“What kind of traitor? I didn’t even know this place existed.”
“The mermaids are dangerous,” he sighed.
Halen wondered if he was thinking again about the girl who had died. He had said she had reminded him of her when he saw her wounds the mermaids had inflicted. “Did the mermaids hurt her? The girl you said I reminded you of?”
“You are nothing like her.” His tone was clipped.
What had she said? He was the one who had compared her to the girl. “I’m sorry. I thought maybe…”
“I didn’t mean it to come out that way.” He held his hands up. “The mermaids messed you up pretty bad. It made me think of her—of Natalie.”
This named tripped through her thoughts. This was the girl Nelia had asked her about in the bath. She had asked if Natalie had come to her. This didn’t make sense. “Did the mermaids kill her?” she repeated.
He sighed. “I know I said she was dead, but there was the possibility the mermaids kept her alive. That’s how I found you. The mermaids don’t appear often, when I saw them I followed. I felt you in the water.”
“Felt me?”
He shook his head. “Saw you, I mean. I spotted you with the mermaids. At first I thought you were human and then I noticed your birthmark.” He reached toward her arm but stopped just before touching her. “It’s a good thing I did find you. They would have used you. Asair could be out right now.”
“Who? What? You’re doing it again,” Halen said, confused and angry. Would they ever stop throwing new names at her?
“Doing what?”
“Making my head spin. I haven’t digested this whole siren thing and realm thing, and you’re filling my head again. You’re going to have to go easy on me.”
He choked back the laughter.
“Damn it. Why do you do that?”
“What?”
“Stop asking what.” The back of her neck pricked. She inhaled a long breath to calm down. “And stop laughing at me.”
“I’m not laughing at you. I’m laughing at what you said. You think I need to go easy on you? Did you not see what you did to this sphere? That’s rock.” He rapped on the newly replaced window. “A sheet of solid translucent rock. And you blew it right out of the frame. So if anyone should be going easy, I think we both know who, out of the two of us, it should be.”
He was inches from her. The boy she had spent months drawing. She still couldn’t believe it was really him. She resisted the urge to touch him. Swipe her finger over the dent between his eyes. Standing this close she could tell now that it was a faint scar that deepened with his frustration. His energy fluctuated rapidly, and if she could see it, she was sure it would look like dozens of tiny lights flickering on and off. Was this part of the magick, she wondered. She wasn’t frightened but she felt like she was seeing something she shouldn’t—something personal. She clasped her tingling fingers to her side.
“You’re right,” she said as she backed away. “I don’t even know who I am anymore. The problem is, if you’re telling me the truth, my whole life has been built on lies. Everyone I’ve ever loved has lied to me.”
“I’m sure they had a good reason.”
“Yeah, because they’re terrified. If I can really do what your mother said, harness the elements, I’d be scared of someone like that. I don’t know what they do to people like that here, but on Earth they would hunt me down and probably stick me in some kind of lab, and then do weird experiments on me.” She was shaking now as the reality of Samira’s words sunk in. “Doing what I can do is not a gift, like you mother said. It’s a disaster! I’ve been trying to hide it my whole life and now your mother wants me to face it head on. Why? What do you want from me?”
“Look, I know you want answers,” he said, his tone softer now though she could still feel his rapid energy. “If you really, want to know, I’ll take you to a place where you can learn more.”
Her stomach growled, and her face reddened. “I’m starving, so I was kind of looking forward to the dining part.”
“We’re not going to the council.”
“Why?”
He didn’t answer instead, slung over his shoulder, he had a drawstring bag, and he reached inside and pulled out a handful of leaves. They were folded one over the other protecting whatever was inside. “I brought you something to eat. So there’s no reason to go.”
She took it from him. The scent of fish made her stomach growl again.
“Go on, eat it.” He peeled back the corner of the leaf revealing thin red slices of fresh fish.
She ate sushi at least once a week; it was one of her favorites. “Salmon?” she asked.
He nodded. “Eat—we need to get moving.”
“Where are we going if not to see your council? Won’t you get in trouble?”
“Nelia is taking care of it. She’s telling them you’re still ill.”
“She’s lying. For me? Why? What are you up to?”
“Just eat.”
Halen swallowed the first piece and picked up another. She couldn’t eat fast enough. “Why does the council want to meet me anyway?” she said between mouthfuls. “Are they Tari too?”
“What?” His face paled. “What do you know about the Tari?”
“Not much. Your mom mentioned the name, and I asked Nelia. She told me they were pro-siren.” She said this half-laughing.
“This is not funny. The Tari risk their lives for your kind. They would die for you.”
The fish caught in Halen’s throat. “Why would they do that?”
“Only a blue moon siren can release Asair, and only a blue moon siren can destroy him.”
“Asair?” That name again. When she said it, the hairs rose along her arms.
“He’s a blue moon siren. He has powers like you. Only he chose the shadows of his soul to lead him. The dark magick he wielded over a hundred years ago, still threaten us today.”
“And where is he now?” Halen asked.
“He’s locked in another dimension. It’s a prison created just for him. A dimension only another blue moon siren can open.” Dax’s eyes brightened. “You have the key, Halen. You can release him—and destroy him.”
