Siren Awakened (The Cursed Seas Collection)

by Elle Middaugh

  We traipsed through the undergrowth with the dexterity of a two-legged octopus. Alex had grossly underestimated our unfamiliarity with so much gravity, and so, four days had come and gone and we still hadn’t reached Alotenango.

  “Come on, kids, pick up the pace,” he grumbled to us in exasperation.

  Catalina poked him in the back with the blunt end of a trident. “Why do you keep calling us kids? You can’t be a day over thirty-five.”

  He chuckled, then turned around and grinned at her. “Right on the money, Red.”

  She cocked her head as we marched onward, sending a wave of wide, crimson curls cascading over her shoulder. “Red? Seriously? That’s the best you can do?”

  “I would call you Ariel,” he suggested. “But you probably wouldn’t get the reference. So I’m just gonna keep calling you Red for simplicity’s sake.”

  Catalina shook her head, amusement radiating through her features.

  Alex chose that moment to stop and wave me to the front of the group.

  “Over there,” he said, pointing across a deep valley.

  I moved past Arlo and Cruz, making sure to avoid any unnecessary bodily contact, and followed the navigator’s finger with my gaze.

  There were three huge mountains surrounding a tiny town with colorful houses and a big, bright yellow church. One of the mountains was billowing smoke and pouring hot lava down its sides.

  “The one erupting is Fuego,” Alex said. “And the town in the center is Alotenango. I’d say we have a little over half a day until we arrive.”

  I nodded, suddenly sick to my stomach with nerves. What would we do when got there? Climb the volcano and search inside for the stone? I hated feeling so underprepared, but there was literally no way I could have prepared for this. The dry land was like another planet where one could only guess what trials they’d face.

  We started moving again, but it seemed stupid for me to wait and fall into my old place in line. Instead, I stayed right where I was, crammed between Alex and Cruz, the latter of which slowed down considerably to give me a much wider berth. Rolling my eyes, I tried not to take offense to the gesture. I didn’t have time to worry about what the mage did or didn’t think of me. It didn’t bother me in the slightest. I especially didn’t care if he thought of me in any sexual sort of way. I certainly hadn’t entertained thoughts or dreams about him like that over the course of this past week.

  At dusk, we reached town and started searching for a place to stay for the night. We were all in desperate need of a bath and some solid sleep. Napping on the roots of trees, and wearing the same sweaty clothes for half a week, hadn’t done us any favors. But the streets were dark, dirty, and suspiciously empty. Every once in a while a stray noise would come from a pile of trash in one of the alleys, but for the most part, it was eerily silent.

  Cruz must’ve noticed my narrowed gaze.

  “The humans abandoned this city ages ago,” he said to me.

  Alex grunted, looking down the scope of his gun. “But that doesn’t mean it’s empty. Look alive, kids.”

  Catalina chucked, but pulled out her sais and scanned our surroundings. Arlo, Kayo, and Malisa followed suit with their tridents, and Alanza unsheathed her sword.

  I tilted my head and gazed up, searching the sky for any sign of my dragons. They had returned from the sea a few days ago and were still soaring high above us, barely more than fleeting shadows against the backdrop of a full moon. I wasn’t sure if they could see anything tiny attacking from that far away, but if something big ever came our way, I had no doubt they’d scream out one hell of an alarm.

  I smiled as I watched them, in all their terrifying grace. Creatures who’d survived the tests of time by seeking refuge in the ocean’s depths—like us sirens.

  I sighed, remembering how we’d been called us cowards. Doing what it takes in order to survive should never be considered an act of cowardice. Even if no one else understands your point of view. Survival is, in one way or another, always a painful act of bravery.

  Cruz cleared his throat and gazed up into the sky, like me.

  “I always thought that dragons were a myth,” he said with a stoic look of admiration. “Are they common where you’re from?”

  I shook my head, trying to suppress whatever emotions were now floating around in my chest at the sound of his voice.

  “No,” I said. “They’re not common. I used to think they were myths too.”

  “How did you come to own one, then? Let alone two.”

