The captain asked, “So, you’re running from your warlock father, and your mother was a siren?”
“Yes. I must get to that island and find the amulet, or I will never be free of my father. Those planes circling earlier were sent by him. They were looking for me, and they’ll be back.”
“You don’t know how excited I am to finally find another siren...well...half-siren. My grandmother was full siren, but she fell in love with my human grandfather. Her people forced her to give up my mom to the humans, though. Once my mom married my dad, they had me and my sister soon after that. My sister became the opera singer that ruled the stage, and I chose to search for the people who forced my grandmother to abandon my mother. But I’ve never found them. I was beginning to believe I’d been duped—that there wasn’t another being out there like me.”
“That’s why my song didn’t affect you.”
He nodded. “Human males are always affected. Yet, there are other magical creatures who remain unaffected, but sirens, especially, aren’t affected by another siren’s song.”
“So, you understand why I need your help, then?”
“Seems like something I would be willing to do. Just one condition. You’ll have to free my crew from your spell.”
“I don’t quite know how to do that.”
“Well, maybe it will wear off with time. Of course, if you could use your ability to tell them to go about their business doing their jobs, we’d get to the island that much faster.”
“Oh! Of course. Just tell me what to say.”
Kai wasn’t ready to trust the captain completely. It hadn’t been that long ago that the man had been threatening them just for his and the crew’s entertainment. But the captain had said one thing that had interested Kai. He had said that there were beings who could resist the song of a siren. Of course, other sirens could. It made sense. They couldn’t very well have a normal existence if they couldn’t talk to each other. But the fact that resistant beings existed could only mean one thing.
Kai wasn’t entirely human.
Then, what was he? He locked eyes with the captain, and for an instant, he caught the man examining him, probably wondering the same thing. Or maybe he knew already.
At some point, Kai needed to see what the captain knew.
The captain looked away and gave Hollyn instructions for how to get things moving. The minute she spoke, the entire crew followed her every direction to the letter. For the first time, Kai understood the danger of letting a warlock like Hollyn’s father use her in this way. Whole armies could be commanded. In all honesty, with global technology, the whole world could be.
He looked at her and, not for the first time, admired her beauty. She wasn’t just beautiful on the outside. For her to be used in such a destructive way would devastate her soul. That much he knew.
She needed the amulet. But so did he.
Somehow, he knew it held the answers he needed. He just hoped he didn’t have to hurt her to get his answers.
He’d waited so long, though. It was the first real lead he had, and he couldn’t let the opportunity slip through his fingers.
Of course, maybe the captain had answers. After all, he’d spent his entire life searching for information about sirens. Maybe, in all that time searching, he’d come across some information Kai could use.
Later, the captain led them down to the mess hall to get something to eat. Kai waited until Hollyn excused herself to the bathroom, and asked, “What do you know about this symbol?” He pulled the shell on a string that he wore around his neck out to show the captain.
He stared a long time, leaning closer to get a good look at the engraving on the seashell. “Where are you from?”
Kai got the sense that the captain knew more about the symbol than he let on, but Kai played along to see where the conversation would go. He needed information.
“I was raised in Hawaii, but I was...er...adopted, so I don’t really know who my biological parents were.”
“Hmm. I haven’t seen that particular symbol, but I’ve seen ones like that.” He sat back and nodded a few times before he asked, “Her song doesn’t affect you either, does it?”
“It calls to me, but I can resist it.”
“That was quite a storm that was brewing earlier, wasn’t it?”
“I don’t remember one.”
“You were busy pummeling the members of my crew’s faces into the ground as I recall.”
“And it stormed while we were fighting? I think I would remember that.”
