“Papa?” I tried to look innocent—but I already knew. My insides clenched painfully.

“You know what I’m talking about.” His voice boomed through our small house. “Bring it to me or I will turn your room inside out and dig it up myself.”

How did he know? Who told him?

My eyes burned as I put my head down and went to my room. Papa followed me, giving me no privacy as I opened my closet, reached for the back corner, and dug up the shoebox I’d hid so carefully. I pulled out the necklace and turned to him.

His face was purple. His calloused, dirt-creased hand trembled as he took it from me. Mama stood behind him, and she nodded to me solemnly.

“Do you have any idea how you’ve shamed this family?” Papa’s voice was so angry it made my lips quiver. “The sea is our enemy. It’s an inferno, not a pretty pool of water we cherish and make jewellery from.”

My eyes sprung with tears. I wanted desperately to tell him he was wrong, that the ocean was not an inferno, that it was the most beautiful place, filled with coral and orcas and friendship. But I’d learned long ago never to talk back to Papa.

“The entire Pacific Ocean has been infested with sea demons since I was a boy, and our people have suffered because of it.” He shook the necklace in his fist as he talked, and the delicate seaweed began to fray. “Don’t you wonder why we need to import food from the mainland? Don’t you wonder why this island is slipping into poverty? Sea demons! Mermaids! They steal our food, sink our ships, murder our children!”

I closed my eyes, wishing he would be swept away by the hollow wind blowing at my window. Nothing he could say would change what I knew about Lysi.

“You put yourself in serious danger by going near the beach, Metlaa Gaela. One swipe by a mermaid and you’ll be gone forever. They’ll feed on your skin and bones like a wolf on a rabbit.”

“That’s not true! They’re not all evil,” I shouted, the words bursting from my mouth.

His eyes widened, and his face grew an even deeper shade of purple.

“You don’t know what I’ve seen.” He whispered, probably because if he spoke any louder it would erupt from his mouth in a roar that would be heard across the island. “Do not forget about my Massacre. I won’t let you take that pride away from this family.”

The door slammed, leaving me alone in my room.

His Massacre. I lost count of how many times he’d bragged about it. The year he was chosen, the sailors killed more mermaids than ever.

“Five hundred and four kills,” he always said. “The vermin stopped coming after two weeks! There hasn’t been another Massacre like it.”

How could he think mermaids were demons? How could Lysi be a killer? I didn’t believe it.

“I hate you,” I mumbled.

I swiped the tears from my cheeks and flopped on my bed. I wanted to shout after him that he couldn’t take away my things. That necklace was mine.

How did he find out about it? Did someone see me with it? Or did Annith tell someone? She would never. We’d kept each other’s secrets for years, and I’d never known Annith to be a snitch.

The only other person who saw the necklace was Dani.

I sat up. Dani. It had to be her. She was jealous the moment she saw it. She probably ran straight home and told her papa, who told mine. The two of them did work together at the woodshop, after all.

Everything made sense. That was why she stayed so quiet for the rest of the day: she had planned to tell her papa, knowing I would get in trouble for it later.

I looked out the window where the sky was darkening and the trees began to look grey, and I swore I would get her back for it.