Dax’s hopeful look scared her. “That’s not why I’m here is it? You’re not thinking this is something I can do or that I even would?” She backed away from him. “I don’t know anything about portals and dimensions. I’m not the demon slayer type, Dax. I’m more the stay at home and read a good book kind of girl. I’m telling you, what I did here is random. I have no control over it.”
“What you did here shows me you are capable of so much more. I believe you could open the portal to Asair’s dimension.”
He was wrong. Why didn’t he see this? “Is this why the council wants to see me—because they want the portal open?”
“No, the council would rather let you die than explore your talent. They don’t want to release Asair. They are blind to what is happening. They refuse to see that a blue moon siren is the only way to end the suffering.” He shook his head. “They rather drown in Asair’s dark magick.”
“And you?” she asked. “What do you want?”
He brushed past her, his cool flesh prickling hers, his energy now a burst of flashing light. “I want this to be over.”
“It can be over! Let me go home. I’ll disappear.” He looked at her now with his intense blue stare. If she left now, would she still be haunted by him? Would her senses still respond to the call to sketch him? “You can pretend we never met,” she said, although she knew she would have a hard time forgetting.
He sighed with a heavy breath and walking away from her, he whispered, “I wish it were that simple.”
Eleven
“I’m so sick of sand.” Tage nudged the red grit with the tip of her toe. She couldn’t get one grain to budge. “Think. Come on. It’s just a spell.”
Daspar’s phone buzzed on his desk.
“Ha, you forgot your cell phone. You’ll have to come bac
k for it.”
She paced the circle until she became dizzy and needed to sit down. Tucking her legs to her chest, she rubbed her chin on her flannel pajamas. Why is he doing this? Daspar had never taken off on her before. If anything, he was always there shadowing her every move. Maybe he was frightened she would end up in the hospital again. Maybe he was afraid she would run.
When her parents died, there wasn’t much left to live for. At least that’s what she had thought at the time. Soon after their funeral, she had fallen for a boy named Robbie. She knew now it wasn’t Robbie that she was in love with, but what he could do for her. He had showed her ways to forget the pain—forget she was living at all. After a bad night of doing a lot of forgetting, she woke up in the hospital—alone. There was no sign of Robbie. The only visitor she had was from her godfather, Daspar. He explained he was now her legal guardian. Her parents had always planned for her to live with him if anything happened to them. Daspar was Tari like her parents, so she knew she could trust him. Though staring at the red sand surrounding her, she now had her doubts.
She twisted the silver bracelet around her wrist. Halen. Daspar should have told her she was a siren. This cloak-and-dagger game of hiding Halen from herself was ridiculous. Halen should have known years ago what she was capable of doing. It was wrong to keep her in the dark. It was making Tage’s task more difficult. Now Halen was missing, and she was stuck in some stupid sand trap.
Tage searched the condo for anything within her reach. A vase of wilted birthday flowers given to her by Daspar sat beside her on the coffee table. She smiled and rose to her feet. One leg of the table was within the circle, so whatever lay on the top should be within her grasp. Reaching, she tested her theory. Her fingertips locked on the vase and she pulled it into the circle.
“Not so smart, are you, Daspar?”
One by one she plucked the petals from the stems. She spread them out to match the outline of the circle. She then rubbed the pollen from the stamen between her hands. There was just enough to coat her palms with yellow dust. Rubbing her hands together, she invoked an incantation to break Daspar’s spell. Unlike the sand arrow, which came easily to her, breaking a bound spell was far more difficult and took time—time she didn’t have if she was going to catch up to Daspar. Whispering the spell under her breath, she summoned the petals into the air. Her yellowed palms rotated in circles until the petals swirled to a storm of pinks and reds. Tage spread her feet apart, so her toes rested on the edges of the sand. She forced the petals back to the outer rims and the sand rushed away from her as if a wave had washed the grains away. Having only a few seconds before they would rebind, she leapt onto the safety of the couch. The red grit retreated back into the form of a circle. “Ha!” she shouted with her fist in the air.
In the kitchen she scrubbed her hands under the faucet, but her palms did not get any cleaner. “Daspar,” she hissed. She dried her hands and headed to his desk where his phone buzzed once again. Whoever had been trying to get a hold of him wanted to talk really badly. This had been the eighth time they called. She pressed answer but the caller hung up before she said hello. The screen displayed a missed call from E.
“Who’s E?”
Her thumb rubbed the screen, when she accidentally hit the photo gallery. A picture of Halen and her standing side by side, with forced grins, illuminated the screen. She rolled her eyes. Swiping through to the next photo, her breath caught. She zoomed in with her fingers. “No way.” The boy from the beach house—the same boy who had chased them into the ocean, sat at a coffee shop nestling a mug in his hands. She recognized the poster of a 1950s pinup girl standing beside an airplane in the background. This coffee shop was two blocks east of their condo. “What are you up to, Daspar?” She swiped through the next few pictures: Halen at the same coffee shop reading; Halen walking down the street, the boy walking right behind her. “So, you knew she was being followed.” None of this was making sense. She scrolled through the next few pictures. Her jaw tightened when she saw one of her. She had been window shopping for these amazing boots. She wasn’t into clothes, but these leather boots were kick ass, and not a lot of kick ass came through Rockaway. She spread the screen wider. In the reflection of the window, the boy stood behind her. “Damn it, Daspar. Why didn’t you tell me?” She slammed the phone down. “That’s it, no more secrets.”
