A shiver jolted me awake. I wrapped my arms around my tail, wincing at the soreness in my joints. My fingers and shoulders ached, and I flexed them to chase away the pins and needles. This frigid climate was not meant for mermaids. Unlike the Finfolk, we didn’t have an internal heater to protect our blood from freezing in our veins. 

How in the ocean did Margaret survive here?

Nighttime surrounded me, with only a soft glow outside the window from the garden to offer light. A welcomed change from the blackness that strangled me the previous night, when Lennox and I slept in the cavern. I understood King Odom’s need to find a solution. Too much darkness could inhibit the mind and give wickedness a space to flourish.

I stretched my tail, a sharp burn crawling from my fork to my torso. If I stayed still, I might freeze to death. Ignoring the pain, I forced myself to swim to the balcony. Maybe the flowers would offer some heat to warm me, the way Lennox’s body did. After all, the Finfolk and everything living around had the same fluorescent glow.

Resting my hands on the balcony, I smiled at the warmth on the rails, pleased to find my suspicions to be correct. Heat radiated from below, and the crystal constructing the castle absorbed it like a sea sponge. My skin sucked in the sensation, lapping up every bit of relief. I closed my eyes, relaxing as the pain subsided.

A grinding noise startled me. I snapped my lashes open again, surprised to feel the building beneath my fingertips tremble. I darted out the window, into the open ocean, fear of the structure’s collapse more prominent than that of the unknown creatures of this world. A terrible groan filled the sea, seeming to surround me on all sides.

Little chunks of ice tapped on my head. Around me, hundreds of tiny fragments drifted down, making a slow dance into the abyss. I looked up, but a hazy fog of cold obstructed my view, so I swam toward the surface. The steepled tip of the castle came into view, along with the iceberg colliding with it. The crystal held strong, slicing the mountain of ice through the middle.

No one else inside the castle stirred. Given the terrain, this was likely a common occurrence. To me though, watching the Fin-made structure hold so erect in the face of certain doom was nothing less than magical. I wandered near it, eager to get a closer look, when a flickering light on the top floor of the castle caught my attention. 

According to Margaret, no being other than King Odom should so much as swish their tail in that part of the palace. Since he was off hunting, the rooms should be empty and unguarded. A familiar nag of curiosity raised my tail, propelling me forward without thought. To prohibit even the servants from entering, King Odom was either a recluse with a severe obsession with privacy, or he had a secret hidden on those floors.

I swam to his balcony, slipping in a window into the cold darkness. An orange glow emanated in the center of the room, flicking shadows into the walls. There was something otherworldly about the way the light moved; it was a characteristic I was more familiar with than I wanted to be.

Dark magic, masked by a fiery orange coloring, bubbled in a cauldron, filled to the brim with a soupy potion. A sizzling hiss escaped the mixture, sending an ominous shiver down my spine. I picked up a nearby spoon, dipped it in the orange, and stirred it until yellow streaked the ooze. Mother’s most terrible potions looked just like this.

“What in Poseidon’s great ocean are you concocting here, King Odom?” The question was moot, really. Mother taught me long ago how to wake the evil in such a spell, how to force it to reveal itself.

The lines of changing color swirled in the center, building out into a whirlpool even after I stopped stirring. I leaned in, trying to make out the faint outlines forming in the abstract blend. A blister formed until it became an oversized bubble, thick and black as tar. Without thinking, I reached out, finger extended and ready to—

Pop.

I jumped back, checking myself for burns. Whatever type of this potion was, I’d be lucky not to sprout warts everywhere the stuff landed. Thankfully, my flesh had been spared. King Odom’s castle however, had not escape the rogue dews. 

Specks of golden droplets floated up, splattering on the ceiling. Shifting my gaze back to the cauldron, I gasped. Every trace of orange had been swallowed up by blackness, which shimmered as if a layer of glass floated above it. The potion took shape, lighting just enough in some places to reveal a face.

My mother’s face.

