A suspenseful fantasy story by Maria Vermisoglou, The Dark Tide is set at the Gifted Blood Academy. It is Yuri’s sophomore year. He is a merman and as he swims toward the portal to the realm, he is in pain. He keeps remembering his fight with the shark that had entered his home. Something had been off about the shark and his injury should have healed by now. Stubborn Yuri shrugs it off and passes through the portal to join his friends. He shifts into human form but it causes him more pain. His friend Kae helps him up while Aquilius frowns at Yuri and then returns to reading his book. Two younger mermen arrive, Dan and Yan, along with the appearance of Eryn, a Fire Elemental. The group enters the academy prepared to learn more about their powers. However, something continues to plague Yuri’s mind. In Professor Waverly’s class, she acknowledges Yuri’s injury. She begins to heal him and Yuri is amazed at the success, as other healers had not been able to cure his pain. She explains the shark was a rare Venwr shark made of dark magic. As Yuri and Aquilius head to their next class, a dark foreboding fills Yuri when he sees a shifter with wild pink hair who seems to intentionally insult everyone. Mavuto even angers the Sirens enough they intend to kill him. Yuri dismisses Mavuto. That evening in their dorm, the merman notice that there are no new mermen. Where are they? Several other groups throughout the school are also missing new recruits. As time progresses, Yuri notices darkness has begun to envelop the Academy and more students and faculty start to disappear. What is destroying the realm? And can it be stopped?