The Savage Blue

Brendan and I huddle around Arion on the quarterdeck.

We insist on dressing the cut on his shoulder with the muddy gunk Blue used on my knuckles. It stings like hell, but Arion doesn’t twitch.

“How’s that?” I say, slathering it on with a patch of seaweed.

“Don’t worry about me, Master Tristan,” Arion says. “I’ve been through worse.”

“That’s not the point.” I wipe my hands on a dirty rag. “You should have been able to defend yourself properly.”

“A hundred years ago,” Arion says, tugging slightly on the ropes at his hands, “I would’ve gutted that Archer like the beast he is.”

I spit out a nasty chunk of meat stuck in my teeth.

“I don’t want to think about what you might have swallowed during that battle,” Brendan says. “If I told my father of this, he wouldn’t believe me.”

From a leather pouch slung on his belt, Brendan pulls out a long, hand-rolled cigarette. When he lights it, I recognize the smell as lily flower. Even when his father was presenting him in front of the court, hands in the air, Brendan didn’t strike me as the serious type. Not like Elias. Not like Adaro.

“How bad is the damage to the ship?” I ask.

Arion points to the sails. “The main sail’s been cut and some of the ropes burned. Nothing the urchins and I can’t fix.”

“There’s also this,” I say, digging through the bag of loot we managed to salvage. “The girls won this at the tavern. From the look on your face, I can tell you know what this is.”

Arion takes the barrel in his calloused hands. He beats his knuckle on the wood. “Aye.”

“Great,” I say. “What is it?”

Brendan laughs. “It’s potted wind, cousin. Young demigods make a trade of their gifts. Sell a bit of rain to a city with drought. That sort of thing.”

“With this,” Arion says, “we could return to Coney Island waters by morning. It will suck the air right out of the skies, leaving other ships stranded.”

Arion excuses himself to adjust the sails, taking the barrel with him.

“Wish I’d gotten here sooner,” Brendan says between puffs. “My crew was too far away when I saw the commotion. Arion here noticed me and pulled me up just in time.”

“And you came alone?”

Brendan pats himself on his chest like No big deal. “Don’t be fooled. I’m a lot more ruthless than I’d like to admit. Besides, your mermaids here have bigger cockleshells than half the boys of my court. You wouldn’t believe the guppies I ended up with.”

I think of the last two days. The snide comments, the sword fighting, the death threats. And still, I wouldn’t trade them for a ship full of heavily armed mermen. “Yeah, my crew’s all right.”

Brendan hoists himself on the ledge with one leg up. With his cigarette hand, he points down to where my friends are gathered on the clean deck around a toasty fire. I’ve never had a cousin before. It makes me feel cool. This is my cousin Brendan with the killer bow and arrows. He smokes lily flower. Awesome hair runs in the family.

“Is that the girl that swam against Elias?” he holds onto his stomach, laughing. “You must truly have Grandfather’s charm to get those two following you. Layla, was that her name? Exquisite. Those eyes, like melting amber. But surely I don’t have to tell you that.”

As if she knows we’re talking about her, Layla sends her deathbeam stare at me.

“Yeah. Too bad she can’t decide if she wants to punch me or kiss me.”

“Lucky bastard.” Brendan punches my shoulder. “Those are the best kind. Keeps it fresh. Don’t you find the princesses boring? After a while it’s like, I don’t care how many shipwrecks you’ve single-handedly created this year.”

“Gwen’s okay, I guess.”

He gives me a funny smile, all “Are you serious?” “You mean you haven’t been with the other princesses that showed up to your court?”

“Dude, I don’t have a court. I have a high-school infestation.”

“I have no idea what that means.” He flicks the butt into the sea and lights the next one. “As we speak, I have twenty princesses on my ship.”

“Twenty?”

“It’s a big ship.” He smirks. “How do you think I knew to come here?”

I’m not keeping up. “One of the princesses told you there was an oracle here?”

“Not exactly. I was after something else. My own personal quest.” He presses his finger to his lips. “Don’t tell the others.”

“Sure, sure. But how exactly do the princesses help you?”

He’s studying me as if I’m a totally new species, which I suppose, in the end, I am.

