I needed air. Or Simon and I were both going to die.
My head shot through the water’s surface. Gasping for oxygen, I looked toward the houses lining the shore, hoping to see Caleb, Mr. and Mrs. Carmichael, straggling summer renters… but there was no one. The houses were dark.
I tried to focus on Willa for help, to send some kind of warning that would prompt her to contact the Winter Harbor connections she claimed to have. But before I could think of what to say, I saw white flashes. They started out small and dull but quickly grew bigger and brighter. At first I thought they were fleeting bolts of lightning, since the sirens had manipulated the weather to their advantage over the summer, but there were too many at once. And they shot up from the water instead of down from the sky.
They were eyes. Dozens of them. Silver, blinking, glittering, surrounding me like a wide fishing net.
Hello, Vanessa…
One set drew nearer. I recognized Raina’s mouth beneath her mask, the small mole to the right of her nose.
It was so nice of you to take care of Paige in our absence…
.
Still treading, I inched away from her. As I did, the eyes on that side moved closer.
I don’t know what she would’ve done without you… what she’ll do without you…
.
“Please,” I whispered, blinking away water droplets as they fell from my eyelashes. “I’ll leave you alone. I won’t tell anyone you’re alive. Just let him go, and we can pretend like—”
“Like this never happened?”
I spun around. Zara and Simon were above the surface, just outside the circle of sirens.
“Vanessa!” Simon cried, spitting out water.
I shot toward them just as Zara clamped one hand over his mouth. His eyes held mine, wide, worried—for me more than him, I knew.
“I’m sorry,” Zara said, tilting her head like she was confused. “Let’s review the series of events, shall we? You and your little brainiac here froze Winter Harbor, freed our targets, deprived us of life for three months, stole my boyfriend and my sister—”
“Caleb wasn’t your boyfriend,” I shot back. “And you stole my sister. You took Justine away from me, and for what? A clearer shot at a guy you were never going to get anyway? No matter how hard you tried?”
Her hand tightened over Simon’s mouth as her silver eyes narrowed.
“As for Paige,” I continued, “I’ve done nothing but be her friend. And you were going to make her sick. As soon as she had her baby, you were going to make her transform into an immoral, insatiable monster—just like you. Like all of you.”
There was a pause. For a second, everything—the water, wind, and trees—was still. “Don’t you mean,” Zara said, her voice as smooth as silk, “like all of us?”
I looked at Simon, who stopped struggling and returned my gaze as Zara’s words sunk in. She let the shock settle, then took advantage of his weakness to drag him back underwater.
“No!” I lunged after them, but there was a hand on my left leg, another on my right thigh. Four more grabbed my arms, my shoulders. I writhed and kicked, zapping me of any lingering strength. As my chin, then mouth, then nose sank below the lake’s surface, it was all I could do to press my lips together and hold my breath.
They held on to me the entire way down to the floor of the lake. Raina swam ahead of the group, her silver eyes casting two long beams through the darkness. I searched for Zara and Simon, silently called for Willa, but outside of my abductors, I didn’t see or hear anyone or anything.
At the bottom of the lake, the sirens lowered me onto a cluster of rocks and bound my ankles and wrists with what felt like silk scarves. I struggled against them, but just as Willa had said, what they lacked in strength individually they made up for in numbers. Between my thirst and the lack of oxygen, my body felt like it had just passed through flames instead of water.
Which was why, when a young siren with long blonde hair fitted a mask over my mouth, I greedily gulped the salt water.
You’re strong, Raina’s voice sounded in my head. Just like your sister. She put up a good fight, too.
I stared at her as she lowered to the sand in front of me, her long white skirt billowing around her like a cloud. As I silently seethed, my head stayed clear. A moment later, Raina continued.
I must congratulate you. You and your friends did what no one in our long history has done before. You stopped us. Temporarily, but successfully all the same. That’s an accomplishment in and of itself
.
I focused on her eyes.
But what you must understand is that what you did—what you attempted to do—goes far beyond you or me, or Zara or Paige. Justine’s death was unfortunate, and if circumstances had been different, it wouldn’t have happened.
That doesn’t sound like an apology, I shot back.
It isn’t one. Her eyes flashed. She was an accidental casualty. We always assumed you perished with your mother, and if your sister’s death is what it took for you to reveal yourself—and for us, to discover the one sleeping siren capable of silencing us all—then it was worth it.
My thoughts started to veer toward what Willa had said about my ancestors in Canada, the powerful group of sirens that had killed thousands of men, but I stopped them before they potentially told Raina more than she already knew.
Now, some of our members feel that you’re owed your due. That you should suffer the same fate you tried to bestow upon us.
I scanned the sirens gathered around us without moving my head. They all breathed through their masks, studied me through skinny silver slits.
But because I strive to act only in the best long-term interest of the group, rather than simply killing you the way you might deserve… I’m giving you a choice.
I returned my gaze to Raina. Her face was blank as she prepared to issue me an ultimatum.
You can either give the ladies what they want, and endure what will likely be a long, painful death… we’ll even be so kind as to escort your bloated, lifeless body back to the dock behind your family’s house.
At this the white light surrounding me flickered and bounced as the sirens nodded their approval.
Or you can join us.
I glared at her, at the thought.
I wouldn’t be so hasty, she warned. Thanks to you, our prominent community has experienced a significant setback. How-ever—and this could also be thanks to you—we will rebound. Healthier and stronger than ever. You have abilities sirens of your age and experience level shouldn’t have. You could be an asset to us, and we, in turn, could be that to you.
That
, I thought, holding her gaze,
will never happen.
No? She turned, peered over her shoulder. Not even if it means saving the one person in the world you’d do anything for? Who you should do anything for, especially considering certain transgressions?
