I spotted a preppy guy who had no business on the water loading a Scarab race boat with dive gear. I wiped the sweat off my face with the hem of my t-shirt and headed that way, slowing my nervous pace down to a casual stride. A head toss later, I jumped on his boat, double-checked the tanks he’d put onboard were filled, and thanked God the guy was as cocky as I’d pegged him for when I eyed the keys in the ignition. I turned over the engine and tore out of the marina.
Wind whipped through my hair, but not fast enough. I dropped the throttle down lower, glancing at the onboard GPS. At this speed, I’d get there in twenty minutes. I could only pray Tiki took the Iara. I’d be able to make up some time on the slow-going yacht.
My stomach dropped as I rounded the bend and saw the Iara and another boat already anchored. There was nobody on deck. I started to shake despite the heat. Didn’t matter. Roxy was strong.
I grabbed one of the tanks, did a quick dive check, and was wet within minutes.
I just prayed I wasn’t too late.
16
Sirena
My home under the water seemed smaller. I tried to be casual as I swam toward the Caribbean Illusion. I had hoped to catch Tiki before he took Roxy under, remembering what Rick had said about her delicate lungs. They had all panicked when she took a single breath of compressed air. I could only imagine what prolonged exposure could do. I scratched at the brand on my heart. Critias was calling my seal due. I had made a deal with the Caribbean protector and failed to deliver.
Our rooms were on the bottom. I could swim in through the hole that had sunk the Illusion, find Roxy, and hopefully worm out a solution that did not include her dying. I pulled myself through the jagged gash in the side. The room was dark despite the hour; it was always dark in here. I swam past the table and couch, stealing a quick look at Monica’s empty room.
“You know you’re just like him.”
I jumped at the brash sound of my mother’s voice. Her singing voice was long gone, and from what I was told—on a daily basis by her—she had the voice that could lure even the most noble of men to their death. I did not see how that was something to brag about. She would always add in that Monica’s voice was just like hers. That last little dig started a year after I refused to sing. I could not bring myself to take a man to his grave, let alone consume his soul.
“I will take that as a compliment.”
“Don’t.” Ulla swam into the lonely ray of light that lit the room. Her gray eyes raked over me from top to fin, always finding me lacking. She reached out and snagged a strand of my hair from the water, twining it around her index finger until it pulled me closer to her.
“Why did you hate him so much?”
“Because he loved you.”
My stomach clenched. “And you did not?”
A smile wrinkled her skin as it folded back, revealing razor-sharp teeth. “How could I love something that wasn’t mine?”
“So, what Monica said is true?”
“Of course it is.” Ulla tilted her head, the hard lines around her eyes softening. “How you believed you could be mine for so long is what truly astounds me.”
“Why?” I whispered, all of a sudden I felt like I was bait on a line, and the woman I had called mother was about to devour me.
“Critias needed you to complete your transition. Each day that went by and you didn’t consume your first soul was another day your father got stronger. Critias had come to depend on your father and his knowledge of reading the swells, finding where sailors would be.”
“Why?”
Ulla leaned into me. “Did you say something, dear? Monica said you were chattier than a pod of dolphins when you were dry.”
“What happened to my father?”
Ulla’s gray eyes locked with mine, and I knew what she would say before the words left her mouth.
“I finally found his weakness … you. Critias okayed us to visit the surface, only we never got there. How do you think Tiki rose so quickly in the ranks?”
My mind tumbled back to the day my father’s body was brought back to the Illusion. Tiki had brought him back. Said he found him floating on the surface.”
“Tiki killed my father?”
Ulla snapped her fingers. “I’d like to think I had a little something to do with it to?”
I started to swim away, but Ulla grabbed my arm and yanked me around.
“No more running. I’ve waited far too long to bask in this delicious sunshine. You’re going to hear it all, Sirena. You’re going to hear every detail I was bound to keep secret until you knew.”
I shook my head and squirmed, trying to leave. Ulla slammed me up against the wall of our room. Particles of dust exploded from the decaying metal.
“It’s all so fitting, Sirena. The timing couldn’t be more perfect.” She wrapped her fingers around my jaw and forced me to look at her. “You’ll see why at the end of it.”
I scratched and clawed at her grip on my face, kicking my tail to get away, but it did no good.
“I sang to your uncle.” Her brash voice started a melody, one that sang to her siren toxin that wrapped around my DNA and left me helpless to fight back. “He answered my call, but instead of this strapping young sailor dropping into the ocean, I got you.” Her lip snarled, but the melody continued.
I stilled.
“This tiny human child. You’d probably just learned to walk.” She mused. “Why I caught you and kept you was beyond me. Maybe it was the distraction of the handsome captain I saw leaning over. The shock I saw turn into fear as he realized you’d gone over the edge. He leapt over the side, cutting through the water with an ease that shouldn’t have been graced to a man. When he saw you in my arms, he didn’t turn away. Instead, he followed me deeper and deeper into the waters. I’d like to think it was because of my charm and beauty. But I know it was because of you. He traded his life for yours.”
I felt a tear trail down my paralyzed face.
