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Chapter 21

“You ready?” Bash gives me his crooked smile that he could use to get me to do anything.

I pull on my helmet. “Ready as I’m ever going to be.”

We climb onto his bike and head into town. Rudder helped us find a merwoman who is known for her knowledge of rarer spells—and what could be rarer than a spell to bring back the legendary powers of Queen Sirena?

Bash stops in front of a tiny, run-down house. A puff of smoke shoots out one of the windows—surely not an easy feat underwater.

We put away the helmets and cross the yard with all kinds of junk strewn across it.

I turn to him. “I apologize for ever calling your room a mess.”

He chuckles, then knocks on the door once we reach it.

Banging sounds from inside, followed by a scratchy voice. “Hold on!”

Bash and I exchange a curious glance.

The door flings open, and a frazzled grey-haired merwoman stares at us. “What do you want?”

“Pearl Lancaster?” Bash asks.

“Yeah. Who’s askin’?”

I clear my throat. “I’m sorry if we’re bothering you. My name is Marra Ayers, and we just have a few questions for you.”

She adjusts her glasses. “Marra Ayers? The king’s daughter?”

“Yes.”

The merwoman squints. “And yer really King Tiberias’s daughter? Not Drake’s?”

I nod, and can’t help wondering if she’s going to demand proof.

“And you want something from me?” She leans against the doorframe.

Bash puts his arm around me. “We have just a couple quick questions.”

Pearl squints at him. “And you are?”

“Bash Marlowe.”

“Any relation to Shane and Coral?” She purses her lips.

“My aunt and uncle.”

She studies him and moves back. “Come on in. I only have a few minutes, mind you. Plenty of important business to attend to.”

Bash arches an eyebrow as we enter the shack. It’s even more crowded inside with items stacked along every wall and things spread across the floor.

Pearl stops in a cramped living room and gestures toward a couch full of laundry. I’m not sure it’s clean. Neither of us sit.

I clear my throat. “We won’t keep you. You’re familiar with lesser-known spells?”

She yawns, doesn’t cover her mouth. “Many of them, yep. What do you want to hear about?”

I consider how to ask, but Bash jumps in. “Are you familiar with any resurrection spells?”