As Sky disappears from sight, dragged into the abyss by the weight of the rock chained to his tail, a yelp of agony rips itself from my lungs. I lunge at the barrier, as if I could somehow reach him in time, but Anemone throws her arms around my neck and holds me back.

"Martin, no! You can't help him now! He's... he's gone."

Her breath catches on a sob and trembles shake her thin frame. I could easily throw her off; but whether because of the power in her voice, or because I simply lack the strength to resist the truth, my muscles go weak with grief and I collapse with a whimper.

"I'm so sorry," Anemone whispers, laying her head atop mine as she hugs me tight. "I'm so sorry, Martin."

A whine is all I can do to express similar sympathy, but she understands. As her tears wet my fur, pain fills my chest, making it difficult to breathe.

"Martin?" Anemone sits up and shakes me lightly. "Martin!"

I had stopped breathing altogether for a moment and rouse myself with an effort. Between the remnants of my first mate-bond and now losing my second, the Devouring will almost certainly claim me. First, though, Natalis will pay.

I get to my feet, my limbs trembling, and take an unsteady step, head lowered and hackles raised. Anemone grasps a handful of my fur, attempting to hold me back, and I turn and snap at her. A wounded animal is the most dangerous sort, and I'm in too much pain to think clearly.

Undaunted, Anemone refuses to let me go. Ill-advisedly, she gets in front of me, putting her face right in front of mine. Her eyes, fringed by long, ginger lashes, are the same ocean green as Sky's.

"Martin, listen to me," she says, so intently I can't help but obey. "You won't win if you challenge her directly. Believe me, I know. But there's another way. Look."

From a pocket of her loose gown, she produces a familiar object. Sky's amulet.

"Help me," she says. "Help me find my mother's statue. If we can free her, she will have the power to stop Natalis and put her in her place."

My heart aches with a burning mix of rage and sorrow, and I waver between warring impulses. Part of me wants to find Natalis and tear her throat out, and part wants to lie down, go to sleep and never wake up again.

She's right, though; on my own, the first well-thrown spear will put an end to my endeavor, and I owe it to Sky not to give in to despair just yet.

So I snort, shake out my fur, and touch my nose to Anemone's forehead: a wolfish way of saying 'let's go.'

Grimly, she nods. "I don't think Natalis can have moved the statue very far — not out of the palace, anyway — and she'll have to have made the replica somewhere nearby as well. We'll search every room."

She rises, determination hardening the set of her jaw, but I gently grasp her hand in my teeth and whine insistently. We don't have time for that.

She shakes her head. "I know. Natalis and her guards won't waste time now they've gotten rid of Sky. We'll just have to stay ahead of them as long as we can."

I nuzzle her hand. Frowning, she unclasps it to reveal the amulet.

"You want this?"

I whine again.

Finally, understanding blooms on her face. "Of course! It led Sky to you; maybe it will lead you to Mother! Here."

Bending, she places it around my neck.

Sitting on my haunches, I tilt my head to the side in anticipation, but the amulet is nothing but a cold weight upon my fur. Then, faintly, I feel a trace of heat as the stone warms and a strange vibration like the buzz of a trapped insect fluttering its wings.

Anemone watches anxiously. "Anything?"

I snort and get to my feet, claws clicking on cold stone. Experimentally, I take a few steps in one direction, pause, double back and try the other. The amulet warms a little on the second try, and the vibration increases.

I look back at Anemone and bark softly. The pain in my heart remains, and fatigue makes my head spin, but it feels ever so slightly good to be on even this tiny trace of a trail.

"Alright," she says, "You lead the way." Her expression is set, though her voice trembles with fear.

I can't blame her; if I were related to Natalis, I'd be scared, too.

We set off, wending a chaotic path down corridors and flights of stairs. The amulet's pull is constant, but the layout of the palace prevents me from following it in a straight line. Several times I turn to Anemone, confounded by some obstacle, and rely on her knowledge of the floorplan to get us where we need to go.

Fortunately, she knows the place as well as any kid knows her childhood home, and gets us back on track without fail.

Finally, we arrive in an area I recognize, emerging from a passageway into the grand hall. Anemone holds me back while she checks that the coast is clear, but the palace remains eerily quiet.

"It won't last," she says, reading my mind. "But Natalis can't just disappear after what she did. There will be questions to answer, and condolences to exchange. We've got a few minutes yet before she can slip away without raising more eyebrows than are already up."

I lean my head against her leg to signal my understanding and then trot out into the hall. The click of my claws echoes in the massive space, and Anemone tiptoes after me. In the center of the open space, I pause once more, uncertain, but the amulet's direction is clear.

Pointing my snout towards the throne room, I imitate a hunting dog and growl.

"In there?" Anemone asks, resting her hand on my head. "Are you sure?"

I whine and nip at her fingers. It makes no sense to me either. It would be silly of Natalis to keep the real and the fake statues in the same room, and Natalis is anything but silly; and yet the amulet's pull is undeniable.

Anemone nods. "Alright. I suppose if there's one place I'd never think to look, it's in plain sight."

A sound startles us both, and the tell-tale tone of angry voices tells me our time is nearly up.

Together, we dash to the throne-room doors, where Anemone throws them open and slams them shut at our backs.

"Quick — help me with the barricade. That will buy us a bit more time," Anemone whispers breathlessly once we're safely inside.

