Then she was gone.
Something pulled her into the water. I had a flashback of Mom being attacked and all the things I should have done. Before I knew it, I dove headfirst into the ocean with only a pair of goggles and a spear gun to protect us.
I shook the memory out of my mind, not ready to deal with all the events that happened after. All the admissions that came pouring out of Sirena’s mind and into mine when she kissed me.
I kicked harder toward the lights around the Iara. I broke the surface and tried to pull in a gasp of air, but nothing happened. Where I could breathe under the water, I couldn’t on top. Sirena, popped through the surface next to me. Wrapping an arm around my neck, she lifeguard swam me to the side of the Iara.
“Get out of the water.” She pushed me toward the ladder. “You are between both worlds, and your body can not decipher to which one it belongs.” The ladder flopped into the water, splashing water on my face. I lurched. Something on the sides of my neck fluttered.
“Do not touch them.” She slapped my hands away from my neck. “They are gills, and they are toxic to your touch.”
I spun around, black dots pricking at the edges of my vision.
“Rick, climb the ladder. They will disappear once you are dry, and all will be okay. I promise.” She spun me around and wrapped my fingers around the ladder. The Iara rippled, and I tried again in vain to pull air in to my lungs.
Don’t panic.
Don’t panic.
My brain went fuzzy, and my lungs screamed for air when I collapsed on the deck. Sirena was behind me. She grabbed a towel and started drying me off. I felt my body pulling apart, like my soul was detaching. I was dying. Roxy would find me dead on the dive deck and a mermaid rubbing me with a towel. I gasped again, a small trickle of air worked its way past the barricade in my throat. Something scaly flopped against my leg. Sirena’s fin. I tried to sit up, but she pushed me back down. Not before I saw the blue and silver scales of her fin. The world started to haze over, and slowly my vision darkened. I probably looked like a goldfish flopping on a countertop.
One last gasp.
Something in my throat popped, and glorious air rushed into my lungs. I heaved in the air, rolling to my side to pull in more.
“Thank the gods,” Sirena muttered.
I couldn’t say anything, only saw her take the towel and wrap it over the place where her legs should have been.
But she was a mermaid.
A siren.
Whatever she was, she was one thing for certain.
A liar.
I pushed up to my knees. Coughing up salt water from lungs and exchanging it for air. This was something no one would believe. When I could breath properly, had the right amount of oxygen in my brain, I probably wouldn’t believe it either.
“Stay away from me.” I held out my hand, warning her to stay away. I pushed to my feet, falling against the wall of the boat. “Just, stay away.”
I turned and crawled up the stairs, pausing to look back and finding Sirena frantically rubbing at the scales of her tail. She was still beautiful, but weren’t they all?
Beautiful and deadly.
I barely made it to Roxy’s room, threw open the door, and collapsed on her empty bed.
I rolled over, slapping my arm across my face to shield myself from the sun.
The sun.
I sat straight up in bed. My brain sloshed around in my head like I was sporting the raddest hangover ever. I inched over to the side of the bed that had a window. I was in Roxy’s room.
Why was I in Roxy’s room?
Images of last night started to trickle to the surface. Sirena being pulled into the water and then … I stood straight up. She was a siren. I listened for the motors, but it was quiet. A heavy weight of dread pressed down on me. I pushed back the curtains; we were in the Vieques marina.
I swiped my t-shirt off the bed and stormed into an empty dining salon. Luca pushed through the galley doors carrying a tray bacon. His eyes flared as I closed the distance between us and pinned him to the wall. Had to give the guy credit, he didn’t let a strip of bacon touch the floor. I couldn’t say the same for his feet.
“You a minch?”
Luca’s eyes flared.
“Are you?”
He nodded.
“Where’s my sister?”
“They disembarked last night. Tiki told your sister you must have had too much sun yesterday.”
I hung my head. “And she was all too willing to believe him?”
“She said they’d be back on board to depart in the morning.”
