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“I do,” Kano said, “very well.”

  The black starfish stayed close to the bottom, and nothing else swam in the murky water above the junkyard. With no obstacles or threats to slow us down, we reached the city in good time. As we approached the towering entrance, my gaze was drawn up across the intricate lattice of the dome. Here and there I saw a hint of gleaming metal beneath the black tarnish that was corroding the surface of the structure. It was easy to envision the dome in its glory, and my heart ached for the lost beauty.

  Bristolmeir’s fate was worse than I had imagined.

  “How could this happen?” I asked.

  At a loss for words, Kano shrugged and shook his head.

  An unexpected, high-pitched screech shattered the silence and brought both of us to a lurching halt. I didn’t have to ask Kano what monster had made the frightening noise. The creature stood between us and the gateway into the city.

  The beast was twenty feet tall and covered in overlapping red plates. Its face was a fusion of human and crustacean features with a flat nose, spiny whiskers, and black recessed eyes. It had two sturdy armored legs with spiny hair along the back edges and feet with three clawed toes. Both arms were armored like the legs, with a hook and a clamp instead of hands.

  “What is it?” I whispered to Kano.

  “I am Krogan, guardian of Bristolmeir gate!” the monster roared.

  I had come too far to be stopped by a bellowing lobster. Argo had allowed us to pass when he learned my identity as a fairy-godmother-in-training. I hoped the same thing would work with Krogan. Drawing on every ounce of courage I possessed, I swam in front of Kano to state my case.

  “I am Sumi Hara of the Yugen Lineage, and I’m on a mission to find the pieces of my family’s lost talisman. The last piece is in Bristolmeir, but you are blocking the way in,” I said.

  Krogan leaned over to peer into my eyes and softened his voice. “My job is not to keep you out.”

  I blinked. “Then what are you doing here?”

  Krogan straightened and swept his arm across the vista of trash and debris. “I am here for the same reason the Bristolmeir fairies and mermaids built this barrier around the city: to keep the evil Queen Mitsu and her rot in.”

  I tensed at the mention of an evil queen. Jealous, power-crazed women existed in fairy tales written by old men in the 1800s, but no such beings lived in Aventurine. Okasan would have told me … unless she didn’t know.

  Kano didn’t dispute Krogan’s claim. He seemed relieved.

  “The fairies dumped all this junk, Kano!” I exclaimed. “Why aren’t you upset?”

  “Because they dumped it for a reason,” Kano said. “Anything that serves a useful purpose isn’t junk.”

  “Okay,” I agreed. “Imprisoning an evil queen is a good reason to litter, but it’s hard to believe someone that horrible lives in Aventurine.”

  Frowning, Kano flicked his tail in agitation and asked the guardian, “How did someone so evil take over?”

  “Queen Mitsu wasn’t always evil.” Krogan sat on his haunches and sighed. “She was once as beautiful and gentle as all the fairies and creatures of Bristolmeir. She adored gardens and sculptures and mosaics, and she encouraged everyone to use their talents to create beauty.”

  “What changed?” Kano asked.

  “In time, the fairies’ creations weren’t beautiful enough,” Krogan explained. “Queen Mitsu wanted everything to be perfect, and her quest for perfection corrupted everything and everyone within her realm.”

  I was shocked. “Why hasn’t she noticed that her realm has become trashed?”

  The giant lobster creature sighed again. “She lives alone beneath Bristolmeir, where her delusions shield her. Anytime she tries to surface, the sight of the junk drives her back down to her shelter. We thought it was safer to contain her in her denial. She’s very powerful.”

  “But it should never have gotten this bad,” Kano said. “Fairies always band together to convert evil to good or to drive it out.”

  “We tried,” Krogan growled. “When the darkness and rot first began to creep through the crystal corridors, all the fairies of Bristolmeir sought to reverse the queen’s evil influence—and failed.”

  “Please, forgive my confusion,” Kano said, “but I do not understand why all could not stop one.”

  “She is a queen, Kano,” I said.

  “We waited too long,” Krogan added. “Everyone hoped Queen Mitsu would realize that beauty isn’t perfect and perfect isn’t possible, but she didn’t. Then her power suddenly surged, and our chance was lost.”

