Page 25 of Kringle and the Kraken

“Their scent is impossible to mistake.”

A shudder rolled through the mayor’s watchdog. He was finally beginning to understand the issue. His eyes turned glassy behind his out-of-style wire-rimmed spectacles. And I took advantage of his distraction to pivot and continue toward the mayor’s office.

When I shoved through the door, Calder Delmar was sitting behind a massive dark wood desk with his feet propped up on the corner, the handset from his desk phone pressed between his ear and shoulder while he picked at his fingers. His gaze swung my way, and his expression went from relaxed to annoyed in the blink of one of his beady eyes.

But my attention wasn’t on Delmar, and I couldn’t care less that he found my presence irritating. My gaze was locked on the blue-green orb floating behind his desk. Every haven town had one. The orb indicated the health of the ley line magic, and in most haven towns, it was somewhere everyone could see. In Baleen, the orb had floated on top of a fountain in the middle of downtown. It was more than a little concerning that Delmar had Lifeboat’s orb tucked away in his office.

It was even more concerning that the light inside the sphere was pulsing and stuttering in no discernible rhythm, the color moving from murky teal to bright aquamarine and back again in a dizzying and unsettling pattern. I’d never seen anything like it. In Baleen, the orb glowed a brilliant and consistent turquoise. I’d never seen the color change.

“Hold on a sec,” he said to whoever was on the other end of the line. His feet hit the floor, and he leaned forward to stab at a button on his phone, putting his call on hold. “Lawrence!”

The sprite who’d been chasing me down the hall appeared in the doorway, red-faced and panting a little. “I’m sorry, sir. I tried to tell him you were busy. He was very insistent.”

My eyebrows rose. “Insistent? There’s been a sea wraith attack, and you think I’m being insistent?”

Lawrence stammered as the mayor picked up his call again, telling whoever was on the other end of the line that he would call them back.

“It’s fine, Lawrence. Hold my calls while I deal with Mr. Shoal’s unfounded claim that there was a sea wraith attack in Lifeboat.”

“Mr. Sh-Shoal. B-but?—”

Delmar waved him away. “Shut the door, Lawrence.”

The water sprite hesitated for a second, then nodded, and the door clicked closed. Delmar pushed back in his seat, his elbows on the arms of his chair and his fingers steepled. He reminded me of every cartoon megalomaniac villain right before they launched into a monologue.

“Now, what is it I can do for you, Mr. Shoal, because certainly you didn’t burst into my office to really talk about sea wraiths?”

“The blown-out front window at my shop proves it.”

“Proves what?”

“That sea wraiths can get into Lifeboat.”

“Hardly. What it proves is that something broke your window.”

The orb behind Delmar pulsed, a crackle of cyan light jumping from the sphere. “Why is it doing that?” I pointed beyond Delmar, who spun in his leather chair to look at the orb.

“Why don’t you tell me?” The mayor’s voice was cold, and my eyes narrowed at his tone.

“Excuse me?”

Delmar pointed a finger at the orb. “Before you showed up in town, it never did this. The second you arrived, everything started going haywire, and now you’re in here talking about sea wraiths? I tried to be nice, to warn you away, but now I know for sure, you, Levi Shoal, are no good for this town.”

The magic seemed to disagree, the orb glowing the bright and steady turquoise I was used to the second Delmar said my name.

Which just seemed to make him more agitated. “I will not have you causing panic in town with your claims that sea wraiths have breached the border. It’s untrue and dangerous.”

“What’s dangerous is ignoring the fact that there is clearly something wrong with Lifeboat’s magic.” The orb pulsed in time with my words, and on some cellular level, I knew the magic was agreeing with me. It was almost like I could feel the cracks in the power coming from the ley line. “You’re the mayor. It’s your job to protect the people in this town.”

Delmar scoffed. “Protect them from what? You’re the one who’s run in here telling ghost stories.”

I rubbed a hand over my face, my jaw tight as I gritted out my next words. “Last night, a sea wraith broke the window at my shop. The glass was blown in from the outside, the entire pane shattered into millions of pieces. The damage is one thing, but the smell. It was unmistakable.” Delmar started to interrupt, but I held up a hand. “Luckily, Kris and I were upstairs in my apartment when it happened, but if you don’t take this seriously, someone is going to get hurt.”

The mayor’s expression turned stormy. “I will not have you telling me how to run my town.”

“Then maybe you need to actually lead. Get a message out telling everyone to be careful. With Poseidonia coming, there will be visitors in town and others will be traveling. Remind them how to stay safe while you figure out what is causing the instability in the magic.”

Delmar slammed his hand on his desk hard enough to make his computer monitor sway. “There are no sea wraiths in Lifeboat, and there is nothing wrong with the magic!” The orb pulsed behind him, clearly calling his bluff.

---