I let Luca slide down the wall.
“We’re leaving tonight and definitely not on the Iara.” I grabbed a slice of bacon before turning on my heels and getting the hell off the mythological barge. “Where’s Sirena?”
Luca slammed his lips tight. I guess she had Luca mesmerized too.
“No worries. It’s a small island. I’ll find her.” And when I did, well, hell I didn’t know how that sentence would end.
14
Sirena
I walked Roxy and the girls back to the Tres Sirenas to get the rest of their stuff. Once Tiki found out what Rick had done… I shook off the thought. I told the girls Tiki wanted to set sail at first light. It was a lie. Something I seemed to be getting really good at.
My failure to deliver the key and Rick’s killing of a guardsman moved the Martin family from people to watch to people to kill. Roxy and her friends had no idea what kind of danger they were in. Vieques was probably crawling with commissioned guardsmen. All the while, Roxy complained about Beth and Amy siding with Rick, how she was not reckless, and then scoffed at Amy’s notion that she had a death wish. I excused myself, slipping out of their room.
Grabbing the film canister from my pocket, I knocked on Kat’s door, hoping she could help. Help hide the girls until I figured out how to safely get them off the island, and yes, maybe help me figure a way to get my legs without sacrificing Rick’s soul.
A charter plane back to the Keys was the best option, seeing how Critias would have guardsmen and watchers stationed at the international airport. I had thought about one of the cruise ships, but they needed to be off the ocean. Depending how angry Critias was, he could take down a cruise ship. He had done it before. That was how we got our home on the Caribbean Illusion.
Kat opened the door. If she was shocked to see me, it did not show in her smile.
“You need my help?” she asked.
“How did you earn your legs?”
“That wasn’t what I was expecting.” Kat leaned her head on the door. She took me in from head to borrowed toe, her smile never faltering. “I beat Critias.”
“How?”
“That’s a long story, and one you don’t have time for. Not if you’re hoping to get the Martins off the island alive.”
My stomach took a nosedive.
“You don’t even know who you’ve fallen for, do you?”
I started to object that I had fallen for Rick, but what was the point? Heat swelled in my chest at the thought of the man with blonde curls and a chiseled jaw I wanted to smack most of the time but ultimately just wanted to kiss. I was as under his spell as he was under mine. My shoulders softened, and I shook my head. I was in so much trouble.
Kat stuck her head out the door, searching the hallway. “Get in here before the others see me talking to you.”
“Who?”
She grabbed my arm and yanked me inside before shutting the door.
“Take your shoes off and follow me.” Kat walked past me with an elegance I wanted to master, as I did what she asked. Her room did not look like the standard room the Martins had been issued. There was a long hall with cool wood floors that looked the color of white sand. The walls were the same soft blue as the water around the surface of Mosquito Bay. There was a kitchen to my left, and beyond that a door that probably led to a bedroom. I hurried to keep up with Kat as she walked into the living room, grabbed
the remote, and turned off the television.
“Take a seat.” She nodded to the gray couch. I walked around the small table in front of the couch, careful not knock off the papers and books that seemed strategically stacked.
“Sorry about the mess, but the Martins arrival in Vieques kind of put us on high alert.”
“Who is us?”
“We are the revolution.” She smiled, probably knowing I did not have a clue what revolution she was talking about.
Kat patted to a spot on the couch, and I followed her instructions to sit. She crossed her long tan legs—legs I would never have if I followed my heart.
“There’s a small group of freed sirens who are working with the Atlantis guard to stop Critias.”
“Where do I sign up?”
Kat’s smile fell a little. “Freed sirens, Sirena.” She pulled her lips between her teeth like she wanted to say more but did not dare.
“Please, continue.” I pushed us forward. A freed siren was not in my future, but if I could help stop Critias, my existence would have been worth something.
Kat pulled in a deep breath. “He doesn’t know, does he?”
“Who?”
“Rick. He doesn’t know who his father is.”
