Mona shook her head. “No, I canhearhim. Our souls call to one another. Even when no one else can hear our melody,I can.I know what he sounds like, and he needs me!”
Something wasn’t right. Fear wriggled through Cyrus’s chest, and he exchanged a worried look with Prue. Wordlessly, they nodded to one another.
They could not allow Mona to leave. Whoever was calling to her wasnotEvander.
“Cyrus,” whispered a voice.
Cyrus went rigid, his spine straightening. He swallowed hard. “Who’s there?”
Prue sucked in a sharp breath beside him.
“Cyrus, it’s me,” said the voice. “I’m alive.”
Cyrus’s breath hitched, and his heart seized in his chest. “L-Lagos?”
Lagos huffed, the sound so familiar and yet so foreign because Cyrus had thought he would never hear it again. “Of course it’s me. My death was only a ruse to trick the Titans. But I am well. I just need your help climbing out of this crater.”
Cyrus’s heart soared. Lagos was alive! His death was not on Cyrus’s hands. He could fix everything that had gone wrong that day. He could make things right again.
He stepped forward, but Prue’s fingernails dug into his arm. “Cyrus, stop,” she hissed. “It’s not real.”
“It’s Lagos,” Cyrus said, his eyes moist with tears. “Prue, he’s alive. He’s all right.”
Prue’s expression was grim as she shook her head slowly. “It’snot real.Remember Tartarus. Remember how we resisted those visions.”
Confusion and fear bled through the joy lifting Cyrus’s heart. He didn’t want to lose this relief that was spreading through him, warming his body and making his blood sing. He didn’t want to return to the reality where Lagos was dead.
“Goddess above,” Mona whispered, shaking her head violently. Her eyes screwed shut, her brow furrowing as tension crossed her features. “Oh, it hurts. Ithurts!” With her free hand, she pressed it to her temple, her face contortedwith pain. She made an incoherent sound of frustration. “Prue! It’s—It’s?—”
A deafening screech filled the air, making Cyrus’s ears throb. He froze, his blood chilling as somethingwhooshednearby, causing a breeze to ripple through his hair. Feathers brushed against his arms. He cringed away from them, drawing closer to Prue and Mona. As he glanced around, he realized the witches were nowhere to be found.
“Farah?” he called out. “Nadia? Where are you?”
No answer.
A cold sense of foreboding filled his chest.Oh, gods.What was happening?
“Their call lures men to their deaths,” Mona was reciting, her gaze distant and slightly manic. “They sing songs of deepest desire and promises of wishes fulfilled. Their call is resisted by no one, not even the gods themselves.” She was shaking now as she met Prue’s gaze with wide, stunned eyes.
Cyrus’s heart dropped to his stomach. He knew exactly what creatures were hunting them.
Sirens.
LURE
PRUE
Talons and feathersbrushed past Prue. Something sharp scraped against her arm, dragging a path of fire along her flesh. She cringed away from the onslaught of sirens, scanning the skies for them. But the air was still so clouded with dust that she couldn’t see them.
She squinted, realizing it wasn’t dust, butfog.A dense fog poured out from the fissure in the earth, obscuring their surroundings. She clung to Cyrus and Mona, desperate to keep them close. The panic within her flared, and she feared one of them would get snatched by the creatures.
“Prue,” murmured a voice.
Prue froze, then crammed her eyes shut.It’s not real. It’s not real.
“Prue, I can help you! Just come to me, and we can face this threat together.”
Her mother’s voice washed over her, and oh, how Prueyearned to run to her. To dive into her arms and cling to her. With Gaia on their side, they could not lose.
