Part 17 (1/2)
I don't spare any details. From Arion and the urchin brothers catching Layla on the s.h.i.+p to how my grandfather split the trident into three. But not the part where I fall asleep with Layla. I keep that to myself.
I forgot to tell Kurt and Thalia to leave out the part about Nieve, because it's just going to freak Mom out. So, of course, Thalia blurts it out. ”Aunt Maia, what do you know of the sea witch Nieve?”
My mom's fork grinds against the plate. ”My father imprisoned her. She's in the caves.”
Thalia bites her lip. I guess every family has the crazy relative no one wants to talk about. In our case, we have a crazy shark-mouthed sea witch who likes to kill her family. ”She's been attacking Tristan.”
”What?”
”But only through my dreams,” I add. Sure, that makes it better.
Dad looks confused. ”Who is she?”
”A wretched woman with the powers of the greats. We've never been able to prove it, but she killed my mother. I know she did.” Mom's fist is white around her fork as she holds it. Her turquoise eyes catch me with a fury I've never seen come out of her. ”Why didn't you tell me?”
”Why didn't you tell me?”
”How long have you been seeing her?”
”Since the day of the storm. I hadn't changed yet, so how was I supposed to know I wasn't just going crazy after having survived something like that?
”Did she hurt you?”
”She definitely had the opportunity, but it felt more like she was playing with me.”
Mom shakes her head silently. ”She was rather good at trying to make others insane.” Mom pushes her plate away. ”She'd delve into your mind and make you see things that weren't real. You'd be defenseless if she could get her hands on you.”
”Wait. He gave me a dagger.” I run out to the living room and unzip my bag. The black sphere in the center of the handle swirls slowly, like it's in a time of its own.
Dad chuckles. ”It's no lightsaber, but it'll do the trick. Let's hope you don't have to use it too soon.”
”It's curious,” Mom says. ”Nieve has been in the caves so long that entire generations don't know of her. How does she know of Tristan?”
”There's a traitor on the island,” Kurt says. ”The guards are spread out, and more are being called. Maybe she's not only after Tristan.”
”She always wanted my father's throne.”
”In which case, none of the champions are safe.”
I draw Nieve's likeness on a napkin with black marker, a crude shark mermaid. I secure it on the map off the coast of Coney. ”If the next full moon is on June 26, I have seventeen days as of right now. A little more than a forknight, or whatever it's called. If I were a sea oracle, where would I be?”
I wish I had a sound track of crickets playing in the background, because that's what this silence sounds like-crickets. Dad pressing the pages of the Brooklyn Star flat on the table, Mom fuming in my direction with her arms crossed over her chest, and Kurt and Thalia eating as much syrup as we have stored in the pantry. Right, my champion team.
”Oh!” Mom gets up. ”When I was girl, my sister Alcyone and I used to play around one of the oracle's caves. She was a mean, nasty old thing. One time-” She looks about the room. ”You don't need to know about that part. Another time, our cousin Lucillia dared us to take something from the oracle. She's the youngest of the ten sisters and was born without the sight. She has minor magics and can read corny sh.e.l.ls, but that's about it.
”But she has a wonderful collection of the rarest pearls and jewels. There was one that was my favorite. It was a pretty, slightly pink pearl from the Arctic. They only form there, and only when two clams get stuck together and-you know. I'd notice it every time my mother sent us to deliver news or food-because it's always good to be on friendly terms with an oracle, no matter what her level of power is.”
”So you stole it?” Dad's smile is from ear to ear.
”Do you think she noticed?” Thalia asks.
”It was one of her favorites.” Mom shrugs. ”I'm sure of it. She wouldn't know it was me, because there was no way she would've been able to see it happening.”
My stomach twists. A pretty pink pearl. Oh G.o.d. Oh G.o.d. Oh G.o.d.
”But how do you find her?” Dad asks.
Mom puts her finger on her lip. ”The last I remember, she was off the Canary Islands. But that was five h-” Mom notices my dad's cheesy smile at the fact that she's about to reveal how old she is. ”A long time ago.”
Kurt stands in front of the map, hands on his green cargo shorts. I don't know what he sees. I see a bunch of places I've never been to. That's the thing about growing up in Brooklyn. Everyone is from everywhere in the world, so it always feels like you've already been there. Angelo and his big Italian family, Layla and her Greek and Ecuadorian parents, Jerry and his Puerto Rican parents. Bertie and his crazy Jamaican grandmother who likes to chase us off their front porch with a broom and call us batti boys.
Kurt points to the water near Florida. ”There's an oracle here.”
”How do you know?”
”Because I do.” His reply doesn't come out snooty, but there's more than he's saying. Knowing Kurt, he's not going to give anything away. Keepers of the deep. Right. More secrets. ”I mean, I've been there.”
”How long would it take to swim down there?” Dad asks my mom. ”I mean, it's a little over eight hundred miles on land, but then if you consider-” He stares ahead, mumbling, which he does when he's solving my math problems. ”Maybe seven days without stopping.”
”You're forgetting the channels,” Kurt says.
”You lost me at channels,” I go.
”When you get deep enough, there are currents that break through the water and form paths that run all over the earth.” Mom walks around the table and points to New York. ”If I remember correctly, there's a channel south of Staten Island that leads to the Great Coral Caves. Is that where the oracle is, Kurt?”
”She's there. It's only been a few years.”
”A few human years or a few mermaid years?”
He sighs, exasperated. ”A few human years. Thirty, maybe. She should still be there. If we find the sightless oracle and give her your pearl as a gift, especially if she coveted it as you said-”
”Let me go get it,” Mom says.
Oh G.o.d. I should tell her. No time like the present. ”Mom?”
”Yes, honey?”
”Was the pearl strung on a thin silver necklace?”
”Yes, it was in my treasure ch-”
”Well-”
”Please, please tell me you gave it to Layla,” she pleads.
The knot in my stomach is tighter. ”Actually, I gave it to Maddy.”