15
Skye
The waterengulfed me as I dove beneath the waves. The icy bite of the Atlantic nipped at every inch of my skin like frostbite, its midnight blue waters swirling around me in a mist of bubbles.
Magic coursed through my body, its warmth seeping into my frozen human limbs. A part of me wanted to resist, surrendering to my human frailty, letting my teeth chatter and my lips turn blue. A part of me wanted to die a human death in these waters—the death I should have had if Agápe hadn’t given me a second chance.
But Morgana’s hand remained clasped in mine, and for her, I exhaled, leaning into the magic, allowing it to work through my body as the transition unfolded.
My heart clamored as I recalled the last time I’d felt my body shift in this way, in these same cold, dark waters. But the last time I’d been a victim. This time, I was the perpetrator. Last time I’d been a human. This time... this time I was a monster.
As the magic enveloped me, aquamarine scales unfurled across myskin, glistening over every inch of my body. Though my form remained human—my breasts still soft against my chest, the warmth of my woman parts lingering between my thighs—my curves were now sheathed in a sleek, glittering bodysuit. They formed a natural corset across my torso, leaving my neck and shoulders bare.
Morgana released my hand and swam forward, her thick coat billowing in the swell. I gasped as I watched a similar transformation take hold of her body, but where scales clung to my skin, she was cloaked in glistening fur.
I jolted, a hiss escaping my lips as my fingers and toes lengthened, slick webs flaring between them, and then with another pulse of magic, the claws came.
They weren’t the claws of a beast—they were delicate, as if some artful manicurist had shaped my nails in the style of arched vampire acrylics. But they were still claws, real, sharp claws, not pieces of plastic glued in place.
I brought my hands to my face, and my dark hair curled around me in the water. I could see everything so clearly, see the blood that remained on my hands. It was dark crimson against the deep blue, but slowly, the water was cleansing them. The blood, which had congealed, softened under the ocean’s caress, drifting like unraveling red ribbons from my hands, cheeks, and chest.
My stomach knotted, and I sucked in a breath, crying out in a bubbly gasp as something broke from the skin of my neck.
Gills!I ran my hands across the newly formed grooves.
Pain seared behind my shoulder blades as wings strained against my skin, desperate to break free. I hissed, pushing the sensation away. I would not let those grotesque feathered things emerge. Obeying my will, they retreated, and a part of me was glad. I couldn’t control the creature I’d become, but at least I could control this.
“Are you okay?” Morgana turned to me, catching the pain that musthave been twisting my features as I fought to keep my wings at bay. Her scarlet hair drifted around her face in the dark waters. I noticed the fingers she used to sweep it aside were now webbed. Only bubbles had left her lips, but I heard her familiar voice in my mind.
“No.” I shook my head, tears trying to fall from my eyes, but the water claimed them just like it had claimed the blood.
“Skye.” Morgana’s eyes searched mine, their color like frosted Uranus in the murky light. “Parker deserved whatever you did to him.”
“I-I took someone’s life. I’m a monster. And Aranare... If he hadn’t been there...” My bottom lip quivered, and I held up my hands again, but all the blood had now been swept away by the water.
Morgana clasped my webbed hand with hers. “We’re in this together,” she murmured, giving it a little squeeze.
I let her pull me into the blue-lit expanse. Moonshine filtered down from somewhere above, casting ripples of shimmering light that danced before us, breaking with every stroke only to reform again.
We swam on and on, and as we moved, I let my world collapse in on itself. I let the weight of everything that had happened flood me, as if the entire Atlantic had poured into my being. I drowned in the feeling until nothing remained but swirling darkness. A darkness that I shoved down deep, letting the ocean close over the hollow in my heart.
16
Aranare
I’d loved her since first seeing her at my uncle’s cafe, but I’d managed to keep it at bay until now. Because when Sirens love, it can become something primal.
We have a deep connection with love. We can sense it in others and harness its power to wield our magic, but whenwelove, it makes us go daft. It hits us with an all-consuming intensity.
It’s like new love’s fluttering butterflies, the breathless thrill of a first kiss, the electric spark of skin brushing skin. It’s aching. It’s euphoric. And that feeling never goes away.
I waited in the Bayside parking lot, hands tapping against my beat-up truck’s worn steering wheel until the port was shrouded in darkness. Skye and Morgana would have disappeared beneath the waves at sunset.
I hissed as I shifted the car out of park, blood soaking through the makeshift bandage on my shoulder. The gash was deep, likely to scar. I turned the key, and the engine coughed before rumbling to life.
It was time to return to Parker’s house and clean up the mess she’dmade.We’dmade. The Stewarts were a powerful family, and I didn’t want them coming after her.
The truck jolted down the uneven road, every bump echoing the tension in my chest. I glanced over my shoulder into the back, where I’d loaded an old black tarp, bleach, and rope.
