Prologue

PROLOGUE

“Wh-why is it doing that?” Lawrence Tidewell, assistant mayor, raised a shaking hand and pointed at the blue-green orb floating behind his boss’s desk. The orb was pulsing, and Lawrence could almost feel the ley line magic flowing into it. The air in the room felt thick with the magic now swirling in and around the floating sphere. The ball was also glowing in a way Lawrence had never seen it light up before. It was terrifying and beautiful, soothing yet unsettling in that way that felt like absolutely everything was about to change. The calm before the storm.

“If I knew the answer to that question, I wouldn’t have bothered waking you up and making you come down here. You’re supposed to be the one who knows everything there is to know about magic.” Mayor Calder Delmar, a siren, stood in the middle of his office in his pajamas, not bothering to hide the short wings on his back since it was just the two of them. No nosy humans who needed to be kept in the dark were around.

There was an orb just like the one hovering behind Calder’s desk in every oceanic ley line haven town around the world. They were supposed to indicate the health of the haven town’s magic. Until that night, Lawrence had only seen it a sort of dark teal, the internal light steady but not overly bright. In all the years Lawrence had worked for the mayor’s office, he’d never seen the color change. It just was the way it was. As he watched, though, a spark of turquoise light ignited within the sphere, the color so bright, Lawrence had to shield his eyes.

“Maybe we should contact one of the other haven town mayors?” Lawrence did his best to keep the waver out of his voice as he asked the question, but the second the words were out, he nibbled his lower lip and curved in on himself, anticipating his boss’s reaction.

Calder growled. “You know they don’t understand what we’re trying to do here. They’ll just try to convince me that letting the humans in town know they share their space with sea monsters is the best course of action.” He slammed his fist on his large mahogany desk. “I won’t do it. My great grandfather left my grandfather, and my father, and now me, this legacy. And I’ll hold on to it until my dying breath.”

The orb shuddered, the new glowing light dimming like it didn’t appreciate the mayor’s proclamation.

Lawrence didn’t really like it either, but he wasn’t the type to say anything or speak up, so he didn’t. He also hated feeling like he should have an answer, but it was just outside his grasp.

Instead, he pushed his wire-rimmed glasses up on the bridge of his nose and tried to offer a solution. “Okay, let’s try to think this through. What has changed recently?”

Mayor Delmar resumed his pacing, his forehead creased over his beady, dark eyes. His lips moved soundlessly as he worked through the town’s recent events, counting things off on his fingers. He stopped suddenly, his face stormy, and glared Lawrence’s way. “That kraken moved to town.”

“Kraken? What kraken?”

“Levi Shoal. He bought the old hardware store. I met him yesterday. He was getting all friendly with one of the humans.”

“Oh dear.” Lawrence visibly shuddered, and the mayor tapped his foot impatiently.

“What? Spit it out, Lawrence.”

Lawrence closed his eyes in an attempt to shield himself from Calder’s inevitable reaction. “Sh-Shoal did you say?”

“Yes. Why?”

The assistant mayor gulped, the sound seeming to echo in the empty office. “Hi-his grandfather. He was supposed to be mayor, to lead the town. It was his birthright. But he fell in love and left for Baleen. Turns out that was a good move because his mate’s father fell ill, and he didn’t have any brothers or sons to lead in his place. That was back before leadership could pass to kraken offspring, regardless of gender. Lochlan Shoal led the haven town of Baleen until his son took over for him. A member of the Shoal family should be leading the people of Lifeboat.”

Even though he was expecting it, Lawrence still winced when Calder exploded.

“What?”

The single word made Lawrence’s eardrums vibrate painfully.

“The ley line magic selected a kraken family to lead each haven town. The Shoals were supposed to lead here in Lifeboat. If Levi Shoal is in town and the magic is responding like that”—he lifted a hand to indicate where the orb was still sparking and glowing—“I would prepare for things to, um, change.”

“Like hell. Shoal’s family left. They have a haven town to lead. I’m not giving up my position for anyone.”

Lawrence ducked his head. “You might not have a choice.”

Calder let out an inhuman sound of protest and took a threatening step toward his assistant. “If you think I’m going to just hand the keys to the city over to someone else, you’d better think again. My family has led this town for the last one hundred twenty-seven years. Any right Levi Shoal had to this town is gone.”

Lawrence nodded, but he couldn’t deny the way the magic reacted whenever either one of them said Levi’s name.

Calder Delmar might not like it, but with Levi Shoal in town, life as they knew it was about to get one hell of a shakeup.

And just in time for the winter holidays.

Lawrence smiled to himself. Levi Shoal might be the gift Lifeboat didn’t know it needed.