After a fruitless search of the crowded decks, Selena made one final push through the crowd and escaped out the nearest door leading to the boat deck. She heaved a sigh of relief, and her shoulders lowered. Out here, the noise and congestion faded away, replaced by fresh air and relative solitude. This was much more her scene. However, she wouldn't find Father out here. No doubt he'd already snagged the best seats and a few select colleagues on the highest deck with the best views of the city.
Best to brave the crowds again, then, and pray the great martyrs of Salem would help her eavesdrop unnoticed. Not that Father would reveal anything significant while out in public, such as Bureau business, but at least she might find out what stateroom he was staying in.
When Selena came to a staircase toward the front of the ship, she climbed the eight flights to the top, no easy feat in her wedge sandals. Selena's two left feet made any heel a major tripping hazard, especially on steps.
Cheerful music from a live band greeted her, playing a song she didn't recognize. The top deck, with its pool and bird's eye views, had drawn practically the entire population of the ship, and they were all singing along, dancing, drinking, and making merry–as her mom would say.
Selena wanted noise canceling headphones to tone down the music to a more tolerable level.
"Care for a dance, Mystery Girl?"
Selena's heart dropped to her toes as she slowly turned to face the cute guy from lunch. So much for her disguise if a complete stranger could recognize her.
"I don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about. Go bother someone else." Selena stood her ground, fighting every instinct she had not to take a step back. She couldn't afford to show weakness.
He dropped his gaze from her eyes to her lips and lingered there. If he meant to avert challenging her by not holding eye contact, he instituted another one. A cyclone of emotions she could scarcely begin to name — temptation, desire, anticipation — swirled inside her stomach.
"Don't try and pretend like you don't know who I am or that you didn't run into me earlier."
He held out his hand to her, waiting, with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. His perfect posture and easy stance screamed confidence.
"You obviously have me confused for someone else."
"I recognize your walk. It's...cute." He wetted his bottom lip. "Now take my hand and stop making this awkward for both of us."
Cute? No. He was being ridiculous. No one thought anything about her was cute. Especially her walk.
As if by instinct or some attraction magic on his part, Selena reached out to take it. At the last moment, before their hands could meet, she hesitated.
Her father had to be somewhere in this crowd, and she shouldn't let this guy distract her from finding him.
"If you value your toes, you may want to rethink your invitation. If you keep badgering me, I might just stomp all over your feet."
Her excuse sounded feeble to her ears, true as it was. The main reason to avoid him was that she had a mission and couldn't get involved with anyone, but of course she couldn't tell him so.
The guy grinned, crinkling the lines around his grey eyes and showing a dimple below his left cheek. He leaned closer to whisper in her ear, "I'm willing to risk it. My toes are strong enough to take whatever abuse comes their way. Come on. If you want to go unnoticed, you should try blending in. Look around you. Everyone here is relaxing and having fun. Why not join in, or make a good show of pretending?"
He pulled back and offered his hand once more, and Selena found herself considering. His advice made sense, and besides, if she wanted to pretend to look the part of someone new, she should act the part as well, or risk giving away her identity. Across the pool by the band, in the center of the action, Selena spotted Olivia leading a group of other teens in a line dance to the new song, smiling and laughing with them as if she had not a care in the world. They were probably people Olivia had never met before this trip, but then, she was always the type to make friends everywhere she went.
With graceful hand movements perfectly timed to the beat of the drums, Olivia released her fire magic into the air in colorful firework bursts, each taking on a unique shape, first an augurey, then a ship, an anchor, a seahorse. Her new clique took turns releasing their own magic — air magic to shape the fireworks, then water magic to freeze it in place before letting it fall over the crowd like snowflakes. The onlookers cheered them on, and some joined in the impromptu festival of magic. Behind them, the band put on a light show of their own, using air magic to translate sound into a literal rainbow of colors that pulsed to the driving beat of the song.
Selena had seen Olivia in action enough to pretend to be the queen bee. With a nod, she placed her hand in the cute guy's. "All right. Fine. But only because I want to test out your theory on your toes."
"Who needs toes when you have magic?" he said with a wink.
"Don't be stupid. Magic can't solve every problem." Selena frowned. It had certainly let her down when she'd failed to save Uncle Franklin.
"Follow my lead." Wrapping one arm around her waist, he pulled her close and rocked back and forth to the rhythm of the music. She gasped as they whirled around on the spot. His nearness and the vaguely woodsy scent of his cologne entranced her.
A slow song began to play, and this time they swayed to the music.
"Why do you keep glaring over my shoulder? Is there something funny behind me?"
Selena quirked a brow. This guy was too observant, and he kept too close an eye on her for comfort. "I'm not glaring."
"You are totally glaring. I'm worried I might freeze to death from the chill."
Despite herself, Selena smirked. He was funny, she would give him that, but she could not let him get under her skin. She kept her guard up around others for good reason. People hurt and betrayed you. Why did he make her want to, for one moment, consider giving him a chance to prove he was different?
