He twirls his finger through the watery arm now supporting his torso, sending ripples across the surface as he continues to study us.
“Why have you brought us here?” Royce finally asks.
Triton’s eyebrow shoots up. “And here I was thinking you were looking for me.” He stretches back and rests his hands behind his head, leaving his midsection on display.
“We were,” I say, stepping up next to Royce.
Triton’s eyes narrow as they land on me.
“We need—” I start to say.
Triton holds up a hand, cutting me off. “No.”
I swallow.
Triton slowly brings his legs back down to the floor and leans forward. “You and I have unfinished business.”
My heart feels like it’s been turned to gold in my chest. Thankfully, I manage to keep a straight face. “What would that be?”
Triton’s smirk returns. He snaps his fingers.
Out of the floor on either side of his throne, two shapes rise from the water. They take on the shapes of women. Watery women.
The Temptresses.
CHAPTER 12
The Temptresses stand there regal as any queen. Their bodies are as fluid as the walls around us, their hair flowing like waterfalls over their shoulders. They remain the most graceful and deadly creatures I’ve ever seen.
I hold my breath. I had hoped with the Temptresses’ lair being so far away that they wouldn’t be here.
Despite her injured arm, Hettie slides out her sword, a wide grin on her face. “Oh, good, I could use the earrings that match the necklace I got from them last time.”
I hold her back. We don’t want to go into battle unless we have to. And we don’t have any fire to kill the Temptresses like we did last time.
Plus, Royce and Rhat will be susceptible to their siren-like voices.
I’m casting around for anything we can use to protect ourselves when I realize the Temptresses haven’t moved.
The taller one stares at me and clenches her hands into fists. Then she turns toward Triton.
“You summoned us,” she says bitterly.
“Bring it,” he says.
The Temptresses dive through the wall. A few moments later, they reappear carrying the body of the sea monster I’d turned to gold and place it on the floor between us and the throne. Triton has to stand to see us over it.
“I don’t think I need to ask which one of you did this.” All traces of a smirk have disappeared from his face as his stormy eyes meet mine. “Change him back. Now.” His voice is just as icy as his monster.
Something strange drags my attention away from his glare. All around us, bubbles appear in the waves of the walls, racing upward.
Boiling. The water around us is boiling.
Triton’s cheeks have gone a muddy red.
“If I change him back, you’ll just send him after us again,” I say.
“If you don’t turn him back,” Triton replies, “my Temptresses will have some new playthings.” His nods toward Rhat and Royce.
The Temptresses display horrid, toothless smiles. One solidifies so that legs appear. She takes a step toward Rhat, but Triton calls her back with a hook of his finger.
“Not yet,” he says.
She lets out something akin to a hiss.
“Tell us how to find Dionysus, the god that gave my father The Touch, and restore our ship. Then I’ll turn your sea monster back.”
“He’s not a monster,” Triton says, looking down at the creature. Something softens in his features for a brief moment before his face resumes its rigid mask as he turns back to us. But the walls have stopped boiling. “And if you’re looking for Dionysus, you’re really looking for Jipper.”
“We know that,” Royce says.
“Then you should know it’s impossible for humans to find.” He scoffs. “In fact, it’s near impossible for almost any god to find. It rises out of the water with the sun, races more rapidly across the water than any ship can sail during the day, and then sinks back into the water when the sun sets. The only gods who can reach it are my father, myself, and Dionysus.”
I bite my cheek. Only three gods can reach it? And only one doesn’t currently wish me harm. Though if Triton knows how to find Jipper, maybe I can leverage that and avoid having to bring Poseidon into it at all.
“I’ll turn your—your creature back,” I say, “if you help us get to Jipper.”
Triton stares down at me, his face darkening. “No.”