  I chuckled. “Would you believe me if I said their mother ate my parents, so...I killed her...and us orphans teamed up in order to fill each other’s voids of loneliness?”

  He blinked and glanced down at me. “That’s incredibly fucked up. Is it true?”

  I nodded.

  Well, it wasn’t completely untrue.

  I hated lying, but there was no way around it. He didn’t need to know the real truth. No one did. I had to guard that secret with my life, or the lives of my dragons would be at stake.

  “Dear Jesus,” he muttered, running a hand through his hair. “So I guess that answers my next question: are they dangerous?”

  I laughed again. “Yes, they’re definitely dangerous. They’re intelligent creatures, and they seem to understand me when I talk, but I can’t really control them. They make their own choices. Sometimes that includes eating people they find threatening or annoying.”

  “Annoying?”

  “Yeah.” I pointed to Alanza and lowered my voice. “They totally ate her cousin Valentina.”

  “That’s pretty wicked,” he said, grinning for once. It was the first time I realized he had dimples tucked into his cheeks. “So, is that how you became queen? Your dragons just eat anyone who stands in your way?”

  “No, of course not.”

  And yet...yeah, kinda.

  “Lawfully, I had to avenge my parents by killing their killer in order to claim the throne. Hence, why I killed the sea dragons’ mother, the alpha.”

  Same lie, different sentence. Poseidon, I hated this.

  His brows furrowed, almost like he could sense my displeasure, but he nodded.

  We came to a stop just outside the big yellow church, eyeing it cautiously. Alex put up a hand, signaling the rest of us to wait, and continued inside on his own. My team of sirens immediately set up a circle of protection around me, inadvertently encompassing Cruz and Zia too. Before long, Alex came back out and motioned for us to follow him inside.

  “We’ll stay here for the night,” he said, barring the doors behind us. “It’s one building, so it should be easy for all of us to hold down. But it’s big enough that we can have a little privacy if need be.”

  “Like for bathing?” I asked, unable to conceal the hopeful tone of my voice.

  Alex grimaced. “Sorry, your queenliness. No bathtubs, and definitely no soap. There’s a small pool, though. Probably used for baptisms or something.” He pointed to the right.

  “As long as there’s water in it,” I said, already making my way towards it, “that’s all that matters.”

  “If you consider slime and pond scum water,” he muttered.

  The baptism room was made of moldy concrete and had a strong earthen scent. Even the rectangular tub, which was clearly the focal point of the space, was made of concrete. The water inside it was as disgustingly stagnant as Alex had suggested. Probably a breeding ground for water bugs or god knows what else.

  I gently touched a fingertip to the murky surface, causing a delicate glow to ripple outward, and I slowly stirred it into a whirlpool. As a siren, I had special control over water, but I’d never really needed to use it before now. When I was finished, the water was crystal clear.

  I quickly peeled off my skinsuit, not even bothering to make sure I was alone, and climbed into the freshened pool. Blissfully sinking beneath the surface, I allowed the wetness to soak into my dehydrated skin. I rubbed it along my body like healing silk and ruffled it through my hair. I t
ook a deep breath, letting it flood my lungs with its familiar weight.

  God, I missed this. Missed home.

  The thought of Harlow drifted into my mind. How was she handling being the acting queen in my absence? Was she stressed yet? Or feeling overwhelmed? Were the Torres giving her a hard time, or were they keeping their word since I’d dragged Alanza along?

  My chest ached, so I curled in around myself, squeezing tightly. I might be physically able to live on land like a human, but my heart would always belong to the sea. A teardrop bubbled in my eye, but I blinked it away.

  There won’t be a home to miss if you don’t finish this journey quickly, I told myself.

  I needed to stay strong.

  For all our sakes.

  ///

  The next morning, we crowded around the altar, preparing our weapons for the journey to Fuego. It seemed a little sacrilegious, despite the fact that I didn’t worship the human gods. I hoped it wasn’t a bad omen.

