But then Moona did something unexpected. She floated forward and wrapped her fins around one of Isa's legs, giving it alighthug.
"Look!" Isa cried in excitement. "I think shelikesme!"
If Adrian could do backflips in the water, he probably would've. "That's a relief. Moona's not very nice to people shedoesn'tlike."
Isa noticed the thick white scars lacing across her back. "Boats," Adrian said when he caught Isa looking. "She's been hit by them a fewtimes."
"You poor thing. I'm sorry." Isa held out her palm, and Moona brushed her whiskery lips across Isa’s fingers before she turned and floated away. The manatee gave Adrian a peculiar look as she went, though Isa thought she was just imaginingthings.
The sun was growing lower in the sky. Isa was tired from being in the water all day; and she was certain that Adrian felt worse due to all his poor swimming. Adrian said, "Let'sgoback."
"I don't want to," Isa said. "It's so incredible out here. I want to stayforever."
"Maybe one day, we will." Adrian guided Isa back to the boat. He helped her on once he'd climbed aboard, and Isa drove the boat backtoland.
She caught Adrian staring at the expanse of water behind them. "You miss it, don't you?" she asked. "The openness ofthesea."
Adrian held on for a moment before he sighed. "I didn't think I would. But Iactuallydo."
Neither of them had discussed what he was. Before this moment, Isa was certain Adrian had no idea she knew thetruth.
Now she wasn't so sure. But every minute, every second they spent together was bringing them closer. And it hurt Isa that he kept hiding secretsfromher.
As they rolled at a lazy pace back to shore, Isa felt a rough bump, one that shook the boat. She brought it to a screeching halt and looked down, trying to see what she'd hit and hoping it wasn't poorMoona.
She only witnessed it for a second. He was there, and then he was gone. It was a man, a thin-faced one with a goatee. There was a flash of tentacles... thennothing.
"Adrian, I think there's a person down there," she told him. He was already at her side and lookingverypale.
Isa said, "I think we should go down andinvestigate."
"No," he said immediately. "It was probably just a reefyouhit."
"I saw a man's face, and tentacles," she said slowly. "I'm pretty sure it wasn't a squid. We should just put on our snorkeling gear and takealook."
"It was nothing, Isa." For the first time, he snapped at her. "You're seeing things. Let's justgoback."
Isa knew she had to be quiet. Adrian's reaction had only confirmed whatever she'd seen hadn't been a squid at all. Someone in the ocean waswatchingthem.
Isa decided it was time. Tonight she'd confront Adrian about being a merman. From there, she'd see where theystood.
ChapterThirteen
Adrian
Stavros was watching them.That Adrian wascertainof.
Adrian wasn't worried about Poseidon looking for him, because it wasn't unusual for him to slip off for days at a time. They'd gotten in a fight, so his dad probably assumed Adrian was just mad at him. He wouldn't know his son had left until it wastoolate.
But Stavros was a different story... he had a seahorse in this race. He couldn't keep track of them on land, but once they were in the ocean, his uncle's eyes were on him. That meant he would have to keep Isa out of the water as much as possible for the rest of the time he had with her. A nearly impossible task, seeing how much she lovedthesea.
He knew taking her out to the reef would be a risk. But he'd wanted to share his favorite place with her so badly. He hoped they wouldn't be there that long, but they'd been out for hours. Stavros had probably been lurking around for some time, seeing how close Adrian was to achievinghisgoal.
But Adrian didn't know if he was. They'd kissed a few times, yes, and she'd been impressed by the reef, but love hadn't even been mentioned. Adrian didn't even know if it was on thetable.
He loved Isamaria. But did she feelthesame?
Her uncle wasn't too happy when they returned with the boat, but he didn't yell at her. It seemed Isa had a way of charming everyone she met. She treated that gift like a curse instead of ablessing.
