“Are you calling my nephew a liar?” said Malcolm in a dangerous growl.
“Of course not, but—”
“We can’t know for sure—” interjected Rhode loudly, but she was drowned out as a dozen voices tried to talk over one another. Simon stood awkwardly in the midst of the commotion, unsure of what to say. Maybe Ariana was right, but he would have bet all of his postcards and his pocket watch that she wasn’t.
At last Crocker raised a gnarled finger. One by one, the others fell silent. “Simon,” he said quietly. “Is that all?”
Once again, Simon considered lying, but this time, he wasn’t so sure he could win without help. So, with some reluctance, he said, “They’re looking for an octopus they think might have—whatever it is they want. I don’t know anything more than that.”
Another murmur rippled through the assembled ambassadors, and Rhode straightened in her seat. “Very well. You’re dismissed. Return to your rooms and wait for further instruction.”
Simon and Winter left the conference room together without argument. Simon had said all he could, and someone sitting at that table was bound to believe him. They were smart people. Even if they thought he was misguided, they would take precautions. They had to.
“I thought Orion’s looking for an orca,” whispered Winter as they walked down the hall.
“He is, but I think an octopus really took it. If anyone’s going to find it, it needs to be a member of the underwater kingdom,” said Simon quietly, turning a corner.
Winter glanced over her shoulder. “Are you sure this is the way to the infirmary?”
“No idea.” Simon stopped at the door nearest the conference room. It was locked. “Hold on.”
After making sure no one was coming, Simon shifted into a fly and slid underneath the door. Once inside the empty room—another conference room almost identical to the first—he shifted back and opened the door for her. “Come on, I want to know what they’re planning.”
Winter groaned. “You need a doctor—”
“This is more important,” he said, and after searching the room, he found an air duct. It wasn’t very big, but once they unscrewed the panel with one of Winter’s barrettes, it was large enough to fit them both, as long as Simon shifted into something small.
With a pang, he once again chose a brown mouse. Simon scampered through the metal duct as Winter in her cottonmouth form slithered behind him, both remaining as quiet as possible. Considering how close they were to the General’s conference room, it didn’t take them long to find the right opening.
“… out of options.” Rhode’s voice drifted through the air duct. Remaining behind the metal grate, Simon and the cottonmouth snake settled in to eavesdrop.
“We’d have plenty of options if you’d listen to me,” said Jam. “Without the shark brigades, we don’t stand a chance. We have to trust our people—”
“I trust our sisters,” said Rhode coldly. “That’s all.”
“You want to pit them against an entire army of sharks?” said Jam. “You’ll get them killed.”
“If I may,” said a deeper voice. Crocker. “Our most pressing problem at the moment is the location of the piece. If we don’t have it, and Orion doesn’t have it, then who does?”
“Simon mentioned an octopus,” said Zia, and Simon could hear someone drumming their nails against the table. “How likely is that intel to be right?”
“Couldn’t say,” mumbled Jam. “Lots of octopuses around the coast. They could be working for Orion, too.”
“What about Isabel Thorn?” said Rhode, her voice like a knife slicing through Simon. He tensed.
“What about her?” said Malcolm. “She’s being held hostage. We know that.”
“We also know she’s helping him,” said Rhode. “How else do you explain Orion knowing where to look for the reptiles’ piece and ours? Isabel is the only person on the planet who knows where both are hidden.”
“Orion could easily have multiple sources,” said Malcolm. “If someone in your inner circle is leaking intelligence—”
“There may or may not be a spy in my kingdom, but we know for a fact that Isabel is feeding him information,” said Rhode. “What is our goal?”
A pause. “To stop the sharks from attacking us?” said Jam uncertainly.
“No. Our goal—our ultimate goal—is to stop Orion from getting the pieces of the Predator,” said Rhode. “How many does he have now?”
“We don’t know for sure,” said Zia. “But if you’re saying what I think you’re saying …”
“We need to protect the Animalgam world above all else,” said Rhode. “There are countless lives at stake. If Orion puts the Predator together, there’s a very good chance we will never be able to defeat him. Not with the entire bird kingdom on his side.”
