As the princesses walk in, there isn't a single person who isn't staring at them. The glamours may disguise their naturally raw colors and their flawless faces. But nothing can disguise their hourgla.s.s figures as they move through the desk aisles like snakes in the desert.

There are four of them, from the princess with a lush head of chestnut waves who wears a shirt so tiny she might as well be wearing two clam sh.e.l.ls on her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, to the one with ivory skin and plum-purple hair gathered in a bun. Like Thalia, nothing disguises the slight point to their ears or the gem-like eyes that glance giddily around the cla.s.sroom.

"Dude," Angelo goes, "can I come to your next Christmas party?"

Sure, if Christmas is going to be ten thousand leagues under the sea and Rudolph is going to be a sea horse named Atticus.

Gwen takes the empty seat behind me just as the bell rings. I get up right away, because part of me is afraid she's going to take out a knife and stab me in the back. She thinks I killed her fiancee, and now she's going to try to kill me on my own turf.

My cla.s.smates stand aside to let Gwen leave first. I lean against the lockers just outside the door, and she stands in front of me. The metal bits of her leather jacket clink, clink. The gray of her eyes is harsh, and they're set on my face. Still, when she smiles, everything about her softens.

"I'm guessing this isn't your first time on land," I say.

She shakes her head slowly. "I've got a few years on you, foot-fin."

"You're not allowed to call me that."

"I can do whatever I want." She crosses her arms over her chest, which pushes her cleavage up and out. Not that I'm noticing or anything.

"What do you think you're doing here?"

She shrugs. "It's tradition for eligible princesses to seek a champion for courtship. Brendan and Dylan are being visited by dozens of mermaids from every inch of the seas. Technically, I'm betrothed, so I don't have to be here. But my fiance's gone missing because of some half-breed claiming the throne."

Fine. If she wants to go that route. "I'm flattered you've chosen me to rebound on, especially after what you did to your champion."

If she weren't already so white, I'd say she goes pale at that. But the shock that registers on her face is all the proof I need that she helped Layla win, that she did something to Elias, which makes her guiltier than it makes me.

"That's right, Princess. I know."

She purses her full pink lips, seething. For a moment, I think she's going to hit me, but she just turns on her heel and struts down the hall as if she's done it a hundred times before.

When the other princesses come out, they walk past and touch my face and poke my abs and my b.u.t.t. The one with the plum-purple hair tries to go right for the goods, and then the princesses disappear. They mingle into the flow of students. Angelo pushes past me, hot on the trail of a girl who could probably eat him alive in a second, not that he'd complain.

At the first glimpse of Kurt's face, I throw my hands in the air and yell at him. "I have to court the princesses? Why didn't you tell me?"

He seems as surprised as I am. "I honestly didn't remember that part of the championship. I didn't think they'd be interested in you."

"Thanks. I really feel the love, bro."

"That's not what I meant. I meant that you're human. Part human. I should've taken into account that you're the grandson of the king. The princesses are sort of-"

"Shallow?" Layla suggests, seemingly too happy at my misery.

"I've swum in deeper puddles than them," Thalia snarls. "They don't want mates, they want meals."

"Cool, so mergirls are easy," Layla says. She shoots a finger toward me. "Hey! That explains you."

When I don't laugh, she pats Thalia's shoulder. "No offense."

"None taken. I absolutely loathe those girls." Her cheeks puff up. All things considered, Thalia is pretty cute when she's angry.

"They don't seem so bad," Ryan says, strutting out of the cla.s.sroom and slinging his arms around Thalia's waist. He picks her up, and they're suddenly in their own world, away from the merrows, the princesses, the sea witch, and my championship. They're in high school.

Layla looks away from them guiltily. I wonder if she's thinking about Alex. Maybe she's thinking about Kurt. She sure isn't thinking about me, the way she keeps avoiding my face. "Maddy really said she doesn't have it?"

I nod. "Yep."

"Explain to me why you can't give the oracle something else." Layla reaches over to my chest and picks off a bit of lint. She smooths the fabric on my chest, absentmindedly, then pulls her hand away like she didn't realize what she was doing. I wonder if she can feel my skin grow hot at her touch.

Kurt answers, "That seems like the best idea, but all the other champions will be taking similar gifts-from family jewels to promising their firstborn children. This is specific. The Venus pearl is something that was taken from her."

"So then don't give her something else," Layla corrects herself. We're in front of Ms. Pippen's English cla.s.s.

Jerry runs out of the room. "Pippen's a no-show."

"Again?" Thalia goes.

