Chapter 1

ONE

CHIP

"So, what kind of chip are you?"

I threw my head back and laughed at Tara's question. It'd only been a few days since my sister, Pickles, and I came to Key West in search of other sirens. Dad had gotten word from some dolphins that there were a few dozen of them living off the coast of Florida, so he sent us to investigate. Ever since we found them, we'd been just lounging on their small private island and telling them all about Megelle Island and what they were missing by not living with the rest of us. I'd been convincing them they needed to come for a visit.

But in the meantime, I loved everything about this magically hidden island. They actually had an even better setup than we did at home because they had their own cove where they could swim right up and change without having to use a hut and without any prying eyes. The island was just off the coast of Key West, close enough where we could see the crowds on Duval Street but far enough that all the noise didn't hit our ears. The cove itself was on the back side of the island. Boaters could have seen it, but a magical barrier prevented human eyes from seeing the truth.

A cozy beach with soft sand and plenty of shade from palm trees wrapped around the island, and the house on the island was modest with simple white siding, bright turquoise shutters, and a large wraparound porch that overlooked the ocean in every direction except for the side of the island that faced Key West, which had dense sections of trees for privacy, whether the humans could see them or not. The house was big and built more like a hotel where everyone had their own rooms but there were communal bathrooms and shared living spaces.

I hadn't counted heads, but there were about two dozen of them. And sadly for them, most of them were related in some way because of the six middle-aged adults living here, two of whom were siblings. This seemed to be the biggest draw for them to visit Megelle Island, where the nearly two dozen sirens aged sixteen to twenty-eight were basically all single and dying to mingle.

"Wait, let me guess!" Tara's sage eyes lit with interest and she chuckled. "Doritos?"

I paused mid-braid to cringe at her. "Do I look cheesy to you?"

She shook her head. "No, but I could see you being a little spicy."

"Fair." Pickles reached across the table and grabbed a handful of grapes and popped them into her mouth."She is spicy."

I pursed my lips and finished braiding my dark hair into pigtails. "Yeah, I'll take that. But still, I don't feel very Doritos -y."

Being on a small island just off the coast and lounging in the sun surrounded by fun and smiling faces reminded me of what it was like to be home with my own family, though back home we'd be underwater and swimming. Here, we all sat in the sun with not a siren tail in sight, which was such a nice change. It was warm and welcoming. I loved the feeling of the sun on my skin. The weather back home had now turned to fall, and the air was cool and crisp, so I chose to enjoy the last fleeting moments of summer I had left before returning to Megelle Island.

I was looking forward to these sirens experiencing fall and winter when I brought them home with me. Those seasons were so beautiful on Megelle Island, with its vibrant fall leaves and the glistening snow in the winter.

"Salt and vinegar?" Tara chimed in again, pulling me from my thoughts of home.

"Oh, maybe barbecue?" Her sister, Laurie, dropped down into a chair next to mine and leaned back. She tilted her head back to face the sun and allowed her blonde hair to fall over the back of the chair and sway in the breeze.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment. Kind of salty, kind of sweet. That's a healthy mix." I chuckled. "The pack asked me the same question."

"What is the pack?" Laurie popped a grape into her mouth.

"The wolf pack on Megelle Island." I sighed and leaned back in the chair, making myself comfortable. I let my bare feet slide on the deck.

Her eyebrows shot up. She pulled her sunglasses down her nose and peeked at me over the rim of the glasses. "You're friends with wolf shifters?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, ever since my baby sister, Reese, married the alpha, we've all gotten pretty close."

All fifteen of the sirens around us gasped and spun to face me with their jaws dropped.

Pickles froze with her hands still holding onto her pink bucket hat she'd just put back on. "Did I miss something? I zoned out for a second. What did you do, Chip?"

"Nothing? I swear. I mean, I don't think I did anything?" I glanced around at the sirens around the table. They were all staring at me, as were the others lounging on the beach only a few feet away.

"Your sister is married to a wolf?" Laurie took her sunglasses off completely and sat them on the table.

"Oh . . . yeah?" I glanced around at all their shocked expressions. "They got married around Christmas."

"Isn't she a siren too?" Laurie's mother, Linda, walked up to our table with her husband by her side. Her brow furrowed in confusion.

"Of course?—"

"How does a siren meet a wolf? How did that happen?" Linda sat down and poured more iced tea into her glass. "I've never heard of such a thing."

Right. They've never been to Megelle Island. Actually, the middle-aged adults here had all fled Megelle Island as toddlers after a terrifying run-in with human fishermen, so even they didn't remember what home was like, or who else lived there. They'd been too young. Their children were clueless.

Linda had been one of the sirens who fled. She said she remembered the Island existed but only remembered living in constant fear. Years of humans surrounding them and seeing the violence of the world made them hunker down in their own little slice of paradise. They'd been too afraid to leave. I couldn't say I blamed them.But I was glad we came, because Dad had worked with the Vaunteros to make our area of ocean safe for us.

"They met through the Neverland dating app." I tried to make it sound so casual even though my sister, Reese, and her husband, Holden, were far from casual. Too many bad dates led them to each other. And now with how much time we'd been spending on land, it only made me see how distant and secluded the sirens could be.

"You have a dating app?" Tara smirked at me and Pickles. She wagged her eyebrows. "That sounds like a lot of fun."

