By some miracle, we reached Pelathas just before dark. King Marlin had tried to get us to stay at the palace for the night, but I'd told him that we had told Mom and Dad we'd be back by nightfall. Mom and Dad anxiously waited outside the palace, scanning the dusky waters. Dad suddenly gripped Mom's hand in the distance, his mouth opening as he shouted, "They're back. Bella, they're back!"

I had Ani's bad arm wrapped around my shoulder, but I was flagging. I let out a ragged sigh as I wiped sweat from my forehead. Dad reached us first, followed a heartbeat later by Mom. "Are you both okay?"

I heard a hint of panic in Dad's voice and inwardly winced. After the attack, I should have realized how worried they'd be if we didn't return when we said we would. "We're fine." My voice cracked on the last word, betraying the sense of confidence I'd tried to convey. Exhaustion had sunk its claws into both of us, and it was only with Mom and Dad's help that we made it into the palace.

The pain on Ani's face told me her arm was clearly bothering her. Wariness had me glancing around before opening my mouth. "Let's talk inside."

As excited as I was to share King Marlin's invention with them, Naia's ambush lingered in my thoughts. We couldn't allow ourselves to be caught off guard again. Once we were safely within the palace walls, I gave them a rundown of King Marlin's new invention. Mom and Dad's gazes mirrored what my and Ani's had looked like only hours ago. A wide grin broke out on Dad's face as he squeezed Mom's hand. "Wow! I can't wait to see it."

A low rumble sounded from somewhere near me, and I laughed sheepishly as I covered my stomach with a hand. We had eaten before we'd left Nepptheas, but I'd only managed to consume a few pieces of shrimp, wanting to return home as fast as possible. I knew Ani had done the same, and the prospect of a meal was too tempting for either of us to resist.

Dad threw me a grin before speaking. "Come on. I think they're still serving dinner."

It wasn't until we'd swum into the dining room and were eating that Dad spoke again, his voice low. "Ani, honey, Della asked about you earlier; I told her you'd return before dark."

One look at Ani's face told me she wouldn't be able to last much longer, but I knew she would worry about Della if we didn't go now. With a weary sigh, she nodded. When we got to Mom and Dad's suite, I noticed the door was barely hanging on its hinges. From the angle of the door, it was apparent someone—most likely Naia or Brandon—had smashed their way in. I tensed as Ani gasped.

I motioned for her to stay put while I moved toward the door. A hand hovered above the dagger at my waist, and I took a deep breath before calling out. "Hello? Della? Is anyone there?"

When a few seconds passed with no answer, I took Ani's hand and swam inside. The entryway looked untouched, and I allowed myself a small sigh of relief... which was quickly swallowed by a gasp when I beheld a merman floating a few feet in front of us. I opened my mouth to speak, but Ani gripped my hand and shook her head.

Ani's voice was tense as she called her sister's name, her body taut as a crossbow. "Della? Are you okay?"

The merman turned at Ani's voice, his eyes widening. She shot off toward the bedroom before the words left his mouth. "She's fine, Ani." I was hot on her tail, adrenaline and fear racing through me. Out of all the outcomes I had envisioned, I don't think either of us could have predicted that Dathan would be within ten feet of Della, much less talking to her.

But when I beheld the pain and fear on Dathan's face, my heart skipped a beat. As my eyes flicked down Dathan's body, I couldn't help the shudder that raced down my spine. My eyes zeroed in on the hand he had pressed to his ribs, most likely broken or cracked. It was Ani who breathed, her voice trembling, "What happened?"

As Dathan turned his red-rimmed and bloodshot eyes toward mine, I immediately thought of the worst-case scenario. Naia—and/or Brandon—had kidnapped and assaulted Thalassa and left her for dead somewhere. The murder of Queen Irvetta was only the beginning.

When Dathan didn't answer, I repeated the question, a bite of steel in my voice, "What happened?"

Della turned her face toward Ani and me, her red-rimmed eyes wide and glassy with tears. That's when I noticed the bruising around her left eye, which was all but swollen shut. More bruising marred the left side of her face, the worst of it causing me to suck in a breath.

Dathan finally spoke up, his voice undercut by pain and agony. "A mermaid smashed her way in less than five minutes before you arrived. She bragged about how easy it had been to get Thalassa, wondering if getting Della would be just as easy. I thought she was going to kill me and take Della, but she didn't. Save for these injuries, she did not harm us."

When he locked eyes with me, I nearly choked on my breath. The pain and agony in his voice—so similar to how I'd felt when Faye died—reopened a wound I had long thought healed. A heaviness I hadn't felt in years pressed down on me, sucking the water from my lungs, leeching the color from the world. Ani was speaking, but I couldn't hear her. It was only when she squeezed my hand that I managed to lift my head and glance at her.

