Siren Awakened (The Cursed Seas Collection)

by Elle Middaugh

  “Wait!” I shouted up ahead, stopping our procession.

  The other sirens and I gathered around our fallen companion, while the humans waited somewhat impatiently up ahead. There was a solid stream of blood coming from her forehead, but she was thankfully still breathing.

  I knelt down and grabbed her left arm. Catalina and Malisa reluctantly bent down too, taking her legs. Kayo pursed his lips. Arlo crossed his arms.

  I gaped up at them. “Are you serious? We can’t just leave her here for dead.”

  Kayo sealed his lips shut, content to let his older brother do the talking.

  “Wouldn’t it be easier without her tagging along?” Arlo asked. “We did as asked. We brought her along; we prevented the Torre-rebellion back home. Why drag it out any further? Or, more specifically, why drag her any further?”

  I stared at him, completely astounded. “Where is the honor in that?”

  He bowed. “With respect, Your Majesty, a warrior’s job is to defend the people, to make sacrifices so that ordinary citizens do not have to. Alanza is not a citizen; she is a warrior. It is her job to sacrifice, not to be coddled.”

  My gaze narrowed. “You don’t think she should be able to make that choice for herself?”

  Kayo sighed. “All right, Your Majesty, listen. Warriors don’t usually leave one another behind, but Alanza is a Torre. She’s bound to backstab us soon enough. Cutting her loose now would be our safest bet, if not the most convenient.”

  “No,” I said, dropping her arm and standing. “I might not trust Alanza as far as I could throw her, but I refuse to sentence her to death for being an inconvenience.”

  “What the hell are you mermaids doing back there?” Alex shouted.

  “Sirens!” Catalina shouted back with a grin.

  “Whatever! You sirens need to quit dicking around before we all get taken out by random branches!”

  And right on cue, a branch careened down from the tumultuous canopy above and landed square on top of Alex’s head. He dropped like an anchor to the ground beside Cruz.

  “You gotta be fucking kidding me!” Catalina cursed, taking the words right out of my mouth.

  I quickly did the royal thing and took charge. “Arlo, Catalina, and Cruz, grab Alex. Kayo, Malisa, and I will get Alanza.”

  After everybody branched off, I sternly eyed my half of the team and nodded. “Ready?”

  Kayo grabbed Alanza under the arms, while Malisa and I each took a leg.

  “One, two, three!”

  We lifted her up, though she was light enough to be carried by two rather than three, and shuffled through the debris until we met up with the other half of the team carrying Alex.

  “What direction?” Arlo asked. “We’re lost without the ranger being conscious.”

  I glanced at Catalina, who was staring at Alex with a downturned mouth, then over to Malisa, who looked as clueless as some kind of bug-eyed goldfish.

  Guess I wouldn’t be getting any help from them.

  I sighed, and my stomach fluttered as I turned to Cruz. “What do you think?”

  He took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. “God, I don’t know.”

  He ran a hand through his hair, then scrubbed it across his face. The move left him holding Alex’s leg with only one arm, and muscles looked even burlier.

  “Okay, so Yaxchilan is west of Alotenango. If the sun were visible through this shit-storm, we could use it for direction.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t think we can determine which way to go by the direction of the hurricane winds, or if we can, I don’t know how.”

  I nodded, understanding that it wasn’t his responsibility to guide us.

  “But,” Cruz said, opening his eyes with a twinkle, as if an idea had just come to him, “if I could somehow locate the sun in this mess, we should be able to figure it out.”

  “Well, then do it, mage,” Catalina groaned. “These bodies aren’t getting any lighter.”

  Cruz passed Alex’s other leg off to Catalina. Then he rolled out his neck and held up his hands up to the sky. He’d re-donned his white tee-shirt, but as it was now soaking wet, I could still distinguish every rippling ridge of muscle underneath. A burst of magic shot from his palms and into the air, a narrow beam of multi-colored light that cut through the clouds above. He was so powerful standing there, so handsome and commanding. Excellent traits for a king to have.

