in it for you? Do you think you’ll ever be with Layla? Do you think
you won’t have to use that shiny pitchfork to do things you’ll hate
yourself for? You’re just a kid.”
The truth of her words washes over me and makes my skin itch. What
is in it for me? I’ve never known what I wanted to do with my life.
I’ve only wanted to swim. That’s all I’ve ever been good at. That and,
well, girls. She’s right. I don’t have to be Sea King. I can let one
of the other champions win. They’re been part of that Sea Court longer
than I’ve been alive. They know things I don’t.
Then I think of Nieve. She’s going to come for me whether I’m king
or not. I can feel it the way I can feel the ebb of the tide right
now. I think about the boy on the boardwalk with his leg gnawed off,
the bald man who didn’t have to pull him out of the water. Because I
want to. Because if I don’t, my world is just going to keep crumbling.
“I need to know, Ms. Pippen. I need to know if I’m wasting my time
up here.”
She grunts. “Fine, but you’re getting a D in my class.”
“Make it a C minus? I have to stay on the team.”
“You can’t be on the team if you’re Sea King,” she singsongs.
“Just tell me what I have to do. Have I talked long enough for
you?”
“It has to be continuous.” She snaps open her purse and pulls out
a paper with her familiar red markings all over it. “Forget the red
pen. Just read me the text.”
I read. Full fathom five thy father lies; Of his bones are coral
made; Those are pearls that were his eyes: Nothing of him that doth
fade But doth suffer a sea-change Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knelclass="underline" Ding-dong. Hark! now I hear
them-Ding-dong, bell.
“You’ve got to appreciate Shakespeare,” she says. I follow her
eyes behind me, where she watches my friends
“Today, if you please.”
“It’s your lucky day, merboy. There is an oracle in New York, but
I don’t know where it is. I can’t see it.”
“What do you mean you can’t see it?”
She shakes her head. “I mean I can’t see it, okay? Either she’s
blocking me, or your future isn’t fixed because you haven’t made up
your mind yet. Whatever it is, I can’t get a clear reading.”
“So give me something else to read,” I shout. This isn’t me. I
don’t do things like this. I put my hands on her shoulders and
squeeze. “I’ll read it over again.” My mouth is dry. My heart is
racing. My temples pulse in that way they do just before I see Nieve.
I shut my eyes and let Ms. Pippen go.
Footsteps rush up to us. Ms. Pippen falls backward on the sand.
She holds herself with her hands.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her.
Ms. Pippen picks herself up and dusts the sand off her dress. “No.
Not yet you aren’t.”
Should we let her go?” Layla’s voice startles me.
I don’t know how long I’ve been sitting on the sand, but long
enough that I can’t see Ms. Pippen on the beach anymore. I wave
dismissively. “She doesn’t know where the oracle is. She says it’s
here in New York, but that’s it.”
“That’s not helpful.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Come.” Layla holds out her hand to me. When I clasp it, it’s warm
in mine. “Let’s take a walk.”
It’s been so long since Layla and I have really been alone
together. I steal short glances at her. It’s amazing to me how
beautiful she’s become in a few weeks. One day she was my best friend,
one of the guys. Today she’s Layla, the girl who brought me back to
life. Technically, I was already alive, but still. The girl who got on
a ship in the middle of the night, because she thought I might need
her. What she doesn’t know is that I always need her.
When I look at her now, I want to tell her that I love her. I know
it like I know that I’m part of the sea. She weaves her fingers
through mine, something we’ve done since we were little, but right now
it means so much more. I need to know. I need to know how she feels
too.
“How’s Alex?” I say.
“Who?”
“You know, big orange Alex? The guy who chauffeurs you in the
white BMW?”
“You’re a moron,” she says. “That wasn’t Alex. That was my cousin
Nick. Also, big and orange. But eww?”
“He picks you up.”
“He works at Steele Gym by Thorne Hill Cemetery, so my aunt’s been
making him. You know, little ole damsel-in-distress me.”
I laugh, slightly relieved. “Well, tell her you’ve already got
someone to save you.”
“I don’t need any saving, Tristan.” She hops onto the rocks
barefoot and walks along them, arms out for balance. When we were
smaller and they looked bigger than they do now, we used to pretend we
were climbing cliffs in the middle of the ocean, running away from
James Bond villains and saving the world.
“Whatever you say, I promise I’ll always be there for you.”
“So now you’re also Pinocchio in addition to a mermaid?”
“Mer man .”
“You have to come up with something less fruity.”
“How about mer-stud?”
“Mer bro .”
“I kinda liked merdude.”
I stand right behind her at the end of the rocks. The water
splashes cold around us. Lavender and honey mingles with that sharp
ocean smell. She leans her back against my chest, and I can feel her
heart racing against mine. I trace the length of her arms with my
fingertips, surprised at how warm she is despite all the goose bumps
on her flesh. I kiss the bare skin of her shoulder, surprised at the
heat on my mouth, the heat of her skin. The way my skin prickles
everywhere as she lets herself sink against me.
“Layla.” I say her name, but I don’t have anything to follow. I
just want to say it. Layla, Layla, Layla. If I told her I loved her
and then did something typically Tristan , I’d never forgive myself.
So instead I whisper, “Close your eyes.”
“Why?”
“Trust me.”
“The last time I agreed to that, you and Angelo streaked across my
backyard at the same time my dad came home.”
“Just do it.”
She shuts her eyes.
I pull my shirt over my head and drop it on the rocks, along with
my sandals and my shorts on top of my backpack.
“What are you doing?”
“No peeking.”
She has her hands over her eyes. Though I wouldn’t mind if she
peeked. I stand, close my own eyes, and breathe in the salt in the
water, and then I feel the change in my veins, my legs. I jump into
the water, feeling the numbness of the scales covering my legs until I
kick in one motion as if I’ve been doing it my whole life.
There’s a second splash. I swim to her, the scales along my arms
glistening in the moonlight. She breathes short and shallow. Her teeth
chatter when she says, “You’re shiny.”
“Yeah, right. Vampires don’t glitter, but I do.”
“Right? My belief system is totally shattered. I’m going to have
to let my mom take me to confession tomorrow.”
I splash her a little. “Come, get on my back.”
“Said the crocodile to the monkey.”
“So let me get on your back, then.”
“Fine. Turn around, and I’ll get on.”
I do, and she wraps herself around my neck, her legs around my
waist. “Don’t forget to hold your breath.” I make us dive a little and
flick my fin until we swim out a few feet. I don’t want to go out too
far, because I don’t know the kinds of things that are out there this
time of night. I want us to be able to swim back without any problems.