*Reach out? What do you mean? We’re
just talking.*
Arlo laughed. *And that’s why every other shifter around can hear you when you do. Don’t think about it like you’re just plain talking. Go look for someone to tap on the shoulder and whisper in their ear.*
*Okay…* Dylan screwed up his face until his eyes almost disappeared. *Um…*
His telepathic voice faded out. He gasped.
*You got it?*
Dylan’s eyes were shining. “There’s heaps of people there!”
“Maybe a few hundred.” Arlo leaned back and grinned, not hiding how pleased he was.
“A few hundred?” Kenna emerged from below decks, her eyes wide. She stared at Arlo in dismay and then looked out towards land. “And they’re all waiting for us?”
“They don’t know you’re coming, yet,” Arlo reassured her. Kenna had been below deck all morning, “getting ready”. She’d been completely silent except for the occasional bolt of anxiety, but Jacqueline had reassured him that that was completely normal, and had loaned Kenna the contents of her handbag.
Her forehead wrinkled. “But—you told us yesterday we’re really loud…” She bit her lip. *Dylan we’ve got to be careful, we don’t want to be annoy—oh no…*
Kenna’s face fell and Arlo held up his hands. “Don’t worry. You won’t annoy anyone. Day like this, half the kids will be on the beach, shouting about how much fun they’re having to anyone in telepathic distance. You’ll fit right in.”
Kenna didn’t look entirely reassured.
Jacqueline walked over and Arlo’s wolf perked up. She’s—
Yeah, yeah, I know. Happiness shivered across Arlo’s skin as Jacqueline stepped down beside him.
He ran a careful eye over her. She didn’t look any the worse for wear after her time in the water. Her eyes were bright, and her cheeks slightly flushed from the wind. Her red curls danced in the breeze.
“Morning, Kenna,” she said. “Your hair looks nice. Did you find everything you needed in my bag?”
Kenna ducked her head and mumbled something. To Arlo’s secret amusement, she mumbled telepathically at the same time. But her mind glowed with pleasure as she went to sit in the bows.
“We must be getting close,” Jacqueline said, staring out towards the coast. “Is that a lighthouse?”
“Hideaway’s just around that next bluff. Dylan, want to give me a hand guiding us in?”
Dylan’s eyebrows almost shot off his face with excitement. He sat down beside Arlo and listened carefully as Arlo explained how to control the ship’s direction.
Arlo’s heart lightened as the Hometide slipped around the bluff and Hideaway Cove came into view. The small town sparkled like a jewel in the morning sun.
He glanced towards Jacqueline. Her eyes were shining, too, as bright as the calm waters around his home.
*SWIM!* cackled a voice in his mind, and movement flashed at the corner of his attention—Tally, making a bid for the freedom of the water. Arlo half-rose, but Jacqueline was already scooping her up.
“Hey now,” she said, hoisting Tally in her arms so the girl could see the shore, “We’ll get there faster on the boat than with you jumping overboard, okay?”
Tally’s impatience batted against Arlo’s mind, and his wolf huffed with amusement.
Jacqueline waited for Tally to respond out loud. When she didn’t reply—but also didn’t wail or shift into her seal pup form—Jacqueline raised her eyebrows at Arlo.
“I guess that’s an ‘okay’?”
His chest tightened so fast that his “Yes” came out more like a grunt. The light in Jacqueline’s eyes, the smile dancing around her lips, even the way she’d smoothly out-maneuvered Tally’s leap for freedom—it was almost too much.
I’m taking her home.