when your mother doesn’t get what she wants. And here I am with a
pissed-off wannabe queen and her posse.
Bertie notices me for the first time. His eyes are glassy, but
there’s a joker smile plastered on his face. “Man, I wish I were part
of your family.”
No, you don’t.
“I need you to please call them off, Gwen.”
“Whatever do you mean?” She stares at me so innocently that I
almost want to believe her.
“I’m half human. Not half stupid.” Most of the time.
“You’re not king, Tristan Hart.”
“My grandfather-”
“Your grandfather isn’t king anymore either. So for now we’re all
free to do as we wish.”
“Yeah!” Angelo pumps a fist in the air. “Who made you king of the
world, bro?”
“If you want to do it that way…” I grab Gwen by the waist and
throw her over my shoulder. She beats her fists against my back, but
she’s not trying very hard. I take her to a corner of the cafeteria
and set her down. She smooths out her dress and her hair, but doesn’t
hide the smirk on her face. The table whistles and cheers at us.
“The way I hear it, my ex-king grandfather makes everyone with
powers reveal themselves. From where I’m standing, no one knows about
you and your little voodoo tricks.”
She looks like a girl who’s just been caught smoking and I’m
threatening to tell her dad. “It’s not voodoo. Voodoo is filthy,
unnatural magic. I’m organic.” She presses her hands on her chest. She
really needs to stop doing that.
“I don’t get it. Why did you help your future husband lose to a
girl?”
Her full pink lips curl into a smile. “He’s-a jerk, as you people
say. Why did you help hurt my future husband?”
“He was alive, Gwen. Something was down there with us, and it got
him. Look, I’m sorry about Elias. I didn’t think it would go down that
way. But this is now. We’re not on Toliss. You’re on my land. I’ve got
enough to deal with without worrying about any of you drowning my
teammates.”
“I thought you were all swimmers,” she purrs. She looks off to the
left and chews on the inside of her lip. I get the feeling she could
do anything she wants right about now, like blow my head off or set me
on fire with the heat in her eyes. I can smell her power. I didn’t
know that power had a scent, but hers does, like firecrackers being
lit. Instead she sighs softly. “I’m sure Elias just took the tunnels
out of the island to avoid the humiliation of losing to a human.”
“So here’s hoping he’s out there trying to beat me.” I cross my
fingers in her face and repeat, “ The princesses .”
She traces a finger along my jaw, and all of my parts tingle.
She’s truly beautiful once you get past the immense bitch part. “Maybe
they’re wrong about you. Maybe you do have it in you after all.” She
saunters back to the girls and whispers to Violet of the purple hair.
There’s a collective sigh from all of them, and suddenly the air feels
lighter. The humming dies down. All around the cafeteria, kids who
were kissing, fighting, standing up and shouting, look around as if
they’ve forgotten what they were doing and why.
I nod thanks to Gwen, who gives me her cheek.
“Congratulations on your first political negotiation,” Kurt says
as I sit beside him.
“She really gets under my skin,” I say, reaching over to Layla’s
plate of fries.
She pulls it away and my fingers grab at the air. “Seemed like
more than your skin.”
“I don’t like my girls with a side of crazy, thank you.” Even
though the effect of Gwen is still lingering in my pants. Stupid
mermaid princesses.
“I don’t get it,” Layla goes. “Why are they here if none of them
even look your way?”
“I resent that.” I grab one of her fries while she’s not looking.
Thalia taps her finger on her lips, thinking. “The way I see it,
the entire courtship is a way to throw the champion off his course.
Think about it. You’re competing against their brothers and cousins,
so why would they want you to win?”
“On the other hand,” Layla says, squinting at me the way she does
when she thinks I’m being a creep, “if you were to pick one of them,
then she’d no longer be a princess, but a queen. And why do they
affect everyone so much more than you guys do?”
“Because Thalia and I are here to help Tristan. They’re here to
play.”
“So here I am with my school full of mermaids, an oracle to find,
a throne to win, and the person who stands between me and the oracle
is my ex-girlfriend, who says she lost the one thing I’ve got going
for me as far as offerings go.” I rub my face with my palms, unable to
stop the feeling of premature failure from spreading through me.
“Anyone have any spare cattle?”
“No way did she lose it,” Layla says. “She was still wearing it
the day of the storm.”
I didn’t notice. I never notice. That’s my problem.
“You could always-” Thalia shifts uncomfortably and puts her fry
down. “You could always woo her again.”
“No!” Layla’s punches me hard on my shoulder.
I think of Maddy’s face when she asked if I wanted her back.
Despite everything I’d done, she’d still say yes. I think about
Jessica and Deanna in the hallways. Until they approached me minutes
ago, I’d totally forgotten about them. I figured they’d move on to
someone else. How was I supposed to know I affected them that way?
A cheer erupts at the other end of the table. Angelo picks up Kai,
a pretty little thing with shimmering pink lips and eyes like a
powder-blue sky, and her long blond curls curtain around his
shoulders. He sits her on his arm just so he can prove how strong he
is.
“I thought she called them off,” Layla says.
“Jealous?” I snort.
“You wish.”
I do, and she knows it.
“He’s acting on his own Angelo dumbassery right now,” I go. “So,
Plan B. The oracle you visited was in the Fancy Corals or whatever?”
The familiar Kurt sneer is back. I was starting to miss it. “ The
Great Coral Caves . And yes. She’s there. You and I can go together.
If we leave now, we’ll be back by morning.”
“ No! ” Thalia shakes her head. “The merrows are out there looking
for Tristan. It would be unwise to swim alone through the channels.
They’re dangerous enough.”
Kurt considers this. I don’t think he’s ready to fight those
things again any more than I am. “Perhaps you’re right. What about the
landlocked waitress from the diner? What if beneath her enthusiasm for
you as king, there was something else. What she said was curious.”
Layla raises her hand. “Some of us weren’t at breakfast.”
“She told me her kid, the little turtle boy, is rooting for me.”
Thalia stifles her laughter. “Honestly, Tristan. It was just this
morning. What she said was: You’ll find our kind is all around you,
not just in the seas .”
I’m so hungry I can’t even think. “I thought she was just being
nice.”
“We’re never just nice,” Kurt says. “Our kind never says what they
mean to say directly. It’s vague, but what if she was telling us there
is an oracle right here in New York?”
“Hold on,” Layla says. “How do you know she’s not tricking him and
making him look around the city when there isn’t even an oracle here?
Why would she care? Kurt’s right. There are tons of people like her,
right? What if she’s one of the bad ones?”