A dark laugh echoed in my head. Of course he needed protection; associating with me had a negative tag, death being the biggest and generally used method of torturing me.
Flood gates of grief, sadness, and despair ached to pour from my heart. The need to grieve, even if only for a second, was too much.
“Essallie?”
Ari. I blinked my eyes profusely, his scraggly and dirty blonde hair blurry behind the wall of tears. He had remained crouched on the ground beside me, what few shreds that was left of his black shirt clinging to his drenched, battered and bruised body.
Cautiously, he leaned closer, his hands cupping my face. The second he touched me, I heard the sob rip from my chest, and flung myself into him. Tender, warm, loving arms wrapped around me, his voice soothing and calming in my ear as he kissed my cheek.
Seconds that felt like hours passed, and somewhere in the middle of my tears, I pulled away from his embrace. My eyes found his, body shaking as the words were barely whispered.
“I-I think I’m falling apart, Ari. Nothing, none of this makes sense,” I hiccuped tearfully, taking shallow breaths between every word. The truth came out faster than I could register what I was saying. “I hear voices, hundreds of them. And-and hallu-hallucinations, oh my God, Ari I’m going insane. I can’t do this, I can’t keep playing warrior. Lucretia was right-”
Her voice played in my head, like a funny little memory you could never erase.
“Or did you think to consider that perhaps I was telling you the truth? Tell me, how have your experiences with the rest of our world faired?”
Bile splashed behind my lips again, and this time I couldn’t swallow it back. I pushed Ari aside, scrambling to my feet barely in time to step to the side and heaved, my stomach compressing itself until it was sure nothing was left. My hands shook as if little earthquakes rumbled through my flesh, vibrant flashes of the castle, of Ursula and how it was my fault,
all my fau-
Grief welled in my chest, the heaves harder. In one careless action, I had put us all on a path that could spell our end. I collapsed back onto the ground and covered my ears, feeling empty, save for the voices that continued to whisper little temptations in my head. Desperate to will the voices away, I screamed. “Get out my head, dammit, get out.”
Ari’s hands found me, pulling me back into his arms as I kicked and screamed. I felt like I had been thrown onto a surgery board, head spliced open and poked at for fun. Nothing in my mind felt private, nothing felt like my own. In the same breath, I heard one voice speak to kill Ari, and another to kiss him. My head was a goddamn battlefield, and I was in the middle of it, going clinically insane.
“Shhhh, it’s okay, you’re going to be okay,” Ari said soothingly, repeating it over and over like a withering, futile lullaby. “I don’t know what’s going on, Essallie, but we’re going to fix it.”
Across the way, Kayden’s cold, detached voice broke through the haze obscuring my thoughts. “It’s the blood, the Queen’s blood is forcing her to hallucinate. Get her up, now.” His tone took on a hint of fear, gnawing at his normally calm, collected demeanor. “We have to get her help, before it kills her.”
Heat boiled under my skin as I listened uselessly to their exchange. Hands lifted me up, sweeping me off my feet and cradled against a chest. Cold metal touched my cheek, and I pulled back just enough to make out the wire-wrapped shape of a key hanging around Ari’s neck.
“Help her how?”
“That’s why we’re here, Nephilim. The pool is a transport to the Siren’s cove.”
White fire flashed in my dimming sight, brighter than direct sunlight. “Then stop explaining and start helping. Lead the damn way, I don’t know where to go from here.”
Kayden’s voice dropped to barely a whisper, speaking in a tongue I didn’t understand. A fierce, churning wind picked up off the tiny body of water, gusting around us and whipping droplets of the sand and stilled-water into my mouth and eyes. In seconds, the serene weather had turned malevolent, spirals of sharp winds rushing off the water towards the heavens, twirling above us as we sat in the eye of a devil cyclone. Panic seized my chest as water covered above my knees, thighs, and hips, a tiny scream strangling from my throat just before we became submerged underwater. Keeping our hands locked, Ari wrapped his fingers tighter with mine, squeezing in a final dash of comfort as we swirled underwater.
