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“Yeah, I’ll show you.” He took off down the pier, and I followed the dark path, not quite convinced. From what I could see, the harbor looked empty. Actually, the entire area seemed eerily abandoned. From the outside, one wouldn’t be able to guess that hundreds of merfolk were squatting inside the warehouse. On my quest for useful items, I hadn’t even been able to find the car that had brought me here.
Leander stepped off the edge of the pier, and I gasped, lurching forward to catch the back of his shirt before he fell into the ocean below.
Too late.
“Leander?” I said, scouring the spot over the edge where he’d vanished. A small fishing boat bobbed in the water below, and Leander was already back on his feet on its deck.
“See?” he said, smoothing down his shirt and bracing one knee on the side of the cockpit. He extended a hand like he expected me to take it. “Don’t worry, it’s seaworthy. You can trust me.”
“Trust you?” I scoffed and took a step back. “Do you really think I could ever trust you? After you sold me out to your father?”
Even in the shadows, I could see his expression turn dark. “That wasn’t my intention. I was… betrayed.”
Betrayed?Him?Right, like I’d believe that. The only way someone would have been able to betray him was if he had told them in the first place. “Uh huh. Sure you were.”
“It’s true,” he called up to me. “After that day, I wrote to you. A letter.”
“A letter?” I eased forward, watching the boat gently bob in the water. “Just a strongly worded letter trying to convince me to come break some mysterious curse for you, right? A brilliant plan.”
“You’re wrong,” he answered with staid calmness. “It was to apologize.”
Apologize?I hadn’t expected to ever hear that from him. “So, what, you just gave the letter to those mermaids to deliver?”
“No,” he corrected, and a chill hung on the edge of that one sharp syllable. “It was a gull.”
“A gull,” I slowly repeated, my mind swirling. “Aseagull?”
His dark silhouette gave me a single firm nod, and I was nearly too exasperated to speak. Nearly.
“So, just so we’re clear, you gave a highly personal letter to aseagulland expected it to just fly it over to me?”
He nodded again.
“You’re an idiot, Leander. Even a child knows better than to trust a seabird.”
“He gave me his word,” Leander said, a sudden anger lighting his eyes even in the night. “I gave him my entire week’s worth of bread and nut cream!”
“Youwhat?” I nearly fell off the pier. “Please don’t call it nutcream.”
“That’s what’s written on the jar!” Leander fired back, and I failed to bite back my laughter. Poseidon’s fury. I really hoped he’d misread the label for peanut butter.
“You should have just screamed it out yourself,” I said, motioning out to the ocean in exaggeration. “You know gulls gossip about everything!”
“Yeah, well, I’m sorry, okay?” He huffed. Even in his anger, he managed to exchange a small smile with me. His hand lifted, beckoning me to him again. “So, are you getting in the boat or what?”
Had he really not meant for me to end up here like this? “Fine,” I said, shaking my head. I kneeled at the edge of the pier, and Leander’s wide hand locked over mine. Water licked at the side of the boat, but he hadn’t transformed yet, so hopefully neither would I.
Pinching my eyes shut, I let his strength draw me down into the boat below.
11
Leander
“You do know this engine’s been flooded, right?” Claira said, opening the throttle and cranking up the motor. Power whirled through the machine for only a second before it sputtered to a stop. “Yeah, we’re not making it out of the harbor like this. Look right here—it’s wet,” she grumbled, pointing at some nozzle attached to the top dangly bit. Offering a sympathetic smile, I nodded, pretending to understand what she meant.
Clearly unmoved by my performance, she massaged the space between her eyebrows and sighed. “It means someone put way too much fuel in the cylinder. I bet the spark plugs are soaked, too.”
“Oh, right. Hate it when my cylinder gets too wet.” Squinting through the darkness, I hunched forward, my arms resting on my thighs. “Soaked plugs, too. Lots of moist things dampening your plan,” I teased, and she silenced me with an abrupt lift of her hand.
