Sister of the Sea

by Lena Mae Hill

  She stepped over the edge of the dune.

  Her feet went out from under her, and she fell back, sliding down the steep incline feet-first, her heels digging into the sand as she went. Seeley wriggled in her arms, then slipped free. She reached for him, but then the note came again, and she realized it didn’t matter if he was in her arms. He was happy, too, sliding down the soft sand as if it were an iceberg. Her foot caught, and she went spinning around, tumbling head over feet. Landing in an ungraceful heap at the base of the slope, half buried in sand, she lay still for a moment, joy swelling in her chest.

  Seeley snorted beside her. She scooped him into the crook of her elbow and staggered to her feet. Vaguely, she remembered the wind witches telling her something about the tides, but that didn’t matter now. Nothing really mattered the way she thought it had. Once, she’d thought she loved Quill, but she hadn’t. She’d thought she belonged in the coven, but she hadn’t. She couldn’t live her life for someone else. It was time she lived for herself.

  When she looked down, she was thigh-deep in the water. She hadn’t even realized she’d reached the water’s edge. The water was ice-cold, and by the time she was deep enough to swim, her whole body hurt, but in a detached way that she barely felt. Without a moment’s hesitation, she plunged in, swimming hard against the waves. They knocked her back, but each time, she only came up spluttering and forged on. Her strokes were strong and sure, though she hadn’t swum much in her life. There was a river near the coven, and a pool where they swam. But nothing like this.

  By the time she made it past the breaking waves to smoother water, she was warm from the exertion. Out beyond the breakers, only swells lifted her and then sank again, no longer pushing her towards shore. Seeley’s head popped up beside her, and his mouth opened in a joyful smile, and right then, she knew she’d made the right decision. An underground cavern was no place for a sea witch, and it was no place for a seal.

  Her strokes sure, she headed for the rocks. On top of the tallest one, outlined in the moonlight, she could just make out the shape of a head. The melody was clearer now, drawing her out as if it were a lifeline thrown to her. Grasping the strains of the song, she paddled closer and closer, until she reached the rough water around the rocks. Above, she could make out a human figure, not just the head but the shoulders and arms.

  Her breath caught. She’d been right. This was it.

  Glimmering in the moonlight, fanned out against the jagged black rocks, lay a slippery, shimmering tail.

  ten

  Raina

  Raina’s head went under water as she was momentarily stunned by the siren’s beauty. Its tail glowed faintly with its own bioluminescence. Its skin above the tail glimmered in the moonlight. Long, dark hair hung in seaweed-like strands down its shoulders and back, all the way to its shimmering scales.

  Fighting the waves, Raina splashed and flailed in the water. The siren turned.

  When she saw Raina bobbing in the water, a look of pure shock crossed her face, and she turned and slipped behind a rock.

  A wave smashed into Raina, jarring her against the rocks. But when she tried to reach out and grasp one, the water sucked her back. Swearing under her breath, she gathered her strength and kicked forward, propelling herself closer to the rocks. Calling on her water magic, she brought a wave towards her. But instead of landing her gently, it barreled down on her, knocking her under.

  Damn it. She had been too vague, acting like an amateur witch. When she surfaced, the waves suddenly changed direction, sucking her sideways into a crevice between two larger stones. The sloshing water knocked her against one rough stone and another, and for a second, she was pulled under again.

  Her head struck stone, and she grasped for a handhold but found nothing. How could she have been so stupid? She’d swum out here alone, without telling anyone where she was going. The sea was far too big for one water witch to control. If she died, no one would know where Seeley went, no one would take care of him.

  At least her parting gift to him had been to bring him home to the sea, where he belonged. Her mouth and nose filled with water, and she choked, trying to spit it out as a wave sloshed her against one wall and then the other. Kicking frantically, her knee scraped painfully on the rock, her skin breaking against the rough barnacles clinging to it. She gasped, and water sloshed into her mouth, choking off her air.

