A Curse of Gold

by Annie Sullivan

“How many came for you?” he says.

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  He takes a step toward me, lowering his voice. “You were trapped in your palace like I was. How many humans—how many of these friends—came to free you?”

  “I wasn’t—” I stammer. “I wasn’t exactly locked inside. It only felt like a prison because everyone treated me like an outcast.”

  “So no one came to free you,” he says with a little too much self-satisfaction, as if he’s proving some point to himself.

  And I realize he’s comparing us—my time locked away with his—to prove that no one came for me just like no one ever came for him.

  “My friends on the ship don’t treat me like people back at the palace did,” I say. “And now they’re willing to risk their lives to help me go up against gorgons and Dionysus and anything else we’re going to face. They care about me.”

  He turns back toward the railing, staring out into the dark ocean. “Are you sure they’re not drawn to you for your powers? Humans love power. They’re always trying to get more.”

  “Of course not,” I say. “They love me for what’s inside my heart, not what I look like or what I can offer them.”

  Triton scans the deck slowly before turning back to me. He gives me a skeptical look. “All the human women I’ve met have only ever been interested in what I look like—even before Dionysus’s magic took hold.” His head cocks to the side. “But then again, I’ve never met one who has so easily resisted the magic Dionysus instilled in me. Usually women are drooling at my feet. But not you.” He moves closer in the darkness. “What makes you so different?”

  I shrug. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m used to his magic after living around it so long. Or maybe it’s because I’ve already found someone I love. Someone who treats me with kindness. Someone who supports me. Someone who understands my past and what it did to me. Someone who listens to me.”

  Triton looks confused, so I add, “Royce doesn’t make me feel like a prize he’s adding to his collection. Nor does he throw himself at me and expect me to like him just because he’s attractive.”

  “So you do find me attractive?”

  I roll my eyes.

  He throws his hands up defensively. “I was kidding,” he says. “You’re saying I actually need to get to know someone and not talk about myself all the time and how superior I am to them.”

  “That about covers it.”

  “But I am superior to them.”

  I bury my face in my hands.

  “Here, watch this,” he says.

  He waves his hand and part of the air bubble collapses, stopping right at the edge of the ship’s railing. He guides me to the railing.

  I stare out into the dark water.

  One giant eye appears before me.

  I cry out and leap back as Grax’s snout bursts through the bubble. He licks Triton’s face until Triton shoves the beast back into the water. Grax hovers in front of us, his tongue lagging out the side of his mouth. He nudges the air bubble with his snout.

  “Not now, buddy,” Triton says. He pulls off a broken shard of wood from the railing and sends it shooting out into the water. Grax happily swims after it.

  “That should keep him busy for a while.”

  “I’ve already seen your sea creature,” I say.

  “We’re not here to see Grax,” he says. He waves his hand over the water, and I gasp.

  Dozens of luminescent fish surround us. The majority of their clear bodies are impossible to see. Only the illuminated parts are visible. Some have fins that glow yellow. Others have eyes that radiate bright blue. They sparkle in the water like fallen stars. One creature swims right past me and looks like a millipede swimming through the water. Another has tentacles longer than my hair.

  “These are my father’s favorites,” Triton says. “He made it so that they live in the deepest parts of the ocean where land creatures would never see their beauty. Impressive, right?” He leans his back against the railing and crosses his arms, some of his cockiness returning at the chance to display his powers.

  “It is impressive,” I reply. “But there are people out there who might actually like you if you didn’t have any powers at all. In fact, any person who wants me to use my powers isn’t my friend. Once you figure that out, you might not feel so lonely, because a friend doesn’t demand you use your powers for their benefit. Rather, a true friend would risk everything to help you. They check in on how you’re feeling and do small acts of kindness just because they know they’ll make you happy.”

  He sobers slightly. “You’re the only one on this ship who’s been kind to me,” he says. “No one else wanted to eat with me, and the others wouldn’t have stayed if you hadn’t made them.”

