Oh, flick! Did I just think something as sappy as “his own kind of sunset”? As in, his eyes are so beautiful they’re supernaturally gorgeous?

What is going on?

I want to take a step back, but then Sean licks his lips and I can’t stop myself from thinking about kissing them. Elder Crab said this is something that can happen in our new bodies, physical attraction. Obviously merfolk are attracted to each other in our usual forms, like how all that time with Drop has definitely made me think of what scaling with them would be like. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t float into the communal sleep cave and catch a couple mer caressing tails from time to time. But a human? I’d heard how horrible they were my entire life, so I never thought that I could be attracted to one of them. Even if one of them does appear to be as kind and in sync with water as Sean.

Sean’s lips part. Mine part as well, totally on their own, like my body thinks he might be thinking of kissing me too and needs to get in the right position. The gut rumble feels like a frenzy of sharks now, and then that appendage between my legs moves. By itself.

It makes me jump back.

“Everything okay?” Sean asks.

“No, yeah, everything’s fine,” I say, clasping my hands and trying to very nonchalantly put them over that freaking eel with a mind of its own.

Sean stares my way for a bit, but he’s not really focused on me. He chews his cheek, deep in thought, having a conversation with himself.

Finally, he says, “I need to tell you something.”

“Isn’t that what you’ve already been doing?” I say it with a smirk, hoping he catches on to my sarcasm. If he can’t handle the bit of bite that I give even to the Elders, then this Journey will not work out.

But Sean smiles. He gets it. “Yeah, you’re right.” Then his face droops into the deepest frown, and a feeling of dread washes over me. “But I need to tell you something else.”

“What is it?” This is probably going to be the moment when he tells me he’s just as murderous and destructive as any other human. That he goes fishing on the weekends and hangs up sharks and halibut and stingrays on a hook to suffocate and die.

“So, I told Dominic—my ex—you know, the guy who broke up with me?” He’s fumbling his words, jumbling them all together. How could I ever forget who Dominic is? The Blue drifted me into Sean’s life so I could help him win Dominic back in the first place.

“Sean, just say it.”

He takes a deep breath before the words burst out. “I told him we were together.”