Damn it!
I cease aiming my musket toward the men at the harpoon guns to join the girls.
Shots rain down on us, now that the men aren’t afraid I’ll pick them off. Riden continues shooting, but several enemy shots hit their marks.
I hear a scream and thud as one of the girls up in the rigging falls. Mandsy is already ducking out of her hiding place to reach whoever it is. Teniri hisses through her teeth as a shot skims her arm, but she doesn’t stop sawing at the rope in front of her.
And then Niridia—
Niridia falls into the water.
Time seems to slow as my mind tries to work through so many things at once. Even if we get the sails down, we’re locked in place by the lines connecting us to the other ship. The shooters are picking us off. And I’m sure it won’t be long before the men are back at the cannons. If they manage to reel us in with the harpoons, the men will outnumber us at least two to one. My abilities are drained. We’ve faced worse odds, but my father is on that ship.
He’s as good as ten men. Not a single person on this ship could take him, save perhaps me. When I’ve sparred with my father in the past, I only win about half the time. We’re too evenly matched.
But Niridia.
She’s going to die if I don’t get her out of the water.
One of my girls goes for a rope, but an eel near Tylon’s ship breaks away to investigate the disturbance near ours.
The Ava-lee jerks to the side so violently, I barely catch myself on the railing, but Teniri, Deshel, and Athella fall into the water. Only Sorinda manages to keep her hold.
The harpoons have started to reel us in.
My mind spins. I need to go after them. Sorinda needs to tie me with a rope. I’ll need a dagger if I’m to face an eel. But if I have something sharp, the siren will cut through the rope and follow her own agenda.
They’ll die, and I’ll be lost to the sea.
Unless …
Riden fires off yet another shot.
Every time I’ve managed to keep myself in control of the siren, Riden has been there. Somehow, he keeps me human. I don’t know why. I don’t know how, but I need him if I’m to do this.
I rush at him as iron balls pelt around me. He releases another shot just as he notices me.
“Come with me now!” I tell him. I grab him firmly by the upper arm. He doesn’t hesitate to listen, though he can’t have any idea what I intend.
“Run!” I tell him, so I’m not dragging him quite so much.
He does, until he realizes we’re heading for the edge of the ship. He tries to stop, but by that point, there’s already enough momentum for the two of us to go over.
My grip on him is like a vise as we fall. I cling to him as though he’s the key to my survival. In a way, he is. If this doesn’t work, my girls are dead, and I will be a mindless beast forever. Every muscle in my body tenses at the splash, and I really hope my grip doesn’t break Riden’s arm—
All fear and tension drain away. It’s like waking from a good night’s sleep, fully rested. Full of energy. Full of power. Ready to sing the day away.
But my ocean is full of disturbances.
Men scream from far away, their cries cut off by eels tearing into them. What wonderful beasts. Another comes pelting in this direction, after the women whose legs kick to keep them above the surface. One of them is bleeding, sending the eel into a frenzy. I stay right where I am, ready to watch the show. Until something kicks me.
I hadn’t even noticed I was holding on to a man. Though the salt water must sting his eyes, he manages to glower at me thoroughly.
I laugh at the silly creature. Watch him struggle against me. We’re below the water’s surface. It won’t be long before his lungs give up. But then, he stops fighting. He can’t have drowned so quickly. No, he draws himself nearer, places his forehead against mine, noses bumping.
The heat from him—
This sensation. This lack of fighting. It’s—
It’s—
A memory pushes itself to the surface, words fluttering into my mind on wings. Your enchantments last long after your song fades, he said before he kissed my skin.
Suddenly, peace and eagerness are gone, replaced once more by fear and urgency. I throw Riden toward the ocean’s surface before launching myself toward the oncoming eel. The largest one yet, perhaps fifteen feet—all teeth and muscle. Its tail rippling through the water so quickly I can barely see it.
But I’m faster.
I may not have been born in the sea, but I was born to rule it.
I am the daughter of the siren queen.
The eel has already finished its circling of Niridia and the others. It’s far below us now, surging up, up, up, mouth gaping.
I reach for the dagger in my boot, launching myself at the eel from the side. Dagger connects first, then my legs wrap around the creature’s body, just barely long enough for my feet to connect on the other side of the massive water beast.
It wriggles at the pain, sending us shooting in random directions. I pull out the dagger and drive it in again. And again and again. Finally the creature stills, and I release it. A quick glance shows me that someone lowered a rope for the girls and Riden.
But Death’s Secret still pulls us in.
A harpoon dislodges from my ship; one of the girls must have tossed it over after cutting the line. An idea hits me, and I grab the harpoon before it can sink to the ocean’s bottom. I swim down, down, down—as far as I can get while still traveling toward the opposing ship.
Then I propel myself toward the enemy ship, all muscles straining, swimming as fast as my siren nature will carry me, angling the harpoon so the tip will hit first.
It pierces the wood, and I rip it back out. I pull at the boards in the opening, widening it as water gushes into the hole. They must have patched up the cannon hole I made the men launch into their own ship.
Let’s see them patch this up.
I repeat the action, swimming down and then striking the ship with the harpoon three times more.
Death’s Secret is rapidly sinking.
I am underwater, fully in control of my mind, and the ship holding my father is sinking. I should be a mindless beast right now, lost to the sea forever, my crew and ship disappearing into the deep.
Instead I am more powerful than I’ve ever been before in my life.
The realization is intoxicating.
I don’t want to leave the water. As soon as I do, I know I will have the same weaknesses as before. Unable to replenish my abilities without losing my mind, useless to everyone.
But what is the alternative? To stay underwater with my human mind forever? Never living life as a siren or human. Trapped somewhere in between.
I swim back toward my own ship, watching the lines from the harpoons fall into the sea. The Ava-lee is free, beginning to sail away.
I don’t breach the water’s surface until I’m on the port side, where the fleet can’t see me.
I don’t want my father knowing I beat his ship by destroying it from under the water’s surface. This will not be the last time I see him or his fleet, and I don’t want him knowing I’ve found an advantage.