Prologue

SASHA

D addy's shouting, and I jolt awake on the plush red couch that's still built like a fortress of pillows and toys.

My heart's thumping loudly as his angry voice pierces the warm silence. It's late afternoon, the sky outside the window bright in pinks and oranges, but inside our tiny living room, it feels like midnight.

Clutching Mr. Fluffy, my teddy bear, I get to my bare feet and stumble across the cold wooden floor to the back fly-screen door.

"Mommy? Daddy?" My voice is thin.

No one answers me, but my heart's racing faster now that they're arguing. Mommy's always angry at us, which makes Daddy shout.

Things have been hard , I've heard them say in the past, but I hate that they yell all the time. I may be only six years old, but I understand plenty and know it has something to do with not having enough . I'm just not too sure what enough is, but I pray most nights for the universe to give us more enough so that they'd get along.

Looking outside through the fly-screen door, I see them all the way down by the water's edge, where the river rushes past our backyard. Our house is all by itself in the woods. Our neighbors, who have a cat I play with, are a long walk down the river, so they won't hear them. Mostly out here, any noise is just from cicadas and frogs.

Daddy's arms slice through the air, animated and angry. I've never seen him so mad, not even when I spilled paint on the carpet in my room. Mommy stands there, her back as straight as the tall trees that line our property, but her face is wrong… like she's wearing a mask, one that smiles with no warmth, no love. No Mommy in it.

A gust of wind tugs at the curtains on the open window, drawing my attention. When I look back outside, Mommy is stepping toward him, her hands reaching out, trying to hold him like she always does. But he's shaking his head, stepping away from her.

"I don't even know you anymore," he shouts loud enough for me to hear the words. "How many have you taken so far?"

What is he talking about?

I just want to yell, to tell them to stop, to tell them I'm hungry, and to ask when dinner is. My voice feels like I've got peanut butter stuck in my throat. They've told me before not to butt into their talks. They are for adults only .

Daddy is shouting again. Then he grabs her by the arm and starts to drag her toward the house, his face red, as if he's about to turn into one of those monsters he says don't really exist.

My breaths are going too fast now, and my hand is on the door handle, pushing down on it.

"You need help." Daddy's voice is a thunderstorm, loud and scary. "How could you let yourself be used like that?"

Is Mommy sick? Did someone hurt her? The idea has my stomach cramping up. She's smiling strangely again, and the breeze has the hairs on my arms lifting. Last time I felt that way, I was in the woods, face-to-face with a large snake. Luckily, Daddy came in time to save me.

Mommy suddenly pushes him away, her hands driving against his chest. It's not a little shove like when you want more room on the couch, but strong enough to send Daddy stumbling backward. His arms fly out to catch something that isn't there.

A scream rises inside me when Daddy suddenly steps on a slippery, dead branch and falls over.

"Daddy!" I shove myself out into the yard to help him. My bare feet hit the cold, rough earth as I rush away from our home. The wind picks up, howling, tugging my clothes. I can't leave Mommy and Daddy out here fighting.

I have to stop them.

They will listen to me.

Trees are swaying crazily, the leaves shivering, as though even the woods are angry today.

Mommy doesn't pay attention to me hurrying toward them. I drop Mr. Fluffy and run faster.

She turns to my daddy and leaps at him, then drags him into the water by his arm. He barely has time to get his balance and get up. Except, she doesn't look right… or normal. Not with how she takes fast, jerky movements, how she pulls my daddy so easily, seeing as she's smaller than him.

"What are you doing?" I scream louder this time, my voice barely breaking over the wind and the splashing river.

"Get back in the house," she yells at me, but I don't stop.

I can't believe what I'm seeing. She has been mean to me in the past, even hit me a few times, but she never attacked my daddy.

"Mommy, let him go."

She's suddenly got her hands on Daddy's neck, pushing him under the current. He's fighting, his arms swinging, striking her, but it's as though she doesn't feel him hitting her.

I reach the riverbank, the mud squishing under my feet, making me slip a little as I stop at the edge. The water looks darker than before, almost black, as if all the woods' shadows have decided to go for a swim.

And in the water, Mommy is still on top of Daddy in the middle of the river, pushing him down as if she's trying to bury him in the river.

"Mommy," I scream, my eyes stinging with tears. "Stop!"

She doesn't listen to me. She keeps drowning him while he's kicking and thrashing. He's bigger and stronger than her, so I just don't understand why he doesn't get up.

I move quickly into the water, its coldness crawling up my legs as I tremble, but I don't care.

"Daddy, I'm coming," I yell, tears blurring my eyes as I see his hand reaching out of the water, splashing, struggling. I'm moving too slowly, the mud sucking down on my feet.

"Mommy, stop hurting him," I cry out, trembling. "Don't hurt my daddy."

The river is cold, its rushing waters swirling around my waist as I move deeper. Each splash against my face feels like icy fingers trying to drive me back to the shore, but I can't stop now… not when he needs me. My hands keep wiping my eyes, smearing the tears and river water together until I can barely see.