  “But you can’t give up!” I glared at the creature.

  “I haven’t,” Krogan said, “but all I can do now is prevent the queen’s corruption from spreading beyond the realm of Bristolmeir.”

  I felt bad for him and for Bristolmeir, and despite Krogan’s dedication, I feared that the queen’s evil might spread to infect all of Aventurine. I wanted to help, but first I had to complete my mission.

  “Will you let us enter the city?” I asked.

  “Of course,” Krogan answered. “But anyone who enters might become tainted as well, and go on to spread evil throughout Aventurine. So you can go in, but you can never come out.”

  10

  Bristolmeir

  Krogan’s threat scared me. I did not want to be trapped forever under the Bristolmeir dome, but I had to enter. The final shard was in the city.

  “Are you sure you want to go on?” Krogan asked as Kano and I swam past.

  I paused and looked up into the guardian’s face. Even with his grotesque features, I could tell he feared for our safety. “Yes, Krogan, I’m sure. I can’t abandon my quest. But don’t worry. We’ll be fine.”

  “I wish you well,” Krogan said, “but nothing within Queen Mitsu’s domain is ever fine.”

  Disturbed but committed, I put the warning out of my mind and joined Kano.

  The entrance to Bristolmeir was a solid white gate that stretched forty feet from the ground to the peak of the arch. It was embossed with delicate designs that reminded me of scrimshaw, the sailor’s art of black etchings on whalebone. Instead of old ships, whales, and sailing artifacts, the gate was covered with pictures of ocean and land life: anemones, clams, fish, and lacy seaweed were twined with flowers, birds, odd little animals, and fairies with elegant fins instead of wings. But like everything else in the underwater city, the beautiful gate was corroded by the queen’s evil. Splotches of black rot and mold were visible on the white surface. Pits and cracks marred the details in the etchings, and the colors in the embossed lines were bleeding together.

  “How do we open the gate to get in?” Kano called back to Krogan.

  “I’m starting to like you guys,” the creature said. “I won’t help you on your journey to doom.”

  I’d never been so annoyed by someone liking me before.

  Staring straight at the door didn’t reveal any cracks or knobs. Kano ran his hands along the edges to see if that would trip a secret catch to make the door open. In fashion, I know that I always have to look at a dress from different angles to make sure that it fits correctly. I stood off to the side and tried to let my eyes see the door without looking right at it. Suddenly I noticed a large circular dent near the bottom. Measuring four feet across, it was decorated like a sand dollar and divided into five sections.

  “Is the dome filled with air?” I asked.

  Kano nodded. “Yes, but water breathers live inside, too.”

  “Then the entrance has to work for both, right?” I pressed the drawing in the middle of the sand dollar design.

  The gate slid open and closed behind us after we swam into a large entry pool. The walls were made of the same off-white substance as the gate and showed similar signs of damage. Two channels split off from the pool, one to the right and the other to the left. There was air above us. Even in the gray gloom, I recognized the pattern of light on the surface of the water.

  “Mermaids have lungs, too,” Kano
said. “Our gills will shut down as soon as we leave the water.”

  “Then let’s go!” I said, smiling at him to cover up how nervous I was to be entering this evil queen’s lair.

  What if the fifth shard was buried in the ruins of her realm, never to be found? What if she discovered us here and decided to punish us?

  I pushed the negative thoughts to the back of my mind and leapt out of the water. Although my lungs immediately began to take in air, I needed a moment to adjust. Sitting on the edge of the round pool with my tail dangling in water, I wrung out my hair and studied the large chamber.

  It was shaped like an upside-down bowl. The walls were covered with shells of various sizes and shapes.

  Several really large snail-like creatures huddled in an alcove on the far wall. At first, I thought they were dead. Then I realized they were just moving really slowly. A few creatures that looked like miniature Krogans slept inside the transparent snail shells. A worn path followed the curve of the wall and gradually descended into the pool.

  “Why are those snail shells in here?” I asked in a whisper.

  “They were underwater transports before Queen Mitsu made them sick,” Kano explained.

  “I think we should leave before those little lobster things notice us.”

