Undercurrent

by Tricia Rayburn

  “Okay,” I managed.

  “And it’d probably be a good idea to do a trial run.” “A trial run?” I asked, my inner voice screaming at me to hang up. “How about the Caribbean? You and me, Thanksgiving?”

  “That sounds…” My voice trailed off as I forgot what I was going to say.

  Because there he was. Simon. Rowing on the lake.

  “Vanessa?”

  “I have to go,” I said, and hung up.

  I sprinted across the backyard, aware that my legs felt stronger than they had even thirty seconds ago. Apparently, I didn’t have to be next to Parker to feel the effects of his admiration.

  “Simon!” I yelled, reaching the end of the dock.

  He didn’t look up. He’d been rowing but drifted now, toward the center of the lake. That was likely why he hadn’t answered his phone—cell service was spotty throughout Winter Harbor and worsened the farther you were from land. His head was lowered as he turned the pages of a book. Squinting, I could just make out small white buds in his ears.

  He was reading and listening to music. A typical Simon activity, but I was surprised he wasn’t doing it in the house, especially since he knew how long the drive from Boston took and that I’d left right away.

  I shouted his name again and waved, but his back was to me. I watched and waited to see if he’d turn the boat around, but he continued flipping pages, seemingly engrossed. I scanned the nearby shore, hoping to see Caleb’s small motorboat back from the marina where he usually kept it, or a kayak left out by a summer resident. When there was nothing, I checked the Carmichaels’ garage for a spare rowboat, but it was empty except for yard equipment. I dashed back to the dock and tried yelling and waving for Simon’s attention once more.

  Nothing. And he was drifting farther away.

  I lowered myself to the edge of the dock. I ached to be with him now, this second, but it had already been several weeks, and I could wait a few minutes more. The sky was quickly fading from lavender to gray, and unless he’d brought a flashlight with him, it wouldn’t be light enough to read much longer. He’d probably turn around and look for me before then anyway.

  Talk about loyal…

  The voice sliced through my skull. Crying out, I squeezed my eyes shut and gripped my head.

  Three little words and you come running…

  The pain intensified, rocked my body back and forth.

  That might’ve made up for everything you’ve done… if Simon hadn’t already moved on….

  I stopped rocking. Stopped breathing. My eyes opened slowly, as if I were waking from a dream. A light gust of wind rustled dead leaves clinging to branches, rippled the water’s surface… and turned the rowboat until it drifted horizontal to the shore.

  I didn’t know if she’d been lying down or simply blocked by Simon, but I could see her perfectly now. She sat at the other end of the boat, wearing jeans and a maroon Bates fleece. She was thin, her skin white. Her long black hair had been cut into a sleek bob that framed her face and hid the newly sharpened angles of her cheekbones.

  Zara looked completely different, and more striking than never.

  I scrambled to my feet. “Simon!”

  Nothing. He turned another page, like he was completely alone on the lake.

  “Simon! It’s Vanessa! Please, turn around!”

  I stared as he lifted his iPod and turned up the volume. Whenever he’d been mesmerized by Zara before, hearing my voice had snapped him out of it. The fact that he was calmly sitting two feet away from her meant that he was under some kind of hypnosis, but was he using music to drown out her now… or me?

  Stop. The word burned in my head. Please, he’s done nothing to you. Leave him alone.

  I didn’t know how to silently communicate with another siren, how to invade Zara’s thoughts the way she just had mine. Willa hadn’t wanted me to listen, and she hadn’t wanted me to talk either. But Zara seemed to hear my silent pleading; she didn’t say anything in response, but she turned toward me, a slow smile creeping across her face, a low light brightening in her eyes until they shone. Then, when she was certain she had my attention, she leaned forward and rested one hand on Simon’s knee.

  He didn’t flinch, the way he should. The way I wished he would. Instead, he lifted his head. Returned her smile. She slid down the boat until they were separated by inches, gently tugged on the iPod cord until the earbuds gave, and said something that made him laugh.

  “Simon!”

  I screamed loud enough to make nearby loons cry in response, but he didn’t hear me. That, or he ignored me.

  He tucked Zara’s hair behind one ear, letting his fingers caress her cheek the way they’d caressed mine thousands of times. Her face tilted into his palm, and her eyes shifted up to his.

  “No,” I whispered as the distance between them grew even smaller. “Please… don’t do it.”

  But they did. Right there, with me unable to look away, like they were two cars careening toward then crashing into each other, Simon and Zara kissed. A real kiss, with touching and embracing and no coming up for air.