“Oh, sweet Sirena.” Ulla wiped at the drop that should not have stood out in the ocean. “Don’t cry. I haven’t gotten to the tragic part yet. The sailor who wasn’t watching you, his name is Edward Teach, and his daughter’s blood is about to spilled in the grand salon to fuse together this key.” She pried open my fingers and took the two pieces of the compass rose. “You were the worst bargain I ever made, Sirena. But you paid out in the end.”
Ulla patted my face, leaving me to battle the aftereffects of her toxin in my DNA. Our portal door slammed shut. I focused on my tail. If I could move my tail, I could at least stir the water around me. I could get water moving past my gills. I could— A shadow passed through the single ray of sunlight. A moment later, Rick stuck his head in the gash, a diving spear trained at my heart.
His finger twitched as what he wanted to do warred with the noble man inside him. It would have been so easy to just pull, kill what had taken so much from him. Destroy what was threatening to extinguish his family line. The tight pull of his lips, the singular act focused on me.
Rick exhaled, a flurry of bubbles escaping from his face mask. He finally slipped the spear over his head and swam over to me.
Rick clicked on the speaker in his full-face mask. “What happened to you?”
“I can not speak much, my voice will sound like a song you can not resist.”
“I think I’ve done a pretty good job up to this point. What do you need?”
“Can you move water past my gills?”
“Yeah.” His eyebrows scrunched together before he picked me up by the waist. His gaze lingered at the section where I morphed from human to mermaid before snapping back to my eyes.
Water, I mouthed.
Instead of moving in circles, Rick pulled me tight and started for the door. He pulled it open, sticking his head outside. “Everyone’s on the third deck. If memory serves, all these vessels have their serving rooms on the third deck.” Rick looked to me for confirmation.
I nodded, felling Ulla’s hold on my cells lessen.
“All right, so I’m assuming all the hoopla’s over Roxy.”
Rick startled as my tail fluttered.
I pushed away the need to run and hide because of what I was and met Rick’s stunned look. “She is in the Grand Ball Room.”
“How long?”
I pulled him back, carefully checking the landing before I pulled Rick up to my side. “Five minutes.”
His shoulders sagged.
“Has she ever pulled more than a breath or two into her lungs?”
“Probably, but not five minutes.”
The flash of a shadow passed on the floor. I pulled Rick into a darkened corner and let the guardsmen pass before signaling to the ship’s medical room. No one ever went in here. I shut the door behind us, while Rick turned on his light. A moment later he opened and shut cabinets and pulled out drawers, rifling through the contents.
“What are you looking for?”
“Epi-pen?”
“What?”
He sent me a withered look. “A round yellow tube with an orange top.”
I swam to the other side of the room and continued the search. “Why?”
“Hail Mary,” he muttered. “When did this ship sink?”
“A season ago.” I closed my eyes, trying to remember what my father told me a season was above the surface. “A year.”
“That’ll work. An Epi-pen is medicine that might give me enough time to get Roxy topside.”
I opened my last door and found a box with round tubes he had asked for. “Rick?” I handed him the last two.
“That’ll have to do.”
We finished weaving our way in and out of the Illusion. I peeked over the railing of the last level. The room was filled to capacity, and Roxanne was tied to a silver rolling-service tray, her head floating off the edge.
Critias floated near Roxanne, running his fingers through Roxanne’s hair and holding a silver blade in the other.
There was no way we would sneak her out of this undetected, and given the erratic tempo of her exhale, Roxy had limited time.
“Do you trust me?”
“No,” Rick answered so quickly it stung. “But I guess I have no choice.”
“Stay here.”
Rick rolled his eyes and then smiled. “You keep expecting that line to work on me.”
“It needs to this time.” I did not wait for his answer before I pulled myself up and through the broken window.
For the second time in my life, the clatter of the room quieted, and all eyes were on me.
“I told you she would come, Tiki,” Critias cooed. “What took you so long?
“I had to get the rest of the key.” I unclasped the chain from my neck and dangled the two pieces of the key to Atlantis. “This is why you send a woman to do the dirty work.”
“But you aren’t a woman.” Critias reminded me. “You’re barely a siren.”
“I guess all of that is about to change.” I swam toward Roxanne, hoping to catch her attention.
“Gotta say, Sirena, your dad would be so disappointed.”
I felt the weight of his statement settle on my shoulders. I hoped not. I hoped Kat was able to get word to Roxanne’s dad. I hoped I had the guts to sacrifice myself if it came down to it. I wrapped my fingers around the compass rose, feeling all the lives that had been sacrificed in finding this. I thought about Rick’s mom, and what she would have given to be here.
“Sirena?” Critias shook his hand. “The key?”
“You said you liked my dad.”
Critias blinked. “Then why did you give Monica permission to kill him?”
The room hushed.
“Because he was a bad influence on you. Now, give me the key before I call our deal void.”
“No.”
“What do you mean, no?”
“I am changing the deal.”
Critias barked out a laugh. “You can’t change the deal.”
I held up the compass rose, turning it so the rays of light from the surface could glint off the gold key. “I have the access to Atlantis that says I can.”
