Page 19 of Make Out With A Merman

Except there’s no water.

Just my bunk. Cold sheets. My skin slick with sweat.

The dream fades in pieces. Cold hands. Whispers in the current. Something pulling, dragging me down into the dark.

My heart is hammering like it wants out.

I sit up, swing my legs over the edge, and rub a hand over my face. It’s still dark out. Just a sliver of moon through the window. A breeze stirs the edge of my curtain, soft as breath.

It shouldn’t rattle me. I’ve had dreams before. Every one of us from below has. That’s what happens when you leave the deep, you don’t get to forget it.

But this one felt different.

Older.

I stand, dress quickly, and head out toward the lake. Can’t sleep now. Not when the dream’s still clinging to my ribs like seaweed.

The air is heavy tonight. Not humid. Just…thick.

The lake is calm. Too calm.

Even the bugs are quiet.

By mid-morning,I’ve almost convinced myself I imagined it.

Almost.

Then the riptide hits.

We’re running our group course on the west end of the lake, canoe handling under light wind conditions. I’ve got three campers paddling figure-eights between the buoys. I’m scanning the water, routine, alert but relaxed.

Callie’s on the dock with the next group, teasing Jason about sunscreen and tying juice boxes into a floatie wreath like it’s art class.

Then I feel it.

A shift.

Like something inhaled just under the surface.

I snap my gaze back to the water, Group Two’s canoe is drifting. Not paddling. Driftingfast.

“Eliza, brace left!” I shout. “Paddle back into current!”

They try, but the water isn’t obeying anymore. It’s yanking the canoe sideways, faster than the wind accounts for. Faster than the kids know how to handle.

The buoy jerks from its anchor. Water sloshes in unnatural pulses. And I know this isn’t just a current.

This ismagic.

“Callie!” I bark, already diving.

I hit the lake like a blade.

Cold. Fast. Pure instinct.

The current fights me, but I’ve trained for worse. I push through the drag, find the canoe just as Eliza starts to panic, her paddle spinning uselessly.

“I’ve got you,” I growl, grabbing the side. “Keep it balanced.”

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