Page 43 of Lowering His Guard

“Why?” Jace asks. “What’s the story?”

“It’s a tragic one,” I say and begin to tell the legend. “A smuggler and a mermaid fell in love long ago. But they could only be together for short periods because the mermaid couldn’t stay on land for long and the smuggler couldn’t stay in the ocean.”

He groans. “Is this some Romeo and Juliet tragic love story?”

“Hush. Do not make fun of lore.” I wait for him to motion for me to continue. “But then another mermaid approached the smuggler and promised he could be with his love forever if he dove into the sea. Meanwhile, his mermaid lover visited a witch and traded her immortality for legs so she could live on land with her smuggler.”

“When she arrived at the island, she was too late. The smuggler drowned following the other mermaid’s advice. Heartbroken, she threw herself from the highest cliff into the ocean.”

I motion to the statue. “And we commemorate the lovers with the statue.”

“This island is weird,” Jace mutters.

“But fun weird, am I right?”

“Depends on whether you’ll ride a rollercoaster or not. Dad’s old and scared. He won’t ride them with me.”

Brock grunts. “I’m not old, and I rode that one rollercoaster with you.”

“This is going to be fun!” I shout before opening my door and jumping out.

Brock growls at me. “You could have waited for me.”

“Dude, did you not hear? There are rollercoasters. Jace, I’ll race you to the entrance.”

I take off running before I finish the sentence.

“Cheater!” he shouts as he chases me.

“I’m winning!”

I slow down and let him pass me as we arrive at the payment booths. He jumps up and down, shouting, “I won! I won!”

Brock shakes his head as he passes us on his way to pay. I hurry to catch up to him.

“I can pay for my ticket.”

“You’re not paying.”

“Dude, this isn’t a date.”

“No, this is an apology for me being an ass. It’s not an apology if I don’t pay.”

I wrinkle my nose. “You were an ass.”

“Which is why I’m paying.”

“Fine. But I’m buying our snacks and souvenirs.”

He grunts.

I smirk. “A grunt is agreement.”

He rolls his eyes as he hands us our tickets. We make our way through the turnstiles and I aim for the park map. “Where shall we begin?”

“Rollercoaster!” Jace shouts.

Brock sighs. “Can’t we start with something slower? The Atlantis Adventure sounds fun.”