Luce’s tail convulsed painfully. She couldn’t help slowing for a moment, and her whole body wobbled with the green waves around her. Hands were closing on her again, but much more gently this time. She broke the surface with a gasp. “I won’t let you hurt him! Not after . . . I mean, he was lost for so long; it’s so incredible that I found him again . . .”

“We won’t,” the dark queen promised softly. Her arm was already halfway around Luce’s shoulders, and Luce couldn’t decide whether to be angry or to give in to the comfort of that touch. “It’s all okay. I’m Queen Sedna. Look, Luce, we’ve heard about you . . .” Sedna faltered, and Luce saw the other mermaids gaping at her as if they could hardly believe it. Sedna gazed back at them with a sudden flash of authority. “She can do what she wants.”

“We’re talking about some human,” Jessie objected. She was still rubbing her throat, but she didn’t seem to be really hurt. “Sedna, you know it’s not right—”

“She’s a friend of Nausicaa’s!” Queen Sedna snapped back. “And think about it, Jessie: she’s also an enemy of that rotten sika bitch . . . Have you thought at all about how happy that sika will be if we do anything to upset Luce? You want to do Anais some huge favor? After she killed your sister?”

Luce was still gasping, overwhelmed by storming emotions, breathless with weariness. But her mind was clearing enough for her to understand two things: a lot had happened while she’d been stalled at her father’s island, and if her father was safe it was thanks, in some unimaginable way, to Nausicaa. “What . . . are you talking about?” Luce managed.

Sedna smiled at her. “Wow. It’s a long story.”

All the stories are long, Luce thought. She suddenly missed Nausicaa so much that something seemed to crumple deep in her chest.

“But still . . .” Jessie kept trying to argue. “It’s not like the timahk makes exceptions for anyone, Sedna.”

“Oh, for Crissake.” Sedna rolled her eyes. “Whatever. We can do this.” Do what? Luce thought. She tensed again, but Sedna was still grinning. “Luce, okay, so has your dad there ever heard you sing?”

Luce started. Of course he must have heard both Jessie and Luce singing just a few minutes before, but it seemed like Sedna had decided to ignore that. It could only be deliberate, and Luce started grinning back into the queen’s sparkling eyes. “Absolutely not.”

Sedna raised her eyebrows at Jessie. “See? So where’s the problem?”