Page 72 of Make Out With A Merman

He freezes.

“Ryder.”

He doesn’t look at me. “Just trying to stay ahead.”

I grab his hand. “No secrets. Not anymore.”

He stills. Then, very quietly, “Whatever happens… I’m not letting it take you. Iwon’t.”

“Okay,” I say, voice soft.

But what Iwantto say is:

Whatever you’re thinking, don’t do it alone.

Whatever line you’re ready to cross bring me with you.

Because if this is the final pull…

We face it together.

Even if it drags us both under.

The rupture opens justbefore sunset.

One second, the lake’s still.

The next, it’sscreaming.

A pulse slams through the camp like thunder underwater. The float lights explode outward. The air shimmers with pressure and power and somethingold, so old it makes my skin crawl and my teeth ache.

Campers cry out.

Sirens, real ones, flare from the boundary alarms.

But I already know where he is.

I run to the lake.

Ryder’s there.

Standing on the dock, stripped down to his boots and swim shorts, glowing faintly with the shimmer of current craft wrapping tightly around his arms.

“No,” I shout, skidding to a stop. “Ryder, don’t youdare.”

He doesn’t turn.

“Callie” he starts.

“You go in there alone, and I swear I willhexyou myself!” I scream.

He finally looks at me.

And I see it, resolve. The kind that doesn’t bend.

“I can collapse it,” he says. “But I have to get inside. I have toanchor it from the center.”

“Then I’m coming with you.” I step towards him, ready for anything. Ready to protect him, these kids, this camp that means everything to me.

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