Page 57 of Make Out With A Merman

This was the lake.

And it wasn’t subtle.

“They were drawn,” I say.

Ryder nods. “The rift reached.”

My throat tightens. “And theyheardit.”

“It’s escalating.”

He looks tired. More than tired haunted.

I bump my shoulder into his. “You okay?”

“No,” he says. “But I’ve got you.”

That shouldn’t make me melt.

But it does.

Because it means he’s letting me in.

Really in.

“I should’ve seen it,” I say quietly. “Should’ve been faster.”

“No,” he says firmly. “This wasn’t you.”

“But they were my campers.”

“They were ours,” he corrects. “And we got them back.”

I don’t say anything.

Because part of me wants to believe him.

But part of me still hears Evan’s voice, soft and lost.

Are we back?

What happens when one of them doesn’t come back?

What happens whenwedon’t?

Ryder shifts beside me, arms braced on his knees, staring out at nothing.

Then he says it.

Quiet. Heavy.

“The magic is growing sentient.”

I freeze.

“What do you mean,growing?”

“It wasn’t like this before,” he mutters. “The rift’s always had pull. It feeds on emotion, memory… instinct. But now? It’s thinking. It’stargeting.”

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