by Hazel Grace
I’m about to lash out at her with words. That I’d never condone her touching either of them because I don’t trust that she’d do it in the best way, but it’s her vulnerability that stops me.
Atarah doesn’t fidget. She doesn’t pick at her nails because she’s particular about them in the first place, and she’d never let any of us see her sweat.
The tone in her voice sounds small and defeated, guilty even. And it’s then that I never considered how much of a toll it’d take on my sisters to ask and have me do what I have done to save them all.
Slowly, I bring my attention back to the bookcase, letting my eyes readjust to the books for a second time. Giving my mind a break so that I can try and think of something else. But I can feel the tension in my shoulders, the exhaustion coursing through my body, my gut hasn’t stopped twisting, and it’s not because I’m hungry. Looking at food would only make it worse.
All I want to do is wake up or go back to two days ago before everything came to light. To hold Dagen and Tobias close to my chest and never let them go.
I should’ve fought harder, refused their plan, and made up my own.
“Nothing has changed,” Brylee announces as she enters my library. “Everything is secure and...quiet.”
My sisters have been taking turns scouring the island and the perimeter of the water outside Merindah to make sure nothing was lurking outside our border. We’re perfectly seated in the middle of the ocean where Taysa can attack from any direction at any given moment with Zeus knows what.
A hand touches my left shoulder, the smell of the sea and fresh flowers gives Brylee’s identity away as she gives it a small squeeze. “Let’s go get some air.”
“Just let her rest,” Rohana counters. “It’s...it’s just too much right now.”
“It’s too much being cooped up in this stuffy library,” Brylee retorts. “And she looks pale.”
“Do you want to?” Rohana mutters at my side.
“Why don’t we just leave and give her some space?” Isolde offers, standing from one of the chairs at the small table I have along the wall. “We can come back to bother her later.”
“We can’t just leave her here locked up in a room by herself,” Brylee argues. She leans over to look me in the face. “Doesn’t that sound good, sweetie? We’ll walk the beach, and we don’t have to talk.”
“Stop being pushy,” Atarah snaps quietly, which is completely out of her element. The twins are usually the other way around. Atarah and her “I’m three minutes older” line that she always preaches to Brylee on why she’s able to say whatever she wants. Brylee is the more comforting twin but obviously not today.
“When did you lose your pushiness?”
“When she had to—why don’t you take another walk around the island a few times?” Atarah carps.
“Why don’t you go take a walk around the island and burn off some of your attitude?”
Atarah stands. “How about we both go outside and I’ll show you where I can—”
“I’ll go outside,” I chant, rising from the settee as the weight of all their eyes fall on me.
Making my way to the door, I don’t wait for any of them to follow me. I’m actually hoping they don’t, but my luck ran dry a long time ago, and now I don’t deserve it.
I make my way down the short hall to the massive foyer, the same one Dagen followed me into when I let him out of his chains for the first time. When I shoved him across the room because he had a nag for touching me all the time and twirling me around like he had a right to.
Nudging the recollection away, I keep my head down, not wanting to look anywhere that held a piece of history of him. It wasn’t as though I’d be able to live in my denial state for long because I had to give both of them a proper funeral. Make sure that they are laid to rest in peace because it was the last thing I’d be able to give them.
The moment my hand reaches for the sky blue door that leads outside, the floor starts to rumble. Freezing in place, I listen to the house start to creak and clatter with the belongings of the castle. The low roar of the ground outside announcing that something is wrong or coming.
Swinging the door open, I’m met with not a blue sky of clouds but green dusted with a dark overcast. My feet slowly move to meet the first step as I study the change of the weather. I’ve never seen or read anything like it in any of my books. It’s strangely quiet, the waves barely making a sound along the shoreline as though the world froze.
The grains of sand jump off the beach at the progressive shaking of the ground while I take my first step onto the beach.
Casting my gaze over the ocean again, I see the start of a ripple forming. From the crest of the water, a set of octopus tentacles breach the skin of the gentle waves, reaching and curling in all directions.
But when the tint of green follows the rising purple limbs, my blood turns cold.
Taysa’s eyes latch right onto me as the rest of her body appears from the water. But it wasn’t the fragile-looking frame that she had days ago when I last saw her. It was curvy and voluptuous, perfectly molded to look twenty years younger than what her true age was.
Magic, it’s the only explanation.
The red glint of a bottle swings in the air by one of the long limbs as Taysa strides toward the shore, confidence announced in every step she takes.
Each one crucifies me.
Reminds me of what she sacrificed, what I took away—from the both of us. I took her power while she took my life. My body was now a barren shell of depression and grief that would never fill with anything bright or luminous again.
That she took away from me.
“Davina.” It’s Atarah with a voice full of authoritative resonance. So different from moments ago when she wanted to coddle me and have everyone else leave me alone.
Her arm links with mine, offering the strength that I lack, as we both watch Taysa hit the sand. Dressed in all black, the shiny material clings to her body, getting kicked up by the wind that is increasing in speed.
“My girls,” she bellows, still yards away. “I’m back.”