  “I think you’re right.” Kano pulled his tail out of the water. “Would you rather be an animal with a hard shell for protection or something that can run fast and hide?”

  “I can run fast and hide.” I promptly lifted my tail and completed the transformation into Sumi the girl. I was still wearing the clothes from the fairy wardrobe: lace-up sandals, gray-blue dress, silver scarf, and beaded bracelets.

  Without comment, Kano changed into a whole boy, dressed in the blue tunic, white shirt, gray leggings, and black boots he’d had on when we first met. His clothes were dry.

  My dress and scarf were wet. I shivered, but I didn’t tell Kano I was cold. I closed my eyes and pictured water evaporating from the fabric. Thirty seconds later, my clothes were dry, too.

  I was feeling really proud about what I’d figured out, but before I could brag, one of the snails squeaked. I glanced over just as a minilobster slid out from under the shell.

  “Let’s go!” I tugged on Kano’s sleeve.

  We spotted a larger sand dollar door in the wall just as the creature noticed us. It shrieked and gave chase, waving two of its clawed legs. It slipped on the smooth ground, and we easily beat it to the door, which opened as we approached and closed after we sprang through. I looked at the engravings on the door to figure out if there was a lock, but it seemed like the door had automatically locked itself.

  “I wasn’t sure about this form, Sumi,” Kano said as he gave his arms and legs an approving once-over, “but it might be the best for traveling through the city. It won’t be ideal for everything, though,” he added. “Luck as much as ability kept the minimonster from catching us. We might have to transform again if our circumstances change.”

  “I know,” I said with a smile. “But if it rains, I won’t grow a toadstool on my head.”

  “Well, I guess a bat-wing umbrella or duckfeather hair will repel water just as well.”

  “Psh. No, I’m over all of that,” I said.

  Kano grinned. “Duck-feather hair is too … yesterday?” he asked.

  “Exactly,” I said with a wink.

  At the moment, nothing threatened us, and we paused to take stock of our surroundings. The area outside the entrance door had been a plaza with gardens, mosaic pathways, pools, and crystal fountains. The plants had withered and rotted. The paths were riddled with potholes and cracks, and the water in the pools had dried up or stagnated.

  Is everything in Bristolmeir festering in Queen Mitsu’s evil? I wondered, and glanced back at the door. The sand dollar pattern had been damaged by moldy crud, but the door still operated. And now that I wasn’t running for my life, I could spare a moment for simple curiosity.

  “Why did the door open for us and not the creature?” I asked Kano.

  “Because your goody-good-goodness hasn’t been spoiled by Queen Mitsu,” a silky voice said. “And that creature was a fairy once. She didn’t escape the queen’s evil, sad to say.”

  The speaker was hidden behind a tangle of black thorns and vines. Kano carefully parted the dead foliage.

  A brown dog with floppy ears was sprawled across a large rock. A milky film covered its eyes, and its black nose was dry and cracked. A gray tongue dangled from one side of its mouth. When I looked closer, I realized that the dog had a seal’s body and flippers with dog paws. Its curly, coarse brown coat was bare in spots, and tufts of lost fur had been pushed into a pile.

  “Why did the creature chase us?” I asked.

  “To warn you or to eat you,” the dog replied. “It doesn’t matter now. You are here, and soon you will be lost, too.”

  “Who are you?” I asked.

  “I am Darcy, the fairy’s faithful companion,” the dog said. “Now I stand watch, keeping Ilsa safe in the futile hope that the queen will be stopped and Bristolmeir reborn.”

  Kano pointed to a large black pod in the mud beside the rock. “Is Ilsa in that cocoon?”

  “Yes.” The dog groaned as it turned to look. “A few fairies managed to hibernate. Others were corrupted. I know not what became of those who left. They were determined to stop Queen Mitsu’s horror from spreading.”

  “They tried and failed, it seems,” Kano said.

  “And her power is growing.” Darcy sighed and began to nod off.

  The evil that infected the city felt tangible now. Besides a sour taste in the air, I could sense a pitch-black darkness seeping through my pores and into my blood. I wanted to run.

  But I couldn’t.

  I had been entrusted with the honor and talisman of my fairy godmother lineage. I couldn’t leave until the Yugen mirror and my mission were complete.

