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Kai whirled in front of me, his fist barely tapping the side of my cheek, and I held up the brown bag in defeat. “Okay, okay, you got me. Take all my food.” I did a wide sweep with my arms over the lovely expanse of nothing in front of me as he pumped a fist in the air to commemorate his victory. When we caught our breath, I noticed I felt strangely at ease next to him. My lungs felt light and airy, like the burden of thousands of merfolk’s lives had eased off my shoulders for a bit, and I had permission to relax.
“I guess I never needed to learn how to glamour,” I said, matching his leisurely steps. “Even on the off season, Dad and Gram always made sure there was plenty to eat, no magic or fistfights needed.”
I drew in my bottom lip, pondering over what I’d do with that kind of magic. “I hate to admit it, but it’s tempting, knowing you might have this power inside you… To control the people around you if you wanted. Don’t you think?” I cut a glance over at Kai. His grin had turned lopsided, like he couldn’t settle on one particular expression. I laughed nervously, casting my gaze down to my boots. “Now that I said it out loud, it sounds kinda creepy, doesn’t it?Controlling people. Might be nice to sweet-talk Laverne into liking me, though.”
Definitely a tempting thought, but I knew my conscience wouldn’t let me override someone’s freewill, and that included sea lions.
Kai swung an arm around me. “Don’t worry about it. She’ll come around soon.” His voice softened as he patted me on the shoulder. “It isn’t you, you know. She’s had a hard time these last few months.”
“Oh? I can’t imagine what kind of troubles a sea lion might have. They swim, they eat, they lie out on some rocks.” I cleared my throat, wincing at the sound of my rant. Laverne might not like me, but I was totally being unfair. She was a lovely young sea lion with a spirited personality. Of course she had problems of her own.
“She’s got man trouble, among other things. There’s this sea lion bull she really likes, Albert. Out of all the harem kings, his teeth are the largest, so I guess that makes him cute? Anyway, he rejected her againthis season, even though he took a lot of new flames into his caves. So, what’s a sea lion to do?” Kai chuckled lightly, tapping a finger against the middle of my forehead. “She barked at him, spat in his face, then told him off. Said she was too much for one bull to handle anyway and stormed out of his territory.”
My lips pursed. She’d totally given me the Albert treatment earlier.
“When she heard I was going to the Atlantic, she told me she was coming along with me. Insisted on it, actually. Said she was ready to go out and start collecting men of her own.”
Uh,what?Like a harem, butreversed? Was that even a thing? “Has she realized she’s probably the only sea lion on the east coast right now?” My heart sank at the thought. “If you need me to, I can be the one to break it to her. She already doesn’t like me.”
“What makes you think she doesn’t like you?” Kai asked, leading us into the pool room.
Was that really a question? It was obvious she didn’t like me. When I didn’t provide an answer, he nudged my hip with his own, throwing me a thoughtful look. “Well, I think she has her sights on Barren for now. He might not have big teeth, but you’ve seen his arm. It’shuge!”
I held in a breath, picturing Barren wedged into the driver’s seat. Everything about him was huge, not just his arm. “So, there weren’t any sea lions around, and she set her sights on a merman? For real?” Laughter bubbled up as I pictured the two of them together. Strolls on the beach. Going to meet his parents and Laverne’s coronation as a princess of the Indian Ocean. She’d be wearing those ridiculous sunglasses, of course. Both of them would be.
The arm around my shoulder slid away, disrupting my glorious daydream. “I didn’t know they made bathtubs like this!” Kai exclaimed, running to the side of the stagnant, rectangular swimming pool. “An entire school of humans could fit in here, easy!”
“What do you mean, bathtub? That’s the swimming pool. You know, the place you wanted to take me for our swimming lesson?”
One of Kai’s lavender-blond eyebrows lifted. “Swimming lesson? I didn’t bring you here for swimming, Claira.”
“You… didn’t?” My head slanted as I watched him bend to place the brown bag next to the pool. When he straightened up, he let the backpack slide down his shoulder. “Then why—?” Before I could finish my thought, he had traded my brown bag for the backpack.
“I asked around for a place away from everyone where you could scrub up and refresh yourself. You know, bathe and relax a bit.”
Relax? Scrub up? Dumbfounded, I let him unzip the top of the bag while I held on to the straps.
“I picked out some clothes for you. See? Oh, this one!” He dug through the bag and yanked out a neatly folded T-shirt. “See, it’s red,” he said with a hint of wonder in his voice, obviously expecting me to be impressed. “Just like your hair! Go on, have a look.”
Letting the backpack drop, I accepted the shirt, holding it up so the bottom could unfold.
And unfold it did. When the fabric settled, I was face-to-face with a cartoon crab holding a wooden sign and sporting a pair of suggestively cocked eyebrows. And that wasn’t even the best part of it. No, the best part was written on the sign in big, bold lettering. Some cheeky designer had scrawled “GOT CRABS” over the illustrated planks of wood.
There wasn’t even a question mark; it was a statement.
Clearly a tasteful choice.
“Oh, wow, I—Iloveit.” I contorted my lips into what I hoped was a passable smile. Would he notice if I wore it inside-out? “Thank you for thinking of me.”
My current outfit was beyond salvageable, but did I really want to go around with that kind of advertisement plastered over my chest?Ugh.
Kai clapped his hands in approval before diving back into the bag. Crabs danced in my vision as I waited for what was to come next. “There’s a gray one, too—to go with your eyes. It has this cool-looking shark on it. You’re gonna love it.”
A second shirt emerged, this one depicting a shark standing up on its tail and leaning against a surfboard. It was striking a pose that screamed “intended for children,” but at least it suggested nothing unsavory about my nether regions.
“I picked you out some pants, too. I really hope they fit. Pants are tricky, right? Oh, and then there’s some tiny clothing to use for swimming, but Barren insisted on picking those out for you himself.”
A burst of heat flushed over my face. “Barren did what now?”
