“You haven’t seen the best part.”

Sean yanks me forward, and I stumble on my shoes.

“Hmm, we can’t have that,” Sean says. Then he bends down in front of me. “Hop on.”

“What are you doing?” He looks like he wants me to climb on his back.

“Get on my back.” So that’s exactly what he wants. He looks over his shoulder while I hesitate, confused. “I guess you wouldn’t have piggyback rides under the sea, would you?”

“Yeah, no. No pigs, remember.” I gently knock on his head. “Anybody in there?”

Sean sticks out his tongue. “Just follow my lead.” He faces forward, and then guides my hands over his shoulders. He brings them around his neck, then laces my fingers together so they have a hold at the top of his chest. His broad, large, perfectly pillowy chest. “Hang on,” he says, and in one fluid movement he stands up tall like I weigh nothing.

“Oh, flick,” I squeal as he shoots straight up. He places his hands under my thighs, extremely close to my butt, and I love the way my legs fit in his big grip. More of those jellyfish explode everywhere my legs rest against his fingers and squeeze the sides of his stomach. I curse myself, Sean, mankind, and the Blue for making me wait this long into my Journey to realize how exhilarating a piggyback ride could be.

“You good up there?” Sean asks, tilting his head up so he can just see me out of the corner of his eye.

I squeeze my thighs on either side of him. “All good.”

“Onward!” Sean hollers, and with big strides he takes us through a courtyard. There’s freshly mowed grass and a fountain whose jet of water reminds me of the underwater geysers back home. We reach a set of stairs that Sean climbs without a single stumble, bringing us to the rooftop. The view from below stretches even farther up here.

“Almost there,” Sean says. He takes a sharp turn so we’re at an open door at the side of one of the smaller domes. Inside, a set of wooden stairs leads to the base of a huge metal contraption that points toward the sky through an opening in the dome roof. It’s so complicated and ornate and cold that my initial instinct is to be suspicious.

“What is that thing?” I ask warily as Sean sets me down, not letting go of my shins until he knows that I’m firmly on my feet.

“It’s a Zeiss telescope,” he says.

I wait for my Language and Clarity magics to sync up, a brief flash of humans gazing through it at the stars swimming through my head.