you will go.”
“My guard is also yours,” Dylan says, backed by two dozen of
what’s left of his men.
Here they are, giving themselves to me. Their loyalty. Asking me
to protect them. It’s what I’ve wanted, the acceptance of the Sea
Court.
“I accept,” I say. We embrace forearms and I feel a little more
hopeful. A plan is blooming in the back of my head but first…“We must
go somewhere safe.”
I turn to Kai and Brendan. “We must go back to Coney Island. To
the Alliance.”
“Where will you be?” Kai asks.
“I’ll be right behind you.” Then I turn to where Kurt is waiting
for me. “There’s something I have to do.”
Kai, Dylan, and Brendan usher our people through a tunnel behind
the gardens. Truth is, I’m pretty nervous about having so many
merpeople on Coney Island’s shore. But the seas aren’t safe, not with
Nieve staking a claim in every nook and cranny, and Coney Island is
the only place I’ve ever equated with home and safety.
I swim to where Kurt has been waiting.
“They’re reveling,” he says, eyes fixed on the Glass Castle. There
are places where the structure looks like wrecking balls have gone in
and out of it. “Yet it still stands. The castle that both of my
fathers built. I remember my father and his men molding the pillars
from black sand. I remember my mother waiting for him every night with
the day’s catch, watching us eat until we fell asleep. When he woke,
he’d go do it again until it was done. I remember King Karanos coming
to our chambers to speak to my parents. To give us riches for our
contribution to the kingdom. And I remember the king holding my chin
with his hand and looking into my eyes and telling me that I was going
to be a great warrior someday. From that moment, I set down my
father’s tools and took up a sword.”
“Kurt-” I’d like to talk about the great mer-elephant in the room,
but Kurt is all business.
He points to the tunnels we came through. “First, we’ll close
those off, then-” We let the “then” linger.
We swim to the openings of the tunnels. A few merrows are still
trickling through on their way to the Glass Castle. I latch on to the
power of my scepter, pushing through the pain in my body. Together, we
tear down the valley wall. Boulders break off and cascade in an
avalanche to the castle grounds.
Here comes the “then.”
“Are you sure you’re-”
Kurt lets go first. He holds the prongs of the trident over his
head. I join him with the light of my scepter, aiming at the bottom
pillars of the castle. The merrows scream as the structure breaks over
their heads and crushes them. Some try to escape, but Kurt fries them
before they have a chance to swim away.
For a long time, we wait.
Wait for the glass and stones to settle.
Wait for the black cloud oozing out of the castle to clear.
Wait for our worlds to mend back together, but I know they can’t.
Not right now. Not yet.
Kurt leads the way out through the secret tunnel. The pitch
blackness folds around us, but I shine the light of my scepter. There
is no life here, not as long as we swim through the twisting
passageway. I can feel myself slow down, my wounds taking over. I push
harder and harder, and then we’re out.
The pressure loosens from my limbs; the water is warmer and
lighter.
“ Wait! ” I shout. “Where are you going?”
Kurt looks over his shoulder. “The people have chosen you,
Tristan. I have a different path.”
He turns around, as if he’s realized something. It’s like there’s
another voice in his head, and I realize it’s Lucine’s. He swims
closer to me with his trident at the ready. The lightning sparks. My
eyes are heavy. My arm hurts too much to lift my weapons. I’m weak
enough that he could kill me if he wanted to.
Then a growl reverberates through the water. A shadow climbs over
me, snapping its teeth. Kurt moves back wordlessly and swims away.
Amada swims around me, shifting her top half back into human form.
She has strange plants in her hands.
“That’s twice you’ve saved me,” I say.
She gives me a small smile and sizes up my wounds. “We must get
you to the surface. I can heal you.”
When I sheathe my weapons, my muscles and bones burn at a level of
pain I never thought I’d reach. Amada shifts into her Naga form and I
shift into my legs, getting on her back. I hold on as tightly as I
can, and she swims like my life depends on it.
When we reach the surface, the sun is setting over the Coney
Island shore.
Amada pulls me onto the sand and shoves some of the plants down my
throat.
“Chew,” she commands.
And I do it. The plants are salty and bitter like ginger, but as
the liquid squeezes out of them, my skin warms my whole body. I can
feel my chest rising and I can breathe better. She chews on something
as well, then spits it out into her hand and spreads it over my
shoulder.
“I know you’re trying to help, but that is unhygienic.”
She laughs. “My saliva mixed with these plants makes a healing
salve.”
“Oh.”
“Yes, oh.”
I lay my head back on the sand. The sky crackles with a coming
storm. I can smell the recent rain on the sand, feel the swell of the
boardwalk. I know I saw the damage through Kurt’s mind, but seeing it
myself feels like I’m getting kicked in the gut all over again. I take
a fistful of wet sand and rub it between my fingers. There’s a rusty
bottle cap mixed in.
Amada looks at it and says, “I’ve never seen a shell that looks
like that.”
I laugh. “That’s just trash. They’re all over the beach.”
“Why would there be trash on the beach?”
“This is your first time on human soil?”
“Since our banishment. So long ago.” She nods, suddenly realizing
how far away she is from home. I follow her eyes to the old rides-the
Cyclone, the Wonder Wheel (still out of service and slightly dented
because of certain sea creatures). The graffiti grates of the closed
bars and restaurants. The overturned garbage cans that contain
decaying food and plastic.
“This is your home?”
I’m about to say that it’s not always like this. Except it is.
“Home sweet home,” I say.
“How do you feel?” she asks.
“Not dead.” I stand and hold out a hand to her on the boardwalk.
“The others can’t have gone far.”
I start heading toward Frederik’s place because the Aquarium was
totaled.
Then someone shouts my name from behind us. I draw my dagger and
turn around, holding it at arm’s length. Amada bares her claws and
readies herself in a fighting stance.
At the end of my dagger is a lovely green-haired girl. I stand
down immediately, and she jumps on me with a giant hug. “We’ve been
waiting for you!”
Amada scratches her head and retracts her claws.
Thalia kisses my cheek with her lip-glossed mouth then holds my
hands like she’s afraid I’ll go somewhere again.
“Tristan,” Thalia says, startled. “You’ve cut your lovely hair.”
“The seas are breaking apart and you frown at my haircut. What,
don’t you like it?”
She studies my face. “It makes you look too serious.”
I run a hand over my buzz cut and shrug. “I’m still cute though,
right?”
“You’re absolutely gorgeous,” a dark voice says from behind me.
Frederik, Mr. Creeps Up When You’re Not Looking Because He’s a Vampire
Without Manners, stands with his hands buried in his pockets. Then he