Chapter 11 #2
Felix beamed at Emmy. “Sometimes naughty boys get spankings.”
“No,” Maren said. “Funny boys might get spankings, but never naughty little masochists.”
Arabella surprised Emmy by laughing, quick and happy, her smile reflecting in her eyes. Ajax said nothing, but his hand stroked her shoulder absentmindedly, grounding her even in laughter.
Emmy turned back toward the open water. Ahead, the horizon shimmered, blue against bluer. She caught sight of something pale, something that didn’t move like a wave.
Ice.
The captain’s voice again, pointing out a glacier in the distance. Emmy squinted, trying to take in the scale — it looked like a frozen river poured straight down from the mountains, jagged and jagged again, veins of darker blue painting sporadic lines in the white.
And then a sound split the air. A crack, sharp and resonant, like the world itself snapping.
Tourists gasped. A chunk of the glacier sheared away, tumbling in slow motion before smashing into the sea.
Spray exploded upward, birds scattered in a screaming rush, and the boat rocked in the wake a minute later.
Emmy’s heart hammered. She couldn’t stop staring. The ice had looked eternal, unchanging, and yet it broke so easily, collapsed into the ocean like it had always been meant to.
Rhea’s hand brushed hers on the railing. “It’s like the earth is reminding us we’re small.”
The crowd slowly thinned back toward the cabin, some settling at tables, others still hanging off the rails.
Emmy stayed outside with Rhea, the wind tangling her hair, spray cool on her cheeks.
For the first time in weeks, she wasn’t thinking about homework, tests, contracts, or money.
Just the glacier, the birds, the whale tail burned into her vision.
The ocean stretched wide and endless, and she let herself breathe it in.
They made their way inside when the loudspeaker announced the sandwich station was open, and Emmy rolled her eyes at Felix, first in line, stacking all the veggies high on slices of sourdough bread.
Her nose told her the meats included roast beef, turkey, chicken, pastrami, pepperoni, and pulled pork.
Ajax built his sandwiches with soldierly precision, each exactly the same with a little of every kind of meat, while Arabella focused on veggies with only a little roast beef. And she noted that Ajax built four sandwiches while Arabella had two.
Emmy opted for a lot of every kind of meat, but didn’t try to get everything onto one sandwich.
She added some mushrooms and pickled beets to all three, and wished she could add raw onions.
None of the other veggies appealed. There were lots of potato chip options, and she opted for the brand that fries them in coconut oil.
Back at their table, Spence joined them with his own plate, expression unreadable, though he paused when a ripple of tourists pressed toward the starboard railing. A shout went up — sea otters bobbing in the harbor kelp.
They could easily see them from their table, and Spence rose to look along with the rest. “Wow, I love the way they hold paws with each other.”
“They’re adorable,” Emmy agreed, leaning forward, and finally walking to the railing with him.
Her dragon eyesight let her see them in detail despite the distance — slick brown heads, lazy rolls onto their backs, whiskers twitching.
There was something magnetic in the way the otters floated together, waves rocking them in rhythm.
“Beyond adorable,” Rhea said, her grin soft as she tucked some loose hair behind her ear and leaned against the railing.
They returned to their table to eat, cutting up with each other, comparing sandwiches, and keeping an eye on the moving scenery.
Emmy ate her fill of the best sandwiches she could ever remember eating. What was it about the sea air and boats that just makes you hungry?
Felix licked mustard from his thumb and leaned back against the bench. “Okay, we’ve got whales, puffins, and eagles checked off the list. What’s left? Narwhals? Mermaids?”
“Don’t tempt fate,” Rhea said dryly, though the corner of her mouth twitched.
Ajax methodically finished the last of a sandwich, wiped his fingers, and rested a massive forearm on the table. “Mermaids don’t seem likely.”
Arabella bumped him with her shoulder and spoke softly, “Of course you’d think that.”
Felix leaned closer to Emmy. “What about you? What do you want to see? And don’t say a dragon or mermaid, because we all know those don’t exist.”
Emmy popped a chip into her mouth, chewed, then shrugged. “I want to see orcas in a pod, maybe bubble-net feeding, something clever. I like predators that aren’t bound by cages or contracts.”
The table went quiet for a second. Ajax studied her, unreadable, before looking away again. Arabella reached for her water, gaze flicking between them like she wanted to smooth the air.
Rhea cleared her throat. “Emmy, weren’t you going to tell us about your school project? The genetics thing?”
Emmy glanced at her and realized Rhea was steering the conversation back into safer water. She could play along.