human. She smells like candied apples and copper. Her fake wings are
doused in glitter and she takes my money. A red-haired giant of a dude
lets us in through the second entrance.
Twinkling balls of light cling to the ceiling. Some of them stray
away and over to around the long strip of bar. The music is loud and
robotic, like the bald guy at the DJ podium is playing a video game
instead of music. But everyone shakes their wings, pumps their claws,
and sways according to the untz-untz-untz of it all.
I try to look for Marty and Frederik. Hell, I’d even take Rachel
and her trigger-happy crossbow just to see a familiar face.
“She’s in the VIP lounge,” Gwen shouts in my ear. “I’ll go bring
us some drinks.”
When I turn around, Gwen and Kurt are gone. I’m sandwiched between
two elf-looking dudes with glittering skin, who are twirling light
sticks between their fingers. I squeeze past and bump into a vampire
chick whose deep black eyes make me cold inside despite the inviting
perfection of her face. Deep down, I know it’s a trick. That’s she’s
dead and her yellow fangs would rip out my throat in a heartbeat. I
push past her harder than I mean to until I break through into the
less-crowded VIP section.
I spot the princesses draped around guys in black leather with
tattoos and long hair that smells like grass and dirt and fur.
Princess Kai is the easiest to spot with her shimmering long blond
hair. She squeezes into the corner of a plush, scarlet couch, trying
to push a guy’s hand off her thigh. I step toward them to help, but
she gets up and goes down a dark hallway.
I realize I’m standing right beside Princess Violet. Her smile is
forced, almost pained, when she sees me, like I’m holding her at
gunpoint.
“Hey.” I can’t even hear myself say it. The electronic song
vibrates over everything.
She looks over my shoulder at the crowd, scanning and scanning. I
can practically feel the breath she’s holding.
“So…” I start.
“Where’s Kurtomathetis?”
I don’t think I’ve heard her right, so I lean in across the table
and shout. “ What? ”
“Your guardian!” She scratches her head nervously. “I thought I
saw him enter with you and Gwenivere!”
I’m not exactly hurt, but maybe yeah. I think I’m hurt. It’s like
the time Angelo went out with this girl just so he could hook up with
her hot sister. I feel like that girl and Kurt is her hot sister.
It’s the lowest low. So I smile and turn around. I don’t need
this. When Kurt and Gwen come back, they can deal with Violet and her
purple hair, which isn’t even as amazing as everyone says it is. I
weave through the undulating crowd as if I’m getting carried by a
wave. Someone bumps into me from behind, a real hard shove. I turn
around, ready to fight.
But it’s Princess Kai. Her powder blue eyes are wide as saucers, a
hand over her mouth in an extremely familiar way.
“Wait-no-”
She hiccups and lurches forward, vomiting all over my feet.
The crowd splits around us, forming a neat path to the exit.
“Lord Sea.” She keeps hands over her mouth.
“Come,” I take her by the hand and lead the way. Kai hesitates
before pushing out the silver door. “Shhh. Don’t worry.”
And we reappear on the Coney Island street.
We clean ourselves at the shower stations on the beach.
Out in the distance, the grayness cloaks the sky. Unwillingly, I
flash back to the day the storm appeared. The sky changed. The wave
came. And then I was inside out.
“I’m so humiliated.” Kai drops onto the sand. Her clothes are wet
and her face is red from scrubbing. “I hate it here.”
“What are you talking about?” I hand her a piece of gum that was
squished in the bottom of my backpack. At least it’s minty. “This is
the best place on earth…when you’re not getting messed up at a
supernatural bar and barfing on people.”
Her voice is high pitched but she laughs all the same. “You
clearly haven’t been to many places.”
“That’s true, but no matter what, Coney is still my favorite
place.”
Her face is skeptical so I ask, “What’s your favorite place,
then?”
“The Hall of Records.” She licks her lips. “My father’s an elder
of the court. A historian. I’m supposed to be his apprentice, but he
wants me to be here and-”
She doesn’t let herself finish the sentence. I’ve never been
around so many girls who find me this repulsive. I’m almost humbled,
except I’m pretty sure they’re the crazy ones.
“Your dad wants you to court a champion?” I say it as suggestively
as I can because I like the way she blushes, from the tip of her chin
to her big blue eyes. My gut, my heart, and my mind seem to be
cooperating. I wonder if it’s not having the pressure of Gwen and Kurt
breathing down my neck. Then again, when I was captain of the swim
team, I ate pressure for breakfast.
She gets up and dusts sand off her butt. “I didn’t think it’d be
so exhausting.”
“What? Talking to me?”
She smiles. “No. Being with those girls. I’ve seen better behaved
piranha. I told them I don’t like that fizzy stuff but they get nasty
so I drank it and it made me sick-on you. I was trying to find a basin
to wash my hands. Everything in that place was covered in slime. And
when I opened a door, I saw Menana doing something-let’s just say that
her father, King of the Rockies, would find a way to kill that
demigod. So I turned and ran right out. Why are you laughing at me?”
“It’s not you.” I take my empty soda bottle and dunk it in the
closest garbage can. “It’s all of this. Everyone is acting crazy and
they use this championship as an excuse, you know?”
“I suppose so.”
“Come on. I’m going to prove to you that this is the best place on
earth.” I hold out my hand to her, and to both of our surprise, she
takes it.
***
I get two tickets to the Wonder Wheel. The thing makes all kinds
of creaky noises that let the fear of falling linger in the back of
your head. But once you’re up, you can see the whole park, the black
line of the horizon, and the winking Brooklyn streets.
Kai twirls her hair and glances at me every now and then, like
she’s never been alone with a guy before. Her powder blue eyes remind
me of those Precious Moments figurines you get at communion parties.
When Layla had hers, Mrs. Santos bought about a hundred of them, all
depicting a little girl in a white dress with doe eyes staring up to
heaven. Layla drew a mustache and little devil horns on half of them,
which got us both in trouble even though I didn’t do anything. Even
now, as our car climbs the Brooklyn sky, my thoughts come back to
Layla. Kissing against the locker. Her hands-
“I’m not used to heights,” Kai says, scooting closer to me on the
cold metal seat. “My father said if the gods had intended us to fly,
they would have given us wings instead of tails.”
I put on my best reassuring smile. “This thing looks old, but I’ve
seen two guys the size of boulders get on it without falling.”
She takes in the new sights and sounds as we get higher and
higher. I wish I’d bought her cotton candy or some strawberry-sugared
popcorn. The thing about me is that I love making girls happy. There
are just so many of them that I never know where to start. Plus, Kai
is sweet and isn’t trying to eat me.
“You said your dad’s a historian?”
Her eyes brighten. “He’s quite famous actually. He’s the eldest of
the elder historians, which sounds funny but it’s a great