“Did you see that?” Caleb says.
I suppose he didn’t get the ‘rude to stare at the tentacles’ internal memo.
“It would be hard to miss.” My tone sounds forced and cheerful, even to my own ears.
“I don’t think I can eat calamari after this,” Gunner says.
“Mood,” I agree. “You’re supposed to be inside.”
“Nah, this is definitely my job.”
“You’re going to make the whole lighthouse smell like wet dog,” I tell him.
“I think we have bigger problems than the way I smell,” Gunner tells me. “Besides, you don’t smell so great either. Did you ever think of that? Did you consider that when you ate what smells like 100 garlic knots at Nonna’s Italian Kitchen and didn’t bring me any? Hmm? Because that smells pretty strongly. And I don’t know if you knew this, but dogs’ noses are a lot more sensitive than your nose. So you can complain all you want aboutwet dog smell, but you got to deal with the fact that I smell everything on you all the time. Wet, dry, post garlic knot, post 100 cannoli.”
“I get it,” I interrupt him. Gunner would have kept that rant up for another ten minutes, easy.
Caleb’s shoulders shake, but it’s still so rainy that I can’t quite tell if he’s laughing or not. He probably is. I can lie to myself about a lot of things, but I have a feeling Caleb is infinitely amused by Gunner’s roast of me and my garlic knots.
“Are you just mad that I didn’t give you a garlic knot?” I ask Gunner.
“Well, yeah,” Gunner says. “Of course. But you also stink.”
This time, there’s no denying it. Caleb lets out a guffaw that’s so loud that I’m surprised that it doesn’t create a clap of thunder along with it.
Well, one thing that I’ll give Gunner in this moment, as I step across slippery rocks on the way to where the kraken’s eye looms ominously ahead of us: he’s distracted me from all the tentacles slithering around. Slightly.
“Why don’t you stay here?” I tell Caleb.
He gives me a look as if to say you wish, and then continues to follow me closer to the shoreline.
I don’t want to get too close because I don’t want to go underwater. I have a feeling this rain slicker only goes so far, and I’m not insane.
“Can I have the flashlight?” I ask Caleb.
“We’re going to do a spell with it?” he asks, and there’s no denying the excitement lacing through the question.
“No, ah, there’s not candy involved, so, um… you know, I’m not really cooking anything right now. That’s kind of how my magic works,” I tell him.
“Oh. I forgot.” He shrugs.
The flashlight he offers me is heavy in my hands, and I direct the beam close to the kraken without getting it anywhere near its eye. I don’t want to be rude. Still, it’s easy to see the pupil contract.
Not because it’s clear out — no, it’s still raining.
That’s just how big its eye is.
I don’t dare get closer to the water where it’s crashing against the jetty. I know too well how dangerous the water can be and how fast it can knock you off your feet and pull you under with something like whatever that beast is that owns that eye staring up from the choppy waters. I certainly don’t want to join it.
Besides, it’s no longer summer, and even from here I can feel the icy spray of the salt water soak through the bare sliver of my calves that are exposed.
“Don’t go any closer,” Caleb warns. His hand, slick with rain, grabs onto mine.“I don’t want to have to swim after you.”
“But you would,” I say teasingly.
It doesn’t sound quite as casual as I meant it to. In fact, I might choke on the words just a little bit.
Gunner barks once, and I realize the pressure I’m feeling around my foot has nothing to do with the two large galoshes Caleb let me borrow.