"Figured I'd wait a few more minutes in case the sub shows and I can get attendance in, but she's not here either." Angelo runs past, saying something about "red-hot girls in school in the caf." He jets down the hallway, chasing the hot mermaid trail.

Under the cacophony of students shouting, singing, or just being general pains in the a.s.ses is the same lullaby hum of the princesses. If I weren't so irritated, I'd say it was the greatest thing I've ever heard-it makes your heart sigh and burn all at once.

We take a smaller table away from the swim team. On a regular day it would be considered a huge diss to leave your team's table. Today they're all fawning over my mermaid cousins and don't even notice. That explains the way everyone was behaving in the halls before. Well, except that you never really know with Angelo. If I don't do something, the whole school may end up either making out or duking it out.

Over at the swim team's table, Gwen and the mermaid princesses have formed a makeshift court with Gwen at the epicenter. Their shoulders peek from their sheer dresses, and their legs-which would normally be hidden beneath layers of scales-are crossed and exposed by the slits of their skirts for the enjoyment of every guy, girl, and pervy lunch monitor in the cafeteria. Their gem-like eyes, so much like mine, watch their surroundings carefully.

"I'll be right back," I say, ignoring Kurt's warning not to do anything irrational and to remember this is all court politics.

Gwen settles her stormy gray eyes on me. They're lined with black makeup. She arches an eyebrow, which is kind of funny, because she's so blond and fair that it doesn't look like she has eyelashes or eyebrows unless you're up close. "Have you been formally introduced yet?"

I smile as charmingly as I can. "Can't say I have."

"That over there is Violet, Adaro's cousin. She's got the prettiest purple hair in her region. This is Kai, Brendan's aunt. She's a bit shy, but she'll come along. And that's Menana, a freshwater princess from the Rocky Mountain lakes. She's like our very own Pocahontas." They wave with their fingers, some more interested than others. Then again, I shouldn't mistake interest for amus.e.m.e.nt.

I feel like I'd rather take my chances with Nieve than try to calm down a horde of mermaids. Like my dad says, h.e.l.l hath no fury like when your mother doesn't get what she wants. And here I am with a p.i.s.sed-off wannabe queen and her posse.

Bertie notices me for the first time. His eyes are gla.s.sy, but there's a joker smile plastered on his face. "Man, I wish I were part of your family."

No, you don't.

"I need you to please call them off, Gwen."

"Whatever do you mean?" She stares at me so innocently that I almost want to believe her.

"I'm half human. Not half stupid." Most of the time.

"You're not king, Tristan Hart."

"My grandfather-"

"Your grandfather isn't king anymore either. So for now we're all free to do as we wish."

"Yeah!" Angelo pumps a fist in the air. "Who made you king of the world, bro?"

"If you want to do it that way..." I grab Gwen by the waist and throw her over my shoulder. She beats her fists against my back, but she's not trying very hard. I take her to a corner of the cafeteria and set her down. She smooths out her dress and her hair, but doesn't hide the smirk on her face. The table whistles and cheers at us.

"The way I hear it, my ex-king grandfather makes everyone with powers reveal themselves. From where I'm standing, no one knows about you and your little voodoo tricks."

She looks like a girl who's just been caught smoking and I'm threatening to tell her dad. "It's not voodoo. Voodoo is filthy, unnatural magic. I'm organic." She presses her hands on her chest. She really needs to stop doing that.

"I don't get it. Why did you help your future husband lose to a girl?"

Her full pink lips curl into a smile. "He's-a jerk, as you people say. Why did you help hurt my future husband?"

"He was alive, Gwen. Something was down there with us, and it got him. Look, I'm sorry about Elias. I didn't think it would go down that way. But this is now. We're not on Toliss. You're on my land. I've got enough to deal with without worrying about any of you drowning my teammates."

"I thought you were all swimmers," she purrs. She looks off to the left and chews on the inside of her lip. I get the feeling she could do anything she wants right about now, like blow my head off or set me on fire with the heat in her eyes. I can smell her power. I didn't know that power had a scent, but hers does, like firecrackers being lit. Instead she sighs softly. "I'm sure Elias just took the tunnels out of the island to avoid the humiliation of losing to a human."

"So here's hoping he's out there trying to beat me." I cross my fingers in her face and repeat, "The princesses."

She traces a finger along my jaw, and all of my parts tingle. She's truly beautiful once you get past the immense b.i.t.c.h part. "Maybe they're wrong about you. Maybe you do have it in you after all." She saunters back to the girls and whispers to Violet of the purple hair. There's a collective sigh from all of them, and suddenly the air feels lighter. The humming dies down. All around the cafeteria, kids who were kissing, fighting, standing up and shouting, look around as if they've forgotten what they were doing and why.

