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“If I have time, I promise to ruin their day,” she Sent.
Soon she was out of communication range, swimming swiftly through the blue expanse with the boat in tow. The water became warmer as she neared the shore, the shallows heated by the mid-summer sun. Only when waves curled ahead, making spectacular white dips and rises, did she relinquish her hold on the rope.
She surfaced, beating her tail to stay in place. The waves picked up the boat and carried it to the beach. The men shouted their thanks from the stern and she responded only with a glare. As the vessel washed up on the sand, the fishermen jumped out, dragging the boat past the tide line.
The weather had turned. The sky was steel-gray and a stinging wind whipped across the surface of the water. Knowing she should already be on her way home, she dawdled just beyond the swell, eyeing the land. It was a remote stretch, with only a few small settlements dotted along the coastline, and the dizzyingly high Black Cliffs to the right. A good place to wreck a ship.
Klatos was many leagues to her left, out of sight. The men would likely struggle to return to the city, but that was not her concern. What mattered to her was the boat was out of the ocean.
Unbidden, she wondered, not for the first time, what it would be like to walk the streets of Klatos. To go places beyond the endless blue desert of the sea. She ought not to have wondered such things, for no good could come of it. Sirens did not belong on land.
Cursing her curious nature, she dove underwater and surged out to sea, moving with incredible swiftness now that she was free of the boat.
Rain was coming. Perhaps even a storm. She could tell by the way the fish behaved, tightening their pods and seeking shelter.
A thrashing movement caught her eye, on the surface above her. At first glance, Riella thought it was a feeding frenzy—a shark devouring prey without mercy.
Her instincts tingling, she drew closer. Something was not quite right, she could feel it. This was no ordinary frenzy. Sure enough, the commotion was not caused by a shark, or any sea creature at all.
Human legs kicked madly, heavy in sodden trousers, arms flailing wildly. Riella hissed in disbelief. How many good deeds did she have to do for the land-walkers today?
Mareen and Galeil would leave him to drown. They may’ve even dragged him under, for amusement. Her friends would mock her for even thinking about saving him.
But, Mareen and Galeil were not there.
Riella rose quickly and latched onto the man’s wrist. It was not until she broke the surface that she realized her dire mistake. Before she could fight, or swim away, the human who baited her had already cast the spell.
Her vision went black. She lost the ability to move her tail or arms or even open her mouth. All she could do was drift, like seaweed. With her head out of the water, she couldn’t send a long-range distress signal to her friends. The man grunted with exertion as he tied ropes around her body and hauled her into his boat, which was invisible moments ago.
As her mind slid into unconsciousness, dread engulfing her, she had one last thought:
Mareen and Galeil were right. Humans didn’t deserve her help.
CHAPTER 2
Riella awoke to darkness spliced by flickering orange.
Submerged in salty water, she instinctively kicked her tail, only to have it hit a hard, flat surface. She was in a tank. Heavy manacles pulled on her wrists, attached to thick chains bolted to the sides of the tank. She kicked upward, breaking the surface of the water, looking around wildly.
A grid of sturdy metal bars crossed over her head. Her throat burned, like she’d swallowed fire, but she was otherwise unscathed. Hazy and disoriented, memories flooded back to her like a nightmare.
The thrashing man in the water was a lure. He’d cast a spell and now she was a prisoner in a tank in the middle of a cave. The walls were jagged black rock and the roof was wooden slats, leaving the cavern half open to the warm night air. The crash of waves reached her ears.
She squinted into the shadows of the cave. The only light came from torches in brackets on the wall. Her senses were slightly duller out of the water, because she was less attuned to the environment. The cavern was unoccupied, apart from her, and seemed to be a workshop.
A table sat near the tank, piled high with parchments and books and glass bottles of varying fullness. There were also sharp metal objects, lying neatly on a tray, and a mirror with a gilded frame. The rest of the cave had only a desk and chair, and smelled like sulphur. A banner hung on the rocky wall, showing a lightning bolt through a circle.
Upon closer inspection, Riella found the tank was not made of glass at all. It was clear natural crystal, far thicker and stronger than any material a human could make. She would not let that stop her from escaping, though.
A siren’s physical strength waxed and waned with the moon. It was currently a dark moon, to her disadvantage. Nevertheless, if she could remove the manacles, she would try with all her might to strike the crystal until it broke.
Movement from a shadowy corner of the cave made her freeze.
“Who’s there?” she demanded. “Show yourself.”
A pale figure stepped into the shifting orange light, chained at the ankle. Riella suppressed a gasp. It was not the man who’d captured her. The creature was completely colorless, with lank hair, pale lips, gray irises. She had the features of a young woman, except for her ears, which were pointed, like an elf.
But that was impossible. For this creature—dressed in a fraying plain shift—was devoid of the divine vitality that characterized elves. The elven affinity to nature was a trait shared by sirens. The two races couldn’t be more different in disposition, though. Elves were peaceful, and sirens were the warriors of the ocean.