“It’s part of the championship. Beautiful gems from the most powerful families. Some, completely clueless. Others, with surprising skills, like star charting. Did Kurtomathetis not tell you? They can get out of hand when ignored. You know mermaids.”

Honestly, I don’t know mermaids. I don’t know anything. So I’m like, “Totally. Out of hand.”

“Anyway, I should congratulate you on your success. The quartz scepter was always my favorite part of the trident. When I was little, I’d like to dare my squires to go up and touch the crystal. Wouldn’t hurt them or anything, just give them a good jolt.” He blows the sweet smoke in a cloud puff and laughs through it. “Did you find that oracle back in the cove?”

“Did you?”

He holds his hands up and flips them back and forth. “Didn’t really look, to tell you the truth. Charming little town, the cove. Though a bit prudish for my taste.”

“I did hear something about extremely naked Sea People walking about.”

Brendan shrugs, happily tugging on his cigarette. “You’re Grandfather’s champion, not me.”

I turn to the calm, black sea. “I didn’t ask to be.”

“No one does. It might have been me, but he didn’t like that my mom ran away to be with my dad.”

“My mom ran away to be with my dad too.”

“Grandfather’s a funny one.” Brendan flicks the stub of his cigarette overboard. “They call him the best king our people ever had because there are fewer executions.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Not when the alternative is to have more prisoners. He’s more lenient than the kings of the past. Some see that as a weakness, but my father says he’s smart. He wants to keep our people alive when so few of us are left. Slow aging and wars. If only we could make more of ourselves like vampires. I’ll tell you one thing. I wouldn’t want to follow after him.”

I remember what Reggie said at the bar. The sea folk are responsible for their own downfall.

“I’m confused,” I say. “Then why are you even championing, or whatever it’s called?”

Suddenly he reminds me of Angelo and the way he shrugs when I ask him if he wants sausage on his pepperoni pizza. The entire sea kingdom is at stake, not to mention the safety of my Coney, and it all comes down to a shrug.

“It’s expected of me. My father wants me to change things for our kind. Told me I could have a ship and gold, and if I don’t become king, he’ll fund an expedition for me. But he knows me, and me? I like being alive. Every time I see one of us reduced to surf, it shakes me to my core. One moment we’re whole, then the next moment we’re gone. Poof. ”

The lily flower must be kicking in because he’s grinning so hard. “Poof,” he repeats.

“Hey, champions,” Layla shouts from the deck. She raises a string of dried octopus like a ruler. “When you’re done with all your warrior chat, come join the rest of the class, won’t you?”

Brendan jumps off the ledge and runs down to the deck, nestling himself between Gwen and Kurt. The only one he hasn’t met formally is Layla. He takes her hand and kisses it a little too long.

I don’t have the stomach to eat, but the urchins felt guilty over allowing the ship to be captured. The others scarf down the plates of food. Thalia uses Brendan’s arrow as a shish-kabob stick, which is incredibly gross, considering the arrow was just stuck in someone’s chest.

Layla takes a bite of the tentacle in her hand. “Is it just me, or is anyone else freaked out that merrows can talk now?”

“Not all of them,” Kurt says. “Just the leader, Archer.”

“For now,” Thalia says. “Can you imagine a thousand Archers?”

I remember flashes of the silver mermaid slithering in my dreams. “She’s not strong enough for that.”

“Didn’t want to fight, for such a shit talker,” Layla says.

“He was scouting us.” I crunch down on a handful of seaweed chips. “Now he can go back and tell Nieve. They’ll come back stronger, and we have to be prepared for their next move.”

“Especially since both of you came back empty-handed from your visits to the oracle,” Gwen says. “Sorry. I didn’t mean it that way.”

“Charming as always, Lady Gwenivere,” Brendan says. He offers her a lily-weed cigarette, and suddenly he’s her new favorite person.

“No, it’s fine.” I take the cup Blue leaves for me. It’s his own brew of tea because he notices I rarely touch the sea mead. The bittersweet liquid warms my insides. “She didn’t have a piece of the trident anyway.”

Kurt’s shoulders sag sheepishly. “That’s my fault. I was so sure—”

“We can’t go back and change it. The thing is, we’re alive and from here on, we work our way to the next game plan.”

