Poseidon's realm, and I'd been dreaming about it for years. But my head hurt. My

shirt was still speckled with bum marks from the explosion. My arm and leg

wounds had healed — just being in the ocean can do that for me, given enough

time — but I still felt like I'd been trampled by a Laistrygonian soccer team in

cleats.

 

"How long — "

 

"We found you last night," Tyson said, "sinking through the water."

 

"The Princess Andromeda ?"

 

"Went ka-boom," Tyson confirmed.

 

"Beckendorf was on board. Did you find . . ."

 

Tyson's face darkened. "No sign of him. I am sorry, brother."

 

I stared out the window into deep blue water. Beckendorf was supposed to go to

college in the fall.

 

He had a girlfriend, lots of friends, his whole life ahead of him. He couldn't

be gone. Maybe he'd made it off the ship like I had. Maybe he'd jumped over the

side . . . and what? He couldn't have survived a hundred-foot fall into the

water like I could. He couldn't have put enough distance between himself and the