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The headpiece made me think of my own, and I touched the last remaining hairclip with the purple pearl. Sparks flashed upon my touch.
“What the hell?” I jumped backward.
Fin pulled it from my hair, and it glowed green. “Magic,” he whispered.
That same word rested on my tongue, but I couldn’t spit it out. Faraall’s shell, the one that held my father’s mind captive, glowed the same color. Was he using more magic on me? Had the bastard cast a spell on my hair piece? I was willing to bet my crown that this was how he’d tracked me down. There was no other way to explain how he’d found me.
Thumps sounded from above. The mersoldiers were trying to break down the door. At each strike, I jerked. I gripped one of the cabinets hard and didn’t let go.
“Think I’ve found it,” Gill announced.
My mermen and I rushed over to the cabinet where Fin stood. Atop it sat a bowl carved from marble and filled with water. A golden pearl was immersed inside, giving off a glow. A dark power radiated from the pearl, a force that made me sick to the stomach and lightheaded.
“Do you feel that?” I asked my mermen.
Fin shook his head as if he’d been punched. “Can’t think straight,” he said, rubbing his forehead.
“It makes me feel like my skin’s peeling off,” Gill said, twitching as if sea slugs crawled on his back.
Shellfish. If this thing affected us like this, then how were we going to carry it back to the sea?
Fin left me for a moment to rummage around on a few of the shelves, returning with a square piece of silk large enough to wrap up the pearl and stuff it inside his pocket. He grimaced as he removed the magical totem. The instant he stuffed it inside the silk, his face relaxed, and the horrible sensation I’d felt lessened.
“I’ll carry it,” he told us.
Selfless and always protecting his men. I stretched up on my tiptoes to kiss him.
“Grab as much as you can carry,” Fin ordered. “We might need to sell some of these things on our way back.”
Good idea.
My mermen grabbed a couple more handfuls of items and stuffed them down their boots and inside the pockets of their vests.
But the more I thought about the pearl, the more I convinced myself this was a bad idea. With all that power, the sea witch could bring the merrealm to its knees.
The sound of muffled voice penetrating from above added to my worries. “It’s not working, Commander.”
“Set fire to the tree,” Faraall ordered. “Four of you stay in case the rats manage to escape.”
My blood congealed to ice.