  I sank to my knees. How was this happening? If Zara was weaker than she’d been before, how had she transfixed Simon at all, let alone enough to make him climb into a boat, drift to the middle of the lake, and kiss her? Had she gotten to him before or after he’d asked me to come here?

  The second I wondered, I knew. She’d gotten to him before. Because if Simon still loved me, her powers wouldn’t work. Or if they started to, they’d stop when I called out to him.

  Before this realization could paralyze me completely, they pulled apart. Zara stood, making the boat wobble slightly, and, not taking her eyes from his, unzipped the fleece. It slid down her arms and fell to the bottom of the boat. She leaned to the right, then to the left, and I knew she was removing her shoes. It was probably fifty degrees out now, but she wore only a tight white tank top and jeans as easily as if it were late summer instead of fall. The effect wasn’t lost on Simon, who watched her without moving.

  Until she dove into the water. Then he jumped to his feet, making his book hit the floor with a thwack and the boat drop sharply from side to side. He lost his balance and fell back to the small bench twice before standing still enough to pull off his jacket and sweater.

  “Simon!” I tried again, desperate. “Stop! You don’t know what—”

  It was too late. Apparently unable to bear to be apart from her a second longer than necessary, he jumped into the water still wearing his pants, T-shirt, and shoes.

  I didn’t have a plan. I didn’t know what I’d do once I reached them, or if Simon would even know who I was. But I didn’t care. Ignoring my pounding head and throbbing heart, I tore off my jacket, kicked off my sneakers, and tossed my cell phone to the dock. I flew into the water, which was so cold my muscles stiffened instantly, and paddled and kicked until my arms and legs regained full range of motion. I must have been in shock, though, because, despite my efforts, I couldn’t seem to swim as fast as I had the last time I’d been in the ocean, and it took me minutes instead of seconds to reach the boat.

  By the time I did, Zara and Simon were several feet away, treading water and kissing over the deepest part of the lake… and directly in front of my family’s house.

  “Let him go, Zara!” I yelled, hanging on to the side of the boat.

  “Oh, Vanessa,” she called out casually, like this was totally normal, like we were old acquaintances who’d just run into each other on the street. “So nice of you to join us.”

  “You don’t need him,” I said. “You can have any guy you want.”

  “True. Thank you for noticing.” She tightened her arms around his neck. “But he’s the one I want. And I’m happy to say, the feeling’s mutual. Isn’t that right, Simon?”

  He tried to kiss her again, but she pulled back slightly. When it became clear she was waiting for a response, his lips lifted in a slow, lazy smile. He said something so quietly I couldn’t hear, and Zara
urged him to repeat himself, louder.

  “I love you,” he said.

  I love you. My heart automatically lifted… but he was looking at her, not me. As his words entered the air, her face seemed to change—her skin glowed, her cheeks filled, her eyes brightened.

  While she grew stronger, my body went numb. I started to sink, using the boat to pull myself up when the hot liquid burning my eyes mixed with cold lake water. I blinked quickly, and my vision cleared enough to see Zara, still holding on to Simon, slowly disappear beneath the water’s surface.

  I lifted my feet to the side of the boat and shoved off, aiming for where they’d just been. When I got closer, I ducked my head, twisted so that I faced the bottom of the lake, and swam with long, even strokes. I couldn’t be that far behind, but they were nowhere to be seen. Or if they were, it was too dark to tell. Unlike the night I’d jumped into the water at the base of Chione Cliffs, when the sirens’ light had illuminated the ocean floor, the lake was black. I couldn’t even see my hands as they cut through the water in front of me. When I tried listening for Zara, my head fell silent. The best I could do was to try not to think so that there was nothing to hear if someone listened for me.

  After swimming for years as a normal person, I instinctively still held my breath whenever I went under and opened my mouth and filled my lungs only when my chest burned. When that happened a minute after kicking away from the lake’s surface, I didn’t hesitate to inhale.

  Leaving so soon…?

  I barely heard Zara over the sounds of my choking and gurgling water. I tried breathing in again, slower this time, thinking I must’ve gulped too much, too fast, but the same thing happened. The water should have soothed and strengthened my body, but it was suffocating it instead.

  Had they poisoned the lake? Was that why Simon had asked to meet me here? Because they’d done something to it that made breathing impossible? It didn’t smell or taste different, but—

  The thoughts stopped when I held my breath and the water no longer swirled. A few feet away, Zara, her arms tight around a struggling Simon, smiled at me from behind a plastic diving mask. It was attached by a long tube to a clear sack clipped to the back of her waist.

  We’re going to do it right this time…. We’re going to drown them….

  The memory of Willa’s voice flew through my head so fast there was no way Zara could’ve heard it even if she’d been listening. But I did. And now I knew what she’d meant.

