whatever they do. I never truly trusted it. And when you started
swimming, loving it the way you do, I was afraid to let you do it.
Maybe if one day you went out, you might never come back.”
“What made you change your mind?”
“I didn’t.” We run our hands through our hair at the same time. “I
was right. In the end. It’s like you’re going off to college. Maybe,
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?”