Page 51 of Cursed Waters

I was almost too astounded by the feat to notice that Kai was now leaning intome. His arm reached over my body, his hand feeling around the space between Barren’s seat and my hip.

“Wait—what are you?” I gasped, my pulse kicking into overdrive. Kai was overly friendly, sure, but I hadn’t read him asthat kindof overly friendly.

“You too.” The weight from his shoulder left me as he pulled back, bringing the buckle of my seat belt up with him. “Sorry, I know mermaids don’t like feeling trapped, but it makes me nervous.” His voice trailed as he pulled the seat belt over me. He clicked it in with a smile that showed his relief. “I feel better with you wearing the leash, too.”

It felt strange, looking at Kai’s lips as he smiled. While other grins seemed to hold a million hidden meanings, there was something so genuine about the way his mouth formed. Like his smile was simply that—an expression of pure emotion I didn’t have to spend energy dissecting, picking apart for its actual intent. Looking at him felt… oddly refreshing.

Barren shifted into drive, and I suddenly remembered that a merman was at the wheel. Though from how smoothly his arm slid back up, resting on the twelve o’clock position like driving was second nature to him, he sure looked like someone who knew what he was doing behind a steering wheel. I held my breath as the tires started moving over the gravel. A smooth start—thank Poseidon. I let my spine relax back into the seat a fraction.

Laverne’s head slowly turned, bending back like a crazy straw until it was completely turned upside down. Were all sea lions able to move their necks around like owls did? As I pondered that thought, pitch-black eyes caught mine. When Laverne seemed sure she had my attention, the dark circles of her eyes narrowed into mere slits.

There was definitely something she wanted to tell me. I cleared my mind on instinct, waiting for words or emotions to project their way into my mind, but nothing came through.

Whiskers on her chin twitched, pointing all the way up at the ceiling. It was kind of cute, actually, how the little lines of whiskers on her snout were all—

A wad of spit rocketed through the air like a bullet, hitting a mark that just so happened to be right in the center of my forehead.

“What the—Laverne!” Kai gasped, throwing his hands up like her behavior was a complete shock to him. “That’s not how we treat our new friends!”

Okay, maybe some emotion had gotten through.

Laverne definitely didnotlike me.

Warm spit slid down the space between my eyebrows, and I went for my sleeve. “No, no, use mine,” Kai said, lifting the bottom of his overshirt.

Ignoring his offer, I scrubbed over my face. After everything my clothes had seen me through over the past day, what difference did some sea lion spit make? “No worries, it’s just a little slobber,” I said, but the concerned tilt to Kai’s eyebrows suggested he had a hard time believing it. I inspected the damp circle on my sleeve. Honestly, it looked a little cleaner now than it did before. “It’s fine, really. I’m usually covered in much worse.”

A playful intrigue lit Kai’s eyes, and he leaned in like a kid eager for story time. “Oh? Like what?”

“I, uh…” My brain stalled.It wasn’t that I was ashamed of the work my family did, because I wasn’t. It was hard, honest work. Work that was far below a couple of princes—I stopped myself right there. What they thought of me shouldn’t matter one bit. “Lots and lots of fish goo,” I finally mumbled, turning away so I wouldn’t have to see his carefree features twist in disgust.

A line of buildings flew past the window, their doors and windows boarded up with a mixture of scrap planks and low-grade plywood. Everything looked uneven and half-assed, like whoever had lived here was in a rush to leave everything behind. I shuddered, feeling definite horror movie vibes. What the heck happened in this town before the merfolk arrived?

“Fish goo?” Kai asked, a note of amazement brightening his voice. “Oh! Like some kind of skin treatment? I think it must be working, because I noticed before your nap that the skin underneath your eyes was looking a little—”

Barren barked out a cough so loud that I initially thought it came from Laverne.

“Whoa, you okay, man?” Kai asked, scooting up in his seat to clap a hand over the circular strap of leather covering Barren’s shoulder. I caught the reflection of Barren’s eyes in the rearview mirror, but they flashed right away. It was a nice save—I just hoped that brief glance wasn’t him checking for bags under my eyes.

An awkward silence drifted around us as Kai’s hand stalled on Barren’s shoulder. Out of nowhere, Barren threw back his head and roared out a spontaneous burst of laughter. It was a rough, howling sort of sound that caught me completely off guard. Kai was quick to follow, and he started snickering beside me like he’d just heard the funniest joke in the world.What the heck?I was clearly missing something. Or were they laughing at my face?

I rubbed under my eyes, but neither of them seemed to pay me any mind.

What was so damn funny all of a sudden?

“Oh—oh man!” Kai gasped out, his fist pounding on Barren’s shoulder. Tears streamed from his eyes as his head shook. “You didn’t!”

Barren’s wide chest seemed to be coming out of its fit of convulsions, and the hearty rumble of his laughter slowed as he struggled to catch his breath. What was going on here?

My eyes whipped between the two mermen, then caught on Laverne. Diabolical shadows seemed to form under her eyes as her head swiveled back, sparing me the briefest glance before barking out a few boisterous yaps herself.

“Oh, man, you didn’t hear it?” Kai said, finally noticing how far out of the loop I was. “It’s just that Laverne told this funny story about boarding the plane. The guys rolling her crate, they said—well, you kinda had to hear how she did all the voices—but man, it was so good!” Kai’s poor description seemed to be enough to tickle all three of them all over again, and I folded my arms as an annoying chorus broke out around me.

It was like being the new kid in school all over again. “I like funny stories, too,” I mumbled, my eyes trailing back to the window. Feeling oddly alone, I stewed in silence while they composed themselves. Sure, Kai had tried to include me, but Laverne had sent me an obvious message without bothering to say a single word.

You are not one of us.

Yeah, well, I didn’t need to be a part of their group. It wouldn’t be long before Leander would drag me with him to retrieve his father’s trident, and then all of this would be over with. Getting along with the three of them wasn’t necessary. I just needed to survive a little while longer, and I’d be back home.

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