I watch the demize clock pulsing in my hand, under my skin. Its glow has turned a dangerous red.

I try to infiltrate it using my mind, like I’ve done so many times before, bending it to my will, but I hit a block. The pushback leaves my head throbbing, as if splitting in two. The clock slips from my fingers and rolls to the ground.

Sister Evelyn’s cryptic warnings bear some truth. A new unease builds inside me, familiar yet foreign.

…Whatever game is being played, I’m caught in the midst of it all.

♤♤♤

My mind trails back to nine months ago.

The rain soaked me as I lay there, reeling in staggering pain. A figure in a black cloak approached.

“Don’t tell me it’s your father’s doing again,” my mother’s voice cut through the showers and the night as she examined me. “His enemies are never-ending.”

I had a response to that, something along the lines of her being part of the problem, but my teeth were chattering from the cold and pain, like something inside me was trying to rip its way out.

“Shit. It’s worse.” She crouched, her eyes narrowing. “Don’t tell me you let Evelyn talk you into possessing a demon. You’re lucky you found me in time.”

She picked me up in one swift move.

♤♤♤

Back to now.

The head-splitting ache is gone, but it’s overtaken by a knock on the door.

A fresh-looking Fleur Panache recruit interrupts, greeting me with a practiced smile.

“Madame Brooke asks that you and Miss Vanderbilt prepare for underworld travel for your underworld mission.”

“There must be a mistake,” I reply. “Enasis and Kareem are expecting me for a week of training.”

The recruit bows and retreats without another word.

Underworld travel meant possessing.

And possessing meant breaking my purist streak.

If it wasn’t clear enough before, it is now, Madame Brooke is fast-forwarding the process on purpose. She wants to break me.

I can’t let that happen.

***

I knock on Madame Brooke’s door.

Her voice comes from the other side, subdued. “Enter.”

“You’re sending me on an underworld mission with Amelia?”

I meant to ease into it. Too late for placating now.

“And what’s wrong with that?” she replies calmly. “You went to the glaciers with Tetris.”

I stop pacing. “Don’t act like the glaciers are the same as the underworld. To get to the underworld I have to pos—” I bite my tongue.

“Possess, you mean?” Her tone sharpens. She regards me suspiciously. “All of a sudden, you have a problem with possessing?”

“It’s not that,” I mutter. “King Giovanni is… he’s harder to deal with.”

“It’s nothing,” she says. “Just ask for the meruba flower roots, that’s all.”

“What is it for?”

“To eradicate some golems somewhere in the caves of Serminiarn. The point, you don’t need to fight anyone. Just ask. And King Giovanni knows better than to strain his relationship with our organization any further.”

Still, none of that changes the fact that I’d have to possess… and end my streak.

“Why can’t you send Tetris? Or Bottega? While I focus on training?”

“Because I said so, Frankie. Either way, you will have to go on missions. Call it a soft launch if you must. But you’re going... unless you dare defy me after I covered up for your incessant rebellion during tribunal.”

“Well, you also tampered with my clock. And sent me to the dungeon. Did I miss something else?”

For a moment, her gray eyes flicker, something like regret.

She opens her mouth to say something, but I cut her off.

“I have to go prepare for the mission.”

“Frankie,” she calls out as I reach the door. “Your mother may have saved you nine months ago… but remember who protects you from your father every single day.”

As if I could forget. She hangs it over my head every chance she gets.

I shut the door behind me, leaving her alone in that office.

♤♤♤

Sister Evelyn sets my hair into a long braid, wrapping it around my head like a crown. She smooths the baby hairs that have fallen loose, framing my face. One of the mandatory Panachean hair styles.

I told her about Madame Brooke fast-forwarding the possession. We went back and forth for a while until there was nothing but silence.

Madame Brooke had set her trap too nicely. Even if I wanted to run again, she could find me.

She was prepared for anything now.