We gained speed, rotating with the cyclone as it extended far below the surface of the small pool. Ari and I clutched another as we road the twists, keeping my hand wrapped tightly in his. Internally, my mind screamed as me, telling me repeatedly not to let go. I didn’t dare open my eyes, fear for what I’d see as we lashed around in the water.
Pressure pounded at my temples, squeezing at my limbs as we descended further down the spiral. Faster and faster we spun, until I heard the final pop of my eardrums, and a shake of the ground opening on the floor under us. Suction yanked us swiftly under, and I felt the ocean floor scrape at my elbows and face before collapsing out of Ari’s arms and onto warm, solid ground.
Lifting my head off the ground and opening my eyes, I froze. If the island we had initially landed on could have been labeled a paradise, this had to have been one step from heaven. Warm, white and honey-colored marble stone pathways ran as far as the eye could see, twisting and turning into different directions. It was the only walkway, I noticed; beneath the streaked marble stone laid a small body of water, no more than six inches deep, sporting lily pods and clusters of tiny, off-white flowers. Each building had been crafted out of decadent, pristine crystal, thin curling bars of gold designing mesmerizing patterns along the walls. Tiki torches, burning bright with purple flame on their gold posts, stood outside each house, creating a touch of warmth and home. Only the dome above, showing the ocean from every angle in all its mysterious, underwater beauty, gave hint to where we really were.
Beside me, Ari rolled over, grunting as he stumbled to his feet. The journey had whipped his hair into a single batch of curls, sleek and damp, piled above his ears. Kayden stood behind him, completely unharmed, not even a speck of water on his clothes. Zeevna was still curled in his grasp, hair fanned around her face, beads tangled in a heap on her breasts.
I scrambled to my legs, ignoring the wobbling sensation in my knees, when Ari held up a hand. Fire instantly sparked to life on his palm and fingers. “Someone’s coming.”
Sure enough, a pair of footsteps sounded nearby, and were quickly approaching. The scent of seaweed, fish, and salt wrinkled my nose, tempting my gag reflex. Well, at least my distaste for fish hadn’t changed.
The fishy scent nearly became overwhelming as the pair of Sirens came closer to rounding the corner, sounds of their laughter and jostling growing louder.
“You’re back early, Zeevna,” one of the Sirens, a male by his tone, jeered. The second Siren snickered. “What’s the matter, too lazy to mingle with the royals on dry land?”
They rounded the corner, revealing two male Sirens, each at least seven feet tall. Both men sported long, violet hair tied with strips of seaweed, different colored beads woven into their parted locks. Strips of purple cloth, perfectly matching the shade of their hair, had been tied around their muscular torsos, spreading to a kilt-style bottom stitched with even more beads. Each Siren carried a spear, a single rod of pure gold carved with various symbols, shaped into a razor-sharp point at the tip.
Their laughter came to a dry end and they stopped joking, zeroing in on Kayden, Ari, and I as we stood there. One of the Sirens dropped their spear, the clang of it hitting the marble the only noise spared between us.
“Mother of the Wave,” said the Siren who dropped his spear in a strangled whisper. “We’ve been infiltrated.”
Kayden started to speak, charm in full swing. He gave the frightened Siren a subtle, tempting wink. “Aronel, you’ve certainly grown since I last saw you.”
The second Siren would have none of his antics. He snapped into position, crouching low and letting out a wild call that reminded me of dolphins at sea. “Fetch Arielle!” He barked at the other, Aronel. “The demon has returned!”
“Don’t forget, I’ve taken your gilly-gifted princess hostage, too,” he motioned at the limp sea-foam colored being in his arms with a small shake. A cheery smile graced his lips. “Nothing personal.”
Aronel let out a little squeak, sprinting barefoot the way he’d came. The second Siren kept his spear trained on all three of us, alternating between which one to point it at. Stepping in front of me, Ari used a free hand to push me slightly behind him, looking to Kayden and giving him a short nod in the same move. Kayden’s eyes flashed, the cheerful smile turning dark, hungry.
In a flash, Ari had moved behind the Siren, wrapping his arms through the Siren’s limbs and clasping his hands behind his head. He gave a jerk upward, the Siren crying out in pain, his shoulder giving a audible pop before dropping his golden spear to the floor. I snatched up the spear, holding it tight, keeping it poised over the Siren’s heart.