Atarah keeps her gaze trained on her. “Rohana is grabbing Tobias’s gun,” she states in my head. “While Isolde is grabbing the Viking’s blade. Both are going to tuck them behind your skirt.”
“Where are the rest of you?” Taysa asks, suddenly stopping when she sees it's only the two of us standing here to see her arrival. Her brow slowly peaks when neither of us speak, knowing that she’s not welcome here, that she may have walked into a trap.
Regardless, she knows the goal—we want her dead.
“I’m here to make a deal,” Taysa consults, still wafting around the bottle. I don’t know what keeps pulling me to it, but it definitely means something. “Your freedom for Davina.”
Atarah’s body grows stiffer alongside mine, but she stays quiet.
“You have a night to think about it.”
“We’ll end this now,” Atarah retorts back. “Today.”
Taysa cocks her head to the side. “Don’t be foolish, Atarah. You’re the eldest, six sisters outweighs the one.”
“And why would I do that?”
“Because you’ll all die, my darling, and I actually do like you girls.” Her dark eyes land on me. “But your sister stole something from me. My offspring died at her hands.”
A mirthless laugh escapes my sister. “Then you might want to reevaluate your affection because I condoned it. Hell, I almost killed your youngest myself.”
A hard twitch of her jaw and Taysa transforms back into herself, calm and collected.
“Mine would’ve been much worse though,” Atarah continues, squeezing my arm against her ribs in a silent apology. “Davina was at least gracious.”
The sound of my name triggers something within her head because her attention falls back on me, and it’s filled with hatred and disdain.
“I kept those boys safe their whole lives,” she snaps. “Tobias saved you.”
“Don’t speak,” Atarah voices. “She’s trying to spark your temper.”
“You ungrateful little bitch,” Taysa barks. “You murdered my sons.”
Atarah raises her chin. “And they gladly gave their lives to save us.”
“I’m going to get sick,” I utter to my sister, feeling the monotonous screw of my gut.
Just hearing Taysa say it out loud is sending me backward into the dark mindset of solitude. Where I’ll never hear Tobias’s jokes or lay in Dagen’s arms again. The cruel reality sinking in again that I watched and did nothing when they both took their last breaths.
Because you needed to safeguard your sisters.
I hear my subconscious say it, over and over again, but it does nothing to soothe away the disgust I feel toward myself. It doesn’t lift anything off my chest or take the weight that’s constantly pressing into my rib cage.
“Hold on,” Atarah mutters in my head. “They’ll be here soon.”
She means our sisters, the ones I sacrificed everything for—my happiness, my love, my whole entire life.
Lined up together, side by side, my five sisters and I face Taysa on the darkened beach. The sea is deathly calm, looking black from the inky-colored clouds overhead. Nesrine is still gone, on her way to retrieve our father, but I’m glad she isn’t here.
One less to become injured or die, one less thing to have to worry about because right now I’m terrified.
I’ve given up more than I ever thought I’d have to in my lifetime. Made choices with my sisters full of curiosity and stories. Included a woman who was more than what I would’ve ever imagined with her mother-like tendencies and love that she casted toward us. Only for it all to be made up of lies and deceit, alluding me to do the unimaginable.
“If you hand over the cuff,” Taysa states. “I’ll show mercy on all of you.”
“And what happens with Davina?” Atarah counters.
Those dark eyes shift to me and back to my sister. “The cuff will save her too.”
“Don’t believe you,” Brylee sneers. “You’re a lying old hag who’s done enough to our family. The death of your sons lay at your hands.”
“I was never going to harm them,” she snaps. “You stupid little chits ruined everything.” A crack of lightning follows her rant, making me jump in between Atarah and Kali.
“Stay calm,” Atarah conveys. “We’re going to be okay.”
Oh, the naivety of her words does nothing to soothe me. We’re in a load of trouble, and no amount of calmness is going to erase anything that is going to happen to us today.
The feel of metal and wood rub against my spine as Dagen’s blade and Tobias’s gun are slid under my skirt. Meant to at least hurt the sea witch for what she’s done, but I don’t think I can manage anything right now with my murky brain.
“We found that dark-haired woman Tobias brought in her room,” Brylee states to all of us. “With her throat slit.”
“Self-inflicted,” Rohana adds in then glances at Taysa. “Or self-made.”
“The cuff goes nowhere,” Atarah orders. “Where is it, Davina?”
“I hid it in the forest, she’ll never find it.”
“We need to make a move,” Brylee utters to all of us. “Before she does something else.”
“What do you suggest?” Isolde asks. “I have a feeling she didn’t come alone.”
“I can bet she didn’t,” Kali pipes in. “The sea being so calm feels like something lies not to far behind her.”
“One way to find out,” I add. “Someone needs to get closer.”
“And let me guess, that’d be you,” Atarah snaps. “You’re the first person she’s going to try and kill.”
“Exactly. Which is where the rest of you come into play.”
Atarah squeezes my arm that she’s still holding. “No—”
“She isn’t wrong,” Brylee cuts in. “We need a distraction, she’s it.”
“I swear to Zeus, you are all mad.”
I start to pull myself out of Atarah’s hold. “I’m going to try.”
