“What the bloody hell areyoudoing here?”she bit, advancing toward him.
Norman looked nonplussed, his tentacles occupying themselves as usual as he looked back at her.He did not bristle at her tone or her advancement.
“Well, it seems I’m making sure you two don’t get into too much trouble,” he said with a grin.“Because you’re looking for trouble, right?I mean, what reason would you have to mirror hop so discreetly?”
“How do you know?—”
Norman’s tentacles twitched and he held his hand in the air.“I felt the ripple in the force, of course,” he said with a cock of his head.“More or less.”
Wanda threw her hands up in frustration.“This does not concern you, Norm.”
He took a step toward her.“Of course it does.You cominghometoTír fo Thuinnis a definite concern.”
“Why?What’s wrong with?—”
“Nothing,” Wanda bit, pushing past Norm.She shoved him in the shoulder, and he moved like a leaf.
“You should leave,” she hissed at him as she came next to me.
“And miss all the fun?Absolutely not,” Norm said.
Then he appraised me with his curious gaze.“What do you need to swim to the Cove for?It’s getting dark.You know there are, like, monsters in these waters.”
“Which is precisely why we need tomove,” Wanda snipped.“Now, leave!”
I watched for a moment, expecting from the shrill echo of her voice, that the Kraken would, indeed, leave.But his gaze narrowed, his jaw set, and he slid up beside me, tentacles wrapping around my shoulder as he pulled me close.
“No.”
Wanda growled and it was the first time I’d ever seen her do so.She seemed flustered beyond her normal air of cool collectedness.
He turned to me with a soft glance.“I wouldn’t be a very good friend if I turned my back now.Besides…” He looked back at Wanda.“You needsomeoneto protect you in case shit goes awry and I have eight extra arms.”
“Fine,” she breathed in exasperation.“You are wasting our time, and time is of the essence.”
I watched as she sauntered off, and moved after her.
Norm pulled me closer, his tentacles secreting some sort of chill liquid on me that made me jump.
“What are?—”
“Relax, I’m just marking you with my venom so the monsters won’t get you,” he said carefully.
“Wh—what monsters?”
“For starters...the selkies.”His demeanor shifted.“And the sirens, of course.”
“But Wanda is a siren, is her presence not enough to deter any unwanted predators or creatures?”
Norman laughed.“Wanda might look like a cold fish on the outside, sweetheart, but in this sea, she’s not as big as she thinks she is.”
His grin was prideful.“In these waters, there’s a hierarchy, and aKrakenis at the top of the food chain.”
“Oh,” I said as we followed her through a tight trail, covered with ferns and brightly colored flowers.Each petal was white on the inside, but brightly colored on the outside.
“Besides, Bane would kill me and serve me as sushi if he knew I’d turned my back on protecting you.”
My eyebrows furrowed, my lip trembling.Bane...
