yet.”

“It’s just something to say.”

“You seem jumpy. Come, have a smoke.”

I don’t know why I look at the door, as if someone is going to

come and tell me not to do what I’m about to do. I’m not doing

anything wrong. I pull my backpack on and follow her through the

curtain. Form here we can see everyone in the backyard, on the

boardwalk, and on the bit of the beach that’s in front of the house.

“You missed the sunset,” she says. “It was exceptionally beautiful

today.”

“Yeah?” I reply, just for something to say.

“It’s my favorite time of day.”

“The end of it?”

“The beginning of night.”

“What are you doing here, Gwen?” I don’t know why I keep asking

her that. I like having her around, I’ve decided. She’s not like

everyone else around me.

“I have nowhere else to go.” There’s something raw about the way

she says it. The automatic light above the balcony goes off. “I spent

all day swimming. Went to court for a bit to see if they had news of

Elias.”

At the mention of his name I look away. Down by the pool a guy

picks up a girl and throws her into the water. Her top comes off with

the force of it, but she just holds her hands in the air and woo-hoos.

“No news?”

She shakes her head.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you don’t seem so upset.”

I tuck a bit of hair behind her ear, and when I do, I see

something I would never notice unless I was this close to her. Right

over the razor-thin slits where her gills would be is a long scar that

runs from the opening of her ear down to her clavicle. It nearly

blends into her, so it looks like a thick vein of extra skin. It

must’ve hurt like hell.

It startles both of us. That I would touch her so absentmindedly.

That I would even notice.

“That was an accident,” she says.

“Someone accidentally tried to cut you open?” I don’t know why,

but I’m suddenly angry for her. I don’t want to ask if it was Elias,

if this is the real reason she doesn’t care that he might be missing.

That he’d never be around to do this again.

“Would you be able to do it?” she starts. “If you were forced to

marry a man and pretend that you cared about his every whim, his every

mood, every desire-And if I didn’t do as he asked, fixed things to his

liking with my magic-”

“Actually I don’t think I’d ever be forced to marry a man.”

She punches me lightly, but at least it makes her smile.

“Elias swam into our palace with sea-horse loads of gold. Somehow

he knew of me. He wanted me. And my father gave me away without even

saying good-bye. My lady-in-waiting came in to pack for me and told me

where we were going. That’s why I’m not at court. I’d be expected to

sit around waiting for his return. Dead or alive.”

The sharpness of her words is startling. It really is a different

world. “I don’t get why you have to hide your powers. Everyone knows

Thalia can talk to her sea horse.”

Gwen forces a laugh. “It’s not that I’m hiding. I don’t believe we

should be forced to reveal all parts of ourselves. After all, there

was once a time when we all had magics. But like anything else, when

you suppress it long enough, you forget it. If you really wanted to,

you could make yourself forget anything.”

I don’t think that’s true. There’s nothing that would make me

forget my parents or Layla. But I don’t say as much. Instead I say,

“Show me something.”

She tilts her head to the side and looks at me with those gray

eyes. She takes a long puff and blows the purple smoke out slowly. Her

fingers reach up to the swirling smoke, where they take the shapes of

a mermaid and a merman. They swim around each other; they have faces

and arms, and lips, which they aren’t shy about using. They run their

hands against each other so hard that I think they’ll go right through

the smoke. She twirls her fingers again, and they’re pulled apart.

Their faces contort, their arms reach for one another. They look up at

Gwen with ghoulish faces. And then the smoke goes out, and the only

thing that lingers is the smell of burning flowers.

“What the-” I start. “And Elias knows you can do that?” Knew.

Elias knew.

Something dark passes over her eyes. “Magic isn’t bad . But it’s

considered dangerous. The Sea King always worries we can’t be trusted

with it.”

“Can you?” I adjust the weight of my backpack. I can feel the thin

hum of the sword. “Be trusted with it?”

She doesn’t say anything. I think of how quickly she used it to

help Layla win. It’s not her fault Elias attacked me, but if she

hadn’t done it, everything might be different now. We stay in this

silence, staring over the railing. Right below us the lifeguard girls

and Layla are watching Kurt talk to Thalia. If he would look up, he’d

see me and Gwen watching them.

The giggles from below drift up. Cindy is loud-whispering to the

other girls, “Ohmigod, he’s so totally hot . Why are all of his

cousins so totally hot?”

Gwen rolls her eyes. We lean closer and hold on to the metal bars.

It looks like we’re in a little prison.

“Even the girls!” another girl says.

“It’s so unfair,” a third girl adds. “At least there’s finally

more eye candy than Tristan.”

“I always though Tristan was just a man-slut who thought he was

too hot for everyone.”

The girls laugh. Layla doesn’t say anything in my defense. Do they

know that we kissed only minutes ago? Would she even tell them?

“I don’t think you’re too hot for everyone,” Gwen jokes, elbowing

me in the side.

“Har-har.” I wish I had a bucket of water to dump on them.

Cindy gasps, like she just got hit with the mother lode of ideas.

“You should go talk to Kurt, Layla.”

“Why?” she says defensively. “It’s not like I haven’t talked to

him before .”

“Yeah, but you said you think he’s hot. So you need to go ask him

if he has a girlfriend.”

“He doesn’t.”

“Did you ask ?”

Layla groans. “No, but he never talks about one.”

“Guys never say it unless you ask. It’s like they think they can

get away with it if you don’t ask. So it’s technically not lying.”

Girl Number Two chimes in, “Yeah, I hate when they do that.”

“He’s not like that,” Layla says, and I hate that she comes to

Kurt’s defense and not mine.

She stands up with protest, taking time to smooth out her tank

top. She pulls her ponytail loose and shakes her hair out. The

lifeguard girls whistle.

Gwen laughs. “Ugh, I can smell their humanity. It’s like a burning

tar pit.”

I force myself to laugh, because my skin is on fire as Layla walks

up to Kurt and Thalia. Thalia says something and points to the house.

Layla shrugs and Thalia walks away, handing Kurt her backpack. I bet

they’re asking where I’ve gone. Kurt adjusts the bag on his shoulder.

Even with his human clothes and surfer-dude hair, his violet eyes

stand out. People take turns stealing quick looks at him. He catches

himself bowing at Layla when she stands in front of him and smiles at

his feet.

She tucks her thumbs in the pockets of her skirt and shifts her

entire weight to one side. I’ve never seen her flirt before. Not

really. It’s not that she thinks I’m making her like me; it’s that she

doesn’t want to tell me that she wants him . Of course, Tristan. How

could you be so stupid? I want to puke. I want to jump over this

railing and toss him in the water, rip his face off for talking to my

girl.

Gwen stands up. “ Boring . I’m getting hungry.” She loops her arm