“Are you sure you are okay?”

I nodded, back in my tent for the first time since the scavenger hunt. I was wearing my tunic, but Annaruth had made a few magical adjustments in addition to repairing it. It was still the same soft, old, familiar fabric. But if you touched it with any force, it stiffened into a hard shell.

My tunic was now armor.

I still planned to wear the pieces Dane had given me. They made me feel safe and protected. We were preparing ourselves now. I’d slept most of the past few days.

“What did I miss?”

“Well, Beazil went crazy when you didn’t come back. Annaruth had to come and show him a vision of you. He was about to tear the tent down.”

I swam over to scratch Beazil’s cheek and just below the jaw, right where he liked it. I pressed a kiss to his scratchy skin.

“You are a true friend, Beaz.”

I swore I heard him softly harrumph.

I tossed him a crab leg as I swam back to my side of the tent. Dane had brought over a small feast early that morning. I was so hungry, I could have probably eaten all of it. But of course, I would never keep it all for myself, even if it was tempting.

“Is he ready?”

Starla jerked her head toward Beazil.

“What?”

“This is it. The final battle. And familiars have to fight.”

My heart sank. This is what I’d feared all along. If only he were pocket-sized and I could keep him safe. But he was a huge target. I looked across the tent at the lazily munching shark.

“Does he know?”

She nodded.

“He’s playing it cool.”

I exhaled sharply. I swam over to Beazil. He looked into my eyes. I looked into his.

“I wish you didn’t have to do this, big guy.”

He lowered his head and I rubbed it.

“They’re going to come after you. You have to fight.”

His nose poked my belly. I felt tears welling up. If anything happened to him, I didn’t know if I could survive it.

“I love you, Beazil.”

He nuzzled me again, and I hugged him for the longest time. Finally, I swam away. I was still hungry, and I hadn’t finished putting my armor on. I felt a bit better after Starla filled me in on some of the rules. Apparently, our weapons would be magicked to freeze our opponents with contact, not to kill. But we could still be maimed.

And there was a chance that people might smuggle in a non-Magic weapon, hoping to eliminate some of the competition.

Either way, it was going to be a knock-down, drag-out fight. Alliances were apparently forming all over the place, with Rip and his friends asking Dane and the two of us to team up again.

This time, I was one hundred percent on board with that.

I still didn’t trust Jaynelle or Juno, but they had found two tokens for our team. Rip and Starla had found the other while I was at the surface.

Thankfully for me, Dane had ignored my wishes and followed me to the surface, though at a distance. Plus, he hadn’t been able to keep up.

I smiled to myself. We were quite a team. We each brought something different to the task at hand. We had a chance to make it through unscathed.

Dread was pounding in my veins. For all of my practice and bravado in the tent, now that the moment was at hand, I was a bundle of nerves. It’s not that I wouldn’t defend myself. I had done it already and I would again. I just wasn’t crazy about violence for the sake of violence. I didn’t want to fight strangers, especially young Mers. And some of the competitors really were far too young. I was not among the oldest myself, not by a long shot. But being only fourteen or fifteen in Mer years like Starla . . . well, it didn’t seem right.

Today would be a blood bath, even with the Magical weapons.

I started dressing and looked at my hands, holding the chest plate Dane had given me tightly. The freckles stood out starkly against my pale skin. Yes, I was even pastier than usual. And it wasn’t due to my injuries. I was more or less healed, with a few scars to show for my adventure. Annaruth had told me she could take care of them for me, but I wasn’t so sure I wanted to let them go.

Maybe after the Trials were over, if the offer still stood.

If I was even still alive.

I closed my eyes and put my helmet into place. I looked on as Starla finished attaching her small sword to her golden shell belt. She still wore the token from the scavenger hunt. We all did. I suspected they were spelled to stay attached to our flesh until the end of the Trials or longer. I didn’t mind so much. I hadn’t seen my head piece or the pearl necklace at my throat, but the bracelet was beautiful. It might even help keep my wrist steady if I had to use my daggers in close combat.

