Page 6 of Siren Problems
“Okay,” she says. “I brought you both something to cool down. And by something, I mean this one has electrolytes and this one might be possessed.”
I take the pink one. Mira takes the glowing green one with exactly zero hesitation.
Kai slumps into a deck chair. “So. Magic’s doing weird stuff. Shirtless Fish Man still acting like he invented trauma. Anything else exciting?”
“He hates me,” I say.
“He doesn’t hate you,” Mira mumbles around her straw.
Kai raises an eyebrow. “Oh, hehatesthat he doesn’t hate you. Which is, like, ten times worse for a guy like that.”
“I’m not here to emotionally rehab a cursed fisherman,” I deadpan. “I’m here to finish my thesis before the department decides to cut my funding and send me back to the data mines.”
Kai grins. “Sure. That’s why you’ve spent the last two nights scanning the ley shelf outside his cove like a creeper with a crush.”
I throw a napkin at her.
She dodges it. Barely.
“I’m serious,” I say. “There’s something there. And every time I try to scan it, Calder shows up like he’s got ley-surge radar built into his abs.”
Mira flips a page. “What if he does?”
I blink. “What?”
She pushes her glasses up her nose. “I’ve been doing comparative readings. His aura signature fluctuates along the same rhythm as the ley waves. Especially during peak hours. It’s faint, but it’s there.”
I sit back, stunned for a second. “Are you sayinghe’ssetting off the surges?”
“I’m saying... he’s connected to them. Maybe not causing them, but definitely reacting.”
Kai whistles low. “Sexy and spooky. My type.”
“No,” I say quickly, too quickly. “We arenotdoing this.”
“Doing what?” she says, all innocence. “Encouraging healthy exploration of potential romantic entanglements with sexy, emotionally complex supernatural men?”
Mira hides a giggle behind her clipboard.
I groan and take another sip of whatever-the-hell’s in my cup.
But the thing is… Kai’s not wrong. Something about Calder sticks. He’s prickly, growly, and moodier than a teenage shadow sprite, but underneath that? There’s heat. Depth. That weird sadness you only find in things that used to be powerful.
And when he grabbed me the other night—when the surge hit and I almost went over the cliff—I felt it. Not just his hands. Not just the electricity of touch. But something bigger.
Like the ocean held its breath.
I glance down at my scanner. It’s still cracked. Still useless.
But tomorrow, I’ve got a dive scheduled. Low tide. Full spectrum sensors. I’ll get closer this time.
I have to.
Even if Calder tries to stop me again.
That night, I go back out.
Scanner rigged with a jury-rigged stabilizer I cobbled from Mira’s leftover crystals and some gnome-wired copper bands. It hums like a drunk hummingbird, but it’s steady—at least until I hit the bluff line that borders Calder’s cove.