“They’re not on his side,” said Jam hotly. “Simon isn’t, his mom isn’t—”
“The flock is,” murmured Crocker. “But even then, it would be next to impossible for Orion to succeed.”
“He’s trying,” said Rhode. “And he has all the information he needs in Isabel.”
“The Black Widow Queen moved our piece the instant we found out Simon’s mother was kidnapped,” said Ariana. “It doesn’t matter if Orion gets the other pieces. He’ll never find ours.”
“But what if he does?” said Rhode. “Everyone trusted Isabel. Our kingdoms have put our lives and our future in her hands, and now she’s working with the enemy. The smartest thing for us to do is to neutralize the threat she poses the first chance we get.”
Simon stared through the metal grate, his jaw hanging open. Neutralize? Did Rhode mean—
“And how exactly do you plan on neutralizing her, Colonel?” said Malcolm, his eyes narrowing.
“The same way we neutralize all living threats, Alpha,” said Rhode coolly. “We find Isabel Thorn, and we eliminate her.”
13
A JIGGLE OF JELLYFISH
Eliminate.
Simon’s blood turned to ice as the world around him seemed to grow muffled. He didn’t need to be raised in the underwater kingdom to know what Rhode meant by eliminate.
She wanted to kill his mother.
“I’m afraid I can’t let that happen,” said Malcolm. He stood, towering over the rest of them. “Isabel is family. She is the mother of my nephews, and she is under the protection of my kingdom.”
“Your piece is already gone, isn’t it?” said Rhode evenly. “You’ve already failed at your job.”
Through the grate, Simon saw Malcolm’s mouth twitch. “Isabel has spent her life protecting the pieces and preventing anyone from assembling them. Whatever reason she has for sharing this information with Orion, I trust her.”
“I do not,” said Rhode.
“You barely know her,” he rumbled. “And I won’t stand here and let you pass judgment on a situation you know nothing about. My kingdom will fight you every step of the way, Colonel.”
“The only person I have any interest in fighting right now is Orion,” she said. “But if you declare yourself our enemy in the middle of this crisis, we will remember, Alpha.”
Malcolm let out a sound that was eerily similar to a wolf’s growl, and his focus slid from Rhode to Jam. “My family and I are leaving. We require the immediate use of one of your submarines.”
“I—” Jam began, clearly startled. But Rhode interrupted before he could get any further.
“The armies are mobilizing, which means the docks are closed,” she said. “And they will remain closed until the battle is over.”
Malcolm snarled, baring his teeth. “I wasn’t talking to you.”
“I don’t care who you were talking to. Private Fluke is a child, and I am the General’s second in command. There is no going over my head, Alpha. You will be granted passage on the first vessel to leave Atlantis afterward, but not a moment sooner.”
Spewing curses—some of which Simon had never heard before—Malcolm banged his fist against the
table. “Fine. Claim command. If this goes wrong and anything happens to my family, when the General wakes up, you’ll be the one explaining why you’re suddenly at war with the bird kingdom and the mammals.”
Malcolm stormed out of the conference room, slamming the door behind him. Zia stood as well, and after shooting a reproachful look at Rhode, she followed.
A long moment passed. Resounding silence filled the air, and all Simon could hear was his own shallow breathing.
“I like Isabel,” said Rhode quietly, seeming shaken despite her strength. “This is a difficult decision for all of us, make no mistake, but we must put the security of the Animalgam world first.”
“We should be rescuing her, not killing her,” said Jam, angrily pushing his replacement glasses up his nose.
“She’s Orion’s most valuable asset,” said Rhode. “He will never let her out of the flock’s sight. Even if we were to attempt a rescue mission, we simply don’t have the numbers above water. The flock is too powerful.”
“But—we can’t,” he said, his voice cracking. “She’s Simon’s mom. We can’t.”
