The Little Sea Monster by Elizabeth K. King

Author:Elizabeth K. King
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mermaid books for teens, dark little mermaid retelling, summer books for teens, little mermaid retelling teens, dark fairytale, fairytale retelling young adult, horror for young adults
Publisher: Elizabeth K. King
Published: 2024-07-30T00:00:00+00:00

Predator

Perpetua lay awake for most of the night, staring into the darkness, haunted by the rumble of the ocean through the open window. The little sleep she managed was tattered, interrupted by evil dreams of vicious sea gods and orphaned naiads and witches working dark magic.

When she finally dragged herself from bed sometime close to noon, she found herself alone. Briar had already gone for the day to work on her submarine. Perpetua had gone with her once or twice—not that she was much help—but she found herself wishing she’d gotten up earlier so she could have gone with her today.

Because the last thing she wanted was to be alone. Alone with her thoughts.

She ran a hand through her bedraggled hair, then rubbed at her tired eyes. Last night, in the cave with Meliora, she’d gotten so caught up in the naiad’s tale. She’d felt so connected to it. But now, in the morning’s stark light, she wished Meliora hadn’t told her any of it.

After all, what was she supposed to do about it? She couldn’t stop Sohalia, whatever she was up to. Meliora had told her to report anything else the sea witch asked of her, but Perpetua didn’t think Sohalia would approach her after all this time. She hadn’t bothered to seek Perpetua out, either to punish her or extract more favors from her. And Perpetua wasn’t about to go looking for the sea witch. Not if Sohalia had decided to leave her be.

And anyway, Perpetua thought, splashing cold water onto her face, maybe Meliora was wrong. She only suspected Sohalia was after something dangerous. She didn’t actually know. Either way, it seemed best to leave all that to Meliora. She was a Ternion naiad; if anyone could handle the sea witch, she could. What could she, Perpetua, be expected to do?

It had nothing to do with her, she told herself firmly. Besides, she had other, better things to think about.

Like Demetri.

A hazy image of Demetri’s face formed in her mind, and all thoughts of Meliora and her tragic tale fled. Over the past couple of weeks, Demetri had found few new leads in his investigation, so he’d had a lot of time to spend with Perpetua. They’d done all sorts of things—horseback riding and shopping and hiking and playing cards. They’d visited a pub or two, and watched fireworks on the beach, and eaten ice cream in the town square. Demetri had even taught her the basics of fighting with a sword.

The only problem was, Perpetua was fairly certain she had lied to Demetri when she’d told him they were just friends. Or rather, when she’d implied she could just be friends with him. Because the more time they spent together, the more she felt she wanted to be much more to him.

She was going out with him again tomorrow. And that was all she wanted to think about right now. Not Meliora and her gloom-and-doom fears.

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