I nod thanks to Gwen, who gives me her cheek.

"Congratulations on your first political negotiation," Kurt says as I sit beside him.

"She really gets under my skin," I say, reaching over to Layla's plate of fries.

She pulls it away and my fingers grab at the air. "Seemed like more than your skin."

"I don't like my girls with a side of crazy, thank you." Even though the effect of Gwen is still lingering in my pants. Stupid mermaid princesses.

"I don't get it," Layla goes. "Why are they here if none of them even look your way?"

"I resent that." I grab one of her fries while she's not looking.

Thalia taps her finger on her lips, thinking. "The way I see it, the entire courtship is a way to throw the champion off his course. Think about it. You're competing against their brothers and cousins, so why would they want you to win?"

"On the other hand," Layla says, squinting at me the way she does when she thinks I'm being a creep, "if you were to pick one of them, then she'd no longer be a princess, but a queen. And why do they affect everyone so much more than you guys do?"

"Because Thalia and I are here to help Tristan. They're here to play."

"So here I am with my school full of mermaids, an oracle to find, a throne to win, and the person who stands between me and the oracle is my ex-girlfriend, who says she lost the one thing I've got going for me as far as offerings go." I rub my face with my palms, unable to stop the feeling of premature failure from spreading through me. "Anyone have any spare cattle?"

"No way did she lose it," Layla says. "She was still wearing it the day of the storm."

I didn't notice. I never notice. That's my problem.

"You could always-" Thalia shifts uncomfortably and puts her fry down. "You could always woo her again."

"No!" Layla's punches me hard on my shoulder.

I think of Maddy's face when she asked if I wanted her back. Despite everything I'd done, she'd still say yes. I think about Jessica and Deanna in the hallways. Until they approached me minutes ago, I'd totally forgotten about them. I figured they'd move on to someone else. How was I supposed to know I affected them that way?

A cheer erupts at the other end of the table. Angelo picks up Kai, a pretty little thing with shimmering pink lips and eyes like a powder-blue sky, and her long blond curls curtain around his shoulders. He sits her on his arm just so he can prove how strong he is.

"I thought she called them off," Layla says.

"Jealous?" I snort.

"You wish."

I do, and she knows it.

"He's acting on his own Angelo dumba.s.sery right now," I go. "So, Plan B. The oracle you visited was in the Fancy Corals or whatever?"

The familiar Kurt sneer is back. I was starting to miss it. "The Great Coral Caves. And yes. She's there. You and I can go together. If we leave now, we'll be back by morning."

"No!" Thalia shakes her head. "The merrows are out there looking for Tristan. It would be unwise to swim alone through the channels. They're dangerous enough."

Kurt considers this. I don't think he's ready to fight those things again any more than I am. "Perhaps you're right. What about the landlocked waitress from the diner? What if beneath her enthusiasm for you as king, there was something else. What she said was curious."

Layla raises her hand. "Some of us weren't at breakfast."

"She told me her kid, the little turtle boy, is rooting for me."

Thalia stifles her laughter. "Honestly, Tristan. It was just this morning. What she said was: You'll find our kind is all around you, not just in the seas."

I'm so hungry I can't even think. "I thought she was just being nice."

"We're never just nice," Kurt says. "Our kind never says what they mean to say directly. It's vague, but what if she was telling us there is an oracle right here in New York?"

"Hold on," Layla says. "How do you know she's not tricking him and making him look around the city when there isn't even an oracle here? Why would she care? Kurt's right. There are tons of people like her, right? What if she's one of the bad ones?"

There are tons of people like her. That thought is enough to silence us all, because we know it's a long shot, and I'm going to just have to take it anyway. I don't know if it's the vibes coming from the rise in mermaid activity around me, the power of the dagger in my backpack, or what. But something in there is clicking. I wish I could tell everyone, Look, I'm not just a pretty face.

"There are tons of others like her!" I point to Kurt, who looks surprised that I point to him. "Use your mighty-merman powers for a sec. How do you think the other champions are finding the oracles?"

"Same way we are: hearsay, family witches, hired guides, seers-" He pauses and catches my eyes with his violet ones. "Of course."

"You said Ms. Pippen's a seer," I go, a little too smug that I've come up with it before him.

"She hasn't been in school for two days," Thalia says, bursting my cloud of mojo.

"That's not a coincidence."

Layla scrunches up her nose. "Ms. Pippen's a what?"