“Perilli sent his final deck to Gran Flo, at your home address.”

Amelia’s jaw falls open. I have to pull her along a little to keep her from stopping. I can tell her brain then begins to brim, just like mine. Obviously Carson Perilli must have known Gran Flo. And she felt the need to lie to us about where the deck came from. But why? And why teach us so much about it, then leave it to Amelia?

“See, the cards are meant to be with you,” Seidon says. “Lily and I will make sure they stay with you, no matter what Mom wants.”

“Did Perilli ever say anything about a woman named Florence Piccolo?” Amelia asks.

“Not to us, no,” Seidon answers. “But we were still pretty young when we knew him. I think you’ve gotten all you will from here.”

On that note, we fall into a rushed silence. We just keep moving through this labyrinthine tunnel hidden underneath the Isle of Baxter, our own cups feeling both drained and overflowing at the same time.

As much as we all have to talk about, we found we couldn’t speak much over the roaring of the ocean wind on the boat ride back. My heart still pounds in my chest, despite how weary it feels. I couldn’t shake the feeling our boat might capsize in the middle of the windy sea, lost in the raging Pacific winds. Amelia kept looking over her shoulder, like Lady Azure might be right behind, speeding in the second boat to ambush us. I have a feeling these fears are going to linger, along with some other parting gifts from our very own Haunting of Baxter Isle.

We now stand back outside Charvan. I just want to run and hide, but Seidon has insisted on saying goodbye for some reason.

“Well, best of luck finding the other missing cards,” he tries. “I doubt you’ll want to after today, but I can give you my number if you need help with anything?”

Seidon steps forward then, but not toward Logan. Instead, he steps to me.

“What?” I blurt out. “Don’t you mean to give that to Logan?”

“Oh, sure,” Seidon says, scratching his head. “Either way. You’re great, Logan.”

He smiles over at Logan a beat, then turns back to me.

“But if I’m being honest, you’re way more my type, Chase.”

Shock seizes my body. What the actual hell?

“But you’ve barely looked at me,” I say. The words seem to vomit themselves. This isn’t possible. There must be some mistake, some joke being played.

“Yeah, well, I get nervous around—” Seidon’s face flashes with embarrassment for the first time all night. “You guys are great together, though, obviously. I don’t mean to—”

“Dude, maybe read the room?” Cleo interrupts. I could kiss her.

Seidon indeed steps away, but I just spin around.