“I could always try getting in touch with a mermaid.” I hook my thumbs in my waistband. “Although I’d have to find one first.”

“Wait,” Phoebe says, turning to walk backward in front of me. “Mermaids are real?”

She sounds so shocked I have to laugh. Greek gods and their descendants and magical powers—that’s totally plausible, but she has trouble believing in mermaids?

“Yeah,” I say. “They are.”

“It’s the heat of summer,” Troy argues. “They’ve probably headed for cooler waters.”

We fall silent as we approach Phoebe’s house.

It shouldn’t be this difficult to get to the underwater palace. Of course, the gods like to make everything difficult, so why would I think this should be any different?

“I haven’t got a clue,” I finally say as Phoebe opens her front door and leads us inside, back to her room. “How in the world am I going to find Poseidon’s palace and get myself down there without drowning?”

Phoebe pushes open the door to her room and I walk inside. I freeze two steps in when I see Griffin sitting on her bed.

Warning sensors blare in my brain. No, it’s not impossible that Phoebe’s boyfriend sitting there waiting for her is a total coincidence. But I’ve never been a big believer in coincidence.

“Phoebe?” The warning edge in my voice is unmistakable.

She moves to stand next to Griffin.

“He needs to know.” She takes his hand. “This affects him, too.”

I’m not sure how long I stand there fuming. Long enough for Troy to sneak around me and sink into the chair at Phoebe’s desk. Long enough for the anger to fade from my bloodstream. Long enough for me to process why I’m so freaked about this.

I didn’t want anyone else involved in this stupid quest. First Troy wiggled his way in. Then Phoebe did. Now she’s bringing Griffin in, too. Why don’t we get her stepsister Stella involved? Maybe Stella’s boyfriend Xander, too? How about the whole school?

This quest is too dangerous. I don’t want the responsibility of messing up their lives.

I was supposed to do this alone.

He stands, looking straight at me. “I know how you can get to the palace.”

“You shouldn’t have told him, Phoebe,” I say.

“She didn’t,” Griffin says.

Phoebe shakes her head. “Not all of it. Just the part about the seashell.”

“I told him the rest,” Troy volunteers.

“You what?” I spin on him and am amazed when he doesn’t flinch. He’s just full of courage lately.

“His parents vanished, Nic,” Troy says, his hazel eyes soft with sympathy. “He wants this as much as you do. If this has any chance of working, we need all the help we can get.”

“I deserve to be part of this,” Griffin adds.