He pulled out a phone from his pocket.The device had a shiny black and gray case that shimmered metallic and depicted a shark on the back, its eyes black, its teeth shimmering in pearly white.He started tapping on there, then looked up and inland.
Kai pointed.“The stairs are there.”
“You want me to go first in case I change my mind and decide to eat you, don’t you?”
“Yup.I fell for a charmer once before.”
Mikano’s face darkened.“If you are talking about that human who used magic on you, he’s not that.He’s not anything.He’ll learn that very soon.Come on then.Tickle will be glad to see you.”
Mikano put his phone away and started walking.
“Tickle?”
“Oh, we call him that.Because of his arms.You’ve seen them, I assume?His octopus arms.”
“I have.”
“That’s good.That’s very good.”Mikano started up the stairs, holding on to the handrail as if he were just a regular human who could fall and get hurt.Kai wasn’t sure that was true at all.“So tell me, Kai, how do you feel about my brother’s many, many appendages?Good, neutral?Not your thing?”
“I really don’t think that should be your concern.”With evening rolling in, the wind picked up.Clouds were coming in over the ocean too.It all looked much too ominous for Kai’s taste, and he just wanted Fian back, wanted all those tentacles around him and…maybe more.Maybe he could actually handle more.
“That’s an answer.It makes me hopeful.Oh, tides, he hasn’t been giving you a soliloquy about why mushrooms are the best food, has he?If he did, I swear that’s never happened before.”
“I like mushrooms too.”
Mikano stopped, and because there was no room on the stairs, so did Kai.The sometimes-shark turned and looked over his shoulder.“You gave him jam, you said?Did he ask for that?”
“What?”
“When you dreamed earlier.You said he came into that store and that you gave him jam.Did he ask for that?”
“No?It was a freebie.As a thank-you because he was nice.”
“A freebie.”Mikano huffed.“Oh, he got lucky, I can tell.”The shark reached for Kai’s hand faster than Kai could follow.Mikano squeezed Kai’s fingers.“I like you.If you ever need anything—anything—you let me know.My brother is, well.He’s that one fish who doesn’t swim with the school, but I do care about him and—”
Kai pulled his hand back.“So go and save him instead of making small talk, okay?”
Mikano raised his eyebrows.“Oh?Okay.But before we go, let me free you from these tattered remnants of a ruined spell.”
With his demonic speed, he reached for Kai once again, took his head into his hands.Mikano looked deep into Kai’s eyes, and before he knew what was happening, Kai felt warm and light.The cold from the beach was still nipping at him, but now it wasn’t as bad as it had been.
After a few moments, Mikano let go.“There.That should do it.”
Before Kai could ask him what the fuck that had been about, Mikano sped up his steps, and this time, Kai had trouble keeping up.
Fian, your brother is coming to save you!
18
TheyhaddraggedFianoff to a boathouse.It was shady, metaphorically speaking.The lighting was actually rather decent, and Fian could see a disused boat and rotted rope, could feel the floorboards hard against his back.
From his angle of having been dumped on the floor in his human form, bound and gagged, Fian spied an old matchstick box that someone had dropped on the floor.The Moonlight Diner.The crescent moon and stars make a cute logo.I bet they serve mushrooms there.Oh, how much I’d like to be there with Kai now instead of here with two barnacle men for the price of one.
Fian could smell the salt on the air, and he heard the ocean rolling back and forth outside, so if he managed to get free, it would only be a short run.Yet his ability to shift seamlessly and thus strangle the witches had been zapped by a dirty trap spell that had knocked him out for a few minutes, something a human shouldn’t really have been able to come up with or put together this fast.
At least Kai is safe.That’s the most important thing.Even if he doesn’t manage to fall asleep and call for help, he’s not here where the barnacle man is.Maybe he left this town and found that Moonlight Diner place.Maybe he’s having a milkshake there right now and is figuring out how to live a happy life.I would have liked him to be my landbride, but if he can be happy elsewhere…
Fian bit his tongue.He didn’t want to let his captors know that he was thinking about Kai, that he was hoping Kai was okay and far, far away from their ugly magic.
