Song of the Sirens (22 page)

I pretended to think about that. I knew
I wouldn’t have.

“They took control of your father’s mind
and manipulated him into stealing the submarine and going down to their prison.
No one else in this area has ever had a vessel that could go that deep before.
They didn’t bother trying this before because they knew they didn’t have a real
chance until your dad came along.

“They used him to break them out of
Theoisis. But they couldn’t control you because I secured you by going into
your dreams. You’ve seen more than a human is allowed to see.”

I rolled my eyes. “So erase my memories already.”

“I promised you your dad would be all
right. So here I am, ready to fulfill that if you allow me.”

“What can you do?”

“Just like I balanced out the gases in
your body underwater, I can balance your father’s body and bring his mind into
consciousness.”

I watched Dad. He didn’t breathe well on
his own, so a ventilator helped him. He had tubing down his throat, which
breathed for him. I gulped. I hated to see him like this.

“You trusted me when trying to get back
to the surface. Trust me again. The doctors can’t help him much now.”

There was nothing to think about. Riley
spoke the truth. The doctors couldn’t do anything to bring a man out of a coma
except keep him alive long enough for him to fight on his own.

Without hesitation, I replied, “Do it.”

Riley pressed his lips and nodded. He
twisted his upper body and took the plastic pitcher of water from the table. He
held the container in one hand near Dad’s face, and with the other, pressed
against Dad’s temple.

I watched in awe as the clear liquid squirmed
up and out of the pitcher, across my father’s temple, and crawled into the
pores. Rivers of pulsating glowing green veins throbbed beneath Dad’s flesh.
Within a few minutes, the machines changed the tempo to their beeping. I jerked
my chin toward the main machine.

My father’s vital signs increased. Tears
stung my eyes, and streamed down my cheeks. I wiped them away.

“In a moment, he’ll wake up and act like
nothing happened. He won’t remember anything, and he’ll be as good as he was
the day before going out to sea. He won’t remember me, either.”

I choked back sobs, but managed to
sputter, “Thank you.”

Riley placed the pitcher back on the
stand, walked around the bed, and approached me from the side. I expected him
to use his powers to erase my memory as well.

“Wait,” I said before he lifted an arm.
“Tell me what happened to the crew. Did they make it?”

He exhaled. His breath crashed against
my tear-stained cheeks, cooling them.

I licked my lips. No answers meant bad
things.

I swallowed hard. My throat felt dry and
sore. I maintained my composure. I counted a few thanks, namely that my father
and I survived. I had to wait until getting home before mourning over the
temperamental but loving captain and his lost men.

Riley, to my surprise, wrapped an arm
around my shoulder and drew me against him. I shivered against his cold body,
though he was fully clothed. He held me for a few minutes, and had he held on
for a little longer, I would’ve fallen to tremors and sobs.

“Okay, I’m ready,” I whispered.

“For what?”

“To forget. Aren’t you going to take my
memories?”

Riley stiffened. “No.”

I looked up at him. “King Neptune
commanded you to.”

“Well, he also commanded me not to go
out of my way to save you two, but here I am.”

“You’re going to get into trouble.”

He shrugged. “I’m the protector. I
protect people. It’s my job.”

“Thank you, Riley,” I muttered into his
chest when I lowered my head and hugged him.

He returned the embrace. “There is one
last thing that I can do to protect you in case you encounter the sirens
again.”

“What?” I pulled back.

Riley glanced at my father. “He won’t
remember anything, like I said, and because my powers are in him long enough to
finish my job, the song won’t reach him. If they make it to land, they won’t be
able to control him, or sense him.”

His eyes met mine. “My powers are no
longer in you. Your body already pushed out any residual effects. The song can
still reach you if they make it this far.”

I became rigid. “They…they might make it
to land?”

“We think we lost a couple more than we
thought. They could’ve used the helicopter as a guide to land.”

I had to be with it to save my father.
Searching for a few more strands of courage in order to protect Dad, I asked,
“What can you do to protect me?”

“Seal you with a kiss.”

I froze. A kiss? A romantic gesture
encrypted with merman power to ensure my safety?

“I shouldn’t be so attached to you, or,
um, your father and the others,” he spat out. “But I am. I don’t want you to
get hurt, or killed. I need to protect you.”

I motioned half a nod before Riley
jerked down and pressed his cool lips against mine. I twitched before
succumbing to his mythical powers. A light glow formed between our mouths and
pulsated into my face. It spread across my head. The cool tingle worked through
my mind, fortifying mental barriers, and encompassed my brain like a thin
sheath of liquid defense.

I sort of lost myself in the moment
because his initial kiss to save me transformed into a little something more. I
didn’t expect him to open my mouth with his, and I didn’t expect a little
tongue action!

Butterflies thrashed against my belly.
The temperature rose to my cheeks.

Riley pulled back, and I gasped. He
scratched his head and looked away. “Um, sorry. Got a little carried away.”

I smirked. “Sure.”

“I better go. He’ll wake up soon. I hope
I won’t see you again.”

“What?”

“Sorry. That sounded rude, but you know
what I mean. If I see you again, it’ll be because of the sirens, because of
danger.”

“Yeah, I know.”

I crossed my arms. Riley gave my father
one last glance and left.

Dad stirred, and the nurses rushed in.
They rejoiced in what appeared to be a miracle. The doctor returned, checked
out my father, and ran more tests.

I cried into a napkin, and desperately
attempted to keep with it when Dad opened his eyes and asked for me.

Dad was alarmed and confused. I tried to
talk to him to keep him calm, but the staff buzzed all around. Dad didn’t
remember a thing. He couldn’t believe he slept walked, much less unlatched and
destroyed his submarine, which now sat at the bottom of the ocean floor right
next to his coveted discovery.

