Kingdom of Salt and Sirens

by J. A. Armitage

  Asaria couldn’t spare another moment. She threw open the door and launched herself into the dimly-lit hall. Eyes locked on her from the shadows, merfolk moving as one, women and children alike under Wyre’s influence.

  Ink dripped down the wall in front of her, forming a puddle on the floor that Wyre slipped from. His hand to his head, he sighed. “You’re far more trouble than you’re worth, my dear.” His tentacle caught her around the neck, and she gasped, clutching at it for air. “You can’t win. You have never won.”

  “You’re lying,” she hissed, keeping her eyes on his, unwavering. “I’ve done incredible things,” she choked. “So many incredible things, even with you inside my head. Now you’re out here, so—” she coughed “—you better watch out.” Hopping up, she swung back her leg and jabbed it forward, landing a solid blow to his gut.

  His hold slackened, and he bent forward, curses rushing from his lips.

  Turning on her heel, Asaria swallowed lungfuls of air. For the moment, his army remained stationary, so she darted around them and kept her eyes scanning every door she passed.

  She had only been there once before, in a past not quite unlike a dream, but the water lily mark had singed her mind. Her gaze paused, clinging to the flower just three doors away, and her legs propelled her there. She placed her hand on the knob in the same moment everyone blinked, returning to surveillance. Arms reached, but she threw the door open and crammed herself inside, slamming it closed not a moment too soon. The lock clicked.

  Her heavy breaths burned in and out of her lungs.

  Hands pounded on the door before she could calm her racing heart, so she jolted away from it and turned. Only a soft blue glow from the bowl lightened the room, but she had to do something. She had mere minutes to do something.

  Approaching the bowl, she looked inside and froze.

  It was her. Still.

  Hands gripping her hair, she rocked on the bathroom floor, stuck in a loop of panic that would never end. Fingers shaking, Asaria reached for the water.

  “It’s all my fault.” The voice broke her trance, and she whipped her head to look at the corner.

  Seated on the floor, chained to the wall with black veins scarring porcelain, was Yuval. Pinned in the presence of his mistake. Until the last grain of sand fell.

  Thundering fists hammered against the door, but she pushed everything aside when she crossed the room and dropped to her knees in front of him. Cupping his cheeks, she searched his eyes. They were clear, but unseeing. “Hey,” she whispered. “Come on. I need your help.”

  Wetting her lips, she glanced at the hourglass on his chest. Veins cut through it, making it looked cracked, but three grains of sand still rested at the top. She swallowed. “Our chances look slim, Yuval.”

  “I never meant to hurt anyone.” The broken words clutched her heart.

  Pressing her lips together, she tilted his chin up and leaned in. Cold lips met hers, unfeeling, unmoving. She lingered for as long as she dared, but nothing happened. No spark. No magical cure.

  “Come on.” Tears beaded in her eyes, and she kissed him again. Nothing.

  It couldn’t be the end. After everything, this couldn’t be how it ended. Defeated, she sat beside him and wrapped her arms around his chest. Before them, in the glass bowl and just over a month ago, she rocked, her breaths ragged.

  “I remember that girl,” she whispered, a chorus of pounding hands accompanying her words. “She hadn’t met you then. Thing is, I don’t think she’d met herself then either.” Closing her eyes, Asaria felt chilled tears trace down her cheeks. “Thank you, Yuval, for introducing us.”

  “Isn’t this precious?” The growl cut through Asaria’s thoughts, more menacing than anything she’d ever heard, but she opened her eyes leisurely, settling them on Wyre in the moment he climbed from a puddle of ink that had slipped under the door.

  “Get over the gift I left you?” she remarked. “I’m surprised it hurt so much. I was aiming for your balls, but you don’t appear to have any.”

  His lip lifted in a sneer, fists clenching at his sides.

  Before he could speak, she added, “Please don’t tell me my petty insults are hurting your ego. I thought you were an emotion, and it’s not pride.”