  “Well, if you tried a little harder—”

  Before Triton can answer, Royce strides up behind us and clears his throat. “I heard you yelling, Prince Triton, and I’ve gathered my musicians if you’d still like to dance.”

  A couple sleepy-eyed men stand gathered behind Royce, and my heart softens at the sight. Royce has every right to hate Triton, and yet, here he is offering him this small kindness—which I hope Triton notices.

  And I think I fall in love with Royce even more in that moment because Royce is doing this for me, to keep things civil with Triton, to make sure we can find a way to save Lagonia.

  “I’ve—I’ve lost my desire to dance,” Triton says. He shoots me a look I can’t decipher. “In fact, this whole ship doesn’t suit me. I’ll be sleeping in the ocean. You can have your little cabin back, Captain. And I think you’ll find your maps dry now. They weren’t worth wasting my water on.” Without another word, Triton steps onto a set of watery stairs that appear out of nowhere and heads toward the ocean floor.

  “What was that about?” Royce asks after the water closes around Triton. “Here I try to accommodate him, and he up and leaves.”

  I can’t stop the smallest bit of hope blossoming in my chest. “Give him time. I think he might come around. In fact, I think drying out your maps was his way of making amends without actually admitting he did anything wrong.”

  “If he doesn’t come around, it’s going to be a long journey,” Royce says, slipping his hand into mine.

  I nod, relaxing against Royce. He feels warm and solid and real amidst all this water, and I can’t help relaxing against him.

  “How did dinner go?”

  I fill him in on the events, including both what Triton told us about Jipper and how Hettie stormed out.

  “I hope you’re not mad I had dinner with him,” I add.

  He gives me a half chuckle. “What? Just because that guy has more muscles—and mussels—than I’ve ever seen?”

  I laugh, lifting my head.

  “I knew you had things under control, that you wanted to eat with him for a reason. Besides,” he continues, as he strokes the back of my head, “I trust you. I will always trust you.” His eyes move from mine to my lips.

  Then he’s kissing me, pulling me tenderly against him. His lips are gentle but insistent as they part mine, begging for more of me. I respond. I kiss him back with an intensity that pulls me closer to him and sends sparks through my body, making me feel like lightning is striking down all around us. He entwines his fingers in my hair, not letting me go. The longer we kiss, the more I feel like I melt into him, that we could become part of the ocean around us, and I wouldn’t even notice because he’s the undertow and I’m helplessly caught in his grasp.

  When we break apart, I’m breathless. I gasp as if the air bubble had collapsed and we had to swim back to surface.

  He rests his head on mine. “We’ll get through this. We just have to remember what we’re doing this for.”

  I nod, trying to get my thoughts back in order.

  I know what I’m doing this for. For Lagonia. For my father. For us. For moments like this.

  But fighting with Hettie and dealing with Triton are more draining than I’d ever thought
they’d be.

  And we haven’t even reached the island of gorgons yet.

  CHAPTER 18

  I rise early the next morning, trying not to think about how we’re one day closer to Dionysus reaching Lagonia’s shores, how we only have three days left.

  Hettie didn’t say a word to me when she crawled into bed after me last night, and I don’t think she’ll feel up to sharing this morning either—so I sneak out before she wakes up.

  The deck is deserted, probably because there’s not much light to alert anyone the sun has risen. It’s odd to arrive on deck and not feel a breeze tousling my hair or have the sea spray caressing my face. There’s no comforting sound of waves crashing against the hull, assuring us we’re moving forward. There’s only a deafening silence that presses in from all sides.

  “Mornings at sea are always so peaceful, aren’t they?”

  I turn to find Triton lying atop the ship’s railing, staring at the ocean as light plays through the water above our heads. He’s got one arm under his head and the other across his bare stomach.

  “I’ve missed this—being out here in the ocean.” He looks calmer than yesterday, as if being inside the sea instead of stuck in his palace has renewed him in some way. Like my father looks when he sits with his gold. “There’s nothing like it.”

