He snapped his fingers.
“Ah, and that’s where we’ll stop.”
“Why?” I frowned.
“Because I don’t believe for a minute that you would succeed in this endeavor, my dear. That said, I would still entertain the idea of humoring you for a while if it made you happy and gave you something to do, but not at the expense of my spreading my past open for your idle perusal.”
“But it isn’tidle. If there is even the slightest chance—”
“No,” he cut me off, striding out of the room. “I’m not resurrecting hope simply to watch it die again. Now, if you’re no longer hungry, I’ll get the servants to clean it up in here because I’m ready for bed.”
Chapter 5
Maren
Ihad to get out of here. My thoughts spun constantly as I searched for a solution, lying in my bed in the king’s bedroom.
The indoor space merged almost seamlessly with the outdoors in the palace. The rhythmic swishing of waves flooded the room through the window openings, but the sound failed to soothe me. The conversation at dinner didn’t go the way I had planned. Now the evening was over, and I was nowhere closer to figuring out how to get back home.
I wondered what was happening back in my world now. Liam had surely called the police. My father would be raising hell, demanding a thorough investigation into my disappearance. They had Leslo’s picture, but it was useless since he wasn’t even in the same world anymore. They’d never find him. They’d never find me. If I wanted to come home, it was up to me to find the way.
“Cooome...” a quiet voice suddenly emerged from the swishing of the surf. “Cooome heeere.”
I stiffened in my bed, my eyes opened wide, my ears listening. Was someone out there? In the ocean? Outside on the patio? If they were, they could easily walk right in. With no doors or window panes in the palace, these rooms were open like a garden gazebo. There were no guards on this side of the palaceeither because who in their own mind would try to attack the cursed king? His curse protected him better than even an army of guards could.
But was anyone really out there? Maybe I’d just heard one of those phantom voices that sometimes emerged in the white noise if one listened to it long enough?
“Cooome,” the voice sang in rhythm to the waves.
Did the king hear it too?
The solid wooden screen between us blocked his bed from my view. I heard no movement from his direction. If he was asleep, he wasn’t even snoring.
What if he wasn’t here at all?
Fear crept into my chest at the thought that I might’ve been left alone in this place. Moonlight seeped through the walls, reflecting in the many glass surfaces with eerie dancing lights. The movement of the water, both inside and outside the palace, created ever-shifting shadows that rippled through the entire palace. It had looked eerie but pretty during the day. At night, the light colors of turquoise and aqua had darkened to indigo, teal, and black, creating a far more sinister atmosphere.
“Cooome, human...” the waves whispered, calling to...me?
I was the only human here, after all. Or at least that was what Leslo said.
Alarm jolted me up into a sitting position. I clutched the covers to my chest. Sleep was out of the question now.
Someone out there knew I was in here. They called me, personally.
But to whom did that voice belong to?
There was only one way to find out—to do as the voice told me and follow it to wherever it wanted me to go.
“Just like those people in the horror movies who end up dying first,”rushed through my mind.
The thought proved sobering, helping me fight the inexplicable urge to follow the voice.
But was staying behind the screen a wise choice? I couldn’t see what was happening in the room. If danger was indeed stalking me, I wouldn’t see it until it was too late.
The tremor of anxiety in my chest urged me to my feet.
“Come, human. Come where you’ll be free...” the voice flowed in tune with the eternal song of the ocean.
