And beyond it, the man’s face, no longer in the shadows. As she did, she glimpsed her own reflection in the glass. Something about him drew her closer, something as powerful as the tides. The mermaid’s fins prickled, but she ignored her fear. It pushed through the silvered glass and hovered in the water-a question instead of an answer. “How do you know my name? Who are you?” she demanded. But she could see that at his neck, a flawless black pearl hung from a chain. I’ll make you powerful, more powerful than any creature alive.” I’ll put an end to the cruel words, the laughter. They mock you and call you weak, yet you have the blood of the greatest mage who ever lived running through your veins. He was inside a mirror that was hanging on a wall. There was someone else there, she saw, but not in the room. The mermaid spun around with the speed of a tarpon, her heart thumping in her chest, her hand on the hilt of her sword. She caught a blur of darkness, a pale face. Not once they’d learned the truth.Īs she swam toward the bed, something moved behind her. I should have helped them.īut they wouldn’t have wanted her help. I should have stayed with them, she thought. She saw it advancing on the others-Ling, Ava, Neela, Becca, and Sera-and tearing them apart. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw it-Abbadon, the monster. She swam upstairs and found a room that offered her a soft, anemone-filled bed. The downstairs rooms showed signs of violence-an overturned table, smashed plates, toys scattered across the floor. She entered it cautiously, startling some mackerel. A small house, its door off the hinges, was directly in front of her. She was weary and night was coming with its many dangers. Satisfied no looters were near, the mermaid sheathed her sword. Where the mer had been taken, no one knew. The few who’d managed to escape told of soldiers in black who’d come for them with weapons and cages. The mermaid was traveling back to Ondalina, her arctic home, and had seen many such villages on her way. Predators of another kind prowled them, too-looters who ransacked the houses of the disappeared for anything of value. Blacktip sharks were known to hunt along the lonely currents that swept through abandoned villages. She held it in front of her, both hands gripping the hilt, as she moved through the deserted village. THE MERMAID’S SWORD glinted in the watery twilight of Tanner’s Deeps. I am going to take you on journeys you’ve never dreamed were possible.

Dark tide book jennifer donnelly