by H G Lynch
Brandon made an impatient noise and broke their wordless gaze. “Can you two have this hostile moment later please? We’ve got bigger things to worry about than your troubled love life,” he said with no small amount of derision.
Ember shot him a glower that made him pale. Sherry made a sound somewhere between a snicker and a scoff.
“Of course,” Reid said, still lying at Ember’s feet, just begging to be kicked if he didn’t move soon. “There are more important matters at hand, such as sitting here and going round in circles until someone falls asleep, because truthfully we have no idea what is in that lake and the only thing we know now that we didn’t before is that it has good taste in guys and more power than a nuclear reactor.”
Brandon scowled at him and waved a hand at him dismissively, but Ricky looked closely at the irritating blond boy, suspicion carved in the shape of his mouth and narrowing of his eyes. “What do you mean, we know it has good taste in guys?” he asked carefully. The firelight flickered across his face, bits of gold catching his blue-green eyes and lighting strands of his dark hair.
The room fell silent at the tone of his question and Reid’s mouth twisted as if he’d just realized he’d said something he hadn’t meant to.
“Yeah, Reid, how do we know that?” Ember arched a brow down at him and he gave her the baleful glare that he reserved for the times when she enforced her girlfriend powers to make him do something he didn’t want to. It gave her a pang of satisfaction as he finally sat up, not bothering to brush the dirt off his clothes, and sighed, knowing he was caught.
He leaned back against Ember’s legs and let her pick the bits of leaves off his shoulders as he spoke. “You remember how the wardings were set up in a way that let me get through them? Well, that’s one thing that hasn’t changed about the new wardings, as I discovered when I found myself waist-deep in the water. I didn’t mean to walk into the water, but right before I did, I heard music. Like singing, calling to me. It got inside my head and…I had to follow it. Which all makes me think we’re dealing with a siren.” He absently slapped at Ember’s fingers as she combed through his hair. She whacked him in the back of the head with the back of her hand. He continued talking while reaching behind him to grab at her wrist, “And I think this siren has a particular fondness for me. I don’t know how she knows me, but she does.” His thumb stroked her wrist gently, and he held her palm against his face, sighing. Ember bit her lip, frowning.
Brandon looked angry, Perry and Ricky looked stunned, but Cris just looked confused. Sherry looked bored and lost. “Why didn’t you tell us this before!” Brandon spluttered, throwing up his hands.
Pensively, Ricky folded his arms, sitting back in his seat. Reid laced his fingers through Ember’s, squeezing her hand, and she understood why he hadn’t wanted to say anything. It was because she here, and things were strained already. Knowing that even an unknown supernatural entity was pawing after him would only make things that much worse. But, of course, he didn’t say any of that aloud. He simply pursed his lips and shrugged, frustrating Brandon yet more.
“Well then, this changes everything. A siren. What would a siren be doing in a lake here? They usually hang about in the sea up near Orkney and Shetland.”
“Does it matter? We just need to get rid of her before she causes more damage,” Ricky said, but his eyes strayed to Reid and Ember, and a crease formed between his brows. “So how do we banish a siren? I’ve never heard of a siren being anywhere but the sea, and that’s their realm – nobody can touch them there. What exactly are we even supposed to do, kill her?”
“Legend says they’re meant to be damn difficult to kill. You need to keep them away from all water for thirteen days. In case you hadn’t noticed, it rains every other day. Keeping a siren away from water, especially when we don’t even know who or where she is, would be impossible.”
“I read in one of the old texts that if you take out a siren’s heart and burn it, she permanently turns into a fish.”
“Okay,” Ember said, losing patience and interest. “Well, I’m bored so I’m going to go, and when you figure out what to do about the siren stalking my boyfriend, let me know so I can find her and kick her ass back to where she belongs.” She got to her feet, reluctantly taking her hand out of Reid’s. He tried to catch her hand again and pull her back, a pained look on his face. He opened his mouth to say something, but Ember knelt beside him and swiftly cut him off by placing a soft kiss on his lips. “Relax, Reid. I’m not leaving because of you. Promise me you’ll come see me later?” Why couldn’t she stay mad at him? Why did it hurt her more to try to be angry with him? Because she loved him, and because it was Lia she hated for what happened. Lia was to blame, and Ember wasn’t going to let the bitch win by letting go of Reid. That was what Lia wanted and it was what she wasn’t going to get.
