“Didn’t Asair’s guardian stop him?” Halen asked.
Dax shook his head. “That’s when he had her killed.”
Halen gasped. “That’s insane.”
“That wasn’t even the worst part. When his guardian’s body was found the Tari divided. Some were suspicious and thought Asair should be dealt with.”
“Killed you mean?” Halen swallowed hard as she glanced back at the scroll. She was suddenly thankful for Tage.
“Asair was on to them. He forced the Tari that were still near him to swear allegiance by drinking his blood. He knew they would be bound to him. The Tari had no idea drinking his blood came at a great price.
“What happened?” Halen’s question was answered with another question, but not from Dax.
“What is going on in here?” a man’s voice echoed throughout the silver library.
Dax sprang to his feet. “Sir, I was just showing her the siren scroll.”
“You’ve always had a funny way of doing things,” the man said as he stepped into the library.
Halen’s breath caught. “No. No, no, no!” She scooted back along the silver floor. Familiar green eyes stared back at her, eyes she had watched disappear beneath dark water. “I don’t understand?” The man placed his hands on his hips, widening his stance as if he were about to block a blow. She had seen him like this before, once when her mother had begged him to stay. She had wrapped her arms around him, but he remained stiff as stone. Halen’s breath quickened and she fought the sparks of fear treading along her spine. She shook her head, and as she did, the scrolls vibrated along the floor.
“Dad?” she whispered, tears filling her eyes. “Is that really you?”
“Halen stay calm.” His voice was steady unlike the energy rippling under her skin. His expression was as tight as his posture. His gaze narrowed as if he were trying to calculate what she might do.
She stared wide eyed taking in every inch of him. He was dressed similar to Dax with a navy netted shirt and scaled shorts. His hair was short, but she could still see the flecks of copper along his scalp. He used to wear it longer; the curls would brush his ears and tickle her nose when he hugged her. Unlike her mother, he had hugged her goodbye when he would go on long stretches of travel. Travel. Is this where he would come? “Have you been here the whole time?” Her voice shook. She took one step toward him, and he stepped back.
“That’s close enough.” He dropped his hands and they balled to fists.
“I watched you die!” Halen felt as if she were drowning inside out. “You let me think you were dead!” She could feel the water level rise inside her, creeping up her knees, along her hips, across her chest. Her heart floated free, bobbing in the current of rage. Up and up the water rose.
“You watched me save you from the mermaids. You should be thankful.” His tone was clipped. His jaw was tight, and the veins in his neck bulged.
He was nothing like the father she had created in her memories. Why would he be so angry? She was the one who had been hurt.
“Thankful? Thankful! You left us. You left Mom and me. You let us mourn over you. Do you know how screwed up I am because of that day?” The walls surrounding them shook and Dax stepped between them.
“Sir, I think you need to leave.”
Halen pressed her spine against the empty cubicles. The water rose over her eyes, flooding her brain.
“No, she needs to hear this,” her father said.
A woman coughed and Halen looked past her father’s shoulder. Nelia stood beside a boy and a girl. One had a shaven head that shone like the silver walls. She recognized him as the boy with toothpick bones from the courtyard. The pixie girl stood beside him. They both stared wide eyed as if she were a lion who had been let loose from its cage.
“Halen, I’m not going to apologize for the past. I’ve done everything in my power to keep you and your sister safe.”
“My what?” Halen spit the words. She was watching his lips move, but she wasn’t registering what he was saying.
“Your sister—Natalie.”
Halen’s gaze shot to Dax, and he rubbed the crease between his eyes. “You knew?” Of course that’s how he knew her name. She then turned toward Nelia, who slightly bowed her head when Halen’s gaze made contact with hers. “And you—you too?”
“They all know,” her father said. “The only one who doesn’t know is you. But now you do. So I suggest we move on, and get to the task at hand.”
“What task?” she asked.
“You have a duty to fulfill.”
His calloused words flooded her brain, sloshing around until she grew queasy. Her father was alive? He was really here, and now more than ever, she wished he would vanish. Anything would be better than having to stare at his stern face. A sister? The water churned her stomach. This was too much. All of it… She opened her mouth wide, and salt water rushed from her lips. The brine coated her tongue as the water spewed from her mouth, never ending, as if she had swallowed the entire ocean and now it needed to be released. Dax was swept from his feet. Her dad, however, stood firm with his fists clenched, even as the salt water lapped his claves. He shook his head, the disappointment plain on his face. She heaved another wave of water and the water rose up his legs. She wanted him to pay for letting her cry night after night, and for allowing her to pray for a prayer that could never be answered. She wanted to watch him to drown again, this time in her rage.
Fourteen
Tage stood outside the cafe, with her nose pressed against the cool glass. Even at two a.m. the place was jammed. She knew Daspar was somewhere inside. She had seen him clearly, as if he were sitting beside her on the couch in the condo. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door. Scanning the crowded tables, she spotted the long line of his back. He was sitting with two others, though she couldn’t get a good look at them. They were huddled over the table speaking to one another. The cafe was a blur of conversation, and a duet with a girl on the guitar and a boy, who looked like a lumberjack, harmonized on the small stage. Tage would have to get much closer if she wanted to hear what Daspar was saying.