  Queen Kumari’s helpful hint suddenly flashed through my mind: “The last shard lies beneath Bristolmeir, at the bottom of the sea.”

  “How do I get under the city?” I asked, but I was too late. The dog had fallen asleep and didn’t stir when Kano nudged it. “Everything is such a mess. We’ll never find the way.”

  “Yes, we will,” Kano said.

  “How can you be sure?” I glanced down the remains of three walkways. “Queen Patchouli’s compass potion was only designed to find Bristolmeir, not the shards.”

  “You found the first four,” Kano said, “or they found you.”

  I hadn’t thought about it before, but I realized Kano was right. The missing mirror pieces had always shown up where I was sure to find them. I had no choice now but to follow my instincts and hope they led me to the last one.

  “Which way?” Kano asked.

  None of the three paths beckoned, so I chose the one in the middle. I didn’t have a reason. It just seemed like the right thing to do.

  It was obvious that the interior of Bristolmeir was exactly like the tiny replica in the snow globe. Crystal towers connected by intricate arches rose toward the domes. In the snow globe, the prisms had shone with all the colors of the rainbow. Now, the facets, lines, and curves were deformed and lumpy, like plastic cups that had been melted in an oven. Trees of all shapes and sizes stood out like black silhouettes. Every branch was bare, and yellow-brown sap trickled out through rotted bark. A cold, drizzling mist fell from the gray cloud that hovered over the city, and shadows quickly smothered any lingering sparks of light that defied the queen’s evil.

  As Kano and I walked, being careful not to step on clusters of stinging nettles or black fairy cocoons, Queen Mitsu’s quest for perfection troubled me. I had always thought perfection was good, something people wanted to achieve. But now, seeing the twisted version of beauty around me, I realized maybe I’d been wrong. Nothing could be really and truly perfect. Maybe that was the answer: nothing was perfect except nothing. And slowly, given enough time, everything would decay and erode until
nothing remained.

  Not even Queen Mitsu.

  Surely Queen Kumari and Queen Patchouli wouldn’t allow another fairy queen to destroy Aventurine.

  Unless they didn’t realize what was happening.

  “Watch it!” Kano pulled me to the side, just before I stepped in a puddle of liquid tar.

  “Thanks.” I grimaced, then winced with pain. “Ouch!”

  “What?” Kano asked in alarm.

  “Something pinched me!” I looked down, squealed, and jumped up onto a flat rock. A hundred segmented worms marched past me like an army with a thousand legs. They were eating all the vegetation in their path. “One of them bit me! Does that mean I’ll catch the rot?”

  “I don’t think so,” Kano said. “Everything in Bristolmeir has been damaged over time, and we just got here. Still, you need something to protect your feet.”

  I glanced down at my bare toes. The sandals I had picked out were pretty, but totally wrong for hiking through a broken city that swarmed with nasty creatures.

  Keeping a wary eye out for other creepy crawlies, I followed close behind when Kano entered a building.

  “This was a fairy’s home,” Kano said softly.

  “It’s so sad.” A rush of emotion caught in my throat as I looked around the ruins.

  A large tree stood in one rounded corner. The yellow sap seeping through the bark was full of sawdust from wood bores that squirmed in and out of holes in the trunk, eating the tree from the inside out. The crystal roof, which had adapted to fit the tree’s slow growth, was stained and cracked by fallen branches. The soft moss carpet had become brittle and had turned to dust under our feet. A cup of sour milk curd and a hardened cake sat on a blackened toadstool table. A gossamer gown, abandoned in the fairy’s rush to flee, lay shredded on a grass hammock.

  The evil rot, which had started slowly according to Krogan, had quickly overwhelmed Bristolmeir when Queen Mitsu’s power surged.

  “I think these were boots.” Kano held up two lumps of leather. “It’s hard to tell.”

  I rummaged through the clothes hanging on bent hooks in the fairy’s closet. The sandals weren’t my only wardrobe problem. My dress and scarf were too flimsy to keep me warm and safe. The army of worms had scared me, but something worse could attack my bare arms and legs. If I couldn’t find clothes, I’d have to shape-shift protective adaptations, but I’d rather save my energy.