Page 56 of Make Out With A Merman

“Where’s Evan?” Emily yells, her face pale.

My heart hiccups.

I do a fast headcount.

I come up two short.

“Sam and Evan were right behind us,” someone says. “I saw them by the snack table, I swear”

I don’t wait.

I take off sprinting.

Ryder’s already moving, faster than me. His boots hit the dock like war drums.

My lungs burn, but I don’t stop until I’m at the water.

And that’s when I see them.

Just past the shoreline Evan and Sam.

Standing ankle-deep in the lake like they’ve wandered into someone else’s dream.

Their eyes are… wrong.

Wide.

Blank.

Like they’ve been hypnotized by a thousand years of drowning.

I shout their names, but they don’t flinch.

Ryder’s already in the water. He moves fast, cutting through the shallows like he’s part of it. He reaches them, puts a hand on each shoulder, andthat’swhen they blink.

Both boys shudder like they’ve just come up from underwater, even though they’ve barely moved.

“I… I was floating,” Evan mumbles.

“But I didn’t go in,” Sam adds. “It was calling. I just…”

He trails off.

I grab a towel, drop to my knees beside them as Ryder guides them out.

“You guys okay?” I ask, voice too sharp, too fast.

Evan blinks at me. “Are we back?”

I don’t know what that means.

And I don’t like it.

Later,Ryder and I sit on the cabin steps while the boys sleep off whatever spell they wandered through.

Julie called the doc on standby, some old sea medic who’s half mage, half conspiracy theorist. He’s checking for magical residue now.

But I don’t need him to tell me what I already know.

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