The king swirled his triton. "Magic," he murmured. "It always comes back to the magic." The lights began to flicker as a wave passed over the throne room, like being splashed with hot water.

Duncan shook his head. "What was that?"

The king swam closer to Duncan. "You should be able to use your magic now. Find my cousin, fairy. Get her to safety."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Duncan said.

The king looked to Keefe and Kealan. "Evacuate the Nursery. Get the children to safety on Avalon. That is our priority." He looked to Duncan. "The royal family shall take shelter here."

"With all due respect, Your Majesty, I believe you would be safer topside as well," Duncan replied. "This could be as much a threat to you specifically as the kingdom as a whole."

This time the king swam closer. "The royal family will not abandon the kingdom."

Duncan wanted to object, if only because of what the princes had told him about Norton and his known agenda. "Your Majesty, I feel that-"

"We will be secure here," the king said. "Now go, find my cousin's child."

Duncan nodded. "I will find her."

"See that you do, boy. I don't want to see my kingdom destroyed."

Neither do I, Duncan thought.

Chapter Nine.

At least I know where I'm at, Cara thought.

The building Norton had moved her to was an ante-building of the Royal palace-if anything in the kingdom could be considered an anti-anything. The whole place connected like a ring, and she was on one edge. She'd managed to peek a little through a hole in the tapestry thing he'd wrapped her in when he'd transported her.

Yet she still wasn't sure why he'd brought her here. What purpose did it serve?

If she released her scream now, here, she'd likely damage the palace. Part of the reason she stayed away from the main structure was because of the force of the screams.

Unless he wanted to damage the palace.

Again, the whys taunted her.

She struggled against the wrappings he'd covered her with. From somewhere, he'd gotten a SCUBA mask and plastered it on her face.

At least he didn't want her drowning.

That was a plus, right?

As a banshee, she had a finite amount of magic naturally instilled in her. When a cry came, because she had to release it underwater, she could stay under for a little bit of time. She wasn't sure exactly how long she had-whether it was a few hours or a full day, she'd never tested it. Her cousins, Keefe and Kealan, had always thought she could last a few days, but she'd never been brave enough to try. Not that she had that long before this cry erupted. The pain was so strong she could only guess she had a couple of hours at the most before it came out.

As she listened to the soft swooping sound of the scuba mask, she was sort of glad she had the coverings that Norton had left.

The cold depth was starting to seep inside.

And the longer she stayed, the colder she got. Even with the wetsuit, she still felt the cold deep in her bones.

She shivered. Her arms were starting to go numb. This couldn't last much longer, because the scream was coming. It burned in her gut.

Her shivers were a small reprieve from the pain of the scream, which was so powerful it dug under her skin. Tears welled in her eyes.

Calm.

Calm.

I can fight this.

And a rush of pain as the scream demanded release hit her hard. She bobbed against the rock flooring inside the tiny storage room-at least that was what she thought the room was for. There were containers scattered about, but nothing else to hint the purpose of the stone structure.

Unfortunately, Norton had tied her in a way that even if she tried to swim, she couldn't. Her legs and arms were bound, making her trussed like a rodeo animal.

Though he wasn't in the room, she could hear the timbre of Norton's voice outside the door. His and someone else's, but she couldn't make out who he was speaking with.

He might have been talking to himself. She wasn't sure.

She wouldn't put anything past him at this point.

Focus. She made herself try to hear what he was saying. As close as he was, had they been in air, she would have been able to hear everything. Underwater, though, sound was so distorted.

The only gear she had from her dive was her earpiece, but it must have slipped out some.

Norton and his mystery guest.

"Evacuating the kingdom... Very little time... All will be lost..."

The door opened fully, and Norton came back in. She saw no signs of anyone with him. Maybe he really had been talking to himself.

Great. Now adding "crazy" to her cousin's resume. As brash as she wanted to be, the situation still terrified her.

Because meticulous, methodical kidnapping-there was a purpose. She'd read true crime novels before. But crazy, well, that was a whole other thing. Crazy couldn't be predicted, or likely prevented.

As he crossed to her, for a second, he looked sympathetic, like he might care about her.

"Are you feeling well?" he asked.

"Die, you jerk," Cara thought back.