  He darted forward, snatching her arm and yanking her upright. “I’ve had quite enough of you, dear girl.”

  “Can’t handle me now that I’ve given up hope?” She raised her other hand in a shrug. “Do your worst. I have nothing to lose. Or,” her lips quirked, “are you too pathetic? You are a sliver of me, after all.”

  He crushed her arm until her bones crunched. Jaw tightening, she winced, and he leaned close. “I learned recently that our lives are linked, so thankfully you didn’t die on your little adventure, and I may not be able to kill you, but I am going to hurt you. I am going to hurt the people you love. I’m going to make you hurt the people you love. And I’m going to watch. Watch until there’s nothing left of Asaria but a cracking husk.”

  Gritting her teeth against the pain in her arm, she glared into his eyes and hissed, “Sounds like just an average day when you’re around.”

  “You aren’t afraid?” His eyes narrowed.

  She licked her lips. Slowly, she raised her free hand and tapped her shell necklace. “I made a wish. A wish to get you to shut the hell up, and it’s worked wonders. Better than Xanax, at least, if you ask me.”

  “You’re going to regret your existence,” he snarled, turning.

  “Maybe,” she said. “But maybe you’ll regret not unlocking the door.”

  He froze. “What?”

  “I mean, with an army, you might have stood a chance.”

  On cue, blue light sparked in the room, and Wyre whirled, dropping her. Yuval stood, his eyes focused and his hair floating above finned ears. The water in the bowl snapped, wrapping around him like chains. It dragged him back before he could lift his hands.

  “No! You were mine!” Wyre’s crazed eyes moved between them as Asaria brushed herself off and stood. “I had you both!” he yelled.

  “Magic tears and wishes, what are you going to do, right?” She lifted a shoulder and stared him down, relishing in the exhilaration of freedom, of hope. When he was gone, she would do everything. Be everything.

  “Wai lily,” Yuval breathed, and she looked at him. Sweat coated his face, running down his neck. “I can’t . . .” Anguish deepened his light eyes. “I can’t do this alone. Pushing him back isn’t enough.”

  Asaria looked at the black water where Wyre struggled. It swirled like a storm, and grey fingers broke the surface, fighting. “What do you mean?”

  He closed his eyes. “You.” A swallow and his gills opened and closed. “I need to return you too. To prove myself and make things right, I have to give back what I tried to force. Everything will change as though we hadn’t met. My people, it will be like this never happened. Time will go backwards.You’ll go back to the moment when I reached for you. You won’t remember me.”

  Her heart dropped. “What? But . . . will you know? Could you come get me?”

  He shook his head. “I’ll remember, but the connection between our worlds will be severed until they readjust and the times can match again.”

  “So a month?”

  His lips parted. “I don’t know.” The light around him stuttered, and a grain of sand slipped to the bottom of the hourglass.

  She watched it fall and held back the aching in her heart. Walking toward the bowl, she unclasped her necklace and set it on the floor by her feet. “Yuval,” she said before climbing onto the rim, “tell me the truth.”

  She met his gaze and watched tears slip down his cheeks.

  “Years,” he replied, “it could take years.”

  Tears pooled in her eyes as well, but she smiled and laughed to calm her breaking heart. “I think I’ll probably still love you then, so come get me as soon as you can, okay? I’ll be on the water.” Taking a deep breath, she looked at the black bowl, at the
world she had only just decided to leave behind for him, at the fear she’d just escaped. She exhaled, then whispered, “And I’ll be waiting.”

  28

  New

  “You’re an idiot.” Ashlyn’s words sliced through Asaria, but she took a deep breath, bit her lip, and lifted the first box she would have to carry up to her friends’ second-story apartment.

  “Is the offer still open?” she asked.

  Ashlyn sighed, opening the door wide as a tiny smile lifted her lips. “Of course it is.” She snapped, “Emilia!”

  From somewhere within, a soft, “Huh, what?” drifted.

  “Asa’s here! She needs help with her things!”

