Rosemera whips the reins again, the horses buck and whinny but rush forward.
Rosemera turns the horses to the left away from the Hudson and away from the docks.
“I must go find her,” I tell her as soon as the way is clear.
“Go!” she yells, eyes focusing on her task of steering the fast-moving carriage.
“Thank you!” I shout to Rosemera quickly. “Take care of yourself first. I’ll find you.”
I leap off the carriage, stumbling as my feet hit the uneven ground, and brace myself against a brick wall in some alley. I shake off the jolt of pain my awkward landing sends through my back.
The horses’ squeals of fear, echo down the alley.
Several pirates—steel in hand—and mobsters—guns in hand— spy me as I run up town. I must get back onto the other side of town and reach her if I can.
She helped me. She returned my call. If she remembers me the way I must believe she does, we can defeat them. We can win this battle.
I just have to reach her.
Whitley
My mind grows dizzy again as I rush away from the fight. The silver-haired boy is farther and farther away, and it leaves me feeling empty. I flee into the alleys I seem to know better than I know myself, away from the men with angry eyes and weapons to match.
Cold air slices into my wet skin, but I keep moving until I find a familiar spot. I stop and look around. What is it I know here? I look down at my feet and then to a shadowed hole in the ground. Distant sounds echo up at me from the hole.
The pounding of footsteps follows me, getting closer. I slip my body into the canal, the stone scraping uncomfortably against my skin.
My feet splash is the smelly water, but despite the rancid odor I take in a deep breath, finally able to relax and think.
“Someone there?” a little voice calls.
“Yes?” I return in a near whisper.
The little body gasps and then scuttles away, feet splashing in the water.
“Wait! I’m a friend!” I call. I think.
The footsteps stop. “Whose friend?” the voice echoes a tad stronger.
Knick? No. I don’t remember why, but I don’t trust Knick. Not anymore. Who then? I have a friend here, don’t I?
“Bingo,” I say, blinking as the word comes from my mouth. Does that even mean anything?
The child doesn’t speak for a long moment. “I’ll be back,” they say and then scuttle off. I’m unsure if my word worked or not.
I try to catch my breath as I stand in the darkness. My mind is lost in a labyrinth of power and emotion that I don’t understand. I want those pieces back!
That power I used—I don’t know where it came from, but that’s what took my memories away. How am I powerful? Why? And why does it take away who I am to use it?
A noise from the entrance to the canal causes me to retreat deeper into the shadows.
“Whitley?” someone whispers.
I pause, unsure if I should respond. Then a sweet song begins, humming from his chest to mine. I breathe it in, and immediately my mind clears. “Bluff,” I say.
The boy above gasps, and the awe in the sound causes a small smile to spread on my lips. I like that reaction. I like him being near me.
Then, quicker than I could snap my fingers, his body is through the small entrance and splashing into the water nearby.
“Where are you?” he whispers into the darkness.
I swallow, still unsure. But everything in my body tells me to trust him, so I step forward, touching my fingers to his chest. He grips me, pulling my whole body into a warm embrace. My freezing limbs drink in his warmth, and my souls devours his comfort.
“Thank God,” he whispers into my hair. “Whitley, I’m so sorry.” His voice is desperate. “I didn’t mean it, I swear.”
“Who are you?” I ask and he freezes.
“You don’t remember me?”
I swallow. “I do... but I don’t.”
I step back to look at him, now that my eyes have adjusted to the darkness. There’s a flash of pain in his eyes, then acceptance as he looks down at his feet. “I thought... I thought your memories came back. You escaped from the sirens again. You returned my song. You helped us...” he shakes his head. “Last time I saw you, you hated me.” His face crumples, and it sends a wave of discomfort through me.
“I did?”
He nods. “You don’t remember that either? It was a day ago.”
I purse my lips. “I think I did remember,” I tell him, honestly. “But...”
Footsteps reverberate from above us. We both look up at the entrance, catching small glimpses of those searching for us.
“Do you trust me?” he whispers. “The memories don’t matter so much. We can still work together and defeat them.”
“How?”
He takes in a long breath. “Together, we have an undefeatable power. If we combine our power...”
A vision enters my mind: an earthquake splitting the city in half. A flood covering the island. I—we—could destroy them all. I believe him.
But it would destroy me too.
I open my mouth, jaw hanging low. “I trust you,” I tell him. Because I do. I brush my hand over his shoulder, and I remember the feelings I regained in the water, just before using my power to break free of the sirens. The realization that I loved that boy they’d taken me from. And he loved me.
This is that boy, I know it.
“Good,” he says with a gasp, stepping forward to grab my arms gently. “Let’s do this. Now before they take anything more from us.”
“We could,” I say. “We could destroy this entire city if we wanted.” A rush of desire fills me, along with another memory. “But I can’t.”
I close my eyes to avoid the image of his confused and sad expression, and instead relish the feeling of his hands on my arms as another memory appears. Then I repeat his own words back to him. “I want to give you your every desire. Every thought in your mind. Every fantasy.”
His eyebrows pull down.
