Boz had never been good at distractions. Boomer had always been the expert. But Boomer was outside of the gate, preparing an offensive against the mermaids to send them back to the ocean, so it was up to Boz to keep them busy and keep them from questioning why the kings hadn't bothered them in a while.

These girls were cunning, yes, but they were also playful. Their joy about having legs was stronger than their need to do nefarious things. They even willingly climbed the stairs multiple times to know how it would feel. If Boz could find a fun activity that could keep them busy which, hopefully, also included separating Aerosol from him, because she was one clingy mermaid.

He looked up, hoping inspiration may fall from the sky. His eye landed on the chandelier and a crazy idea came to mind. It might just work. It might not, but Boz would have tried. And it also meant that Boz wouldn't have to look at Lanny fawning over Amazonia as if she were a celebrity.

"I have an idea," Boz said, effectively drawing all the attention to himself. "Why don't we play hide and seek?"

The girls were happy with the idea. It had been a while since they played hide and seek, they told him, but they haven't played it while they had legs. This would make hiding certainly a lot easier.

"Let's up the stakes," Boz added. "I'm going to hide first if that's okay with you. It's not like I can leave the castle anyway, so we'll leave that from the playground. But the first mermaid who can find me will win a kiss."

Aerosol's eyes widened. She was going to do anything to win a kiss from him, and the other girls were interested in the offer as well. So did Amazonia, much to Lanny's dismay. His plan was working.

She and the girls covered their eyes with their hands – they agreed to count to forty. Lanny, who was less enthusiastic, still closed his eyes, if only for Amazonia's sake. Boz first pretended to loudly run up the stairs, but he snuck back into the throne room and looked up. The chandelier. Hopefully, it wasn't going to make a lot of noise.

Boz climbed up the wall where the vault was and hung from the chandelier. It swung side to side as Boz pulled himself up and tried to find his grasp. It wasn't creaking as much as he had thought – this was younger and rust hadn't affected it yet.

The chandelier came to a halt right when Boz found himself in a comfortable position. The moment coincided with the mermaids finishing their count and starting the search.

Let the games begin.

This might not have been the best idea.

Boz had been hanging on the chandelier for about thirty minutes now. The mermaids were still looking for him, to get that sweet kiss, but to no avail. While he was up there, in the air, he's had time to reflect on the choice he made.

First, the game itself. Hide and seek. The second part insinuated that things needed to be found, and the mermaids were adamantly looking everywhere. In their growing frustration, they might start to look in places that Boz had initially tried to draw them away from. One of the mermaids had eyed the vault and Boz could see she was trying to figure out if Boz would think to hide there. She eventually decided against the idea, but it did mean one of her friends might try to get in there to find him.

Secondly, the chandelier. As a hiding spot, it was perfect; nobody looked up nowadays. He believed he'd made a critical mistake by going vertical, as mermaids also could hide in the verticality of the ocean behind rocks and such. Yet, none of them had the brilliant idea to lift their heads and look up, so that was a plus. But he'd been hanging there for thirty minutes. He wasn't as young as he was before and it had been a while since he had last been in a position that required him to hang like this for a prolonged amount of time. His legs were hurting, his arms were hurting, and he had no idea for how long he could last. Hopefully, he wasn't falling before Mason came up with a plan.

While Lanny proposed to Amazonia below him, Boz thought he heard something above him. He looked up and was right. Brady was fumbling, trying to cross the support beams to get to the rope that Mason had left behind after their mission to get the Great Book. He looked ridiculous. He carried some sort of toy gun – no, a water soaker. On a belt hung several water balloons, some of which had already popped. Boz frowned. What the hell was he doing up there?

Wait. Was that their plan? Sneak into the castle and soak them all? Maybe it would work, but Boz had no idea at this point. For all he knew, this could be another distraction; Brady was all alone, after all, and Boz suspected Brady had only managed not to fall the first time because Mason had held on to him.

Brady spotted Boz in the chandelier. He mouthed his friend's name. Boz would have waved, if not for his painful arms, and nodded instead. Grab the rope, he mouthed. Brady gave Boz a thumbs up and he eyed the rope. Please let this go well.

It didn't. Brady tried to grab the rope, but missed and dropped belly-first to the ground again. It caused such a commotion that all mermaids gathered around to see what Brady was up to. For strategic reasons, Boz decided to stay up on the chandelier a little longer.

Brady rubbed his painful neck. "Man, I gotta get better at doing that." The water balloons had all popped and soaked Brady, but the water soaker seemed to be intact. That was a better weapon than water balloons, anyway.

"Look what the tide dragged in," Aerosol said in a condescending and annoyed tone. She placed her hands in her side. "What is it now?"

"I'm packed with seawater," Brady said boldly. "This is for Mikayla!" He took aim and fired it at Aerosol. She was smart enough to recognize what was going to happen and jumped behind Amazonia. When the seawater touched the girl, her legs were promptly replaced by the tail she once had, much to Lanny's dismay.

Boz picked this moment to drop to the ground. He almost twisted his ankle upon impact, but he still got it and landed without much trouble. It impressed both the mermaids as well as Brady.

"Dude, you've gotta teach me how to do that," Brady said. Boz nodded, but his mind wasn't there – Lanny was so disappointed; Amazonia had broken his heart. Had he not known they were mermaids? Poor cousin was head over heels, wanted to make the girl his queen. Boz could only feel sad for Lanny and the few hours of happiness he had felt.