  Cruz, who was acting strangely silent and who appeared much less pleasant than usual, was moving around from person to person uttering some sort of spell. When it was finally my turn, and his fingers touched my forehead, a tingling wave cascaded down my body like a shimmering slow-motion waterfall.

  “This is what magic feels like?” I asked in wonder, unable to help myself. It gave me the same blissful vibes as seawater always did when it caressed my skin.

  A tiny smile passed his lips, as if my happiness had somehow, momentarily soaked into him. “It’s amazing, isn’t it? Very seductive. Very addicting.”

  Hearing those particular words on his tongue caused my heart to beat a few notches faster. My cheeks flushed and I forced myself to look away. I was relieved when the wave of magic finally reached my toes and the alluring sensation vanished.

  “This should protect you from the lava,” he said to us all. “It won’t shade us from the heat of the sun, though. I’d suggest wearing a hat or something now that we’re out from the cover of the trees.”

  Alanza scoffed. “As if sirens just conveniently have human fashions laying around.”

  “Actually,” Cruz said, digging through a bag by the altar, “there were tons of clothing pieces left behind in the drawers and closets of the abandoned houses. I gathered some up this morning.”

  He tossed us each a different style of headgear with an amused half-smile on his lips.

  I caught mine and eyed it curiously. It was white, and domed in the center with a wide rim all around. A belt of lace was tied about the dome for, what I assumed to be, decoration. I pursed my lips. It would provide zero protection in a fight, but if it kept my siren-skin from frying in the god-awful sunshine, then I’d wear the stupid thing.

  Alex pulled out a gun and strode to the front of the group. “Time to move.”

  Alotenango was much prettier in the sunlight and less foreboding. All the deserted buildings had been painted in vibrant shades of golds and pinks, yellows and reds. A grand fountain rested in the center of town, no longer flowing, but still beautiful in its craftsmanship. I almost hated to go. But that probably had less to do with the beauty of the town, and more to do with the trepidation of what was to come.

  It took close to half a day until we reached the base of the volcano, but once we did, shit instantly got much harder. The path led steeply upward. We’d barely even begun before my leg muscles started burning and wobbling. They were already sore from the expedition that had brought us here, and my feet were already blistered. One soak in a moldy tub was not going to undo that damage.

  I paused, taking a moment to swipe at the sweat at my brow before scanning the skyline for my dragons. The wide brim of my hat was surprisingly adept at blocking out the sun. I might’ve thanked Cruz if I wasn’t so hell-bent on acting indifferent towards him. I didn’t need him getting the wrong idea. I was queen of the sirens; he was the head mage’s son. We had nothing in common, and even if we did, I was on land for one reason, and one reason only: to find the Legacy Stone and return it to its sacred resting place. That was it.

  My dragons soared high overhead, circling the volcano like moths to a flame. They weren’t used to the heat, either, but as dragons, I had a suspicion they might be immune to it. I mean, they literally breathed fire. Immunity pretty much had to be a thing for them.

  Pebbles rolled and tumbled beneath my feet, easily pulled to the ground by gravity and the steep slope we were climbing. More than once I lost my footing and had to quickly catch myself in a crouch. My palms were scratched and bleeding by the time we made it halfway up, but so were everyone else’s—no one was handing the vertical ascent with much grace.

  Lava streamed leisurely down the mountain beside us, catching fire to the trees and undergrowth as it went. It was absolutely beautiful in its slow-moving destruction. I knew that lava was supposed to be hot, much hotter than the sweltering heat of the sun beating down on top of my head. But I couldn’t sense the temperature of the viscous sludge at all as it went. Which meant, Cruz’s spell was clearly working.

  I glanced at the mage, hiking up the mountain right ahead of me. The tendons in his legs were strung out tight, and the sweat on his back glistened, highlighting the ridges of muscle there.

  My breathing shallowed and goosebumps skittered across my skin. I was far too physically attracted to that man. I needed to be thinking about magical stones, not rock hard arms and washboard abs.

  “Are we there yet?” Alanza moaned from somewhere close behind me.

