turns around like he’s going to walk out that door. “Give it to
Tristan. I don’t want this.”
“She’s crazy, Kurt,” I say. I look at the trident fork in her
hands, the look in her eye. If I move the wrong way, she’s going to
hit me with it. “But just take it! You were the one who found her, not
me. At least if it’s with you-we’ll figure something out.” Yeah, we’ll
figure out a way to not kill each other.
Lucine lets out a terrible wail. She rises taller than the pair of
us. The water of her pool splashes in a whirlpool of its own. I’m
afraid the candelabra chandelier is going to fall right over us when
the doors burst open. Two bouncers come in and grab at us. I put my
foot on the edge of Lucine’s pool, jump, and pull my dagger from its
invisible hold. Behind me, I hear Kurt wrestling with one of them. I
swing with the pointy end and miss.
He’s fast and smells faintly of wet dog. His fist, decked out with
fat gold rings, hits my face. I fall to my knees and throw a weak
punch. He punches me again. The room feels like a carousel. They
squeeze my arms ’til I think my veins will pop right out. We’re out
the door, up some steps, then I’m on the ground. My cheek is swelling
by the second, and blood pools on my tongue from a cut on my lip. I
spit on the ground.
“Kurt?”
The sky rumbles like the heavens are putting their foot on the gas
pedal of the coming storm. It starts to drizzle.
“Kurt?”
I roll over and let the rain wash over me. Holy shit, it hurts.
Just when I’m about to fall asleep to the soft patter of rain, the
steady pulse of the bruise on my face and rib cage, a cold hand smacks
me on my cheek.
“Wake up,” she says.
“Layla?”
“You wish.” Madame Mercury holds a black umbrella over my face.
She holds out a hand. It’s cold and surprisingly strong. “I’m sorry
for my men, but once one of my girls sounds the alarm, we have to
protect her.”
I take the umbrella from her and hold it over us. The street is
desolate, full of leftover food that didn’t make it into the garbage
cans. “Where’s Kurt?”
“Still with her.”
“Of course he is.” The drizzle turns into rain.
“Come with me.” She turns back to the black door. When I don’t
follow, she peers over her shoulder. “Well?”
I realize I’m staring. I take one last look at the street. Other
than a scavenger digging through the trash can, it’s empty. Next door,
the pink psychic shop is still glowing, but the session is over.
Madame Mercury presses the door open. I close the umbrella, tuck it
under my arm, and follow her back into the Second Circle.
“Why are you helping me?”
We skip the winding steps and go through a service hallway. Quiet
girls and guys fold and steam blankets, polish silver, and filter a
white liquid by pressing flowers.
I find myself tripping and bumping into everything. It’s like the
time I was supposed to be a stagehand during The Wiz to pass drama
class. I single-handedly demolished the Emerald City from backstage.
“You didn’t answer me.”
Vampires aren’t supposed to breathe, but Madame Mercury sighs. “I
owe a very handsome vampire a favor. Seems you got on his good side.”
“I knew Frederik would take a liking to me eventually.”
“He doesn’t like anyone, darling. Except for Marty.”
We stop in the middle of a hall lined with six-inch-square circuit
breakers. Mercury opens a little door, revealing two unmarked switches
beside a window. When I look inside, it shows Lucine’s room.
I jump back.
“Calm down,” she says. “They can’t see you.”
“Do all these things look into a room?”
“Of course. Cameras are too detectable. Instead, we keep two-way
mirrors just to make sure the body count stays down. This switch is
for sound and this one to set off the sprinklers. We don’t want
another fire like the Hellgate incident.” She runs her hand through my
hair, admiring my face. “That was before your time. Don’t you worry.”
“I thought Lucine made that mirror appear.”
Madame Mercury scoffs. “She likes that trick. Makes her look
fancy. Now, I’ll tell my staff that this service corridor is off
limits. But you won’t have much time. If someone walks by, look busy.”
“How am I supposed to do that?”
She presses her red lips on my cheek, then hands me a broom. “Good
luck, Sea Prince.”
“Thanks, Lady.”
She turns on her heel and sashays back down the corridor. The
blackness swallows up her dress first, then the red of her corset, but
not the white of her back.
I lean the broom on the wall beside me, take a look around the
empty corridor, and peek into the window.
***
I can’t remember which switch is which.
Through the window, Kurt is banging on the doors. There are no
doorknobs. Lucine moves around in her pool. The water is calm now that
I’m gone. She dips down to her shoulders and tilts her head back and
floats around with her tailfins twisting in the air.
Kurt stops fighting with the door. He doesn’t look mad anymore. I
understand the feeling. I could never be mad at Layla for too long. He
steps carefully on the wet floor. There’s a splatter of my nose blood
on the tiles. He stops and grimaces. He doesn’t even ask if I’m okay.
Instead, he keeps his eyes on Lucine. He takes his shirt off. When
he gets to his shorts, he stops. Lucine is saying something but I’m
afraid to flip the wrong switch. You know what? If the sprinklers hit,
I’ll just dip out. They’re merpeople; they can handle a little bit of
rain.
The switch snaps like a BB gun. I grab the broom in case someone
walks down the hall. Their voices come through like a whisper.
“Hush now,” Lucine says. She undoes his button and he steps out of
the shorts. It’s like a car crash I can’t look away from. He steps
into Lucine’s golden pool and sits so they’re face to face. “Don’t
forget I can see your thoughts. Even as you have me now, alone, you
think of Tristan?”
“I’m thinking of many things, Lucine. One of which is why you
aren’t letting me go. You’ve done it before. Thrown me out of your
chambers just like you did Tristan. At least he was fully clothed,
unlike the way I was the last time.”
She pouts. It’s a pretty pout. As a guy, I don’t know if I can
fault him for staying. As his friend, I want to beat him with this
broom. As his nephew…well, that’s gross and I don’t want to think
about it too much.
“You aren’t still cross with me, are you?”
He answers her by grabbing her waist. The water glows as he
shifts. He picks her up and sits her on top of him. She leans forward
on his chest. Their noses touch. Her tails wrap around him. I let go
of the broomstick and decide I shouldn’t be looking at this.
“I’ve missed you.” I’ve never heard Kurt sound this way. Sweet and
longing. He presses his mouth on hers.
“Too hard, bro,” I say to myself, remembering how Angelo was the
one who gave me pointers on kissing. Our sworn secret.
She pulls back and touches the bite on her bottom lip. Now, she’s
no longer an oracle. She’s Kurt’s. Her green eyes are bright,
unworried, unburdened. He bends forward and she gasps. Water floods
over the brim of the pool.
My throat is dry and I swallow. I flip the sound switch off. I
shut the door and randomly peek to check if they’re finished. This is
the girl he was talking about on the field? I open the door again and
the pool is still.
Lucine settles her weight on him. She kisses his chest, right over
his heart. Then she swims to the opposite edge for her golden comb. It