28. Broken Promises

28

brOKEN PROMISES

PACARI

B arely past the sand bank, Kalixto joins me. His face is as grim as I feel.

"What do you know?" I ask, desperate for the information he always seems to have on the Lantern Witch.

"That dog isn't drowning," he observes.

Not the answer I wanted. I hold up Slugger, showing off the obscenely large shell around its neck.

"Wasn't the human wearing that?" he asks.

"Pretty, pretty, Kalixto," I grumble.

"I know you think so," he purrs, swimming in circles around me. "Miss me that much?"

"Like a drowned sailor misses water," I huff.

"I will have to ask Aka if he misses the water. He seems to, since he spends so much time with us. So you must desire me desperately."

I sigh, trying to swim a bit faster. He keeps up, easy enough for him. Sirens love the sound of their own voices. I lose track of his chatter, too anxious for answers and unable to shake the feeling of this storm. Noticing my mood, he hums. My nerves relax slightly as his song builds a bubble of hope to keep out the angry ocean.

"What is your relationship with the Lantern Witch?" I ask. "Why is it lately you always seem to be about when questions of her arise?"

Kalixto goes quiet, the riotous currents battering against us as he swims beside in silence. It builds an anger within me, frustration leftover from when we used to be lovers. How quiet he would be, hiding his thoughts from me. Understanding each other has always been difficult. Not like Teresa and I. He and I make great friends but terrible lovers.

Finally, he admits, "I sing to her of… the surface. Songs of the humans."

This floors me. Even Slugger seems discomfited by the idea, shifting in my arms and letting out a strange little bubbly bark as we race to the Abyss.

"What? How did this arrangement come to be?" I ask.

He smirks at me. "You have your skills, I have mine. My voice is my only offering."

"But why ?" I dig, still not satisfied.

"You have your desires… I have mine," he an swers, swimming forward. "Should we slow down some more? You know the Witch doesn't like to wait."

I hiss at him, ignoring him the rest of the way down. He picks up his song again, which makes it harder to stay mad at him. When the light disappears, he swims closer, needing my glow to see. The waters here are just above freezing, but bubble as if boiling. Harsh currents sweep against us. No other fish can be seen despite the Abyss's usual color.

I scan the ocean floor, trying not to grow fearful as I see the rip along it. The crushed life that scatters it. As soon as we arrive at Lantern Witch's dwelling, Kalixto doesn't simply wait for her presence. No, instead, he lets out a single call.

And surely enough, she appears, half-hidden by a rock. Even this much of her image is haunting, silhouetted by the light of her lantern. There is a red glow to the water.

"Siren," she coos, her voice strange and strained.

"My lady of the Lantern," he calls back. "You seem as if you could use a song."

He starts to sing. She comes forward from her hiding place, dragging something behind her. Her light is too bright, the current shifting and swirling around us too fast, for me to see what it is. As she comes towards us, there is a strange calm—the eye of the storm .

"Sing a song, silly siren," she giggles, a strange threat underlying her words.

Even Kalixto seems discomfited, though he strode in with so much hubris.

"So pretty… such a gorgeous voice," she murmurs, floating closer.

He raises his voice, the melody strangely jaunty against the dark mood.

"But unfortunately…" she growls, darting forward. "So, unfortunately male."

My claws extend as I watch her threaten my friend. Kalixto is baffled, his eyes wide. He keeps singing, even as she presses in on his throat. I grab at her, try to pull him off of him. She shakes me off easily, but lets go of Kalixto.

Moving slowly, she turns as her eyes fall on me. "Seducer."

"Witch of the Lantern," I greet.

"No more magic?" she asks mockingly. "None of your offerings?"

Her mouth draws open as she inches closer.

"No, but the second half of our deal," I remind her, holding Slugger up for her to see. My stomach drops as I realize she could eat us both despite her earlier promise. "Your eyes. You can return him to his true form."

But she pulls him from my grasp instead .

"Such a strange little creature. Humans truly like such animals?"

He does look much stranger in the water, with his hair billowing around him. In some ways, though, it looks even better than it ever did on land.