Linda placed her hand on Tara's shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. "We may need supervision for her around all these . . . options."

I chuckled. "Well, when you come to visit, you can give it a try. It's just for Megelle Island so supernaturals can meet other single supernaturals."

Laurie turned to look up at her mother. "I wanna do it."

"Of course you do, dear." She smoothed her hand over her teenage daughter's head and pursed her lips as if biting her tongue.

"I think the dating scene is pretty good on the Island for anyone. Last year we had a lot of great couples get together. And I'm happy for Reese. Holden is everything she needs."

Pickles nodded. "Well, they're soulmates, so they're really meant to be."

"SOULMATES?" Linda raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Really?"

"That's a real thing?" Tara glanced from her parents to me and back again.

Laurie leaned forward and her eyes bore into mine. "I thought it was just a myth."

Tara scoffed. "I mean, I thought Dad was lying."

"Hey! I do not lie," Ryan, their dad, finally spoke up. He muttered something else under his breath, but it made the others laugh.

"No, soulmates are a very real thing." I wasn't sure how possible it would be for me to find one. But seeing my sister with Holden made me believe in them.

"How do you get one?" Tara bounced in her seat with excitement.

"Yeah, I want one." Laurie nodded in agreement.

"You don't just get one. It's not like going shopping and picking a pair of shoes." Pickles rolled her eyes playfully. "If it were that easy, I'd already have one and be married by now."

I arched my eyebrow at her. "Really?"

"For sure." She winked. "You could be my maid of honor."

"Who's to say I don't find one first and you'll have to be mine?"

"It's not first come, first serve, Chip." Pickles giggled. "You can be mine and I can be yours, whichever order we find them."

"Now I really want to go to the Island." Tara turned toward her father. "I know you've been thinking about it, but come on, Dad, it sounds pretty great."

"Can we go? Please, Dad?" Laurie pressed her hands together, begging him.

Ryan gave a heavy sigh and then a single nod. "All right, but we don't need to bring the whole motley crew with us."

"You can bring as many as you want. Bring all of you." I gestured to the island, where some of the siren residents were hiding indoors or swimming. "Dad sent us here to bring you all home."

Pickles nodded. "He made it safe. No humans can get within a hundred feet of our part of the Island because we have reefs and coves under the water that stretch out from the actual land. He remembers what happened to you guys, despite being young then. When he became King, he made it safe."

"Yeah, it'll all be more than okay."

Ryan nodded. "I hear you, but Linda and I are braver than the others. My sister, Rachel, will be too. I'll tell everyone some of us are going to Megelle Island with you and see how many want to come. I don't want to push them if they're not ready."

I popped to my feet. "In that case, let me send a bubble message to Father right now and let him know we're coming with new friends."

Out of habit, I glanced around the shoreline checking for any unsuspecting humans and saw none. Of course, it wasn't necessary. No human would truly see this island for what it was. To the humans, we'd all look like trees on an uninhabited island. I walked across the beach toward the shoreline and pulled my shirt off and let it fall to the ground. I slipped from my shorts and kicked them aside, standing in my favorite purple bikini. I ran into the gentle waves and dove under the surface. The moment my hands touched the water, I felt the change come over me. My legs fused together to turn into my beautiful tail. Purple scales covered my chest and were spread sporadically over my torso and shoulders, they matched my tail perfectly. Rays of sunlight shot down through the water and shimmered over them and made them sparkle.

I swam away from the island into deeper water. Tropical fish glided around me in large schools that almost seemed to dance. I dove down deeper to make sure that if any human saw me, I would only appear to be a shark-sized shape. I sucked in a deep breath of water and let it fill my lungs. Slowly, I began to blow a bubble. It expanded over my mouth until it covered my face from just under my eyes to below my chin like a mask. I whispered my message to my father into the bubble, letting him know that we would be returning and we would have guests. I felt excited by the prospect of bringing more members of our community together.They'd been lost for too long. It was time for them to come home, to know the safety of home.

When I was finished, I blew harder and the bubble drifted off my face and formed into its own perfect sphere. I gave it a little poke and sent it floating off into the sea toward my home. I knew it would reach my father quickly. I turned to swim back toward siren island when a boat zoomed overhead, disturbing the water and the sea life living below the surface. The fish scattered all around me and the rays of sunshine moved in irregular patterns.

I rolled my eyes at how people never realized how much they disturbed the sea, though the sea always took its due, then to my surprise there was a light plop on the surface and something golden fluttered into the water and drifted toward the bottom of the sea. I hurried toward it, about to scoop up whatever trash had fallen into the ocean and chuck it back at their heads, but when I swam near, I noticed it wasn't trash at all. It was a perfect golden pocket watch with intricate lines carved into the metal lid. I scooped it from the sand and held it up. Rays of light reflected off the shiny metal. There was something about the way it sparkled that made me think someone took great care of it and kept it polished.

Despite the disruption the boat had caused, I chased after it to see if I could give the pocket watch back, but that boat was flying through the waves. In order to catch it, which I easily could as a siren princess, I'd have to risk exposure or being caught by humans because it was headed straight for the marina in Key West. My new siren friends had warned us in detail and urgency not to go where that boat was headed. I wasn't foolish enough to not take a local's warning.

I curled my fingers around the pocket watch and smiled. Then I shrugged. The sea had indeed taken its due and been kind enough to let me find it. "Finders keepers."