“You’re just acting a little… weird. You and Juno haven’t been getting into trouble have you?” Jenny pressed.
“Trouble? Us? No! We’re just hanging out… in our room… being good,” Dolph replied.
There was a pause. Zohar shook his head while Juno silently groaned and covered his face. He held his breath as the silence lengthened.
“If you’re sure. I’ll bring you boys some sandwiches in a little bit,” Jenny finally said.
“Thanks. I-I can come get them—now.”
Zohar listened as Dolph walked back down the hallway. He sagged against the wall next to the door. Juno was ruefully shaking his head.
“He’s not very good at being secretive,” Juno murmured.
Zohar smothered his laugh. “No, he’s not.”
Twenty-minutes later, Dolph returned from the hallway with a platter of honey-seaweed cakes, dried fruit slices, and three mugs of steaming coconut tea. He kicked the door closed behind him and grinned.
While Dolph had been gone, Zohar and Juno had transformed the far corner of the room into a den of secrecy and snacks. A tent made of draped blankets and sheets was tucked between two enormous sea foam-colored chairs. Shell-shaped lanterns glowed from within, casting rippling light patterns across the curved ceiling like waves dancing on a cavern wall. Pillows, soft and sea-scented, were piled in every direction.
Zohar flopped down with a satisfied sigh.
“This is fancy,” Zohar said, raising an eyebrow.
Dolph smirked. “It’s leftovers.”
“I’ll take it. I’m starving,” Zohar grinned, already reaching for a cake.
Zohar spread the glowing map out again between bites, smoothing the creases. His gaze followed the luminous lines that crisscrossed the unfamiliar features of the Seven Kingdoms on the parchment. He couldn’t look away from the way they pulsed softly, like living veins in a giant’s hand.
“What’s it like? Living here?” he asked, nodding toward the window that overlooked the vast emerald waters beyond the palace. “The Isle of the Sea Serpent?”
Dolph leaned back on his elbows, chewing thoughtfully. “I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it. It’s home. But sometimes… it feels more like a glass bubble than a kingdom.”
“That’s because it is a glass bubble… if you go to the city below,” Juno mumbled around a mouthful of food.
Zohar glanced at Dolph. He knew what the older boy meant. He wasn’t talking about the actual cities, but about what it was like to be the next in line to rule.
“My father is Orion, King of the Merpeople,” Dolph said, his voice soft but proud. “He wields the Trident, which holds the Eyes of the Sea Serpent—gifts from the Goddess. With it, he can command the oceans and most of the life in it.”
“Most?” Zohar echoed.
Dolph nodded. “Some creatures answer only to Nali—Empress of the Monsters.”
“Your aunt?”
“She isn’t our real aunt. We just call her that. She’s really nice. She protects all the monsters. When she says ‘sit,’ even the volcano turtles listen.”
“Volcano turtles? Are you for real?” Zohar repeated, grinning.
“They’re real,” Juno piped up between mouthfuls. “But the sea monkeys are more fun!”
Zohar’s eyes gleamed. “Sea monkeys?”
“They’re little and mischievous and like to steal the pirates’ hats,” Juno said matter-of-factly. “They ride on Aunt Nali’s sea dragons. And they’re always getting Uncle Ashure—he’s the King of the Pirates—in trouble.”
“Whenever Uncle Ashure makes Aunt Nali mad, she sics the sea monkeys on his ships,” Dolph added.
Zohar snorted into his tea. “They both sound pretty cool.”
