it’s not as universal as I thought.
“Ah.” His booming laughter echoes as he does as Layla shows him.
“My very best.” He can’t help it; he still bows.
I run to the window and pull open the curtains. There’s sun! No
more fog. Summer in Coney Island is here, like my grandfather said it
would be.
“I don’t think I’ve seen you that happy since you were eight and
there was a blizzard.” Dad stands in jeans and a white T-shirt. As he
takes a sip from his coffee, the smell wafts toward me and my stomach
grumbles.
“Hungry?”
“Ugh, merpeople are not known for their culinary skills. I ate
jellyfish-brain Jell-O.”
“Blech.” He waves me toward the kitchen. “Kurt’s in your bathroom,
and Thalia is in your mom’s. I think she’s using my shampoo to make
bubbles.”
“Those darn mermaids.” I find two cold slices of leftover
meat-lover’s pizza, which I devour in five bites.
“Don’t get too full. Mom wants to make pancakes.”
“Did I mention they make these green biscuit things like pancakes,
but they’re like mushy shrimp and seaweed?”
He sticks his tongue out in distaste and spreads open the
newspaper.
“Sorry we woke you last night when we got home. I had no idea what
time it was.”
“Yeah, yeah. You kids spoiled the wonderful evening your mom and I
were having.”
“Ugh, disgusting.” I put my fingers in my ears, but I can still
hear him laughing. I grab a glass and some OJ.
“Oh, come on, son, your merbaby zygote didn’t make itself.”
Orange juice comes out of my nose. It burns, and my dad just
rustles his newspaper so he can read it better.
“You’ve got juice all over your face,” Kurt says.
Dad leaves the Brooklyn Star open on an article that reads
“Vampire Puppy Sequestered” with “Rise in Missing Teen Boys” right
across from it.
Mom walks in wearing one of those long summer dresses that reaches
the floor. “Did you see what your dad made for you?” She points out a
huge map on the kitchen wall behind me.
“Dad?”
“Well, your mom said there could be maps involved. I figure it’s
the least I can do to help.”
There are geographical maps of the world. One of all the
continents, smaller ones of the magnified continents, one for North
America, and one of New York City. There’s a cluster of push pins at
the corner of the NYC map. I grab a blue one and push it on our
street. Here . “Command Central.”
Mom pulls out the box of pancake mix and a frying pan. “Now, from
the beginning.”
•••
I don’t spare any details. From Arion and the urchin brothers
catching Layla on the ship to how my grandfather split the trident
into three. But not the part where I fall asleep with Layla. I keep
that to myself.
I forgot to tell Kurt and Thalia to leave out the part about
Nieve, because it’s just going to freak Mom out. So, of course, Thalia
blurts it out. “Aunt Maia, what do you know of the sea witch Nieve?”
My mom’s fork grinds against the plate. “My father imprisoned her.
She’s in the caves.”
Thalia bites her lip. I guess every family has the crazy relative
no one wants to talk about. In our case, we have a crazy shark-mouthed
sea witch who likes to kill her family. “She’s been attacking
Tristan.”
“ What? ”
“But only through my dreams,” I add. Sure, that makes it better.
Dad looks confused. “Who is she?”
“A wretched woman with the powers of the greats. We’ve never been
able to prove it, but she killed my mother. I know she did.” Mom’s
fist is white around her fork as she holds it. Her turquoise eyes
catch me with a fury I’ve never seen come out of her. “Why didn’t you
tell me?”
“Why didn’t you tell me ?”
“How long have you been seeing her?”
“Since the day of the storm. I hadn’t changed yet, so how was I
supposed to know I wasn’t just going crazy after having survived
something like that?
“Did she hurt you?”
“She definitely had the opportunity, but it felt more like she was
playing with me.”
Mom shakes her head silently. “She was rather good at trying to
make others insane.” Mom pushes her plate away. “She’d delve into your
mind and make you see things that weren’t real. You’d be defenseless
if she could get her hands on you.”
“Wait. He gave me a dagger.” I run out to the living room and
unzip my bag. The black sphere in the center of the handle swirls
slowly, like it’s in a time of its own.
Dad chuckles. “It’s no lightsaber, but it’ll do the trick. Let’s
hope you don’t have to use it too soon.”
“It’s curious,” Mom says. “Nieve has been in the caves so long
that entire generations don’t know of her. How does she know of
Tristan?”
“There’s a traitor on the island,” Kurt says. “The guards are
spread out, and more are being called. Maybe she’s not only after
Tristan.”
“She always wanted my father’s throne.”
“In which case, none of the champions are safe.”
I draw Nieve’s likeness on a napkin with black marker, a crude
shark mermaid. I secure it on the map off the coast of Coney. “If the
next full moon is on June 26, I have seventeen days as of right now. A
little more than a forknight , or whatever it’s called. If I were a
sea oracle, where would I be?”
I wish I had a sound track of crickets playing in the background,
because that’s what this silence sounds like-crickets. Dad pressing
the pages of the Brooklyn Star flat on the table, Mom fuming in my
direction with her arms crossed over her chest, and Kurt and Thalia
eating as much syrup as we have stored in the pantry. Right, my
champion team.
“Oh!” Mom gets up. “When I was girl, my sister Alcyone and I used
to play around one of the oracle’s caves. She was a mean, nasty old
thing. One time-” She looks about the room. “You don’t need to know
about that part. Another time, our cousin Lucillia dared us to take
something from the oracle. She’s the youngest of the ten sisters and
was born without the sight. She has minor magics and can read corny
shells, but that’s about it.
“ But she has a wonderful collection of the rarest pearls and
jewels. There was one that was my favorite. It was a pretty, slightly
pink pearl from the Arctic. They only form there, and only when two
clams get stuck together and-you know. I’d notice it every time my
mother sent us to deliver news or food-because it’s always good to be
on friendly terms with an oracle, no matter what her level of power
is.”
“So you stole it?” Dad’s smile is from ear to ear.
“Do you think she noticed?” Thalia asks.
“It was one of her favorites.” Mom shrugs. “I’m sure of it. She
wouldn’t know it was me, because there was no way she would’ve been
able to see it happening.”
My stomach twists. A pretty pink pearl. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god.
“But how do you find her?” Dad asks.
Mom puts her finger on her lip. “The last I remember, she was off
the Canary Islands. But that was five h-” Mom notices my dad’s cheesy
smile at the fact that she’s about to reveal how old she is. “A long
time ago.”
Kurt stands in front of the map, hands on his green cargo shorts.
I don’t know what he sees. I see a bunch of places I’ve never been to.
That’s the thing about growing up in Brooklyn. Everyone is from