Page 104 of The Kraken Games

Higher up the beach, the music had started at the cabana. The sun was sinking lazily in the sky, as if it wasn’t in any hurry for this perfect day to end. Kai heard peals of happy laughter as the Mer folks gathered.

“I’m going to have a cocktail,” Tom said casually, side-eyeing his sister. “Y’know—just to celebrate.”

“You arenot, you’re underage.” Luna puffed up, doing the big sister act, and Tom pulled a face. “Okay, mocktail then.”

“That’s better.” She reached over and ruffled his hair. It was straight and heavy, the color of ripe corn, just like hers. They made such a beautiful pair, Kai thought looking at them.

Up the beach a champagne cork popped. Above them, the sky was streaked with a rainbow of colors as the sun finally dipped below the horizon.

Luna reached for his hand, her smile full of love.

Everything was okay with the world. No, scrub that. Everything wasperfect,Kai decided.He was here with his friends, his family, and most importantly, with his beloved mate by his side.

Yeah, it was time to party.

EPILOGUE

Luna reverently turned the pages of the book in front of her.

“I remember Mom painting this one,” she said softly, stroking the picture of a rock flower anemone with her fingertips. She felt tears well up in her eyes and reminded herself to keep breathing with her gills. She’d never cried under water; she had no idea how that would even work.

Kai’s father watched her over the top of his spectacles, and Kai held her hand. His mom gave her arm a gentle pat.

It had been such an emotional day. Her first in Thedaka.

Kai hadn’t let her swim here from Motham, he’d been worried it would exhaust her, with her gills still being so new to her, so he’d made sure the kraken craft picked them up. When she got on, she’d been touched and surprised to find that the captain had put up streamers and “Welcome, Luna” signs all over the cabin.

She’d wanted to cry then too. But she knew she’d need her energy for the day ahead.

As the vessel touched down just inside the gates of Thedaka, she’d marveled at the beautiful carved rock everywhere. Along the streets, krakens had put up more welcome signs in their quaint little stores, banners, and streamers made from differenttypes of seaweeds. All around, neon tetras, and angel fish paraded.

It was festive and beautiful, all in honor of her arrival.

The first couple of hours had passed in a whirl. There’d been a welcome party at the Town Hall, the highlight of which had been Razad in his wheelchair coming to give them his blessing. She’d gone to bow, but he’d stopped her by taking both her hands in his tentacles, then bent his barnacled head and kissed them. He’d apologized for the hurt kraken had caused her and Tom. Welcomed her to Thedaka.

It had been beautiful, and healing.

But this… even more so.

Her heart full, Luna kept turning pages.

She stared at the detailed botanical sketches and observations in neat human script, the commentary on fish species and how they lived, fed, and bred here in the ocean. Now she understood why her parents had spent so many hours diving.

“I spent many months and years studying these texts,” Pieter said softly, “adding their work to what I knew myself. Their observations about the best conditions for coral to spawn helped me with our coral farms here.”

“How did my mom and dad even know all this?” It was a rhetorical question. She knew Kai’s father could no more answer it than she could. But at least these writings gave her a sense of her parents’ in-depth knowledge of marine life. “Were they searching for Thedaka? To help kraken kind… do you think?”

“I certainly like to think so. This is where the reef was always the most beautiful, centuries ago. It would have been heard of many, many nautical miles from this spot. Perhaps they knew of the trouble we were in and had come to share their knowledge.”

Luna was thoughtful for a moment. “My dad did say we were about to come close to something very special.”

“We’ll never know for sure,” Ellen added. “But we sense that Angus and Anna were trying to find Thedaka. And the fact that you, their daughter, are here with us now, with our Kai, is a wonderful omen.”

“I’m so happy for that.” Luna sighed.

Maybe she would never know where her people came from, but in this moment, she was certain they had come in peace, in friendship, as allies. And even though they had perished, their wisdom lived on in Thedaka.

And now, her future would be here with Kai, to help him lead his people and face the changes that lay ahead. And those changes, she hoped would include their own younglings. Waldo had told them that mating would be possible, yes. It would involve dedication and maybe some magic, but hey, magic was on the mend too, these days, wasn’t it?

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