Page 63 of Bewitched By the Sea Monster
“And it’shugethat he’s coming here.” Jackson jiggled his knee under the table, too giddy to be still. “I’d heard some rumors, gossip stuff, mostly, and I’dhopedthey were true, but he’s never been to the island before. And we’re going to have dinner with him.” He thumped his palms against the table. “This could be anopportunity. Rune Bloodworth is a genius. They say two minutes with him—just two minutes—and you can get doors opened for you that might’ve stayed closed your entire life.”
“Well, sure, he’s a Sorcerer, right? They can do whatever they want.”
“He’s not the richest CEO in the world just because he’s a Sorcerer. He knows how to createopportunity, and he can do it for other people. The stories I’ve heard… And for him to come here…” His eyes glimmered as he clapped his hand against his thigh.
Disquiet crawled inside my chest. I didn’t like this, and I couldn’t pinpointwhy.Something just didn’t feel right.
But I swallowed the doubt down and forced a smile on my face. “I guess you’re thinking of approaching him?”
“Um,yes!” Jackson said. “This could be…Well,if I get those two minutes, everything could change for us.Everything.”
“Behind the line!”
Marvin the cat had a set of pipes on him. His slinky, orange-coated body was totally buried behind the wall of people in front of me, but his command rang loud and clear over the throng.
The crowd shifted back, people hissing and cursing as toes got trod on and ankles got dinged. Jackson grasped my arm, tucking me against his side to keep me safe from the shuffling feet.
“I didn’t think it’d be thiscrowded,” I muttered.
Jackson scoffed in disbelief. “It’sRune Bloodworth. And they canceled all the tours, so everyone had an open schedule. That’s why I wanted to get here earlier.”
We’d made only a quick pit stop to our cottage after breakfast so I could change out of my jeans and slip into a graffiti summer dress. The mugginess had been dialed up to ten, and I’d started to feel itchy in my jeans.
Although, to be fair, Jackson said the humidity was still tolerable, and no one else was complaining. So most, if not all, of my sticky feelings were self-induced. Emotions jacked up my internal body temperature, making me less tolerable to the outside heat.
Regardless, I’d needed only a minute to change. We’d descended upon the dock at 11:30 a.m. to find the area jam-packed. And nobody was allowedonthe dock—the closest we could get was about a dozen feet away. Too far to see the ocean through the foggy veneer.
Marvin had been waiting for us all to arrive too. He’d politely asked that we stay a distance from the sea. When people got brazen and started shoving closer, he’d hissed at us to step back. When people refused to heed that warning, he’d summoned a piece of chalk (likely the same magic chalk that wrote on the lobby board) to create a long line over the rocks.
“Nobody,” he’d said, “is to wander past this point.”
Someone had, of course, tested his boundary. The man who’d skipped over the line had received a slanted scratch on his ankle.
“Stupid, bloody gremlin!”the man had yelped. “Howdare?—”
“The safety of our guests is our utmost priority,” Marvin had droned. “And I am permitted to use whatever means necessary to ensure that safety. Loitering on the dock during the disembarkation could pose a hazard to yourself and those arriving on the isle. I apologize for the scratch.” This said in a tone that suggested he was not one bit sorry. “You will be compensated with a free tonic from the health clinic.”
“Does that include a rabies shot?” Someone guffawed.
“Not. Funny.”The man gnashed his teeth around the words.
But people now tried to stay behind the line. If they squiggled themselves too close to it, one shout from Marvin sent them all fluttering back.
Jackson tucked his arm around my waist, keeping me flush against his side, in case he needed to rescue me from more stomping feet. It was a sweet gesture. And normally, a squeezy, protective Jackson would’ve left butterflies fluttering in my belly.
But today? The heat of his palm seared through my dress and blistered my skin. Sweat moistened the areas of my back that were stuck to his scorching chest. The press of the crowd dragged at my nerves and left my emotions in a big thorny tumbleweed.
“I wonder if they’ll be on theValiant.” Jackson bounced lightly. “Obviously they won’t ever be on the shipwithus, but we could stilltechnicallysay we sailed on the same ship. Pretty cool, huh?”
“Very cool.” I fanned lightly at my face. “But I’m a little surprised they need a ship. They couldn’t teleport here?”
I felt his shrug. “Maybe they can’t? The magic on the isle could be blocking their internal GPS, or whatever they use.”
“Oh! I think I see it!” a woman in front of us trilled.
“That’s a wisp of fog, hun,” came her husband’s response.
“Oh.”