He raised his eyebrow. "Tsk tsk, such harsh words. Don't you understand what I'm doing? They always said you were smart. Pity they were wrong."

"Nope, not as smart as you, Norton. So let me go."

"I'm making everything right for us," Norton said as he swam around. "Bringing back the balance that was lost because of our stupid grandmother."

"By making me explode?"

"Exactly," Norton said, his face contorting into a cold mask. It didn't truly shift like a shapeshifter, but his eyes darkened, like a serial killer who'd just revealed his plan. "Even with all my preparation to get you down here, I could never deliver the amount of necessary damage that you will to complete my plan." He swished his tail.

He did want her to die. To explode.

"Why kill me? What did I ever do to you?"

He tipped his head to the side. "There are always casualties when rebuilding an empire." He swam a little closer. "I have it planned to the moment. It is a fitting irony that you, a by-product of Grandmother's rejection of her crown, help to restore it, by killing the entire royal family."

He reached down and stroked her head.

She would have bitten him if she could. The best she had was to pull away from him.

"I can't kill them... I like my family, Norton. Even you, sometimes. Let me go, please?"

He shook his head. "You don't understand. You're not supposed to like our position as the cast off family line. You're supposed to be furious at our lot."

Cara remembered one of the things Norton had been muttering. "But they're evacuating the kingdom. They won't be here when this comes out."

"Wrong again," Norton said, shaking his head. "Like a sea captain, the royal family, by law, will never evacuate their home. They'll take shelter here, in the kingdom, but they'll never leave. That's the beauty of it."

"Where?" Cara asked, but she had a pretty good idea she knew the answer.

"Why, in the building right next to this one. Your scream will kill the entire royal family instantly. Thereby making myself the king of the merrow."

"Will there even be any merrow left?"

"Plenty to do my bidding."

"And that's all this is about-doing your bidding, isn't it, Norton?"

He darted forward and grabbed her hair.

Cara winced. Probably would have screamed had she a voice.

"Don't you get it? It's time, stupid girl. It's time for us to stop hiding in the shadows and reveal ourselves to the world."

"What world, Norton?"

"The human world," Norton said. "We will rule them, dominate them. I have foreseen it!"

Cara tried to wiggle away. "You really think you'll rule all the humans in the world? There's at least a hundred of them-maybe even a thousand of them-to every merrow. You will never survive. And since when could you see the future?"

Norton was not a psychic-deranged, maybe-but not psychic.

"Maybe for merrow, but not all mythicals. How many races live on Avalon, Cara? At least a dozen. And it's only a small part of the whole mythical community. If we combined our strengths, we would be able to dominate the humans in a matter of days."

Okay, so Cara needed to file away-if she got out of this-that her cousin was absolutely out of his flipping mind. Mythicals? Ruling the humans?

He'd lost all sense. It was a childish fantasy. One she assumed many mythicals entertained once or twice, but dismissed as a natural part of age and maturity. To cling to it was like an adult human hanging on to the fantasy of Santa Claus.

"I don't think the humans will fall back that easily," Cara replied. There were big reasons-huge reasons-why the humans didn't know anything about this side of the world. Beyond the obvious, of course-that it would freak them out.

Some would accept them, probably even worship mythical beings walking the world.

But others wouldn't.

It was only a matter of time.

Hadn't he ever seen True Blood?

Norton's face twisted into a wicked grin. "Too bad you won't be alive to see me prove you wrong. I am right. I've spent years on land-human land-studying them. Working with other mythicals and formulating a plan. I have allies. They will help me."

"What, you got a vampire sidekick?"

"Many," he said with that horrible grin. "Regardless, it is time for me to depart. I cannot stay with you in these last moments, my dear. Speedy death."

"Norton!"

He swam for the door and pulled it shut as she screamed. At least, as she tried to.

"Norton! Norton, get back here you slimy worm! Get back here!"

Panic hit her hard.

Now, she truly was screwed.

Chapter Ten.

Duncan swam away from the ring of the kingdom's buildings. Merrow headed for the only entrance-a huge line of Brothers on each side, and herded the women and children toward their escape.

He glanced at his meter.

Cara had maybe an hour before that scream came out of her. Probably less, because it had reached the orange-red zone.