Pearl cut off her mother. “I want to do this on my own.”
Her mom stood and pulled her into her arms, holding her like she did when she was a child. Pearl closed her eyes and listened to her mom’s heart beating. It was comforting, and she’d missed her mother’s hugs this past year. It was kind of harder being an older student in college, but she made the best of it.
But this, her mother’s love and care, she missed.
“I’m very proud of you and your dad would be too.” Mom’s voice wobbled a bit.
“Mom, don’t get emotional.” Pearl broke off the hug. “You have to man the shop today since Margaid is in the city doing her government things and Finn has clients to take out fishing. You can’t be sobbing over the dew worms.”
Mom brushed a tear away quickly laughing. “You’re right. Sorry, I just sometimes can’t believe you and Finn are both so grown up.”
“Believe it.” Pearl grabbed her purse from the counter and the basket on the table. “I’ll drop this off at Room with a Tomb.”
“Remember, when you’re in the dead-and-breakfast, ghosts run freely there. Everyone can see them.”
“I know. I met that ghost Mario and hispackage at Christmas.”
It was quite the tourist draw for Room with a Tomb that the ghosts who inhabited the inn could be seen by everyone, and that one of the ghosts, Mario, had been offed by Sal back in the forties, and that Mario had died without a stitch of clothing on. He had clothes to wear that were wet because he went to“swim with the fishes”in the old koi pond, but he didn’t like to put them on. They always returned, but Mario was always shedding them.
Mom made a face. “Yes, well. Good luck today.”
Pearl blew her mom a kiss and headed outside. She ran down the steps of the back apartment, enjoying the warm summer morning, though she had heard the temperature was supposed to get hotter as the day went on.
As she made her way down to the docks, she saw Mercer the kraken lifeguard in the water.
“Bonjour, Pearl!” Mercer called out.
Pearl waved back. “Have a great day.”
“I will.”
Pearl tucked the basket under her arm and had a skip in her step as made her way over to Pleasant Street, on her way to Room with a Tomb dead-and-breakfast. It was early and Harmony Glen was just waking up.
It was her favorite time of day.
She was excited to see Mercedes, her bestie, again. And Magnus and Sven too, because they were also like big brothers to her. She was just glad to be back home for the summer.
This didn’t feel like just any summer either.
This was the summer that everything was going to change.
She wasn’t sure if it was a ripple in the magical atmospheric bubble that shimmered over Harmony Glen, making it a special place, or just the change in her. And really, Harmony Glen didn’t have some kind of magic bubble over it, but somedays it felt likethat. There was a change in the air and she was one hundred percent here for it.
As she jogged up the steps toward Room with a Tomb dead-and-breakfast, the main front doors opened and her heart skipped a beat as a very tall gill man stepped outside. For one brief moment she though it was Phineas, but then realized it wasn’t. This gill man appeared older and had a small scar under his eye that ran down his face.
“Salut,” the stranger greeted, nodding his head. He had a slight southern drawl.
“Good morning,” Pearl answered, finally finding her voice.
He walked past her, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans and strolling down the street toward downtown with a jaunty step.
Pearl stood there, watching him.
Save for the scar and the fact he looked like slightly older, that gill man reminded her of Phineas.
There weren’t many gill men around in the northern states. Most of Phineas’ kind of monster gravitated to warmer climates. Even though Harmony Glen had embraced monsters and magical beings with open arms, not all places did.
In fact, one of the neighboring towns called Tallowfield was an example of being a bit prejudiced. Even though Tallowfield was full of witches, wizards, and other unsavory dark magic practicers, they didn’t like any monster-looking monsters.
