“Odi!” I call again, darting through the masses of kelp that curl around my fins. “Odelia, where are you?”
It’s not like she can yell back to me either. The moment she opens her mouth it’ll fill with this salty sea. Fear grips my chest. We’re so close. We made it through the first part. I have the key. I just have to get her out of here.
But how?
Not even the glowing beacon of the button can assist me now. It’s gone. Like she is.
I reach out, spreading my arms wide as I feel for her . . . for anything. Stone brushes my fingertips, I must be at the edge of the wall. I need to head back into the centre where the button is.
“Odi!” I scream her name as loud as I can, but the only sound that bounces back is my own voice.
What use am I as a siren, if I can’t find someone in the ocean? I stop and drag my hands through my hair, wracking my brain on how I can get out of this mess—with Odi breathing. Because without her isn’t an option.
As I pause, I feel the current shift. I drift towards it. A small tunnel opens up in front of me—the way out. There’s every chance she found it and has already swum to the surface, but I can’t leave this room until I know for certain that she’s not in here.
She won’t die . . . not for me.
I spin around, facing what I hope is the centre of the room, and I force my breath to steady, and my mind to focus. Then I part my lips.
With every ache, with every heartbeat, with every hitch of my breath from the moment I laid eyes on her as she sank into the depths of the Adamaris sea all those nights ago, I release my song. It spills out, pulsing through the shadows, calling to her, beckoning her to me like the old sailor’s tales of sirens.
Low at first, raw and rough from the ache in my chest. The notes ripple through the water, carrying farther than I ever could. The sound isn’t just heard—it’s felt, vibrating in bone and blood, threading through the dark.
I pour everything into it. Her name. My fear. My need. The promise that I won’t let the sea keep her from me. My voice wavers, almost breaking, but I force it steady, stronger, until the cavern itself seems to hum. Her name tumbles from my lips, willing her to me.
If she’s anywhere in this cursed black, she’llhear me. She has to.
From the corner of my eye I see something pale flash against the darkness. A hand.Her hand. A wave of relief washes over me, and I choke back a cry.
My voice pulls taut. The song silences as I dart for her. The moment my fingers curl around her wrist I yank her towards me. She crashes against my body, losing bubbles of air from her lips as I wrap my arms around her waist.
She hardly has the strength to cling to me. The water closes around us, heavy, merciless. Her eyes flutter closed. My gut twists, no time left to think. My hand dwarfs her face as I pull her lips to mine. The instant they touch my chest bursts with life as I breathe into her. Delicate but firm fingers dig into my forearms as the colour comes back into her cheeks.
There’s no time for pleasantries but by theseasI want her.
She pulls back, tugging her lips from mine, and nods to let me know she’s okay.
I brush the pad of my thumb over her cheek. “Let’s get out of here.” With a sweep of my arm, I scoop her up to cradle against my chest and then we are gone.
The chilling water whips past us as we barrel through the tunnel, leaving the forest of kelp behind. It’s warmer now and the light has shifted. We’re almost at the surface. Odi’s face is tucked into my chest, her wild brown hair billowing around us. With a powerful flick of my tail, the water spits us out of the hole and into undergrowth. I shift just as our bodies collide with the land, and I’ve never been happier to be in my human form. Odi claws for the edge, fingers digging into moss and dirt as she drags herself half way out. She gasps, ragged and raw, the sound wounding my chest.
I haul myself after her, legs scrambling at the soil, clumsy and burning with strain. Once I’m free I grab her waist, and drag her the rest of the way until she collapses against my chest.
“We’re safe,” I whisper into her soaked tendrils.
Her chest shudders, dragging in fresh air into her lungs.
A rush of emotion washes over me. I nearly lost her down there. She’d risked it all for me, facing her fear, and nearly died because of it. We lie there, sprawled in the damp earth, both of us sucking in lungfuls of air.
“You alright?” I murmur, voice horse. My hand finds her back, steadying her breaths against mine. “Breathe with me.”
“I thought—” She breaks off, shuddering, turning her face into my shoulder. “I thought I was gone.”
“Not while I’ve still got you,” I rasp. And I mean it more than I’ve ever meant anything.
When we finally manage to stand, legs shaking, I glance back to the hole we clawed our way out of . . . and it’s gone. Just the forest floor. Roots and ferns tangled together as if it had never been there at all.
Odi grips my arm, wide-eyed. “Where—?”