"You're siding with him?" Aerosol exclaimed. This betrayal hurt her.

"One tip from the future: look up," Boz said. Brady took this as his sign to ready his weapon. The power dynamic shifted – where they once felt powerful and in control, one drop of seawater could transform them back. Their fear was growing and in a panic, they rushed to the palace doors and opened them, to escape.

Boomer stood in their way, armed with a soaker of his own. Without saying any word to announce his intentions, he took aim and shot water their way. He successfully hit one mermaid, but when he targeted the next, no water came out. Boomer frowned. This should work, right? He looked into it, to see the problem, but he also pulled the trigger and soaked himself.

Aerosol shook her head at them. "I've seen corals smarter than you." Even in dire times, she still had time for snide remarks. She and her two remaining friends ran up to the plaza, but Boz was faster. He ran faster, being used to having legs and all, and blocked their path out of the courtyard. They were trapped in the open air. In the confusion, Brady and Boomer managed to each hit another mermaid, leaving only Aerosol as the mermaid with legs.

She looked from Boz to the kings. They were the more immediate threat, with their water soakers aimed at her. In a moment of brilliance, she deployed her siren song on them and the boys promptly lowered their weapons.

"Slap each other like you mean it!" she said, and Boz was puzzled. How can such a clever girl not tell them to do something worse? Boz was glad she wasn't that clever, but how could these two extremes co-exist?

Either way, Boz could do nothing to the kings but watch them slap each other. Boomer felt the need to clarify he did not mean it, but that smile said otherwise and Brady caught on to it.

Aerosol focused her attention on Boz, and for a moment, he thought she was going to make him do something he did not want to do. Instead, she did not use the siren song on him but plainly asked.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Even now, she tried to win him over. Even now, she believed they could make it work, almost the same as Lanny had tried with Amazonia. Boz shook his head.

"I'm not doing anything," Boz said. "You did this all to yourself."

With perfect timing, Mason rode Mikayla onto the courtyard with the King Cruiser. She held a soaker in her hand and Aerosol could only stare. She glanced from Boz to Mikayla as Mikayla said something in the old ocean language.

"Translation: go fish." Mikayla fired the soaker at Aerosol. She could have avoided the stream. She could have stepped out of the way, or run back into the castle where the King Cruiser could not follow. She did scream and cry when she lost her legs again, but Boz could recognize the bravery. She accepted her fate at last, even if she wasn't happy about it.

Then, the clean-up started. Brady, Boomer, and Mason were kind enough to bring the five mermaids back to the beach, so they could safely return to the ocean. Boz kept Mikayla company so she wouldn't have to stay all alone while her father supervised Brady and Boomer. There was some awkward silence between them. Soon, the three arrived back at the courtyard with the King Cruiser, and Mason asked Boomer to carry his daughter into the castle.

"Boomer can't carry her," Brady said in a fit, "because he has pain in his foot!"

Boomer was confused and wondered what was wrong with his feet. Brady promptly stomped on one to ensure he would be the one to carry Mikayla into the castle and give her her legs back. Neither Mason nor Mikayla were happy with the way the brothers settled this dispute, but the more important thing was Mikayla and her legs.

Mason handed his daughter to the king, who carried her into the castle. The purple tail disappeared and her legs were returned to her. Mikayla smiled with joy, speechless and grateful.

"I'm sorry for the crazy day," Brady apologized. "I mean, at least you're back to normal, right?"

Mikayla responded in the ocean language. She feigned anger towards Brady and yelled something Boz did not understand. Brady almost sank into the ground.

"I'll get the Book," he muttered and he dragged Boomer along with him, into the castle where Mason had restored the book to its original place. When they were out of earshot, Mikayla turned to her father.

"Got him." Boz sighed in relief. This would have been so weird if she continued to talk in that language. Mikayla smiled at the successful prank. It was a good one – it even convinced Boz.

Mason immediately returned to guard duty, whereas Mikayla turned to Boz. They needed to talk.

"You tried to help them, right?" Mikayla asked. "From the inside out?"

"I did," Boz replied. It wasn't an easy task, but he believed he had done it well enough. "I'm not sure if what I did was any good, but I think it helped. And I'm sorry I lied to you. I didn't want to lose the kings' trust and since I had nothing to lose with you—"

"If it helped, it was enough," Mikayla interrupted him. Anything that was helpful, even if it wasn't 'any good', was enough to help protect the kings. That is what counted. "You might be one of the good ones."

Boz frowned. "Meaning?"

"Meaning, I trust you. Just a little."

Boz's heart almost jumped out of his chest. She was serious about this. She genuinely trusted him, so soon. He had thought it would take him two months to gain her trust, instead of the two weeks it took.

"That's more than I could ever want," Boz answered truthfully. "Thanks for the trust."

"Don't you lose it," Mikayla warned him. Boz nodded.

"If the kings are doing something stupid without your knowledge, I'm there to make sure they won't get hurt."

"And you'll tell me," Mikayla added.

"Sure thing," Boz said. They laughed. Boz walked into the castle with Mikayla to find the Great Book. Let's see how long it would take for them to figure out Mikayla could speak in English again.