Secrets of the Deep (69 page)

Others hitched a rope to a seahorse and used its strength to heave a fallen Poseidon statue back up onto its tall pedestal in the middle of an intersection. Another crew of workers was repairing the rows of decorative scallop shells lining a triumphal arch on the main thoroughfare leading to the palace.

“My people are eager for life to return to normal,” Sapphira remarked as they gazed down on the scene below. “I feel confident we’ll have everything fixed up again well before the quarter moon.”

“My friends are going to be very sorry they missed this,” Jake said. “It’s beautiful.”

“We think so,” Sapphira said with the warmest smile he had ever seen from her.

“And you’ll get to rule it one day,” he prompted, impressed, as they swam on.

“That’s the plan. I think Father might finally see me as worthy to be his heir—even though I’m ‘just’ a girl.”

“Well, your people certainly seem happy with you.”

The citizens below had noticed their princess, as well as Tyndaris and the group of returning warriors. They began cheering, and the welcoming huzzahs for their triumphant future ruler rose to Jake and Sapphira in a flurry of bubbles.

Sapphira’s smile widened; she waved back to the admiring throng, and Jake had no doubt in that moment that, one day, she would be a great sea queen.

“Let’s go,” she said, beckoning to her entourage.

“I can’t wait to see Papa!” Lil cried eagerly, leaving her seahorse to swim alongside Jake.

They descended, and the merfolk thronged the main avenue leading to the palace. Though Jake swam along the colonnade with the two princesses on either side of him, the citizens of Coral City gawked at him, a lander, in his mask.

He nodded politely, but they just ogled him, looking slightly alarmed. At the moment, he felt as much out of place as Sapphira must’ve on the day they’d first caught her in the classroom.

She was giving regal nods to her father’s subjects here and there, while Lil babbled to Jake about all the things she wanted to show him around their home and the city.

“Oh, you simply
have
to see the sea turtle ballet after the banquet, and the sea fan collection in the royal gardens—”

“I wish there was time, Lil,” Jake interrupted with a regretful smile. “It’s nice of you to offer. But I really need to get back to shore and find out if my aunt has woken up yet. If not, I’ll have to get her some help.”

“I hope she’ll be all right,” Sapphira said, glancing over at him in concern.

Jake had to hope for the best. “Well, the ol’ girl’s lasted this long. Some say she’s three hundred years old.”

“Really? She doesn’t look a day over seventy.”

Jake shrugged. Though many sources of worry still gnawed at him, he wasn’t ready to think about all those other things yet. He was still enjoying the triumph of having bested Davy Jones and saved the world, along with his friends.

Then they swam under the triumphal arch and Jake craned his neck, admiring the elegant structure. After passing through it, the Coral Palace rose ahead of them, sparkling with diamond-shaped insets of mother-of-pearl.

Jake stared at it in wonder as the guards escorted him and the two princesses through the soaring doorway into the great hall.

Someone was waiting for them there.

“There you are!” An older, green-tailed merman with curly white hair and spectacles hurried over.

“Professor Pomodori!” Sapphira greeted him.

Lil squealed with delight and raced over to hug him. The old merman seemed startled.

“Oh, Pro-Pom, I missed you!” the younger girl cried.

“Likewise, dear child. We are so relieved you’re home and all the unpleasantness is over.” He turned to Jake with a cordial smile. “Is this the renowned Lord Griffon, then?”

“Oh, I don’t know if I’d say that, sir. But yes, I’m Jake.”

Sapphira turned to him. “Allow me to present our tutor, Professor Pomodori. He’s the one who first identified the orb as coming from Atlantis.”

“Well, sir, you’ll be happy to hear it’s been destroyed,” Jake informed him.

“Ah, that is excellent news!” He reached out and pumped Jake’s hand gratefully. “Thank you so much, Lord Griffon, for taking care of our dear princesses.”

“Oh, these two ladies seem quite capable of taking care of themselves,” he said with a modest smile.

“Hmm.” The royal tutor turned to the mermaids. “I’m sure you two must be eager to get back to your studies!”

“Well…” Liliana drawled, then quickly swam away before her teacher started handing out assignments.

When Professor Pomodori frowned after her, Jake found himself missing their tutor, Henry.

