Chapter 4

She pulled back another tarpaulin. The boy in the glass tank lifted his head and pressed his small palms against the pane. “Lila!”

It was my ten-year-old brother, Noah. When I'd left White Reef three years ago, he still hadn't learned to fold his tail into legs. I'd promised that when the next Blue Tide came, I'd take him to see the candy shops by the harbor. Now hunting hooks pinned his tail to the bottom of a tank, and his blood had turned the water pink. “Take me home, Lila.”

I threw myself toward him, but someone stepped on my chain from behind. Vivian laughed. “Your brother? Well, that saves us looking any further.”

Two sailors lifted him out. He was too little to put up much of a fight. When they pinned him to the table, his tail kept searching for water. I dropped to my knees in front of Vivian and caught her knife hand. “Take mine. I won't fight you. You can have all the blood and scales you want. Please, just leave him alone.”

She looked down at me and stroked her belly. “But the baby doesn't like to be kept waiting.”

The blade touched Noah's chest. I pulled at her skirts with everything I had, hitting my forehead on the edge of the table. Blood blurred my sight. Noah wrenched a hand free, grabbed her wrist, and bit down hard. “Don't hurt my sister!”

Vivian's scream reached Ronan as he came onto the quarterdeck. He rushed over and kicked Noah away from the table. Noah fell into my arms, his mouth bleeding. A little tooth bounced across the boards and disappeared into a crack. I reached for it, but I couldn't catch it.

Ronan moved in front of Vivian, his face livid. “You taught him to bite her? You'll use a child now?”

I held Noah close, trying to wipe the blood from his mouth. “He's ten.” My voice shook so hard I could barely get the words out. “Look at him, Ronan. He's only ten.”

His eyes dropped to my brother. Then Vivian cried out in pain, and he looked away. “What did my parents ever do to you? They treated you like their own daughter, and you handed them over to the monsters in the sea!”

“Give me those last two days.” I caught his boot. “I'm not asking for anything else. Just let us live until then.”

Noah still had his fist in my skirt. He kept trying to burrow deeper into my arms, terrified I'd leave him, just as he'd done when he got lost in the trench as a little boy.

Ronan stared down at my hand. “You still have a chance. Tell me the route, and I'll let him go.”

The tide oath closed around my throat again. Blood flooded my mouth. Hearing me struggle for breath, Noah reached up to touch the place that hurt. He tried to wipe my chin clean and asked me if it was very bad.

I looked up at Ronan, wanting him to feel this desperation for the first time. “You'll find out. And when you do, don't ever say my name again.”

His face went white. He turned his back on us, his voice breaking across the words. “If she won't talk, her brother can pay for it.”

The sailor beside us drew his knife. I tried to crawl backward with Noah in my arms. “No! Ronan!”

By the time he turned, the knife was coming down. The small body against mine jerked. I heard something break inside his chest, and the light that should have shone for so many years beneath the sea went out in my hands. Noah's lips parted, but he never managed to say my name.

I looked up at Ronan.

“I hate you.”

His lips parted, but nothing came out. He dropped to his knees, reaching for my face with a hand that shook. I turned away before he could touch me.

“Lila, please.” His voice cracked. “Look at me.”

I adjusted Noah's head against my arm.

“Please.” Ronan leaned closer, trying to catch my eye. “Say something. Anything.”

When he reached for Noah, I pulled away, holding my brother against me.

His hand stopped. I covered Noah's chest with my skirt instead. He'd always hated the cold. Even before we went swimming, I used to have to coax him into the water.

Vivian suddenly crouched beside me and reached out as if to help. I didn't move, but she fell backward anyway, clutching her stomach. “I already told them to stop! Why would you push me, Lila? What has my baby ever done to you?”

Ronan caught her. He looked at me as though waiting for me to defend myself. With Noah in my arms, I remembered his first trip into the shallows. Ronan had told him what a beautiful tail he had.

“You saw what happened.” My voice was quiet.

He didn't answer. A little fluid seeped beneath Vivian's skirt. Meg screamed for the doctor, and Ronan lifted Vivian and carried her toward the captain's cabin. As he passed me, he paused. “Once the baby's born safely, we'll talk.”

I didn't lift my head. After everything, what could we possibly have left to talk about?

The sailors tore Noah out of my arms and dragged me back to the hold. I caught the doorframe and asked where they were taking my brother. A boot heel came down on the back of my hand. Then the hatch slammed shut.

Above me, they made up a bed for the birth. I heard basins being carried back and forth, Vivian crying out, Ronan promising her that no one would ever take their child away. With my swollen fingers, I searched the wet planks for the little tooth. It took me a long time to remember that it hadn't fallen down here.

By the following evening, I couldn't feel the floor anymore. The last silver scale came loose from my wrist and dissolved into foam before it reached the boards. I opened my hand. Light passed straight through it; I could see the dark bottom of the hold beneath my palm.

The Blue Tide had returned.

A baby began to cry upstairs, and Grayhaven's bells rang out to welcome a ship. The sound reached through the planks into what was left of my awareness. When we were little, that bell had always sent Ronan running to the docks to wait for his parents to come home.

Footsteps hurried overhead. Outside the ladder, someone shouted that the old captains were back. I tried to lift my head, but I couldn't hold it up. They'd made it home safely at last. The words I'd guarded for three years could finally be spoken, and all that escaped my throat was a breath too faint for anyone to hear.

More footsteps came. I couldn't tell how much time had passed. Several people had come. An iron key struck the lock twice before it slid into place.

“She's in here.” Ronan paused, his voice dropping, suddenly gentle. “Mom, Dad, don't worry. I only kept her from leaving—”

The door opened. I saw Evelyn first. She still wore the blue coat she'd had on the night the ship went down, one brass button missing from its collar. Gareth stood behind her with the key to my tide shackles clenched in his hand.

I wanted to smile at her and tell her I'd kept my promise. She dropped to her knees in the doorway instead. Ronan rushed past her.

He tried to gather me into his arms. This time, all they caught was a handful of foam, already coming apart.