“If past sacrifices haven’t worked, why would this one?”
A smirk curled her lips. “It’s worth the risk.”
Deva, Carol, and Beth surged forward, but the male sirens appeared out of nowhere and pulled them backward. Apparently, even though we had been surrounded by the female sirens, we weren't part of the same group. Henry and I were being kept apart from my friends since we were the sacrifices.
We’d worn our charms and they hadn’t helped. Well, maybe they had. I wasn't sure since no one had outright attacked us. I pulled on the hex bag Carol had given me, tearing it away from the leather necklace, and hurled it at the main siren. I had never been amazing at sports, but it was a pretty good throw if I said so myself. When she waved her arm and it fell to the ground unbroken I was more than a little disappointed.
I was also terrified.
What was I supposed to do now?
21
Emma
Ionly had one more trick up my sleeve.
I was a mom.
Pulling out my best mom-voice I said, “Now enough is enough. Put those daggers down right this instant!” The sirens actually hesitated, looking from me to their leader with uncertainty. I stacked my hands on my hips before I added, “You are jumping to a lot of conclusions here. Is this the best choice to make? Is it? How do you know that the sacrifices will please the gods? What if they just anger them even more?”
The lead siren rolled her eyes. “Stop that.” She took a menacing step toward Henry.
“No, hang on.” I held up my hands and shifted from foot to foot, moving slightly in front of Henry once more as I tried to think fast. “I’m Karma.”
The siren queen’s eyes widened a fraction before they narrowed on me in suspicion. “I thought that was a myth.”
“Yeah, I get that a lot. But maybe there’s something I can do about this curse.” I winced internally for a moment, sure that calling the missing waterfall cursed would just piss them off even more, but they didn't react.
After a long pause where she just blinked at me with that creepy third eyelid, the siren queen said, “Karma is among the gods we worship. If you are indeed Karma embodied, we would allow you the opportunity to earn your brother’s life.”
I snorted before I could stop myself. “Well, I am. Give me a few minutes. Let me see what I can see about this water, okay? Can you do that for me?”
The siren queen exchanged a glance with one of the other females. “We can.”
I wished they’d put their scary-looking blades away, but at least they dropped them to their sides. Glancing at Henry, I saw that he was watching me closely. He probably thought I was lying and had some kind of trick up my sleeve. Unfortunately for him, I wasn’t lying, but I also wasn’t sure that I could help the sirens with their problem. Luckily, my powers had served me well so far, so I could only hope they’d continue to do so.
I inched toward the dry waterfall. The circle of female sirens opened, and they let me have a path closer to the rocks lined up so neatly leading up to the empty falls. The way they formed a path forced me to walk a certain way, and I wasn't sure if it was because they only allowed people to approach the falls from a specific direction or if they were trying to intimidate me with how many of them there were. It was definitely more than had been there when I started talking to the siren queen.
The sand under my feet became hard packed and it was clear where the water used to be, but I wasn’t entirely sure what to do. This wasn’t like glaring at a jerk and watching them get punished. This was something deeper.
Karma, help me, I told myself, although I wasn’t sure if it was the old lady or me who had a chance at fixing whatever was wrong here.
My gaze moved from the dry waterfall to the dry lake below, and then up higher to the cliffs that surrounded this area. Was it that there was less water in the mountains? Is that what stopped the waterfall? If I only saw the world without magic, the way I had most of my life, I’d assume that was the reason. But could this place really be cursed? Could it be something supernatural stopping the water?
I wasn’t sure. And I wasn’t sure how that would help the sirens get pregnant, but that wasn’t really my concern. All I had to do is try to get the water flowing. Somehow.
Not knowing what else to do, I closed my eyes and touched the rocks that sat at the base of the waterfall. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was doing, but I tried to focus on how it’d felt every time I used my magic. It seemed to be different each time. Something almost natural, like a reflex. So I concentrated on this place, to see if I could feel anything that was off.
To my surprise, I felt my magic spread out, tingling as it left my hand. I focused on the rocks and their history. Their heritage. What had they seen over all these years? What made the land stop providing for the sirens?
In my mind, I could see a thick black sludge laid across the rocks. I stiffened. Itwasa curse. Not just some natural thing that had made the water stop flowing. Now, I just needed to see if I could fix it.
I pushed past it, refusing to let the darkness of the curse overtake me. It was a strange feeling, like moving with my mind through quicksand. Or trying to work out a problem that sent goosebumps blossoming across my skin every time I drew closer to the solution. At times I felt entirely stuck, but I gritted my teeth and kept pushing forward, Henry’s face in the back of my thoughts.
It didn’t matter that I wasn’t sure what I was doing. I had to figure out a solution, and quick.
When I broke through to the other side of the thing that had to be the curse, images assaulted me, one after another in rapid succession. I could see the connection the sirens had to the land and the waters here, and I could see how it had become twisted and deformed under their abuse. I could see how much they had taken and used without ever wondering if they should pay it back. They fished too much; they used the natural resources that had been provided to them like they were infinite, when in fact they were waning faster than any of us could imagine. It made my stomach clench and bile rise up the back of my throat.