When I had to use my daggers.

From what I could tell, the pearl necklace was unspeakably lovely, and oddly enough, the same color and tone as the pearl I had given Starla the first time we met. Pink pearls were quite rare. Annaruth had kindly transformed the smaller pearl into a matching necklace with gold links, which now rested around Starla’s throat.

On our team, only Dane had not won a token himself. I offered to give him one of mine, but he said it was impossible and it wasn’t right. He said I had earned them. I wasn’t so sure I believed that. He’d saved me and protected Starla. He had more than earned his share of the loot.

I’d give him the crown, I decided. As soon as the Trials were over. And he’d take it, whether he wanted to or not. Why should I get all the loot? Especially not when he’d stopped searching for tokens to save my life.

We heard a warning horn blow. It was time. The final Trial would begin soon.

“Well, I guess we’d better go.”

Starla nodded. I gave her a quick hug, then fixed her and Beazil with a hard look.

“Don’t get killed.”

“You too.”

I nodded solemnly. We swam out to meet our fate.

* * *

It was anarchy. Terrifying, loud, and chaotic. From the moment the horn blew, the arena was filled with clashing metal and screams of pain. I saw a Mer near me get hit almost immediately. He floated there, frozen in place, his face a grimace of pain.

Okay, so hopefully, a blow wouldn’t kill you, but it didn’t exactly look like it tickled either.

I stared around anxiously, surrounded by my alliance. Juno roared and plunged forward. We had no choice but to follow him, protecting his back and fending off any Mer who dared attack our flank. Starla was in between Dane and me, with Rip and Jaynelle bringing up the rear.

Our familiars were nowhere to be seen as yet. I prayed that Beazil would stay out of the fighting altogether, though I doubted that was realistic.

The crowd roared enthusiastically. Meanwhile, my stomach turned over in abject terror. This last, most bloody Trial happened entirely within the confines of the arena. That might make some Mers feel more secure, but not me. There was nowhere to run or hide. The audience was so close we could touch them, if it weren’t for the Magical force field that protected them and kept us inside.

I flinched as a young Mer bounced off the unseen barrier with a shriek.

Just then, a dark shadow swam over me. An enormous stingray had entered the field. It was followed by a great white shark and other familiars of various sizes. Beazil. I opened my mouth to call him but he saw me first.

He swam toward me without regard for the startled Mers in his path, the stingray at his side. I half expected them to attack each other, but they didn’t. I glanced at Dane and he gave me an odd look. I heard gasps from the other Mers around us. Starla was as white as a sheet.

“Was is it?”

“That’s—”

Dane shook his head and interrupted.

“It’s about to get real.”

“Real?”

“Serious. Stay close.”

Beazil swam directly above me, with the Stingray above Dane.

“He’s huge.”

Dane gave a distracted laugh.

“He’s a she. Her name is Zyrina.” He saw my look of wonder and added, “You never have to fear her.”

I cringed as a mean-looking swordfish appeared above Juno. Behind us, I saw a giant jelly above Jaynelle. Typical. She wasn’t much better than a jelly herself! Still, it was a useful familiar for battle. Its stingers hung down nearly ten meters, floating around her harmlessly. But I knew that if I were to brush them, I would be seriously injured, or worse. Rip’s familiar was a large eel. I was pretty sure it was looking at me. It swam closer and I felt it bump against my head.

“He likes you.”

I reached up to pet it and it curled around my forearm.

“He’s never done that before.”

Rip was grinning at me, which was kind of stupid considering we were in the midst of a battle. He didn’t see the spear barreling toward him from behind.

“Look out!”

I shoved him aside and brought up my daggers, crossing them in front of me to deflect the throw. Then pandemonium broke loose. I saw Dane engaged in hand-to-hand combat with a surly looking Mer in black. Starla was watching his back, her small weapon held at the ready. Above us, our familiars began fighting with other, thankfully less fearsome, familiars.

