Page 122 of Bewitched By the Sea Monster
“Is that f-f-fear, Pippi?” His playful voice soothed my very soul.
I exhaled and almost responded out loud, which would’ve made me look like a mad little hatter, if no one else could hear him talk. So I gobbled the words back down, making a garbled noise that had Jackson snapping his eyes to me.
“Oh dear, that is fear,” Alistair teased gently. “Of little old me?” He did a graceful arch into a backflip, flicking his tail above the surface, and splashing everyone along the railing.
I laughed along with them—how could I not, when I had Alistair’s joy nourishing my heart.
He twisted back around, his eyes scanning the group, but always,alwayscoming back to me.
My heart gave a hard, happy thump.
I smiled.
Alistair tucked his serpentine body into a ball, spinning in a series of underwater somersaults that had everyone cheering.
“Those guh-glll-glasses arelovely, Pippi,” he said once he’d arched gracefully out of the spin cycle. “They make your eyes as big as mine.”
I clapped a hand to my mouth to shove the giggle back.
“I’ve always wondered, so be h-honest, please, Pippi—do those glasses make my b-b-b-butt look big?” He wiggled his body as he lazily glided beneath the ship
I tried to swallow my mirth, but ended up gagging on it.
“Unbelievable.” Jackson clapped his hand over my elbow. “The ship’sbarelymoving, Pippi…”
I blinked at him, the giddy haze twining around my brain making me a little loopy. It took a full thirty seconds to understand whyJackson was looking at me with suchannoyance.
He thought I was going to be sick.
Which, I probably hadlooked a little sick, with the way I’d been cackle-choking.
But he wasn’t concerned, wasn’t holding on to my elbow to keep me steady, or staring at me to make sure I was okay. He waslivid.
A toxic mix of disappointment, disgust, and anger sizzled in my stomach.
I jerked my elbow out of his hand. “I’m fine, Jackson.”
He scowled.
I leaned back against the railing. “I’m okay,” I said this last bit to Elisabeth, who’d peered over a group of people to look at me withactualconcern. “The alcoholic seltzer…you know.” Imade a vague circle-y motion with my hand that could’ve been a symbol for being bloated or tipsy, and both would’ve worked.
She laughed, and then tapped her head, indicating that she felt the same.
In truth, I hadn’t even finished the first drink I’d been given. The half-empty glass still sat on the stool where I’d left it.
“You were drinking?” Jackson asked. “When you already get seasick. Real smart, Pippi. Absolutely genius…”
“I hadadrink,” I said. “And I’m not going to get sick. Jackson! Hey!”
He grasped my elbow again, this time forcibly hefting me away from the railing, just as Alistair made a trip back to our side of the ship.
“Pippi?” Alistair called.
A few people turned away from the ocean, fixing their goggle-covered eyes on me and Jackson.
“My girlfriend doesn’t have great sea legs.” Jackson laughed and tucked me against his side—a motion thatlookedlike a comforting hug butfeltlike he’d zipped me into a straight jacket. “Real landlubber. I’m gonna get her to the bathroom.”
“It’s right this way, sir.” One of the attendants, a round-faced woman in her early twenties, rushed forward.
