Daughter of the Deep

by Rick Riordan

Nature’s creative power is far beyond man’s instinct of destruction. —Jules Verne, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

I might wash out in disgrace, or die tangled in a net at the bottom of some underwater obstacle course…. But hey, it’s still better than ending the term doing five jillion multiple-choice problems on some state standardized test.

The Shark prefect is tall, dark, and lanky. Behind his back, everybody calls him Spider-Man, because he looks like Miles Morales from Into the Spider-Verse.

You could put him in charge of a toddler soccer team and he’d get delusions of grandeur. He’d have the kids marching in perfect unison within a week. Then he’d declare war on a neighboring toddler team.

Lee-Ann Best’s face is brick red. She’s our best at counterespionage.

So Bests the best, huh? Real subtle

the impossible is merely the possible for which we don’t yet know the science.”

Miss Dakkar. Look at this.” Again with the Miss. This is how they wear you down: They just keep making the same “oopsie,” hoping that you’ll eventually get tired of calling them on it.

“IF IT’S LATE-STAGE PANCREATIC CANCER,” Ester breaks in, making everyone except Hewett jump, “his survival odds are bad no matter what. Even a state-of-the-art hospital won’t be able to do much for him.” Her blunt bedside manner makes Linzi’s jaw drop. “Ester, we’re Orcas. We can’t just—” “She’s not wrong, though,” Franklin says.

the world doesn’t care what is right for me. I have to make it care.

“The others will hate me, though.” “No. And if anybody does, I will put pink-ducky water wings on them and throw them overboard.” She sniffles some more. “That was a joke, right?” “No.

“Comm, can you pick up anything?” I ask. Then I remember Virgil is on the floor and his station is on fire.

During the professor’s rare moments of semiconsciousness, he grumbles about his students’ substandard quiz scores. I never wanted to know what teachers dream about. Now I do.

At least underwater I can cry as much as I want. The ocean doesn’t care about a few more drops of salt water.