Daspar had taught her a way to find him. She had been so shaken up after losing her parents, afraid to trust him, afraid to lose him, that he taught her a way she could always locate him if they were separated.
As she rolled up the sleeve of her pajamas, her birthmark rose with goose bumps. What would she say to Daspar when she found him—what would he say to her? It didn’t matter; she was going to find him anyway. She would figure out the right words once she was face to face with him.
She went back to the kitchen and grabbed an egg from the refrigerator and a knife from the drawer. Wincing, she cut a small line along the edge of the swirls where her birthmark crooked at her elbow. It stung, but the information was worth it. After smearing her blood over the top of the egg, she shook it really hard and then cracked the egg open on the counter. Then tilting her head back, she swallowed the yolk. She forced the goopy yolk down her throat, trying not to gag.
“Ick.” She shook the gross feeling off, as she made her way to the couch. She crossed her legs up on the cushions, rested her head back and closed her eyes. She brought Daspar’s face to the front of her thoughts, his too-high cheekbones, his square jaw, and the little scar shaped like a crescent moon along his left eye. Tage drew him further into her mind and met his stare, his eyes like an alchemist’s spun gold. She could see him clearly. All she needed now was patience.
Twelve
Dax checked the corridor, looking up and then down each tunnel.
Halen peered around his shoulder. “What are you looking for?” she asked.
“Can you stop asking questions for one minute? Be quiet.”
“No, why should I be? You haven’t told me enough. And now you’re taking me to another place and acting like we are on some covert operation. I’m not taking another step until you tell me where we are going.”
“You’re stubborn, just like him.”
“Like who?”
He groaned. “Look, I’m taking you to a place where you can get some answers.”
“Just tell me.”
“It’s better if I show you.”
She sighed as she weighed her limited options. She could stay in the claustrophobic sphere, waiting, or she could follow him. She stepped from the sphere and the door slid shut behind her.
Dax held his finger up to his lips, motioning for her to be quiet, and they made their way down the corridor, down the stairs and outside without being seen. As they crossed under the spheres and back across the bridge, she scanned the area for any signs of a portal even though she had no clue what one might look like. Once they entered the courtyard, where she had seen the boy and girl, Dax chose a pathway to the left. There were still four more directions they could have gone. She wondered what lay at the end of each. Suddenly, a giant drop of water splattered in front of her. She darted off the pathway to avoid being soaked.
“Watch out for that,” Dax said. “Water from the Earth realm.”
“Is that the way out?” She cast her eyes to the swirling sky above. It spun like a hurricane, with shades of blues and grays.
“It’s one way,” he said and he kept walking.
She tried to imagine how anyone would get up there. “Do you have wings?” she blurted out. As soon as the words left her lips she realized how silly they seemed, but she couldn’t see another viable way to reach the sky.
“Wings?” He spun around with a smirk on his face.
There was the dimple pitting his right cheek; she had waited to see it. She resisted the urge to reach out and touch the dent with her thumb like she had done so many times on the paper of her sketchbook.
“Well, you have to get u
p there somehow.” She tore her eyes away from his smile and nodded toward the sky.
“Do you see anyone coming in that way?”
She shook her head no as another drop sunk into the moss.
“Then it’s probably not the best way out either.” He continued to walk, his steps more rushed than before.
“Where are we going?” Halen broke into a light jog to keep up with Dax’s long strides until he stopped beneath the shelter of some type of tree. Its branches twisted in curlicues, the bark a brilliant shade of blue. Its violet leaves were speckled with indigo spots. On the topmost branches, Halen spotted three flitts peering down at her. She clasped her fist around her braid. On either side of the tree were two more stone pathways leading in opposite directions. “Which way are we going?” she asked.
“This way.”
Dax chose the pathway to the right leading to a mountain of towering rock. Cascading vines hung like curtains over the gray rock. Halen wondered what lay down the opposite pathway. Maybe it was the way out? She would have to remember every step so she could find her way back. They walked no more than a few yards, when Dax ducked under the vines. She followed, only to find the path opened to the mouth a cave. She took a step back and crossed her arms. “Look, I really want some answers.”
“I promise. It’s not a long way. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know when we get there.” Taking one step in, he nodded for her to follow.
Part of her wanted to run. The other pathway wasn’t far away. But what if she was wrong? What if she got down the path only to find it led to something much worse? She stepped inside.
He led her a few feet to another staircase. They walked down three steps and Halen was already regretting her decision. His idea of not a long way meant yet another endless staircase.
“Why does everything have to be so far down or so far up?”
“We don’t want the records to get damaged during the storms. Same with the cursed and the sick; they aren’t strong enough to swim, so we have to make sure there are safe places for them.”
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