The House in the Cerulean Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #1)

by T.J. Klune

To err is to be human, irrational or not. And while some mistakes are bigger than others, if we learn from them, we become better people. Even if we have spiders in our brains.” “I’m unholy.” “So some people say.” Lucy’s face scrunched up as if he was thinking hard. “Arthur?” “Yes?” “Did you know your name is a mountain?” Mr. Parnassus blinked, as if he’d been caught off guard. “I did. How did you know that?” Lucy shrugged. “I know a lot of things, but I don’t always know how I know them. Does that make sense?” “Sort of.” “Mount Parnassus was sacred to Apollo.” “I know.” “And do you know Linus of Thrace?” Mr. Parnassus shifted in his seat. “I … don’t think so.” “Oh! Well, Apollo killed Linus with his arrows because of a musical contest. Are you going to kill Mr. Baker?” Lucy turned his head slowly to look at Linus. “If you do, can you make sure to use arrows? I don’t want him to be un-holey too.” He began to cackle. Mr. Parnassus sighed as Linus’s chest hitched. “Did you just tell that entire story to be able to make a joke?” “Yes,” Lucy said, wiping his eyes. “Because you told me once that if we can’t laugh at ourselves, we’re doing it wrong.” He frowned. “Am I doing it wrong? Nobody seems to be laughing.” “Humor is subjective, I’m afraid,” Mr. Parnassus said. “That’s unfortunate,” Lucy said, staring back up at the ceiling. “Humanity is so weird. If we’re not laughing, we’re crying or running for our lives because monsters are trying to eat us. And they don’t even have to...