“Being a leader means making tough choices,” said Rhode. “And no matter how we each feel about her, we must set aside personal affection and make the right decision for our families, for our people, and for each other.”
Simon felt Winter’s dry, scaly tail brush his, almost as a comforting gesture. But this couldn’t be happening. Even if Rhode wanted to—to eliminate his mother, no one else would. They couldn’t.
“The Black Widow Queen would approve,” said Ariana’s adviser, answering Simon’s unspoken protest. “Your Highness?”
For a long moment, Ariana was quiet. When she did speak, it was so softly that Simon could barely hear her. “She would.”
Right as Simon felt like he was about to be sick, Jam stood, furious. “Do you?” he challenged. “You can’t hide behind your mother on this, Ariana. We’re talking about someone’s life—”
“I’m not hiding.” Ariana remained seated, sounding exhausted. “I’m here to represent my kingdom, and the Black Widow Queen would agree with Rhode. But no one else does,” she added. “So it’s pointless.”
“It isn’t pointless,” said Rhode. “If we can’t retrieve our kingdom’s piece of the Predator before Orion finds it, then we may have no choice. Especially with a spy in our midst.”
“That, I believe, is the main issue we are facing,” said Ariana’s adviser.
“So now you think it isn’t a trick?” said Jam with a huff.
“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. But all of this planning will be ruined if it gets to Orion first,” said Lord Anthony.
Rhode exhaled sharply. “We can’t take that chance. I’m taking Simon Thorn and Winter Rivera into protective custody. Simon himself admitted he has a way to sneak out of the city,” she added loudly enough to be heard over the others’ objections. “Orion is holding Simon’s mother captive. We can’t ignore the possibility that he might be coercing Simon into working for him and feeding us bad information.”
“And your excuse for Winter Rivera?” This came from Crocker, and though he didn’t growl the way Malcolm did, there was something bone-chilling in his voice. Rhode didn’t flinch.
“She was raised by Orion and could still have sympathies.”
“Simon. Simon.” Winter poked him with her tail. “We need to go.”
He blinked, as if pulling himself out of a dream. Rhode was really going to try to kill his mother. “I need to get to the surface again,” he said as he hurried through the air duct and back to the empty conference room.
“I’m coming with you,” said Winter as she followed, her scales dry against the metal. “I’m not waiting around for them to arrest me, thank you very much.”
For once, Simon didn’t argue with her. The din of voices quieted until he heard only silence, and as he shifted back into a human, he gulped. “I don’t know how to get you out of the city.”
“Get me to the ocean,” she said, brushing dust off her skirt. “We’ll find out if I can really swim.”
Together they ran down the corridors, making sure to check each corner for a soldier before turning. Thanks to the mirrors, they were nearly caught twice, but somehow, miraculously, they made it to the stairwell without anyone spotting them.
“We can’t get through security at the entrance, so we’ll have to come up with a way to distract the guards stationed at the tunnel in the basement,” said Simon as they hurried down the steps. “And as soon as we get to the ocean, you need to swim to the surface as fast as you can. If you can’t, let me know, and—”
“Argh!”
He hit something hard and flew against the wall, nearly losing his balance. A hand reached out and caught the fabric of his sweatshirt, and it was only blind luck that Simon managed to hang on to the railing to stop them both from falling.
“What—” he said, but as soon as the other figure righted himself, Simon’s eyes widened. “Nolan! What are you doing?”
“I—” His brother floundered for a moment, looking back and forth between him and Winter. “I was trying to find your stupid mouse for you. What are you doing?”
After making sure no one was in the stairwell with them, Simon grabbed Nolan’s arm and marched him down the steps to the basement. It was mostly the same as the upper floors, but without the mirrored hallways, and there was thankfully a distinct lack of security. Finding a storage closet full of what looked like old radio equipment, Simon pulled his brother and Winter inside, closing the door behind them and flipping on the light.
“Rhode wants to kill Mom,” he blurted.
