Chapter 19

“There’s…there’s…th-th-the—”

I couldn’t fucking speak. My jaws were locked, and Mama Si’s gloved hand was in mine, and she was squeezing me tightly, telling me, “Calm down. It’s just a siren. Calm down, Fall Doll.”

And just-a-siren broke the surface of the water and popped her head out like it was the most natural thing in the world to do.

A damn miracle I didn’t pass out, but I was too shocked by the sight of those blue eyes, that smile, her dark hair that was flat against her head where the water didn’t touch her but floated like black snakes around her on the surface of the ocean.

Then, “Mamayka, you’ve brought fresh blood.”

She spoke. The siren fucking spoke, and her voice was better than music and her wide eyes were like little worlds I wanted to get lost in, and she seemed in love with me already.

Fuck,I was in love with her, too!

My God, what a face. What a beautiful, unearthly, mesmerizing face she had…

“Spare us your charm, Sedelis,” Mama Si said and squeezed my hand tightly again.

The siren then looked away from me and to her.

The spell broke like a rubber band snapping inside my head, and I breathed again—I hadn’t been until now. I breathed and I saw the siren for what she truly was without whatever magic her eyes had put on me. I saw her grey skin and dirty looking hair and every inch of my skin had raised in goose bumps—what the actual fuck?!

Where did the impossibly beautiful creature with stars in her eyes go? How?!

“But I thought you wouldn’t have an offering to make this year. I thought the one you chose fe—” she started, and even her voice sounded a bit different now, too. Not nearly as alluring.

“You see me here, do you not?” Mama Si cut her off, sounding more irritated than I’d ever heard her before. “I made it. That’s all you need to know.”

The siren giggled and the sound of it was like an illusion, like a fantasy, like it was just an echo coming to us from far, far away. She turned those big blue eyes to me again, the color the exact same as the water, and she suddenly jumped.

She jumped up and dipped into the water, giving me just a glimpse of her body.

Her breasts were bare. Her pale skin merged into grey scales that started on the sides of her waist and met under her bellybutton, then covered every inch of the fishtail that made her bottom half. A big white fin started in the middle of her back, right over her backbone, and went down to the tip of that fishtail.

Mermaids are real,a voice in my head kept whispering, as if that was the biggest surprise of the day, when I could see dragons flying in the sky and a fairy with torn wings on her back and a black cloud over the ocean that had become even bigger now that we were so close to it. So fucking big I couldn’t see the edges of it at all.

“What did she mean?” I asked when the siren disappeared. “Who was your last offering? What?—”

“She’s a siren, Fall Doll. They live to plant seeds of doubt and guilt and everything bad into the minds of their subjects,” Mama Si cut me off. “And make no mistake—we are all their subjects. It’s best to keep your mind protected from her kind.”

Was she fucking serious? “How?!” I breathed. “Mama Si, I can’t!” What the hell could I do against a fucking siren? “I can’t…I can’t do this—I can’t!”

She turned to me, eyes cold, smile vanished. “Control yourself, Autumn Hayes,” she ordered, and it was so strange to hear my name falling out of her lips like that. My full name.

A long breath left me, and a warm calm suddenly settled on my shoulders.

She was absolutely right—I was overreacting. I knew all of this, had spent every night petting glowing animals and playing a piano made of tree roots—this wasn’t new to me. In fact, this was the very reason I’d agreed to do this with Mama Si. This was the reason I’d craved this so badly—it was magic. Dragons and witches and mermaids—magic, and I was now part of it.

I would not back down. I would not turn my back on the most beautiful, terrifying, breathtaking thing I’d ever seen in my whole life, no matter how scary the darkness of the Whispering Woods looked.

This was the rest of my life.

“There,” Mama Si whispered, holding my hand in both of hers. “It’s almost time, Fall Doll. All the offerings are here. Almost time.”

“Are they all human?” I asked, though I knew. Though it was so painfully easy to see the difference between the Enchanted and the humans—just as easy as it was to see the difference between Mama Si and me.

“Of course. All are human. All willing offerings—just like you.”

Except none of those women looked as afraid I was.

The first one had long blonde hair, and she had her chin up and her shoulders back. That’s about all I could make out from the distance, as well as the black coat and the pointy hat of the woman standing next to her. A witch. An actual witch.

