Who would catch them if they fell?
Orion’s hand tightened on the trident across his back.
With a sharp gesture, he summoned the water magic embedded in the stones of the reflection pool. Ancient symbols pulsed faintly. A breath of wind stirred his long hair. The trident on his back hummed in warning, as if sensing the danger he was about to leap into.
A portal flared open. Orion stepped over the ledge and allowed himself to be caught in the current.
Juno sat cross-legged on the deck of the tour boat, a wool blanket wrapped around his shoulders like a soggy superhero cape. His hair was sticking up in wet tufts, his feet were bare, and he was grinning.
Around him, chaos buzzed.
Crew members scrambled to figure out where he had come from and why the boat wasn’t moving. Tourists murmured, snapped photos, and clustered around the edges of the railing, peering into the dark waters of Loch Ness, waiting to see if a sea monster might wave back at any moment.
Juno was just as fascinated by them.
Humans.
They were so dramatic.
So loud.
And honestly?
He found them rather hilarious.
One had tried to wrap him in a second blanket like he was about to shiver into another dimension. He didn’t have the heart to tell them he wasn’t cold. At all.
If they would just look the other way for a minute, he would be back in the water, helping Dolph and Zohar.
Instead, he was being babysat.
By a girl.
She sat next to him, arms folded, a plastic cup of soda in her hand. She had brown eyes, thick bangs, and a skeptical expression that made her look like she was both old and young.
She also looked like she’d had enough of this trip hours ago.
“Hi, I’m Juno,” Juno said, flashing her a grin.
She raised one eyebrow and stared at him like he had grown a second head. “I’m Tiffany. You look weird.”
“Thank you,” he replied cheerfully. “Why is everyone here?”
Tiffany gestured vaguely. “They’re looking for some stupid creature that doesn’t exist. You know—‘Nessie.’ It’s all for the tourists. Dumb, right?”
He tilted his head. “Are you one of the dumb tourists?”
Her scowl could have melted ice. “No. But my parents are.”
Juno snorted a laugh. “Oh. Okay.”
Tiffany gave him a sideways look. “How’d you get in the water?”
He blinked. “I swam.”
She looked around the loch. Choppy, wind-whipped water surrounded by cliffs and shadows. “From where? That’s impossible. It’s freezing.”
“Not for me.”
