Chapter 4 #3
“Girlie, that’s hilarious. I mean, I am so sorry. But Liam is a good guy. He’s kind of used to it at this point. Hey, look at it this way, at least you have a really good excuse to kiss a super hot merman.”
“So you know about the kiss, too?”
“Yeah, again, everyone knows about it. Except for outsiders.”
This makes me feel a little less crazy. I can handle sacrificing one kiss, under a full moon, with a sexy merman. “Tell me about the sea witch. Like is this just something I ignore until the next full moon and then I’m good?”
Dove takes a breath. I hear something in the background—a door closing, maybe her stepping into a quieter room.
"Her name is Thalassa. She's old magic. She and Liam were together for a while. From what I've heard, it was intense. He loved her in that big, reckless, all-consuming way, and she wanted to own that. Not share it. Own it. But she has a selfish side that Liam didn’t like—my best friend is cousin’s with his sister, so that’s how I know, again, small town—and so he broke up with her.
"So, she took his heart. Literally pulled it from his chest and sealed it in a shell.
The curse has rules. They always do. There has to be a real way to break it, with no tricks or anything.
In this case, it's a kiss from his true soulmate on the first full moon of a new season. So far none have worked, but we have learned that it does help release whoever the shell has latched to.”
“Yeah, he said the shell keeps bonding with people it thinks are his soulmate."
“Yeah, I think Thalassa might have baked that into the curse, or something.”
"So it's probably wrong about me, too."
I can’t believe how much that disappoints me. It would be so nice to think that the universe actually delivered me a merman soulmate.
“I mean, it’s statistically likely, yes.”
“Oh! Also, he seemed annoyed that the shell picked me," I say, seeing Dove’s cottage house in the distance. "Like it was bad timing."
"It probably is. The summer full moon is in a little over three weeks, and the sea folk have a gathering that night. Thalassa usually shows up. So she’ll probably be a massive pain to you if she learns he’s got another match. He hates that.”
"Great. Wonderful. I came here to write a book and now I might have a sea witch nemesis."
"Welcome back to Crescent Cove, babe. It’s a really wonderful, chill town but not everyone can be as sunny and wonderful as me.”
I laugh, but it comes out shaky. "Hey, Dove?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for letting me stay here. I need this kind of distraction, honestly.”
"Anytime, Freddie. That's what the house is for.
" A pause. Softer now. "And for what it's worth? The universe doesn't send you dreams about something unless it's trying to tell you a message. The shell found you for a reason. Maybe just... don't throw it off any cliffs until you figure out what that reason is. It’s interesting you’ve been dreaming of it, and it’s apparently Liam’s shell…”
“Don’t you dare suggest this is real.”
“I’m just saying! Wait, how did you even get it?”
“I bought it at Odessa’s shop. For like six bucks.”
A little more silence. “Yeah, don’t treat this lightly, baby cousin.”
“I’m not his damn soulmate.”
“Someone has to be!” I hear her moving something in the background again.
“But seriously, call me for anything. If Liam is a pain, I know just who to call to get him acting right. He’s a good guy though, so I trust his judgement.
I’m not too worried, overall. It seems to be a harmless curse, at least to those who get wrapped up in it. It’s honestly hell for Liam, though.”
We hang up after a little more conversation, and I re-check my phone three times for the code to her front door before making it back inside. I sit on the couch in the fading light, holding my purse with both hands, feeling the shell pulse through the leather.
Holy shit, what a day.
My phone buzzes. A text from an unknown number… guess I should add his name.
It's Liam. Just making sure the shell didn't eat you on the way home.
I stare at it for longer than I should.
Still alive. Shell is being suspiciously quiet
Three dots for a bit.
Yeah, that thing can be a real pain, honestly. Sorry again… Goodnight, romance author.
My stomach does a little flip, the first flip from another man that wasn’t Tommy.
I set my phone down, because that merman is far too gorgeous to be flirting with me.
I pull out the shell, the thing glowing faintly in my palm, warm and iridescent and smugly alive.
Maybe Dove has a point, that maybe this is all to give me a lot of inspiration for my book.
Maybe I need some real, honest adventure to get me out of a rut.
It’s harmless, right? The shell is wrong, which means I get to possibly flirt with a merman for a few weeks, then kiss him. It’s not like the sea witch will be mad at me at all.
“Sorry you picked me,” I tell it. “But thanks for the eventual merman kiss, I guess?”
It pulses once.
“Could you also please, like, chill out on the exact verbiage?”
Another pulse.
I lean my head back on the couch, watching the ceiling fan slowly spin. Surely, this is as wild as this is going to get, right?