Mermaids lived a natural life of three-hundred years, but never wrinkled and never weakened. The eldest mermaid's age showed only in her mane of silvery hair, gleaming like starlight.
Gwen suppressed a shudder as she approached the unnatural mermaid. She had her back to Gwen, so all the girl could see were fingers, long and bony, moving like spiders' legs through the otter's organs like spider legs. Her nails were sharp and untrimmed and she wore land-clothes, scavenged from the corpse of some shipwrecked human.
“The liver says she is safe, but the spots in the ventricles say she is in the midst of great danger,” the old one muttered, yanking the heart out of the otter to examine it closer.
“How can someone in great danger be safe?” red-headed Eglantine asked.
“Mermaids often are. Have faith in your sister. She still has access to water. That she has not returned is a decision of her own, but in response to circumstances others have created.”
Gwen watched this grim dissection, far too afraid to interrupt but too desperate to leave. She couldn't give up this chance to speak to the mermaids after raiding the island's fruit trees and sneaking off so early.
The old one's spidery fingers went to the open throat of the otter and plucked out a small organ the color of rotting meat. She held it close to her face as she examined it. “The glands of this sacrifice tells me you are foolish and impatient girls. In a week's time, all will be known to you.”
“How, Mariana?” another mermaid asked.
“Look at the earthy color of this thymus. See how the blood crumbles like dirt off it,” the old one replied, holding out the gland out so everyone could see it, even the wee water nymphs. “Land-dwellers are coming, and a land-dweller will bear the news to you.”
The ancient Mariana turned to face Gwen, as if already aware of her presence. The others followed her gaze and noticed the silent girl standing on the shore. Gwen's face went pale as all six unhappy mermaids stared at her.
“You!” Cynara shrieked, pointing a menacing finger at her. “You knew! What have you done with Lasiandra?”
“Nothing,” Gwen answered, uncertain.
“Our little sister is nowhere to be found in all the thirteen seas, and even the stars have heard nothing from her now!”
Mariana remained composed. Her face, while smooth, had a gaunt look and appeared wisened with age. Her dark blue eyes disturbed Gwen—they seemed to Gwen as black as the bottom of the ocean would seem to a human drowning in it.
“You are to blame!” another mermaid cried, her long locks cascading over her shoulders like curly gold. “The stars have told us that much.”
“Please, no,” Gwen insisted. “How can I help? Tell me what you know and I'll do everything I can to help find her.”
“How dare you interrupt our ritual with the sea witch. We will answer none of your questions,” Eglantine spat. “Leave us to find our sister, you ugly girl!”
Mariana didn't let Gwen trouble her. She turned to the others. “You will want to send the water nymphs to scour fresh waters under tight canopies, and search the caves. If the stars cannot see her, the waters she resides in must be obscured.”
The water nymphs gurgled in confirmation, skipping away on the surface of the water like pond skaters.
“The rest of you best make the necessary preparations. You have but a week, if the otter's kidneys are truthful to the dawn.” The mermaids dissolved into muted discussion amongst themselves, and Mariana turned to Gwen. “I do not surface often enough that the stars should talk to me, but I hear the morning star speaks of a land girl with great power over what is to come.”
“The morning star?” Gwen echoed. “That's Venus?” So flustered, she struggled to recall what little astronomy Lasiandra had taught her during their stargazing sessions.
“One and the same, in the sky and in all the stories your myriad cultures tell,” the old sea witch replied. “If you are the girl of whom the morning star speaks… you best prepare to fly a very long ways away.”
“Fly? To where?” Gwen called, but Mariana dipped into the water and splashed off, her tail black and fanned like lace. The other mermaids began swimming off in different directions. Gwen tried to call them back, but those who gave her heed only hurled insults at her.
“Eglantine, wait!” Gwen pleaded as the last mermaid swam off.
“Go, Gwendolyn,” Eglantine shooed her. “And don't come back until you can tell us where Lasiandra is.”
“But I need your help to do that.”
“You need nothing—and you will have it, too.”
Exasperated, Gwen pulled the bag off her shoulder and showed the ripe contents to Eglantine. Berries and oranges rolled onto the sand. “I brought fruit! Please, I just need to know what you know about Lasiandra!”
Eglantine ran a hand through her voluminous red curls and huffed, “You cannot buy our sisters' secrets from us with land fruit.”
Gwen's heart sank. “Just one question, Eglantine, and I'll give you the whole bag. Not even about Lasiandra. One question.”
Eglantine crossed her arms and waited.
Gwen approached the water and pushed the bag of fruit into the waves where it floated unsteadily toward Eglantine as she asked, “How long have I been in Neverland?”
Eglantine grabbed the handles
