windows. The paths were lined with glowing pearls like Christmas lights.

 

The main courtyard was filled with warriors — mermen with fish tails from the

waist down and human bodies from the waist up, except their skin was blue, which

I'd never known before. Some were tending the wounded. Some were sharpening

spears and swords. One passed us, swimming in a hurry. His eyes were bright

green, like that stuff they put in glo-sticks, and his teeth were shark teeth.

They don't show you stuff like that in The Little Mermaid.

 

Outside the main courtyard stood large fortifications — towers, walls, and

antisiege weapons — but most of these had been smashed to ruins. Others were

blazing with a strange green light that I knew well — Greek fire, which can bum

even underwater.

 

Beyond this, the sea floor stretched into gloom. I could see battles raging —

flashes of energy, explosions, the glint of armies clashing. A regular human

would've found it too dark to see. Heck, a regular human would've been crushed

by the pressure and frozen by the cold. Even my heat-sensitive eyes couldn't

make out exactly what was going on.

 

At the edge of the palace complex, a temple with a red coral roof exploded,

sending fire and debris streaming in slow motion across the farthest gardens.

Out of the darkness above, an enormous form appeared — a squid larger than any

skyscraper. It was surrounded by a glittering cloud of dust — at least I thought

it was dust, until I realized it was a swarm of mermen trying to attack the