Page 82 of Seas the Reckoning

“I can’t use it. That’s the entire reason I’m here. If I use it, I could get hurt. People I love could get hurt.”

One mermaid sneers at the other, and the naiads smirk.

“Can’t use it? Convenient. A true descendant of Inktus could and would withstand whatever chaos the song unleashes if it meant the curse would be broken as a result. Inktus was fearless. Are you fearless?”

Not even close.

I worry about almost everything. I feel my shoulders longing to droop, to make myself smaller, but my friends need me. I will not let them down.

“I’m not going to risk them,” I snap.

The short-haired mermaid’s grin goes wider, the look in her eyes predatory.

“Them? Who did we miss?”

“No one. Nothing,” I say, too quickly.

A few of them swim away, circling Thomas’s massive form as he bobs at the surface.

“There’s no one else here,” the green-eyed mermaid reports back.

“No,” says the naiad with hazel eyes. “Not unless … don’t tell me there are more people in there?”

The short-haired mermaid looks gleeful.

“Oh, let’s invite them out to play. What do you say, ladies? We’ll find out how well they can swim, and whether they have anything worth taking for ourselves.”

“You can’t do that!” I swim directly at one of the mermaids, claws out.

Her tail flips at the last second, slamming into my ribs with enough force to bruise if not break a few.

Thomas bobs in the water, sending a wave toward us, but he doesn’t say anything. No doubt he’s trying to serve as a wall between the sirens and my friends.

I’m made for the water, but I’m not used to fighting in it, putting me at a disadvantage.

“Sing them out,” one of the mermaids yells at the others.

I move to swim after them, and she swats at me with her tail again. I manage to sink my claws in, and she screams but shakes me off.

The other four are already at Thomas’s face, directing their song at him, and my friends.

“Come see us.”

“Throw yourselves into the sea.”

“Come say hello.”

“Dive under the water and open your mouth wide so we can see our new guests.”

I shake off the mermaid and swim around to Thomas’s face. The baleens on the bottom half of his mouth are still sitting in the water, the top of his head above the surface. I see movement just behind his mouth, and I hear yelling.

What will they do if Jackal comes out? Or Pickles?

“Stop!” I yell, but I’m ignored as the short-haired mermaid joins her friends in song.

“Stop! Stop!”

Thomas begins to open his mouth wide.