“Davina,” Atarah warns. “We don’t have time to argue.”
“Then don’t,” Rohana breaks in. “You have to trust her. You did with everything else.”
Atarah hesitates then drops her hold on me, letting me proceed to take a cautious step closer.
Taysa perks a brow, knowing that we can communicate to each other without anyone else none the wiser. That by my sisters letting me step forward when she wants nothing more than my head means that we have something outlined.
We don’t.
Unless they do, which wouldn’t surprise me after what transpired in the last few days. Seems like all the decision-making has been taken away and talked about amongst themselves.
Maybe I should’ve never been the one to make all of the decisions for the seven of us.
“You’re not going to trick me nor are you going to win,” Taysa seethes in my direction. “I’m utterly shocked that you’d turn against those boys. That you were so selfish as to kill both of them when they’ve done nothing but love you. I placed them in your care, knowing that out of all the girls, you would’ve loved them both.” Her eyes constrict. “And then you executed them.”
“It wasn’t my idea,” I retort. “It was theirs.”
She scoffs at my fact and turns a darker shade of green. “They weren’t suicidal. You’re just a pretty little thing but nothing that would’ve—”
“I’m a Siren,” I snap. “I can make them feel however I want them to feel.”
“That wasn’t something you were always good at, was it?” She jerks her head to my sisters behind me. “They’re better at that than you are. You were just the curious, stupid one who always wanted to be where she wasn’t allowed.”
“And you were the slimy, old bitch that betrayed us, so who’s better than who?”
A line appears between her black brows. “We’ll see, won’t we?”
My heart starts to quicken. “Guess we will but watch it,” I warn, leaning a little to add to my pettiness. “We all know you’re a tad weaker without the boys.”
I wink, which makes the sea start to move more frantically. The waves begin to crash loudly against the shoreline while another jolt of lightning cracks through the sky.
“Davina,” Atarah cautions. “Watch the sea.”
The moment she says it, is the instant I see it. Two heads emerge from the crest of tides followed by slick scales of gray that don’t stop until they’re high over Taysa’s head. Sharp, pointed teeth and yellow bulging eyes gleam down at us, ready and waiting for their next command.
Giant eels.
On the left and right side of their master, their nostrils expanding to smell what lays before them, which are six snacks they want to cut in half with their deadly teeth.
“Get back,” Brylee demands.
But I don’t.
Instead, I’m ready for the sea witch to beckon them to attack me so that my sisters can do something. For them to have the opportunity to do anything while I become the perfect bait and target.
However, we’re going up against creatures that live under the sea, and using said element of water will be difficult to herd them with. The only things my sisters wield are rods covered in barnacles with sharp shelled tips, some with long, curved blades at the end while Atarah and Kali hold tridents just like our father.
Other than that, we’re doomed.
Unless I can get one of them closer to the beach, I might be able to burn one.
“I need them closer,” I tell my sisters. “I might be able to put a hole in one with my heat.”
“Can you do more than that?” Isolde asks. “Because they’ll just turn around and bite you.”
“You were in flames when you killed Edda,” Atarah states. “Going to have to do that again, love.”
“I was?” I shrug inwardly because I don’t remember. “I’m going to have to get angry enough.”
“She linked Tobias
and the Viking to herself, do I need to remind you of anything else that you did?”
Alright, so Atarah threw a low blow, which does make my jaw twitch and stomach knot at the same time, but I was the cause of their deaths and—
“If it wasn’t for her, they’d be alive,” Brylee adds.
“Okay, that’s enough,” I seethe. “I got it.”
“Do you though?” Kali interjects. “Seems like you’ve been too busy wallowing around the island feeling sorry for yourself to worry about the real reason why this is all happening.”
Slowly, I start to spin on my heels, finding all my sisters still standing where I left them, weapons in hand and waiting for Taysa’s next move, but I’m putting holes in my sister’s heads with my eyes.
“I said I got it,” I gripe.
“Enough!” Taysa hollers from behind me. “It doesn’t matter if I can’t hear you, your plans will do nothing.”
I lift my left hand in the air and summon her with my middle and index fingers. “Let’s finish this then instead of hearing you talk about it.”
Turning back around, everything remains the same—Taysa still stands there with a scowl and hatred in her eyes, the two giant eels wait impatiently for her to give her next decree, but it’s Nesrine that didn’t fit the picture the last time.
Set back a few yards from the eels and trident in hand, she positioned it horizontal to her right shoulder, eyes pinned on me and my direction.
I don’t speak to her, nor do I keep my gaze on her except for that split second before landing back on Taysa. If she’s here, our father isn’t far behind.
“Ready?” I taunt, feeling both Tobia’s and Dagen’s weapons brush my lower back.
A slow quirk of Taysa’s lips spike up her face. “More than you’ll ever know.”
“Throw it!” Nesrine cocks her arm back, positions her elbow up, and launches the three-pronged harpoon at one of the eels.
A loud high-pitched shrill of pain echoes across the water as Nesrine dips underneath it to hide herself and her position from Taysa. The moment the sea witch turns to see what’s happened, I’m reaching behind my back for Tobias’s gun.
