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can’t distinguish them.
    â€œI must look out for my own,” a voice louder than the others says. “I must take action to protect my kingdom and my people.”
    Then the room erupts. It’s as if everyone starts talking at once, comparing stories of environmental tragedy within their kingdoms. Arguing and bickering.
    I look to Tellin, helpless, but he has moved to his father’s side, trying to calm the old king down as he argues with the rulers on either side of him. I float slowly back from the table.
    I thought I’d been calling a meeting to request help for Acropora, a kingdom dying as ocean warming kills off their coral reefs. A simple plea for aid that I thought would be readily answered.
    Instead, I find the entire Western Atlantic in environmental turmoil. Thalassinia, it seems, has been lucky so far. We are protected, carefully situated between the overfished waters to the north, the warming waters to the south, and the oil-filled waters to the west.
    I’ve always known Thalassinia was one of the more prosperous kingdoms. I just hadn’t realized we were so lucky, too.
    Across the long length of the table, Tellin lifts his gaze and looks at me. He doesn’t have to say a word. The bond takes care of that, of sharing his feelings with me, even at a distance. I can tell he’s disappointed, and it’s all my fault. I insisted we call this council of kings and queens, I insisted it was the best way to help his people. I was so sure. So confident.
    So wrong.
    The voices in the room get louder and the arguments swell. Each king or queen is adamant that his or her kingdom suffers the worst fate. Their shouts echo off the chamber walls until all I hear is the roar of sound vibrating through the water.
    â€œEnough!” Dumontia’s shout resonates above all the rest.
    The room falls silent once more as the arguments gradually fade and the occupants turn their attention to the arctic queen.
    â€œThis,” she says with a sneer, waving her hand over the table, “has been a waste of time and resources.” Her eyes focus in on me. “Do not call for my attendance again.”
    Then, without another word, she turns and swims out the door. The wake of her fin flicks and those of her bodyguards wash through the room.
    King Zostero floats up. “This has accomplished nothing,” he declares before following Dumontia’s path.
    â€œNo, wait,” I call out, trying to salvage the purpose of this meeting. “We can still do something.”
    One by one, the other rulers rise from the table and storm from the room, until only Daddy, Tellin, and King Gadus are left. King Gadus tosses an angry look at his son.
    â€œI hope you’re—” A violent coughing fit cuts off his sentence. When Tellin tries to help him, Gadus knocks his hand away. The old king draws himself up straight. “I hope you’re happy.”
    Then he follows the rest of the kings and queens.
    â€œI—” I shake my head, overwhelmed by what just happened, by everything that I just learned is happening in my world. “I had no idea.”
    Then, without waiting for either Tellin or Daddy to say anything—really, what’s to say?—I turn and swim away.

Chapter 5
    I don’t realize where I’m swimming until I get there. I blindly move along hallway after hallway, around corner after corner, my mind racing with the reality of what just happened. Detail after detail replays in my thoughts, with flashes of oil spills and overfishing and melting ice caps. The scope of the problem is overwhelming. Eventually I find myself floating through the door to the map room.
    I look around at the familiar room, and I’m transported to a calmer place.
    This used to be one of my favorite rooms to explore in the whole palace. As I swim in, the walls on either side of the room are lined with countless drawers of maps. Ancient maps, modern maps. Maps of mer kingdoms