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It went unanswered, but she’d expected as much. Sirens had no cause to swim these waters, which were far from any of their settlements. The important thing was that she could Send the signal to begin with.
Concentrating hard, she summoned all her mental strength to Send into the blue aether as far as possible. The message she crafted was simple, and attuned to her pod. If any of them received the message, they’d recognize her as one of their own. Or at least they would’ve, before Polinth changed her. She prayed that was still the case.
“This is Riella,” she Sent. “I need help. I’m at Hieros Isle. Approach with caution. Humans on shore.”
She stopped short of mentioning Dark Tide Clan pirates, because her friends would assume she was abducted. The sirens would destroy the Pandora on sight, thus restarting the war.
Intuitively, she also said nothing about the amulet. She couldn’t be sure where the message would end up, exactly. It was bad enough mentioning her location, lest Polinth somehow caught wind of it, but she could see no way around that part. If her friends were to find her, they’d need to know where she was. Right now, the sirens were Riella’s only real hope of retrieving the amulet.
She pushed the message through the water until it disappeared from range. Now, she would wait. Even if the message found her pod, it could be hours or days before the sirens were able to reach Hieros Isle.
For pure pleasure, she stayed underwater a little longer. She did backward somersaults and visited coral and simply drifted along with the current, basking in the joy of the weightlessness and penetrating blue silence. Eventually though, she could ignore her burning lungs no longer, and she surfaced. The tide had taken her even farther out to sea. She could still discern Jarin on the beach, although something seemed amiss now.
He paced up and down the sand, waving his arms frantically, trying to get her attention.
CHAPTER 20
Riella’s heart rate quickened.
She looked around for danger, but saw none. The ocean stretched uninterrupted on all sides, except for the atoll. Jarin put his hands around his mouth to project his voice as he shouted to her. But the wind must’ve snatched his words away, because she heard nothing except the lapping of the water and the screech of a seagull overhead.
Perhaps he’d seen a shark fin. Humans were extraordinarily and rather needlessly afraid of sharks. They wouldn’t bite a human unless the human acted like prey.
Jarin was a pirate, though. He’d know a siren had no cause to fear a shark—sirens played with sharks the way humans played with dogs. There must’ve been some other danger.
With a deep breath, she dove underwater and swam for shore.
Jarin met her in the breaking waves when she emerged. The first thing she noticed was the rowboat missing. Had it washed out to sea? Were they stranded?
“What is it?” she asked while catching her breath.
“Hurry,” he said, grabbing her hand and guiding her out of the water. He passed her dress to her and led her up the beach.
The alabaster sand was blinding after being in the cool haze of the blue water.
Jarin only spoke again when they reached the dark shade of the tree line. “Get dressed.”
His eyes were not on her, but scanning the horizon to the east. All she could see was the green and white islet extending into the distance.
“I was exploring on the other side of the atoll,” he said. “I saw Artus’s schooner at sea. They’re at cruising speed and closer to shore than they ought to be. That means they’re searching. And they are surely searching for us. Specifically, the map.”
The siren hissed in dismay, tugging her dress over her head. “Already? I thought we’d have longer before he came looking.”
“He must’ve doubled right back to Klatos when he realized he didn’t have the map on him. The royal patrol was looking for the Pandora, not him. He would’ve been free to dock.”
“Won’t he look for us at Hieros Isle?”
“He won’t expect I’ve gone somewhere so exposed, and he hates the place because he considers Ferrante bad luck. Nothing is stronger than a sailor’s superstitions. But sooner or later, yeah, he’ll check Hieros Isle. He’ll have to. We need to get the Pandora seaworthy, and leave.”
Jarin had dragged the rowboat up the beach and concealed it in the trees, covering the vessel with palm fronds and snaking green vines. It would be enough to remain undetected, but only if Artus and his crew decided not to come ashore. If they did, Riella and Jarin would have few places to hide on the tiny islet.
“There!” said Jarin, pointing.
Sure enough, a schooner glided around the edge of the atoll, a dark blight on the pristine horizon. Together, she and Jarin retreated farther into the shadows, hidden by trees.
“He’ll have a spyglass,” explained Jarin, drawing her even lower to the ground. “He’ll be able to see the shore in a fair amount of detail. Let’s pray he doesn’t notice the track from the rowboat running up the beach.”
The schooner moved with painstaking slowness across the ocean. Was it slowing down, or was that just Riella’s anxiety?
