Water and Blood

by B. Kristin McMichael

  “Even so,” Mark said, humoring her. “I promised Sam I would take you home. You know he can get a little overprotective.”

  Whitney rolled her eyes again, but as an order from Sam, Mark probably couldn’t say no if he wanted to. If she tried to walk home, he probably gave Mark permission to kidnap her and force her to take the ride home. Yes, Sam was more than a bit overprotective. While she hated to be told what to do, since all she really wanted was sleep, her best course of action was to listen to Mark and take his ride home.

  Turning around, Whitney followed him to his car. Like Sam, he drove a nice car but not a new one. They seemed to work that way. Sirens certainly liked finer things in life and from their recording contract could afford them, but they kept things simple and less flashy, probably to draw less attention.

  “How are things going with Sam?” Mark asked as Whitney sat down in the car.

  She shrugged. What sort of open-ended question was that? Mark was her boss and Sam’s friend, but she still didn’t know him well enough to talk about Sam with him. And she was more than sure that she didn’t want to accidentally say something she would regret.

  “Has he told you anything about going home this weekend?” Mark pried for more information.

  “No. Is he going on a trip?” Whitney asked back innocently, knowing full well Sam was avoiding going back at all costs.

  Mark drove a minute in silence, looking like he wasn’t sure how to proceed.

  “I hear you’ve met his brother,” Mark tried to begin the conversation again.

  Whitney shrugged again. Oh yeah, she had met Tim, but there was no way she was going to tell Mark what she thought of Sam’s evil older brother. Okay. Maybe he wasn’t evil, but he wasn’t good either. She had looked in his eyes and seen it. His smile was only for show. Why no one else saw that was beyond her. Or maybe they did and didn’t care. The little she had learned about the siren, most of them were like Tim, hard, cold, calculating, and uncaring.

  “Has Sam told you anything about how traditional his parents are?” Mark kept asking questions as he turned on another road leading her closer to home. Whitney couldn’t wait to get out of the car and away from Mark and his questions before she slipped up.

  “Aren’t all parents a bit old-fashioned?” Yep, just answer a question with an answer. That could keep him going. They were getting close enough to her home.

  Mark nodded before adding, “Did he tell you they plan to set up an arranged marriage for him?”

  Whitney gave Mark her best pretend shock face. Mark gave her a sad smile and nodded like he bought it.

  “I know, nothing against Sam and all, but he’s known all along that this weekend he has to go home and probably will have to break up with you,” Mark told her, laying a hand on her bare leg.

  Genuine shock laced her face, and Mark took that as a sign to continue to comfort her. But her shock wasn’t from his words; it was because his touch didn’t make her skin tingle like it did when Sam touched her. Here she was thinking it was a siren to siren thing, and as soon as one touched her, they would know. That didn’t seem to be the case. Mark was as clueless as ever, and now she had to talk to Sam and ask him what that meant.

  “Well, thanks for the warning,” Whitney said, slipping out from beneath his hand as she opened her door.

  The car hadn’t come to a complete stop, but they were at her house, and she didn’t want to stay in the car any longer than she had to. She had the very distinct feeling what would come next would include Mark offering to take her out. When she refused, she didn’t want to see if he would try to use his siren voice to get her to agree. It wasn’t a game she wanted to play and was glad to be out of his car and walking to her home.

  Whitney didn’t look back, and she raced up to the house and went inside before Mark could follow. Her internal thoughts were debating over whether to tell Sam or not. Something came up with the sirens that was keeping him busy, and maybe it just wasn’t the time to tell him about Mark basically hitting on her. Sam hadn’t told her what was keeping him when he texted a couple times a night before she worked, but it was because it was siren stuff. He could only tell her the truth when they were certain to be alone. While she had no idea why, she trusted Sam completely. One thing was for sure. He wasn’t planning on going back to the island and let his parents marry him off.