“You sound like Coach Bellini.” Layla leans her shoulder closer to mine. “Minus the swearing.”

“Listen,” Brendan says, throwing the latest butt into the crackling fire. The tiny thing is so potent that it floods us with its scent instantly. “You are more than welcome to tag along with my ship. We’re heading down and south. Galapagos. Lovely place. Lots of strange things hidden.”

Layla smiles. “My dad is from there.”

“See? All the more reason to come with me. My ship is full of boring people, and you have proven to be quite fun.”

For a moment, I wonder if I could do it. Stop right now and take my scepter on an adventure with my new cousin. We could discover new worlds or just party on his boat. Would Nieve keep searching for me? What would my mom think? What would become of the court? Only for a moment.

“Brendan,” Kurt says in his awkward cordial way. “If I may ask, if you don’t search for the oracles, what do you seek to find?”

Brendan’s blue eyes shine with excitement. “One of the princesses claims she knows the location of the City of Clouds, full of winged people. I needed a map from the cathedral at the cove.”

“Aren’t you worried about what happens to our people?” Thalia asks.

Her words remind me of the nautilus maid. Our blood promise lingers on my tongue.

“You mistake me for a leader, lovely Thalia.” Brendan’s charm is contagious. I think I have a dude crush on him. He reminds me of me before the storm. “Now Adaro, there’s your challenge. He’s got more men on his ship than me, you, and Dylan combined. The princesses, that’s your own personal map to the next oracle.”

“What do you mean?” Kurt asks.

“Alone, Tristan has nothing. He can swim all the seas and still not find anything. The princesses are resources, like a map of the seas laid out for you. You simply have to coax information out of them.”

I cough loudly into my fist. “There has been zero coaxing here.”

But I have to admit, without Gwen there to help me find Shelly, I’d still be in Coney Island waters chasing my tail.

“Also,” Brendan smirks, “if you don’t pay attention to them, they’re likely to decimate your village and drown all the men.”

“What?” I choke on my tea.

“No king.” My cousin shrugs. “No rules.”

“He’s right,” Gwen says. “I can think of three, maybe four of them with powerful families.”

“Good thing Gwen’s here,” Layla says. “You have your own personal matchmaker.”

I chew on my food extra long so as not to go near that statement. When I swallow, my throat is dry. “All roads lead back to Coney Island.”

“Are you sure?” Brendan holds his hands out to the fire and rubs them. “My offer stands.”

I stare at my friends for a moment. Would it be easier on all of them if I quit? Would I still have to kill the nautilus maid? Can I go back home and try to pick up my life the way it used to be?

“Or you could come with us.” I don’t know why I say it, but once it’s out I’m hoping he’ll say yes. “It would be nice to have family around.”

Brendan smiles. I can see the indecision in his hesitation. South, he can explore his dreams. North, with me, he would face more of this, more of Archer, and I’m bummed when he says, “Maybe next time.”

After Brendan says his good-byes to the others, he pulls me into another man-hug. He balances on the ledge and bows properly. “May the seas bend to your journey.”

Then he dives, shifting in the air, a metallic blue ripple sliding into the wave that is taking us back home.





A mermaid found a swimming lad,

Picked him for her own,

Pressed her body to his body,

Laughed; and plunging down

Forgot in cruel happiness

That even lovers drown.

—W.B. Yeats, from “A Man Young and Old”





Coming home isn’t what I thought it’d be like.

It’s not a parade of balloons and trumpets and flash photographers documenting my success. Because, right now, I’m empty-handed, and Coney Island is just as it was when we left. Luna Park is even lit up with thousands of flashing lights while the rest of the boardwalk sleeps.

The digital clock on the Cyclone stadium billboard reads 3:33 a.m. Still Monday before sunrise. The barrel of wind propelled us north with so much force that at one point the ship was flying over the surface of the water.

After saying our good-byes to Arion and the urchins, I take a moment to breathe in the hot summer night. No matter what gum, dirt, or dog piss is lingering from the day’s tread marks, I press my forehead on the ground.

“That’s disgusting,” Gwen says. “No one will ever kiss you with those lips.”

Layla snorts, still waving at Arion’s retreating ship. “His lips have been worse places.”