“We have only talked about his mother.” I looked away, knowing the role I played would do nothing to gain me confidence with Kat.
“It wasn’t your fault, Sirena. In fact, Timaeus is in your debt for saving his son.”
My mouth tumbled open, and my eyes flared so wide they started to sting. “What did you say?”
Kat leaned forward, taking my hands in hers. “Rick Martin is the son of Timaeus, the overseer of Atlantis.”
“Timaeus? As in, Critias’ arch enemy Timaeus?”
Kat smiled. “You need a minute to digest. I’ll grab you a glass of water, and then we’ll get to planning how we keep Rick and his sister out of Critias’ hands.”
“Does he know? Critias, I mean?”
Kat stopped at the hall. “Yeah, he does now.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Only Timaeus’ son could receive your breath of life and not lose his soul.”
“That was not what I was trying to do.”
“We know, Sirena. And we are thankful.” Kat slipped into the kitchen, leaving me in the room with a rising swell of questions.
“If Timaeus knows Rick is here, why does he not help?” I hollered.
Kat folded back the shudders that separated the sitting room from the kitchen. “Timaeus can only leave Atlantis every twenty five years. The last time he left, he met Iara. The rest as they say is history.”
I sank back into the pillows. Rick Martin was the son of Timaeus. “How did it happen?”
Kat giggled. “I didn’t ask, Sirena. But I have a feeling it happened when Timaeus was on land. He gets one week every twenty-five years to walk on dry land. He likes to spend it in Texas on horses.” Kat walked into the room with a tray of water and dry sheets of seaweed.
“Your lips are dry,” she said in response to my wrinkled-up nose.
I swiped a sheet off the plate and took a bite. “So he met Iara, spent a week with her…” My thought trailed off. “If he can only leave Atlantis every twenty-five years, then Roxanne is not his daughter.”
“Nope.” Kat settled herself down on the couch, folding her legs up underneath her.
“Then who?”
“Edward Teach.”
“Who has been dead for almost three hundred years?”
“You know your history.”
“I know my Caribbean Sea floor. His pirate ship is sunk three days from Mosquito Bay.”
“This would be Edward Teach’s great-great—shoot, I don’t how many greats—grandson.”
“Roxy is a pirate?” I mused. “That makes so much sense.”
“Technically, she’s a descendant of pirates, but her dad still hunts the Caribbean Seas, so she has that option.”
We sat in silence, Kat allowing me to process all the facts she had just dumped in my lap. “Why did you give me the sea scroll?”
“A life preserver, actually.”
I squinted.
“I was hoping you’d see you could save Rick and not hurt him.”
“I did not see it that way.”
“So you wanted to start the consummation.”
I shook my head. “I wanted to save him.”
Kat smiled and patted my knee. “Then let’s do just that. I’ve called some friends over. They should be here—”
A loud crash from across the hall cut Kat off.
We both launched from the couch. Kat was so much faster than I was. She reached the door first and threw it open. Roxanne’s door was kicked in, and Beth and Amy were tied together on the floor. Rick turned his glare in my direction and stormed across the hall. He picked me up by the arms and pushed me up against the wall. All the air rushed out of my lungs while I kicked my legs.
“Where is she!” he bellowed.
“It wasn’t her, Rick,” Beth hollered. “It was Tiki and some others we’d never seen before.”
Rick let me down, still keeping me captive with his grip. I winced as he turned and nearly dragged me across the hall.
“Who are you?” He aimed his vitriol at Kat.
“Kat. And if you don’t take your hands off Sirena in the next two seconds, you’ll be the man who has no chance of furthering his blood line.”
Rick’s eyes flared as his gaze landed on the tiny knife I held at his balls.
“You wouldn’t.”
“Do you really want to try me?” I angled the knife so the tip pressed slightly into his leg. “Now let me go so I can find Roxanne.”
“She’s not your concern.”
“She is my charter. She is your sister. And most importantly, I consider her a friend, so she is my concern.”