  Making it to her room, Whitney turned on the light and looked out her window to the driveway. Mark was still sitting there, now on his phone. She waved to him. He nodded and began to back out. Sam was like that, too; always checking to be sure she made it in her house. More than likely he was just acting on Sam’s orders, because she was pretty sure the most dangerous thing near her at the moment was Sam’s siren friend that looked like he couldn’t wait for Sam to be mated off.

  Whitney walked over to her phone, which she had left at home by accident, and turned it on. Sam had texted her a bunch of times. First one said to not go to work. Second was that he realized she was already at work. Third was to let Mark give her a ride home. Fourth was to not go with Mark. Sam was certainly being wishy-washy. The last one said that he would be over at two in the morning to get her, and to have her bags packed. Sam had mentioned that his brother didn’t seem to be leaving town, and Sam wanted to keep her safe. Whitney was pretty sure Sam was Tim’s target, but she would humor him. A weekend hiding with him didn’t sound too bad at all to her.

  Sitting down on her bed, Whitney debated taking a shower or not before going to sleep. She constantly felt like there was a coating of grease on her skin when she got home from work. Grease annoyed her. Probably always would since she was a bit obsessive with cleaning, and the slime of grease didn’t feel clean.

  As she lay on her bed debating if she had enough energy to shower, her phone beeped with another text. Was Sam changing his mind again? Probably. Picking up her phone, she looked at it and saw it was from Trudy. She wanted Whitney to go to school and meet her at the pool. She said Sam was in trouble, and he needed her help. Whitney didn’t hesitate as she pulled on a hoodie and her shoes. It would take her more than fifteen minutes to run to the school, but that was all she could do without a car. She was half tempted to call Mark and see if he would come back. He couldn’t be too far away, but decided against it. He really creeped her out with all the questioning. Running would have to do.

  Whitney left the house without telling her aunt or cousin since neither were home. She’d call them later and straighten it out before either could worry. With the time of night it was, they probably wouldn’t check for her until morning or even later, thinking she was sleeping in.

  In the dark of the night, with her night human siren vision, Whitney had no problem getting to the school. She kept her pace at a jog in case anyone saw her on her way there but she went as fast as she could without drawing attention to herself. When she finally made it to the school, she looked around the parking lot for Sam’s car. It wasn’t there, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t there. Trudy had said he was at the pool.

  Whitney continued her jog around to the back gate of the pool. The fence was closed, which was odd because when Sam was there, he never had it closed. The second odd thing was that the lights were off. Yes, Whitney could see fine, but most day humans had bad night vision. Her friends would have left it on for her at least.

  Pulling open the gate, she walked forward.

  “Trudy,” she said quietly. Whitney wasn’t sure if anyone was supposed to be at the school, and she didn’t want to get her friends in trouble.

  She saw that at least a few people were in the water. What happened? She crept closer since no one had responded.

  Bright lights turned on all around her, momentarily blinding Whitney. She covered her eyes with her hands, but someone grabbed her from behind and ripped her hands from her face, making her squint. Her eyes quickly adjusted as she looked back to the pool. Her friends—Trudy, Tina, Noah, and James—were standing in the water near the deeper end as it was all neck high.
From the looks of it, they were fully clothed, but nothing appeared to be holding them in place. Whitney had no clue what was going on.

  Straining to get her head around, she didn’t need to see her attacker once he spoke.

  “I’ve been following Samuel around all day, but it seems like he wants to play this game of cat and mouse forever. I have plans back home to get to, so I figure this is an easier way.”

  Tim held her arms twisted behind her so she couldn’t move.

  “I’m going to call my brother, and you are going to ask him to come here,” Tim told her.

  “No,” Whitney replied. It was exactly what Tim wanted, and it couldn’t be good. Tim chuckled making her bounce off his chest as she was pressed against him.

  “Let me try this again. You are going to tell my worthless little brother to meet you here.” Tim’s voice changed, and Whitney heard it.