Reid nodded, a smile touching his lips. “I promise.”
Chapter Ten
Sherry followed her out of the musty building and into the frigid air, swinging a set of keys around her finger. Ember arched a brow at her questioningly and Sherry grinned, pointing toward Ricky’s shiny Audi parked just at the tree line. “Ricky gave me his keys so we wouldn’t have to walk back,” she explained.
Ember grinned. “So boyfriends do have practical uses.”
Sherry laughed as they climbed into Ricky’s car. It was nice inside, with black leather seats and a clean car smell. Closing the car door behind her, Sherry slid into the driver’s seat and gave a shudder as she buckled her seatbelt.
“Damn it’s cold out there,” she complained, sticking the key in the ignition.
Ember couldn’t disagree with her. It was nice to be out of the lashing wind and in the cozy comfort of the car. Sherry turned on the heating full blast, and the car started steaming up from the inside as they drove. Ember contentedly drew shapes in the fog on the glass of her window, lazily commenting on how she didn’t need a car when she had friends as chauffeurs. Sherry laughed over the music pouring out of the radio, and Ember propped her feet on the dashboard, watching the little scented pine tree swinging from the mirror.
Outside the windshield, evidence of the power of the wind was clearly visible; trees were bending together like they were doing some sort of bizarre dance, dead leaves that had survived the snow went on suicide missions, flinging themselves into the air and hurtling across the road, sweeping under the wheels of the car. There was even one wrinkled old tree pulled half-way out of the ground, digging in its roots to keep from toppling over. Sherry eyed it with a grimace.
“Someone should do something about that tree. It’s bound to fall over onto the road in this weather.”
It was the most inane comment Ember had heard in possibly weeks, and for some reason it struck her as hilarious. She burst into laughter, and Sherry cast her a surprised, confused glance.
“What? Why is that funny?” she asked, but she was grinning too.
And then they were both laughing, and Sherry slowed the car because her hands were shaking on the steering wheel, and Ember choked out between gasps, “Maybe you should get superman to move the tree if you’re so worried about it.” Which only made them laugh harder. They were so distracted by their own ridiculousness that they didn’t notice the frost creeping over the windows like icy breath. They didn’t notice that the air blasting from the heater had turned bitterly cold, or that the radio had stopped playing music. Instead, static buzzed angrily through the speakers. Beyond the glass, the road was suddenly treacherously icy, the trees on either side of the road were dripping with icicles and just through the trees on the left, there was the silver glimmer of Onyx Lake, barely visible through the thrashing trees throwing their icicles to the ground and toward the car. It seemed that the instant one icicle fell and smashed, another replaced it almost immediately, like it was growing out of the tree.
“Move a tree. You can’t just move a tree!” Sherry squealed, clutching her ribs with one hand, watching Ember convulse with laughter in
the passenger’s seat. Then, like someone had flipped a switch, she stopped laughing.
It was a moment before Ember realized it, and she frowned.
“Sherz, what’s up? You look like you saw a ghos-Okay, not the best phrase to use I guess, is it?” she snickered, but Sherry didn’t even look at her. Ember couldn’t see her face because she was staring out the left window toward the lake, her head tilted as if she were hearing something Ember wasn’t. All of a sudden, the car lurched on the icy road, the back wheels losing traction and skidding uselessly across the frost. Sherry didn’t react except to move her head to follow the line of the lake. It was in front to them now, and Ember could see Sherry’s eyes were oddly glazed, her lips parted as she stared straight forward at the glimmering edge of the water. That was when Ember knew, she just knew, what was about to happen. A spear of panic shot through her chest and she reached for the wheel, but even her vampire reflexes weren’t fast enough. Sherry’s foot slammed down on the accelerator, and there was a moment of nothing happening that was almost comic, before the tires found a grip on the ice and thrust them forward. Ember screamed, grabbing for the steering wheel, but Sherry had a death grip on it that even she couldn’t pry off – at least, not without breaking a few of her friend’s fingers.