I somehow manage to contain my sigh. King Kalisrov had written to always keep a level face when negotiating. He’d also said it was better to always be the one receiving offers instead of making them, that doing so gave you the appearance of being the one in power. But I’ve already messed that part up. Now all I have going for me is that I still have something Triton wants—a position King Kalisrov said to use to your best possible advantage.
“Then get us an audience with your father.” It is an easy trade to get the introduction to Poseidon we came for. And it might be our only hope of finding a way to reach Jipper now.
Triton scoffs. “You, a human, want to meet with my father?” He stares down his nose at us. “My father hates humans, or haven’t you heard?”
“But a good word from you would help us,” Royce ventures.
Triton crosses his arms across his chest. “Doubtful. My father and I are not on good terms.”
“That’s not hard to imagine,” Hettie mutters under her breath.
Though not quietly enough.
Triton’s eyes narrow in on her, and my stomach tightens as I try to search for anything I can say to salvage the situation. But Triton’s next words surprise me.
“No, it’s not hard to imagine,” he agrees, his eyes flashing sharply as the watery walls begin to boil again. “Because my father is a vengeful, unforgiving barnacle who cares more about his precious sea creatures than his own son. In fact, the only being he probably hates more than you humans is me. That’s why he imprisoned me in this”—he gestures wildly around toward the room—“this pathetic oceanic cell instead of letting me back out in the ocean where I belong.” He drops his arms and glares at us, his chest heaving. “So, no, I won’t be putting in a good word because my father doesn’t want to hear from me, and I want nothing to do with him.”
I stand speechless. Imprisoned here? I certainly wasn’t expecting that.
I sneak a glance at Royce. Sweat drips down his forehead from the heat radiating from the bubbling walls, but the tilt of his brow shows me he’s worried. We need to calm Triton down. Fast.
“What if we could negotiate with your father for your freedom?” I blurt out.
“Kora,” Hettie hisses, but I ignore her, not taking my eyes from Triton.
It’s the only thing I could think of that would get us an audience with Poseidon and maybe get Triton to calm down. And if the god of the ocean truly hates humans, maybe we will need to negotiate for Triton’s freedom and gain his help instead.
Triton rolls his eyes. “I just told you my father hates humans. What part of you thinks me sending humans to him will put me back in his good graces?”
I fiddle with my fingers, thinking. There was certainly nothing in the books I’d read on how to approach a situation like this. But if I don’t answer soon, I’ll have missed our shot.
I stare at Triton. What could I possibly say to convince him to let me see his father—a father that hates humans?
Finally, I offer him the only thing I have. The thing that makes me different—that makes me who I am.
“I’m not like other humans,” I say. “Look at me. I have golden skin, and thanks to Dionysus, I have the power to turn things to gold. With just one look, your father will see that I’m different, that I’ve dealt with gods before and not only come out alive, but come out the better for it, the more powerful for it. He’ll see the other gods thought I was worth noticing before, and he’ll see I’m worth dealing with now.” I hate invoking Dionysus a
nd making it seem like I sought him out and asked for what happened to me, but it’s all I have to convince Triton I’m different.
Triton scoffs. “You humans know nothing of the gods. My father hates Dionysus slightly less than he hates me, so he certainly won’t welcome one of his creatures.”
Something like hope blossoms in my chest. I’d thought when the Oracle said Poseidon protected Jipper at Zeus’s request that I’d have to find a way around the truth, to steer clear of the fact we wanted to stop Dionysus when we asked for his help finding Jipper. But if Poseidon is at odds with Dionysus, that changes everything.
“What if”—I take a deep breath—“what if your father knew we were seeking out Dionysus to get revenge?”
The words hang in the air as Triton studies me. Sweat drips down my arm and pools in my gloves.
But if I’m not mistaken, the walls are starting to dim to a simmer instead of a rolling boil.
“How exactly do you plan to get revenge on Dionysus?” he asks. “He’s a god.”
“That’s for me to deal with,” I reply. “I just need your father’s help getting there.”
Triton clenches his jaw. “You really think you can go up against my father and win?”