  She didn’t want to give anything away, but she was stuck. If she said no, then he would think something was up. If she did what he asked, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t do something to her or her friends to get Sam to go with him. The best option was to not reply, which would buy her a little more time.

  Whitney looked across the pool to her friends. All she saw in Trudy’s eyes was terror. Tina was beside Trudy without her glasses with the same expression on her face. Without the corrective lenses, she looked completely different. If Whitney had seen her on the street, she might not even know it was her friend.

  Tim must have taken her silence as agreeing.

  “If you try to leave, one of your friends dies,” Tim told her as he released her arms. Reaching into her pocket, he pulled out her phone.

  Whitney brought her arms back in front of her and rubbed her sore wrists. Because of night human super healing, there wouldn’t be a bruise. She looked back to her friends. She couldn’t see anything keeping them where they were, and it was four against one. Why weren’t they fighting back?

  “Time to tell him,” Tim told her, offering her the phone.

  Whitney glanced at her friends one last time. She didn’t want them to get hurt, but she also needed to keep Sam away. His family was nothing but bad news. He’d told her that already a dozen times. She couldn’t imagine them actually being like that, but as her friends stood there, she was certain Tim wouldn’t hesitate to hurt them. Running wasn’t an option. How was she supposed to get out of it this time?

  Tentatively, she took the phone that was already dialing Sam’s number. Without hesitation, Whitney tossed the phone into the water.

  “Oops.” She covered her mouth but didn’t try to hide how not sorry she was.

  Tim’s face fluctuated from surprise, to anger, to a smile that couldn’t mean anything good.

  “I have a feeling you’re too smart for your own good. What has my brother told you about his family?” Tim’s voice had a melody to it.

  “That he has jerks for siblings,” Whitney spat back at him.

  Tim smiled more. “I can see why he likes you. You have the will to defy us and the spunk to back it up. You must really be a fun toy. I’m sorry you met my dear brother first. He must completely bore you.” Tim now stood beside her, looking her up and down. “And you must taste delicious.”

  “Sorry. I don’t do that sort of stuff on a first date, or even second or third with someone like you,” Whitney replied.

  Tim just grinned more. “Oh, how I wish I could sit here all day and play with you, but I don’t have time for that. I have to head back home, and I need my little brother to show up. Let’s get this game started.”

  Pulling out his own cell phone, he typed in a number then held it to his ear as he waited for the person to answer.

  Whitney glanced back at her friends. ‘Are you okay?’ she mouthed to them.

  Tina couldn’t see her clear enough, but Trudy’s eyes went wide—like she couldn’t answer, even if she wanted to. Then it sunk in. Tim didn’t have to tie them up or secure them. They couldn’t disobey him.

  “Little brother,” Tim said into the phone. Then he pulled it back and huffed. “He sure is in a bad mood,” Tim complained. “He hung up on me.” His face mirrored sadness that wasn’t really there. Tim actually seemed to enjoy the fact that his brother hung up.

  Whitney kept her mouth shut as she tried to come up with a plan. Her friends couldn’t do anything, and she couldn’t leave them behind with Tim. Since she was siren, she could order them to leave. She might be stronger than Tim. She didn’t know for sure, though. Sam explained that all blues could order around greens, but they had to follow the higher-ranked siren’s command. Since she was pink, he wasn’t sure if that made her lower or higher than the blues. Now wasn’t the time to try it out, but if she had to, she would.

  Tim walked over to her and threw his arm around her shoulder.

  “Say cheese,” he told her as he held up his phone and snapped a picture. Stepping away, she knew that was the bait to get Sam. She needed to decide what to do quickly.

  Tim’s phone rang and he grinned. “Oh, hi. Here I thought you might not want to talk to me.”

  He walked away from the pool a little bit like he was on a leisurely phone call. Whitney decided to see if what she thought was true.

