“Well . . .” Now Dana seemed embarrassed, too. Her voice switched abruptly from curt to oddly shy. “Luce, I mean, last time I saw you, you said something? And I just wanted to ask what you meant by it.” Luce began to have a sense of what was coming. She braced herself. Suddenly Dana was the one who couldn’t hold her gaze on Luce’s face, and she stared off. “You said you weren’t sure you believed in the timahk anymore. What was that about?”

Luce cringed. She had to say something. “I just meant that I don’t want to sink ships anymore. I told Catarina that, too. I mean—I don’t actually believe that it’s good to kill humans, so I decided not to do it again.” Luce’s voice faltered. It was an outrageous thing for a mermaid to say. It must sound practically insane to Dana, and Luce started to hope that Dana would decide Luce was a hopeless case and go away. Then she knew from the unyielding look Dana suddenly flashed at her that what she’d said wasn’t going to be enough. Dana knew something. She was too smart and sensitive to let Luce put her off that easily.

Luce started desperately trying to think up excuses. If Dana had heard the bronze-haired boy singing Luce’s song, couldn’t Luce insist that he must have listened to her secretly when she’d been sure she was completely alone? Maybe kayaked to the entrance of her cave without her knowing it? Did the fact that he knew her song necessarily prove she’d saved his life?

“But, Luce . . .” Dana sounded like she was forcing herself to stay calm, to speak carefully. “You know that’s not what the timahk says. I mean, you know it doesn’t mention anything about having to sink ships just for fun or something. So if that was all you were talking about, you wouldn’t have felt like you needed to say that.” Luce was absolutely certain now that Dana had heard the boy singing. “There are really only two rules about humans. You can’t talk to them or touch them or have anything to do with them. And you have to kill them, but only . . .” Dana paused and stared at Luce. “But only if they’ve heard mermaids singing. So they can’t go around telling other humans about us.”

Luce took a deep breath. She’d just have to deny everything. There was no actual proof.

“I know what the timahk says, Dana.”

“Then which is the part you don’t believe in? Because I know you weren’t talking about the rules for how we have to treat other mermaids. It’s got to be one of the human rules.”