“All of them.”
“He’s really talented.” One painting in particular caught my eye. It was a lighthouse on a craggy cliff weathering a dark storm. Painted with rough, textured strokes, the foamy waves almost leapt off the canvas. I fought the urge to reach out and run my fingers over them. Touching ridiculously expensive paintings was probably frowned upon. Not exactly the type of first impression I wanted to make.
“Wasreally talented,” a suave British accent chimed in from the end of the hall. “I’ve been experiencing a bit of a creative block as of late.”
“This is Cyrus,” Atlas said, gesturing to his friend.
Cyrus shuffled down the hall toward us, his tentacles sucking and popping as they propelled him across the tile floor. His muscular chest was uncovered, tapering to a waist of six tentacles. Eight, if I counted the ones wrapped around his arms. His head was long and pointed—almost like a squid’s—and delicate translucent fins lined both sides of his neck.
He was a beautiful light blue color, with darker blue-green tiger stripes running across his body and his tentacles. I did my best not to stare, but Cyrus was the first kraken I’d ever met. In asociety where monsters and humans were the norm, there were still certain species that were rare. Krakens were one of them.
Cyrus blinked his wide alien eyes and smiled, showing off two perfect rows of piranha-sharp teeth. “Lovely to meet you, Tegan,” he said, extending a webbed hand out to me.
I took it, giving it a gentle shake. His palm was soft and cool, not at all like what I expected.
“Nice to meet you, too,” I said, grinning at him.
We followed Cyrus down the hall to the open kitchen and living area. Wide windows stretched across the walls, giving us a beautiful view of the sun setting over Briar Glenn.
Fallon and Kael were in the living room, sitting in plush recliners on either side of the sectional couch. In front of them was the biggest TV I’d ever seen.
“You already know Fallon and Kael,” Atlas said.
“Hey, Tegan,” Kael said, tipping his head.
He was a big orc, tall and muscular just like Atlas. It made sense that he’d work out at a place like Leviathan Fitness. I’d known Kael since we were kids, and while we weren’t exactly close, we hung around with the same crowd back in high school.
“Tegan!” Fallon hopped out of his chair, wrapping me in a friendly hug. “Thank you so much for coming over.” His lionlike tail flicked back and forth excitedly. It was cute, but not nearly as cute as Atlas’s tail wags.
“Thank you for having me!”
“It’s our pleasure,” Cyrus said. “Have a seat.”
Atlas, Cyrus, and I sat on the couch while Fallon plucked through a stack of video game cases sitting on the TV stand.
“Tegan said she’s not very good at video games, so I was thinking we could start out with something beginner friendly likeMario Kart,” Fallon suggested.
Kael opened his mouth to say something, but I shot him a look.
He knew my secret, and until I had a little fun, I wanted to keep it that way.
When I told Fallon I wasn’t good at video games, I meant first-person shooters, or whatever it was that people played these days. I wasnotreferring toMario Kart.
I’d cut my teeth onMario Kart 64, spending my summers locked in front of the TV, racing my brother and his friends. Kael had seen me come in first place race after race, year after year. It got to a point with our friend group where I wouldn’t be acknowledged as the winner, second place was.
But these guys had no idea what they were in for.
I picked my usual character, Princess Daisy, and when the countdown ended, we were off. All of us were laser focused on the massive TV screen, clenching our controllers and leaning into the turns. I didn’t give it my all right out of the gate, letting myself fall behind before pushing Atlas out from first for the win.
“Damn, baby,” Atlas said. “That was impressive.” He held out his hand for a high five and I clapped my palm against his.
“Beginner’s luck, I guess. Want to play again?”
They nodded and we started another race.
It was closer this time, with Fallon and me vying for first place, but with some perfectly aimed spiny shells, I came out on top once again.
“Wow, Tegan. You caught on quick,” Fallon chirped, blinking his beady eyes in shock.
