Page 64 of Hot Summer's Prey

“Excuse me?!” I call back up.

Fuck the earthquake, I start making my way to the stairs. Pacari follows.

“Teresa! Lover boy!” Taara calls out. “It’s safer to stay put.”

Pacari outpaces me, running up the stairs. My hips hit the wall as I lose my footing a couple of times. We rush to the window to see a raging sea before us.

“That’s not a tsunami,” I point out, my heart rate calming a little.

“No, but it isn’t natural,” Pacari says. “Can you feel it? It’s angry.”

A shiver trickles down my back, all the way down to my toes. He looks to me wide-eyed, as if some awful realization has come over him.

“Give me the dog,” he says.

“Um, okay,” I say, following orders.

“And… I need your necklace too. It was meant for him,” he adds, a desperate look in his eyes.

“Okay…” I say again, trying to figure out what’s going on.

He takes the nautilus shell necklace and places it over Slugger’s head. The shell is as big as his face—it’s kind of hilarious to imagine it was ‘meant for him.’ Pacari’s hands shake as he looks at me.

“I love you,” he says with an air of finality that terrifies me.

A kiss.

Then he bolts for the back door.

“What are you doing?” I yell, chasing after him.

As soon as we’re out the door, the wind is unbearable. It was a little overcast earlier, but this storm seems like it’s come out of nowhere. The tide is so high, most of the beach below is underwater.

“I think this might be her,” he shouts behind him. “She was so angry about the nudibranch being on land, all I can think to do is bring him back below. She wants her eyes back.”

“You can’t go alone!” I protest. “She would have killed you if you were last time.”

He pulls off the dress with one arm, running down the trail as fast as he can as. It gets caught on his arm and the dog. As I watch him struggle to get rid of it, I rip off my dress angrily, ready to join him.

“Let me come with you!” I insist.

He turns around to face me, pulling the dress off Slugger’s paw. Lines of green, transformed from the rough ocean spray, scatter across his body. He’s crying.

“Your necklace was meant for him. Without it, he won’t be able to breathe,” he says. “I’m not trying to keep you away. I want you by my side always.”

We stare at each other, both of us naked and panting. Everything feels twisted up with anxiety and hope. Our future hangs in the balance, our chance at a lifetime together. If he goes, there’s no telling what will happen. And if he doesn’t, and he’s right about the Lantern Witch, I don’t want to imagine how much worse things could get.

“I’d like that, too,” I say weakly.

Then we’re kissing. Pacari holds Slugger protectively, so he won’t get squished underneath our desperation. We aren’t kissing long—just enough for a short goodbye. Well, maybe a little longer—maybe the taste of him, the knowledge that he’ll be alone with the witch again—maybe I’m trying to memorize all of him in case it’s the last time I see him.

Slugger starts barking madly, and we pull away reluctantly.

“Please be safe,” I beg him.

He presses one last chaste kiss to my lips.

“I’m coming back for you,” he promises.

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