you've got to be kidding me. This is getting all too weird.”
“Then I'm pretty sure you're not going to like what I
tell you next.”
“Shoot.” I covered my face with my hands. “Nothing
can shock me next.”
“That creature that bit you?”
“Yep?”
“Mermaid.”
I let out an audible groan. “I'm growing crazy,” I
174
Princes of Paradise (M.A.G.E. #1 )
sighed. “Like actually, certifiably crazy. You, me, Chance –
we've all collectively experienced some sort of weird audio-
visual hallucinatory experience...”
“If it makes you feel better, the octopus was just an
octopus. But it was probably controlled by whomever sent
the mermaid.”
“Great, I feel so much better.”
“Look, I know it's a lot to take in at first,” said Varun,
looking at me with his enormous blue eyes. “It's hard to
come to terms with the existence of this sort of thing. Magic
can take a lot of getting used to.”
“Today could not be any weirder,” I admitted to him.
“Between the flying and the fighting and the gods and a
stone turning into a book, I think I must be accidentally
ingesting magic mushrooms in my sleep. I mean – do you
really believe all this...”
Varun looked concerned as he cut me short. “Hold on
a second, Mac,” he said quickly. “A book – you saw a stone
turning into a book?”
“What – after sirens and mermaids, you think that's
the weirdest thing that's happened to me all day? I didn't just
175
KAILIN GOW
see it, I touched it!”
“You touched the Book of Vesta?” He sat up straight,
evidently concerned. “Do you still have it?”
I went over to my bag. “Of course I still have it,” I
said. “I put it right here...” A few hours ago I hadn't been
ready to let myself read the Book of Vesta. Reading the book
would mean that I believed – and believing would make it
real. But now, after the mermaids and the sirens, I knew it
was real, and that the Book of Vesta was the only chance I
had to figure out what was going on. Before it was too late.
I slipped my fingers into the bag. This was it, I
thought – I was officially insane. I'd gone over to the dark
side. I believed.
But there was only one problem.
I looked up at Varun in horror.
The book was gone.
176
Princes of Paradise (M.A.G.E. #1 )
Chapter 16
The next day at school was torture for me. I tried my
best to look like I was concentrating, pretending to scribble
notes on the lectures, and thinking up awkward excuses for
why my homework was shoddily done. But I had bigger
things on my mind right now. Varun had walked me home to
keep me safe, but was as confused as I was about the
disappearance of the book. “Somebody could have stolen it
while you were at sea,” he said. “Or it could have turned into
another form – a grain of sand or a pebble – sometimes books
like those sense threats and transform in order to hide against
potential danger.” But we were both nervous. How could
anyone have stolen the book if only Vesta could touch it?
Chance had mentioned that Vesta’s lineage, her
handmaidens or servants can touch it at times, didn’t he?
Maybe one of Vesta’s lineage was here. Or if the book
vanished, did that mean I wasn't Vesta at all?
I did badly in each of my classes today, but somehow
177
KAILIN GOW
my teachers didn't seem to mind. Odd, I thought – in such a
seemingly competitive school, I expected teachers to be far
stricter about things like missed assignments; even back in
my old public school, I would have gotten detention for
failing to turn in homework. But my teachers were
surprisingly laid-back, choosing to ignore my failure to
finish my homework.
That afternoon I had to attend the tryouts for the
swim team, and although I wanted nothing less than to spend
another hour in school, I needed to distract myself from my
worries about Chance and Varun and the whole Olympus
thing. I figured that swimming pools were far less likely to
be peopled by mermaids and sirens than the oceans were.
To my continued surprise, Haven remained as
friendly as she had been since learning that I was a strong
swimmer. Evidently, she was willing to put aside her natural
suspicion of me as long as it looked like I could help her win
her way to Nationals. As Haven explained the audition
procedure to me and the other hopeful swimmers, she tossed
her long blonde hair back over her shoulder and looked us
up and down with effortless grace. I wasn't sure if I liked
178
Princes of Paradise (M.A.G.E. #1 )
Haven yet, I decided, but I certainly admired her; she was
strong and self-confident, evidently comfortable with
leading her team. I wanted to impress her – to convince her
that I was just as worthy of swimming in the big, Olympic-
sized pool as Cassie and Leia, the two most talented
members of Haven's coterie.
I was nowhere near as good a swimmer as Haven, of
course, but I managed to
