Page 68 of Hot Summer's Prey

I feel like I’m losing it, sitting here, listening to them all chatter on, when the love of my life is out there risking everything. And they don’t even know the danger we could all be in. Not that I do either. I’m so close to explaining everything to them, because I don’t know how to keep secrets like this, when I spot a flash of color amidst the waves.

“Teresa!” Anelisa squeaks out as I rush to the back door.

But I don’t care. I run to the edge, my heart pounding with excitement. He made it back!

As soon as I reach the edge of the water, I call out for him, “Pacari!”

But the flash of green isn’t Pacari’s. Kalixto swims up to the edge of the water, gripping tightly to some plants so he doesn’t get swept along in the rough current.

“How did she die?” he shouts against the wind.

I bend down to hear him better, holding the ground so the wind doesn’t blow me away.

“What?” I yell back.

“How did she die?” he asks again.

I shake my head, trying to understand why he’s asking this in the middle of a storm when Pacari is facing up against a terrifying sea witch. “Do you mean Nina Martinez?”

“Yes,” he confirms.

“I mean she was really old,” I tell him. “Like really old.”

What did Zephyr say? I’m trying to remember specifics, but I’ve been so caught up in my own stuff that I haven’t been the best friend lately.

“Pneumonia,” they say.

I look behind me, and Zephyr stands over me, hands in their pocket, glaring down at Kalixto.

“I’m not even going to ask,” they say.

Kalixto stares back at Zephyr, wide-eyed. His bottom half is hidden beneath the water, so I can’t tell if Zephyr knows he’s a siren. But they do seem to know him. So many questions. He finally breaks eye contact with Zephyr and looks to me.

“Cirro has him,” he says. “But she’s lost to her grief. I need something to bring her.”

I blush. “I don’t have any more pearls.”

He shakes his head. “No, something of hers.”

“Um, Zeph, do you have something of your grandmother’s you don’t mind getting rid of?”

They look to me, incredulous. “You’re explaining everything.”

“Later?” I beg.

“Is this what was so important, earlier?” they ask.

I nod.

“Later,” they sigh, and run back into the house.

“You know each other?” I ask Kalixto.

He shakes his head.

Okay. Obvious lie.

When Zephyr comes back, they hand over a weird-looking statue covered in barnacles. Kalixto’s expression changes rapidly as he sees it.

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