Recognition flashed in her eyes a heartbeat before compassion replaced it. Her voice betrayed none of the sympathy she must have been feeling. "We'll find her. In the meantime, stay in the palace. Don't go out in the open or anywhere Naia could ambush you."

A barely noticeable wince passed across her face, there and gone in a blink. I had just turned toward the bedroom door when a voice called out, undercut by urgency and fear, "Drew? What's going on? Is Ani okay?"

Uncle Jay. I let out a silent breath of relief as I turned back to Ani. "Stay with them. I'll update Uncle Jay on what's happened. Maybe he and Aunt Nerissa can help find her."

We'd need all the help we could get. For all we knew, they weren't even in Pelathas anymore. She squeezed my hand and kissed me on the cheek before nodding. I felt like I had a boulder on my tail as I swam toward the door. I still missed and mourned Faye every single day, but sometimes—like a few minutes ago—my grief slammed into me with the force of a hurricane.

Uncle Jay's eyes were wide, his face pale as he stared at me. "What's going on?"

I took a deep breath and motioned to the hallway outside the suite. It wasn't until I had closed the door and we were alone that I spoke, my voice reflexively becoming quiet. "Naia broke into the palace. She kidnapped Thalassa and injured Della and Dathan. We don't know how or why, but we think Naia is testing the waters, seeing how much she can get away with before she finally has to answer for what she's done."

Swallowing hard, I banished the image of Faye's lifeless body from my mind. Suppressing the emotions that came with the image was more difficult. Uncle Jay squeezed my shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Drew. Is there anything Nerissa or I can do?"

I hated involving them in this, but I knew I would regret it if I didn't. When Aunt Nerissa learned about what happened, she would do anything to help Dathan and Della and find Thalassa.

"Naia knew what she was doing when she went after them—destroying me, piece by piece, until nothing's left. She is our #1 suspect. Report any sightings immediately. She'll slip up eventually; when she does, we'll get her."

I hoped I sounded more confident than I felt. My stomach was more twisted than a kelp forest, and I kept wringing my hands. After Uncle Jay left, promising to let me know if they spotted her, I swam back to Ani. "I'm going to do a perimeter sweep of the waters surrounding the palace."

I didn't want to leave her side—even just to watch for Naia—but the image of Faye's body had reappeared in my mind, and I had to do something with the grief, agony, and rage now coalescing inside me. Whether Ani saw it in my gaze or simply believed my words, she only nodded before squeezing my hand. I turned and bolted down the hallway, trying to breathe through the agony that had my chest in an unshakable grip. 

I felt the water rushing in and out of my lungs as I swam like mad, pushing my body to the limit. I heard my voice, choked and frightened, calling for help. "'Help! Please, someone help!"

I saw the exhaustion, grief, regret, and sadness on Dr. Murphy's face as she swam up to us in the waiting room; I heard her voice, the words barely more than a whisper, as if she'd been screaming. Or crying. "'I tried, Drew. We all did.'"

All the strength left my body in a rush as I sank to the seafloor. It was only when I felt the tears on my cheeks that I realized I was crying. I looked up when I felt a warm hand on my shoulder and saw a blurry face above me. Dad. He didn't say anything; he just stayed by my side as I sobbed.

When my tears finally subsided, neither of us said anything for several moments. Dad's voice was husky when he finally spoke. "I miss her, too. Every day."

I didn't recognize my voice. It was hollow and emotionless. "When Dathan told us about Naia and how she'd broken in, I recognized the pain and agony in his voice. It was so similar to my own when Faye died that I couldn't handle it."

My voice hitched, but I didn't stop. The grief, agony, and rage were now raging inside me, begging to be released. "But Dathan still has his wife and daughters. He doesn't know what it feels like to hold a family member in your arms as they're dying—to know you did everything you possibly could to save them, but it still wasn't enough.

"He doesn't know what it feels like to live with the soul-crushing agony and grief day after day, year after year. He doesn't—" My voice broke as I faltered, sobbing through clenched teeth.

Dad caught me before I hit the seafloor, our shared agony and grief too deep for words. I didn't know it then, but Ani had followed us, half-hidden behind the entrance to the palace. She'd heard our conversation—the wounds we'd reopened and the truths I'd revealed. Tears were streaming down her face as she clamped down to silence the sobs that were so dangerously close to escaping.

I knew she wanted to help, but I knew she could do nothing. She knew it, too: that no matter how much she wanted to help ease the pain and agony I was in, she couldn't. And that—more than Della and Dathan's injuries and her fury at Naia—hurt worse than the sharpest dagger.

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