  “It’s amazing,” I reply, moving closer to him.

  He sits up and turns toward the water, dangling his feet over the railing. “Even the breeze is gentlest in the morning, easing you into a new day.”

  “I used to love standing on my balcony, looking at the sea when the sun rose over it,” I say. “It was the only time I felt free.”

  “How long were you locked away?” Triton asks.

  “Ten years.”

  Triton laughs. “Try three hundred and sixteen.”

  “Three hundred?” I echo. “How did you stand it?”

  “It wasn’t so bad at first. I pulled ships toward my palace so that I had others to talk to, but soon I grew restless. In some ways, I became like Dionysus. I played games with the humans I drew to my palace. I offered them the riches of the Temptresses if they could complete impossible tasks. They always failed, and I was always left emptier inside because of it.”

  “You’re not Dionysus, though you do understand him better than anyone,” I say. “If we have any hope of getting him to tell us how to break my father’s curse, it’ll be because of your knowledge.”

  He looks away. “Don’t make me out to be the hero. Dionysus is more likely to curse me on sight than to help us.”

  At that moment, a giant ball of kelp lands at Triton’s feet.

  Grax sticks his head through the air bubble.

  The tangle of kelp squelches as Triton picks it up, oozing seawater over the deck. He heaves the mass far out into the ocean.

  Grax leaps eagerly after it.

  “To Grax, you’re the hero,” I venture, hoping to continue to edge him toward breaking away from the pains of his past.

  “This is how I’ve entertained myself for three hundred years,” he says, following Grax’s path through the water with his eyes.

  “Where did you find him?”

  “My father created him for me as a gift when I was little.”

  Grax brings the mangled mess of kelp back and heaves it onto the deck. Triton does his best to shape it back into a ball before tossing it out again.

  “Grax is the only one who never left me,” he says. “Sort of like the friends you spoke about.”

  Before I can respond, he reaches for something resting by his side. “Here, I had Grax fetch this for you since I saw you didn’t have one.”

  He hands me a small, rusty sword. “I thought you might need it for facing the gorgons.”

  I turn the blade over, inspecting it. Some sort of faded inscription lines the blade.

  “Thank you,” I say. “That was very kind of you.” I guess he really did listen last night.

  Triton starts to smile, but after a moment, his body tenses. “Good morning, Captain,” he says, turning to face Royce.

  I have no idea how Triton even heard him coming. Maybe spending all those years alone in a quiet, watery castle makes someone notice tiny sounds. Or maybe if someone’s that lonely, they can hear anyone coming because they’ve become so used to listening for the sound.

  “I see you didn’t need a wakeup call this morning,” Royce says, eyeing the sword in my hand but saying nothing.

  “I always forget that you humans can’t hear the rhythms of the sea,” Triton says. “You could time your lives more accurately by them than the sun and stars. You’d be a better sailor if you could feel them.”

  “I take it you’re ready to lead us to the gorgon’s island, then?” Royce says.

  “I’ll eat my breakfast first,” Triton says. “By the time your crew is assembled outside, I’ll be done.”

  Several clams shoot out of the sea and land on the deck. They pile themselves in front of Triton. He picks up the largest and pries it open. “Look at that.” His fingers delve into the shell and pull out an oblong pearl. He tosses it to me. “That’s the first pearl I’ve found in three hundred years. Maybe luck is on our side.”

  As he strides across the deck, the clams bound after him.

  The look of incredulity on Royce’s face as the last clam hops down the steps to the sea floor after Triton makes me laugh.

  Maybe we can survive this journey after all. Or at least survive Triton. Because a matching smile is spreading across Royce’s face.

  The second day of walking doesn’t feel as strange as the first. I’m slowly getting used to the sky not being overhead and the lack of breeze. Although I still jump every time Grax swims above us, creating an ominous shadow.

  Hettie still refuses to talk to me.

