A stab of longing pierced her heart. She wished that Neela, Ling, Becca, and Ava could be here with her today. They’d all returned to Cerulea with her to recover from their ordeal in the Southern Sea, but all of them except Astrid had gone their ways a few weeks later. Sera missed them terribly, but understood they had their own obligations.
Ling had been made an international ambassador by the Elder of Qin. She spent all her time traveling between the mer realms and addressing any disputes or conflicts between them. Her father had survived the terrible labor camp where he and Ling had been imprisoned. He’d been weak and sick when troops liberated the camp, but he’d made it home, where he was recovering. Ling’s mother and brothers had been overjoyed to see him.
Becca had decided to hand in her resignation at Baudel’s, and go to college to study political science. She’d applied to a school in the Lagoon, off the city of Venice. She was spending the summer there with Marco, trying to figure things out.
Astrid was living in Cerulea. Ragnar Kolfinnsson, Ondalina’s admiral, and Serafina had abolished the permutavi—an ancient decree between Miromara and Ondalina that stipulated the exchange of a Miromaran royal child for an Ondalinian one. If they hadn’t, Desiderio would have been required to go to Ondalina, and Astrid to Cerulea, and they never would have been allowed to be together. Astrid had chosen to come to the city because of her own free will. And because of her heart. She’d fallen in love with Des, and he with her. In another year, they’d be Promised to one another.
Ava was back in Macapá, in the Amazon River, with her parents. She’d found a job working with visually impaired children and loved it. The other mermaids had bought her a present before she’d left Cerulea—a new seeing-eye piranha named Sweetie. When they let him out of the little bamboo cage he’d arrived in, he’d promptly bitten Sera, barked at Neela and Ling, ripped a hole in Becca’s skirt, and growled at Astrid. Ava adored him, though she knew she would never forget Baby.
Neela had returned home to Matali, where she had been reunited with her pet blowfish, Ooda, and had opened up the hottest clothing boutique in Matali City. It featured her own designs, plus the edgiest creations from a cadre of international designers. She was never again seen wearing pink.
Yazeed had been appointed head of the Praedatori by Duca Marco and was currently in an undisclosed location, working with his fellow fighters and the Wave Warriors to try to clean up the catastrophic garbage island in the Pacific.
Thalassa had been rescued from Shadow Manse and had returned to Cerulea. She gave Serafina songcasting lessons three times a week. Fossegrim was happily ensconced in his beloved Ostrokon, overseeing plans to repair the damage that had been inflicted upon it. Manon Laveau, together with her ghosts and her alligators, had returned to the Mississippi. She’d enjoyed her sojourn in Miromara, she’d told Sera, but it wasn’t wise to leave the swamp mer unsupervised for too long.
The remaining five talismans had been safely stowed away in a specially constructed vault. Sera looked at them sometimes to make sure she never forgot what had been sacrificed in their pursuit. Determined to preside over a more open age, she had decreed that the ruins of Atlantis must be accessible to all peoples of the sea so they might learn from past mistakes and never repeat them. She was personally overseeing the construction of a learning center there, and had negotiated a peace treaty with the Opafago. Sera believed that if she didn’t teach her people the truth about their past, she could not lead them into their future.
A chill ran through her as she remembered how close she’d come to not regaining her throne. If she hadn’t been able to convince Alítheia not to eat her, if her Black Fins hadn’t staged their attack so flawlessly…well, that wasn’t worth thinking about.
She had regained her throne. The Feuerkumpel had paid for their treachery. And so had Vallerio and Portia.
Lucia had escaped the city, and seemingly, the realm. She had not been seen or heard of since the night of the Black Fins’ attack on Cerulea. Sera had declared her an outlaw and had put a bounty on her head. She was optimistic that Lucia would be caught soon.
The first notes of the recessional rang out, pulling Sera out of her thoughts. She rose with the other graduates and filed out of the auditorium. Mahdi was throwing a party for all the graduates back at the palace, in the Regina’s Courtyard. As Sera swam out of the school and into the current, someone raced up and threw her arms around her waist.
“Congratulations!” Coco shouted. She handed Sera the bouquet of sea roses she was carrying, and then Coco’s parents congratulated Sera, too.
Sera had had every prison camp searched for them, and for Coco’s sister, Ellie. To her immense relief, all three were found and the family was reunited.
The graduates and their families slowly made their way up the hill to the palace. Bells were ringing through the town. Ceruleans were crowding the current and hanging out of the windows of the houses along it, throwing kisses and sea flowers, cheering and waving and wishing them well.