I laughed. “Yes. You should probably get a hat so you can cover it up.”
He patted his dark hair delicately. “It would crush my curls.”
“Vain.”
“I prefer to think ‘reasonably aware of my positive attributes.’ ”
“And is the top one curls?”
“Definitely. Followed by height.”
I laughed again. “It’s important to know what matters.”
“It’s fake, actually.” He pointed at his tanned, muscled calves. “These are platform boots designed tolooklike legs and feet.”
“Nice.” I pointed at my own boots. “I’m wearing the same thing. I’m actually a faun.”
He looked startled for a moment, and I wondered if I’d been too weird for him, but then he burst into laughter. “Mr. Tumnus in the flesh. So this is what you do outside of Narnia.”
“Ms.Tumnus to you.”
He draped his arm over the back of his chair. The sun made the dark hair on his skin glow. “So, Ms. Tumnus. What brings you to Nantucket?”
“I like to ride the ferry back and forth. I never actually set foot on Nantucket. Or Hyannis. I live on the ferry.”
He nodded. “I see. You’re a ghost. You died on the ferry a hundred years ago and you’ve never left.”
Itsked. “Usually it takes humans longer to figure me out. What am I doing wrong?”
“It’s because you’re slightly transparent. And floating a few inches off the deck.”
“Ugh, and here I’d thought I had the floating under control.”
The boat picked up speed, the sudden wind fluttering hats and sunglasses. The crowd of people clustered at the rail staggered inside, clutching drinks in one hand and using their others to hold seat tops as they walked. The roar of the high-speed ferry crashing through the water made it too loud to have a conversation across the aisle, but I tried. “So what’s the island like?”
“What?” he yelled back.
“What’s the island’s deal? Anything I should know?”
“You mean, whether or not there’s a Hot Topic?”
I stuck my tongue out. “What’s there to do?”
“Looking for a tour guide?”
“You should be so lucky.”
His smile grew. “I should.” He gestured at his ear. “It’s kind of loud. You mind if—” He nodded at the seat next to me.
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from grinning too broadly. “Yeah, sure.”
He grabbed his backpack and crossed the aisle. I scooted over so he could sit, and when he did, his thigh brushed mine. A familiar, intoxicating rush of anticipation filled me. For a moment, we watched the ship’s spray rushing behind the boat in two long,endlessly colliding torrents. They clashed in the middle, arching and sinking into the water like a sandworm burrowing downward forever. Above, an honest-to-god rainbow formed in the spray’s wake, a shimmer of red and yellow and green dancing above the white foam.
The warmth of the boy beside me was more than welcome given the wind off the sea. He was big and solid, and my heartbeat started pounding, a drum inside my chest. An electric shock of desire surged through me as he angled himself in my direction.
“What do you like to do?” he asked.
I let one shoulder rise and fall, my best Gallic shrug. “I’m really good at long walks on the beach.”