“It’s okay,” Evelyn finally says, sitting beside me. “Neha will find another way for you to make a sacrifice. And in time, the clock will return to its rightful form.”

Neha.

That name rings again. It leaves a gnawing in my brain. A bad taste in my mouth.

If I don’t do something, I’ll never get to the bottom of the Purist leader’s intentions. Especially regarding Sister Evelyn.

Oblivious to my doubts, she sighs. “Good luck going under, child.”

♤♤♤

When the elevator doors open, I’m half expecting my heart to explode.

It’s been a long time since I stepped foot into the aquatic chamber beneath Fleur Panache.

The vivarium-inspired floor at ground zero, a direct passage to the underworld.

Through its transparent glass, I can see sea life dancing in the dark water.

I would never admit it, but this room always spooks me out.

“Took you long enough.”

Amelia stands there, removing her gloves and jacket to reveal her full-body suit.

“Someone tell me why we’re paired for this, again,” I mutter.

She chuckles.

I fight a volatile thought, I could take her down right now. She tampered with my clock.

“Maybe Mama Brooke has a new favorite.” Her smug grin doesn’t help.

A fair-toned mermaid, even fairer than Amelia, with dark, flowing hair and a black tail appears on the other side of the glass. It almost smiles. Its eyes glow a haunting gold.

Amelia presses her hand to the glass. “See ya on the other side.”

The mermaid reciprocates. And just like that, they merge.

It looks exactly how it sounds, like someone is being swallowed whole.

I could never get used to it.

Ding!

The sound knocks me back a step.

My mermaid appears with a bang. Red locks abound, stealing my attention. A fiery mess, dancing against the glass with an electric green tail.

It stares at me; weightless, hostile, waiting.

I place my hand against the glass. “Here we go.”

It doesn’t move.

“Come on, it’s me. Frankie.”

Just when I’m about to lose hope, it spreads its web-like fingers toward mine.

We tumble down through the water. Moving in wave-like fashion. It picks up pace, weaving above and beyond objects and creatures. The deeper we go, the blurrier my vision gets. It's exhilarating trapped in a violent metamorphosis.

Until I’m spat out.

***

I crawl for my life to the edge of the bank, gasping for breath.

Now a group of mermaids are hissing at me in allegiance with their fangs and silver tongues out. Their tails splatter the water’s surface, ready to tear my flesh apart. This affirms the hostility I was sensing from the moment 'my mermaid' showed up.

“Looks like someone’s forgetting who’s boss,” Amelia’s voice startles me.

She appears out of nowhere.

Frantic, I ask, “Do you have anything to do with this?”

“Take a wild guess.”

I’m about to threaten her existence when King Giovanni Morais’s right-hand man enters, flanked by guards. It's interesting how fast her smirk disappears.

Zhén.

“Siiiiiiiiiii,” his silver tongue hisses through the dark cave like a blade unsheathed.

That sound is enough to scatter the mermaids. They vanish into the dark depths.

Just water now. Just shadows. Just him.

He watches us, the silence more dangerous than any threat.

“Long time no see,” he says, eyes flicking between us. “What brings you under?”

Even his voice feels heavier like pressure settling in my lungs.

“Well…” Amelia stalls. “We’re here to see King Giovanni about the meruba flower.”

A deliberate pause.

Zhén tilts his head. Something glints in his eyes, mockery, or maybe a warning.

“Interesting. And you thought a pit stop was necessary?”

He steps closer.

“Amelia.”

Her jaw tightens.

The guards shift like stretching shadows.

“Give it back,” he says.

And the tension snaps.

Looks like when I was wrestling to get acquainted with my mermaid, Amelia here, was up to no good as expected. She got the head start she needed.

She reaches beneath her bodysuit and reveals it—glimmering white, cut like glass, humming with restrained power.

The stone.

Duh.

Of course she’d go for the wealth. The very thing the underworlds are obsessed with protecting.

“Surprise, surprise…” I rub it in.

“Shut your beak.”

I laugh as the guards seize us.