  My eyes went wide and I nearly choked on my tongue.

  Was I insane? We were literally standing in the middle of a hurricane, getting pelted with debris, carrying two unconscious bodies, and I was daydreaming about marrying the mage?

  I couldn’t seem to quell the excitement swimming through my veins at the thought, though. The more I was around him, the more I wanted him. It was getting damn near impossible to ignore. I needed to just kiss him and get it over with. It might be the only way to calm the tide.

  He moved the beam of magic light around, poking tiny holes in the clouds until he finally caught sight of the sun.

  “There,” he shouted, pointing to it. Then he cocked his head, seemingly judging the angle of its location in the sky. “So if the sun is setting, then we’ll want to follow it to the west.”

  “Perfect,” I said, feeling prouder of him than I had any right to.

  “Good,” Catalina grumbled. “Now take your leg back and let’s go.”

  Suddenly, Alex’s eyes shot open, looking confused as ever. “Why is a Greek god twin and The Little Mermaid carrying me?”

  Catalina sighed dramatically, but her smile was huge. “I told you, ranger, we’re sirens.”

  “Aww,” Alanza cooed sarcastically. Apparently, they’d both stirred back to life while we were locating the sun. “Red-Ranger is such an adorable couple.”

  Alex, Catalina, and Kayo all protested at once, and the only thing I could discern through the muttering was, “not a couple.”

  Alanza threw her head back and laughed as we plopped her on the ground.

  I had to cover my mouth to stifle a few giggles of my own. Their denial of the situation was ridiculous. Of course, I was in denial too. So, before she could turn her sarcasm my way, I quickly changed the subject.

  “Let’s keep moving.”

  Alex dusted himself off as he got back on his own two feet. He scanned the trees and nodded his head approvingly. “We’re heading in the right direction. How’d you manage that?”

  Cruz pointed upward. “The sun.”

  Alex glanced up, shielding his eyes from the wind and debris, but definitely not from the light of the sun.

  I pointed at Cruz. “Magic.”

  “Ah.” Alex put his hat back on and resumed the lead. “Step lively, kids. I’d like to find a cave before I get knocked out again.”

  ///

  Hours passed. I was bruised and bleeding, and night was falling by the time we finally stumbled upon a wide crevasse in a mountainside. We packed in, pressed tightly between the slick, cold cave walls. Shuffling sideways for longer than I would have preferred, the crack finally opened up into a multi-chambered cavern.

  Alex pulled a baton of his own from his belt and clicked the button, sending a beam of light shooting from the end. Almost like what Cruz had done.

  “Is that...” I started to ask, brows creasing, “...magic?”

  He glanced from me to the baton, then back to me. “This? It’s a flashlight. You guys have really been living underwater too long if you don’t remember flashlights.”

  Cruz chuckled and lit a ball of fiery magic between his palms. Dim light followed him, and I watched as he set the glowing orb down in a corner, then lit another. The light in the cavern grew brighter as he walked a bit further and deposited the second one. Eventually, he’d created an entire ring of magical orbs, illuminating the cave in fluctuating waves of light.

  Now that things were brighter, I found a bunch of little pools dotting the uneven cave floor between the stalagmites reaching for the ceiling. I could’ve sung for joy, as
each of us sirens ran toward our very own puddle of paradise. They were deeper than I was expecting, with the water coming up to my neck as I sat. It was pure bliss.

  I used my power over the sea to once again cleanse the waters, lighting them with a cool turquoise glow before it dimmed out.

  Alex strolled over with a curious frown on his face. “I’m sorry, Queenie, but was that magic? Like, actual magic?”

  Cruz followed him over and answered the question for me. “When the old mages gave sirens the ability to survive under the sea, the ability to manipulate bodies of water came with it. It’s not just her. They can all do it.”

  We scanned the cavern, noticing four other pools with slowly fading glows, each with a siren in the middle.

  Alex grunted his understanding but said nothing. He wandered off, leaving Cruz and mestaring at one another with heavy-lidded eyes.