  To sirens, the lake was poisonous.

  Because it was made of freshwater, not salt water.

  My lungs felt like they’d burst as my eyes met Simon’s. Either Zara’s power had a time limit, or the water had shocked him; either way, he was out of her spell and fighting to break free. I kicked hard, lunging toward them, but Zara swam easily down and away. I tried again, but she only went deeper. The pressure hit my head and chest like a mallet, and soon I had no choice but to change direction.

  I needed air. Or Simon and I were both going to die.

  My head shot through the water’s surface. Gasping for oxygen, I looked toward the houses lining the shore, hoping to see Caleb, Mr. and Mrs. Carmichael, straggling summer renters… but there was no one. The houses were dark.

  I tried to focus on Willa for help, to send some kind of warning that would prompt her to contact the Winter Harbor connections she claimed to have. But before I could think of what to say, I saw white flashes. They started out small and dull but quickly grew bigger and brighter. At first I thought they were fleeting bolts of lightning, since the sirens had manipulated the weather to their advantage over the summer, but there were too many at once. And they shot up from the water instead of down from the sky.

  They were eyes. Dozens of them. Silver, blinking, glittering, surrounding me like a wide fishing net.

  Hello, Vanessa…

  One set drew nearer. I recognized Raina’s mouth beneath her mask, the small mole to the right of her nose.

  It was so nice of you to take care of Paige in our absence….

  Still treading, I inched away from her. As I did, the eyes on that side moved closer.

  I don’t know what she would’ve done without you… what she’ll do without you….

  “Please,” I whispered, blinking away water droplets as they fell from my eyelashes. “I’ll leave you alone. I won’t tell anyone you’re alive. Just let him go, and we can pretend like—”

  “Like this never happened?”

  I spun around. Zara and Simon were above the surface, just outside the circle of sirens.

  “Vanessa!” Simon cried, spitting out water.

  I shot toward them just as Zara clamped one hand over his mouth. His eyes held mine, wide, worried—for me more than him, I knew.

  “I’m sorry,” Zara said, tilting her head like she was confused. “Let’s review the series of events, shall we? You and your little brainiac here froze Winter Harbor, freed our targets, deprived us of life for three months, stole my boyfriend and my sister—”

  “Caleb wasn’t your boyfriend,” I shot back. “And you stole my sister. You took Justine away from me, and for what? A clearer shot at a guy you were never going to get anyway? No matter how hard you tried?”

  Her hand tightened over Simon’s mouth as her silver eyes narrowed.

  “As for Paige,” I continued, “I’ve done nothing but be her friend. And you were going to make her sick. As soon as she had her baby, you were going to make her transform into an immoral, insatiable monster—just like you. Like all of you.”

  There was a pause. For a second, everything—the water, wind, and trees—was still. “Don’t you mean,” Zara said, her voice as smooth as silk, “like all of us?”

  I looked at Simon, who stopped struggling and returned my gaze as Zara’s words sunk in. She let the shock settle, then took advantage of his weakness to drag him back underwater.

  “No!” I lunged after them, but there was a hand on my left leg, another on my right thigh. Four more grabbed my arms, my shoulders. I writhed and kicked, zapping me of any lingering strength. As my chin, then mouth, then nose sank below the lake’s surface, it was all I could do to press my lips together and hold my breath.

  They held on to me the entire way down to the floor of the lake. Raina swam ahead of the group, her silver eyes casting two long beams through the darkness. I searched for Zara and Simon, silently called for Willa, but outside of my abductors, I didn’t see or hear anyone or anything.

  At the bottom of the lake, the sirens lowered me onto a cluster of rocks and bound my ankles and wrists with what felt like silk scarves. I struggled against them, but just as Willa had said, what they lacked in strength individually they made up for in numbers. Between my thirst and the lack of oxygen, my body felt like it had just passed through flames instead of water.

  Which was why, when a young siren with long blonde hair fitted a mask over my mouth, I greedily gulped the salt water.

  You’re strong, Raina’s voice sounded in my head. Just like your sister. She put up a good fight, too.

  I stared at her as she lowered to the sand in front of me, her long white skirt billowing around her like a cloud. As I silently seethed, my head stayed clear. A moment later, Raina continued.

  I must congratulate you. You and your friends did what no one in our long history has done before. You stopped us. Temporarily, but successfully all the same. That’s an accomplishment in and of itself.

  I focused on her eyes.

  But what you must understand is that what you did—what you attempted to do—goes far beyond you or me, or Zara or Paige. Justine’s death was unfortunate, and if circumstances had been different, it wouldn’t have happened.