“As much as I’ve enjoyed time with you…” Gwen tugs on the same clothes she’s been wearing for three whole days and grimaces. “I’m going to sleep somewhere decent that doesn’t smell of mead and urchin.”

“Come on, Gwen,” I urge. “You don’t want to go on the carousel?”

“The wooden horses with the manic eyes and open mouths as if they’re frozen in terror? Thank you, but I’d much rather take a ride on our Shark Guard.” She waves halfheartedly. “I will find you when the sun comes up.”

I wonder out loud, “Where does she go?”

“The princesses have their own land-stay,” Kurt says. “It’s irritatingly pink.”

“How would you know?” I ask.

He frowns. “I’ve delivered messages there. That’s why.”

“Sure, sure.”

“Enough, you two,” Thalia says. She points at the lit-up rides of Luna Park. “Is that normal?”

“What’s normal?” Layla shrugs.

“The rides?” I point. “Maybe it’s a new summer thing they’re trying. Usually they’re shut down at ten p.m.”

“What are you talking about?” Layla stares down at the boardwalk. “I just see creaky old rides.”

A group of kids brown-bagging bottles walk toward us. I wave them down. “Hey, yo. What’s going on at the park tonight?”

One of them, with a Mets baseball cap and an angry scowl, turns to where I’m pointing. Then back to me. He laughs. “You’re tripping, man. I want whatever you’re on.”

They collapse in tipsy laughter and brush past us.

“Come on.” I take Layla’s hand, stomping down the boardwalk. It’s strange being here in the dead of night when all of my days here have been full of sun. The moon is a fat ball in the sky, swollen like the bruise on my cheek.

“This is how all the Scooby Doo episodes go wrong,” Layla says, giving my hand a squeeze.

The usual entrance to Luna Park is crowded by a line of large ravens. They caw and walk along the fence like precarious guards. I take Layla’s hand and pull her in through the entrance. The instant she’s in, she gasps, “Oh!”

Spinning rides light the boardwalk. The Wonder Wheel spins, and from down here, I can see girls with glittering wings waving.

“Fairies can fly,” Thalia says. “Why do they even bother?”

“It’s part of the Coney Island experience,” I argue.

“Figures.” Layla stands in front of the carousel. “The only ride I like isn’t even on.”

We pass a food stand manned by a young guy with powdery pink skin and gold hair. His smile is so bright that I have to look away.

“Can I interest you in some sweets?” He waves at a selection of candied popcorn, pretzels, sanguine chocolates, and golden apples.

“What is sanguine chocolate?” I ask.

Suddenly I feel a wind chill at my side. It settles on my shoulder with mild gloom. My heart jumps to my throat when I realize it’s a person. Sort of.

Frederik, the only vampire I’ve ever met who rocks long black hair and Hawaiian shirts, is standing right beside me. “Ian, I don’t believe the Sea Prince likes blood chocolate.”

I put the blood-chocolate box back on the cart and decide I’m not hungry, leaving Ian selling the same box to a pale girl no taller than my hip.

“Damn, Frederik,” I shout. “That’s creepy as hell.”

Frederik shoves his hands in his long shorts pockets. He shrugs. “Wasn’t my intention to startle you, little merman. Just saying hi.”

Layla points at the swinging pirate-ship ride. “Are those Vikings?”

“Demigods,” Frederik corrects. “Just called them in. After the incident this Friday, the Thorne Hill Alliance feels we need extra protection details until the Sea People are done with their championship.”

I don’t like where this is going. “Wish I had better news for you, dude.”

“Then I suppose we’ll all enjoy the summer solstice festivities in the meantime,” he says, turning to the girls. “Did I hear you say you wanted to go on the carousel?”

“Uhh—”

“Really, it’s no bother.”

Without being asked, the conductor comes out of a nearby ticket booth. His gait is forced, like he’s trying to be calm when the energy around him is more wound up than Principal Quinn after the girls’ soccer team went on a no-sports-bra strike until they got the same funding as the boys.

“Everyone,” Frederik says, “this is Patrick.”

“Heywhatsup?” Patrick says in one breath. He’s tall and lanky, borderline anorexic, with hair down to his hips and an unkempt beard. He can’t be more than twenty and definitely human and definitely shit-scared of Frederik by the way he never quite looks the vampire in the eyes.

