Avani sighs. “Okay, beta, fine.” She walks back into the cabin and flips the wheel hard. “But you’re paying the university back for wasted gas.”

We try to keep our eyes zeroed in on Kavya’s cap when the boat hauls around, but by the time we’re straight again, it’s gone.

“Dammit,” Kavya mutters.

“I can get you a new hat,” Coraline says. “I’ve got four new trips planned for work this fall. You can have your pick of where you want it from. It’ll be fine, honey, I promise.”

“Lucky hats don’t work like that, Mom.”

Kavya puts her hand in Miguel’s back pocket and leans against his shoulder. It’s been her comfort position ever since they started dating on the Fourth of July.

“I guess the only hats good for the boat are strap-ons,” I say, then instantly regret it. “Do not make some terrible bro joke.”

Kavya cackles, but then her face drops. “Seriously, where’d it go?”

We look from every side of the boat.

Nothing.

Then . . .

A splash to my right, a neon-green streak flies through the air, and Kavya’s hat lands in the bow with a wet smack. A figure appears in the water, their bottom half covered with purple scales, followed by a second, their familiar burst of orange making my heart soar.

“Hey, blowholes!”

Acknowledgments

Diving into book two, there were so many times when I felt like a fish out of water. But I was lucky to have a whole school of folks by my side who buoyed me up and kept me afloat (not sorry for all the sea puns!).

First and foremost, thank you to my brilliant editor, Megan Ilnitzki. Your notes always create that resounding bell of clarity and make me shout “YES!” at the top of my lungs. I hope the publishing tides always push our paths together!

To Brent Taylor, the world’s greatest rock star agent. Thank you for saying “Write that!” when I pitched this idea to you and making my mer novel dreams come true. And to Dr. Uwe Stender, for seeing just how many ways we can get my stories out into the world.

To everyone at HarperCollins. Holy mackerel, you are so talented! From publicity to marketing to design to copy editing, thank you for blessing my books with your own special magic. I feel so safe and supported in your hands. Special shoutout to Sabrina Abballe, Sam Fox, Blake Hudson, Alex Resnick, and the whole Epic Reads team for seeing something in my over-the-top self and letting me swim into that and make fun videos together!

To Ricardo Bessa. Thank you for yet another perfect cover that made me cry an ocean’s worth of salty, happy tears. And to David DeWitt for the perfect design.