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"Tender maiden," called Melusina. "Please stay. We shall talk more."

Lena left the cave.

***

"Oh, cousin," said Lorelei. "Look at these garnets! Havfine found a pouch of jewels on his last exploration. I'm going to add them to my necklace. He's very sweet, is he not? And he has asked me to accompany him to the surface later." She fingered her necklace, already heavy with various gems and pearls. "Do you like him?"

Havfine was an adventurous young merman, always jaunting off to exotic locales. Lena did like him, but she was too impatient for girl-talk. "Hav is very nice," she said. "Lori, I want to know how to get a tail."

Lorelei's smile faded.

"Please. My mother won't tell me."

"Then I should certainly not!"

Lena put her hand on Lorelei's arm. "Lorelei. I am in love with Nix. You know I am."

Lorelei's expression softened. "Anyone who looks at you knows that."

"I want to be his equal. My legs slow me down."

"But what if ... what if you want to return to land?"

"That's what I need to find out: whether the change is permanent. My mother says no one knows for sure, because it's been so long since anyone asked for a tail."

"It's—" Lorelei looked down at the blood-red jewels in her hand. "I've heard it's painful."

Lena nodded. That made sense.

Lorelei sang:

"The twain of human legs, with their bones and blood and flesh,

Must knit with tears and pain, as the mermaid's tail doth mesh."

"I understand. But ... is there no song about getting the legs back?"

Lorelei looked uncomfortable. "There is one song."

"Good! Sing it, please."

"It's an ancient song, cousin. Your mother is right ... no human has made the change in recent history. The song must be considered more legend than fact."

"Sing it, please," repeated Lena more firmly.

Lorelei closed her eyes and sang:

"The riving light will take a mermaid's tail,

cleaving it hard in two.

When she walks into the welcoming sea,

her tail returns anew.

The burning sand will take a human's legs,

leaving a strong sleek tail.

When she abandons the clasp of the sea,

her legs return, though frail."

"Her legs return," said Lena. "There's the answer!"

"Frail," said Lorelei. "Did you not listen?"

"I heard. So they're weak ... the song doesn't say they're lame."

"Oh, curse Halia!" cried Lorelei. "It was she who put this idea in your head."

"I'm glad she did. How does it work? Who do I ask?"

Lorelei shoved her handful of garnets back into their pouch and turned away. "I have said enough. And I'm sorry, Selena, but I must get ready for ... for ... I need to surface."

Lena regarded her cousin for a moment, then said, "Then I will find Halia. She seems to know about transforming."

"No!" Lorelei grabbed Lena's arm. "Don't go to Halia. She is my friend, but she is perhaps not the kindest of maids. I will tell you what you wish to know." Lorelei's voice grew hushed. "There is a goddess of the sand. Her name is Psamanthe."

"Psamanthe," murmured Lena. "A goddess of the sand? Like an actual Greek goddess?"

Lorelei said reluctantly, "She is the one you would ask for a tail."

"Can you take me to her?"

"She doesn't live here in the village." Lorelei shook her head as if the idea were preposterous. "She lives in an underground cavern near the shore."

"How do we find her?"

Lorelei fingered the leather pouch holding her garnets. Then she poured them out into her hand again, sifting them between her fingers. Finally she answered, "Hav will know. He travels far and wide. I will ask him, if you like. Are you quite sure, dear cousin?" She looked wistfully at Lena's legs. "They're such pretty limbs. Why would you risk losing them forever?"

"It's not forever. The song said so. And even if—" Lena swallowed. "Even if it were, I probably wouldn't mind. A tail would anchor me to this world."

Lorelei's gaze was full of sorrow. "Or perhaps it would merely imprison you."

CHAPTER 42

Nix pulled Lena onto his lap. "I used to enjoy the solitary nature of patrolling the verge," he said. "Now it is time away from you,