Kelp

"Come on Lil' Bit," Zak sang as I shuffled from the bathroom. I had just changed for bed and was ready to sleep, but Zak wasn't going to let that happened apparent. "We're in the backyard with a campfire and s'mores."

"What's a s'more?" I asked, picking the sleeping shorts I had gotten out from between my butt cheeks. The shorts were made odd, being high in the front and low in the back. It was not something I cared for.

"You'll find out. What are you doing?" He asked, raising an eyebrow as I walked towards him.

"My shorts fit funny," I mumbled.

"Aw, first wedgie," Zak cooed. The more relaxed he got around me, the more weird he became.

"What's a wedgie?" I huffed, walking into the back yard.

"why do you need to know what a wedgie is?" Nick asked from across a fire that was going in a metal bin.

"Zak says I have one," i said, taking a seat in a chair.

"Oh, I hate those," Aaron scrunched his face up at the notion. "Want a s'more?"

"I have to find out what a shmore is first. Zak's being a barnacle and won't tell me," I said. Aaron cackled as Nick snickered. "What?"

"Zak's a barnacle," Aaron wheezed out before laughing.

"What am I?" Zak asked, taking a seat with a bag of chocolate bars in hand.

"A barnacle!" Nick and Aaron crack up, laughing hard as they held their sides. They were getting weird too.

"I just wanna know what a shmore is!" I cried.

"I want you to show me!" Aaron and Nick sang.

"A s'more, my dear Viola, is the sandwich of a graham cracker, a piece of chocolate, and a toasted marshmallow," Zak said, holding up each item in turn.

"You have to set the marshmallow on fire fist," Aaron said as he calmed down, taking a metal stick and sticking a marshmallow on the end before putting it into the fire.

"Don't set it on fire first. That just burns it," Zak said. "A nice golden brown would be perfect."

"Do I get to do it or do I just watch Aaron set things on fire?" I asked.

"You must learn the way of the Mallow before you get to toast the Mallow," Nick said, thrusting his skewered marshmallow in and out of the fire before going too far once and singing hair on his hand a bit. "Ah! My hand!"

"Can one of you make me one, please?" I asked. If I didn't get to try it at least, then someone was getting hurt.

"Oh I supposed. We are gentlemen after all," Zak sighed.

"Ever since you guys got into the chocolate, you've been on the slippery slope of weirdness," I said, giving them all a narrowed eyed look.

"Viola's right. We need to stop the chocolate abuse," Nick said, sitting up straight and wide eyed."It's getting out of control."

"Nick just set it hand on fire. Zak's got house slippers on outside. Why won't the madness just stop!?" Aaron cried, pretending to sob into his hands.

"Can I just have a shmore?" I groaned.

"Here," Zak said, handing me the sandwich thing.

"Thank you," I said, taking the treat. It smelt good at least. The graham cracker was warm and the marshmallow gooey. I took a bite and knew instantly why the boys liked the things so much. "I love shmores," I mumbled through my mouth full of deliciousness.

~::~::~::~

Aaron and Nick were sleeping over, which meant that the guest room would be taken. Viola would take the couch then. She said she didn't mind and it was big enough for her, too. It was getting close to nine at night and they had an early morning. Zak had finished brushing his teeth when he saw a light on in the living room.He padded down the hall till he saw Viola up, reading a book next to a lamp.

"Hey," he said, not wanting to spook her. "I'm heading to bed. You should probably do the same since we have to get up early."

"I know.I kinda saw this book and was curious," she said, holding his book 'Dark World.'

"Oh," Zak chuckled. "If you want, we can take it along and you can read it on the way."

"Really?" She asked, her already big eyes going wide with excitement.

"Yeah. do you like to read?" Zak asked, moving to leave against the couch's back.

"I do. It gets hard sometimes because of the water, but I do. A lot," viola said, going quiet a moment as she stroked the cover of the book. "Is all of this true?"

"Well, all the stories and my experiences are," Zak nodded. Viola frowned as she chewed her lip in thought. "You look like you've got some questions."

"I. . . I don't know," she said, placing a napkin int he book to hold her place.

"You don't know?" Zak moved around to sit next to her on the couch.

"See, we don't talk about the dead. No ghost stories, no looking, no shared memories of loved ones past. It's not allowed," Viola said, starting at her hands while they played with the edge of the blanket in her lap.

"Why not?" Ask asked, frowning as he turned towards her more.

" 'The dead stay with the dead.' That's all we're told. Nothing else," she said. Zak nodded in understanding. Viola had just found something that went against everything she'd been taught. The paranormal did that. Though, it was curious to hear that mermaids didn't deal with ghosts. How many seamen died and the bodies merpeople found? "If. . . If ghosts are real, are all dead people ghosts?"

"No," Zak said shaking his head. "Just ones that were really bad or have unfinished business or died suddenly or tragically."

"How would you know that a ghost was around?" Viola asked. Maybe he should have left the can of worms closed, but Zak couldn't help himself. A mysterious creature such as Viola knew close to nothing about the afterlife. Hadn't she said her father was Poseidon? Wasn't his brother Hades, Lord of the Dead? Maybe he wanted to keep his daughters far from that, perhaps his whole people.

"There's lots of ways to tell, but if you want, we can talk about it in the morning," Zak offered.

"I just. . . Can you talk to the dead?" Viola asked softly. In that moment, Zak realized why she was asking this instead of about his own stories he could share with her.

"Viola, who'd you lose?" He asked. The way she was wanting answers in finding and speaking to the dead sent up the red flags that Viola wasn't just in it for the spooky stories. She'd lost someone close and since she wasn't allowed to talk about it with her family, why not a ghost hunter?

"My mom." The way her voice came out a whisper, emotion making it scratchy broke his heart. "I. . . I know she's gone and she's not coming back, but no one will tell me anything about her. I remember her singing to me when I was little, but that's all I have. No pictures or drawings, not even a note. If you can talk to ghosts, maybe you can talk to her and I can know about what she was like so I don't just have a clip of a memory."

"Vi. . . It doesn't work like that," Zak said, softly and slowly. He didn't want to upset her, but there was no way that this was going to be easy to tell her. "I can't magically talk to ghosts. It depends on a lot of factors and she might not be around still. Your mom might have crossed over. There's no for sure answer here, sweetie." Viola sat there a moment, seeming to fight with herself internally on whether to break down or not. A deep, shaky sigh was the only sign she was close to tears.

"Okay," she nodded, setting his book on the table. "It was a long shot anyways."

"Hey," Zak said, scooting closer. "You wanna talk more about it?" She shook her head.

"No. I think I'm starting to get why we leave the dead with the dead," Viola said, looking at him with a soft smile and watery, amber eyes. "It doesn't hurt as much."

"You might be right with that one," Zak nodded. God, that girl. He went to get up, bid her a good night and go to bed, but instead, he leaned over and gave her a hug. It caught her off guard, but she accepted it and gave him a good squeeze, burying her face in his shoulder and getting a good whiff of him. "I'm here any time you wanna talk," he said into her hair.

"Thanks," Viola said with a small sniffle as Zak pulled away.

"It's what's friends are for, right?" He said with a goofy grin.

"Right," she nodded giving him one back.

"Good. I'll let you get to bed. I don't know how you are with little sleep, but I'm a grouch if I don't get at least eight hours," he chuckled as he got up.

"Alright. Good night, Zak," she said, holding out a fist for him as he walked around the back of the couch.

"Night Viola," he smiled and bumped her fist with his before going to his room and to lay and stare at the ceiling while trying to figure that girl out.