“It’s written on your face. You’re in love with someone. And I hope he loves you in return, because princess, if he don’t, Kino’s going to show him what happens when you mess with family.”
“Uh…”
Ternan stepped up as they reached the pier. The sirens, all completely camouflaged, began to secure their ship to the posts. Her grandfather wore a deep blue jacket and captain’s hat. Of course his costume wasn’t complete without the old wooden pipe he was shoving—was that seaweed?—into. He might as well have stepped out of an ad for a seafood restaurant.
But she wasn’t going to be the one to correct the king of the sea. Thankfully Winona’s attire was more toned down. She wore white shorts, a blue tank top, and boat shoes, and her hair was all brown and tamed into a simple braid.
“What now?” Mina asked.
“You to tell us where to find your brother,” Winona answered. “We can wait for another dream, or you can try your Fae intuition.”
“I don’t know how trustworthy that is,” Mina answered.
When they were docked and the gangplank secured, Kino escorted Mina, Ever, and Nix off the ship, and they set off on a quest for a payphone.
“They’re going to be harder to find than I thought,” Ever grumbled. “Now, I’m kicking myself for having broken my phone. Sorry, Mina.”
“Don’t be, now you get a taste of what my life is like.”
They had to walk among the shops of the pier. Kino tried to play it cool, but he was just as excited as Nix was at the musical stairs, the street performers, and the mirror maze.
Mina cringed at the mirror-maze memories that flooded her—and this maze was even larger. “Okay, does anyone have any spare change?” she asked.
Ever looked sheepish, and Kino looked confused.
Nix was the one who produced quarters out of his pants pocket. Of course nixies were hoarders, so it was no surprise that he also pulled out a bunch of rocks and bottle caps.
Mina inserted two quarters into the payphone and dialed Nan’s cell. It went right to voicemail. Feeling rushed, she tried to spout off all of the directions she could. She’d been rehearsing them in her mind on the way over.
“Nan, it’s me. He’s coming after you, but it will be okay. I’ve got friends, and they’re here to help. They can protect Charlie. We just have to find you. I need you to meet me at the place we ran away to when we were fourteen. I’ll be there twice a day waiting for you at your lucky time and—”
Beep.
Her voice message was cut off.
“What kind of message was that?” Kino asked. “That didn’t sound very clear.”
“It’s perfectly clear when your best friend is a movie buff. She once convinced me to run away and find an old fortune teller machine, so it could magically transform us into adults.”
“What magic is this?” Kina sounded skeptical.
“It’s the magic of Twentieth Century Fox and Big, a movie from the 1980s.”
The only thing she could do was wait, and it was going to be the hardest wait she’d ever had to endure. Kino begged to stay and wander the pier, but Mina didn’t want to be anywhere near a local landmark in case Teague was watching her through her mirror.
Nix was just as bad as Kino, watching all of the people along the pier in fascination.
But then Kino saw the aquarium. “Did you see what they’ve done? They’re holding that octopus captive. We must rescue him and free all of the sea creatures. How do your kind live like this, enslaving the sea’s most beautiful and smartest of creatures?” He ranted and seemed sort of unstable the whole walk back to the ship.
Mina let Ever try and explain to the siren how an aquarium works.