Page 15 of Bewitched By the Sea Monster
To say Andy had been upset when I’d submitted my PTO and gotten it approved was the understatement of the year—he’d almost cried. Which had dang near mademecry.
“I’m happy for you, Pip,” he’d said. “Don’t think I’m not. It’s…Phew.Bad timing. I don’t know that I could do this without you.”
I imagined him sitting in his office, frazzled and working his dark hair into a messy tuft as he tried to figure out the work orders.
And then there were the texts from Jessa and Kai.
Kai: Don’t look at those work orders, Pip. You’re on vacation.
Jessa: Fuck the work orders. First of all, how dare he think I can’t approve them. I see more work orders in an hour than he’s looked at in the ten years he’s been here. Second of all, it ain’tyour problem right now. Third of all, he’s a big boy. He’ll be fine. DO NOT WORRY ABOUT WORK ON YOUR VACATION.
Kai: You don’t need to forward the shipping emails. I got them—remember, all your emails are coming to me. Enjoy your trip.
Oops. I should’ve read this before I shot the notifications to Jessa’s email.
Jessa: You know I’m mega jealous, right? Have I told you that? ENJOY IT. Seriously. I know it’s not your dream vacation, but girl! You’re heading to the land of magic. To be PAMPERED. Have fun. And make sure you have a few drinks for me. XOXO.
I smiled, opened her text and started to type a response, but?—
Around the ship, a chorus of “ughs”and “I needed one more minute” snaked into the air.
“That’s it then,” a man somewhere to my right declared. “We’ve crossed the reef. No more cell phones, boys.”
My phone locked up, briefly flashed a NO SIGNAL at the top, then cut to a spinning wheel of death before it shut down.
Welp. There went that.
A thread of terror wriggled in my stomach. Around me, some people cheered. Others lamented the loss of their phones…their cameras, mainly.
“See that fog up there?” some man said. “Wouldn’t have been able to get pictures through that anyway.”
The wriggling terror worm did a funky little jig in my gut.
I tucked my phone back into my pocket and put my head down, resting it between my knees. Tried to focus on anything,anything,but where we were. On the ocean, now totally cut off from the outside world…
“Color…”
“Colorful things…from the ground…”
That voice. I popped my head back up, swiveling this way and that.
Fifty or so people spanned the length of the deck (there were one hundred or more on this ship, but with a chunk of them boozing it up below), and everyone was talking. Clamoring. But none werethatvoice.
That voice tugged at something inside of me—something deep. Like a memory I’d lost and completely forgotten about until something dredged it back up.
Déjà vu, some called that sensation. Others swore it was old magic trying to reawaken in a person—wishful thinking, mostly. Nearly everyone wanted to be a Sorcerer, but less than five percent of the population had magic.
“What’s their word?”
The voice tickled my brain just as a scream shattered the misty air. Not a scared one —although it spooked the life out of me. That squeal was pure, unadulterated excitement.
“Oh, ooooh, OOOOOHH!”A woman bellowed.“I saw it!Lionel! Isaw it!Come quick! It’s the monster!”
Something is missing.
Aword.
I’m always missing words. But I canseethis one. An image of colors—ones that don’t exist in these waters. The closest I come to seeing them is on the surface. When the…
