“Goodnight, Beaz.”
Beazil hovered, knowing he was not allowed past the wall of rocks that protected my stepmother’s home. They looked natural to the outside eye, but I knew it had taken hundreds of Mers to get them into place, along with a massive octopus who had eaten several of the workers as payment.
I doubted my stepmother had even blinked.
“I will see you the day after tomorrow. We have the procession, remember?”
He looked unenthusiastic, to say the least. I was pretty sure he was dreading it. I knew how he felt, though I was dragging my fins for another reason. Most of the Mers competing would be dressed to the nines, in their armor or formal evening wear.
Meanwhile, I was wearing a dress that was two sizes too small, one of the few things my stepmother actually provided me with, for some reason. One well-made dress a year, in addition to my uniform. She hadn’t provided this year’s dress as of yet, and since I’d filled out a bit . . . well, there would be more of me on display than planned.
I groaned, wishing for the hundredth time that I was handy with a needle and thread. Thankfully, Lila was. She was doing her best to make my clothes work for me during the Trials. I was paying her in fresh oysters, and if she found a pearl, she got to keep it.
Of course, she said I didn’t have to pay her. But I did. We might be best friends, but she was trying to create a miracle out of thin water. She’d been at it for weeks already.
As one of the many housemaids, Lila worked tirelessly all day. Now, she was most likely huddled in her chamber, squinting at a few of my old childhood dresses and trying to cover my newly-acquired curves.
Newly acquired (and massively inconvenient) curves.
Not just inconvenient because of the dress either. Inconvenient because of the way boys had started staring. At first, I’d thought I had seaweed stuck to my scales, but Lila had explained that it was a chemical reaction.
Nature, she called it. I called it something else.
And thirdly, my new curves were inconvenient because there was suddenly a little bit more of me. There was more to get stabbed or struck or, Neptune forbid, harpooned during the upcoming battles.
I was a slightly bigger target than I had been a year ago. I was maturing at last, apparently. I knew Lila was right. It was natural, if ill-timed.
I waved and Beazil skulked away, looking forlorn. I knew he wasn’t looking forward to this. But there was no backing out.
I had no choice but to enter. As my familiar, he did too.
Besides, if I were a world-famous Spark someday, he would benefit as well. He’d be welcome anywhere, despite his size and the sheer number of razor sharp teeth in his mouth. He’d be protected from overzealous Mers who were frightened by his appearance. As it was, Beazil had to be cautious. He had to stay out of sight in populated areas of the Queendom. There were hunters, Mer and human, who prided themselves on catching and killing a great white.
When I won, he would be protected.
And most of all, we’d both be well-fed. I sighed dreamily, imaging tray upon tray of delicious food. Food prepared by a skilled chef, not hastily eaten raw with no seasoning! When I wasn’t serving the Royals, I could loll around like my shark, stuffing my face. He’d be brought huge nets full of shrimp. He wouldn’t even have to lift a fin!
I’d remind him of all of that tomorrow, I decided as I swam away. I stared at the stunning house before me as I cleared the gate. It rose organically from the seabed, artfully covered in brightly colored corals, sparkling quartz, and other pretty stones. Ornate oversized shells rose from the spires.
The structure was Mer-made but the door was human-made. It was what made the palace so extraordinary.
Massive thick double doors taken from a steamship wreck. The ship had sunk a hundred years ago. In fact, the interior of the palace was practically a two-legger museum, with all the artifacts they had collected.
Not that I was actually allowed inside the house, except to work.
I hurried out of sight of the windows, fearing that I’d be seen. If Thalia or Stepmother caught sight of me, I wouldn’t even have a chance to visit with Lila. The moment they laid eyes on me, I would be called to do any number of frivolous and unpleasant tasks.
I heaved a sigh of relief as I turned the bend and the servants’ quarters came into view. I swam straight through the coral archway and up to the topmost level. The rooms were smaller, and for the most part, the youngest and newest lower-ranked servants were housed here.
Them. Plus me and Lila.
I didn’t mind though. I liked my tiny room with the low ceilings. It was cozy. And since I was relatively small, it didn’t feel all that cramped.
Besides, Lila was right next door. We’d both been put up here years ago, and we never left, even though she was probably one of the most valuable servants they had. She was my closest friend, other than Beazil. I thanked Triton for her every single day.
I dropped my net bag on the bed and hurried to visit my friend.
“Come in!” she called out in response to my soft rap at her door. Like my door, hers was only made of fragile reeds. There were sturdy planks crossing it at intervals to hold the whole thing together.
I opened the door to see her sitting just as I’d imagined. Her silvery lavender head was bent over her work, close to the faint light coming through the small window. The windows were deliberately kept too narrow for any Mer to swim out of. I’d still managed it a few times, particularly when I was small.
“Doesn’t that hurt your eyes?”
She shook her head without looking up.
“I do most of it by feel, anyway. And I’m nearly done.” She tied off a thread and bit it with her teeth, resembling something strange and wonderful. Lila had the face of a young woman but the nearly white hair of an ancient Mer. Her eyes were a lovely soft purple, and her smile was so sweet, I always wanted to hug her.
Of course, she usually had some bit of sewing in her hands, so you risked getting stuck by a pin or needle if you surprised her with a hug.
For me, it had always been worth the risk.
I gasped as she rose and held the cloth in front of her. It was familiar, but I couldn’t quite figure out why at first. It was beyond my wildest imaginings. There were panels of blue and green throughout, patterned in a way that looked deliberate.
It was my dress from last year, but it wasn’t. It had been taken apart and remade along with the fabric from much smaller dresses from my childhood. Things I wore years ago. There was even some of the black ribbon trim from the dress I wore to my father’s funeral when I was two-thirds smaller.
I felt my eyes well up with tears. Lila knew me so well. She knew why I’d saved all of my old things, especially from before he died.
With that ribbon, it would be as if he was with me when I joined the procession tomorrow night.
“And there’s a surprise!”
I reached out and ran a finger down the front, gasping as Lila detached the long skirt, leaving a handsome tunic. I was stunned.
“I could actually fight in this.”
She smiled, knowing she had pleased me.
“I know. That was the idea.”
“It’s incredible. Amazing. You are beyond talented. I can’t thank you enough!”
I squeezed her, ignoring the pin that poked my flank.
“I think you just did.”
She looked flushed with pride when I finally let her go.
“Oh, I almost forgot!”
I ran back to my room, pulling the remaining oysters from my net. I held them up and Lila clapped her hands.
“You didn’t have to!”
“Yes, I did. And I wanted to anyway.”