Brilliant. Now he knows what we did. And I thought I was more inexperienced than her.
Fable didn't wait for Loki's reaction, and rode away, following Cerené.
"You're lying!" Loki screamed, his voice shattering like cursed glass.
"We did." Cerené couldn't stop spilling the words as she rode ahead. "Among the seven of us. You will have to get it from us all."
"You filthy witches!" Loki's temper was now uncontrollable. He rode after them, panting like a predator. If he caught up, killing them would be the least that'd satisfy him.
Fable panted, too. It wasn't like she had planned out the best solution to get her hands on the Fleece. It had all been random acts from the beginning. But she had just realized she was one of the Lost Seven a few hours ago. This was all too much.
She followed Cerené into the dark of the forest. It seemed to get darker and darker the more they rode. Loki still pursued them.
"Why is it taking so long?" Fable said to Cerené.
"I—" Cerené stuttered as she began to detour in all kinds of directions. "I think… The trees changed their places. This is wrong. The forest is working against us."
"What?" Fable's heart paced. Loki seemed to be so close now. "Are you saying…?"
"I think we're lost," Cerené said, naively stopping her horse, all the fear in the world painting her face.
Fable was shocked. Why did Cerené stop? She didn't seem that fragile in Shew's Dreamory. What had happened to her? So they were lost now?
Fable looked behind her, imagining Loki only steps away.
45
The Queen's Diary
The first two days, I was able to stay with Angel on the same raft. We had little food, but he had long stopped eating, as all he must have thought about was blood. He had weakened into a paler version of himself, burying his head either in my arms or his to avoid listening to the mermaids.
Their humming song echoed in the whale, and they took pleasure in taking intervals of silence, only driving us crazier. Sometimes they sang in unison, sometimes individually, in every possible tone and tempo. They only stopped to sink into the water for food, or giggle while combing each other's hair.
Sometimes, Sirenia swam nearer and talked to me, advising I should give up on Angel and come with them to meet the nameless witch who seemed fascinated with me.
I didn't give in, but I cried a lot. Part of it was sharing Angel's misery, as I was nurturing him like a baby, and another part was me being devastated by my own weakness. How could I not swim? How wasn't I strong enough to kill the mermaids? And if I was so weak, why did everyone know who I was?
The third day, Sirenia educated me about who the mermaids really were. They weren't mermaids. They were sirens. They looked very much like mermaids. They lived all across the Seven Seas and played all day. And they had one thing on their mind. Eating.
But sirens liked to sing, too. They had beautiful voices. Singing gave them strength and longevity. When I asked her why they couldn't just sing and leave us alone, Sirenia explained: in order to sing and live long, they had to eat. Only one type of food helped: human males.
"You're lulling and eating the flesh of man to sing?"
"What would you do if you knew there was a flesh that grants you immortality, Majesty?" Sirenia said. "We also discovered that our music lured mostly men. Rarely did women give in to our power. We used to keep to ourselves and live on abandoned islands in the Seven Seas. We used to sing by the fire all night until our voices seduced sailors. They came in willingly to our island. We played with them for a little while before we killed them and ate them."
I didn't know if I should believe her. I didn't know if I should believe anything I heard. Was there such contradiction in life? Beauty that was nothing but a beast? Killers who killed, not because they were plainly evil, but to survive and live longer?
"Why have you left the islands, then?" I said. Angel was still sleeping in my arms. He had lately acquired a habit of fainting from the pain of music.
"Because of the damn Moongirl." Sirenia rolled her eyes. "She began killing us one by one, Majesty."
"Stop calling me Majesty." It felt insulting being praised by an evil siren like her—no matter her excuses, I still considered her malevolent.
"But you're my Majesty, My Queen." She smiled. The mermaids smiled. "Always will be. You just don't know it yet."
"What do you mean by that?"
"He still didn't tell you, did he?" She pouted at Angel in my arms.
"Tell me what?"
"About the prophecy?" She exchanged pitying looks with the other sirens.
"What prophecy?"
"Hmm… I guess I have to tell you myself, then." She shook her shoulders. "There is the prophecy of a girl, a Karnstein, who will love and marry the son of the vampire king, a Sorrow. This girl will have a pivotal role in history."