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A high-pitched voice called from the caves above.
“Help! Somebody please help me!”
The siren sprang into action at once, trying to enter the stairwell. Jarin caught the back of her blouse just in time to stop her barreling up to the caves. At this rate, it’d be all he could do to keep her alive until the full moon, let alone beyond it.
“It’s almost certainly a trap,” he breathed in her ear, pulling her back.
“I don’t care. I’m not afraid of him.”
To his horror, she wrenched herself free and bolted up the stairs.
CHAPTER 26
Riella hurtled up the steps two at a time.
The pure panic in the voice cut straight to her heart and forced her to act. Jarin may’ve been right about the plea being a trap, but what if it wasn’t? Guilt had plagued her ever she left Seraphine behind. Now, she finally had the chance to balance the scales and she was going to take it. She and Jarin came to face Polinth, didn’t they? If it was a trap, then he already knew they were present anyway.
The voice from the caves stopped calling, but Jarin’s boots thundered on the stairs right behind her. Never did she imagine she’d appreciate a Dark Tide pirate running after her, and yet she wouldn’t prefer to storm Polinth’s workshop with anyone else. A towering, muscular, invulnerable pirate wasn’t the worst accomplice for a rescue mission.
Riella should’ve asked Jarin if his invulnerability extended to a magical attack, since they were ambushing a sorcerer. But it was too late now, because the cave entrance was in view.
The crash of waves came from the bottom of the cliffs. She slowed near the top, crouching just behind the entryway. Jarin caught up with her and clamped his large hand firmly around her ankle to prevent her from running. She turned and bared her teeth at him in warning, not wanting to be stopped, but she needn’t have bothered.
From inside the caves, a siren began Singing. The sound was intimately and bizarrely familiar, making her pause to listen in disbelief. It was Riella’s own Voice.
Jarin buckled and jammed his hands over his ears, his face pained. Riella climbed the last few stairs and entered the mouth of the cave, feeling like she was in a bizarre nightmare. Despite hearing her own lilting, unearthly Song, she was unprepared for what she found.
The water tank where Polinth kept her was gone, along with the workshop table and the Starlight Gardens flag.
Now, the cave resembled something impossible—a place between the ocean and land. Glowing candles hung suspended in midair, casting ethereal firelight. But seaweed also sprouted from the ground, floating and drifting as if in water, only there was none. Multi-colored coral shimmered on rocks covering the floor.
Another Riella danced in the center of the cave on slender legs. At first, she thought she was looking into a mirror, her mind struggling to make sense of the eerie sight. But other-Riella’s hair flowed loose as she danced, her black dress flaring at the knees. Her eyes were closed, her face lifted to the ceiling as she Sang. This was no reflection.
Jarin appeared beside Riella, his hands pressed over his ears. If the Song was causing him genuine pain, that meant it really was a siren’s Voice. It was her Voice, even if the rest was sorcery.
“It’s a Glamour!” he shouted over the Song. “She’s not real.”
Riella blinked, and realized her mirror image was not perfect after all. Other-Riella’s figure was bustier than hers, and her facial features were slightly different from her own. Polinth had conjured her likeness from memory and like all humans, his memory was imperfect.
The Voice, though? She was sure the Voice was real. It was the one tangible thing he’d stolen from her and kept.
Jarin’s shouts made other-Riella cease Singing and dancing. She turned and smiled at them. The center of her throat glowed with a brilliant blue light.
“Riella,” said Jarin with a note of warning, letting his hands fall. “I don’t like this. We should leave. Now.”
“Not a chance,” she replied, not taking her eyes from her crude doppelgänger.
She wasn’t leaving without Seraphine. Another opportunity had presented itself to her, as well. She had the chance to reclaim her Voice.
Black vapor rose from other-Riella’s shoulders and head in fine tendrils.
“You can’t fight a Glamour,” said Jarin. “Please, trust me. We need to leave.”
Despite her determination, fear trickled down Riella’s spine. Jarin’s mother was a sorceress—she should probably listen to him. He knew about dark magic.
But she couldn’t bring herself to just leave. Her days were already numbered, and she’d come all this way. She couldn’t turn and flee without trying to find Seraphine.
“The elf could be in the chambers of the caves,” said Riella. “And Polinth would need to be nearby to conjure the Glamour, wouldn’t he?”