  Suddenly, a hand slipped around her arm. It pulled her to the surface just long enough for her to suck in a breath before her arm slipped from the grasping hand and she was plunged under the surface again, thrown deeper between the two rocks. Again, her hands scrambled for purchase on the slick, barnacle-encrusted black surface.

  Salt water invaded her nostrils, filled her mouth. Choking, she kicked out, gaining the surface again. Something pushed up against her belly, and a moment later, a head surfaced just inches from hers. Her body was pressed to the rock, pinned by a bare, slippery body. Gasping for breath, she gripped the soft, strong body that held her from being submerged.

  “Hi,” the siren said, licking her full lips. Everything about her was voluptuous—her lips, her thick eyebrows, her forest of hair tangling around them in the water, her breasts pressed against Raina’s.

  Definitely not her brother.

  But did it really matter? The siren had saved her life. Suddenly, Raina was overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude and love.

  “Hi,” she breathed.

  “What are you doing out here?”

  “I—I heard you singing.”

  “You liked my song?”

  “I loved it,” Raina gushed. “I think…I love you.”

  The siren laughed, her laughter as intoxicating as her song. All the longing in the world swelled up inside Raina. She didn’t care about the coven, or her brother, or Quill. She was never going back. Never leaving this enchanting creature. She didn’t even care if she was enchanted. Why wouldn’t she want to be enchanted, if it felt this good?

  “You don’t even know my name,” the siren said, water swirling her hair around her shoulders, sloshing over them.

  “What’s your name?” Raina asked.

  “Yvonne.”

  “Okay, Yvonne,” Raina said. “I love you.”

  The siren laughed again, and it washed over Raina like the water. It didn’t even matter if she drowned anymore. She’d sink to the bottom of the sea with a smile on her face if she could die next to Yvonne.

  “I’m going to be in so much trouble for this,” Yvonne said, and then she leaned in and kissed Raina. Her lips were cold and salty but soft, so soft. As they moved in rhythm with the waves, Raina’s arms tightened around her, and she returned the kiss. Yvonne pressed her harder against the stone, until the barnacles bit into Raina’s back even through her shirt. But she hardly felt them. The inside of Yvonne’s mouth was slippery and wet, her tongue warm in Raina’s mouth.

  She kissed her, and kissed her, and kissed her. Raina had been kissed plenty of times, but never like this. She couldn’t seem to stop. Her hand cupped Yvonne’s cold breast in the water, and Yvonne sucked in a sharp breath, crushing Raina’s head back. Her skull jarred against the rock, but she didn’t break for air. She would kiss Yvonne for the rest of her life, until her lips and tongue were too sore to go on.

  She ran her fingers through Yvonne’s long hair as it swirled and swished in the icy water. She ran her hands over Yvonne’s strong shoulders, her delicate shoulder blades, the knots of her spine and the stays of her ribcage. Only when her hands slipped onto a ridge of foreign fish scales did she remember who she was kissing. What the was kissing.

  A mermaid.

  It did nothing to quell her desire.

  At last, she felt Yvonne trembling against her, and she pulled away. “Are you okay?” she asked, her voice coming out in short gasps.

  “I’ve been holding us up too long,” Yvonne said. “Let’s go up on the rocks.”

  She swam out of the crevice, tugging Raina behind her. Her strong tail provided
more resistance to the sucking currents than Raina’s legs, and together, they swam out into the water. “You have to go around to the shallower rocks, and climb up from there,” Yvonne said, pulling her to an area of smaller stones. They were jagged, and Raina looked around for shark fins as she felt the rocks slicing into her skin repeatedly. But she only saw one familiar round head.

  Seeley joined them, flopping over the rocks. Finally, they came around the back of to the larger stones that jutted from the water and pulled themselves up. Raina lifted Seeley up and then dragged herself up, collapsing onto a ledge on one side of the stone. She lay there, trying to catch her breath, her mind in a daze.

  “Why did you bring a seal up here?” Yvonne asked.

  “He’s my familiar,” Raina said.

  Yvonne’s head appeared over the ledge. She was perched at the very top of the crooked stone that jutted out above the sea. Waves still slapped and splashed along the sides of the stone, throwing spray over them. The wind chilled Raina, clad in her wet clothes.

