Chapter 48

‘He had the balls to call you?’ I said angrily. ‘What an arsehole!’

‘It was stupid of me but I wanted to see him, to see if he had any feelings for me. Even if I don’t want to be with him anymore – and I don’t,’ she added hastily.

‘What did he say to make you go alone to the island?’

‘He didn’t. His call said, “I’m so sorry, Sidnee.” It was another call that said he’d been seen near the island that made me go.’ She looked up with pleading in her eyes. ‘I had to, Bunny.’

I nodded. There was no reason to browbeat her about her poor decision; we all made shitty choices now and again and ‘I told you so’ helped no one. ‘What happened when you got there?’

‘There was a big boat, grey and black, no markings, no registration, nothing. Maybe eighty feet long. There were several men, too, and Chris was with them. They didn’t see me at first because I was in the water. I dived down because I realised that they were there to get the drugs. The siren group has been watching for this to happen.’

I nodded; Calliope had told me that.

‘It’s deep down there, so I figured they’d sent Chris to retrieve the stash since he’s a supernat. I thought I’d meet him down there, convince him to sneak away and talk to me.

‘When I got down to the cave, there was no sign of our siren guards and Chris was acting like the muscle. They had divers – serious divers – disarming the charges and hauling the fisheye up to the boat. Chris saw me, but so did the others. I could have outswum any of them, but they hit me with some kind of sonar blast that disoriented me and made me sluggish.

‘I barely made it to the surface before they caught up to me. I swam up the stream until it became too shallow and crawled out of the water, figuring I could hide. I planned to lead them on a wild-goose chase then find somewhere away from the boat where I could shift and swim away.’

‘I’d have done the same. It was good thinking.’

‘Yeah – except they caught me,’ she said ruefully. ‘They tried to take me back to their boat. When I struggled, the bigger of the two men broke my arm, chucked me to the ground and kicked me. Chris shoved him away and stood over me to stop them from hurting me more. I didn’t know how long he could hold them off – he’s very strong but there were two of them and they were armed. They said they’d shoot me and he’d better get out of the way or he was next.’

She choked up again. ‘But there was a monster on the island, Bunny,’ she whispered. She looked around as though it were hiding somewhere in the room. ‘An otter-man – the kushtaka.’

‘We’re acquainted,’ I said drily.

‘You saw it too? It scared me so bad! The men starting shooting at it, and the second they forgot about me I ran and hid in the rocks. I think Chris might have tried to lead them off my trail – at least, he ran the other way – but the kushtaka got them first. I heard their screams. Do you know if Chris got away?’ Her spare hand was tugging at the bedsheets.

‘Yeah,’ I admitted, though it pained me to say it. ‘I think he did. He was barefoot and we only found the ... um … remains of two men in boots.’

She nodded. Her eyelashes were damp and tears were rolling down her cheeks again. ‘I think he did love me.’

‘I think you’re right.’ I admitted. ‘Does that change anything? Does it help?’

She shook her head then stopped. ‘I don’t know. If anything, it makes it worse. I feel empty inside, Bunny. Numb. Betrayed.’

I reached out and stroked her hair. ‘I’m sorry, love. You’ve been through a lot and you’ve held it all in. You have people that love you. Let us in. Talk to us.’

She nodded. ‘You’re right. But I’ve been holding stuff in for so long, I don’t know how to let it out.’

I understood, probably more than anyone else could. ‘I’ve been emotionally stifled by uncaring parents and you’ve been stifled by an uncaring society. We were destined to be best friends.’

She laughed a little, and the sound made me smile.

‘I know it’ll take some time for you to get over Chris. Even if the relationship was never viable, the heart knows what it knows. But Sidnee? It started off with the whole pure-bred race thing and ended on drugs, kidnapping, and murder.’ I emphasised that so she wouldn’t forget it. No matter what Chris had done and said recently, it didn’t change what he’d done in the past. I honestly believed that everyone deserved a second chance – but it turned out there were limits.

‘I know you’re right,’ she said softly, then she cracked a yawn. ‘Thanks for everything. Thanks for coming to get me. I knew you’d find me.’

I squeezed her hand. ‘Damn right. Now, get some rest. You look awful.’

She laughed again. ‘I bet. It’ll take me days to get a comb through my hair.’

I grinned. ‘I could cut it off if you want?’

She gave me with a look of outraged horror. ‘Touch it and I’ll stake you!’

There was the Sidnee I knew and loved. She was going to be okay, I knew it.