The car careened between two hulking trees, and there was an ungodly screech as the dagger-like icicles scraped along the roof of the car. Branches cracked and snapped, whipping the windshield and knocking off one of the wing mirrors. The buzzing from the radio seemed horrendously loud, or maybe it was just the buzzing in Ember’s ears.
“Sherry! Sherry, for God’s sake, snap out of it! Please, don’t make me slap you!” Ember shrieked, her heart thundering in her chest as Onyx Lake drew closer. It glistened dangerously with a covering of heavy, white-blue ice. The thought of what the hell is with this bloody lake? flashed through Ember’s head as she wrestled with the steering wheel. But it was a lost cause, because Sherry still had her foot on the accelerator, so there was no way this car was stopping.
Just at the last moment before the car hit the edge of the lake, bumping onto the ice, Ember gave up trying to deflect the car’s path and braced her hands on the dashboard. The car slid on the ice for an endless second before she heard the sound she’d been dreading – the sharp, loud crack of the ice giving way under the weight of the car. Everything after that seemed to happen in slow motion. The car began to sink, icy water trickling through the doors, filling up the foot spaces first. The car tilted nose first downward, dark water rising up over the windscreen, chunks of ice bashing into the roof and doors as the lake water rose amazingly quickly. It encased Ember’s feet, a shock of glacial liquid spilling into her boots and freezing her toes. She gasped at the intense cold as it crept up and up from her ankles to her calves to her knees, so fast that by the time she’d recovered from the shock enough to think, it was almost to her waist. She glance across at Sherry fearfully. Sherry appeared dazed, blinking slowly, and there was a gash on her forehead leaking crimson blood. Desperately, Ember fumbled with her seatbelt until it clicked free, then reached over to undo Sherry’s belt too. The water was up to her chest, constricting her lungs in icy fists. God, it was so painfully cold. Her muscles cramped achingly, goosebumps shivering along her skin.
The water was still rising, and she could see a slash of daylight through the rear window. The windscreen was cracked from the impact with the ice, and it was springing leaks through which tiny streams of frigid water were flowing. The water was so dark, furious bubbles clouding the windows, but something streaked past the windscreen. Ember jumped in surprise, her heart rate bouncing up another notch, drumming erratically on her ribs. She could have sworn…she thought she’d seen…but it was probably just a fish or something.
Sherry was regaining her senses, and she was freaking out. Gasping, terrified, she was yanking at the car door, but it wouldn’t do her any good. The water was nearly up to Ember’s chin. The pressure difference between the inside and outside of the car would keep the doors sealed firmly shut until the pressure equalized, meaning they had to wait until the water reached the tops of the doors inside. It was frustrating and terrifying, but Ember tried to keep hold of herself, told herself not to panic. But it wasn’t herself she was really worrying about, it was Sherry. She could hold her breath for nearly twenty minutes under water if she really had to, but Sherry had no such ability. She still had to breathe, and she already had a head-wound, probably a concussion.
Then the car lurched suddenly sideways, threatening to roll over. It tilted slowly, slowly, and Ember clutched at the back of her seat just as the car turned over all at once. The sudden change of direction was disorienting, and she found herself sitting on the roof of the car, her hand tangled in her seatbelt. Sherry was slumped next to her, under the water, apparently unconscious. She must have whacked her head. The car was almost entirely full of water at last, so Ember sucked in a desperate breath from the last air pocket near the back of the car and dove under the water to the front seats again. She tried yanking on the doors. They refused to open. Defying what she knew about pressure differences, about car crashes in water, the doors wouldn’t budge. Dammit! She yanked harder on the handle until it snapped. Her body was going numb, her fingers fumbling as she reached for the handle of the driver’s door. It wouldn’t open either. But she was running out of time. Sherry wouldn’t last much longer. Floating in the water, pale and unconscious, her hair a bright halo around her, she already looked dead. Ember hoped to God that Sherry’s magic would keep her from getting hypothermia. She wasn’t so sure that she could avoid it herself, not if she was in this water for much longer. The cold was crushing her lungs and freezing her muscles, turning her bones to rods of ice. Her eyes stung, her vision blurring under the water.