The others seemed just as confident, though too far away for me to see details, but they all looked ahead at the Whispering Woods like they could see beyond those shadows.

“They’re all women,” I whispered, not sure why that surprised me.

“Yes, they are,” Mama Si simply said.

“So, what happens now?” Because I was here and I was calm, getting calmer by the second as she caressed my hand. My heart was no longer galloping in my chest and I could breathe fully just fine.

I’d seen. I was looking at the impossible right now, was surrounded by it, and it was time I knew what happened next.

“Now, you get in the water,” Mama Si said, and it was like a slap to my face. My knees shook.

“What?” Did she say water? The same water where that siren was?

No, no—sirens, plural. Because I could see more of them popping out of the surface, one in front of each boat. And the shadows in the water right in front of ours made me realize that that siren—Sedelis—was still there.

“The water, Fall Doll. You get in the water, and then the spirits of the Whispering Woods come out to taste your worth.”

Every inch of me was covered in goose bumps by the time she finished speaking. Taste your worth.

My mouth opened and closed a hundred times before I was able to produce voice, all that calm gone right into the ocean. “Taste my worth, how?”

“Breathe,” Mama Si said, and I did. I was fucking breathing, but breathing didn’t change her words. Breathing didn’t change the fact that I was about to get in that water, that same fucking water where the siren was. I shivered so hard you’d think the air was cold. I couldn’t even feel the heat of the sun, not so close to that Isle made out of darkness that seemed to suck everything good out of the world into itself—even the water of the ocean. It wasn’t blue, but a dark grey around it.

“All in due time, all in due time…” Mama Si whispered, caressing my hand still, and my eyes moved so fast—from the dragons and the torn pink wings and the witch hat and the girls that looked so brave as they kept their heads up, so much braver than me. I took it all in as slowly as I could, but before the minute was even over, the head of the siren popped out of the water.

Sedelis smiled at me, suddenly looking perfect again now that her eyes were locked on mine.

“They’re ready,” she whispered. “It’s time.”

Mama Si turned to me with the biggest smile I’d ever seen on her face. “You’re ready, Fall Doll. I believe in you.”

Unfortunately, I didn’t believe in me at all.

The waterof the ocean reflected the sunlight so beautifully, except now all I saw was siren eyes and my heart jumped at the reminder every few seconds. I held onto the edge of the boat, slowly moving my legs over it, my heels touching the water.

If I didn’t die out of fear in those moments, I was going to fucking live forever.

“Can I just…can I just see her?” I said because in my mind all I could see was under the surface of the ocean where there were a million sirens waiting to devour me.

“Sedelis, come out,” Mama Si said the next moment as she held onto my shoulders, giving me comfort.

Sedelis broke the surface a few feet away, revealing only her eyes, but through them it was easy to see there was a smile on her face hidden by the water.

“Don’t look at her. Keep your eyes on the Woods,” Mama Si instructed. “You will be all right, Fall Doll. Trust the process.”

Trust the process.What a ridiculous concept, considering where I was and what I was about to do.

But I had gathered all the courage my body could carry, so I dipped my legs in the water without giving myself too much time to think, and it was nice. The water wasn’t cold. It didn’t freeze me like I’d feared.

“There. Like that,” said Mama Si, helping me up on the edge. “You don’t have to swim. Just hold onto the boat when you’re in the water.”

“Mama Si, I?—”

“Go. You’re ready, Fall Doll. Jump!” And she pushed me.

I let go and my body seemed to be sucked into the water instantly even though I was holding onto the edge of the boat that didn’t budge, didn’t move a single inch.

My God, I was in the water.

I was in the water with sirens.

I turned, holding onto the wood with all my strength because I needed to see Sedelis. I needed to know that she wasn’t too close to me, and she wasn’t. Still four feet away. Still far enough.

“Breathe deeply, doll,” Mama Si instructed, crouched over at the tip of the boat. “Breathe. Don’t let the looks of her intimidate you. She only gains more power that way.”

Oh, God, I shouldn’t have been here at all.

I just want to go home! said a voice in my head.

Too late.

“Wh-wh-what now?” I asked, shivering, though the water was warm, and it moved around me like it was trying to comfort me.

“Now, silly human, you get to give your blood to Ennaris,” Sedelis said, and she was coming closer.

