she was the youngest of the remaining five oracle sisters. That’s why

she’s got the fewest powers. She was talking in this rhyme, all vague.

Why are supernatural people so vague?”

“When you live forever,” Kurt says, “you get bored. Riddles,

games, quests. It’s part of our life.”

“O-kay.” Layla’s eyeing the Venus pearl spinning in my hand. “If

you gave it back to her, why do you still have it?”

“She gifted it to me.” I shrug. I wonder what would happen if I

offered it to Layla. Would she throw it back in my face? I wish I’d

never given it to someone else first. “Something about my bravery and

good looks.”

“I bet,” she says drily.

Kurt nods to Gwen. “And what happened to your hands?”

As a reflex, Gwen balls them into tiny fists behind her back.

“Elias showed up,” I say.

“Gwen’s ex-fiancé Elias?” Layla asks. “Champion of the East

whatever. I thought he disappeared.”

“He was dead,” I correct. Before they can interrupt me again,

“I’ve never been around dead bodies, but I’ll never forget the smell.

Bits of his skin were falling off, but he was still strong. He spoke

in Nieve’s voice.”

They’re silent. Nieve , the silver witch of my nightmares.

“I recognized the voice from my dreams.” I push my plate of food

away. “I’d swear on anything that Nieve was the one pulling the

strings. Can she do that?”

“I wasn’t alive when Nieve was at court,” Kurt says. “The king

banished her after she killed the queen and led the rebellion against

the throne. They say she was able to make you see things-cruel things,

nightmares. Until your mind was weak enough to control.”

His eyes fall back on Gwen. “How did you get rid of Elias?”

Gwen lifts up her chin defiantly. She holds out her palms to show

us the black scabs of burn marks. “I took Triton’s dagger and drove it

into him.”

He shrinks back, surprised. “Oh…”

We’re quiet for a moment. Gwen gets up and walks away from us. She

leans on the side of the ship and watches the mountains of clouds left

behind in our wake.

Layla rests her hand on my knee. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

I place my hand on top of hers but don’t answer.

Kurt is staring at Gwen. “Is there anything else?”

Gwen with her smoke-bending magic fingers. In the Sea Court, the

merfolk who still have traces of magic have to register with the court

and king. The merfolk fear magic the way humans fear lunatics with

guns. They think it’s unpredictable and unreliable. Gwen is by no

means registered. After everything she’s done for me, I can’t betray

her secret.

“Hey, Arion,” I call out. “Where in the world are we?”

Arion uses the black ropes to pull himself over the deck. The

strong winds ripple against the sails so he tightens them. “Steady on

the Southern Channel. We’ll have to wait for Lady Thalia to return

with an approximation of time.”

“She’s been gone since sunrise,” Layla says.

Arion tugs on his black beard. “It won’t be long now, Master

Tristan. The trick to the Vanishing Cove is making sure we don’t miss

it.”

“You’re not saying it literally vanishes?” Layla asks,

wonder-struck.

“I don’t like this.” Gwen pounds her fists on the wood. “I don’t

like being stuck on a boat.”

Casting a long shadow over Gwen, Kurt points an authoritative

finger in her face. “None of us are stuck here, Lady Gwenivere. You’re

more than welcome to return to Toliss Island and resume your duties at

court.”

Under the shade of the mainsail, we stand in a broken circle. Now

I know why Thalia volunteered to swim off and scout the remaining

distance to the cove.

“Ah, right you are, Kurtomathetis of the Sea Guard.” Gwen crosses

her slender arms over her chest, emphasizing the cleavage her bikini

barely covers. “The only one stuck here is our captain. As is this

foot-fin over here.” She waves at Layla dismissively.

Layla seethes, “Don’t call me that.”

Gwen smiles through it. She sees the argument forming on my lips

and looks away, but doesn’t apologize. “What I mean is, we’ve been on

this ship for nearly two days.”

“Congratulations on your accelerated ability to count,” Layla

says.

Gwen throws her hands in the air and makes very un-princess-like

exclamations. “What I mean is there are other ways of getting to the

Vanishing Cove. We are Sea People. We swim.”

Unbidden, the attack of the merrows returns to the forefront of my

mind. “We’re stronger together.”

“The championship ends in six days and seven nights,” she reminds

me. “Then the champions return to Toliss for the final duel. Need I

remind you that, without a trident, there is no king, and without a

king-”

“We know what happens,” Kurt says roughly. “Without a king, we

will be left with destruction and chaos. That is why the champions

travel on ships armed to the masts with soldiers. When the throne is

weakened, not even the sea is kind to us.”

Gwen’s cheeks are sucked in like she’s holding back the venom on

her tongue. I can see the rage in her with nowhere to go. She throws

it at the most vulnerable person she can find. “Oh, is that it? Here I

thought we were staying dry because the foot-fin can’t swim.”

Layla, one the fastest swimmers I know, freezes. She takes a step

toward Gwen, but Kurt gets between them first. On any other day, I

wouldn’t mind watching a girl fight. Especially when it’s pretty much

about me. But the thing Layla doesn’t know, the thing even Kurt

doesn’t know, is that if it weren’t for Gwen, Layla wouldn’t be alive.

“ Layla …” I warn. When she turns to me, I’ve forgotten what I

wanted to say. Under the scent of washed wood and the salt of the

ocean, I get a whiff of her-lavender and honey and light. Her nose is

sunburnt and peeling. It makes me want to stand in the way and let the

sun set me on fire instead.

“Fine,” Layla says, steadying her breath. She turns around and

climbs the steps to the ship’s wheel. “Take her side. I’ll be over

here doing whatever foot-fins do.”

“ It’s not about sides !” I yell.

Gwen pushes past Kurt and me, growling, “You know that I’m right.”

With Layla and Gwen at different corners of the deck, Kurt and I

are left standing at the mainmast. “We have to fix this,” I say.

“Lord Sea-” Kurt says.

I put my hand on his chest and press him against the mast. “Don’t.

Call. Me. Lord. Sea.”

He looks down at my hand and smirks.

“Tristan,” he lowers his voice, “come with me. Your sword needs

sharpening.”

***

Kurt and I duck past the barrels of sea mead and the trunk of

weapons. Two cannons are lined with seaweed so soft that it feels like

velvet.

“I think I found where the urchin bros sleep,” I say.

“Definitely more comfortable than the deck was last night.” Kurt

unloads his weapons on a table slab.

I unbuckle my sheath. I add my beat-up sword and Triton’s dagger

to the mix. Unlike the dull broadsword I’ve been training with,

Triton’s dagger is pristine. Handed down from the man himself, it can

only be held by his descendants. I’m imagining the other mermen who

used this weapon when Kurt snaps me out of my trance.

“It was kind of you to give your chambers to Thalia.” Kurt sits on

a crate level with the table and examines my sword.

“No worries. They’re technically Arion’s. He’s captain of the

ship.”

“He’s bound to the ship, Tristan. He’ll never be more than the one

who ferries it.”