Page 64 of Kringle and the Kraken

“All right, all right. Keep your hands to yourselves. We’re not done yet.”

“Now, are you going to make the engagement announcement?” Kennedy asked.

“We are not getting engaged.”

“But if you were, would you have to buy Levi eight rings, one for each tentacle?” Kennedy’s husband, Matt asked.

“Oh, that’s a good point,” Keith said, and Mike, who was standing behind Keith with his arms wrapped around him, nodded.

As my family dissolved into a debate over the hardware I’d need to propose, Levi stepped closer to me and whispered in my ear. “Am I dreaming, or are they taking this surprisingly well?”

I shrugged. “Half of them dress up as elves for part of the year, and one of them pretends to be their holly jolly leader. I think the Kringles are uniquely qualified to suspend disbelief.”

“But still. No one screamed or ran away.”

“Because they know you, Levi. Why would they run?”

Tears shimmered at the edge of Levi’s glowing amber eyes, and he pulled me in for a kiss, his tentacles wrapping around me.

“Ew, gross. Get a room,” one of my siblings yelled while others catcalled and whistled.

We separated reluctantly and turned to face my family again.

“Before you say whatever else you need to say, I have a question.” Kevin crossed his arms, his mouth turned down in a frown.

“Yeah, what?”

“Is that”—he wiggled his fingers in the direction of Levi’s tentacles—“how you were able to get so many trees done that night you came to the tree farm? Because unfair, bro.”

Levi laughed. “Hey, use ’em if you’ve got ’em.” He glared in Matt and Kennedy’s direction. “Would have been super helpful when we were untangling twinkle lights.”

“Untangling twinkle lights?” My mom looked around at all of us. “Why would you have to untangle the lights? We put them back in tidy bundles.”

Everyone started talking at once, trying to change the subject.

My father stuck his forefinger and thumb in his mouth and whistled, and everyone went quiet again. He nodded at me. “I think Kris mentioned there was something else he and Levi needed to say. Go on, boys.”

Levi and I explained about Calder and what his family had done trying to drive humans out of the town.

“With the ley line magic unstable, the town is susceptible to attacks. I’m not sure it will work, but Kris and I believe that revealing the history of the town to the humans here will bring balance back to the magic and protect the town from further attacks.” Levi’s hand squeezed mine.

“Attacks? What kind of attacks?” Kimmy rested one hand on her bump and the other on Kyle’s shoulder.

I looked at my nieces and nephews, then subtly shook my head. We didn’t want to scare them. “Nothing specific, but we want to make sure the town is safe for everyone here.”

“So what do we need to do?” My mom had pulled a notepad from somewhere and had her red readers perched on her nose and her pen poised to take notes.

“We need to get everyone together all in one place.”

“We can use the tree farm. Set up more chairs and benches around where the carolers and school choirs perform,” my dad said, and my mom wrote it down.

“We can move the benches from the workshop outside.” Kevin looked at Keith, who nodded.

“And we can start a phone tree. We have contact information from all the workshop reservations.” Karla tapped at her phone, pulling up the online reservation system.

“Tonight is the first night of our winter holiday, Poseidonia, so a lot of people might be heading toward the water,” Levi added.

“We can each take a beach and spread the word.” Mike looked at Kimmy’s husband, Connor, and Keith, who both nodded.

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