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Just as I’m about to give up, I find the ancient history section. I see the same book I found back there.
My heart sinks. Is that the only book with information about her? Does Valora really have nothing else? Some great and mighty undersea kingdom.
Then I notice the other books. My breath hitches. Do they have more information on the mysterious queen of old? Maybe even something saying she didn’t actually kill her father?
I grab the other books, carefully of course, and sit at a table. My pulse is on fire and I can hardly think straight. What else am I about to find? Or will I only end up disappointed? But it seems like in a place like this, they wouldn’t have multiple books with the same information. These other two books have to be able to tell me more.
My hands are shaking, making it hard to open the first book. If only Bash were here. He could calm me down, talk some sense into me. I draw in a deep breath and hold it. I can do this.
I manage to open the book, then find the index. A whole chapter devoted to the queen whose trident also changed her hair color. My heart feels like it’s going to explode. More deep breaths. If I wasn’t underwater, I know my palms would be sweaty. My mouth would be dry. Too bad the ocean doesn’t help with my shakiness.
I find the right chapter, nearly tearing a page in the process. Luckily, this paper is thicker than anything on land and waterproof, so I don’t so much as crease the old book.
The hand-drawn image of Queen Sirena sends a jolt of shock through me. She looks so much like me—even more so than the other picture I saw. And if I didn’t know better, I’d think her eyes were staring right at me.
I shake my head to clear it, then focus on the words. Three pages about her. This could be a goldmine of information. Could help me prepare for whatever is coming my way. Maybe even tell me that I don’t have to kill my dad after all. As much of a jerk as he’s being, he’s still my dad. He isn’t my hero anymore, but he was for most of my life and I’d rather give my life for him than take his. That’s what family does.
Focus.
It takes me a moment to read the first word, but then suddenly I get sucked into the story of the illustrious queen that nobody seems to know anything about …
* * *
Sirena was born of two royal class parents, neither in the direct line of the throne. Though she grew up surrounded by luxury and love, she wasn’t ever thought of as a princess. Never thought about being anywhere near the throne’s power. She was content to live a simple life, far away from the castle. Then one day, war broke out. An army within the kingdom attacked the castle and took out countless merpeople in line for the throne.
The next day, Sirena’s parents moved her away from the life she loved in the ocean’s version of the countryside and took her to the castle. Her dad was crowned king and began his rule immediately. Sirena went into royal training, but failed with every weapon given to her, until one day a servant handed her a trident. The weapon glowed in her grasp and made her illuminate as well. The light ran throughout her body until it reached her hair, at which point it turned pink and grew longer and thicker.
After that, she became a master fighter. Undefeated. But not right away—she had to grow into her powers. They burned inside of her, yet she couldn’t reach them for a long time. Before she did, she had to overcome the strongest merman in the kingdom. She had to kill her father.
And she did. The events surrounding the death weren’t known, but the fact was, she killed him and overtook the throne. Her hair grew darker and longer, and she became so strong and so powerful that nobody could stand up to her. She remained undefeated until the day she died of old age, after centuries of life. Just went to sleep one night and never woke.
* * *
I slam the book shut, breathing hard. The similarities between her life and mine are incredible. Not exact, obviously, but close enough. She grew up away from the castle, then was forced from the life she loved and into the place of princess. The trident, the hair.
If I continue to follow her path, I’m going to have to kill my dad. If I don’t, the powers forming in me will burn until I do. Didn’t she try to keep from killing her dad? I pull open the book again and re-read the chapter. Not much was known about the killing, or if she tried to stop it.
Maybe the other book has more. I grab it and look through the index until I find the section on her. It basically says the same thing, but has some additional details—ones that send a shiver down my spine.
Around the same time Sirena got her trident and pink hair, she fell in love. Some whispered that falling in love was what triggered her changes, although both books say it was the trident that turned her hair pink. It also mentioned another rumor. The one that makes me want to swim screaming from the library. A single witness, a castle servant, claimed that Sirena killed her father to prevent him from killing the merman she loved.
My head feels heavy, breathing labored. If my dad tries to kill Bash, I would have no other choice but to stop him—by any means necessary. If it were him or Bash, it would be him. I’d stand between them and take the fatal blow or give it.
I flip through the pages of both books again, looking for any detail that I might’ve missed. Nothing new sticks out. If Sirena’s life is my destiny, then my power will fester until my dad is removed from power and I’ll be forced to kill to save Bash.
The question is, is that really my future? Is there nothing I can do to stop it? The story doesn’t go deep enough for me to figure out if Sirena wanted to stop any of it. If she tried. Or if she had no choice.
I’m not her, and I have the benefit of knowing all of this ahead of time. That means I can try to stop it. All of it. I don’t care about being on the throne.
I have to survive the academy before I think about any of that. Maybe it’s a good thing I’m going to be distracted preparing for the sparring tournament and the beauty pageant—though I don’t know which one makes me gag more. I don’t want to deal with either one.
Not that I have a choice. I put the books back and make my way back to the main part of the library. But before I reach there, a conversation between a group of mermen makes me stop cold in my tracks. I duck behind a shelf and listen.
“Ayers needs to be stopped.”
They have to be talking about my dad. If they’re discussing me, they’d have just taken the books from me without letting me read them.
“He doesn’t care about the protests.”
