Cora followed behind Ronan and Nixa as they lead her up the marble stairwell. Thousands of questions ran through her head as her hand glided along the stone hand rail. She could see gold etched in an out , strange dimples in the shapes of shell and stone and then fish rubbed under her palm. Ronan had called them fossils when Cora first pointed them out. The castle had been constructed by material found on both land and buried in the ocean. A web of mermaid magic lay over it which allowed for the transition between the watery world outside and the dry behind the door. Cora shook her head, suddenly feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. So much had happened. From losing her family, bearing the punishment and defilement at Jagson’s hands, to trying to end her own life. Now she was here in some