  “Can you guys move at all?” Whitney whispered to her friends. They all four looked back at her. “Blink once for no, twice for yes.” Trudy stared directly at her and blinked once. She then stared again. “Will he hurt you if I leave?” Whitney still wasn’t sure what she was dealing with. Trudy again blinked twice.

  Shoot. It was as bad as she thought it would be. She needed to do something. Tim was walking back, still on the phone. Without saying goodbye, he pulled back and hung up on his brother, even though Whitney could still hear Sam’s voice coming through the phone.

  “He just talks and talks,” Tim complained. “Now onto the fun part. My dear brother doesn’t want to come home and fulfill his family duty. I think a big part of that is because he found you, and you are just too tempting to leave alone. I mean I wouldn’t if I had found you. You are just too much fun. I really wish I’d found you first and saved you from this family drama.”

  Tim was now standing right next to her as he spoke. Whitney didn’t move. Her mind was blanking on what to do.

  “Now little Samuel might make a fuss if I don’t take you with. He seems pretty attached, and I think I might know why.”

  With one gigantic shove, Whitney was hurtling toward the water. She wasn’t ready to give away that she was a siren—it needed to be her trump card. Using as much energy as she had, she continued to tell her body over and over again that she needed to keep her legs. I need to keep my legs; fin stay away was her new chant. She held her breath as she went under the water and kept telling herself to stay human. When she realized that her fin wasn’t there, she righted herself and stood up in the water. Good thing Sam had taught her how to swim. She turned to Tim, who was standing on the edge of the pool, and he looked disappointed.

  “Well, you’re no fun,” he complained, sitting down at the side of the pool. “I was sure my brother had turned you, and it would have been perfect. Just showing a day human the mer world is punishable by exile or death. But then I’d have to prove it. Turning you would have made my life much easier.”

  Whitney stood in the water, her legs itching to be a fin but remaining because she told them to.

  “Samuel always wanted to choose his own siren. I was sure he did it to you.” Then Tim covered his mouth. “Oh, I get it. He hadn’t told you about us yet and planned to do it once he got the chance. I sometimes wish he’d move a little faster. He always has to think so much about what he’s doing. Oh well. Guess I get to clean up his loose ends for him.”

  Tim hopped into the pool and began to wade over to Whitney. She backed up as he came closer. Something inside her said to run as far as she could from him, but she couldn’t leave her friends behind.

  “Oh, yeah, sorry about all this. I’m sure you have no idea what is going
on.” Tim tried to sound sympathetic, but wasn’t even close.

  Whitney made it to the other side of the pool and pulled herself to the edge.

  “Oh, what? You don’t want to stick around for the show?” Tim turned to her friends. “Turn into your siren form,” he ordered them.

  Shock registered on Trudy’s face as she transformed against her will. Everyone else did, also. Whitney was equally shocked and looked at them. They no longer had their normal hair or eyes. Where Sam changing into a siren left him looking still like himself, her friends were anything but themselves. Trudy’s normally red hair was now green to match the long tail she had. Instead of beautiful swirls covering her body, the green scales went up to her neck and down her arms a little. She looked more monster than human in her siren form.

  “They are a little scary, aren’t they?” Tim said, now beside Whitney. She hadn’t noticed he had moved so fast. “I’m sorry your last memories will be of looking at something as grotesque as a green, but what can I do? Loose ends need to be tied up in order for Sam to leave. You four greens have broken siren law by showing a day human your siren side. You are hereby sentenced to death.”

  “What?” Whitney exclaimed. He had forced them to do it.

  Tim grinned at her. “Oh, how sweet. You still care about them even if they are monsters. Did you know that they feed on humans? In fact, the green siren tend to be the most vicious.”

  “How is that fair? You told them to do it,” Whitney proclaimed in defense of her friends who couldn’t talk or move.

  “Ahh. I know it’s unfair. But at least you know they won’t be alone,” Tim added, reaching up with lightning speed and grabbing her by the neck. “Because any day human that sees us is sentenced to death as well.”