  I try to pull her aside to talk, but she charges ahead of me without a word. She even surges past Triton. I’m about to call out to her to stop, but there’s no point. She won’t come back.

  A heaviness settles over my heart. I’m finally making progress with Triton, but I’m somehow making things worse with her.

  I sigh and watch a crab scuttle by, leaving a trail in the sand. Part of me wishes I could follow it wherever it is headed, but I can’t. Instead, I keep my head down and keep walking, trying to think of a way to reach out to Hettie.

  But by the time we stop for a break near midday, I haven’t thought of anything to say to her. And she sits as far from me as she can.

  Between us, Phipps and Lenny have a crab backed up against some coral.

  “Don’t let it escape, Lenny,” Phipps says. “I’m starving.” He dives toward the crab, but the creature scuttles into the sand beneath the coral and disappears.

  “Triton take you,” Phipps curses before going pale as he slowly realizes what he said.

  Triton sits up from where he’d been lounging on a bed of coral, and everyone stills.

  I hold my breath, not sure what to expect.

  “I have no intention of taking that crab—or anything else anyone calls on me to take—anywhere,” Triton says. “But it does seem like your mouth could use something to occupy it.”

  He wags his finger, and mounds of clams and mussels shift out of the sand at our feet. Triton’s eyes land on mine for a moment, and I offer him a brief smile of thanks before he goes back to lounging around.

  We break into groups and sit as we eat, and while the crew—especially Rhat—seems happy with the feast, something about eating seafood while under the sea still feels wrong to me.

  “Not going to eat that, Princess?” Triton asks, strolling over and staring at the pile of oysters in front of me. “I can get you something else if you prefer.”

  “Thank you,” I say. “I’m just not very hungry. I’m too worried about the gorgons.” It’s not entirely a lie. I am worried about them, but I’m also worried about how that seafood is going to settle in my stomach. “How far away are we?”

  “Not far.” He plops down in the
sand next to me, letting his tall frame stretch out over the sand as he lies on his side. “My father imprisoned me very close so he could monitor both of us at the same time. He doesn’t like gorgons any more than he likes humans. When they die, the snakes on their heads separate off and slither away into the ocean to colonize other islands. And they eat so many fish when they escape. We’re just lucky that once they grow into full gorgons they can’t live in water anymore. Their heavy tails would drag them straight to the bottom of the sea.”

  Royce leans around from my other side. “So what can you tell us about facing the gorgons?”

  Triton smirks and summons some water, magically tossing it back and forth in his hands as he sits up. “First of all, don’t face them. They turn whatever they look at to stone. Keep your eyes down. Or look through something that reflects things around you.”

  “There’s a mirror in your cabin back on the ship,” Royce says to me, “and one in the crew quarters. I think that’s all we have on board. Maybe we could get those.”

  “Mirrors?” Phipps asks, the bit of oyster he was eating falling from his mouth. He goes pale and looks quickly to Lenny.

  Lenny shakes his head at us, as if he’s trying to tell us not to bring up mirrors. Though I’m not sure why.

  “Mirrors break so easily,” Phipps says hurriedly. “We shouldn’t use them.” He ducks his head and begins shoving food into his mouth again.

  I open my mouth to ask why he doesn’t like mirrors, to ask what could be so frightening about them, but I figure he probably doesn’t want to admit whatever it is in front of the rest of the crew.

  I transfer my gaze to Lenny. His eyes have gone wide, and I can see the reflection of my gold skin in his pupils. I shrug, hoping he’ll give me some sort of hint.

  He stares even harder at me, tilting his chin down and looking up at me as if I’m missing something.

  But I don’t understand.

  I used to hate mirrors because I didn’t like my skin. I avoided them for years. But there’s nothing different about the way Phipps looks. All he would see is his usual self.

  Then it hits me.

  Every time Phipps looks in the mirror, he’s not just seeing his own reflection. He’s seeing the ghost of his twin brother.