“Actually,” Sapphira said, “that sounds good to me, Professor. I see now I still have a lot to learn.” She lowered her head with a slightly chastened look. “Also…I owe you an apology.”

“You do?” he asked in surprise.

“If I’d done as you told me and thrown the orb into the Calypso Deep right away—”

“Then that horrid pirate would have found it, my dear,” he said gently. “And young Lord Griffon and his friends would’ve never had the chance to save their world. It would’ve been flooded and destroyed before any landers ever learned of the threat.”

Sapphira gazed at him with gratitude. “You’re always so generous to me. Even so, I think I’ve had enough of being the rebel of the kingdom for a while.”

Jake grinned. “Not me.”

Her teacher looked a little flummoxed by her heartfelt words. “Well, er, let’s not keep the king waiting. His Majesty is very eager to meet you, young man.” He hurried off. “This way to the throne room! Follow me…”

Tyndaris ordered his troops to remain behind, but he went with them to the throne room. Liliana had already raced ahead and hugged her father profusely.

Stately coral columns flanked the throne room. The walls were inlaid with pearls and jewels. Bright-colored courtiers with showy fins loitered around the edges of the room, but straight ahead, on a great scallop shell throne, sat a white-bearded merman with a massively powerful upper body and a royal blue fishtail.

A trident leaned against his throne. Jake knew at once this was the Sea King—and he could see why his elder daughter found him intimidating.

Lil, however, did not seem the least awed by King Nereus. “Papa, that’s Jake!”

“Come forward, Lord Griffon,” His Majesty ordered.

Jake and Sapphira exchanged a brief glance, and they both approached the throne.

“So,” said King Nereus, “you are Jacob Everton, the Earl of Griffon, I hear. How can I ever thank you for keeping my daughters safe and ridding the seas of that pestilence, Davy Jones? Any gift or favor that is in my power to grant, you shall have it.”

Jake didn’t even have to think about it.

From the moment he’d been asked to protect the mermaid princesses on land, he’d had the notion of a possible reward in the back of his mind.

For there were certain favors that only a sea king could grant.

Like access to a dangerous prisoner being held in another sea king’s jail.

But before he dared answer, he remembered to bow, just like he’d been taught to do when brought before Queen Victoria. “Your Majesty: I thank you for your gracious consideration. Truly, no reward is necessary. But if it pleases you, I
would
make one simple request.”

“Name it,” Nereus said while Lil clung to his arm and rested her head dotingly on her father’s shoulder.

Jake braced himself to state his petition. “King Oceanus of the North Sea recently fended off a coup designed by the evil sea-witch Fionnula Coralbroom.”

Nereus narrowed his eyes at the mention of her name. “Yes, I know of this loathsome traitoress. What of her?”

“Your Majesty, the witch claims to have information concerning the murder of my parents. If I could but speak to her for a few minutes in her cell, I might finally find the answers I have sought for years about their deaths—”

“Say no more.” Nereus held up his hand, already nodding. “I will send word to Oceanus to permit this interview at your earliest convenience, Lord Griffon. He is my cousin, after all. Therefore, I can confidently give you my word that your request will be granted. And…I am sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you, Sire.”

“Of course. Family can be challenging at times…” He put his arm around Sapphira, who’d gone to stand on the other side of him. She draped her arm around her father’s giant shoulders, in turn, smiling at him. “But it is the most precious thing we have on this earth, whether in the sea or on the land, yes? To have had yours taken from you…” The king shook his head in sympathy. “That is a terrible thing, especially for a lad your age.”

Jake lowered his head, taken off guard by the slight lump in his throat. “Well, Your Majesty—thankfully, I still have other kin.”

He thought of his cousins and Great-Great Aunt Ramona, of Dani and Red, and his new friends, Maddox and Nixie, and even Derek Stone, and he wholeheartedly concurred with the king’s sentiments. Without them, his castle, his title, his goldmine, even his grand, hoped-for future as a Lightrider—all of it would be perfectly meaningless.

“I sincerely thank you, sir. This means more to me that I can ever say.”

“I hope you can convince the sea-witch to tell you the truth of whatever she knows about this matter. But don’t be deceived. She is a slippery one by reputation. Don’t let her fill your head with lies.”

Jake nodded. “So I’ve learned in dealing with her the last time our paths crossed. I will believe nothing Fionnula Coralbroom says, except what can be proved.”