  I rolled my eyes. She was obviously bitching for the fun of it, but even if she wasn’t, I had no idea what to tell her. Our destination was not really a place, but rather a thing. That made it much harder to pinpoint a timeframe. Were we close to the mouth of the volcano? Yes. Were we close to finding the stone? Who the hell knew?

  To my surprise, though, Cruz turned around locked eyes with me. “We’re getting close. I can feel it.”

  Okay. Apparently, the mage knew.

  He wasn’t smiling. His facial features were actually quite strained. Like he was fighting some sort of internal battle and losing. A knot instantly formed in my chest.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, creasing my brows.

  He didn’t look well at all.

  A second later, he collapsed to the rocky ground.

  Chapter 10

  “Cruz!” I shouted, scrambling over to him.

  “I’m fine,” he said with a grimace. “It’s just...the magic. Holding a spell this long, especially one that involves this many people... it’s very difficult to do.”

  I immediately scanned him over. “Are you hurt? Do you need to stop the spell?”

  “No!” he shouted, clutching at his side as some of the others gathered around us. “I can’t stop the spell or we’ll all burn alive.”

  I glanced over at the lava, watching the heat shimmer wavering. He was right. If it weren’t for his magic, we’d be on fire. I had no desire to go out that way.

  Alanza hiked over and immediately started cursing. “Fucking Poseidon. I knew we should have forced the head mage to help us instead of relying on this amateur. I just knew it!”

  Cruz glowered at her and, with a little support from Alex, forced himself upright.

  Kayo shook his head in mild disgust. “Alanza is right, Your Majesty. Maybe we settled for the wrong mage.”

  Catalina, who usually swooned at Kayo’s every word, pursed her lips and crossed her arms. “No. Liliana allowed Cruz to join our team because she had faith in his abilities. Stop second guessing your queen.”

  That wasn’t entirely true. I allowed Cruz to join us because we literally had no other choice. The head mage had outright refused to help. But, that wasn’t the point.

  Kayo quickly bowed at my feet. “Forgive me, Your Majesty. I didn’t mean any disrespect.”

  “Rise, Kayo,” I said quickly. “I’m not upset at you for worrying. But right now, we need to do whatever we can to help the mage extend the life of this spell.”

  I g
lanced over at Cruz, hoping for some input.

  “Magic, it’s like...” He winced and tried to put a finger on the phrase he was missing. “It’s like running, or maybe swimming for you. It’s a spiritual energy, but it’s physically exhausting too. The stronger you are, the easier it is to wield—hence why I strive to be so fit. And spells are like weights. Harder ones are sort of heavier, and spells that cover more people or more ground, are like stacking rocks on top of the pile.”

  It was a decent enough analogy, though the weight ratios were probably off a bit for us sirens since we were used to dealing with the buoyancy of water.

  “We’re not mages, though,” I said, stating the obvious. “We can’t help you carry the weight of the spell, can we?”

  “No,” he said, looking worried.

  “But we could carry him,” Arlo said, speaking up. “And that should help him conserve his strength.”

  My eyes widened. It was hard enough to carry my own ass up this mountain. I had no idea if I’d be able to help carry his.

  Then an idea came to me.

  “Feroz! Bravo!” I yelled into the sky.

  The sea dragons screeched, making me wince, before they dove to the ground and perched on some rocks near our group. I swallowed hard but strolled over to them with complete and utter confidence and ease.

  “I thought you didn’t know how to ride them?” Alex said, in an accusing tone.

  “I don’t,” I snapped back. Then I turned my attention to my pets. “Would either of you be willing to carry the mage on your back?”

  Feroz regarded Bravo, then nudged him with his head. Bravo huffed, letting out a puff of smoky steam from his snout before nodding once.

  I smiled, leaning in to caress his shimmery green scales. “Thank you.”

  He purred and closed his eyes, leaning into my touch. My heart rate accelerated as my excitement rose. We were getting closer, my pets and I. I couldn’t even begin to explain what it meant to me. I was honored to be connected to creatures so rare and amazing. It gave me a reason to be a better queen. Or, to pretend to be one, anyway.