  “You’re a witch?” Yvonne asked, her eyes widening.

  “A water witch,” Raina said. “I came to find my brother. He’s a mer.”

  “How’s that possible?” Yvonne asked, looking genuinely curious. “If you have legs, your brother must have them, too.”

  “I don’t know, but he was made into a merman,” Raina said, shivering as the wind sliced through her flesh all the way to the bones. “I’m going to find him, and find out how he did it, so I can be one, too.”

  “You want to be a mermaid?” Yvonne asked incredulously. “Why?”

  “Why wouldn’t I?” Raina asked. “You’re beautiful, and you get to live in the ocean. And you can sing like…I can’t even think straight.”

  “I’d trade places with you in a second,” Yvonne said, her hair blowing out in streams. “You can walk on land, and mingle with humans without them even knowing. You can wear clothes, and go shopping at stores with more than trinkets that sink to the ocean’s floor. All we get are scraps the humans don’t want. You get everything. And you have magic! The mer would kill for your magic. All I have is my voice.”

  “And the ocean,” Raina said through her chattering teeth.

  “You can have the ocean, too,” Yvonne said, sliding down from her perch to the ledge where Raina was huddled. Her tail slapped down to the stone beside them.

  “How?” Raina asked. That was all she wanted in the world.

  “I’ll have to get permission, but maybe I can get you a visitor’s pass. And you can come spend the day with me.”

  Raina couldn’t help but laugh. “Mermaids have visitor’s passes?”

  Yvonne gave her a wounded look. “Why not? You think we’re animals? We have a very structured society below the sea.”

  “Sorry,” Raina said. “I didn’t know.”

  “Is it true that you have no queen?” Yvonne asked, the offense forgotten. Her eyes sparked with curiosity and eagerness.

  “You do?” Raina asked.

  Yvonne screwed up her face, but even that looked beautiful on her luscious lips. Raina was dying to kiss her again, but Yvonne seemed more interested in talking. “The Sea Queen,” she said. “She makes all the rules. I’m so sick of being told what to do. But if we don’t do exactly what she says, she’ll make our lives as dark and cold as the deepest canyon on the sea floor.”

  “That’s why you said you’d get in trouble for kissing me?”

  Yvonne began combing her fingers through her tangled, damp hair. “Not for kissing you,” she said. “For saving you.”

  “Then why’d you do it?”

  Dropping her hand, Yvonne gave her a sly smile. “I don’t always do what I’m told.”

  “What are you supposed to do when someone swims out here? Let them drown?”

  “Usually, we sing in ships,” Yvonne said, her eyes lit with excitement. “The pirates are the most fun. They have all kinds of treasures. And not just jewels.”

  “If you’ll be in trouble for saving me, how are you going to get a pass for me to come visit?”

  Yvonne slid her hair over her shoulder and grinned at Raina. “I can’t get in trouble if she never finds out.”

  Eleven

  Sagely

  Sagely woke in Fox’s arms. Bright morning light was hitting the tent, lighting it up. She rolled over and found herself staring into his eyes. She’d never thought of the advantages of a guy who was not much taller than her. Everything on her body was perfectly aligned with his. Their eyes, their lips, their hips…

  Fox grinned at her, his eyes sparkling with humor.

  “What?” she asked sleepily.

  “You slept with your boots on.”

  “Gotta be ready,” she said, smiling back at him.

  “I’m always ready,” Fox said, moving his hips slowly against hers.

  She rolled onto her back. “Why am I not surprised?”

  “Because you’re ready for anything, too,” he said, nuzzling her ear. Shivers ran down her body as his sharp teeth gently grazed her skin.

  “Hey, guys,” Shaneesha’s voice interrupted. “Have you seen Raina this morning?”

  Instantly, Sagely could feel that Raina wasn’t around. There was a space in the magic that had been so consistent over the past few weeks. A heavy feeling settled in her gut. “I better get up,” she whispered to Fox, gently pushing away from his chest.

  Fox growled in frustration. “To be continued.”

