“I. Don’t. Sparkle.”

He lets go of me and becomes regular bored Frederik again, no

fangs, no bloodshot eyes. Just a dude sitting on the beach at night.

Marty shakes his head all, Yeah, I should’ve warned you about

that.

“Tristan.” Kurt calls me. He holds my English teacher farther away

from us. I make my way to them, trying to slow my racing heartbeat.

He breaks his grip on her, but says, “I won’t go far.”

Ms. Pippen screams in frustration. The wind undoes her hair from

its neat little tie and blows it all around her. “What? What do you

want?”

“You mean you can’t see the answer to that?”

“Funny. You really are smarter than you look, Tristan. You never

talk in my class, so I had no idea what you are.”

“Welcome to my pretty exclusive club.”

“You know, isn’t it enough that I’m punished by having to teach in

that school for a human decade? I also have to get dragged out here by

your mermaid lackey?”

“It’s mer man , lady. And what do you mean by punished?”

She pushes her hair away from her face, the moonlight casting a

silvery light on her cheekbones.

“My grandfather, the Sea King, gave me a shiny, sharp present.

Don’t make me use it.”

She straightens her back and crosses her arms over her chest. I

look away. “You have to tell me what you want first.”

“I want you to tell me if there are any oracles in New York City.”

“If I don’t, are you going to kill me?”

I hadn’t thought about that. “I-”

“I don’t want to get involved in your politics.”

“You’re already involved.”

“You don’t get it.” She shakes her head. “You may be half fish,

but you’re still so human.”

“You sit in class making us read aloud and what do you do? You see

our futures. You keep those secrets to yourself. What else have you

seen that could make a difference?”

I don’t know if it’s the slight chill in the sea breeze, or if

she’s scared, but her lips tremble. “That’s the irony, right? I can

see, but I can’t say. That’s why I got in trouble. Things were pretty

bad for me a few years ago. I had two sisters and a brother to take

care of, because our parents got deported back to Romania.

“One day I read a man who was going to win the lotto. I played his

numbers. I changed his future, and he walked off the subway tracks.

It’s against the rules to use your powers for your own personal gain.

So they took my sisters from me. Then they put me up at Thorne Hill

High School, grading English papers.”

“That’s tough.”

“You’re telling me. What’s the point, Tristan? What’s the point of

having a power if I can’t even use it for the ones I love? The ones

who count . The Universe picked the wrong girl for this ‘gift,’

because me? I don’t care about the greater good. I just don’t get to

make the rules. I didn’t ask for this.”

“You think I did ?”

“Which is why you don’t have to do it.” She holds my hands in

hers, a gentle plea. “You don’t have to be the next Sea King. What’s

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 knell: 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