Lost Seraphine (The Seraphine Trilogy #2) by KaSonndra Leigh

from where he stands. “Caleb, are you okay?”
    He doesn’t look at me right away.
    “What’s it like? Your old home, I mean.” He continues to stare at the water rushing through the rocks scattered around the area in front of us. Dark hair flapping around his face continues to hide my Caleb. I want to touch him, but I can still hear the sound of the bluebird’s cage crashing inside the dream I had, so I wait.
    “It’s beautiful. Colorful. I lived and trained in something similar to a French Castle. Five other families lived with us; Father, Raze and me. I had a ton of friends. Lots and lots of birds,” I answer.
    He does look at me this time. The faraway look in his eyes, the one hiding his true gaze, startles me at first. He’s glancing at me yet looking through me at the same time. This worries me. Lately, I’ve seen this expression cross his face more times than I care to remember.
    Why hasn’t he pulled me into his arms the way he usually does?
    “Birds? How is that possible?” I shrug. “Never really thought about it.”
    A lazy smile crosses his lips. “I guess anything’s possible in the land of a sea god, right?” He glances back out toward the ocean again.
    The tension is killing me. Each day, I watch more and more of the carefree boy I first met, the guy who loves to watch those silly Naruto shows, fade into a place inside his mind; a hidden area where not even I’ll be able to reach soon enough.
    “Want to hear something funny?” he asks, resting a mischievous gaze on me.
    “Sure.” Why won’t you touch me?
    “I used to embarrass the hell out of my uncle when I was a little boy.” He chuckles, his eyes taking on yet another faraway look, this time he’s recalling the memory he’s about to share.
    “What did you do?”
    He turns and points at a trail running alongside his uncle’s house. “See that path up there? It leads to a touristy part of the beach, a real popular place during peak season. It was one of those nights when Mom had gone out on one of her Darren dates. I was mad. She was always leaving me. I know it was selfish. I didn’t care, though. Guess I was already practicing the art of the selfish asshole.” He pauses for a moment as though he’s waiting on me to confirm his observation.
    “You were just a baby. Babies miss their parents when they go away. That’s normal, not inconsiderate.”
    I get a quick side glance, a tiny smile. “Anyway, I’d wait for him to run my bathwater, get undressed, act the part of the naked little angel.”
    “That wasn’t acting,” I do confirm this time.
    I get a warm, yet still very mischievous, smile. “I’m not finished, my water angel girl. You’ll change your mind in a sec.”
    I don’t think so, but I love when you call me a water angel.
    “As soon as my uncle’s back was turned, I bolted out of the house, butt-naked!” He makes a swooshing noise and motions with his hands. “Ran as fast as I could down that path. I was quick, too. Exceedingly fast for any normal dude to keep up. It took my uncle an hour to find me.”
    I can already envision an image of a naked, dark haired boy running down the beach and can only imagine what the tourists thought when they spotted him. “I bet it was cute,” I say unable to contain my grin. “All boys love to be naked.”
    Caleb returns my grin with a curious glance, a crooked smile playing onto his lips. “What makes you say that? Do the Mer-dudes swim butt naked back at your place?”
    “Like I said, all boys love to be mischievous, especially when they’re naked. Doesn’t matter whether they’re land or sea kids.”
    He turns his body towards me, a glimmer of life sparking back into his eyes. “So do they like show their asses before the fins form or after they go away? Because I’m having a hard time imagining a dude like Poseidon chasing after his butt-naked kid.”
    “That would’ve been Raze, and there are parts of my home that aren’t in the water. Those are the