Fuck, she was coming closer.

She was gliding in the water so smoothly, causing no bubbles or ripples or anything at all on the surface.

“Mama Si,” I whispered, trying to instinctively get back on the boat, but I couldn’t.

That same water that was trying to comfort me? Now it was holding me down.

I wanted to scream from frustration, but I was too stunned, too afraid to make all that sound.

“It’s okay, Fall Doll. You’re just afraid, but you don’t have to be. You’re okay,” Mama Si chanted from the edge of the boat, and the words helped. It helped even more when her hands closed over mine—naked, without the gloves, and her warmth slipped into me.

That’s the moment I realized—it was magic.

The warmth that always seemed to slip into my body at the touch of her bare hands, it was magic. It calmed down my racing heart within seconds, and I felt it if I paid attention. I felt the foreign body underneath my skin just fine, and I raised my head to look at Mama Si.

She’d been using her magic on me since that very first day we met. I’d just been too distracted by everything else to notice it.

Then… “They’re here,” Sedelis said, and her voice came from much, much closer than I realized.

I lowered my head to find her right in front of me.

Her fishtail pressed to my legs. I felt her fucking scales against my knees and my mind went blank.

Nowhere to go. The boat was right at my back and the siren with the gorgeous blue eyes and skin that looked radiant while she was looking at me was right there.

There wasn’t enough air in any real or fantasy world to fill my lungs.

Sedelis moved to the side quickly, and her hand wrapped around my arm. The scream got stuck in my throat. I looked up at Mama Si to ask for help, but she was smiling. She didn’t seem concerned in the least.

Instead, she mouthed, you got this.

I didn’t have shit—but the ritual began anyway.

“I am here with an offering for the rulers of the Evernight Court on behalf of Dragons’ Den!”

The voice was crystal clear, inviting my eyes to the boat in the middle. I realized there were sirens in front of all of them. All the human women were in the water, too, just like me, and the sirens were holding them by the arms.

They were okay. They were all alive, and this was all just part of the plan—and who cared that Sedelis’s fins were still touching my legs?

It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter…

“I am here with an offering for the rulers of the Evernight Court on behalf of Faeries’ Aerie!” said the woman with the pink wings from her boat. God, I wanted to be closer so I could see her face so badly. I could swear her hair was the same color as those torn wings, but it was short and she was too far away so I couldn’t be sure.

“I am here with an offering for the rulers of the Evernight Court on behalf of Skinwalker Soil,” called the man standing alone on his boat, with what looked like black and brown fur on his shoulders, and a hood over his head.

“I am here with an offering for the rulers of the Evernight Court on behalf of Witches’ Wing,” said the witch on the boat closest to us.

Then they all turned their eyes our way for a moment, all the sirens in the water and the humans and the Enchanted…

“I am here with an offering for the rulers of the Evernight Court on behalf of the Blood Burrow,” Mama Si said.

Absolute silence followed the seconds after her voice echoed and disappeared into our ears.

Then I was pulled forward by the arm so fast my neck almost broke.

“And these are their willing offerings!” the sirens sang in unison, their voices the most beautiful melody I had ever heard, as they showed us, the humans in their arms, helplessly swimming by their sides, to the dark cloud that covered the Whispering Woods.

“Wait…” I said, but my voice was so low that even I barely heard myself.

Wait, I need a second to breathe. Somebody, please tell me what happens next!

But the words remained inside me, and three things happened at once.

Sedelis’s fishtail wrapped around my legs like a giant fucking snake, and held me up in the water, almost perfectly motionless.

Screams came from my side—terrified screams of those girls who had been no doubt trapped by the sirens as well. I’d have joined them if the fear hadn’t paralyzed me so thoroughly.

And the third thing that happened was the creatures that flew right out of the darkness of the Whispering Woods and shot for the sky, flying straight up like they couldn’t even see us there.

Five of them. There were five creatures with wings, all of them black, some smaller and some bigger—one barely a dot in the blue sky while another as massive as those dragons flying over Dragons’ Den.

I was too stunned to look away from them as they spun around like bullets into the sky, like they meant to get all the way to outer space. Too stunned to say a single word still, and I didn’t even feel the scales of the siren’s fishtail wrapped around my legs anymore. I was thankful for it—if she wasn’t holding me up right now, I’d have drowned.

