“Hard left!” I scream with all my might, moving my hands as dramatically as I can.
Jivre doesn’t have time to react.
Tentacles three times the size of the council building in Dennow erupt from the ocean. They stretch high above us, as if to rip the clouds from the sky. The ship tips. We’re trapped in the grasp of a monster. Little more than a child’s toy to this beast.
I barely have time to gasp before the tentacles come crashing down. With a painfully brief crunch and an explosion of splinters and screams, the ship I built my life on and the crew who entrusted me with theirs is pulled below the waves and into the maw of the beast.
CHAPTER4
Flashes of lightningabove give glimpses of the underwater horror that I’m plunged into. Pieces of my ship are sucked down in a current that tastes like death. The faces of my crew are hardly recognizable to me, even though I have seen each of them for years. Even if I know them as well as my own. I have never seen expressions like this wrought across their features. Their mouths are twisted and tortured. They claw at their throats as they swallow water instead of air. Some have gone completely still, eyes wide open in silent, still, nauseating horror.
Others look almost peaceful, drifting in the small pools of crimson that seep from the places pieces of ship have skewered them.
Pain rips through me as though their wounds are my own. Every flash of lightning makes the cost of my bargain with the siren clearer. My life should have been the only one at risk. Not theirs. They never asked for this. They trusted me to keep them safe as I always had.
Even though the waters swirl around me and the storm rages, I am stilled by my horror. Time slows under the weight of my guilt; I’m unable to bear it as I always have. We’d made this run too many times. Pushed our luck too far. I’d made it seem safe enough that none of them harbored any real fear. They had faith in me when they shouldn’t have, despite all my warnings.
Every member of my crew went because of me.They are dead because of me.
The monster that attacked us moves in the darkness. It’s squid-like, with a body five times the size of our ship with countless rows of teeth and seemingly never-ending tentacles that rise up from the depths. It is a nightmare come to life. Survival instincts finally overtake me. I begin kicking, fighting as the monstrosity tries to suck us all into its maw. I reach, pulling water frantically as it tries to rip me down. My lungs are burning. I’ve been here before. I know what it feels like just before my body gives in.
Not like this. I refuse to die like this! Six months. I should have—
A massive tentacle moves behind me. I don’t see it until the last second before it slams against me.
I spin out, hitting people and debris. The last of my air is knocked from me. My thoughts rattle, bouncing from one thing to the next as quickly as I am thrown. Emily’s face flashes before my eyes, beaming.Look, Vic, I got the job!There’s my parents, dancing in the tavern we all scraped together to buy. Charles above me as I convince myself that I am happy. That my apprehensive feelings are normal for a new bride.
Oh gods, this is it. I am going to die. Even as the sea pulls me down, I look up. I try to swim away.
A painted hand closes over mine. I look back and meet two wells of the richest brown I have ever seen in my life. Eyes that have haunted my dreams.
Warmth floods me. The world is still. There’s no rushing of water. No hammering of the rain or waves. No silent screams of agony that somehow pierce my ears. Only a single note. Almost like a soft,Hello. At last.
The siren who claimed my soul is here. He is just as otherworldly as when I last saw him, though time has sharpened the edges of his jaw and worn shadows into his cheeks. Lines cast his brow in a nearly perpetual furrow; the shadows contrast with the halo of platinum hair that drifts around his face. He is as ethereal as a seraph, as timeless as a daemon, and far deadlier than both combined.
“Come. It is time.” His voice resonates through my mind. Just like the first time, he speaks without using his mouth. He pulls me to him, his free hand slipping around my waist. A familiar song fills my ears and begs my muscles to relax.Give in. The water around us begins to shimmer like it did that night five years ago.
The lights begin to obscure the carnage and the abomination drawing my crew into the depths. The song nearly distracts me from them entirely, as if pulling me from my body. Consuming my mind. I battle to keep a grasp on my senses.
Let me go. I can’t speak underneath the waves. I move my hands instead, awkward as he continues to hold me. “Let me go!”
“Even if I were to let you go to them, they are beyond saving. At least it is an honorable end.” Despite his talk of honor, the words are bitter. I can tell he doesn’t believe the sentiment by his tone, making the attempt at placating me even more grating. If he thinks he can convince me to abandon my crew with song or platitudes then he has another thing coming.
“Let. Me. Go!” I push at him, dig in my nails and kick. I fight with all my might to get back to my crew.
Maree is nearly to the surface. I can see Lynn’s fiery hair in the night. Jork I know by his shape alone…though that familiar silhouette is still for far too long. Still, there are others fighting. But they won’t last much longer. If I could help them, maybe they’d get a breath. There’s a spire of rock not far from here…if they could get to it, they could have a chance.Icould have a chance.
“We made a deal.” His voice is a growl in the back of my mind.
I glare at him with ferocity usually reserved for Charles. “Yes, a deal that was just for me, not them. Moreover—”
“This is beyond us now. Lord Krokan has demanded their lives as payment to the churning seas. Now, we must go, it’s too dangerous here.”
“No, not—”
The light sharpens around us. With mighty pumps of the siren’s tail, we cut through the water and move away from the horror at a speed unmatched by even the smallest, fastest ship with the strongest winds in its sails. We are a shooting star through the ocean. The rocks and currents that have always been a barrier between my world and the domain of the sirens are a blur—quickly left behind.
He holds me tightly as he takes us farther beneath the waves. I am helpless to fight him, but that doesn’t stop me from trying. As pathetic as my attempts are when seawater is flattening my face and pressing down my arms. It’s in my nose, ears, and eyes. It’s in my lungs. It is as though he is trying to flay me with the force of the water alone.
