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from the south. She’d listened with interest as the older merfolk discussed the whys and hows of the war, and whether the peace treaty would stop the Adluos from invading more of the north Atlantic. Kae’s own father didn’t think King Koios should be negotiating at all. “They’re terrorists making a grab for power,” she heard her father argue. “Their purity of race proclamations make me sick.”
    Kae knew the Adluos despised all things human. Their territories were based mainly in the Southern and Arctic Oceans, far removed from most drylanders. At least, that’s the way it had always been. Until Prince Demyan rose to power.
    Demyan stirred the anti-human prejudices of his own clan to a fever pitch. Angry words gave way to skirmishes along the southern border, which quickly escalated to all-out battle. King Koios had no choice but to negotiate a peace. Most Aequoreans were farmers, not fighters.
    The victorious prince demanded a royal marriage in return for ending the war. Kae didn’t know what exactly it meant for her family, whether they would follow the Princess to the Adluo palace in the cold Southern Ocean or stay with King Koios in the Atlantic.
    I can’t worry until I have something to worry about , she told herself firmly, and swam faster. Finally she spotted the peaks of the castle’s roofline poking up in the distance. She should tell her father about the strange soldier she’d seen by the shoreline. But then she’d have to tell the reason she was so close to land. She wasn’t ready to tell him she’d lost her first medallion and taken a second out of the storage closets.
    I’d rather tell Mother about Shea first, she thought. She’s more lenient with her consequences.
    Telling her father about the soldier could wait.

Chapter Seven
     
    Shea knew nothing about coastal geography. He’d spent his whole life in Oklahoma, after all. No oceans in Oklahoma. Thus, no coast. It wasn’t something they talked a lot about in his old public school either. Tornadoes, yes. Oceans? Not so much.
    He knew his compass points. And he was a fast learner, since he instantly absorbed and remembered everything he read. From the oversized book on his grandmother’s lobster trap coffee table, he studied the geography and history of Cape Cod. He learned that the Pilgrims first landed on the tip of the Cape, in Provincetown. They eventually decided to sail north to look for safer harbors, finally landing at the famed Plymouth Rock. But Cape Cod was first.
    The Pilgrims had their first encounter with Native Americans on Cape Cod. And many famous pirates had sailed in these waters, going around the arm-like stretch of Massachusetts that juts into the Atlantic Ocean. According to the book, lots of U.S. presidents had vacationed on Cape Cod and the surrounding barrier islands over the years, including John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama.
    Shea read all this and more, but was still dissatisfied. All the information was about the land. There was nothing explaining the shifting sands of the beaches themselves. Nothing talking about the ocean in all its beauty and mystery. Nothing that helped lessen his nightmares.
    Maybe Martha could take me to the library , he thought as he made his way home from the beach. Kae hadn’t been there this morning, and he felt restless. Somehow, having met her the other day made him feel even lonelier than before.
    As he wandered the streets of Windmill Point, he wondered which house belonged to Kae. He decided it had to be one of the big summer mansions along the waterfront, and not one of the smaller cottages. But which one? None of them really looked like they had anyone living there, except maybe the windmill house. That one at least had lights on, the rest looked abandoned. Empty homes with pristine gardens and lawns, thanks to the landscapers who zoomed in and out of the neighborhood once a week. Shea had narrowly escaped being run over one afternoon while walking Lucky.
    He