  Pattering feet skittered down the hall, the small woman’s brown eyes glimmering auburn above a bright smile. “You did it? You really did it?”

  Asaria entered and nodded. She had done it. She had really done it.

  Emotion swelled in her chest, threatening to overflow on her cheeks, but she held it at bay. It had taken twenty-five long years, but she had finally escaped the thumb of her family. Her breaths shook when they left her lungs, but she set her box down in the corner, beside the couch she would be using as a bed for a while, and turned to face her friends.

  “Oh, honey,” Ashlyn murmured, stepping forward to wrap her in a hug. “I’m proud of you.”

  “You called me an idiot.” She rested her head against the taller woman’s shoulder and closed her eyes.

  “You are. Just a bit. But you stood up for yourself in front of your family, and you’re planning your own future now. You have our full support.”

  “And our couch,” Emilia added before giggling.

  Asaria smiled too and pulled away. “Thank you.”

  “Let’s get you settled in.”

  Together, the three of them walked down the stairs to her truck, thankfully paid for on her own and not her family’s to take back. Each grabbed boxes from the back of the pickup.

  “So do you have a plan of action?” Emilia asked on the second return trip. “Or are we all doomed to stay at the school until we’re old and wrinkly?”

  “Well . . .” Asaria set her load down atop another box, then turned. “There’s a vacant shop by the beach, and I may have just enough saved to cover a chunk of start-up costs.”

  Ashlyn raised a brow. “Start-up costs for what?”

  “Water sport rentals.” She wrung her hands and glanced between her friends. “There’s a demand; I’ve already looked into it. We can put your art to good use, Ashlyn. I’d actually like it if you could paint sea murals on every surface—perhaps a beach with giant shells. And, Emilia, we can cut our costs if we collaborate with a local Save the Sea foundation. They’ll help us get on our feet, and we’ll donate proceeds as well as volunteer time.”

  Emilia’s lips pursed. “You’ve already looked into all this?”

  Asaria took a breath and settled her hands at her sides. “Remember when I asked if I could live here two days before Acacia’s graduation party?” They nodded. “I began planning that night, made calls in the morning, and happen to have a color-coded schedule—”

  “Okay, whoa.” Ashlyn raised her hand. “Slow down. I’m in.”

  “Beats school cafeteria!” A laugh bubbled out of Emilia. “I’m in too, boss.”

  Ashlyn rolled her eyes. “And you said you couldn’t run a business. You already have color-coded schedules drawn up. Crazy girl.”

  Asaria smiled, looking down. “I don’t know. It feels like something big happened. I feel different. A good different.” One hand lifted, settling at her clavicle as though she were holding a necklace. “It’s like I have secret.” She met her friend’s eyes. “And I’m ready to take on the world.”

  29

  Adrift

  Asaria shouldn’t have been there. At least not alone. But sometimes the ocean called her away from the shop. It asked her to drift in the open water, away from the rush of people, away from the world. It was near closing time anyway.

  She glanced at the setting sun and smiled at the strip of cream sand dotted with people packing up for the day. Could it really have been two years since she’d broken free of her family and gone into business with her best friends? Since she’d taken control of her life?

  She didn’t really know what had happened in that moment when everything changed. All she remembered was a panic attack and waking up on the bathroom floor, suddenly calm. But more than calm. Determined. New.

  In control.

  She’d splayed her life before her, evaluated what she wanted, and taken the first steps toward making her own choices. All the roads she’d since picked led her back to the same place. As they always did.

  Adrift in the sea, nothing could reach her, and she lay there, her surfboard bobbing at the end of its leash, as though she were waiting. For something. Someone?

  Her lips curved. That was a thought. Maybe she’d stay put until a merman came and took her away to live in the ocean. Sighing, she leaned forward, dropping her feet into the water and drawing her board near. She folded her arms atop it and decided whether or not she was ready to return yet. A few more moments and the beach would be empty. A few more minutes and her friends would fail to find her.

  A few more hours and the pizza they ordered would be cold.

