“Watch it,” Ronit says in a low tone.
Diablos says something that I don’t hear. Ronit explodes, and suddenly, there is a wave of water in the house, and I’m floating up near the ceiling.
I float there for a while before I hear a soft sigh.
“Ronit?”
There’s another small sound, and then someone grabs my ankle, gently but firmly, and tugs me under the water. I take a deep breath before I’m submerged and wait while whoever it is pulls me through the water and to the front of the house.
I break through a wall and fall to the wet sand.
“Lirin?”
“You looked lonely floating there all on your own,” he murmurs. “I would have come for you always.”
“What am I supposed to do about that?” Diablos shouts. “You turned the house into a cube of water. All the electrics are fried. Everything is ruined. Damn it, Ronit. You need therapy and, like, I don’t fucking know, a mood stabiliser for your damn temper.”
Ronit growls again, but Lirin just tugs me towards the ocean.
“Wait just a minute, where are you all going?” Diablos protests.
None of the Sirens answer him. Lirin pulls me out into the water until it's chest deep before I realise what he’s doing and resist.
“No!” I panic.
“We’re not going to drown you this time, Mei.”
No, but you might feed me to the giant Leviathan that you have with you. I remember the terror of those moments in the dark, feeling the massive creature’s consciousness turn to mine, how small I had felt. The rage and fear were almost more pressure than the water was. The cold was icy and went straight to my bones. I couldn’t tell which way was up and which was down.
I shake my head. “No, I don’t trust you.”
There is a heavy silence.
The air thickens and fills with bitter anger and regret.
“Fine. Then stay here.”
And he lets me go.
I stand there in the ocean with it crashing into my chest, trying to shove me off my feet.
“Leaf,” Ronit snarls.
“No,” Leaf hisses, but though he fights, he can’t resist the might of the shiver.
Their song starts once they are below the waves. It sends goosebumps over my skin. A song of such intricate beauty, so much stark and haunting emotion that I’m frozen in the water, listening to something I will never be a part of.
In the cold, I can admit how much I want to be part of that song, how much it hurts to hear it recede. A deep bass joins it, more like a long and deep growl that somehow winds with the music of the Sirens.
I let my hands float on the surface of the ocean, swaying in time. For a moment, I want to walk out until my head is under water, until my lungs are bursting. I just want to be with them.
But that can never be.
With effort, I pull myself out of the enchantment of their melody.
It takes me a few minutes to orientate myself so I don’t walk out deeper. I stumble up to the beach.
“Diablos?”
