Page 35 of The Hunted

But she did know.

Mates had a call.

They could hear it across the seas.

“We have to go back where it’s safe,” Arelle said, glancing back over her shoulder through the darkness of the water. She still had a good range of view, though, and it was enough to tell her the guards had stayed behind. “We’ve come too far. What if a ship—”

“Listen.”

Arelle did.

At first, she heard nothing.

“There’s nothing there.”

Poe shook her head, turning west. “There is … I hear it.”

It took another second before Arelle heard the call, too. As faint as it was, even she couldn’t deny that it was absolutely a call from one of their kind. Distinct in the tone, the high notes pierced through the water to travel to their spot.

“It’s a bit that way,” Poe said, “we have to go after it. It might be—”

“Poe, it’s not Tak. You’d know if it was Tak.”

And she would.

Without question.

“But what if it could take me to him?”

Hysteria, she thought.

That’s all this was.

Her sister’s desperation was acting out in dangerous ways. This couldn’t possibly lead them anywhere good, but who was she to tell her sister to stop when Arelle knew this was all instinct for Poe at this point?

She couldn’t.

Still, she had to try …

“You can’t chase every sound in this sea, Poe!”

“But I can chase this one.”

Poe darted toward the surface of the water before Arelle could say another thing. Every smart piece of her knew this was a bad idea, and yet she couldn’t stop the protective nature that seemed ingrained in her very being. The part of her that wanted nothing more than to protect her own kind. Because they were hers.

She only took solace in the fact that the day had been rather dreary, with the promise of an oncoming storm. The humans weren’t particularly foolish and didn’t tend to take the ships out to hunt if they believed a storm would arrive when they were out at sea.

But that wasn’t a promise. It wasn’t a guarantee they were safe.

“Poe, it could be a trap!”

Hadn’t their father’s scouts warned of that? The landwalkers were using catches to draw out more merpeople.

Her sister didn’t act as though she’d heard her. Arelle continued to follow until both broke the surface of the sea.

And then …

Well, that’s when Arelle learned she was right. It had absolutely been a trap.