  She slipped from her sleeping bag and unzipped the tent, stepping out onto the cool sand of their campsite. The lighthouse towered above, and the cool light of early morning seemed to spotlight the fire ring, where the ashes lay cold. Raina had gotten up and left without lighting the fire.

  “Maybe she walked down to the beach to watch the sunrise,” Sagely said hopefully.

  “I don’t think so,” Shaneesha said. “And I don’t think you do, either.”

  Sagely swallowed hard. She’d known this moment would come. “What did you think would happen when she found her brother?”

  “I thought he’d join us,” Shaneesha said. “Raina’s my best friend. We train together. We balance each other. What am I supposed to do now?”

  “I’m sorry,” Sagely said, rubbing her shoulder. She’d never had a friend like that, one who couldn’t live without her. The thought made her feel empty somehow, as if she were unworthy of such a friend.

  “Yoo-hoo,” a voice called from the dunes. Sagely turned to see Gale picking her way through the sawgrass towards them, a basket held in one hand, her gull perched on her shoulder.

  Sagely raised her hand in a wave.

  “We thought you might be hungry,” Gale said. “And, well, I think my brother wanted to check on the sea witch. He even made muffins.” She held up the basket, waving it back and forth as if trying to tempt them.

  “Thank you,” Fox said, taking the basket from her. “The witches are a little shaken up right now. We seem to have lost one of my intended’s guards.”

  “What guards?” Gale asked, peering around, as if they might materialize out of thin air. “Are they cute?”

  Sagely couldn’t help but laugh. “Apparently your brother thinks so,” she said. “We’re talking about Raina. We’re all supposed to stick together and get our coven back from Viziri.”

  The gull squawked and took off, as if offended by the dark warlock’s name.

  “Oh, no,” Gale said, her blue eyes widening. “You can’t mess with Viziri. He’ll devour your magic and leave you nothing but an empty husk.”

  “He already took my magic,” Sagely said. “And he took our coven and disappeared with them. We’re supposed to find Raina’s brother and then go on to free the coven from his control. He has them hypnotized.”

  Gale shuddered, then shuddered again, this time almost comically hard. “Once he gets a witch, he twists all their magic until it’s dark, and then he makes them into soldiers for him,” she said. “And once he’s done with them, he devours the
dark magic. He can’t consume it while it’s light. That’s why he turns it. But he’ll take it all, right down to your internal flame. And then you’ll be nothing but a commoner.”

  “Then we better find them soon,” Sagely said grimly. She reached for the basket in Fox’s hands and found it full of fresh blueberry muffins, still warm.

  “I need to go get her,” Shaneesha said. “If she’s under the siren’s control, that’s no better.”

  “No, it’s the same,” Gale said. “She’ll devour your magic, too.”

  “Suddenly living underground makes a lot more sense,” Sagely said, biting into the muffin. It was warm and steamy and subtly sweet, just enough to contrast with the tart berries.

  “We picked the berries ourselves,” Gale said, bouncing on her toes. “Dank, right?”

  “Oh my gosh, I might need to add your brother to my collective just so he can cook for me,” Sagely joked. “These are totally ace.”

  “You’d be lucky to have him,” Gale said. “Anyone would. Guthrie is a powerful warlock.”

  Sagely exchanged a look with Shaneesha. Maybe they were thinking the same thing—how could they get him to join them in getting their coven back?

  “And he likes Raina,” Shaneesha mused. “So he might help us get her back from the siren.”

  Okay, so maybe they weren’t thinking exactly the same thing.

  “Shaneesha…” Sagely said. “What if…she doesn’t want to come back? I mean, she came here to find her brother. If she found him, she might want to stay with him.”

  “If he’s really a siren, she won’t really have a choice, though,” Shaneesha pointed out.

  Sagely sighed in defeat. After all, she knew exactly how it felt to be enchanted—one look in Fox’s eyes and she became helpless with lust. If Raina made the decision to join her brother of her own free will, not while enchanted, she’d respect that. But she couldn’t just let the sirens suck up all Raina’s magic while Raina was under a spell.