Page 157 of Storm and Sea

“What?”

“And you say the people of this town don’t adore you.”

Atreus shook his head but couldn’t hide his grin. “Whatever. Here, I don’t like sweets.”

By the time they made it to the top of the hill, Nyel had finished them all. He ate the entire damn bag.

“I’ve never seen anyone put away sweets like you do,” Atreus said, retrieving the bucket from the well.

Nyel licked his fingers clean. “They were delicious. I bet they had sugar in them.”

Atreus laughed. “You know what, I bet they did.”

They diligently filled the paper cups, lining them up on the table. The final race for the older kids was brutal, and heat exhaustion posed a real risk. The racers would be parched by the time they made it up the hill.

“How do we know when it’s started?” Nyel asked.

A distant ‘VIA!’ echoed from below them in town as Marina signaled for the kids to start.

“Like that,” Atreus said, sitting in the grass. “And now we wait.”

The day was perfect, if not a bit hot.

“Marina’s done a really good job with this,” Nyel said, leaning on his hands in the cool grass.

“Don’t let her hear you say that. It’ll go right to her head.”

“Oh, come on, everyone deserves a little praise.”

“She might sing in celebration.”

“On the other hand, maybe her confidence is already pretty high.”

Both of them laughed. Atreus couldn’t get enough of the trilly way Nyel’s voice rose in pitch.

“You sound like a bird when you laugh,” Atreus said without thinking. Heat rose to his face as the internal thought fell from his mouth.

Nyel cocked a brow at him. “Oh? Like the gulls by the docks?”

“No.” Atreus snorted. “I mean like the tree birds. The small ones with the— you know what, never mind.”

“No, no, I want to hear it! Which bird?”

“Nope. You lost your chance.”

As Nyel made a puppy-dog face, someone crested the hill, jogging towards them.

“Hey, Nyel, Gatto! Mind if I join?”

Atreus waved to greet Leo, who appeared to be in better spirits this morning.

“Hey Leofel! Sure, come have a seat,” Nyel said, patting the grass on his other side.

Leo sat with a huff. “They’ve just started the swimming portion. Those kids will be zombies by the time this is over.”

“Maybe they’ll give their parents some peace,” Atreus speculated.

Leo waved his hand. “No way. Give them a couple of hours, and they’ll be causing mayhem all over again.”