No. She couldn't afford to take the risk. If she did, he could easily ruin her mission or wreck her heart if she let her feelings get involved. Between losing Olivia and Uncle Franklin, she'd been through too much already to put herself through more pain.
"It's just someone I know. Someone, who I thought was a friend. But, I was wrong."
"Then she's not worth worrying about. They say the best revenge is living well. Let's make her regret whatever she did to hurt you."
Selena froze at the way his voice dropped to a low, husky whisper, stumbling as she lost her step. What did he have in mind? Cute Guy, whose name she still did not know and did not plan to ask, caught and steadied her. She followed his gaze, and, sure enough, Olivia stood with her new friends, glaring Selena's way as she whispered something to the redheaded girl beside her. The girl's eyes widened in shock and outrage as the group stared at Selena in unison, patting poor, victimized Olivia on the arm in a show of sympathy.
Selena groaned.
"Don't give them the satisfaction of letting them see you upset, then. Look away. Look into my eyes and focus on the dance." When Selena did so, he nodded and laughed as if they'd shared an intimate joke. "Good. Now, laugh with me like we're having the time of our lives. Let's put them to shame."
Easy for him to say when her insides were twisting like seaweed in a crashing wave. If a stranger could identify her by her walk, and now her ex-best friend had recognized her, how would she manage to fool Father?
"Right." Selena faked a laugh, but the sound was all wrong. "Ugh, that was horrible."
The guy chuckled and pulled her closer. Mesmerized by his intoxicating scent, Selena didn't object. Everything else but him and the music and their movements faded away, until Selena forgot about what she was supposed to be doing.
"You're too hard on yourself. After all, you could have snorted, and you didn't. Anyway, I thought it was adorable."
Selena pulled back, reluctantly, and her gaze searched his. He had an earnestness about him, and she found herself believing his words. "You'd probably think a worm was adorable.."
Heat flamed her cheeks, as she had no idea what else to say., or perhaps that was from the afternoon sun beating down on her face like a laser. She was rescued from further mortification when a foghorn sounded.
"Here we go, ladies and gentlemen," the leader of the band called out, his voice amplified by air magic. "We are about to set sail! Give me a countdown from ten!"
All around them, the crowd chanted the countdown, "Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six!"
Selena's companion joined in, and he nudged her in the ribs like she'd actually join in. Fat chance. "Five! Four! Three! Two! One!"
The ship gave a lurch and began to move forward, to the strains of a triumphant melody from the band, showering the crowd in multicolored rays of light. As one, she and Cute Guy grasped the railing, watching the city slowly drift away from them. Or, rather, they were drifting away from it. A surge of excitement, maybe even a tinge of wonder, swelled within Selena. She had never traveled outside of Philadelphia, and now, here she was, setting sail for exotic ports she'd only ever dreamed of visiting.
"A breathtaking view, isn't it?" Cute Guy kept his arm around Selena as his gaze shifted to her.
Heat flamed Selena's cheeks again, this time not from embarrassment but from an undeniable attraction. Attraction, she had no idea how to process.
"If you don't move your arm, your toes won't be the only thing in danger."
He cringed and dropped his arm with a sigh. "Sorry."
The dock receded as the figures left onshore waved to the passengers. Next to her, a family of four waved back, presumably to family or friends who had seen them off. Mermaids sang siren songs in harmony with the band, and dolphins played together with them as they swam alongside the ship, escorting them out to sea. Out here, the call of the water grew strong. It sang in her blood, wild and powerful, yearning for release.
"Dinner the moment the dining room opens, Mendelson? Don't you think that's a bit early?" The sound of a man's voice close behind her made Selena stiffen and her heart pound a frantic rhythm inside her ribcage. Whoever this man was, a coworker, most likely, Father was with him. Any closer, and he would notice her for certain, even through her disguise.
"I have to go," Selena whispered in his ear, her mouth dry and pulse still racing.
"Are you sure?" Confusion and disappointment flitted across cute guy's features, before his nonchalant mask slipped back into place.
This was for the best. Selena had to keep him at a distance and stay focused on solving Uncle Franklin's murder. She didn't deserve a guy like this, anyway.
"You and your toes can go find someone else to bother. I'm sure it won't be difficult."
"That's where you're wrong," Cute Guy said, and Selena saw understanding in his eyes as if he somehow picked up on her unspoken thoughts. "I'll see you around, Mystery Girl."
Selena disappeared into the crowd away from Father, remembering to keep her chin up and back straight as she did so lest he recognize her by her walk, too. When he did not call after her by the time she was so deep into the throng still celebrating the sail away, she heaved a heavy, cleansing sigh and clutched her serpent pendant like a talisman.
She was safe, for now.
Footsteps followed behind her, and Selena's heart leapt into her throat until she sensed a familiar fire magic emanating in waves from the person behind her.
"You looked like you were having a good time out there. Tell me, does your dad know about your new boyfriend?"