I fell back, landing on my tail with a thud that seemed to shake the walls. A dizzy confusion clouded my head, and my pulse pounded in my neck. This didn’t make any sense. What was Queen Calypso’s face doing in the bottom of King Odom’s cauldron?

On the other side of the black pot, a large book rested atop of a stand. The pages let off a soft glow, indicating the pages to be protected from erosion by way of magic. The leather cover stank of spells and witchcraft. An odor I knew like the back of my hand. A spell book. I hurried over to thumb through the sheets. Finding a bookmark in the center, I flipped to the marked page—to the last spell King Odom had worked on.

Binding a Soul.

My gut twisted as I read through the title, and every word written after made me want to vomit. King Odom found a way to kidnap the soul of any mermaid in ocean caught unaware and unprotected. The victim’s essence could be contained inside the cauldron, leaving their body as nothing but a useless collection of bones and organs—alive but not inhabited. 

Thinking back, I imagined my mother’s face the last time I saw her. The way her eyes seemed so distant and lifeless. My heart hammered against my ribcage with painful irregularity as clarity rained down on me. The second we put that bracelet on my mother’s wrist, the one that kept her from calling on any magic whatsoever, we left her wide open for her enemies to attack. 

King Odom got his revenge for whatever Mother had done to him, and he managed it from clear across the ocean. Inside his pot, clawing and fighting for escape, was my mother’s soul. And I might as well have put her there myself. 

Guilt and shame barreled into my stomach, shoving itself into me until I found myself on the floor. The gold-speckled ceiling above me swayed and twisted. I collected my fists into tight balls and slammed them onto the crystal floor, screaming at the top of my lungs without caring who heard me. 

As vicious and wicked as Queen Calypso was, she was still my mother. And here I was, on a bended tail, shaking with rage in the private quarters of the man who took her spirit from me. I would have her back. Poseidon help me, I would save the woman who birthed me to the great sea.

“Princess!” Margaret’s hushed voice somehow broke through the buzzing in my ears. Her freezing fingers scalded my shoulders as she dragged me upright. “What are you doing in here? If King Odom finds out—”

“Let him find out,” I shouted, but she smacked her palm over my lips.

She shushed me, her eyes pleading with me to listen to reason. “You’re going to get both of us beheaded. Thank the sea, I don’t think anyone else heard you. The Fin-men sleep like dead fish, but we mustn’t press our luck.”

“He took her,” I sobbed through quivering lips once she released me. “Margaret, King Odom has my mother held captive. Her soul is tucked away in here like a trophy.”

“Oh, Princess. I think the cold has gotten to you.”

“I’m not crazy, I swear it.”

“What makes you think he’s done such a thing?”

“I saw her. She’s over there, in his cauldron. Her face, it appeared in the potion, and look here,” I pointed toward the spell book, “it’s the last procedure he used.”

Margaret swam to the book, read what was on its page, then rushed to the cauldron for confirmation. She pursed her lips, drawing her brows together. “It’s true.”

“How could he… why would he…”

“I’ve heard rumor of him doing such a thing to others in the past, but I didn’t believe it was possible. To achieve it would mean partaking in the forbidden realm of magic, a world even the merrows wouldn’t venture into.”

The merrows. Myrtle’s research had plenty to say on the clan. Masters of sorcery, the very existence of magic, good or evil, could be traced back to them. As powerful and knowledgeable as they were, the merfolk submitted themselves to strict rules. Their commitment to maintaining peace and order throughout the ocean forced them to close off certain aspects of their abilities, an effort to ward off the temptation of domination. A noble agenda, and one that, with any hope, spoke to their humanity.

“King Odom has dared to journey into the darkness, Margaret, and he’s managed to succeed.” Desperate, I clung to her. “Tell me how to save her, please. I have to save my mother. I’ll do anything.” 

Margaret shook her head, her eyes wide with confusion. “I don’t know how to reverse it.”