There was only one more way out, and she just hoped she was strong enough, that the iciness hadn’t taken too much of her energy. Spinning round, she pressed her shoulder blades against the driver’s side door and kicked at the passenger window. Her legs felt stiff and weak, her boots floating around on her feet. The flat, rubber heel wasn’t doing much good, but Ember tried again and again, kicking as hard as she could. But the freezing water and the lack of oxygen was slowly draining her energy and her consciousness. Her magic couldn’t help her now, not in this water, not in this cold. She could feel it, though, a bright spark in her chest, but she couldn’t do anything with it. It was like a candle flame trapped in a block of ice.
Something swam past the window again, this time so close and so horribly distorted that Ember screamed, jerking her leg back from the glass. Instantly, frigid water poured into her mouth and down her throat, choking her, drowning her. Her lungs burned, spasming over and over, trying to expel the murky, icy water, but she pressed her lips together, refusing to inhale more water. She hated this lake, she hated it, and now it was going to kill her just because she couldn’t kick out the bloody window!
Furious and panicked, with her vision going grey and tunneling, her body slowly shutting down, Ember gave it one last attempt, putting all the force left in her muscles into coiling her legs and kicking the window. Her heels connected hard with the glass and for one awful moment she thought it wouldn’t smash, but then she felt the glass give and crumble. Shards tore into her ankles and calves, but that wasn’t important. Blood tainted the water. Ember reached back and grabbed her friend under the arms, hauling Sherry into the front seat and working her way hastily out the broken window. More glass ripped gashes in her hips and back, and she very nearly cried out in pain. She dragged Sherry through the window, silently apologizing for the slashes that Sherry would have, too.
Finally, they were free of the car, but the surface seemed a long way up and she wasn’t sure she could stay conscious long enough to get to it. She started kicking, her legs heavy and slow, Sherry in her arms weighing her down, but letting go wasn’t even an option. She’d rather drown first. Something snagged her torn jeans, but she kicked it off. It came back an
d clawed at her back, digging sharp fingers into the slashes that were already there. Ember thought she might have been crying but it was hard to tell. Something white flashed past her, slicing a new gash in her arm, then circled round to slash again at her legs. Ember kept kicking. She just needed to get to the surface. She just needed to get Sherry to the surface. Hiro would know she was in trouble by now. He’d be here any second. She had to believe that, because there was no way she was going to be able to hang on long enough to revive Sherry and someone had to do it before she suffered brain damage from lack of oxygen. Please, please, please. She didn’t know precisely what she was praying for, there were so many things she needed right now.
At last, she reached the surface of the lake, reached up a hand in the hopes that someone was on the bank and would see it, but her fingers touched something cold and solid. Ice. The lake had iced over again. There was no way out, no more oxygen, no more time. She didn’t have the energy to call up her fire, she couldn’t melt the ice, and her vision was quickly going black. The creature in the water seemed to sense that it had won, that Ember had finally figured out that there was no way out of this freezing watery hell. It took hold of Ember’s ankle, and began dragging her down, down, down into the black depths. Ember let Sherry go, her arms too weak to carry her friend anymore. Things, shapes, colors blurred past her eyes as she was pulled deeper and deeper…then there was just the blackness swirling around her, so dark that she couldn’t see anything, not even her own hand in front of her face.
How was it possible that a lake was this deep? It shouldn’t have been this deep. It couldn’t keep going forever…could it? No, that was impossible. Unless she was already dead and this was all there was – an endless drowning, spiraling forever downward into waters as dark and cold as nothing she’d ever known. Drowning forever in the veil of death. One final thought echoed in her head before she gave up, letting the blackness swallow her whole: Reid, I love you.