  Think positively.

  That’s what microwaves were for.

  She chuckled, closing her eyes and letting the water rock her in its embrace. Welcoming the serenity, she startled when the water shifted behind her, and someone inhaled.

  Twisting, eyes wide, Asaria froze.

  Deep blue hair. Porcelain white and scaled skin. Pointed teeth visible between parted lips.

  “My lily,” the stranger murmured, the words so accented she thought she had misheard. He licked his lips even though they were surrounded by water. “It’s been . . . too long.”

  She remained still, her heart hammering as though it were trying to break free and jump into his arms. Had he said it had been too long? She would have remembered meeting a—her gaze dropped when a webbed hand rose—fish man.

  Patiently, he reached for her, a shell necklace falling from his fingers to brush across her skin. He clasped it below her pink hair, then pulled back. “You don’t remember me,” he whispered, pain shining in his eyes.

  Shaking her head, she touched the shell necklace. “I don’t.” They were the only words she could gather. She didn’t remember him. She didn’t. But staring into his ocean eyes, she felt like she had seen them before. Many times. Filled with too many emotions to count. “Who are you?” she asked.

  The beautiful eyes softened. “Sometimes I’m a liar. Sometimes I’m a guard. But, very occasionally, I’m a king.” Brushing her hair aside, he leaned forward, touching her lips with his own. “And you’re my princess.”

  Lips. Gentle lips caressed hers, and she melted into them. They drew her to an edge, encouraged her to fall, and for some reason, when she stared into the abyss, she wanted to. The rush was nothing short of catching air on her board.

  Looping her arms around his neck, she let him hold her afloat while she tumbled deeper. Memories brightened in the back of her mind, catching fire like hundreds of glowing orbs. Fish sang like birds. Coral forests grew seaweed leaves and hid dangers above their calm canopies. Cavern labyrinths. Volcanic minefields. The heartbeat of a world beneath her fins.

  And him.

  Tears dampened her wet cheeks when she moved back. Hope shone in his eyes, the gills on his neck opening and closing when he swallowed. He stared, waiting.

  A single laugh poured from her lips, emotions filling her until she had no idea what to do with any of them. “Are you going to ask if it worked, Yuval?”

  He blinked, and two tears slipped from his cheeks. “Wai lily?”

  “Yes?”

  Brightening, his eyes widened. Her board’s leash slipped off her ankle, and he dove with her into the water. A bubble of air and electric blue surrounded them as he kissed her a
gain and again, spinning her around in the sea. He peppered kisses across her cheeks, then held her close, murmuring, “Magic kisses.”

  “What are you going to do, right?” Tears streamed down her cheeks as she held him close beneath the water, never willing to let go again. She breathed, choked. “I can’t believe it.”

  “Neither can I.”

  “How is everything?” she asked. “Seora? Did everything work out? Is everyone okay?”

  He nodded, cupping her head and running his fingers down her hair. “Everything went back to the way it had been before my mistake. How are you?”

  Her gaze dropped, a blush coating her cheeks. “Different.” Covering her mouth, she attempted to temper the joy bubbling inside her. “I guess now I remember why.”

  “I’ve missed you. So much.”

  She planted a kiss against his neck, then pulled away. “I have so much to tell you.”

  He held her waist. “So do I.”

  “I escaped my family. I opened a shop!” She laughed, more tears cascading. “There’s so much. I don’t want to lose my board, and my friends will worry about me, but I want to go to Ocea. So let me get my board back and call them, then we can go?”

  “Of course.” He kicked through the water, and they surfaced.

  She broke away from him to catch her “buoy” where it bobbed several yards away. Reattaching her leash, she mounted and looked down at him when he met her. He smiled, but flecks of sadness deepened his gaze. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  His brows rose, head tilting.

  She smiled. “I’ve spent over a month with you nonstop. I know that you fold your arms when you’re thinking, you swallow when you’re nervous, and your eyes change color depending on your mood. I think I know when something’s wrong.”