Critias eyes narrowed, his gills flared, and his normal blue-and-silver scales turned fiery red and gold. One minute he was across the grand ballroom, Roxy under his finger, and the next he was in my face, with the blade to my throat. The force of his departure was enough to send Roxy’s cart across the room.
“This human is worth your life?”
“She is worth everything.” I felt my chin jut out, watched the impact it had on Critias as he pressed the blade into my skin. I kept my eyes open, watching Rick sneak into the ballroom and unlash Roxy. A small gasp of air escaped my lips when her body went limp in his arms. It was just enough to give us away.
The bloodthirsty look in Critias’ eyes hardened; he spun around, keeping the blade to my throat, and sang out, “Stop them!”
His guardsmen turned their attention to across the room. When the flurry of bubbles calmed down, Rick, Roxanne, and I were in the center of the room. And there would be no rescue.
“Bring the Crossling to me,” Critias ordered.
Tiki yanked me across the ballroom by my hair, taking the long way so all of the Caribbean sirens could take their piece of me. Ulla took the biggest bites of my tail. It should not have surprised me, but it did. She truly hated me, but Monica was nowhere to be found.
Bloodied and torn, Tiki let me float to the bottom of Critias. He bent down, taking my chin between his fingers. “Was he worth your legs?”
I nodded.
“Was he worth your life?”
I looked over at Rick, his mouth pursed tight and eyes narrowed like he wanted to kill something, and nodded.
Even if that something was me.
“Was he worth your soul?”
“They both were.” I ripped my chin from his grip. “Now get on with whatever you’re going to do.”
Critias let the vile grin spread across his face. “Look, she learned to use contractions.”
“Fuck you,” I spat.
“And curse words. Your time on the surface was well spent, too bad you’ll never get to use all your new skills.” Critias leaned into my face, his nose nearly touching mine. “I’m really going to enjoy this, almost as much as I enjoyed killing your father.”
The world around me slowed down. I should have known. I reared back and head-butted Critias. His nose exploded with a bloom of red, coloring the water around him.
“You bitch!” He reared back, the blade raised, and I prepared myself to meet the end. Then, something flashed over my shoulder, striking Critias and pinning him to the wall across the room.
“Leave the girl alone,” a voice boomed from behind me. Sirens scattered like sand, and in their place were the colorful Atlantis Seahorse Guardsmen. Their tritons glowed a white-hot silver, making the water around them crack and sizzle.
“Are you okay?” Kat swam to my side, her face clad in the same dive mask Rick had that allowed her to speak.
I nodded. “Who is that?” I pointed to the other diver next to her, the one who had saved my life.
“That’s Edward Teach.”
“Critias,” Edward started forward. “You have my baby girl under water, and that makes me angry.”
Critias eyes flared. “I didn’t know.”
“Now you do. You also know I do Timaeus’ bidding. He’s not too pleased you’re holding his son, either.”
You could see Critias try to swallow the facts that had just been dumped at his feet.
Edward turned his attention to Rick. “Is she okay?”
Rick shook his head, and Edward’s features hardened. “Get her to the surface.” He turned to the Atlantis Guardsmen. “When she breaks the surface, give her this. It’ll right the wrongs.” The Guardsman nodded and pushed his giant seahorse toward Rick.
“With all do respect, I can’t leave Sirena.”
“Don’t worry, son, I’ve got her.”
Rick didn’t move.
“Sh
e’s my kin, son. I’ve had an eye on her for a long time, but if you want to stay, Kat here will take care of your sister while you see I do right by your woman.”
My cheeks heated, and so did Rick’s.
Kat scooped up Roxy and settled on the back of the seven-foot seahorse. In a flurry of bubbles, they were gone. Edward turned his attention back to Critias, and Rick made his way to my side. He didn’t know where to touch me, so he held my hand, caressed my face, and murmured how sorry he was in my ear. I melted into his side.
“Critias, you son of a bitch. Did you think I wouldn’t keep an eye on my niece?”
“Niece?” Rick and I both said at the same time.
“And you”—he pointed a spear at Ulla—“my brother gave his life for my mistake. I’ve come to make payment for his daughter.” Edward snapped his finger, and two Atlantis guardsmen brought Monica forward. “We found this one trying to access the gates on your orders, is that right, Critias?”
The overseer squirmed. “I never—”
“That’s what I thought. Here’s the deal. You release my niece from the siren’s curse, you leave the Martins and Sirena alone … and I’ll give you back this one.”
“That’s not a fair trade,” Critias sputtered out.
Edward smiled as he pulled the line that connected him to the spear in Critias. The overseer winced as each tug brought him closer and closer to Edward, and us.
“You remember what you said to me when I came to you to trade positions with my brother and free my niece?”
Critias eyes flared.
“There is no fair when you hold the power. Now, let her go.” Edward pulled the line, and Critias floated toward me. Before I knew what was happening, Critias pushed his palm to the center of my chest, burning the skin. The heat pushed past my bones, into my lungs, and worked its way into my heart. Like vicious claws, the heat pulled at the fabric of me, ripping me apart from the inside, until something finally popped. My vision blurred, and the heat I was used to when I transitioned started to burn down my spine and through the tips of my … oh my god, I had toes. I gasped out a bubble of air.
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