Chapter 13

My body convulsed in its desperate need for air. It felt like my chest would explode if I did not take a breath. My lungs spasmed, causing my mouth to open spontaneously. Water rushed down my airway, filling my lungs. I screamed, bubbles escaping from my mouth as the last bit of air was ripped from me.

Pain radiated from my lower half, then my legs melded together. Just when I thought my time was through, I gasped, and water passed through my gills, allowing me to breathe underwater. I looked down in stunned silence. My siren body was fully restored.

I flipped my powerful tail to distance myself from the massive leviathan that thrashed in the sea. My head broke through the surface of the water, my eyes searching for the ship. Kai gripped the railing, staring directly at me. I was too far away to make out his facial features, but I could have sworn that his shoulders slumped with relief upon seeing me.

He yelled something incoherent over the thundering waves and battle aboard the ship, then disappeared from sight.

I searched for the sea creature as its fear vibrated through the water. It was hopelessly trapped. The leviathan would have already returned to the depths of the sea after discovering that the cirrata was not there for his dining pleasures, but the heathens aboard the ship were determined to kill it.

Another explosion shook the skies as Kai commanded more harpoons to be released upon the creature. Its cries tore at my resolve. This was heartless and cruel.

The leviathan fought against the ropes and nets and dove underwater. I gasped when the front end of the ship dipped below the surface. Ducking under the water, I watched as the leviathan's scales shifted from midnight black to the palest of blues. The camouflage was self-defense to ward off the threat, but it would do him little good. The ship was too buoyant and popped back up out of the water like a cork, bringing the leviathan with it.

Blood seeped through the water, staining the crystal blue sea. I had seen enough. This was going to end now. I fought against the swirling current and came up alongside the ship. For a fleeting second, I remembered the captain's words about what he said he would do to me if I ever tried to use my song on him or his crew again, but in this instance, I didn't care.

My song was mighty, and I could put the entire crew under my spell with just a few notes. The melodious song tingled in my voice box as it came forward. Instant relief washed over me as my tune filled the air. The attackers stopped dead, and all eyes turned to me.

Kai gnashed his teeth at me and threw a slur of curses my way, but I ignored him. He couldn't reach me this far out in the water, not unless, of course, he shot me with a harpoon. Judging by the look on his face, that was not entirely out of the question.

I continued to sing, forcing the men to lower their weapons and cut the ties that bound the leviathan.

Kai gripped the railing, simmering with anger, utterly helpless in stopping his men from doing my bidding. When the final rope snapped and the leviathan was free, it bellowed and turned toward the ship, but I focused my song on it, releasing the men I had captivated.

Yells and curses brought my head back around as the men slowly started to come out of my trance, but I was too focused on the massive beast that thrashed in the water with me to pay them much mind.

My song calmed the creature, and it dipped into the water with just its head visible on the surface. I stopped singing, reaching up to brush my hand along the slick scales on its nose. It was severely injured, but it would survive. It blinked at me a few times as I released it from my bewitchment. I never felt I was in danger, even though the creature could easily open its mouth and swallow me whole if it wanted to. It snorted in the water, spraying my face with a salty mist.

I smiled at it. "Thanks for that."

It ducked beneath the surface, and just as suddenly as it had appeared, it returned to the depths to which it belonged.

As I turned to the ship, I swallowed the lump in my throat. I was sure I had doomed myself by singing. The crew's malicious glares made it clear they had no idea I was a siren. Not until now, anyway.

Scooping up my pride, I swam back toward the ship. Groveling was beneath me, but I would beg Kai to take me to Medusa if I had to. The lives of my people depended on me getting that locket and stopping the Dark Hydra, but all that was now questionable.

Kai

What the hell had just happened? One minute, we had the leviathan trapped and at our mercy, and the next, it was gone like a fleeting memory. I could taste the victory on my tongue like a fine rum until that little sea demon snatched it away from me. I gritted my teeth so hard that cracking them was a definite possibility.

She slowly made her way back over to the ship. Her honey-swirled eyes reflected a mixture of anger and fear as she glared in my direction.

I would be lying if I said I did not find her spunk enthralling. When I looked down at her, I could not keep the smug grin from my face. It took a lot of guts to defy me and then gather her pride and return. I had the unyielding urge to forgo the punishment she deserved for costing me a monster kill, but the thought soured in my stomach as quickly as it had appeared.

When she had started weaving her trance through the air, I considered shooting her—until I was distracted by her ginger hair blowing in the wind. Her ability to commandeer the attention of my entire crew and a leviathan with just her song astounded me. I had never seen anything like it before. Usually, it took a school of sirens to take down an entire crew. This siren may be deadlier than I realized. Was that why the sea witch wanted her dead?

Her song had not influenced me, but I still found myself captivated by it. Her voice was like that of an angel, so calm and dripping with pure honey.

"Cap'n! That sea devil is climbing up the side of the ship," Flynt thundered, leaning over the edge and pointing a pistol at her. "Want me to put a bullet between those pretty eyes?" He cocked the trigger.

Sink me. I had not yet prepared myself to explain to the crew why a siren was aboard the ship, but it looked like it was now or never. I needed to calm them before they slaughtered her and hung her head on the bow of the ship.

"Stand down," I ordered as I shoved my way through the masses of men crowded around the side of the ship she was clawing her way up.

Shocked faces turned my way, but I ignored them as I lazily leaned against the railing, waiting for her to make an appearance.

"The Cap'n's bewitched by the demon," Flynt accused, and several rewarded him with grunts of agreement.