I saw Beazil take a bite out of a large tuna before I was distracted again. Juno was in the thick of it, tossing Mers this way and that. I shuddered, grateful that he was on our team. I wouldn’t stand a chance against someone of his size, never mind his naturally vicious nature.

He was born for this.

The crowd surrounding us thinned as more and more Mers were frozen in place, then removed by Medic teams wearing white tunics. I saw a few familiars being taken away, including the tuna Beazil had battled and defeated.

Honestly, I wasn’t so sure the tuna was going to make it.

Marcum, the three-eyed Mer, swam past us in the momentary calm, followed by an ancient-looking tortoise. He was being chased by a group of larger Mer, which instantly filled me with righteous indignation.

“Hey, you! Pick on someone your own size!”

I swam out to him without a thought of what I was doing. He shot me a grateful glance as we positioned ourselves back to back, fighting off a group of Mers I recognized. One Mer, in particular, filled me with dread.

Thalia.

“Well, sister, I should thank you for making things so easy for me.”

She sneered as she struck at me, her swords flying. She was covered in gilded armor, with her many weapons looking polished and recently sharpened. Still, I didn’t want to fight her.

“You are more ambitious that I thought, Thalia.”

I wouldn’t let her force me backward, but her attack was vicious and more skilled than I anticipated. I held my ground, slashing and blocking as best I could.

“I’m going to end this now.” Her perfect white teeth flashed in an unfriendly smile. “I want you out of the way.”

My eyes widened at the implication. At least one of her weapons was obviously not spelled. I was sure she thought her mother’s connections would get her out of trouble for breaking the rules. But it wouldn’t matter to me if she landed a killing blow.

I wouldn’t be here to complain about it.

I heard Dane shout in the distance, but the arena was filled with noise—the crowd cheering, Mers screaming in anger or pain, the clash of weapons, and the roars of the familiars.

One mistake. That’s all it took. One moment of distraction. Her sword found its mark, diving deep into my belly. I stared down at the blade sunk into me, too shocked to feel pain. Then Beazil was there, biting into Thalia’s arm.

No, not biting. He tore it clean off.

She screamed in agony, driving yet another blade into Beazil’s eye.

“Noooooo!”

I reached for her, ready to pull the blade from my body and drive it into her black heart. She’d killed my familiar. And she’d done it deliberately.

He twisted grotesquely in the water, his huge body thrashing.

I watched in horror as blood poured from his body. Then Juno was there, lifting his sword. But not to protect me.

He meant to finish what Thalia had started.

I saw a flash of shiny spikes, and Jaynelle was beside me, grabbing my arms and holding me still so Juno could finish me off.

I saw Dane and Rip a moment before the sword came down. Rip shoved Dane aside and thrust himself in front of me. The blade sank into his muscular shoulder, nearly tearing it in half.

One of Jaynelle's spikes pierced me as she, too, screamed, “No!”

She must actually care about him, I thought as consciousness fled. I was bleeding so badly now. And my dear, sweet Beazil was alone, most likely dying.

But I couldn’t help him. I couldn’t do anything. Judging from the rapid rate that blood was leaving my body, we’d be together soon enough anyway.

That’s when I felt myself being lifted. I glanced down, and the stingray was carrying me up and away. She was so large that I felt like I was riding a magical carpet, like one of the stories my father had told me as a child. I reached for Beazil as I passed but the ray was too fast. It was Dane’s familiar. He must have sent her to save me.

But without my own familiar, I wasn’t sure I wanted to live.

And what of Dane and Starla? They were alone now without Beazil or the ray to protect them. Rip and I were gone, betrayed by the other half of our team. I shook my head, trying to tell the ray to stop. Dane’s familiar was swooping toward camp, not in the arena where she was needed.

But I was too weak. Too lightheaded. I doubted I would last another five minutes.

I could barely keep my eyes open as I was delivered to the Med tent by the stingray.

I saw Mers bowing as we landed, which seemed odd. I was gently lifted from the ray. I reached out to stroke her velvety skin. Her eyes were intelligent as I gazed into them.

“Goodbye. And thank you.”

And then I gave in to the darkness.