It wasn’t the Octavinelle mirror that they used for transport this time. Instead, Mal and Varrun led Yuu to the main mirror hall in the heart of NRC, where the central portal stood, far wider, and more multi-use than the individual Dormitory ones.

  Grim, of course, yowled and put up a general fuss about being left behind on another possible tuna-munching adventure, but after they’d assured him that this trip *would* get his fur wet, he’d relented, and stayed behind.

  “You’re going to want this,” Mallory said cheerily, pulling a vial of blue liquid from a pocket, and uncorking it.

  To Yuu, the bottle had more red flags than a bullfighter’s laundry day.

  “No thanks,” she said breezily.

  “You’re going to want it,” Mal insisted. “Unless you’ve learned to breathe underwater without it.”

  It still smelled fishier than a mermaid’s laundry basket, but Yuu accepted, and followed Mal and Varrun through the mirror.

  The mirror’s surface shimmered, not like glass but like water—a depthless silver pool rippling with unseen currents. The moment Yuu stepped through, it wasn’t like falling or walking; it was like being pulled. There was no sound, no resistance—just an abrupt shift in sensation, like plunging into deep water without the weight of drowning. For a moment, her vision swam with flickering light, the world stretching and warping around her, before—thud—her shoes met solid ground.

  Except it wasn’t ground at all.

  She stood at the center of an opulent, otherworldly hall, its marble floors glistening with a pearlescent sheen. The walls curved, smooth and organic, as if carved from the inside of a massive shell, their surfaces alive with undulating patterns of bioluminescence. Ornate chandeliers of glowing jellyfish pulsed overhead, casting soft blue and violet hues across the room. Every surface—every inch—was crafted with an elegance that felt both regal and eerily aquatic, as though the entire place had been sculpted from the bones of the sea itself.

  “Wow, Mal,” Yuu breathed—and then choked as the first breath of water hit her lungs.

  “Don’t fight it,” Mallory warned as Yuu struggled to breather. “It’s best to just surrender. Your lungs aren’t used to water yet, but they’ll handle it as well as air in a few seconds.”

  Yuu swallowed hard, and then… surrendered.

  “That’s it,” Mal encouraged. Varrun didn’t deign to look at her, already transforming into his tiger-tailed self.

  For the first time, Yuu could tell why Mallory had fallen for him. Varrun was—well—very stripey. Almost seductively so. If stripes were what did it for you.

  “This is neat, Mal. And is that—is that a tower?”

  Mal nodded.

  “I knew it. You married the right one. You belong in a tower.”

  “Wow. You think I'm a damsel?”

  “I think it’s the perfect place for cackling over a cauldron.”

  Mal paused, thinking. “I’m never looking at that tower the same way again. It shall be mine.”

  Yuu would have giggled at that, but Varrun wasn’t the waiting-in-the-foyer type. He carried on swimming, pulling Mallory and Yuu behind him.

  As Yuu soon found, the true challenge lay beyond the mansion’s walls.

  Leaving the safety of the Banejaw estate meant venturing deeper—toward the shifting reefs where the sea witch resided.

  Yuu’s borrowed breathing spell left her feeling light, her lungs no longer needing to fight for air, but the sensation of pressure was still there, a constant weight against her skin. The Banejaw estate had its own gardens, reefs, and shoals, apparently, all wide enough that they were away from the city—but that didn’t mean they were anywhere close to Madame Ashengrotto’s caves.

  After more than an hour of swimming, leaving the skyline (waterline?) of the city of Atlantica in the distance, they stood at the edge of a gargantuan reef, its skeletal spires curling like fingers toward the surface. At its heart lay a sprawling lair of twisting, organic structures—part cavern, part palace, pulsating with a dull, bluish glow. The entrance yawned like the open mouth of a great beast, tendrils of enchanted seaweed slithering lazily along the threshold.

  “This is where Azul grew up?” Yuu couldn’t help but think, as Varrun guided them to the entrance.

  It didn’t occur to her to be nervous until she felt Mallory trembling next to her.

  “Never been here before?” Yuu asked quietly.

  “Never been desperate enough,” Mallory half-laughed, but the sound died in her throat as the jaw to the beast began to creak, falling open as they approached.

  “Oh. The. Drama.” Yuu snorted. “Yep. This is the place.”

  From the back of the gaping throat, voices echoed, growing closer.

  “Oh, sure, sure, just swim on up without an invitation. Not like we have anything better to do than let you—”

  “—in…” Both Jade and Floyd stopped just before the teeth, considerably surprised to see not only Yuu, but the new Banejaw heirs swimming before them.

