ANGEL WAS GONE.
Mariana swam through her sister’s condo, making a mental list of what was missing: the slate tablets of notes Angel kept stacked on the desk in the study, the box of urchin spines she stored next to the Human perfume bottle of octopus ink, that bottle of octopus ink, and the sea-pak from the foyer closet.
The shutters were closed on every window, and cloth¬ing was strewn all over the bedroom, the Human shirts Angel had bought at the Salvager’s Market floating atop the furniture in the soft current that wended through downtown Atlantis. This mess wasn’t like Angel. She was a total neat freak about her “treasures,” only getting maniacal like this for one reason.
Mariana somersaulted back to the living room. The sea stars were missing. The little colony of colorful echinoderms Angel had recently adopted from Rod’s office usually spent the day wandering around the coral sculpture Mariana had designed for just that purpose.
She swam over to the kitchen sink. Yep. The herd of sea horses who roosted on the anemones in the window boxes were gone, too, as were the hatchetfish who lit the place at night. The transparent squid mantle that amplified their glow was now hanging empty from the ceiling.
Even the annoyingly deaf flounder under the front door had been missing when she’d let herself in. The
fish was a stupid idea for a welcome mat, but that was Angel—all about helping the helpless.
Angel had gone on an expedition.
As sure as Mariana was swimming here, she knew that Angel had disobeyed The Council’s orders and was off, somewhere in the ocean, meandering after Humans. It was what Angel did. The fact that it had been prohib-ited by The Council wouldn’t have stopped her.
Zeus. Couldn’t one member of this family stay away from Humans? First Reel, then Rod. Now Angel was swimming after them like a dogfish with a whale bone. What was so appealing about those bipedal land-dwellers? Mariana had yet to meet one worth endanger-ing her life for.
She dove over the sofa, her flukes startling the sea cucumbers residing there into doing The Wave—poor things had so little to amuse themselves—and lifted the lid on the sea chest Angel used as a table.
It figured. Angel hadn’t taken the harpoon.
Mariana took the monstrosity out, giving wide berth to the sharp point. Raised with stories of the damage these could do, she had a healthy respect for the Human weapon.
Which was why Angel should know better. No one set off into the wild blue under without one. Especially not alone. But Angel was so Hades-bent on proving herself, she’d probably considered her profession’s tools more important than the one thing that could save her life.
Mariana wanted to hook her. Besides the fact that Angel could, at this very minute, be fighting off a shark or sailfish or orca without the harpoon, their brother was going to pop a fin when he heard about this. Gods knew,
he already had enough stress dealing with the increase in iceberg calving rates; he didn’t need this added mess.
And that’s what it would turn into. Hades, they’d just gotten their parents off on the trip through the Seven Seas that they’d put off far too long. One hint of dis-sension among the Tritone offspring would have their parents Travel-Chambering home in no time flat.
And that was the last thing Mariana wanted.
Because, while her family waited for some sea creature to show up with Angel in tow, they’d all end up sitting around, kumbaya-ing in their parents’ living room, and the conversation would turn, as it always did now that her brothers were happily married, to Mariana’s work.
Mariana took the quiver out of the treasure chest and slung it over her shoulder. Let Angel have a fit that she was using this thing as Humans intended; Mariana didn’t care. Her work wouldn’t stand up to the family’s scrutiny. Not this project.
That’s why she had to get Angel back here—without anyone knowing her sister had been gone.
Mariana tucked the harpoon in the quiver, unable to repress a shiver as the sheathed steel slid against her skin. She worked with molten lava, so she was used to eruptions. Knew how to protect herself from getting burned.
But if anyone found out Angel was gone—or that Mariana had known and hadn’t said anything—she wasn’t sure she could manage the fallout from this one.