce growl.

Leomaris is on me, pressing his hands on my chest. My body seizes,

and for a beat, my heart stops. I blink. See black. The guard raises

his sword and brings it down, cleaving Vi in two.

“No!” Kai shouts.

Leomaris electrocutes me. I’m shaking, crying, convulsing. My

muscles lock, fingers gripped tightly around my scepter. I search for

the power inside my scepter but all I can do is scream in frustration

because when I need the power the most, it’s failing me. Leomaris

lifts his hands off me to watch me choke. He reaches back down for my

throat, but the ship heaves under a wave. I roll out from under him

and onto my knees. I stab the scepter into his thigh. Leomaris screams

at the same time his fist hits my face. My head spins as I land on my

back, my entire body shaking.

Beside me, Kai is screaming, pinned under a merman with muscles

like boulders. Tears spill from her face as if her strength is leaving

her, and her eyes focus on the bloody mess of the urchin’s body beside

her.

Brendan loses his grin and uses all his strength to drive a sword

through the warrior pinning Kai down. The body decomposes into a messy

splash over her face and she chokes.

Two remaining guards flank a bleeding Leomaris, balancing like

statues on the side of the ship. They’ve let go of Arion’s restraints

and the captain rises up beside me.

“Are you all right?” I ask.

“The mist,” Arion hisses. “You must swim to it.”

The air thickens around us. I step forward, keeping my friends

behind me. My head is a jumble of words. What do you say to a man dead

set on killing you?

Leomaris pulls out a slender flask with a liquid that radiates

neon blue. Blood trickles down his leg, but it doesn’t stop him from

smiling.

“Combat fire,” Kai says breathlessly. She takes a step back.

The last time I came across combat fire, I saw it consume a

Brooklyn street.

“Don’t do this,” Kai pleads. Her fingers are white, pulling at

Arion’s ropes. Brendan slashes with his sword but it won’t cut. I

can’t concentrate enough to channel the scepter, and as a last resort,

I stab at the rope with the crystal end.

“I didn’t,” Leomaris says, pointing a finger at me. “He did.”

“We have to get off the ship,” Brendan hisses. “Now.”

“Arion,” I say.

“Go, all of you. Go now!”

I can’t. It’s caught in my throat when Arion takes Brendan and Kai

and flings them overboard. It makes Leomaris chuckle. He wags the vial

in his fingers.

“Even after all the court has done to you, you spare them?”

Arion won’t answer. He grabs me with the full intent of throwing

me off the ship. It’s for my own good. I have to get to the mist. But

I won’t let him, and neither will Leomaris’s guards because they

launch themselves on me, pulling me back and out of Arion’s grip. I

lash out but I slice at air. The merman hits me so hard that I wonder