  “HOLY MACKEREL, YOU TWO ARE MASSIVE!” Yuu exclaimed loudly.

  “Let the whole ocean know,” Mallory groaned.

  Varrun coughed uncomfortably next to her.

  Jade, and Floyd, however, howled with laughter.

  “Way to make a guy feel welcome, Shrimpy!” Floyd sniggered.

  “I would strongly recommend against saying that sort of thing in front of Azul,” Jade snickered next to him.

  The two leech brothers were eels. And she’d known that. She just hadn’t expected them to be the length of a functioning swimming pool. Curling and undulating above her head, each of them were big enough to serve as a serpent’s tongue for the grotto’s jaw. If their tails were any longer, they’d have their own parliaments and national anthems.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Right…Um…” Yuu said, her brain not seeming to want to come to heel.

  “The staring is flattering, but—” Jade began politely.

  “Aw, Jade! Let Shrimpy stare a while longer. Been ages since we’ve gotten this much eye-service.”

  “Hang on,” said Yuu, her words catching up with her a little, “If you’re both here, then where’s Azul?”

  “Ah, and the attention was so brief,” Floyd groaned. “C’mon Shrimpy. Things would be so much easier if you’d just fall for me. I’d rewrite that love bite in a few secon—”

  “Whoa there!” Mallory cut in forcefully, and it was fortunate that she did. Varrun looked as though he was either going to die of embarrassment, or start a fight to avoid that fate. “We’re here to see Madame Ashengrotto. Does this mean she’s busy?”

  “Not at all,” said Jade peaceably. In fact, she’s just gone out… but she should be back momentarily. She has all new guests wait in the lounge. If you would—”

  Yuu had an odd sensation that she was just visiting the Mostro lounge on any other day as Jade escorted them down the jowels of a long-dead creature, and into a stately, if not comfortable blue lounge area. Several hallways branched out from the room, but it boasted plush seating, and an array of private corners and hidey-holes—perfect for skulking and general skullduggery.

  “Love what she’s done with the place,” Yuu remarked. “I’m getting surprising insights into Azul’s psyche”

  “Enlightening, isn’t it?” Jade said smoothly, curling into the hallway ahead. “Go ahead and wait here. She’ll let you know when she’s ready to see you.”

  “Thanks!” Mallory said brightly. “Who knew we’d run into friends?”

  Varrun only grunted.

  However, several minutes passed, and while Mallory and Varrun sunk into the plush seating, Yuu was beginning to feel….something pulling. She couldn’t explain exactly why, but the longer she was down here, the more her blood thrummed, and the more the mark on her shoulder tingled. It was tugging at her, pleading at her, until an uncomfortable stinging began in her shoulder.

  It was more painful when she sat down, and less when she moved toward where Jade and Floyd had disappeared to.

  Mallory, tired from the long swim, had curled into Varrun’s side, and was already dozing. Varrun sat arms tightly folded, staring at the adjacent wall.

  “I’ll be…right back,” Yuu mumbled, meeting no resistance as she followed the pull of the discomfort down the hall, all the way into a massive laboratory.

  The water grew colder as Yuu and Azul swam forward, the dim light making every shifting shadow look like something with teeth.

  The further she waded into the space, the more the architecture resembled a mad alchemist’s fever dream—glass globes full of swirling, volatile liquids floated weightlessly in the water, secured only by delicate strands of enchanted kelp. Shelves carved from ancient whale bones jutted from the walls, each one cluttered with grotesque oddities: shriveled tentacles suspended in brine, pearls the size of skulls with something moving inside, and a collection of barnacle-crusted tomes that looked like they might bite if handled incorrectly.

  A particularly large cauldron—or what passed for one beneath the waves—bubbled with a substance that shifted from emerald green to a violent crimson, spewing the occasional burst of fizzing, phosphorescent bubbles. Yuu watched one drift too close to a skittering crab, which promptly doubled in size and looked deeply unhappy about it.

  She shrunk away from that particular feature, edging her way around the room, until something caught her around the ankle.

  The mark sparked and fizzled, but for the first time, not painfully.

  The black tentacle around her ankle curled up and tightened, and as she rounded a set of shelves, Yuu found Azul, folded over a desk, and sound asleep.

  “Don’t wake him,” whispered a voice to her left.

  Yuu jolted, and spun, only to find Jade there, holding a finger to his mouth.

  “That idiot hasn’t slept in three days,” Floyd mumbled, lounging in the back of the lab space.