Later on in the day, the doctor released
my father with a great bill of health, and we returned to our house on the
beach, and our lives.

Chapter Fifteen

Dad did great. Not a single bruise spotted
his body, or a single lab test that proved he experienced trauma. He asked a
lot of questions, and I told him what I told the doctors, nurses, and coast
guards. I shifted when I spoke, because I didn’t disclose the entire truth to
him. This felt wrong. I’d never lied to him before.

Dad deserved to know everything. I
thought he could handle the truth, that the truth might sway him to forget
searching for Atlantis. Although, his expressions of confusion and self-doubt
led me to believe he wouldn’t seek Atlantis for some time. I wondered if Riley
removed his desire to continue his search altogether.

The worst part was when he inquired
about his team and the crew. I looked away and fought to hide tears. I
shrugged. I hated prevaricating answers, but we had to deal with one trauma at
a time.

“You should get some rest, Dad,” I said.

“Yeah. These meds make me tired,” he
grumbled and disappeared into his room.

I groaned and checked the entire house
for possible intrusions. Thankfully, everything was as we left it. I pulled out
the notebook from beneath my sweatshirt and tucked it away in the table drawer.
I hoped the story ended, and I had nothing left to add to it.

After an early dinner, I decided to
rest. I felt exhausted, but confident I wouldn’t hear that awful song again. I
slept for a short while, but awoke in the middle of the night with a parched
mouth.

I passed Dad’s room on my way to the
kitchen and leaned toward his closed door. He snored. Good. Alive and well and
passed out.

I took a drink of water and glared out
the kitchen window. A white, picket fence enclosed our backyard and acted as a
barrier to the beach.

I walked outside and closed the door
behind me. Trotting across the half-sandy, half-grassy backyard, I glanced at
the sky. The weather reminded me of the storm out at sea. It wasn’t as bad as
last night, but clouds rolled in and rain was imminent.

I thought the worst was over. I sat on
the beach, on the cool sand as the last of the sunlight faded over the horizon.
Twilight was at hand. Normally, the skies were beautiful, and the sea was
serene, but tonight was different.

Without an indication that a storm
brewed in the distance, everything quickly darkened. A sheet of black clouds
concealed the moon and stars, preventing them from illuminating the land.
Pacified waves rocked and rose in hectic patterns. The light breeze hardened
into a wind that nearly knocked me over.

I gasped, and pulled my hair back. Rebel
strands lashed my eyes and flogged my face. Particles of sand thrashed against any
bare skin. The rough collisions aggravated me.

When the sound of the waves became
overbearing, rising above the howling winds, I jerked my head toward the ocean.
Stumbling to my feet, I caught myself and found balance against the wind.

With an arm across my face to shield
myself, I narrowed my eyes on something out of place. A figure moved in the
water, and it soon rose above the salty foam.

A woman walked through the waves,
trudged onto land. Water soaked her locks, which clung to her head and neck. Shadows
consumed her figure. I could barely make her out in the extremely low light
from the porch lamps near the house behind me.

I took a few steps backward as the woman
exposed more of herself. Pieces of flesh hung from her elbows and thighs. Her
eyes glowed, illuminating broken features and blistered flesh. Even more
disconcerting, they brought light to her mouth. Her gray lips widened into a
smile and exposed two rows of jagged teeth. They were too big for her mouth,
but somehow fit.

I gulped. The siren escaped the mermen
and made it to land.

I expected her to unhinge her jaw and
allow a forked lizard tongue to strike the air.

My heart pounded fiercely beneath my
breasts. I willed my legs to move, demanding them to act, but they failed.

The deadly whisper danced through the
air and entered my mind. It wove around my thoughts in a delicate movement,
seeped into every nook and synapse until it controlled me.

I panicked. Adrenaline fought hard to
fill the veins while my mind ordered me to calm down and placate the fears.

Riley’s power from his kiss set in just
then, and a mental struggle sparked a fury in my mind. His cool, numbing powers
rose from a cocooned sleep and erected a tall, thick, and mighty barrier,
locking out the siren’s whisper.

She jerked and hissed. She knew she
couldn’t control me, make me into an easy feast. Unfortunately, fear was not
easy to control on my behalf, and it paralyzed my functions. I had Riley’s
power inside of me to fight off the whisper, but in the end, I doomed myself.

The siren had appeared from nowhere. I
didn’t expect to see her, and for the moment, the image of her squirming,
decrepit body walking toward me confused me. I stood motionless. For a moment,
I hoped I imagined it. I couldn’t fathom how she made it this far.

The woman approached. She stood several
feet from me and tilted her head to the side and examined her prey. A look of
bewilderment and confusion streaked her features. She narrowed her brows and
frowned, as if displeased that a human attempted to fight her.

She pressed her lips together and
summoned a growl deep from her throat.

The light from the house’s backyard
lights revealed more ghastly elements. This woman was truly a beast, a monster
who circled the undiscovered parts of the ocean. I faced my nightmare in the
flesh for another round, but this time without a protector.

The siren’s wrinkled and sloughed skin
exposed red and tender muscle. Her eyes stopped glowing and were now glossy
black voids that emptied into her soul. Even the whites of her eyes turned
black. A chunk of her cracked nose hung onto her face. Two small worms squirmed
around in her nostrils.

Thin and tangled hair exposed pale
scalp. Parasites, satiated on her blood, writhed in her hair. Scales and boils
covered the remainder of her body. She looked like a disease-ridden woman,
pushed off the brink of reality, lost in the clutches of insanity.