“But you’re a merrow. If any creature in the ocean has the answer, it’s a merrow. You have magic in your blood.”

“As I’ve said, Princess, we aren’t taught such magic. It’s forbidden.”

“What about someone else in your clan? Surely someone—”

Bony, crusted fingers clamped onto my shoulders. Margaret’s eyes commanded my attention, forcing me to look at her. “There is no one who knows the solution, Angelique,” she said, her voice loud and firm. “If I don’t, I can guarantee you none of the merrows do.”

“How… how can you be sure?” My words cracked, hope absconding through the fissures.

“You’re not the only one hiding their identity from these monsters, Princess. Before King Odom’s army abducted me, I had a title. One I swore I would never reveal to any of them, lest they use my capabilities against any creature in the ocean.”

“Will you tell me?” I asked, viewing this girl with a newfound curiosity. She spoke of power, but one so young couldn’t possibly be as influential as what she suggested.

She sighed, then dropped her hands to her side. “I keep your secret, you keep mine. Is that the deal we have?”

“Of course. I would never knowingly put you at risk, Margaret, I give you my word.”

“My clan inhabits the waters just off the coast of Ireland, an area over six hundred miles away. King Odom raided our city, intent on stealing our ancient secrets. When he raided my grotto, he found what he sought.” 

“Your grotto? You were charged with its keep. But why you?”

“That spell book belonged to my mother before she passed it along to me. For generations, my family kept it safe, hidden from the likes of him and the others in Finfolkaheem.” She lifted her chin, a sudden pride befalling her. The illusion of a servant shed in an instant, replaced by a strong presence of royalty. “I was the high priestess of my clan before my captivity.”

“That’s incredible. And King Odom, he doesn’t know?”

She closed her eyes and drew in a long breath. “I couldn’t reveal it. To do so would risk the entire ocean. There are terrible things he could force me to do through a simple puppetry spell. The king suspected some stature, though, based on my level of education. I’ve spent the last year pretending to be nothing more than a royal handmaid; it’s why he allows me to visit the upper levels of the castle. A mighty fall from the pinnacle of power, but a necessary sacrifice.”

“You could just destroy the book,” I pointed out. “Then no one would need to guard it.”

“The magic in those pages should have never been created. I curse my ancestors every day for it. But once they were penned, the book and its contents were fashioned with a veil of indestructability. We can’t break it. Therefore, we aren’t capable of destroying it.”

“I’m willing to bet Queen Myrtle could find a way.” Realizing how I came off, I raised a hand. “No offense meant to you or the other merrows. My aunt is gifted, is all. If you can’t help me free my mother’s soul, I have to believe she can.”

Margaret smiled, sincere and soft. “Now isn’t the time to be prideful, is it? At the beginning of time, knowledge was spread throughout the ocean to prevent abuse. Your clan knows things we haven’t learned yet, and vice versa. If your queen can help in my clan’s plight, who am I to refuse?”

“It’s settled. As soon as I return to Atargatis, I’ll send for you. Buy you, if I must. The Finfolk are a greedy breed; they won’t refuse the gold. Together, we can pull our resources. Our people can work as one to destroy the book, thereby defeating King Odom. His magic will die, and so will his threats.”

Lennox’s face flashed into my mind, reminding me of the promise I had already made to him. We were to flee to land, the only safe place for us to be together. As much as it pained me, our happy ending would need to be postponed. Unlike my sisters, I couldn’t traipse about on land knowing my mother suffered so, especially if I had an opportunity to fix it. 

“I don’t know if it will work,” Margaret admitted. “I’ll confess I’ve lost a great deal of my hope while imprisoned here. But, for the good of my people and the whole ocean, I agree we must try.”

“Fantastic.” I held out my hand, prepared to shake on the deal the way humans do. Apparently familiar with the custom, she returned the gesture before heading toward the exit. 

“Now, I urge you to return to your quarters at once. King Odom will be expecting your audience as soon as he hears of your presence.”