Page 108 of Cursed Waters

Oh boy, this was already chaos.

I took a breath and held out an arm to Leander. “Let’s go get your father’s trident,” I said, mustering a smile.

His face turned gravely serious, and he nodded sternly at the reminder, his sea cucumber wilting. He took my hand and—pop.

Someone’s tail or fin or arm pushed us into deeper water, and suddenly they had me spread out like a lady lounging on a chaise. Hands slid, gripped, and kneaded, fighting amongst themselves to get a comfortable hold on me. Kai’s hands slipped low, venturing dangerously close to my rear when Leander pushed him out of the way, shouldering between him and Barren.

Kai’s cheeks were pink when he smiled at me from his new place at the end of my tail. I shot Leander a sharp look as I felt his pretty boy hands cup under my butt.

I huffed, squirming in their arms like a fish caught in an uncomfortably sexy net. “You know, guys. I’m not really enjoying this.”

I couldn’t blame them for holding on so tight—it was that or risk turning into a betta—but whose idea was it to have me lyingsideways?

Barren had ended up at my head, which was probably a good thing, considering he had one less arm to keep hold of me with. I fought against all of them to turn over so I could help Barren out by latching on to his waist when my butt practically slapped Leander in the face.

“I’menjoying this.” Leander’s lips quirked into his usual smirk, and my eyes rolled. At least blowing off some steam with Barren had helped his mood.

Barren held his arm out to me, and I eyed the bag hanging at his wrist.

My eyebrows lifted. “You want me to take it?”

He nodded, and I kept one arm safely around him as I slipped the bag free. The contents shifted inside it, sparking a memory I’d locked away long ago. “Pearls?”

Barren’s jaw clenched, but he confirmed with a nod. “Keep them safe,” he said, his eyes averting. Why did looking at me always seem to make him so uncomfortable? “We’ll need them.”

Was this a promotion? I’d gone from lantern holder to bag holder, though I’d rather be a harpoon holder.Mermen just loved giving me little, unimportant jobs.

I doubled the cord around my wrist and wrapped my arm back around him, pinching the top of the bag just to be sure not to lose any.

Why we needed pearls, I had no clue. A trade, maybe? It was hard to imagine a creature stupid enough to trade a magical trident for a few handfuls of pearls. Well, a seagull might, but octopus creatures that could just collect pearls of their own? Not likely.

“Ready?” Leander asked, and they took off before I could answer. Water rushed by in choppy bursts, sending my hair drifting, the bright red tendrils snaking every which way. Three tails worked together behind me, learning and adjusting, endeavoring to find a common rhythm, while I spat out wads of hair. Geez, I was useless.

Then we dove into deeper water, and everything changed.

Barren and Leander’s tails stalled suddenly, causing us to drift.

“What?” Kai asked, glancing at the other two.

“I forgot spike-tails could do that,” Leander grumbled, pretending not to be impressed. His tail swished back into movement. “Guess that means we don’t need to stick around collecting moss.”

“Your eyes areglowing,” I blurted—much too loudly, but I was just so amazed.

Kai had to know they were glowing, right? How could anyone not know their eyes were shining brighter than if they had giant headlamps strapped to their face.

Kai cracked an easy smile, his eyes glinting at me like cut crystals held up to the sun, refracting light all around us. “Yeah, of course. How else could I see underwater?”

Emotion caught in my throat.

Maybe I wasn’t such a freak after all. Sure, my eyes didn’tglow, but I wasn’t the only one with weird mer eye magic.

Kai’s eyes veered, and amethyst rays followed through the water, spreading light like a mist, illuminating a path in front of us. It was beautiful, everything bathed in the same soft purple I was used to seeing in his eyes. That is… until he blinked.

The darkness was brief, but magic rippled through me even when his lids reopened and light bombarded me again. Wincing, I shook off the weird sensation.

I loved and hated how my scales prickled with the slide of Leander’s touch. With all their touches, really, but I was desperately trying to ignore it. Did Kai even know how sensitive the end of my tail was?

It was impossible not to feel his gentle fingers stroking through my frills as he swam, either to soothe himself or me. I wasn’t sure which. It felt nice, just like him. A littletoonice. Nice enough to make my scalp tingle at the complete opposite end of my body.

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