  Yuu shook her head mutely, as if to say, “I won’t,” and the eels retreated back to the shadows, obviously tired themselves.

  Yuu shook her head.

  What have you been doing, you crazy octopus? she thought with a twinge in her chest as she examined him. He had bags under his eyes, even asleep, and his white hair, usually so well trained, floated aimlessly in the current that swept through the lab.

  Yuu resisted the urge to brush some of it out of his face—she did still have some pride—but she removed her jacket, and draped it over his stooped shoulders.

  “Whatever you’ve been doing,” she whispered. “I bet it was completely ridiculous. I’d sign a contract on that wager.”

  It wasn’t loud enough to have roused him, but Azul mumbled something in his sleep that she couldn't hear, and then, two more of his tentacles reached out, floating lazily through the water, one curling around the rest of one of her legs, and the rest catching at her arm, pulling her closer.

  Azul kept mumbling, but his eyes didn’t move. He was hard asleep.

  Yuu wriggled a little in his grip, which only triggered some instinct in his limbs to curl tighter. If she was the clownfish in this sleeping anemone, then she was making a lousy fish.

  She would have put up more of a fight if, just then, the mark hadn’t snapped back to life, and suddenly, she realized, the feelings weren’t just residual dust effects. They were Azul’s emotions. Real time. And she was drifting through the heart of the dream he was having.

  She should have stopped. She should have swam right back to Mallory and waited for the Madame, but once more, curiosity got the better of her by far.

  It started out as a whisper of sensation, as though she was walking into the warm waves on a sandy shore, slowly immersing herself in Azul’s reactions, only to quickly realize that this was not a peaceful dream.

  Azul was frustrated. He was searching for something with increasing desperation, but all the same, he was the same relentless, determined man she knew. He went through several cycles of frustration and disappointment, all while never losing hope. It was like he was studying, or hunting for…something.

  His tentacles curled righter around her then, and Azul sighed, the slightest shudder going through his body. His face was peaceful, but inside? Inside, she could feel the fatigue catching him, and his struggles to keep it at bay. Well, if by keep-it-at-bay, he could simply ignore it until it took him, which is what it did, but still he struggled.

  Then, as suddenly as the sensation started, she felt the fatigue replaced by something deeper. An aching, wrenching loneliness that he also struggled to push aside. This, however, was not met with fight, nor desperation. Insead, a long-habitual sufferance met it at its doors, and he accepted it.

  Fight it, she wanted to say. But, even she knew that what he was feeling was not really real. It was a dream. It was just—

  A new sensation took her. It took him. It took them both. Swallowing the loneliness alive, a monstrous, craving heat began to burn in her core. It was warmth, heat, and fire, seeping outward into her limbs, and she had to catch herself on the desk when Azul’s tentacles around her legs and waist suddenly tightened.

  This feeling, it was like when he’d kissed her in the lagoon, but warmer, and creeping further down. It was a feeling that curled around her heart and begged her to let it take it. It was a feeling that seeped into her veins and slithered warmly down her arms and curled into the sensitive softness of her limbs, touching her skin, her blood, her soul.

  It was a feeling that went beyond kisses, far deeper into her desires—ones she hadn’t known existed, and though the mark still glowed, she had cause to wonder if this feeling was entirely hers.

  Azul groaned in his sleep, muttering words, louder, in a language she didn’t understand, and, beginning to breath heavily, his sleep became more restless, and his limbs curled tighter around Yuu.

  It was time to leave.

  “Okay, crazy octopus,” she muttered under her breath. “Wrap around the desk legs. I’ll just be go—”

  Yuu exhaled in a sigh of bubbles as Azul’s tentacled dragged her back, and along hsi torso, close enough for his hair to dangle in his face.

  Azul groaned again, and his eyes flew open, gazing at her with exhausted dreamy eyes. Then, he stuttered forward, making a tired sound as his arms pinned her on either side to the desk.

  With one hand, he traced the outline of her face, eyes only half open, peering down at her.

  “Will you leave me in my dreams, too?” he mumbled tiredly, and she knew from his voice that he was not yet awake.

  It wasn’t fair. To either of them. She didn’t know what this mark had done to him, but there was one thing she was sure of—once again, he wasn’t in full control of his faculties.

  She put a hand on his chest and pushed him away, very gently, fingertips grazing his rougher, marine skin.

  “I’m really here, Azul. Just…just let me go and I’ll be out of your hair.”

  His eyes widened.

  “Yuu?”