“But more than that—I want to remember you.”
“You remember that part, do you?” His lip quirks.
I smile and connect with his beautiful silver eyes. “I do. But there’s more.”
He nods. “Tell me.”
“I remembered, not everything, but more, just before...” I run my hand through my hair. “Just before using that power you’re asking me to use again, to escape the sirens.”
His eyebrows pull down.
“And when I used that power, it took it away again.”
He covers his mouth his hand.
“I don’t want to lose myself, and this time, I know I’m doing it to myself.
“It’s not just the Siren Queen that can drown your soul in her magic,” he whispers. “You’ve been drowning yourself—in your own.”
Bluff
My stomach clenches as the realization of what she’s telling me sinks in. Every time she uses this power, she forgets. Not everything, not yet. But if she uses the kind of power I’m asking her to? Perhaps she would.
I shake my head. This can’t be real. The very thing we need to be free of this is the one thing that would make them win. Using our power would turn her into a monster.
We could defeat the mob, we could defeat Stede. We might even be able to defeat my mother—if she didn’t manage to flee to the depths before that happened. But there would surely be sirens left in the waters, ready to take the now fully siren Whitley for their own power. And I couldn’t stop them, because she wouldn’t remember me. Not at all.
“All right,” I say with a broken voice. “Then what do we do?”
She shrugs. “Escape, if we can. Perhaps there’s another way...”
I nod. “There is someone who might know more, if we can get to her—she might have the information we need to beat them without losing you.”
I press my forehead against hers. “I don’t want to lose you,” I whisper.
&
nbsp; She smiles sadly. “Who is it?”
“The witch who made the prophecy to start with.”
“A witch?”
“Well, she’s actually a disgraced siren. Living in the swamps of New Orleans, banished from the depths by my mother. They’re not exactly friends.”
“Enemy of my enemies.”
I nod slowly. “Something like that.”
“So how do we get to her?”
“That’s the tricky part. There are hundreds of people here looking for you. Closing in on us as we speak. Without fighting our way out of it... escaping is going to be tough.”
“I can help!” A little voice squeaks out of the darkness, we both swing our heads in that direction.
“Who are you?” I ask.
A little boy approaches slowly, just hitting the light and smiling. “Bingo. I’m a friend of Whit’s.”
“Bingo!” Whitley says fondly.
“Whit, huh?” I ask, an amused smile spreading across my face.
She just nods.
“How can you help?” I ask the boy.
“We can get you a ship, like that time.”
I cross my arms. “Besides the mutiny?”
Bingo gives a crooked smile. “Yes, except that part.”
“We can’t trust them.” I turn to Whitley. “For several reasons.”
“Why not?”
“For one, they betrayed us once before and the reward will be even higher now. Who’s to say they won’t do it again? Two, we have nothing to pay them with. And three, the sirens will be looking for us out at sea. We’ll be extra vulnerable.”
Whitley bites her lip. “We could go north, take a carriage instead?”
I nod absently. “They’ll follow us still. I’m not sure how to get them off the trail unless...” his face crumbles into a grimace.
“What?”
“Unless we split up.”
Her expression falls. I ignore the pit in my stomach. This is absolutely the last thing I want, but... I’m not sure there’s another way. I wring my hands, stress eating away at me. I want to be near her. I want to ensure she doesn’t forget me... I run my thumb over her cheek, waiting to savor every moment I have left.
“If we go out to sea, they’ll search every ship until they find us and we’ll have no choice but to fight. Unless, I go one way, make sure they follow me—I’ll ensure they think we’re together. They’ll stop looking for you and you can get past.”
“So you’ll take a ship, and I’ll take the carriage farther inland?” she asks.
“No...” I pause. “I can’t slip away from them at sea. Inland, I can transform my appearance and disappear at almost any time. Besides, you’re still a siren. You need to at least be near the water or you’ll be unable to protect yourself from even human attacks. It’s dangerous, but we must consider it might be best for you to take a ship. At least then you’ll have the ability to free yourself if you absolutely need to—but of course that’s a last resort.”
Whitley taps her hand on her thigh as she thinks. “But you still think we can’t trust them?” She nods to her child mobster friend.
I shake my head. “Without sufficient payment we can’t trust...”
“Payment has already been made,” a lower voice calls from the tunnels beyond. Knick walks forward. So he’s been spying, has he?
“What payment?”
He crosses his arms and nods to Whitley. “She saved us by choosing to allow those creatures to capture her when we were in peril. We owe her a favor.”
Bingo nods eagerly.
I narrow my eyes. “How do I know I can trust you?”
“I’ve seen enough in these last few days not to try to double cross a siren, mate. You, perhaps. Her, not so much.”
“Besides,” Bingo says, stepping forward and grabbing Whitley’s hand, “she’s my friend.”
“And if you’re gone,” Knick adds, “so are those creatures. It’s a win-win, really.”
I look to Whitley, who’s smiling down at the boy. “Do you trust them?” I ask her. “It’s up to you.” I don’t see many other options.
“Yes,” Whitley whispers.
