ALUNA HELD the Ocean Seed in front of her and steadied her wobbling legs against Daphine’s cage. This wasn’t supposed to be how it happened. The rescue, the transformation — any of it. She’d followed her gut coming here by herself, and this time, her gut had failed her. Just as she’d failed everyone else.

“I’ve never seen a Kampii grow its tail,” Fathom said, his voice crackling with glee. “As pretty as this one is, I would trade her, yes. Take the pill and I will free my pet, release her back into the ocean. She can go braid her hair and play with the dolphins all day.”

Aluna brought the seed closer to her mouth. “The transformation takes many days. Remove her collar now and free her.”

“Oh, don’t be silly,” Fathom said. “You might be holding a piece of candy, not a genetic resequencer. But I will make you a bargain: I will remove her obedience collar, then you will swallow the pill. When I am satisfied that it is working, I will release the mermaid.”

It was more of an offer than she thought she’d get.

“If you don’t free her, I’ll escape. Or kill myself. And then you’ll never get to see my tail. Do you understand?” Aluna said. He could grab her and force the seed down her throat right now, but he didn’t. He seemed delighted by their negotiation.

Sea Master Fathom nodded, pressed a few buttons on his device, then pointed it at Daphine. The thick metal collar around her neck clicked open and sank to the bottom of her tank. Both of Daphine’s hands went to her neck, and Aluna saw her sister take in a huge breath.

“My father will be so pleased when I tell him about this,” Fathom said, clapping two of his three hands together happily. “He has always hated the Kampii.”

“Who is your father?” Aluna asked.

“Before the modern age, he was known as Karl Strand,” Fathom said.

Aluna sputtered, “Karl Strand is still alive? It’s been hundreds of years — how is that possible? And if he is truly your father, why do you look just like him?”

Fathom laughed. “Oh, no,” he said. “I am merely a clone of the great and mighty Karl Strand. I was created from his genetic code, from his very flesh — when he still had some. He tasked me with bringing the ocean realms under our control. How could he trust such an important task to anyone other than his own genetic child?”

Clones! Fathom was a copy of Karl Strand!

“Was Sky Master Tempest a clone, too?” Aluna asked. She wanted answers, and unlike the Kampii Elders, Fathom seemed inclined to actually give her some. And why not? She would be his slave soon enough.

“Ah, my brother Tempest, may his memory fade to dust,” Fathom said, resting two of his hands over his heart. “Yes, he was a clone, but an inferior one. You see, the process is imperfect. We all share an illustrious genetic heritage . . . but not all of us are our father’s equal.

“Tempest was greedy,” Fathom said. “He was given the title of Sky Master and ordered to destroy the Aviars if he could not tame them, but that wasn’t good enough for him. He wanted to rule them. To turn them into his own personal army. But the Aviars are savages. Unlike more civilized people, they chose to fight to the death rather than to submit to his will. They battled like devils against him. Technically the Aviar leader struck the killing blow, but it was my brother’s hubris, his unbelievable arrogance, that destroyed him.”

Aluna stood up straighter and raised her chin. She was proud to call the Aviars and President Iolanthe her allies.

“Tempest was foolish to disobey our father. You see, Karl Strand has a plan,” Fathom said. “He will unite all the people of this land — be they birds or fish, horses or snakes. He will collect us, bring us together, make us strong. Under his rule, we will conquer life, death, and the very earth herself.”

Aluna shuddered. She wanted the Kampii to be less afraid of their own tails, to come out of the water, to be a part of the world. But not if that world was ruled by Karl Strand and his crazy clones.

“Don’t look so disgusted, mermaid. It will be a world of incredible beauty,” Fathom said, motioning to the Upgraders surrounding them. “A new civilization of advanced Humans. Faster, stronger, and more durable. The best parts from all the races and splinters!”

Fathom bent over in a flash, his head was just half a meter from Aluna’s. Up close, she could see his Human brown eyes more clearly, could see the lines around his mouth, the wrinkles near his eyes.

“You see, not all of us are weaker than our father,” he said quietly. “Some of us, like me, are his betters. Do you not marvel at the improvements I have made?” He stood up and spread his arms wide, displaying all his fleshy add-ons and oddly integrated parts. “When the time comes, we shall see who sits upon the throne of the new age. Yes? We shall see.”

He stood there for a moment, grinning. Was he waiting for her to cheer? To clap? To proclaim her allegiance? All she could think about was running, and all she could focus on was keeping her legs from doing just that.

“Enough chitchat,” Fathom said. “I have removed the mermaid’s collar. Now take the pill. Take it now, or I will destroy you both and collect more samples from your precious coral city.”

The Upgraders raised their guns and swords and knives and needles, and Aluna had no choice. She pressed her hand against the plastic of Daphine’s enclosure, trying to draw strength from her sister’s presence.

“Don’t do this, Aluna,” Daphine said quietly, the scope on her left eye whirring as it focused. “He already has me. There’s still time for you to escape.”

“The Kampii need you,” Aluna said. Her brothers, her father, the entire colony — they were all better off with Daphine than with her. No one could argue with that logic. Before she could change her mind, before she let the fear overtake her, she dropped the Ocean Seed into her mouth and swallowed.

At first, the seed felt like a rock lodged in her throat. She wanted to choke, to cough it back up and spit it on the ground. It tasted like poison. It was poison. There was no cure for a tail. There was no reverse seed. And then it was down, an ugly lump in her stomach ready to wreak its chaos on her insides.

“Someone get me a fresh collar,” Fathom said to his Upgraders. He turned to Aluna. “I have a new slave.”

Two of the Upgraders left the clearing.

Collar. Slave.

“No, no, no,” Daphine said, shaking her head. She sank to the bottom of her tank. “No, no, no.”

“Don’t worry, Daphine,” Aluna said. “I’ll be okay.”

She’d never lied to Daphine, not about anything important, not until now. But her sister was still too fragile from her ordeal. Too broken. She wasn’t the same Kampii who’d raised Aluna from a youngling and kept four headstrong men in line every day. If Fathom kept his promise, Daphine would return to the City of Shifting Tides. Under the water, surrounded by her friends and family, she’d find her strength again.

Fathom pointed to another pair of Upgraders. “You two. Get one of my medteks and bring the recording equipment. Fast. If she so much as sprouts a scale before you get back, you’ll be dragging yourself around with your elbows!”

The Upgraders grunted and fled the area. Four gone, Aluna thought, but eight was still too many, even if she could find a way to defeat Fathom himself.

It would be so much easier to give up. To stop looking for solutions to an unsolvable problem. Fathom was too strong, his army too big. The seed could render her helpless at any moment, and Daphine was useless in her current state. Aluna had no allies, since she’d stupidly turned away Hoku and Dash, even after they’d begged to help.

She was finally out of options.