6. The Night Within

Chapter 6

The Night Within

The Siren

Present day

" R emember," Poseidon said, the golden scales of his navy-blue tail winking beneath the bioluminescent light of the throne room. He was a handsome man, his long, chestnut hair undulating in the water around his jaw like a heavenly aura. "You have three full moons to complete your siren ritual?—"

"—Yes, I know," I interrupted him, my hand giving an indignant twist as a bored expression fell over my features. "Three full moons to make a mortal fall in love with me so that I can then tear out their heart and consume it beneath the full glow of the moon once I return to the sea."

It was not as if this was a new ritual. Sirens had been performing it since the dawn of our species. The memory of him taking my choices away from me still fresh in my mind had me unwilling to listen to him explain something I'd known was coming since I'd been a little girl. Mom had told me tales of her own ritual many times as a bedtime story. I didn't need Poseidon telling me of my people's rite of passage.

"Then you know that if you fail in this, as you have failed in many of your previous duties, that you will never return to the sea. Your tail will be stolen from you, and you will be forced to live on land for the rest of your days," he said, a smirk lifting the edge of his lips as he turned from me.

We hung in the water in the center of the throne room, just the two of us. The purple iridescent scales of my tail catching the light of the glowing stones that lit the chambers, causing my tail to almost wink like the stars of a moonlit sky. Ever since I'd been forced to the beach with Proteus, I couldn't help but see the magic of the night within my scales.

Large, smooth, pure white stone made up the walls of the underwater palace, and every surface gleamed within the bright glow emitted from the glowing stones and chandeliers of bioluminescent coral. It created an ethereal atmosphere that soothed my heart and soul, an atmosphere I knew I'd sorely miss during my time on land. This rite of passage would differ greatly from my time beneath the magical skies on Siren Island with Proteus, and it almost seemed as if my father hoped I'd fail, but I dispelled the thought as soon as it came. That couldn't be true.

My father moved through the water with little effort, coming to a stop before the elaborate throne that had once belonged to my mother. He turned, his fierce blue gaze meeting mine as his fingertips curled around the arms of it as he took a slow and deliberate seat.

As much as I'd love to rid myself of his antics, I knew remaining on land would be its own torture. Sure, I looked forward to the experience, yearned for it even, but to never have the freedom of floating deep within the sea, to lose my tail for good… It would be the slowest, most painful death of my soul imaginable.

"I know what to do, Father. You need not worry for me," I said, gritting my teeth at the sight of him in my mother's place.

"I hope so," he replied, leaning back into the throne's deep hold. "Because if you give into the mortal emotions, if you fail to rip his heart out within three months, you will never return to the sea, and you will be a disappointment to your mother's memory."

I turned from him, unable to contain the anger. Instead, I propelled myself forward, pushing through the water until I hovered next to the wall of portraits. Every past ruler of Atlantis hung along these walls. As I stared up at the form of my long-lost mother, my fingers drifting toward the smooth skin of her painted cheek, my anger faded.

My father was right. This rite of passage was one of the main reasons our population had been dwindling. So many of our people had been lost to the land as they either chose to stay on land longer than the three full moons they had to complete their ritual or failing their ritual all together. The longer they stayed on land without completing the ritual, the harder it became to avoid the emotions that plagued the humans, making it easier for them to succumb to the feelings of their heart. Our best warriors finished their rituals within the first month.

Becoming a siren required a careful balance. It required calculation, fortitude, and perseverance. I would need to deceive a human with my love without succumbing to that love myself. The ultimate test of my resolve. It was vital I found the perfect victim. Three moons was not a lot of time, and if I chose the wrong person, someone resistant to my charms, I would waste precious time and risk losing my powers.

As I turned, seeing my father stretched in the throne that had once belonged to my mother and was meant to belong to me next, a determination settled over me like a gentle wave. I refused to fail my ritual.

"Father," I cooed, a smile I didn't entirely feel stretching across my lips as I drifted closer to where he sat. My gaze hardening as he watched my approach. "If I fail to perform this ritual, fail to gain my power, what will you do? Do you plan to take over the throne indefinitely?"

He glanced over my shoulder then, his fingers steepling in his lap as a menacing grin twisted his lips. A malicious glitter looked back at me as he nodded to something behind me. "Actually," he said, an amused lilt to his voice. "He will."

As I whipped around in the water, a flurry of bubbles fluttering around me with my quickened movement, I noticed we were no longer alone. A younger male swam forward, a blank look upon his face as he pushed himself toward us with the flick of a familiar-looking tail. A tail that held the same deep blue hue as my father's, the same lines of gold setting it alight with every movement he made.

He hadn't arrived alone either. The goddess, Amphitrite, floated along behind him. Her long, dark hair fell well below her waist, twisted with lengths of sea flowers. Her wide, icy blue eyes held an amused glitter as she looked from the young male at her side to my father on the throne.

"Talia, my dear, meet your new mother and your brother, Triton."

I backed away from my father, my head shaking with disbelief. "No," I said to him. "You promised this was my kingdom. This throne belonged to my mother. It is rightfully mine!"

With nothing but a thought, a whirlpool caught me, flinging me in all directions within the center of the throne room until it held me, locked in place, above Poseidon. Unable to move. Unable to catch a breath. Fire burned within his eyes as he glared up at me.

"This is my ocean," he said, his words clipped and his voice loud within all of our minds. "These are my seas!" The water rippled within his wrath. "I decide who rules. So, if you do not prove your worth, if you do not come back more powerful, then you will come back as nothing. If I were you, I would not come back at all."

He flung his wrist, and the whirlpool, with me held firmly within its icy embrace, whipped through the seas. He had dismissed me without so much as a farewell. My stomach rocked within me, nausea lifting within my throat as I squeezed my eyes shut, unable to see past the rushing waters.

When the frothing water finally stilled, I found myself splayed out on the shore of an unknown beach. The sun dipped slowly beyond the horizon. Soon, the moon would be high in the sky, and the day of my twenty-first birthday would dawn. There would be no celebration as I'd been cast out. In my father's wrath, he'd denied me even that.

I slipped back into the sea as soon as the sea finished churning at Poseidon's command. In the weeks leading up to this day, I'd set in motion a strategy that would aid my story once on land. I needed to set that plan in motion before letting my tail transform into legs. There would be no returning to the sea until I held a heart within my fist.

The time for my rite of passage had arrived, and I didn't think there was a living soul who wanted me to succeed. I knew what my mother would have wanted though, and so I would do this for her, for my mother, and I would not fail.

Otherwise, I would lose everything my mother had wanted for me.