Dangerous Depths (The Sea Monster Memoirs) by Karen Amanda Hooper Page B

“Let’s just say I had wise advisors who told me not to take no for an answer.”
    Koraline nibbled on a cookie with a giddy smile. “It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes by Harriet Stowe. Never give up, for that is the place and time that the tide will turn.”
    Koraline truly didn’t seem upset with me at all. It felt just like it did when she was my teacher, educating me about my new life as a mermaid. The ease of our conversation didn’t make me feel any less guilty, but at least communication wasn’t awkward between us. I took one of Pango’s cookies and handed another one to Koraline. “I’ve missed hearing your quotes.”
    “Tell me more,” Koraline said. “I’m living vicariously through your adventures.”
    I finished telling her the story of everything that had happened after the Triple Eighteen. I told her about Rownan and Vienna, and how we couldn’t pass through the gate to Harte, how Rownan trashed Uncle Lloyd’s house, and how, in the middle of all the drama and tension, Uncle Lloyd asked me how she was doing.
    “Me?” Koraline’s green eyes widened. “He asked about me?”
    “Out of nowhere. I think he was trying to tell me you might be able to help, but without actually meddling. Maybe you know something or someone that can help Rownan?”
    “Me? I don’t know any—” She paused, then sucked air through her teeth.
    She did know something. A glimmer of hope sparked inside me. “What is it?”
    She pressed her palms over her eyelids. Pango and Treygan stared at her with intrigued expressions.
    “Koraline?” Treygan scooted closer to her. “Please, if you can think of anything that might help Rownan, you have to tell us. You’re the smartest person I’ve ever met. If anyone can figure this out, it’s you.”
    She dropped her hands and half-smiled. “Actually, it’s not me. If there is any way around this dilemma, I don’t have the solution.” She glanced apprehensively at us. “But I know someone who might.”
    “Who?” I asked.
    She rubbed her forehead. “It’s been sixteen years. Do you realize how minute the chances are that Vienna is still alive? Or worse yet, what if Harte has transformed her into something evil?”
    “I know,” Treygan said. “But you didn’t see Rownan. You can’t imagine how this is destroying him.”
    I touched her arm. “If there’s any chance of going to Harte, even if it’s to prove that Vienna is gone, then Rownan deserves that chance. He deserves closure.”
    “And what about you and Treygan? What if your souls are tainted just by going there? What if you don’t come back?”
    “It’s a risk we’re willing to take.”
    Pango whimpered and started chewing his nails. “I don’t like where this conversation is heading.”
    Koraline crossed her arms, gripping her own shoulders. “More people would be involved this way. More people could get hurt, or in trouble.”
    “Trouble?” Treygan asked. “What do you mean?”
    Koraline had transformed over the last few minutes. When I arrived, she was the same radiant and confident Koraline I had first met as my teacher, but now she looked like a guilty child caught doing something wrong.
    “You’re a White,” she said to me. “What exactly does that mean? Do you have authority over the Violets?”
    “Huh?” I had never thought about my status in the mer ranks. I was too busy figuring out how to be accepted by Stheno and Euryale, or master my new abilities, or understand and learn my way around Rathe.
    “For example,” Koraline said, “If I had broken a rule, and the Violets wanted me punished, would you be able to overrule them?”
    I glanced at Treygan. He looked as confused as me. I looked at Pango, but his focus was on the water in front of him.
    “I have no idea,” I admitted. “Why would you be punished?”
    “Pango?” Koraline said weakly.
    He lifted his gaze to meet hers. After a few moments of silence, he nodded.
    She sighed deeply. “I have this friend, a