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  “Well, you should have no trouble with that.”

  “I suppose not. He never said a word about the writing, but he sent a letter giving Alan permission to marry.” Esmerine toyed nervously with the beads at her throat. “Still, I’m not sure I’m glad he decided to come.”

  Dosia laughed. “I think it’s marvelous. You’ll have the most amazing stories to tell your children.”

  When they went to show Esmerine’s dress to their mother, Octavia was talking with Esmerine’s parents, who were sitting on the rocks, sampling wine for the first time, while Swift tried unsuccessfully to engage Tormy in conversation, and Belawyn was telling a frowning Christina that being an old maid really wasn’t so bad. Alan’s eyes alighted on her, and Fiodor thumped his arm with a jaunty fist.

  “Bad luck seeing the bride before the wedding, you know!” Fiodor said.

  Alan frowned. “Well, that makes no sense.”

  Esmerine felt very grown up with Alan beside her in his fine scarlet waistcoat and a hat with an owl feather, and all her family and friends admiring her wedding gown. Whenever her eyes swept over the water, dark heads ducked out of sight. Esmerine was sure she’d caught Lalia Tembel staring a few times.

  Still, nothing made her feel less grown up than the arrival of Alan’s father.

  “You are certainly fortunate the weather is good for such a rustic ceremony,” Alan’s father said, surveying the scene. A few bare-breasted mermaids were draped on the nearby rocks, and the hem of Dosia’s dress was wet from wading out to embrace them. The sky was blue, with only smudges of cloud, the water a darker reflection of the sky. She wondered if the beauty of the vast sea struck him somewhere deep inside, if he thought of Alan’s mother.

  “It’s always good this time of year, Papa,” Karinda said. She winked at Esmerine, then peered around. She was wearing a little fur capelet that Esmerine could tell was new from the way Karinda kept preening and straightening her collar. Merry looked fascinated.

  “Hmm,” Alan’s father grunted.

  Esmerine hadn’t seen much of Alan’s father since the day nearly four months ago when Alan brought her back to the Floating City to explain the situation. “I am not at all surprised,” Alan’s father said, before embarking on a tedious explanation of how much trouble they were in for, how he expected Alan to know better than that, how he had doubts that Esmerine would be able to properly assimilate.

  “Esmerine already assimilated just fine at the bookstore,” Alan had said. Esmerine moved into the apartment over the shop and Alan acquired a newfound appreciation for her “hoodwinking” until the debt to his father was paid off, while she learned the ins and outs of the shop and met a new nemesis in sums.

  “You both look lovely,” Alan’s stepmother said, stepping forward to kiss their cheeks in turn. “And the setting may be rustic, but at least we’re all here. Should we take a stroll before the ceremony begins? Do we have time?”

  “A little.” Alan’s father checked his pocket watch. “Three o’clock, you said?”

  “Yes,” Alan said.

  Alan’s father took a packet of folded papers from his vest and gave it to Esmerine. “There you are.”

  As they walked off, Esmerine unfolded the paper. She couldn’t imagine what it could be, but the words she had slaved over, that Alan had helped her polish again and again, leaped out immediately—now covered with black notes in Alan’s father’s tidy, slanted hand. She flipped through them—every page nearly smothered with corrections, crossed-out words, and notes.

  “I didn’t mean for him to critique it!” She was almost speechless, her throat tight with something between fury and embarrassment. Alan, however, made a funny laugh.

  “Dear God,” he said. “He must have loved it!”

  “Loved it? There isn’t a word in here he left alone!”

  “To take the time to tear it to bits,” Alan said, “I can tell you he loved it.”

  Merfolk were scattered across the rocks and the water. The sirens, whom Esmerine had worried wouldn’t understand her decision, had perhaps understood best of all, for they felt the draw to the surface world in their own hearts. Her family, despite tears—some unnecessarily dramatic tears, at times—had been dear to Alan, and Esmerine could rest easier knowing the family’s standing in the village would be forever improved by having two daughters become sirens, even lost ones.

  She had never thought, in her wildest dreams, that everyone she loved could ever be in one place, even for this fleeting moment. The joy of it wrenched tears from her own eyes, even as she spoke a new oath, one she knew she would never break.

  “Alan Dare. Esmerine Lorremen,” said Lady Minnaray, who had donned legs and a plain white dress to lead the ceremony. “In the eyes of the gods of the sea and sky, and all present here to witness it, you are now husband and wife.”

  Alan bent to kiss her, and as she leaned close to him, she nudged off her shoes and let her bare toes tickle the moist sand.

  Acknowledgments

  The seed of this book began almost ten years ago. I’m sure I wasn’t the only young writer who had the Lord of the Rings movie soundtrack on repeat and decided I needed to write a huge fantasy epic with war and tragic death and many points of view. One of the approximately forty plot threads in my attempt was the love story between a mermaid and a winged boy. (This is why you always keep your lousy older writings!) I resurrected the good part, but this time I wrote it with the soundtracks to Studio Ghibli movies in the background, which makes for quite a difference.

  Since this is my second book, I’ll try to keep it short. Thank you to:

  Gordon Bell and the dearly departed Bernadine Bell, for crucial financial support of what must have seemed, at times, like a couple of artist bums.

  Heather Cress, for being one of the first and only people to read this before I turned it in and for listening to me ramble as my life changed.

  The Tenners, for the mutual support during our debut year; my critique partner, Jessica Spotswood; and all the rest of the writing community. I’ve got friends wherever I go; it’s so cool.

  Mickey Mercer, for telling what seemed like everyone she knew about my books.

  As always, my wonderful family and friends; my editor, Melanie Cecka, who knows how to feed a girl when she comes to New York City; all the rest of the team at Bloomsbury for their hard work; and my agent, Jennifer Laughran, who makes me laugh and takes ridiculously good care of me.

  My partner, Dade Bell, and his continued genius solutions to all my plot problems.

  And, of course, all the fans. It’s amazing how often the sweetest e-mails pop up on the worst days. I can’t do it without you guys.

  Also by Jaclyn Dolamore

  Magic Under Glass

  Copyright © 2011 by Jaclyn Dolamore

  All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages

  First published in the United States of America in October 2011 by Bloomsbury Books for Young Readers

  Electronic edition published in October 2011

  www.bloomsburyteens.com

  For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Bloomsbury BFYR, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Dolamore, Jaclyn.

  Between the sea and sky / by Jaclyn Dolamore. — 1st U.S. ed.

  p. cm.

  Summary: Esmerine, a mermaid, grows close to her childhood playmate Alander, a winged man, when they join forces to find her sister Dosia, who has reportedly eloped with a human despite the sisters’ vow to always keep the
sea and its people first in their hearts.

  ISBN 978-1-59990-652-2 (ebook)

  [1. Mermaids—Fiction. 2. Sisters—Fiction. 3. Love—Fiction. 4. Runaways—Fiction. 5. Magic—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.D6975Bet 2011 [Fic]—dc22 2010038094

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Acknowledgments

  Also by Jaclyn Dolamore

  Imprint