The air was blowing Fian’s locks into his forehead, and he reached for Kai with another tentacle.“We are, but that’s normal.It’s part of braking.”
“I thought the ground was part of braking?Speeding up usually isn’t.”Kai could see people now, could see their faces.Some of them looked normal, like him, others had fish faces, fish bodies, and scales of underwater beings.It was fantastical and colorful.
“It is, but—do you see that bubble?”
Fian pointed to their left where an oversized soap bubble floated through the air.
“Yeah.”
“Good.Let’s try catching it.I’ll give you a boost.”
Two more tentacles wound around Kai’s middle, and before Kai could reconsider, Fian flung him toward the bubble, which shimmered like a raindrop in the sun.
Kai squeed as he spun through the air like an astronaut might through space.He managed to keep the bubble in sight and adjust his trajectory so that he got both his arms onto the surface, then his legs.
The bubble didn’t implode but stayed stable.It was slippery though, like a soapy tile floor, and holding on meant spinning, slipping, head over heels.It was the best fun Kai had ever had in a dream.
“This is amazing!”
“Glad you think so.”
Dark tentacles reached the bubble, and while two caught on to Kai as well, this only meant that Fian and he were both slipping and sliding over the bubble’s surface.
At one point, Kai saw Fian’s face, smiling as he was but distorted by the bubble between them.He waved, and Fian’s tentacles flexed, coiling and uncoiling, a tentacle greeting.
Moments later, their bubble burst.
Kai screamed, and Fian tentacle-wrapped him as they fell, spinning through the air.
Their fall was broken by something fluffy and white, like a mountain of feathers but not.
“What is that?”
Fian’s tentacles were all over Kai as they sat up.“It’s a cotton candy cushion.Here, taste it.”
He wrapped the tip of a tentacle around some of the cotton candy and held it up to Kai’s mouth.Kai opted for pulling out a few strands of the stuff with his fingers before tasting it.
It was cotton candy all right, achingly sweet as it melted in Kai’s mouth.“Sugary.”
Fian looked pleased.“The Carnival is fun to explore I suppose.”
“Can we?Explore?”
Fian turned first light blue, then a darker hue.“If you want.But I thought maybe I could take you to my house?Just for a short while.Show you the place.”
“Oh, right.But we can come back here?I really want to check this place out.It’s like the strangest video game.And I want to fly again!Excuse me, I want to fall again.”
Fian nodded.“We can do all of that tomorrow night.The quickest way to my home is a short swim.Are you up for that?”
“Can I drown?”
Fian chuckled.“As if I’d let you drown, Kai.”
24
Kaididn’tsomuchswim as play in the water like a young seal.Fian didn’t mind.He led his landbride, pulling him through the water until Kai was a laughing mess with saltwater on his skin and in his golden hair.
They were both giddy by the end of it, and when Fian felt the soft pebbles that told him they were close to the shore, he was almost sad their swim was at an end.