  “Can I join you?” he asked, pulling his shirt over his head.

  I swallowed hard as heat rushed through every corner of my body, fanning out across my skin in prickling waves. My eyes drifted lower, following the jagged plains of his chest and abs down to where his jeans hung low on his hips. His muscles clenched, drawing my gaze back up, and there was a fiery intensity in his expression that stole my breath away.

  “Alex?” I asked, never taking my eyes off of Cruz. “How long are we stuck in this cave for?”

  “At least a few days,” he replied from somewhere far off. “Until the hurricane passes.”

  I licked my lips and nodded. This was it, then. My chance to calm the storm raging inside of me every time Cruz drew near.

  “Then, yes,” I said to the mage with a sultry expression of my own. “You can absolutely join me.”

  Chapter 13

  Cruz unzipped his jeans and kicked them to the side, slipping into the water before me in nothing but a dark pair of boxer-briefs.

  “Dear God,” I muttered, running my fingers through my dampened curls. His sexiness was going to be the end of me.

  He grinned, making my ache even worse. “I’ve been meaning to ask you about that. You keep saying “God” singular. Do sirens not believe in the human gods of the surface?”

  I shook my head, happy to breathe again now that most of him was submerged. Though, since I had excellent undersea vision, it didn’t help much.

  “We might believe in them, but we acknowledge only one god: the god of the sea. Poseidon.”

  “I had a feeling you might say that.” He drifted closer, and my breathing shallowed.

  I needed to just kiss him and get it over with. Once that was out of the way, I’d be able to function properly again.

  I curled my pointer finger at him, drawing him even closer. My eyes fell onto his lips as he licked them. It made me smile.

  “Do you want to kiss me, mage?”

  He drifted mere inches from my face. “Yes. But only when you call me Cruz, not mage.”

  I cocked my head. “Does that offend you?”

  “No. I just like hearing my name on your lips.”

  Lust washed over me, flooding my brain with barely controllable images and urges.

  “I want more than your name on my lips,” I said in a darkened voice, before quickly bridging the gap between us.

  As our tongues touched, pure ecstasy streamed into my blood. My fingers roved through his hair, as his hands slid around my waist and cupped my ass, pulling me closer. I wrapped my legs around him and deepened the kiss. Surprise flitted on the edges of my consciousness at how quickly the situation was escalating, but it was completely overshadowed by desire. I wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of my time in this cave blissfully attached to him in whatever way I could manage.

  I know I’d said one kiss, then done, but I was already panting and thinking farther ahead—way farther. My muscles clenched as I imagined what he’d feel like, thrusting inside of me while the water crashed to cave floor around us. The shocked but heated gazes we’d draw from the rest of the team. The pulsing orgasm that would wreck my body, echoing off the cavern walls, as he plunged in over and over.

  Moaning, my mind drifted back to the present. I took in the delicious sensation of his tongue caressing mine, the vibrations of the cave walls as they gently shook the water around us.

  Wait. What?

  I pulled away, gasping for air, as I studied our surroundings with hazy eyes. Why was everything shaking? And what was that low rumbling off in the distance? I scanned the room, noticing that everyone else had frozen too, listening and feeling with uneasy expressions.

  The rumbling grew louder, the vibrations intensified, and chunks of stalactites started crashing down from the ceiling.

  “Earthquake!” Alex shouted as he hopped from a pool. He grabbed his hat, pack, and gun, as the rest of us scrambled to our feet and joined him. The humans haphazardly threw on some clothes, while we sirens waited, watching the ceiling warily. Alex jabbed a finger toward the exit. “We have to get out of here before we get buried alive!”

  We rushed toward the exit, and that’s when the familiar, shimmering tingle of magic coated my skin. I spun around, watching as Cruz muttered a spell in some other language, and doused us each in a veil of powerful energy. His posture sank and his muscles tightened as the spell physically weighed him down.

  “What spell is this?” I asked him as I ran, carefully maneuvering across the jagged terrain at my feet while dodging falling chunks of rock.

