Page 11 of Kringle and the Kraken

“You were telling me about the tree farm.”

“Oh, right. There is stuff to do year round, but the busiest time is from Thanksgiving to Christmas. The rest of the year is more hands off, so I’ve found other things to occupy my time.”

“Like?”

“Well, I teach a few college-level classes. I have a master’s degree in history, and I’m an adjunct professor at a few colleges along the coast. My subject areas are pretty niche, and it’s hard to find people with my specific areas of expertise, so I teach a lot of special topic courses online.”

Levi leaned forward on the table. “What kind of things do you teach?”

“Maritime history, nautical cartography, and”—I felt my cheeks heat a little—“nautical lore and legends.”

His mouth dropped open. “Nautical lore and legends. Really?”

“Yeah. It’s not as weird as it sounds.”

This time he held his hands up in surrender, his muscles rippling under his inked skin. Our server returned, balancing a tray, and set Levi’s sake pitcher and cup in front of him, waiting until he’d decanted a small amount and tasted it before he set my pot of tea and a slightly larger cup in front of me. After assuring Levi our food would be out shortly, he disappeared again.

Levi took another sip from his cup, keeping it between his palms. “For the record, I swear I wasn’t judging. I think a nautical folklore class sounds really cool. What sorts of things do you cover in the course?”

“A ton of worldwide folklore about kelpies, sirens, merfolk, kappas, and others. We touch on some Greek mythology at the beginning of the semester and end with my favorite topic, the leviathan.”

Levi spat the drink of sake he’d just taken all over the table.

CHAPTER FOUR

LEVI

“Oh my gods,Kris! I’m so sorry!” I grabbed a napkin and immediately started wiping up the mess I’d just made.

“It’s okay.” He used his own napkin to help. “I’m guessing you have strong feelings about the leviathan, huh?”

Considering the fate I’d run from was becoming a leviathan, yeah, you could say that. Krakens were natural-born leaders. Krakens were almost always the mayors of the ley line haven towns because our magic was the strongest. We were protectors. If a kraken was in charge, no one would dare threaten a haven town. A kraken in charge became a leviathan. Our powers increased in support of keeping our people safe. Think giant squid meets sea serpent on steroids. I could guarantee whatever Kris was teaching in his nautical folklore courses, he had it all wrong.

My father had started mumbling about retirement and needing to pass on the mantle, like his father had passed the mantle on to him after my grandfather left Lifeboat and settled in Baleen, serving as the mayor of the town until my grandmother told him it was time to step down. But that wasn’t what I wanted. At least not now. And besides, my brother Lakewas the one my father had been grooming to take his place. He’d told me there were other things, important things, in my future.

And what the hell would Kris think if he knew he was having dinner with the object of his academic interest? I still thought it was weird he had no idea the creatures he studied were all around him. Maybe there was a way I could break it to him slowly? I didn’t want to end up on Mayor Delmar’s radar any more than I already was, but it didn’t seem fair that the humans here didn’t know about the magic of their town.

With the sake mopped up, I mirrored his gesture from earlier, holding my thumb and forefinger up with just a little space between. “Just a little. But that’s a long story for another day.”

“Yeah, okay.” But the expression on his face said he wanted to press for more information. Information I couldn’t give him. It wasn’t that I wanted to heed Mayor Delmar’s warning, but I wasn’t sure dropping a truth bomb on Kris in the middle of Kori’s restaurant was the best play. Hell, I’d almost fucked up and said more than I should when Kris asked me about speaking Japanese. It wasn’t Japanese but the ancient language all sea monsters used to communicate.

But Kris wasn’t ready to hear that either.

Luckily, our overly solicitous waiter returned and set our dinners in front of us.

“Is there anything else you need, sir?” he asked, bowing slightly.

“Uh, just some more napkins.”

“Of course, sir.” He bustled away and returned a moment later with a stack of napkins an inch thick.

Kris nodded to the pile. “Sort of a celebrity?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah.”

We tucked into our meals, chatting generally about the town. Kris seemed to know everyone and everything that hadhappened for the last four decades, and I took the chance to ask a few questions.

“How long has Mayor Delmar been in office?”

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