I swallow, but nod.
Triton raises an eyebrow. “Fine. I’ll send you to my father. But if I have to resurrect you after he drowns you just so you can turn my creature back, I’m going to be very unhappy. And don’t forget you’re negotiating for my freedom too, because on the off chance my father lets you escape with your lives, it doesn’t mean I will if you don’t come back with what I want to hear.”
Despite his words, relief floods through me.
And Triton wastes no time motioning us forward. “The sooner you leave, the sooner I am able to go free.” He steps yet closer and waves his hand for the two Temptresses to follow him. “Only two of you can go, however.”
“Why?” Hettie asks. She eyes him suspiciously, her hand glued to her sword hilt.
“As I said,” Triton intones, “I can’t leave, and the Temptresses can only carry one person each.”
Royce and I step forward at the same time, and he gives me a reassuring nod.
A slight smile spreads across one of the Temptress’s faces, and a chill runs through my body. Maybe I should’ve thought this through more. The Temptresses are known for trying to drown men.
“Maybe Hettie and I should go,” I whisper to Royce.
He shakes his head.
I turn my attention to Triton. “How do we know they won’t drown us the first chance they get?”
“They won’t.”
“They tried to drown my friend.” Royce gestures to Rhat, who for his part looks relieved he’s not one of the people going with the Temptresses.
Triton lets out an exasperated sigh. “What they do in their cove is up to them, but outside of that, they obey me. And I still need you to release Grax.” He points to the sea monster.
His answer isn’t as reassuring as I wanted, but it is all we have to go on.
The Temptresses move toward us.
I stiffen. Royce does the same beside me.
“I’d hold my breath if I were you,” Triton says.
The Temptress’s watery form blurs in front of me. Fluid arms surround my torso. Water sinks into my clothes.
“Missed us, did you?” the Temptress whispers into my ear. Her voice sounds like a wave sliding ashore in the dark.
I refuse to look away from her. “Don’t make me do to you what I did to your friend.”
She scoffs. “I don’t see any fire now.”
Then, without warning, the world jolts as the Temptress flings me toward the wall. I barely have time to suck in a breath before we emerge into the ocean. Warm water floods around us. Bubbles speed by as the Temptress jets downward.
Royce and the Temptress carrying him appear next to us.
The light of the surface disappears. Murky water filters in around us. Several glowing fish whirl past as the Temptresses speed by.
We’re moving faster than I could ever swim, but it’s not fast enough. The farther down we go, the more the ache in my lungs spreads. They tighten, begging to breathe, to cough, to do anything to get air in. The Temptress tightens her arms around me, making my chest sting even more.
Are they trying to drown us after all?
My throat burns. Every second brings with it renewed heat in my chest. It’s so dark around me, I can’t tell if I’m losing consciousness or not.
Then, light leaks upward from the bottom of the sea. It’s dim at first, like the first rays of the sun peeking over the far horizon. It grows larger and larger until another castle appears.
It’s so mesmerizing I almost forget about the ache in my chest.
Millions of tiny pearls form the wall of the castle. Around the castle, a coral reef grows taller than any hedge at the palace. Striped fish dart in and out of the porous holes. Eels laze in and out of small crevices. They retreat as we zip over the top and stop at the front door.
The Temptresses shove us inside. “We’ll wait here.”
I land with a thud on a floor crafted entirely of gleaming pearls. I cough and sputter as I stare at the golden reflection distorted in their round frames. The sensation of cool air rushing into my lungs overpowers every other feeling; I almost don’t even register the pain in my knees.
Next to me, Royce gasps for breath. He shakes water from his hair as he rises to his feet. He bends over me. “Are you okay?”
I nod and let him help me stand. I shove back some of my golden hair that’s plastered to my face. “I thought they were going to kill us.”
“Me too.”
