Page 69 of Cruel Tides

“Yep!” Kai said, thrusting a fist forward. He looked relieved now that his chest was fully covered.

Laverne took the lead, setting our pace as she started down the boardwalk. The walk was slow, but it gave me a chance to show them the different stores and sights along the strip. Kai was especially interested in the seasonal bookshop, which also sold the most delicious fudge I’d ever tasted.

“Fudge soundsawesome,” Kai practically moaned as he lingered in front of the sign in the bookshop’s window. “I wish it was open,” he said, almost dreamily.

“Yeah, it’s too bad. We’ll have to come back during the summer so you can taste it,” I said, then paused. Would they even want to come back? Would they be able to?

Kai bounced back to us, looking ecstatic at the idea. “I’m in!” he said, and my heart felt lighter. Perhaps my suggestion hadn’t been as silly as I’d thought.

When we got to the bait shop, Leander stumbled a step, falling behind the rest of us. “Lee?” I called, hanging back as well to wait for him. “Everything okay?”

Anxiety bubbled up in me when Leander didn’t answer straight away. Something was off in his expression. He leaned forward, bracing a hand on his leg like he was barely able to keep himself upright. “I-I’m fine,” he said, but he didn’t look fine. Not at all. He teetered on his feet with each heavy breath.

With a pained gasp, his knee buckled, and if it weren’t for Barren catching him and pulling him back upright, he would have faceplanted right on the boardwalk. “It’s just… it’s hard to… to bre—” Leander tried to speak, but he stumbled over his words. He rubbed his chest for a second before his eyes rolled up, his face paling as Barren slung him up and onto his shoulder.

As soon as he had Leander secure in his grip, he took off down the boardwalk at an alarming pace. I followed after them, grabbing Kai’s hand and dragging him along with me. My voice shook as I called out to Barren. “What’s happening to him?”

Barren waited for us to catch up to him to answer. “His body is paying a heavy price for holding the trident’s power.” His deep voice was laced with apprehension. “For now, we need to get him somewhere he can rest.”

“Lee,” I whispered, following after them. Leander had been fine only moments ago. How had his condition changed so fast?

I only realized Kai was still next to me when he squeezed my hand, causing me to glance at him.

“He’ll be okay, Claira,” Kai said gently.

As I nodded, I attempted to match his reassuring smile.

I desperately hoped he was right.

16

Kai

Gram’s pie hadn’t cheered me up as much as I’d hoped it would.

Sweetness lingered on my tongue, but the sugary treat sat heavily in my stomach as I gazed up at the ceiling, wondering if sleep would elude me for another night. Even in a quiet room surrounded by my closest friends, rest wasn’t coming easily.

Had I slept at all since waking up in the hotel room next to Claira? Would I ever sleep again?

Inhaling deeply, I tried to center my attention on the rhythm of my breathing and not on the vision of the dark spawn lurking in my mind.

I’d thought that as long as I never saw the cecaelia again, I wouldn’t have to remember.

But now that I had, memories I wasn’t ready to relive swelled up, and I found myself choked by the intense emotions that accompanied them.

Guilt. Shame. Loss.

No—don’t think about it. My eyes scrunched shut, and I resisted the urge to hide underneath the quilt Claira had given me for the night.

I couldn’t afford to linger on these memories. Not yet—maybe not ever. I had to be strong and keep Claira smiling, even when it seemed like everything was crumbling apart around us.

Among the torrent of emotions, guilt bubbled to the surface. I hadn’t found the courage yet to tell her about my past with the cecaelia.

How could I when I could hardly bear the weight of it myself?

The thought of telling her petrified me. And the way she’d look at me after she knew? It would be too much for me to take.

My eyes dared to ease shut and curling tentacles, wisps of dark magic, and a signature drawn in blood flashed behind my eyelids, jolting me back awake. A thin layer of sweat beaded on my forehead.

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