“Do you think you could hook my friends up by turning on the carousel?”

The question is a formality. I can sense the tension in the command. Patrick goes to the ride, sticks in a key, and pulls a lever. He waits for Layla and Thalia to hop on. Even Kurt joins them, but I have a feeling that’s more because of his disdain for vampires than his curiosity about carnival rides. The lights come alive, along with the twinkling song I’ve heard all my life. The white hides of the horses are dirty and some of the bulbs are burned out, but the carousel still has the same cool effect.

“Thanks, dude,” I say, about to pat Frederik on the back, but then I think better of it. “Did you just Dracula Patrick into submission?”

“He’s a friend. Of sorts.”

“Meaning?”

“His sister got…turned this winter. In front of him. I’ve been trying to help them acclimate.”

Oh. Suddenly I can’t get that image out of my head. “That’s decent of you.”

“Believe me, it’s not easy watching your sister turn into this,” he says. When I wait for him to elaborate, he doesn’t, and we keep leaning against the railing in front of the carousel. I breathe in the Coney Island air, the lingering cigarette smoke, virgin piña coladas spilled on the ground, the spun sugar of cotton candy.

“Where’s your other half?” I ask.

“If you’re referring to Marty McKay,” Frederik says, “that shapeshifter and I aren’t on speaking terms for the next hour and a half. He spilled my O-Neg slushie and is trying to find me another. You try getting that in the middle of the night when everyone is out partying.”

“That’s tough.”

“It’s tragic, actually. I’m still hungry.” Frederik turns his dark eyes to me. Then he smiles. “Don’t look like that. I wouldn’t bite the future Sea King. I’m the High Vampire of New York. It’d be bad politics.”

I laugh. “I’m glad you have so much faith in me.”

“I take it things didn’t go so well on your journey?” He nods at a pale, brooding couple walking past. The guy is carrying an oversized blue monkey as a carnival prize. Everyone who walks past Frederik stops for the briefest moment to acknowledge him. It’s what I used to feel in the hallways at school.

“Things could’ve gone better,” I say.

“Do you ever think everything happens just as it should?”

“Like that ‘meant to be’ crap? Hell no. If that were true, I’d be sitting around waiting for someone to put a fork in my hand and a crown on my head.”

“Good man.” He pats a cold hand on my back. “Where do you go from here?”

“Well, there are a few things I could do to advance my standing as champion.” All these lights are making me sweat. “I’m not sure how to go about it just yet.”

“I’ve been researching your people since you arrived unannounced.”

“Listen, bro,” I press my hands on my chest defensively. “I’ve been here since I was born.”

“Very well, since the court arrived. All I know of your kind are the landlocked and the old man under the bridge. Not to mention those terrible creatures that attacked your school and the Sea Breeze community. I’m sorry for your loss, by the way.”

“Those creatures,” I say, “are called merrows. They’re getting stronger. Just a heads-up.”

“We’ve got more of us patrolling the city. But those creatures are not the only thing you should worry about.”

My stomach plummets five flights when he says that. “What do you mean?”

“The landlocked of your court worry me. They’ve always been quiet, but Marty’s noticed them meeting more often.”

“Meeting? Like, together?”

“Yes.” He sighs. “Together is usually how people meet.”

I bite the inside of my cheek. “Why is that bad?”

“It is my understanding that the landlocked have never had a voice at the Sea Court before. It is not my place to tell you what to do. But you may want to investigate.”

Over on the carousel, the music gets louder. The girls shout, switching horses and holding their hands up. Frederik sniffs the air like he smells something foreign he can’t place, then ignores it.

“Each of the landlocked is different,” I say. “Some, like my mother, were stripped of their tails and left to live on land. Others were banished as a punishment. They pay tithes every time Toliss Island coasts to a new shore in exchange for protection from creatures here, but they’re second-class citizens of the mer world.”

“I was a duke once,” Frederik says matter-of-factly. Something about the way he speaks and holds his posture makes me totally able to picture that. “When the forgotten rise up, it is never good for the crown.”

“Not that I mind,” I say, “but why are you so helpful?”