“Then you are wise.”

Jake arched a brow. This was the first time anyone had ever accused him of that.

He stayed only a short while longer then took his leave of the king and bade the mermaids goodbye. Both sisters gave him a brief hug, Tyndaris shook his hand, then Jake went on his way, flanked by mer-guards, returning to the surface, hungry for lunch and already dreaming of pizza.

In short order, he flopped back into the sailboat with Dani.

“How did it go?” she asked cheerfully, as they started sailing back to the Villa di Palma, the submersible chugging along off to their starboard.

“You should’ve come,” Jake said.

Disappointment flicked across her sunburned face, but he playfully tugged on a lock of her half-dried hair. “Don’t fret, carrot—she said you can go whenever you like.”

“Oh, good. As soon as I get over this new phobia of the sea that I share with your Gryphon, I’ll be right there.”

Jake laughed. “Eh, you don’t have a phobia, O’Dell. You’re as brave as they come.”

She looked over with a grin, beaming at his praise, for, really, it was the highest compliment Jake could give to anyone. As a future Lightrider, after all, courage was the one thing he most insisted on in himself.

Then she glanced curiously at his empty hands. “But where is your reward?”

He told her what he had asked for, and that it had been granted.

Her emerald eyes grew wide. “You’re finally going to get to speak to Coralbroom?”

Jake nodded, already anticipating it.

“Wow…” Dani whispered.

They lapsed into companionable silence, absorbing everything that had happened over the past forty-eight hours as they sailed into the villa’s private cove.

Dani was fiddling with the mainsail, beginning to take it down in preparation for their landing. They were but a stone’s throw from the beach when Jake, perusing the shore with the telescope, suddenly shot to his feet and pointed up at the terrace.

“Dani!” he burst out.

“What?” she cried in alarm, squinting against the sun.

“It’s Derek!” he shouted.

Then he leaped into the waist-high water and ran the rest of the way up the beach.

CHAPTER 34

Good News & Bad News

J
ake pounded up the beach stairs first, but Maddox wasn’t far behind. Within moments, the rest of them were splashing up through the shallows, whooping and hollering, racing up onto the terrace to surround Derek Stone.

Miss Helena was with him, her arms around his waist. Derek had rested his arm across her shoulders as the kids thronged the couple, embracing them both, and talking all at once.

Derek laughed with pleasure to see them, but he looked different. His mane of dark, wild hair had been shorn; now it wasn’t much longer than the usual scruff that roughened his jaw. The rugged angles of his face looked a little gaunt, and there was suffering in his eyes. Jake was relieved not to see any casts or bandages on him.

“Oh, and look who else I brought back for you,” Miss Helena said, beaming as she motioned across the terrace toward the doorway to the house.

“Henry!” Archie cried.

There were cries of glee as their genteel tutor stepped out of the house with a smile, his left arm bandaged, but his bowtie as tidy as ever.

“What’s all the commotion out here?” he asked with a grin that belied his chiding tone.

The whole cluster of them surged away from Derek and Helena to clamor around the shapeshifting tutor.

“It’s wonderful to see you!” everyone said.

“We’re so glad you’re back!”

“How’d the maiden voyage go, Arch?” Henry asked his star pupil with a knowing grin.

“Brilliant!” said Archie.

“I knew it! When are you taking me out for a ride, then?”

“Oh, er, whenever you like, I suppose,” Archie said, but his reluctance to go to sea again anytime soon was fairly plain.

“Henry, what happened to your arm?” Isabelle asked.

“Ah, it’s nothing. Bit of a scuffle with a Noxu warrior.”

“What’s that?” Dani said.

“Nasty sort of thing related to a troll. But no worries. He was no match for a certain wolf of my acquaintance,” Henry said. “Now, never mind all that. Dare I ask if you all have been behaving?”

“Hmm,” Derek said. “Imagine our surprise upon arriving here to find you all missing, Her Ladyship asleep, and the house looking as though it had been ransacked by marauders.”

Jake and Archie exchanged a guilty glance.

“We would’ve been worried if not for this,” Derek added, holding up a scrap of paper. “Thankfully, Miss O’Dell was thoughtful enough to leave us a note telling us how you all had gone out boating.” He winked at Dani and she grinned.