Page 147 of Bewitched By the Sea Monster
But no movement came from the bedroom, where Jackson still slept. So I tiptoed the rest of the way in, trying to ignore the zesty-flavored guilt fish wriggling around the base of my throat, and squinted around the dark cottage.
Jackson’s packed bags were still stacked where he’d left them in the living room yesterday. My stuff was strewn everywhere. Because I’d started to pack but had been distracted by Jackson’s unusual silence as he’d gathered his own stuff, and thebitterness that’d filled our cottage like a noxious chemical cloud. And I’d been focused on Alistair, counting down the hours until I couldsee him, feeling wretched for thinking that way in Jackson’s presence.
So my packing was not finished. I’d have to do a full speedrun once Jackson woke up.
But for now, I needed a shower. Desperately. The brine rising off my skin made my nose itch.
I crossed the room, untying the band I’d looped around my hair.
Something glittered on my right side. I turned. And jumped about a foot into the air when a luminous pair of jade green eyes blinked at me from atop Jackson’s suitcase.
In the bedroom, Jackson grunted. Snorted. And carried on snoring.
Thank the stars he slept like the dead.
Because when Marvin the cat said, “Hello, Pippi.”
I screamed.
Marvin flattened his ears. “You may not be aware of this, but cats have substantially better hearing than humans. Screaming hurts.”
“I’m sorry. I?—”
Jackson still snored away, but I clapped my hands over my mouth anyway.
Marvin sat up, yawned, and stretched, dragging his nails into the top of the suitcase.
“H-how…” I stared around the cottage—at the closed windows and the door I’d shut behind me. “How did you get in here?”
Marvin popped his bum down, waving his long tail idly behind him. His bottle-green eyes narrowed, as though he found me to be the dumbest creature who’d ever walked the earth. “I can get intoanybuilding on this isle.”
“That’s…I can’t imagine that’s okay. For you to squat in people’s homes.” I peeped through the half-open door tothe bedroom, watching Jackson’s sleeping form. “And my boyfriend’s allergicto cats?—"
“He’s not.”
“Pardon?
“He’s not allergic to cats.” Marvin apathetically licked his left paw and swiped it over his face.
“He is?—”
“No. He’s not. I’ve spent most nights in this cottage over the past week, and he never so much as sneezed.”
“You…what?You could’ve made him sick! Because heisallergic. To all animals.”
“He lies.” Marvin rubbed at his cheeks. “If hehad truly been allergic, I would’ve waited outside. But I saw little point in making myself uncomfortable for no reason.”
“You…Wait…Hold on. You’ve been in our cottageevery night?” That last part had taken a bit to register.
“Most of them.” Marvin smeared his spit-coated paw between his ears.
“That’s…You…There has to berulesagainst that.”
“Sure, but there are norunesagainst it. So here I’ve been. Listening to the liar snore and waiting to see if Alistair would tell you anything. As much as he could, anyway, which I was sure wouldn’t be much. He’s not quite as restricted as we are, since he can’t talk, but he’s been stuck in the sea for so long, his memory’s…And…well, he’s notheardthe things we have.”
I blinked.
Marvin did a snobbish, slow blink back.