A large room spreads out before us. I hold my hands up against the light emanating from the chandeliers. But they aren’t ordinary chandeliers. Golden octopuses dangle from the ceiling, each tentacle supporting a torch.
Furniture similar to what Triton had in his palace lines the room. Long driftwood logs bolted into the wall support rows of odd objects. Goblets, necklaces, and spoons all mingle together on the shelves.
“King Poseidon will see you now,” a voice calls across the hall.
I look for the source of the voice amongst the sea of white pearls but see nothing.
“Follow me,” the voice adds.
I look to Royce. He shrugs.
“How can we follow you if we can’t see you?” I question.
There’s a tiny sigh. “I’m down here.”
Squinting, I spot a cream-colored clamshell.
“You can talk?” It looks like any other clam I’ve seen.
“Always kind and generous, King Poseidon has gifted me with the ability and sent me, one of the smallest of his sea creatures, to be the one to summon you to his presence so that you may know how little he thinks of you.” With each word, the clam’s upper and lower shells open and close in time with its words.
I bend down to get a closer look.
The clam snaps at me. “Your kind eats enough of mine,” it says. “You’re to follow me, not eat me, or King Poseidon will end you where you stand.”
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t going to eat you,” I reply, straightening.
“I do not accept your apology, and neither will King Poseidon. Now come. King Poseidon loves to drown humans, and we mustn’t keep him waiting.” The clam hops across the pearls toward another room without waiting to see if we’ll follow.
My eyes jump to Royce’s, and despite all the water around us, my throat feels raspy as I swallow.
Royce takes my hand, giving it a squeeze. “We’re going to be all right. We can do this.”
I try to give him a reassuring smile, and try to believe he’s right, that we’ll somehow get through this alive. But we don’t have a plan. We don’t even have a way to keep Poseidon from drowning us. I’d used my skin, my powers, to convince Triton it was enough to make me different. But as the clam leads on, the sinking feeling growing in my stomach says that won’t be enough to convince
Poseidon.
We’ll have to come up with something though, because as the clam moves forward, the wall where we’d entered solidifies in place.
There’s no way out now.
And that thought sends my heart jumping just as erratically as the little clam does, counting down the moments until we come face to face with Poseidon.
CHAPTER 13
Royce doesn’t let go of my hand as we pass silently through room after room until we reach one with walls made of glass. For a moment, I think we’re about to step into the open ocean itself because thousands of fish swim behind each one, giving the impression they’ll suck me into their world if I venture too close.
Every fish is different—from tiny half-orange, half-purple ones to oblong, shimmery green parrotfish. Large sharks haze in and out of view toward the top while sea turtles laze around at the bottom like rocks.
And part of me does want to get sucked into that world, to get out of here as quickly as I can. But we’re at the bottom of the sea, and I’ll drown just as quickly out there as I just might in here once Poseidon arrives.
At least here, there’s still a chance I can save my kingdom. So I steel my shoulders as the clam comes to a halt, and I fix my gaze down past the cases of fish running the lengths of the room to where a dais with two empty thrones wait.
Conch shells comprise the larger of the two thrones. The shells fan out above the head of the throne like cream-and-pink-colored sunrays.
The other throne is made of sunrise tellin seashells—the same type of seashell on my necklace from Royce. The dainty shells match the colors of the conch shells without their same bulkiness. Their smoothness reflects the light, making the throne appear softer than it probably is. I don’t see how the shells could bear the weight of a puffer fish, let alone a human or god. I crushed those same shells underfoot walking on the beach as a child.
But my theory is proven wrong when two figures appear and sit on the thrones. The first is a wisp of a woman with long blue hair that moves as though it floats through water, even though there’s no water around her. Her skin is paler than the pearls on the floor or the ones that pile atop one another to form the crown on her head. Her wide-set eyes take in the entire room as she rests her hands daintily on her lap. The dress she wears is made up of multicolored scales that catch the light with each move she makes and change the hue of the dress.
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