Nolan blinked, any trace of his anger earlier that night forgotten. “What?”
Speaking as fast as he could, Simon explained the whole story—or at least as much of it as he could tell Nolan, who grew paler by the second.
“But—they can’t hurt Mom,” he said, a note of panic in his voice. “They can’t. She hasn’t done anything wrong.”
“She’s giving Orion information,” said Simon. “That’s enough for Rhode.”
Nolan clenched his jaw and started toward the door. “We can’t let them—”
Winter stepped in front of the door, blocking his way. “What are you going to do that Malcolm hasn’t already tried? With the General unconscious, Rhode is running things.”
“She’ll listen to us—all of us, if we tell her,” said Nolan, trying to get around her. Simon grabbed his elbow.
“No, she won’t. She thinks Winter and I are spying for Orion.”
“But—that’s crazy,” said Nolan, shaking his arm loose. “You’re not a spy.”
The matter-of-fact way he said it shouldn’t have surprised Simon, but it did. Maybe he was so used to being at odds with his brother that he simply expected Nolan to believe the worst in him. “I know that, and you know that, but they don’t,” said Simon. “And they’re going to arrest me and Winter as soon as they find us. We aren’t the spies, but someone in the city—someone close to the General and the summit—is leaking information to Orion. That’s how he knew to attack the General, and where he and Jam would be.”
His twin’s expression darkened, and for a long moment, Nolan didn’t say anything. “They can’t arrest you.”
“They’re going to, unless Winter and I can get out of here,” said Simon. “Rhode said there’s scuba gear down here. We’re going to borrow a few oxygen tanks and swim to the surface.” Lying to Nolan made him feel like his mouth was full of sand, but he didn’t know what else to do or say. Now definitely wasn’t the time to tell him he wasn’t the only one with the powers of the Beast King.
“Where will you go?” said his brother.
“To warn Mom and make sure no one hurts her.” That, at least, wasn’t a lie.
“You know where she is?”
Simon nodded. “She’s with Orion and the rest of the flock. I can sneak by them.”
“I want to come,” he said immediately. “Maybe
I can help.”
Behind Nolan, Winter shook her head furiously, and any hope Simon had of getting out of that closet without a fight evaporated. She was right. Nolan couldn’t come, not if Simon wanted to keep his secret, and he was positive that if Nolan found out he also had the Beast King’s abilities to turn into any animal he wanted, it would be the end of their fragile relationship. Nolan was far too proud about being the only one, about being something special, and Simon couldn’t steal that from him. Not unless he absolutely had to.
But what was Simon supposed to say? That it was too dangerous? That would only upset him, and they didn’t have time for arguments. Helpless, he opened and shut his mouth, searching for something to say. Before he could, however, Winter spoke.
“There’s a tunnel down here that leads out into the ocean. If you want to help, we need someone to distract the guards so we can escape,” she said. Nolan started to object, but she cut him off. “If Simon and I don’t get out of here, they’re going to throw us in the brig for treason. Is that what you want?”
“I—” Nolan looked to Simon. “I want to help. Really help, not just run around like an idiot for a minute.”
“Then—you can find the real spy,” said Simon, his mind racing. At least this might make his brother feel useful, even if he doubted it would work. “Pay attention to everyone. See who’s listening to something they shouldn’t be, or if someone disappears a lot, or—I don’t know. Anything. Ariana knows a lot about it. If you ask her, she’ll help.”
“I guess I can do that,” grumbled Nolan, much to Simon’s relief. “What am I supposed to do when I find them?”
“Tell Malcolm. But don’t do anything dangerous, all right?”
He snorted. “You’re the one talking about sneaking into Orion’s army.”
“Yeah, but I’m not you,” said Simon, his voice heavy with meaning. “You’re more important. So just—stay safe. Please.”
Reluctantly Nolan nodded. “You, too. And sucker punch Orion in the gut for me.”
“If you two are done bonding,” said Winter irritably, “we need to go. If they haven’t already figured out we aren’t in our rooms—”