The Mermaids Madness

creeping into my body. Looking back, I suspect she was hoping to prepare my body so she could claim it for herself when she grew too old. I didn’t understand at the time, though. All I knew was that I didn’t like the feel of her hands on mine as we practiced or the nightmares I had afterward. So I pretended to fail until she gave up on me.”
    Finding new and inventive ways to fail had been the best part of those lessons. From a levitation spell that blasted the ashes from the hearth to that sleeping draft that loosened the bowels, it hadn’t been long before Snow’s mother proclaimed her magically worthless. Though it was what Snow had wanted, a part of her had mourned the end of their lessons. They were the only times her mother had paid her any attention.
    “I would sneak in to read her books when she was away, but I was never as skilled as she was. I could never create a mirror this powerful.” She touched the gap in the front of her choker. “Without her mirror, I doubt I’d even be able to create these.”
    “Would you like me to tell Danielle to look for a more powerful witch?”
    “Sorceress.” Snow glared at Talia, who matched the expression. Snow broke first, smiling despite her weariness. “Keep it up, and I’ll show you what powerful really means.”
    “So what’s stopping you from finding Lirea?”
    Snow turned back to the mirror. “Each time I get close, something pushes me away. I don’t know if it’s the magic of the knife, Lirea herself, or something else.”
    Talia turned away at the sound of footsteps in the armory. Through the doorway, Snow saw Danielle standing in the armory, studying the ceiling.
    Snow hopped down from the barrel, grimacing at the cramps in her legs as she joined Danielle. “What are you doing?”
    “I’ve never realized how big the ocean really is,” said Danielle.
    An intricate tile mosaic formed a map of Lorindar on the armory ceiling.Amethysts marked the borders of Fairytown near the center. A crystal palace sat on the northeast tip of the island. Slate tiles crept through lapis lazuli seas, each one a different ship from the Lorindar navy.
    Weapons of every shape and size hung from wooden pegs on the walls, from the sharpened steel snowflakes Talia had made for Snow to the weighted training sticks Talia used for her workouts.
    Danielle’s enchanted sword hung point-down by one of the lanterns, the glass blade reflecting the flicker of the lantern flame. The hilt was cast in the shape of a hazel tree, with wood inlaid in the glass for a better grip. Though it appeared fragile, Talia knew from experience that weapon was as deadly as anything in this room. The blade was smooth and perfect, clear as rainwater save for a handspan of glass above the cross guard. There the glass was thicker, frosted white where Snow’s magic had repaired it a year before.
    Danielle bent down, retrieving a small tile that had fallen to the floor. Snow reached out to take it from her.
    “The Branwyn .” Snow pressed the tile to the ceiling. Magic should have held it in place, showing them the ship’s location. Instead, the tile dropped to the ground.
    “How?” Danielle asked, staring at the ship. “I thought the Branwyn was a warship.”
    Talia watched the other tiles creep across the ceiling. “Merfolk tear a ship apart from beneath. By the time you realize they’re beneath you, your ship is already taking on water. We’re fortunate they didn’t sink the Glass Slipper .”
    “You think Lirea did this?” Danielle asked.
    “Maybe.” Snow slipped the tile into her pocket. “Even if she attacked the Branwyn , she’d be long gone by the time we reached the wreckage.”
    “I don’t suppose you could craft a tile to find Lirea?” Talia asked.
    Snow shook her head. “I spent months enchanting that map and sneaking down to the docks to plant a matching tile on every ship in the fleet.”
    “Beatrice doesn’t have months,” said Danielle. “According to Father Isaac, her body won’t survive more than a week or two.”
    “We can’t search an entire ocean in two weeks,” Talia protested.
    “No.” Snow stepped to one side, making sure Danielle was between Talia and herself. “If we can’t find Lirea, maybe we should look for someone else who might be able to help us.”
    “Her sister Lannadae.” Danielle studied the map again. “If Beatrice really was hiding her, she’d be close by. We could start by searching near the harbor, and then—”
    Snow