Inside me, a strange sensation stirs, and a tingle travels through me, whispering of my mermaid side. That part of me wants to come out, to take over and save Daddy, but I'm not strong enough, not a strong swimmer. Daddy always said it takes time to grow into my resistance and abilities and not to rush it. But I need them now!

"Mommy, stop," I scream again, my voice desperate. "Please stop drowning him!" If only Daddy was a full merman. If only he could breathe under the water. But his family are wolf shifters, strong and fierce on the land but not made for the water.

Mommy, still shoving him underwater, suddenly turns her head, her gaze locking on to mine. There's no warmth in her eyes, no flicker of the mother I know. She's more monstrous… a stranger wearing my mommy's face.

My heart pounds against my throat.

With a cry, I reach my parents, my small hands clumsy in the water. I shove at her, my fingers grasping for her arm, trying to scratch her.

"Stop!" I strike at her, my fists seeming to do nothing. "You're going to kill him." My voice breaks, each word like a shard of glass in my throat. Tears stream down my face. I'm crying and screaming as I shove, hit, and plead.

Mommy's like a statue, her body hard and unmoving against me.

Daddy's face surfaces briefly, coughing and spluttering, panic twisting his expression. He's halfway through shifting into his wolf, his jawline starting to stretch out, fur spreading across his shoulders and arms. Yes, good, but when his gaze meets mine, wide with fear and confusion, panic bubbles in my stomach. There's a silent plea in his eyes, a scream for help that I'm trying to answer but failing. I'm shaking, crying, desperately reaching my hands out for him.

"Daddy!"

Instead of driving him back under, Mommy leans in and kisses him, inhaling sharply.

I watch, horrified.

He flays about and his face pales, his cheeks hollow. It happens so quickly I don't have time to react, to stop her. But I know what she's doing—killing him with her mermaid's death kiss.

The water sloshes around us as she pushes them both underwater, still kissing him. The river grows colder, deeper, where I can barely touch the ground. I scream, pushing against the water to reach them.

"L-let him g-go!" I scream over and over. I'm shivering, teeth chattering, and I can't stop the tears.

Suddenly, she emerges from the water, drenched, smiling in my direction.

Under the gray sky, I'm crying hysterically, my chin trembling, my insides feeling like someone has cut them up.

Daddy's limp body bobs to the surface of the churning water, face down in the river, not moving. A scream escapes me, raw and haunting, as I reach for him. Before I can touch him, Mommy grabs my arm, her grip tightening, nails digging deep into my skin.

I wrench my stare up at her, furious with her.

"I hate you," I splutter.

Her face is shifting, cheekbones more pronounced, eyes darkening… this isn't just her mermaid form emerging. She's beautiful in her mermaid form, the most beautiful person I've ever seen. Now, there's something dangerous in the way she stares at me, as if she's no longer my mommy. She's changing, becoming a siren. Daddy told me all about them. How scary and dangerous they are.

"Don't," I cry, trying to pull free from her hold.

For a split second, her gaze softens and lulls me into believing she's coming back to me and will help Daddy.

"Get away from me, little fin," she groans, using her nickname for me, her voice sounding desperate. "I'm sorry."

A whimper slips past my lips at seeing the mommy I remember.

In that same second, she pushes me away with a painful shove to my chest. I stumble and lose my footing in the mud and swirling eddies of the riverbank. I catch myself just in time to see her transformation into a siren complete.

She looks like my mom but different, like she's lost weight in her face, her eyes darker, her teeth sharper, her fingernails pointed.

In a heartbeat, she dives toward Daddy, and a dark, iridescent pink tail splashes out. It's so much darker than her usual bright pink one. The water accepts her quickly, and they're both gone, Daddy dragged under by her.

I cry out, the sound tearing from deep inside me. My mermaid form bursts forth, tearing my clothes off me, a response to everything I've seen. I dive into the murky, restless river, searching through the silt and shadows for any sign of them. Left and right, I swim frantically, beating my small tail and screaming in the water.

But there's nothing… only the cold depths.

I surface, crying while the current tugs me away from the house that no longer feels like home. With every ounce of strength, I swim, my tail beating against the push of the water and my arms slicing through the chill until I reach the bank, breathless. Collapsing on the muddy shore, I curl into myself as water sloshes across my tail.

The truth of what my mommy did rains down on me, settling into my heart like a stone.

Mommy's become a siren—a creature many fear, no longer able to change back into her human form. Her transformation is complete.

Daddy must have been her final victim because he said once a mermaid drowns a number of victims with a kiss of death, they will eventually become a siren. Then they'll never be able to return to being a mermaid.

Is that what Daddy was arguing with her about earlier?

The sea calls her now, the wild. She's not my mommy anymore. I hiccup a cry. She's now the monster who killed my daddy.

I curl up tighter, unsure I'll ever be able to stop crying again.