“I take it this is what you meant by ‘sort of’ being friends?” Ari said with mock skepticism.
“Not at all,” Kayden beamed, the smile reminding me of a squirrel on speed. “It gets much, much worse.”
I rolled my eyes before I could help myself. “Kayden, lead us to the center of this place,” I growled, eyes locked on the green creature in front of me with distaste. “So we can get this over with.”
“Gladly, m’dear,” he said with flourish, tipping himself forward in a bow with Zeevna still in his arms. Leading the way, I kept close behind him, Ari bringing up the rear. His fire had reassembled to the makeshift, blazing armor around his chest and arms. I clutched the golden spear tighter in my hands, paused, then unleashed my own inner fire. It exploded from my hands, swirling up and long the spear. Interestingly, it didn’t melt the weapon, but only made it deadlier for me to use. Absolutely, freaking awesome.
We took several turns, Kayden practically skipping ahead of us, as if the unconscious girl in his arms weighed nothing. Bystanders, both young and old, stopped to stare, some yanking their young inside, screaming in fright as they saw Kayden. Apparently, he’d done more than stop by for tea and biscuits the last time he had come around.
The short turns widened to an opening ahead, houses turning scarce before finally vanishing altogether. Honey-swirled marble spaced out to a series of steps, ascending nearly as high as the glass dome above. Golden torches blazed their purple flames, lining the stairs like double-sided bannisters. Sirens of all shapes and sizes slowly gathered, leering behind us, but whether it was fear of Kayden, or of all three of us, I wasn’t sure.
“Let me guess,” I offered when no one made to move further. I gave the spear a jab skyward. “She’s up there.”
“No, she is coming,” someone said from the crowd. Their voice acted like a switch; a rush of voices collided in my ears, the effect like multiple cascading waterfalls, washing out all other sound. It was a language I didn’t know, guttural and lyrical in the same breath, like a melody of harsh chanting on repeat. Within seconds it swelled to a loud roar, pounding against my head with a force strong enough to nearly knock me unconscious.
Turning around, I stared in confusion. Every Siren in the crowd was chanting, mouthing the words, their voices chanting in the same haunting, shatteringly grim tone. The ground began to shake around us, sprouts of seaweed shooting through the ground near the base of the stairs. It fashioned into what first looked like a chair, a weak throne at best.
Jewels, some as big as my fist, pushed out from the seaweed, creating a gleaming outline of the makeshift seat. Gold began to bubble from the cracks, spreading over the green like an artist drawing a fresh paintbrush over a nude canvas. The gold hardened within seconds, creating a rough throne of jeweled glory shaped like an open clamshell.
At once, the room hushed, heads swinging up to the tip of the stairs. A figure descended, slithering down on a tail that reminded me more of a serpent than a fish.
She was tall, standing higher than any Siren in the room. Long, blood orange hair fell freely down her shoulders and past her hips, a startling contrast to her pale green skin, reminding me of a coral flower in wild bloom. Strands of beads both large and small decorated her seashell covered chest, creating a colorful corset that stopped at the ends of her voluptuous and fish-tail lower half. Equal parts fragile and strong, fish and human, she embodied the race of Siren with majesty higher than kings and queens portrayed in the movies on the big screen.
Large, purple eyes studied me, measuring me from head to toe before turning back to the demon holding her child. A vibrant glow illuminated her from within, and I was almost tempted to ask if she swallowed a box of lightbulbs.
“You
dare
show your face here?” She spat with venom, coming to a halt at the base of the stairs. In one hand she carried a staff, gnarled and twisted gold interwoven with what looked like obsidian, an open gap at the top perfectly designed for the flawless diamond resting within.
The shrug Kayden gave her was fluid, graceful. “Oh Arielle, you always were an addict for dramatics. At least extend me some credit, I did bring your daughter back, after all.”
“Release her, wretched spawn,” her screech filled the dome, loud enough to reverberate. “And submit to the punishment you so rightfully deserve.”