And then the beasts in the sky turned downward.

In those moments, I knew I was going to die, but there was no time to have flashbacks, to think of the happiest memories of my life, to regret anything or be thankful for anything—there simply was no time. The beasts grew bigger and bigger the closer to the surface of the ocean they came, and they weren’t birds—no, they were all some kind of a dragon, each in a different size and shape. But the scales and the horns and the tails and the claws gave them away. Even the smallest one, as big as a cat, had a really long, really thin tail with a sharp tip that glistened under the sunlight like it was made out of metal.

They came and came until the other girls screamed again. My mouth was wide open, but my vocal cords were still frozen solid.

The beasts didn’t slam onto us. They spread their wings and suspended on air about three feet over our heads, and then they flew around us, around each other, in a perfect circle for what must have been the longest minute of my life.

If someone had cut my head clean off, I wouldn’t have even bled. My eyes refused to blink as I involuntarily took in details of the bodies of those beasts. They had black scales and horns and claws. Only their teeth and their eyes had white in them, and their bellies were a slightly lighter grey. Maybe they were made out of that same dark cloud that shielded the Whispering Woods from our view. At this point I’d readily believe it.

They spun around in a circle seven times, beating their wings, causing ripples in the air that nearly drowned me.

And then they stopped.

Then, they roared.

My eyes squeezed shut and my heart skipped a long beat. My instincts kicked in. Finally. My arms were moving, and I was trying to swim away to the other side of the boat, all the way to the Paradise—except I’d forgotten the siren who was holding my legs tightly together with her fishtail.

More screams in my ears. I was going to scream, too, and I was going to claw the siren’s face off if I had to until she let go of me.

Except something was flying right over my head.

It was a dragon, one of the bigger ones, possibly the size of an SUV. I looked up and small grey eyes locked on mine. My heart didn’t beat at all as he came for me with those huge wings, those black scales, those fucking teeth that were as big as my fingers…

Then something else, something much smaller flew right under the dragon’s talons and reached me first.

It was the smallest one that had wings for arms, a long, sharp tail, and big black eyes. Even though he was tiny in comparison, he still looked vicious. He still had his jaws wide open, lined with a million sharp teeth.

Sharp teeth that were suddenly on the side of my neck.

I screamed.

The SUV-sized dragon still flying over me roared like the sky fell right on his fucking head.

Sedelis squeezed my legs with her fishtail until I stopped screaming. I could do nothing but choke on thin air and endure the pain from both my legs and my neck as the small dragon bit me.

He sucked the blood out of me like a fucking leech, and by the time I was able to coordinate my movements and try to grab him by the tail to take him off me, he let go.

The bigger one was gone. I still heard his roar coming from far away, but he wasn’t flying over us anymore, and the small dragon flew back, too, opening his jaws wide as he roared. It sounded more like screeching tires. I’d never forget his face—the sharp grey spikes over his nose, the small one between his deep black eyes, his small ears and his grey belly as he raised his arms to the sides, attached to membranous wings that extended to his shorter legs, too. That tail, possibly twenty inches long and sharp like a fucking blade, was lined with small sharp spikes, like it had tiny teeth of its own.

Then he flew up and up and up, disappearing from my view completely, just like the rest of them.

Nobody was screaming anymore. The tail of the siren next to me, no longer squeezing me like it wanted to burst me open, just held me above water. All the dragons, big and small, were flying toward the dark cloud of the Whispering Woods now, and before five seconds were over, they disappeared just as fast as they had appeared.

My hand shook as I raised it above the water and brought it to the right side of my neck where the dragon had bitten me. I’d felt it, felt its teeth perfectly clearly, and even though my body was numb right now to feel pain, I touched the wound and my fingers were stained with my blood.

A dragon bite.

Right where Hannah had had that bite mark on her neck, too, even if hers had been much bigger than mine.

No more fishtail around my legs. The siren moved, let go of me, and my body was so fucking heavy, I sank. I sank underwater for a good few seconds until my instincts kicked in and I realized that I would drown if I didn’t start swimming.

So, I did.

I swam up and up until I broke the surface and filled my lungs with air, and I looked around me, at the Whispering Woods, at all the other human girls swimming in front of their boats, the sirens gone.

It was over. The ritual was already over.

So why did it feel like it was only just beginning?