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?”
“Not all of them,” Kurt says. “Just the leader, Archer.”