A soft light glowed from the darkness behind her. Through it I could just make out Zara’s smirk, Simon’s chest rising and falling underneath her arms.
He was alive. As the water and light shifted, I saw a black nozzle lodged in his mouth. It was attached to a small oxygen tank lying in the sand next to him.
Hot tears stung my eyes before neutralizing in the cold lake water.
You’ll let him go? If I do what you want me to, you’ll release him and leave him alone?
Vanessa
. Her red lips pouted.
Let’s be realistic.
Then what? I practically screamed the words in my head. What exactly are you suggesting?
In order to join us, you must take a life.
I breathed faster, the salt water pumping in and out of my mask.
If you take his, you’ll be stronger than you ever imagined possible, and he’ll die, looking at you, listening to you, and feeling happier in that one instant than he was in all of his days on earth. You hurt him greatly, which was why Zara was able to control him for a brief time, but he still loves you, Vanessa. More than ever.
I shook my head, squeezed my eyes shut.
How is that saving him? I demanded.
I didn’t say you could save him from death. What you can save him from is watching you slowly drown, which would kill him long before we actually stopped his heart. She paused. Physically, he dies either way.
He’ll leave you alone, I said. We’ll both leave here and never come back. We’ll move across the country, or even out of the country, if you want. He’s too good… he doesn’t deserve—
Let’s not forget, Raina said over my internal blubbering, whose idea it was to freeze the harbor. This punishment isn’t only about you.
Zara, I implored, twisting in my restraints, think of Caleb. I know you still love him. Think of how devastated he’ll be if he loses his brother. If you think that his feeling totally alone will somehow increase your chances—
There was a sudden rush of water and something shoved against my back, hard. I collapsed, landing softly on the rocks. I clutched my head and tried to stand, but stopped when the water cleared and I registered the scene before me.
Raina’s eyes flared as she faced a tall woman with long dark hair. The woman stood where I had seconds earlier; whoever she was, she hadn’t wanted me to keep talking. The other sirens stood behind Raina, trying to appear threatening but clearly growing tired. Some trembled, others were hunched over, still too weak from their time in the frozen harbor to keep their backs straight. They stood between Simon and me, though I could still see his feet so I knew he was there.
Of course, that didn’t mean he was alive.
The Nenuphars wouldn’t approve of this behavior.
My head pulsated in protest. I knew that voice.
The Nenuphars have never known and will never know
, Raina said.
They don’t concern themselves with groups like ours.
They will if I ask them to.
The woman with long dark hair sounded exactly like Willa.
But Willa had white hair, and her figure was rounder, softer. This woman’s jeans and T-shirt hugged a thinner, firmer, younger body.
As if they’d welcome you back with open arms after a seventeen-year estrangement, Raina said. For someone touting acceptable behavior, you don’t seem to appreciate that you’ve committed the greatest sin of all: abandoning your family.
I left because I had to, the woman said. Because of things you were going to force my child and me to do, to make us become.
Which was precisely what your beloved Nenuphars would have expected under their command. Raina’s lips turned up. And strangely enough, here you are, not looking a day over, what? Forty-five? Forty-six?
Let them go, Raina, the woman said. If you do, I promise the Nenuphars will know nothing. I promise to do whatever you want.
That’s the funny thing about you and promises, Charlotte…
Inside the mask, my chin fell. I watched the Willa look-alike, waited for her to correct Raina and deny being Charlotte… but she simply stood there, still, strong, unwavering.
They never seem to stick.
Raina charged just as a scream seemed to shatter my skull. A blinding flurry of sand and water made it impossible to see its source. I was still trying when an arm latched around my waist and pulled me up and away from the lake floor. The farther we swam, the clearer the view became.
Is that… That can’t be… Please tell me it’s not…
But it was. Paige was swimming away from Zara, carrying a saltwater mask and sack—and wearing one, too.
She just wanted to help
, Charlotte answered.
Sound familiar?
I couldn’t respond. Paige had transformed. Somehow, she’d succeeded in becoming one of us. I felt so many things at once—shock, fear, disappointment, anger, love—that my head couldn’t single out one to focus and speak to.
Vanessa
, Charlotte continued, lifting up a broken, sunken canoe and placing me underneath,
I’ve tried to protect you from a distance for seventeen years. I know it’s difficult to understand, and I promise to explain everything later… but please, let me do what I need to protect you now.
She hurriedly untied my wrists and ankles. At one point her face was inches from mine, and I saw her smooth face, taut neck, silver eyes. She looked like two women at once: a younger version of the one I’d come to know over the past few weeks, Willa… and an older version of the one I’d first seen in a photograph in Betty’s bedroom. She was both of them, some-where in the middle.
Do you remember what you did with the water bottle on the bench in Harvard Square?
she asked.
I nodded, picturing the water bubbling and foaming inside the plastic container.
Do you remember how you did it?
I think so.
When you hear me sing for you, I need you to do that again.
Here? With the—
I was going to ask if she meant with the whole lake, but she was gone before I could.
What about Simon?
I yelled after her. What about Paige?
Nothing.
I lay there, breathing salt water, fighting to control my torpedoing thoughts. In the distance, there was the sound of rushing water. There were more screams, followed by gasping and weeping. Eventually, there was a single, high-pitched note. It started in the center of my head and radiated outward until it seemed like the entire canoe vibrated.
My eyes settled on a smooth stone. I stared at it until it went out of focus, and until I pictured Zara. Raina. Paige. Charlotte. I concentrated so intently, seeing instead of thinking, watching instead of feeling, that I didn’t notice when the water around me began to fill with tiny bubbles, as if on the brink of boiling. I saw Justine, focused on her smile, her dimples, her bright blue eyes. The bubbles swelled and burst, coming bigger, faster.