Rick’s grip on my arm loosened, and the blood rushing back into my fingers tingled. “Tiki took her?”
“Yeah, we were packing, like you said. There was a knock at the door.”
“I told you not to answer it.” Beth interrupted Amy.
“I thought you were locked out.”
“Go on.” I moved Amy forward. “Tiki told us to tell you to bring the key.”
I looked back at Kat, her normal content face was marred with worry.
“Can you get word to her father?” I asked Kat.
“I don’t know, maybe.”
I felt the heat of Rick’s glare singe my back. It would have been easy to let Kat handle this. With Rick’s status, and Roxanne’s pirate father, she probably could have staged a more effective rescue than the one that was brewing in my mind. This was my mess. Rick and Roxanne were in Vieques because of me and the giant treasure mark I put on their backs. I knew he hated me, but this was mine to fix.
“See if you can. I am going to go get her.”
“Like hell you are,” Rick hissed.
I did not let his words affect me. I turned around, stuck out my hand, and said, “I am going to need to borrow your compass rose.”
“No.” He lowered his face so we were nose to nose. I could see all the fury churning in those muddy water eyes of his.
“You are going to give it to me, and when I return with Roxanne, I will give you the other half.” I lifted my leg onto the bed, brushed back my skirt, and pulled the missing half I had taken from Iara’s dead body out from the pouch in my garter. I opened my palm and felt all the air leave Rick’s lungs. If he did not hate me before, surely he despised me in that moment.
I did not look him in the face as he unhooked the chain from around his neck. I could barely handle the brush of his fingers as he placed it in my hand. He took my chin between his two fingers, and I burned inside.
“I’m coming with you.”
“You can not. Stay put. Stay safe.” I reached up on my toes and pressed one last kiss to his cheek before racing out the door.
15
Rick
L
ike hell I was going to stay put. Who did she think she was, telling me to stay put? I fought back the urge to stick my fist through a wall. Some girl named Kat had ushered us over to her apartment, like that was more protected than the room across the hall. The room Tiki had busted into and taken Roxy from. I took another pace, stealing a peek into Kat’s bedroom. She was heavy into conversation with three other girls—probably sirens—discussing ways to get me out of Vieques. Thing was, I wasn’t leaving without Roxy. And I wasn’t leaving without my mother’s medallions. I rubbed at the spot at my cheek where Sirena had kissed me. I still couldn’t shake the feeling that was more a goodbye than a trust-me or even an I’m-sorry kiss.
Kat stood up and walked deeper into her bedroom. I gave Beth and Amy the shut-your-mouth look. They weren’t going anywhere, not when they were huddled up on the couch quiet—probably in shock. I crept to the door, carefully pulling it open, and silently slipped out of the room.
The hot humid air smacked me in the face as the elevator doors pulled open. My pace picked up, and by the time I was on the cobbled stone streets, I was in a full-out run. I didn’t have the first clue where Sirena was or where Tiki had taken my sister, but it didn’t take a Ph.D. to figure out it was definitely in the water. Most likely near Mosquito Bay. Whatever they were going to do to Roxy meant I had some time to get to her before they took her under the water.
And they would take her under.
Panic exploded inside me, making me punish my legs even harder as I sprinted the three miles to the marina. Roxy’s lungs couldn’t handle compressed air. While Sirena knew that, Tiki and his thugs didn’t. I didn’t think they’d care even if they did.
And how Mom’s compass rose fit into the equation was still a mystery to me. So was the fact that Sirena seemed to know Roxanne’s father wasn’t my father. She also seemed to know who he was. Which Mom had left out of her safety deposit box confessional.
I sling-shot around the guard rail at the marina and launched myself onto the gangplank with a loud gong reverberating the metal under my feet. I didn’t have time to find a charter, so I had to steal a boat and hoped doing time here in Puerto Rico wasn’t as bad as it sounded.
Sirens and Scales Page 412