She shuffled behind the line for coffee and positioned herself to get a better look at Daspar’s companions. She didn’t recognize either of them. A young girl not much older than Tage sat beside an ox of a boy, his broad shoulders stretching out his woolen sweater. Tage’s stare rested on the girl as she leaned into Daspar. A crescent moon of a smile was fixed on her face as she listened to him speak. Her copper streaked hair lay along her shoulders, and she flipped something between her two fingers—a rock. Tage caught a flash of red before she buried it in one of the many pockets of her cargo jacket.
There wasn’t a safe place to hear what they were saying without appearing like a hovering vulture, so she figured she might as well reveal herself. Feeling smug, she thought it would be fun to show Daspar she had escaped his spell. He would have to do better than a circle of sand. But as she stepped out of the coffee line, Tage froze. Raking his hand through his shaggy hair, the boy from the beach, the same boy who had been following her in the pictures, emerged from the bathroom.
“What the…?” She couldn’t believe it. She looked again. Yup, it was him. How many other Asian guys with ruby red hair and tattoos were there in Rockaway? None. He glanced her way, and she tucked back into the line before he could see her.
“Hey, are you in or are you out?” the man behind her asked.
“In. Definitely in,” she answered, but did not take her eyes from the boy.
She imagined Daspar might leap from the table and attack him, but when he sat down and joined the others, no one looked up except for the girl. She held his gaze with challenging eyes. Tage liked her already.
“What can I get for you?” the barista asked.
“Oh, um. I changed my mind. I don’t want anything.” She turned, barging into the man behind her. “Sorry.”
He rolled his eyes and took her place in front of the barista.
Tage tu
cked beside the sugar and cream station. Not knowing what they were all saying was driving her insane. She had a lot she wanted to say to that boy. She had a lot she would like to do to him, starting by punching him in the face. With her fists clenched by her side, she approached the table. She pressed her shoulder blades together. “Did I miss my invite?”
Daspar stood at once. The ox boy and the girl glanced at each other. And the boy from the beach ran his fingers through his shaggy hair once more. If Tage had a razor she would shave his head bald to break his irritating habit.
A twisted smile played on his lips. “Well, if isn’t the fish girl. You’re just in time.”
“I’m not a fish.” She lunged across the table, but her shoulder butted against Daspar’s palm, stopping her in place.
“Sit,” Daspar said as he kicked the chair leg with his boot.
She wasn’t going to go down without a fight though. “What is he doing here? And who are these people?” she asked this a little too loudly, as the duet finished their song and announced they would be taking a short break.
The girl and the boy said nothing. The girl brought out her stone and rolled it between her fingers. Tage noticed the boy had one too, only his stone was strung through a suede cord hanging around his neck.
“I thought we agreed you would stay in the apartment.” Daspar’s jaw tightened as he sat back down.
“I was feeling trapped,” Tage said between gritted teeth. She sat next to him. “I needed fresh air.”
“That was not an easy spell to break. You’re getting better.” His hard face broke into a smile.
“It was a test?” Tage asked.
“I could have broken out of the sand trap hours ago.” The girl set her stone down on the table, though she kept her fingers over it like a cage.
“Who are you?” Tage asked.
“This is Lina, and her brother, Tasar,” Daspar said. “They are here to help.”
“Why is he here?” She nodded toward the boy with the red hair. “He’s the one who chased Halen and me into the water.”
“You crazy chicks went in the ocean on your own.” The boy’s eyebrows rose over his dark eyes.
Tage slammed her fist down on the table, and Lina grabbed her stone up in her hand.
“She is too angry for this to work,” Lina said.
“You would be angry too, if you got chased into the night ocean,” Tage snapped back.
Daspar raised his hand. “Ezra was just trying to talk to Halen. If you hadn’t have acted so rash and run out the door, you would have known this.”
“He had knife,” Tage said. She couldn’t believe Daspar was defending him.
“I brought it to protect myself,” Ezra said.
“From what?” Tage asked.
“We think Natalie may have contacted him.” Daspar said.
“What?” Tage shifted in her seat. When Natalie went missing and Daspar found her bracelet, the news spread throughout the Tari making them restless. There had been were rumors Natalie was alive and some had gone searching for her, but Tage knew the hunters got to her just like they had killed her parents. There was no way she would take her bracelet off. The Tari would have killed her if she released her guardian. “Natalie’s dead. Besides, why would she contact this idiot?”
“Tage! Enough!” Daspar’s tone was like a slap in the face.
Lina glanced to her brother. They weren’t much older than her; neither was Ezra. But right now Tage felt about eight.
She wrung her hands trying to calm herself. “Look, you asked me to protect Halen. Watch out for her. Isn’t that why you helped me with the spells? Well, this is the guy who threatened to harm her and now you want me to play nice? I don’t get you.”
“I’m not asking you to get me,” Daspar said. “I’m asking you to trust me. Ezra is coming with us. He wants to help, and if it was Natalie who contacted him, then there is a possibility she is alive. She may contact him again. We need his help.”
