“You did?”
Zazine clicked her tongue.“Don’t be that smug.It’s not a good look.”
Fian pouted silently.They were almost back in Salt Harbor now, and dread weighed heavy on Kai.He reached for Fian’s hand.
“I think smug looks good on you, especially if smug comes in purple.”
Kai felt suckers on Fian’s fingers, and the smiling demon on his right was changing color.It allowed Kai to focus on something other than the dread.
Zazine dropped them on Main Street, just a short walk from the Jammery.She poked her head out the window.“I have to shuttle a team of designers around for a bit, but I can come pick you up after I’m done.”
Kai looked at his phone.“That’ll work, but my Uber account is also still functional.”
“You just let me know either way, fishcakes.Man, but the magic in this town is suffocating.You two’re good though?”
Fian took a step closer to Kai.“I’ll keep him safe.You don’t have to worry about us.”
Kai could follow the conversation well enough to know that under normal circumstances, he should have gotten butterflies.Fian was a nice guy, and really, they’d been on a date, no matter how fucked up the day had been.No matter how fucked up he was.
Kai’s emotions wouldn’t line up with having been on a date though.All he had was the anxiety, a shapeless nightmare creature creeping in when he closed his eyes.
“Kai?”
Kai flinched.Zazine’s yellow pickup was already speeding away, and it was only Fian and him now, the seagulls noisy in the distance.
“Present and accounted for.Should we head inside?Packing shouldn’t take too long.”
Fian gave him a lopsided smile.“Not if I help you.”
“You said you get dry skin though.Is that going to be a problem?Do you have to go down to the beach and freshen up?”At which point Kai remembered that they never had gotten around to buying that swimsuit.Maybe I do want it.Maybe I want to go where he lives.
“It’s sweet of you to worry, but I’ll be fine.I’m not as susceptible to it as others are.Kraken demons can deal with dry land better than most.”
They started walking toward the Jammery.Kai patted his back pocket, suddenly panicking because the keys had been in his old pants, those ugly ones.But the familiar weight was there.
“Whoa.Did you remember to grab my keys back in the changing room?”
Fian looked confused.“Of course I did.Why?Did you lose them back at the mall?”
“No.I just thought—never mind.Thanks for remembering.I can’t wait to just go and grab my stuff and—”
“Kai!Hey, Kai!”
Kai turned.One of the townsfolk was jogging toward them, James from the café on Main, the one any tourists that lost their way and ended up here always went to first.
“Hi, James.”
They stopped next to a car, blue, an older model.Kai glanced past the approaching James to all the other cars parked along Main.He couldn’t remember there ever being a lot of traffic there, and all the cars had plates from different places.Something about that felt off.
It’s like they have been put there to make it look like there are more people in Salt Harbor than there actually are.Come to think of it, I’ve never met that many people.Nick’s friends, sure.They all run a business or have spouses who do it for them.Kai narrowed his eyes.It was at a party, right?When I saw Nick cheating.Who was the guy he was cheating with?Some out of towner?
Kai tried to recall the other man’s face but failed.James came to a stop in front of them, and Fian took Kai’s hand unprompted.
“Hey, Kai.I thought Nick was coming to the Jammery to talk to you.”James huffed.He was a beer-bellied man around Nick’s age.
“Well, I didn’t want to talk to him.That was that.”
James grinned.“Huh.That’s not how he’s telling it.Why don’t you fellas come over to the café?I’ll make you something sweet, on the house, and you can tell me your side.”