“You remind me of someone I used to know.” He turns his attention behind me, toward the boardwalk. “I have a soft spot for lost causes.”

“Thanks. I think.”

“Just think on what I’ve told you. We don’t ask for these burdens. It’s just the price.”

“Price for what?”

“Being better men.”

The carousel slows to a stop. A new wave of thrilled screams and giggles chime along with the bright lights and trilling music. In the distance, sirens blare and cars honk. That good ol’ Brooklyn lullaby. After two nights at sea, I’d started to miss the noise.

“Ahh,” Frederik says with the first genuine smile I’ve seen from him. His teeth are slightly yellowed, but even so, I feel strangely pulled into the angular lines of his face. He brushes his thick, black hair away. “I thought I smelled sunshine.”

For the first time, I notice the familiar set of faces walk past us. Unintentionally, I turn around.

“Friends of yours?” Frederik grins at the mermaid princesses.

I try to compose my face, get rid of the gore and exhaustion of the last couple of days. I want to channel my cousin Brendan or a little of the guy I used to be. When I turn around, Princess Sarabell and her girls have made a beeline for us.

“Remember that thing I can do to further myself?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Here they come.”

His stoic features are a mess of shock, then sheer amusement.

“Hello, ladies.” The High Vampire of the Hawaiian Shirt bows low. I don’t know much about genuflection and shit like that, but that looks pretty legit, even for a guy who was a duke a couple hundred years ago.

Sarabell holds out a hand, and without missing a beat, Fred McCool Guy kisses it. Her face is orgasmic, all giggles and sighs. Then she realizes I’m standing right here and she composes herself.

“How did you fare, Lord Sea?” Sarabell says to me. Her amber eyes glow under the theme-park lights. Brown ringlets of her hair look soft and silky, and the breeze blows them everywhere, carrying her sweet scent of brown sugar.

“Uh—”

“I’d love to hear of your journeys.”

I wish Frederik would smack me upside the head. At the same time, I thank the gods that Brendan isn’t here to watch me make a fool of myself. I am Tristan Hart. Never have I ever had a girl reject me, and on a scale of one to ten, Sarabell is an eleven. But she’s not my eleven.

Then Brendan’s voice is in my ear saying, “Her cousin is a champion. Pump her for information.”

Not literally.

Then, as Sarabell glances awkwardly from me to Fred to her entourage to fill the void of Tristan Hart’s ultimate choke moment, I tell myself this is for the greater good.

“Why don’t we go out?” Smooth. “I’ll tell you about it. Later. When we’re out.”

I have the sudden urge to seppuku myself and spare us all the indignity.

“Tomorrow afternoon?” Her mouth is so sweet. “We can go for a swim?”

“Sure,” I go. “Sounds good.”

Sarabell shakes off the confusion and takes my fumble for sheer adoration. She dips in a girly bow and takes my hand, looking up at me with her amber eyes. “You won’t regret it.”

At once, they’re gone, and I throw myself against the fence behind us.

Frederik is staring at me. “I was under the impression that you were skilled with the fairer sex.”

“Were,” I say, “is the key word. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

Layla, Thalia, and Kurt hop off their white steeds, and as they walk back to us, Frederik glances from me to Layla and says, “I think I know.”

Layla is holding Kurt and Thalia’s hands. “Aww, look. Tristan got himself a date.”

“She’s Adaro’s cousin, you know,” Kurt says. “Perhaps you can find out if he saw the oracle at the cove.”

I grit my teeth. “I know.”

Layla’s face is beet red. “Are you guys going to an underwater drive-in? Park on the back of a shark-drawn chariot?”

Frederik takes one step closer to her and smells her. Layla leans back but not without blushing at his dumb vampire perfection. “Jealousy suits you,” he says. “Your blood is boiling.”

Kurt crosses his arms over his chest. “We don’t have chariots.”

Then Frederik turns to the boardwalk, nose up in the air. “Ahh. Early sunrise. My least favorite part of the summer. I’m sure we’ll see each other soon.”

I reach out to take his hand. He stares at me as if I’m holding a wooden stake and a hammer.

“Don’t forget what I’ve told you tonight,” he says.

As he stalks away through the flickering red archway, the first ravens take flight.