Unsure how much use I'll be in this form, I stay close to her side, but it seems the emotional support is enough. The heavy wooden beam, perhaps once salvaged from the mast of a ship, rests in a groove parallel to the wall. With one good shove, it slides along an oiled track and falls into place with a satisfying thunk, a clever design obviously intended for one person to use as a last resort.

"There!" Anemone dusts off her hands and huffs. "That should hold them for a bit. Now, as for Mother..."

She chews her bottom lip and scans the rounded walls of the cupola, as if hoping to catch a glimpse of the statue the way one finally spots an illusive item in a seek-and-find game.

With a quiet yip, I begin my own investigation, running a quick circuit of the room, letting the amulet guide me. The heat and vibrations are strongest near the place where the false throne once stood, and on my second round of the room, I begin to despair.

What if, this whole time, the amulet had only been attracted to the lure of the place its former owner had worn it last? What if Natalis had lied, and she'd actually destroyed her mother's form long ago?

With no answer in sight, and suddenly drained of energy, I lie down, rest my head on my paws, and shut my eyes.

"Martin?" Anemone kneels at my side and lays her hand on my back. "Don't give up now. We're so close. We've got to be!"

A whimper and a shiver are the best reply I can give. Meanwhile, new sounds reach us from the hall, and Natalis' voice breaks through the clamor.

Anemone shrinks against me and buries her face in my fur. "Please," she whispers. "Please, Martin. Sky believed in you. He'd never have brought you here otherwise. I believe in you, too. The amulet led you here for a reason. I'm sure of it."

A shudder wracks my frame, making my wolf's teeth clack together. I want to believe her, but the truth is Sky made a mistake — or the amulet did, leading him to me. Just as it made a mistake now, leading me here. I, on the other hand, should have known better than to believe myself worthy of happiness; should have known it was too good to be true.

Grief weighs on my heart, as heavy as the stone bound to Sky, and the urge to sleep is strong. If I shut my eyes, I can conjure him in memory, just as he appeared when I first met him in the art room, that fateful afternoon, when my life began to come undone.

No, I think. No, my life was already undone. Sky put it back together, one act of love at a time.

Maybe the amulet made a mistake; maybe I never deserved him and never will; but for whatever reason, Sky chose me anyway. The least I can do is try to put things right now.

With an effort, I open my eyes and raise myself to my feet. Giving Anemone a reassuring lick on the cheek, I trot over to where a drapery or curtain hangs in loose folds against a wall. Nosing my way behind it, I Shift.

"Martin?" Anemone's voice lifts with alarm as my wolfish whimpers become a human cry of pain. "What are you... oh."

I step from behind the drapery, holding a fold of it in front of me for modesty, as the amulet is all I wear.

"I can sense it better like this, and I need to think," I say, pressing the warm gem against my bare skin. My voice is rough and raspy, and I lean on the wall for support. "Is there... something I can use to cover myself?"

Anemone shakes her head. "Never mind. I've seen a naked man before."

I only hesitate a moment; Sky said the Mer had no qualms about nudity, and now isn't the time to be shy. Still, Anemone definitely looks when I let go of the cloth, and I'm far from comfortable as I circle the room, doing my best to ignore the shouts and bangs from the other side of the door.

"They'll be through, soon," Anemone says, anxiously chewing a nail. "They'll have the hinges off."

"What's on the other side of this wall?" I ask, resting my hand against the stones as the amulet's vibrations subtly increase.

"Nothing," Anemone says, shrugging. "The sea."

"Is there another way out of here?"

"There's the viewing platform, but it hasn't been used in ages."

"What is it?"

"Just a window, really. Sometimes when Mother gave important speeches it would be opened so people could gather and watch from outside."

"Show me."

Anemone joins me by the wall and presses a recessed panel. A section of stone bricks lowers into the floor, revealing what appears to be glass, but when I reach out, my fingers encounter something more like jelly. It ripples beneath my touch, and I suspect if I pushed hard enough, my hand would pass right through.

"Careful," Anemone says. "You can get out but not back in. For security, you know."

Withdrawing my hand, I study the scene on the other side. It looks like an overgrown, undersea field, full of waving kelp and glowing corals.

"She's out there," I say, somehow certain of it. "In the sea grass somewhere."

Anemone gasps. "But that's... There must be a hectare of the stuff! It would take forever to search it. Much longer than you could hold your breath, anyway."

The shouts on the other side of the door grow louder, and I hear wood splintering.

"We won't have to search the whole thing," I say. "The amulet will guide me right to her. Come on — it's that, or face Natalis and her guards."

"Martin... you don't understand." Anemone lays her hand on my arm and gestures at the view with her other. "This is outside the palace walls. Outside the barrier. If you go out there, there's no quick way back in. You'll drown."

I look at her and smile. "Not before I free the queen."

Her eyes fill with tears and the corners of her mouth tremble. "How many people do I have to lose today?"

"Hopefully just one. And you'll get your mom back."

"I want Sky back more," she whispers.

"Me, too." I take her hand. "Come on. Let's do this before they break through. It won't take them long to figure out where we've gone."

She nods miserably, but her eyes shine with determination as well as tears. "Deep breath," she says.

Last one for the win, I think, and fill my lungs.

Then, hand in hand, we step through the barrier and into the sea.