The dreamlike thrum of Luce’s song dropped into silence, and she glanced up in surprise at Dana’s warm smile, already very close to her own face. Dana leaned back with her elbows on the pebble beach and glanced around the small cave with its smooth, rounded ceiling. Her long tail stirred under the water, flicking up glimmers of ruby and coppery shine. Luce’s cave didn’t have any cracks that could let the sun in. The only light came through the underwater entrance set in a deep crevice between cliffs, so that a nebulous, dusky glow refracted up through the water. The dimness didn’t keep Luce and Dana from seeing each other clearly, though; they could see without difficulty in any degree of darkness. Dana was stunning even by mermaid standards, with a mouth like a heavy rose and faintly luminous brown skin. As with all mermaids, a dark, subtle shimmering hung in the air around her. Her thick black hair was parted neatly in the middle and fanned out around her shoulders in a dozen puffy twists. Unlike Luce, who was completely naked, she wore a red bikini top. But at least, Luce thought, Dana wasn’t wearing a lot of stolen human jewelry the way she’d done before.

“It’s a nice cave. I was worried you’d just, like, taken off somewhere, but then Rachel said she’d heard your song in the water, really faint. I didn’t know if I should even believe her, but some of us started looking. And here you are!” Dana’s voice was too enthusiastic, trying to cover up the awkwardness that kept growing as Luce stayed quiet. Still, she felt better about Dana than she did about the rest of them. Dana and Violet were the only ones who hadn’t participated in the assault on Catarina.

“Hi, Dana,” Luce finally yielded. She couldn’t imagine why any of them would bother looking for her, though, unless Anais had something nasty in mind. Luce kept out of their way; they should keep out of hers. “Were you trying to find me so Anais can finally kill me?” Dana jerked backwards so sharply that Luce felt the shock transmitted through the water. Hurt widened Dana’s huge brown eyes.

“Luce, that is so unfair! I mean, I know you must hate Jenna now, and maybe you think she’d help Anais . . . do something to you . . . But why would you say something that paranoid to me? I mean . . . I didn’t even touch Catarina! You know I didn’t! And I always stood up for you!”

Luce didn’t exactly remember it that way, and she didn’t much want to be reminded of all the times when Dana had been nice to her.