"Oh, they love dogs," Kalixto confirms. "I didn't even have to sing to lure them in when I held this one."

I glare at Kalixto, angry he's drawing attention to himself, potentially bringing danger back his way.

"The things you made me see," she growls.

She drags the dog to an altar, arranges stones in the water and chants in her strange language. With her focus drawn, it's then I can make out the strange shape she dragged along. A tentacle. An extremely large tentacle.

Kalixto sees it too.

"I'm sorry," I say honestly. "I never intended it."

"Never intended," she scoffs. "Just like a man."

With a few more words, the dog transforms back into a nudibranch in a flash of light. The necklace drifts to the altar. With the nudibranch back in its true form, the ocean calms just slightly.

"Well, let's have the final part of your deal then," she growls, turning back to me.

"The final part?" I gasp, racking my brain. "What else is there?"

Panic sears through me as I think of the tentacle, wonder which Deep One went up against the Lantern Witch and lost. If they lost against her, I have no hope of fighting back—especially not with only a siren by my side.

"Answers, seducer. Information. Did you think I sent my eyes for nothing?"

The Cliffside Lady .

"I'm sorry I—"

"Betrayer," she growls, opening her jaw wide.

"Her name is Nina Martinez. Her grandchild inherited the house she once lived in," I ramble off, thinking of anything I can give her to save myself. I look to Kalixto, but he's gone. I don't know whether to panic or be relieved that he's saved himself from all of this.

"News, seducer," she hisses, her teeth pressing into me.

Creatures of the deep do not move quickly. This death will be drawn out. Painful. I would fight, but it would only make it worse. If I wait until she has swallowed me whole, perhaps I can claw my way out through her insides.

She gasps as something large fills my vision. As the slippery tentacle brushes against my face, I recognize my savior. A kraken. Most likely here for vengeance, not to save me.

"You've gone too far, Witch," the Deep One bellows .

She is not alone. There are two others with her—including Cirro. His eyes widen as he sees me. The male between him and the one who spoke is missing a tentacle.

I am in the wrongest place at the wrongest time. Never have I been in the midst of extreme danger like this before. Though Cirro can be counted on, the Abyssal Ones are not generally led out of their depths. The only reason I befriended Cirro is because I took care of the octopus nursery. He was sent to warn me away, but when he saw what I was doing, he spoke on my behalf. I can only hope the rest of the Abyssal Ones think of me with any level of affection at all…

But in a war with the Lantern Witch, I will be the last thing on their minds. Desperate to get out of here, I try to swim away as quietly as possible. This proves difficult as the fighting starts—each attack sends a current so strong, I can barely stay my course. Time and time again, I'm thrust into a rock until I am delirious. My desperation to see Teresa again keeps me going as I fight to pull myself out of the destruction zone. I'm hit with one more forceful current and this one takes me out. The world goes black as I'm knocked unconscious.

When I wake, a dull roar not too far away tells me I am still in danger. A tentacle wraps around me, pulls me to it. There's that panic again. I try not to struggle, hope that whatever reputation Cirro put before me is enough to keep me safe. They pull me inside a cave, and when they finally turn me to face them, I let out a sigh of relief.

"Why are you here?" Cirro asks.

"I had a deal to honor," I tell him. "The witch lent her eyes to the surface, I needed to return them."

" He was arranging a treaty," he says, referring to the Abyssal Elder with only pronouns. The elders are so ancient, They have no names, nearly gods in the eyes of the other Abyssal Ones. "In the middle of it, the Lantern Witch ripped off His arm and started destroying everything."

"A treaty?" I ask, then realizing this isn't the time for Deep One politics, I ask a better question. "How do we end this?"

" She seeks retribution. The Lantern Witch is lost in her own mind—whatever her grief is, it is not with us. Perhaps I can talk them down, but only if she stops attacking. Do you know what she wants?"

"The Cliffside Lady," I say without pause. "Some part of the Lantern Witch broke when she died."

Cirro growls with frustration. "Then we are lost without her ghost."