  “Protection,” he said through gritted teeth as he tried to smile. “From falling objects. I probably should have done it sooner, but I’ve been trying to conserve my energy.”

  Just then, the tip of a stalactite broke off and plunged to the ground heading straight toward Catalina. It was like a spearhead, but with enough mass and weight to split her skull in half.

  “Cat!” I cried. But she didn’t jump out of the way as I’d hoped. She simply turned around and shot me a curious glance as the giant rock hit her head and crumbled into a thousand pieces.

  “Huh?” she looked up, wondering where the dirt and pebbles sprinkling her shoulders had come from.

  I shot an incredulous glance at Cruz. “She didn’t feel that?”

  “Protection from falling objects,” he reiterated again with a wink. Then he winced.

  “Arlo! Kayo!” I shouted, and they immediately came running. “Help support the mage’s weight while he works his spell.”

  “Yes, Your Majesty,” they said with a bow, then ducked their heads under each of Cruz’s arms.

  I specifically chose to refer to him as the mage in order to avoid any more assumptions of favoritism. Alanza had picked up on it already. The rest of them had just watched me making out with him. The least I could do at this point was refer to him as everybody else did.

  We quickly caught up to Alex and the rest of the crew, and one by one, we filed quickly from the cave as the earth shook violently beneath our feet.

  Outside the wind whipped around viciously, battering everything in sight. Hail rained from the sky. Leaves, bark, and limbs plummeted to the ground. Now that we had protection from falling objects, at least we wouldn’t have to worry about getting knocked out.

  A loud crack filled the air, and the earth on our left splintered open and swallowed whole trees.

  “Is this normal?” Catalina shouted up to Alex as we ran.

  “Hurri-quakes?” Alex asked, cleverly combining the two terms. “I suppose, but never to this magnitude. This is worse than I’ve ever seen.”

  The stone vibrated against my chest, pulsing as if in response to an unasked question.

  “It’s because of the stone,” I shouted up to them. They were only about ten feet or so ahead of me, but because of the strong winds, it was difficult to hear one another. “We need to get it to the sacred resting place before things get even worse.”

  Alex glanced at me from over his shoulder. “Things are already nasty, Queenie, and I have a bad feeling that they’re going to continue to get worse the closer we ge
t to this resting place. Whatever dark magic the mage’s used to give you mermaids your fins, is probably the same dark magic responsible for all of this chaos now.”

  “We don’t have fins!” Catalina argued. “We’re sirens. We can live and breathe underwater, but we’re not part fish.”

  “Whatever,” Alex said. He seemed annoyed, but he grinned a little none the less.

  “And it wasn’t dark magic that was used,” Cruz added as he sagged between Arlo and Kayo. “It was regular old, run of the mill magic. But the world requires balance. In order to counteract the good, the bad came out to play.”

  Alanza looked at me, then over to Cruz. “You knew this would happen? You knew the darkness would one day spread and yet you still turned us into sirens?”

  He hung his head. “Not me personally, no. But in a way, yes. The mages of old knew that there would be some sort of price to pay, though I doubt they knew exactly what it would turn out to be.”

  “So what’s going on in the world right now,” Alex said, turning around to stalk toward Cruz. “It’s the fault of sirens and mages? Humans are suffering because you two had to try and take the easy way out?”

  “Oh, don’t start that bullshit again,” Catalina said, pulling out a sai.

  She did that a lot when she got into arguments. I think she liked knowing that, should things get heated, she was always prepared.

  “No,” I said, walking forward to meet him in the middle. “Humans started the suffering when they destroyed the planet and the ice caps melted. Their suffering got worse once the meteor struck. Earth was ruined long ago. What we’re paying for now is the destruction of the sea, and I intend to fix that problem.”

  Alex stared at me for a long, hard second. By the way his eyes darted side to side, and his lips tugged into a taut line, I could tell he wanted to argue it with me. I wasn’t sure where the dispute had come from exactly, but it was pointless. I’d spoken the truth. Humans made their own choices, as did mages and sirens.