“And the rest is leather, Greenpeace.” Link’s spiky hair stood straight up, as usual—more bed head than boy band. But you could see what he was going for. His faded T-shirt said GRANNY BROKE BOTH HIPSTERS, and the chain hanging from his wallet made him sound like a puppy on a leash. In other words, Link looked like he’d looked every day of his life, hybrid Incubus or not. Gaining supernatural powers had done nothing to improve his sense of style.
Just like the boy I fell for, Ridley thought. Even if everything else between us is different.
She yanked her foot up out of the muck again and went toppling over backward. Link caught her on her way to a full-body mud bath. Before Rid could say a word, he hoisted her over his shoulder and bounded across the marsh, all the way to the edge of the lake.
“Put me down.” Rid squirmed, tugging her miniskirt back into place.
“Fine. You’re a real brat sometimes.” Link laughed. “Want me to put you down again? ’Cause I gotta whole lotta blond jokes…”
“Oh my god, stop it—” She hit his back, kneeing his chest in the process, but deep down, she didn’t mind the ride. Or the jokes. Or the superstrength. There were some perks to having a quarter Incubus for an ex-boyfriend. Hanging upside down wasn’t one of them, though, and Rid tried to push her way back upright in his arms.
Lena waved them over from her spot at the campsite, a makeshift fire pit at the water’s edge. Macon’s massive black dog, Boo Radley, was curled at her feet. Ethan and John were still working on the fire itself, the Mortal way, under Liv’s direction—not that she’d ever made a fire before. Which was probably why it was still only smoking.
“Hey, Rid.” Lena smiled. “Nice ride.”
“I have a name,” Link said, holding Ridley with one arm.
“Hey, Link.” Lena’s black curls were pulled up into a loose knot, and her familiar charm necklace hung from her neck. Even her old black Chucks never changed. Ridley noticed that the ornament from Lena’s graduation had already joined her charm collection. Meaningless Mortal ceremonies. Rid smirked at the memory of Emily Asher’s diploma turning into a live snake, right as Emily shook Principal Harper’s hand. Some of my better work, Ridley thought. Nothing like a few snakes to end a boring graduation, and fast. But Lena looked a thousand times happier now that Ethan was back.
“Down. Now.” Ridley gave Link one last kick for good measure.
Link dumped Ridley back on her feet, grinning. “Don’t ever say I didn’t do anything for you.”
“Aw, Shrinky Dink. If it’s the thought that counts, you didn’t.” She smiled sweetly back at him. She reached up and patted his head. “That thing’s like an air mattress.”
“My mom says balloon.” Link was unfazed.
“Pound it, Pudding Head.” Ethan dropped a last log on the smoking pile of sticks. He bumped fists with Link.
Liv sighed. “There’s plenty of oxygen going to all the logs. I used a classic tepee structure. Unless the laws of physics have changed, I don’t know why—”
“Do we have to do this the Mortal way?” Ethan looked at Lena.
She nodded. “More fun.”
John struck another match. “For who?”
Ridley held up her hand. “Hold on. That sounds like camping. Is this camping? Am I camping?”
Link moved across the fire pit. “You may not know this, but Rid is not a happy camper.”
“Sit.” Lena gave her the Look. “Because I’m about to make you all very happy. Camping or not.” She fluttered her fingers, and the fire ignited.
“Are you kidding me?” Liv looked from Lena to the crackling fire, insulted, while the boys laughed.
“You want me to put it out?” Lena raised an eyebrow. Liv sighed but reached for the marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers. Between her love of snack foods, her faded Grateful Dead T-shirts, and her messy braids, Liv seemed like she should be heading back to high school, not college. Once Liv opened her mouth, though, she seemed like she should be one of the professors.
“I’d pay serious money to see Rid campin’ for real.” Link flopped down next to Ethan.
“Your allowance isn’t serious enough to get me to go camping, Shrinky Dink.” Rid tried to figure out a way to sit down on a stone near the fire pit without ripping the thin black spandex skirt she was rocking.
“Havin’ a little trouble with your nano-skirt, there?” Link patted the makeshift seat next to him.
“No.” Ridley twirled the pink stripe in her hair. Lena speared a marshmallow on a stick, laughing as Ridley took another pass at sitting on the rock.
“Can’t rest your dogs while you’re strapped in that butt Band-Aid?” Link was enjoying himself.
Ridley was not. “It’s a micro-mini. From Miu Miu. And what would you know? You can’t even dress a salad.”
“I’ve got my own kind of flair, Babe. And I don’t need to buy mine at Meow Meow.”
Ridley gave up on the rock, squatting instead at the edge of a log just down from Link. “Flair? You? You wash your face with shampoo and brush your teeth with a washcloth.”
“What’s your point?” Link raised an eyebrow.
Lena looked up. “Enough. Don’t tell me you two are still going at it. This has to be some kind of record, even for you.” She waved her stick and her marshmallow caught on fire.
“I mean, if you’re referring to that one night—” Rid began.
“It was more of a conversation,” Link said. “And she did blow me off—”
“I said I was sorry,” Rid countered. “But you know what they say. Once a Mortal…”
Link snorted. “Mortal? I wouldn’t believe a Siren if she—”
Lena held up her hand. “I said not to tell me.” Ridley and Link looked away from each other, embarrassed.
“It’s all good,” Link said stiffly.
“Camping.” Ridley changed the subject.
Lena shook her head. “No, this is not camping. This is… I don’t actually know the verb for it. S’moring?” Lena caught a glop of brown and white goo between two graham crackers, shoving the whole thing into Ethan’s mouth.
Ethan made a sound like he was trying to say something, but he couldn’t open his mouth enough to make any actual words.
“I take it you like my s’moring?” Lena smiled at him.
Ethan nodded. Tonight, in his oldest Harley-Davidson T-shirt and ratty jeans, he looked the same as he had the day Ridley first met him, after basketball practice at the Stop & Steal. Which was crazy, if you thought about everything that had happened to him since then. The things that boy has been through in the name of my cousin. And people think Sirens are hard on the opposite sex. He’d do anything for her.
A little voice in Ridley’s head pointed out the obvious: Loved and together is the opposite of unloved and alone. Ridley could barely stand to watch a relationship that functional.
She shuddered and shook her head, recovering. “S’moring? Don’t you mean snoring? Because this is no way to spend our last night together. There are enemies to be made. Laws to be broken. Cheerleaders to—”
“Not tonight.” Lena shook her head, spearing another marshmallow.
Rid gave up, grabbing a bag of chocolate bars to console herself. Sirens loved their sugar, especially this one.
“Speak for yourself. I think this is brilliant,” said Liv, stuffing her face with a gooey chocolate–marshmallow–graham cracker mess. “Melted chocolate and warm marshmallow coming together as one—on the same graham cracker? That’s democracy at its best. This is why I love America. S’mores.”