“They won’t.”
I wondered if Nilus knew anyone who would be on our side. Would it be enough to stage a rebellion within a rebellion? It was a fragile plan, I thought. Too dangerous. We would have to change Dione’s mind.
“Mee, the more I think about it, the more convinced I am that we need to go to Medusa.”
I sighed. “I knew you would bring that up. No.”
“But they don’t trust us enough to listen to us! And they won’t tell us any more than we need to know to help their coup. Besides, Dione knew you were lying.”
“Shh!”
“Well, don’t you agree? We’re worth whatever information we have to share.”
Lysi might have been right, but agreeing would give her an excuse to push harder for us to leave Kori Maru.
“You’re being paranoid,” I said.
“You actually think we have a shot at changing their plan?”
“If Evagore is alive, and if we can find some way to help them get her back, they’ll help us in return. Nilus agrees.”
Lysi scoffed. “How is finding Evagore faster than going straight to Medusa? At least with Medusa’s help, we’d have a chance at stopping his armies from advancing. Meela, he’s one move away from ruling everything below the surface.”
I glowered into the darkness. “I’m not leaving, Lysi.”
“Come on!”
“First you don’t tell me about my brother, and now you’re trying to get me to leave him behind. Do you even care that he’s my family?”
Lysi spluttered. It was a moment before the words came. “I told you I was sorry for that!”
“You had days to tell me, Lysi.”
“It wasn’t that easy. There was too much going—”
“And what about my parents? You could have told them about him. Now they might never know, if the worst happens.”
“Don’t—” She huffed. Her anger pulsated towards me. “You’re saying that to get at me.”
I gave a half-shrug. It might have been true, but I couldn’t stop the anger from flooding out.
“I’m sorry, all right?” said Lysi. “It was a mistake not to tell you right away.”
“You should be sorry.”
I waited for her retaliation. It didn’t come.
After a pause, she said, “I don’t want to go to the Atlantic, either. But I’m trying to do the right thing for everyone.”
“Leaving behind the only family I have down here doesn’t feel like the right thing.”
Before she could respond, I submerged.
I crossed to the far side of our cavern and curled up against the rocks. Lysi stayed where she was.
We didn’t speak again that night. I spent so many hours trying to fall asleep that I ended up sleeping well past dawn. By the time I awoke, Lysi had already left.
I peeked through the curtain of seaweed to find the canyon bustling. Mermaids and mermen flitted in and out of caverns while children played games and chased each other with kelp weeds.