There’s a clank down the pipes the other direction. “They’re in the tunnels,” Knick whispers quickly, his eyes growing larger. “You must choose now. And quickly. I do have one more bit of information you’d like to hear.”
“Get on with it, then,” I say, my heart pounding.
“I have your other friends. They came into the sewers and a few of my boys captured them.”
“Who?” I ask, though I already suspect.
“The girl in the velvet dress that can fight better than any boy I’ve met, and her beau.”
I nod. “Good.” I turn to Whitley. “You can go with them if Rosemera goes with you. She’ll help you stay hidden and take you where you need to go. I’ll go north, but then turn south as soon as I’m able and meet you at the town on the river forks.”
“That Carolina town? Tar?” I ask, my brain aching with the effort to put all the pieces together.
“Not exactly, but near the town we first met. Rosemera will know it. It’s a good central spot with an underground hub that will be safe for the likes of us. I’ll meet you there as soon as I can make it.”
“Very well,” she says, her voice but a whisper.
I step closer to her. “I love you, Whitley,” I tell her, and she gasps. I lean in quickly and she meets me halfway, pressing her lips to mine, her body against mine.
“I love you too,” she tells me. And I almost believe her. Part of her does love me. Part of her doesn’t know me from Adam.
“Don’t forget me, please.” I whisper. Footsteps echo now, growing closer.
“We must go!” Knick hollers.
“Don’t get into the water. Don’t use your power. And don’t forget me!” I say again. Then I turn and rush towards the growing footsteps, confident in my ability to both halt their approach and get away cleanly.
“I’ll see you soon!” Whitley hollers back to me, then rushes away with Knick and Bingo.
If he betrays us again, I will kill him. Or perhaps I’ll let siren-Whitley do the honors.
Whitley
Bingo grabs my hand and pulls me down the tunnels, turning here and there, until I’m completely lost.
Though I’m far from safe, my heart is lighter than it’s been in weeks. I have a goal. My mind is made up. I have so many questions, but at least I have a direction and a place I may be able to find those answers.
Finally, the darkness of the tunnels makes way to the light. The sky is faded with deep black clouds, but still light enough to see across the waters of the Hudson.
Three figures sit on the rocks, bound in ropes, with several smaller bodies surrounding them.
The girl, Rosemera, I remember, sits up when she sees us coming.
“Where’s Bluff?” she asks immediately.
“Heading north to lead them away from us.”
Her face falls. “But he’s all right.” she whispers.
I nod.
“How about you?” she asks me, her eye narrowed. “Are you here to join us as prisoners of this pint-sized pirate crew or free us?”
“Your freedom has already been bartered,” I say confidently, but my stomach squeezes as I wait for Knick and Bingo to follow through with their promises. There’s a pause, and I’m unsure which direction this will go.
Freedom or defeat. Those are my two options, and it’s all in the hands of a child mob. Finally, Knick nods and the bindings around the three captives are let loose.
“So what now? Are we joining him up north?” she asks. I look at the boy behind her.
“Who is he?” I ask her, ignoring her question.
“Robert.”
“Robert is the boy who helped Bluff in the battle just now?” I ask, vaguely remember his face.
Rosemera nods.
“No, we aren’t meeting Bluff on up north. We’ll be taking a ship.”
&nbs
p; She blinks slowly. “So weren’t not meeting him?”
“Not yet. We decided... splitting up was the wisest choice.”
She pinches the bridge of her nose. “He did, or you did?”
“Both of us? I suppose. We’re going to rendezvous in the south.”
She takes in a long breath. “Fine. Let’s do this.” She bends down to pick up a sword from the ground.
Bluff
I hit the horde of mobsters head on, sword flying. They’re taken by surprise in the darkness, and I gain the upper hand, even though there are at least six of them.
I hit one man on the head roughly, sending him falling to the mucky water. I trip another and shove my blade into the stomach of the next.
A fist flies into my chest, slamming me into the wall, but I rebound quickly, kicking, spinning and slicing but missing by inches. The moment my hand is past the pirate-woman I barely missed, she grabs my arm and slams me back into the wall.
I quickly morph my body into a massive form, shoving back from the wall and sending her tripping back into the men. A few of them holler, one of the men squealing like a pig. “He’s a werewolf!”
I take the superstition to my advantage and let out a massive roar, ensuring my skin is dark enough to blend into the shadows, and hide that I’m simply a large muscular man, not actually a wolf. It’s enough to send fear ricocheting through them.
Two of them run off the way they came. Two are lying unconscious in the water, leaving me only two opponents.
Easy.
I could defeat them now—their hands shaking as they hold their blades. But I don’t actually want to win this battle. I want them to follow me.
I turn back into my usual form, settling back into my comfortable skin. I smile, flick one eyebrow, and then I run away, following the two cowards out of the tunnels.
Whitley
Rosemera, Robert, Bingo, Knick, and one other boy stand at the edge of the river near the canals and watch the harbor. I convinced them to wait until nightfall to make our way out to sea.
Bound by the Depths Page 20