“Coming with us—where are we going?”
“To church,” the ox boy said. He tucked his stone necklace under his sweater.
“Are you sirens?” Tage asked as she searched their hands for birthmarks.
“Etlis was our home. We will help the best we can.” Lina’s voice was shrill and rushed like a series of chirps.
“Shifters?” Tage had never actually seen a shifter in human form. Her dad had once taken care of an injured shifter child while in its form of a hawk. Shifter children didn’t mature to their human form until the age of thirteen. After that they could go between human and animal. They were unpredictable and if angered, they could shift without warning and kill you on the spot. As far as Tage was concerned they were no better than hunters who murdered her parents for protecting her. Tage nudged Daspar. “They can’t be trusted.”
“Some would say this about sirens,” Lina said.
Tage opened her mouth to respond, when Daspar cut in. “They have as much to lose as we do.”
“They don’t have a place here.”
The ox boy, Tasar, finally spoke, “Should the blue moon siren become unstable…” His voice was low like a growl. Tage pictured him a wolf. She would gut him if he turned on her.
“We are here to make sure things go smoothly,” Lina finished his sentence.
“You are here to kill Halen, if she doesn’t play nice,” Tage said.
Lina tapped the stone on the table as she cleared her throat. “That won’t be necessary. If we stick to the plan…” She met Daspar’s gaze. “Halen will be able to open the portal to Asair.”
“She can’t!” Tage looked to Daspar, her fists tightening. “Accessing the dark magick…” Tage inhaled a sharp breath. “Pushing Halen this fast is wrong. You will get her killed!” There was no way Daspar wanted this. It was too dangerous. “I wouldn’t have agreed to any of this, had I know you wanted to go in now.”
Daspar reached for her hand, and she clutched it to her chest. “The hunters won’t stop. You know this. We already lost Natalie. We can’t wait for Halen’s powers to mature. We need to act swiftly. The fires in Etlis are burning hotter by the day. Soon they will break through to Earth. If anyone other than the Tari gets a hold of Halen, then all hope will be lost. The Tari tried for a hundred years to produce a blue moon siren, one who lived long enough to access her powers. We can’t wait any longer. This may be our only chance.”
“Halen is not ready. She’s not even seventeen. Her magick will be stronger then. Why send her in unprepared?” Tage couldn’t stop arguing. “Do you even care what happens to any of us or you just hell-bent on defeating Asair?”
“Tage, I am doing this for all of us—for your parents. Only a blue moon siren can open the portal,” Daspar said. Tage could tell he was keeping his temper in check, trying to sound reasonable.
“You know only dark magick can open it.” Tage’s skin crawled. “Halen would have to access the darkness in her soul. She doesn’t even know how to control her magick. Heck she doesn’t even know what’s happening to her.”
“She has you,” Lina said. Her beady eyes hid under enormous black lashes, so it was hard to tell where she was actually looking, but right now Tage could feel her stare burrowing through her. “From what Daspar has told us, you can help Halen.”
“Look, kiddo.” Daspar’s tone softened. “We can do this. Please don’t undo what we’ve worked so hard to build. You have to trust me. There is no other way. This will work.”
She spun the bracelet on her wrist. Every day things got more complicated. Their plan was like a bridge rigged with explosive. Daspar wasn’t prepared. This plan was about to go boom.
Ezra leaned back in his chair and tilted his coffee cup to his lips. He tapped the end of the paper cup rapping the bottom like a drum.
“Would you stop that?” Tage snapped.
He shrugged, setting the cup back down. He strummed his fingertips on the table.
“Do you have something you would like to say?” Tage ask
ed.
“I would just like to point out, your plan has another problem.”
“What?” Tage and Daspar said together.
“You’ve lost your weapon—you don’t even know where to find Halen.”
Fifteen
“We have to get out of here!” Nelia shouted. “She’s going to destroy the records chamber.”
Halen collapsed, the floating scrolls bobbing alongside her. What had she done?
“Are you quite finished now?” her father asked.
Dax spoke for her, “She needs time. I told you this was a bad idea. Natalie was prepared. Halen can’t even harness her emotions. And you’re not helping.”
“Remember who you are speaking to.”
Halen watched her father. He was not the man her mom had filled her memories with. Her mom had told her he liked cinnamon toast with more sugar than cinnamon and wearing socks on the beach. And that he would read to Halen way past her bedtime and watch cartoons with her on Saturday mornings. She couldn’t imagine this man before her doing any one of those things. But when she looked in his eyes, the same leaf green eyes as hers, she knew he was the real deal. Only now the love she had been harboring for him felt just like everything else—a lie.
She wanted to defend Dax from her father’s anger, but her throat was on fire and she fought to keep her eyes open. The episode of puking waves had left her drained.
The bald boy stepped from behind her father and handed her a glass vial filled with amber liquid, like the one Nelia had given her before. “I made the elixir for you. I thought you might need it.” His left eye twitched, and she thought he was winking, until it spasmed again.
“I don’t need it.” She didn’t want anything from them.
“Just take it,” Dax said. “You’ll need your strength.” He kept his gaze on her father.
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