"I am bewitched." I smiled at the crew. "Bewitched by the hoard of treasure the siren promised me in return for taking her to Medusa." A hush fell over the crowd. Medusa was a name not lightly spoken of among monster hunters. None were as deadly as she. "The siren has promised the entirety of the treasures of a sunken ship if we take her to Medusa." I raked my hands through my hair as I ensnared their greed with the promise of treasure.

"How do you know you can trust her?" a voice rang out from the back.

Good question. In truth, it didn't matter one way or the other about the treasure she promised because she would be dead long before she had a chance to fulfill that bargain, but that was not something I was willing to confide in the crew. They would mutiny for sure if I told them I had made a deal with a sea witch.

"It's real," I promised.

Rhea's hands latched onto the railing, and she hoisted herself over the side. The thought of being cordial and helping her skipped across my mind, but I booted it away. Especially with my crew watching.

She landed on the deck with a thud, pulling her long pink iridescent tail over the side. It landed with a flop in front of me. My gaze traveled over the length of her tail. It should have disgusted me, but for some reason, I could not take my eyes off the shimmering scales that seemed to explode with a different color every time the sun hit it.

"Sea devil."

"Scourge of the sea."

"You'll get what's coming to you, siren."

The crew threw hate-filled remarks and slurs her way as she pulled her tail protectively closer to her body and tried to cover her bare chest with her long scarlet hair. She flinched as a few men stepped closer to her, the act igniting my anger.

I stepped in front of her, placing my hand idly on the hilt of my blade. The crew stopped moving. "Here are your options," I stated plainly. "You can get back to work readying the ship to sail to Libya. You can pack your things if this task is too daunting for you, and you will be dropped off at the next port…or you can keep coming at the siren, and I will be forced to spill your guts onto the deck. The decision is yours."

Their eyes shifted from me to my sword. Cael stepped next to me in front of the siren, sword drawn and ready as an added incentive. One by one, they slowly dispersed and resumed the work they'd been doing before Dante and the sea creature interrupted our task at hand.

"I hope you know what you're doing." Cael huffed and walked off to join the men.

I glanced down at Rhea, whose face was pinched with nerves and fury. I could tell by the sheer anger rolling off her that picking her up was a bad idea, but I couldn't leave her sprawled out on the deck with murder in my crew's eyes.

Against my better judgment, I bent down and lifted her. Her tail fin slapped against my thigh, soaking through my pants. She made the entire act all the more difficult by not wrapping her arms around my neck, but I could easily lift her dead weight without her aid.

I carried her below to my cabin, neither of us uttering a word to the other or allowing our eyes to meet. I sat her down in a chair near my desk. She adjusted herself and flicked her tail in what appeared to be annoyance. I turned to leave.

"You have the nerve to call us monsters? Monsters are not born. They are made by their acts," her voice broke through the strained silence.

I stopped in the doorway, glancing back at her. A lone tear glistened on her cheek, and she quickly wiped it away.

"You're calling me a monster?" I questioned.

"You are a monster." Her voice rose an octave, and her gaze brushed across the floor planks, as if she refused to look at me.

I considered her accusative words, realizing she may not be completely wrong. "I never claimed not to be," I answered honestly.

"That leviathan was just hungry. It had no desire to hurt us, not until it was provoked." She blinked a few times up at me.

"That leviathan was the one we were tasked to kill. It has sunk over a dozen ships. You dare to say that it meant no harm?" I growled.

"If Dante used the cirrata to lead the leviathan to us, don't you think he was probably guilty of doing the same to the other ships? A leviathan would never attack a ship without cause," she bit out.

I opened my mouth to argue when realization stood and slapped me across the face. Was it possible that Dante used a bloody leviathan to end his enemies? It required more brains than I would ever credit him for, but it was not out of the question.

I searched her face, tracing every soft angle. "It still deserved to die."

"Why do you hate us so much?" She lifted her eyes, and it was my turn to look away. For some reason, I could not face those rounded, puffy, tear-stained eyes.

"That's none of your business," I gritted out, my anger swirling just thinking about my past.

I gripped the door's edge, intending to slam it, when her voice stopped me again. "I can't stay here like this." She motioned down at her tail. "I'll die if I don't get back in the water."

Her voice already sounded scratchy. Was it from holding back tears or her body drying out?

"Good." I huffed. "Then I won't have to deal with you and your suicidal quest any longer." I slammed the door and waited just outside as I collected my anger and shoved it back down deep where it belonged, along with my memories.

A scream ripped from the siren, the sound grating at my last resolve and sending my pulse skyward. I threw the door open to find her writhing on the floor, her tail turning back into human legs. To allow her some privacy, I silently closed the door. I wouldn't want anyone to see me if I was in that much pain, so I afforded her the same courtesy.

I made my way back on deck. My crew watched me with careful eyes as I walked up to the helm. Cael instantly relinquished the wheel to me. I caressed the smooth wood with my fingertips, and the salty air whipped at my hair, dousing the last bit of my rage. Nothing, not even a fine bottle of rum, soothed me like the sea.

"Did you kill her?" Cael asked seriously, and it took me a second to comprehend why he asked.

"No, she is changing back into a human. Apparently, it is a painful process," I explained.

"Are you truly ready to face Medusa again?" Cael glanced around, and I assumed it was to ensure no one was listening in on our conversation.

"I have no intention of facing her again. My task is to deliver the siren, steal the necklace from her—if she can get it—and then kill her." I shrugged.

"I know you better than that, Kai," Cael whispered. "I think you are becoming attached to that which you are meant to kill." Cael spoke with the voice of a wise man but the words of a fool.

"You've been out in the sun too long, my friend, and it has fried your brain. I care not for that sea demon, and nothing will keep me from getting my hands on the Wraith," I declared in an unyielding tone. Yet, beneath the surface of my words, a storm of turmoil had begun to rage within me.