Waveborn

16

Cass's daze evaporated.

From the side of the boat, she could see the opening to below and the hatch cover, propped beside it. A glance back up the dock told her what she already knew, that Jason's light had long disappeared over the ridge. Should she go for help? Try to find someone in the marina building or on one of the other boats?

And then what? Tell them Jen needed to be rescued from someone singing? Right.

She slid off her shoes and moved silently along the narrow outthrust of dock that ran alongside the Andiamo. There she could step on board without a sound, but she couldn't keep the boat from shifting with her weight.

No help for it. Hands on the metal rail, Cass eased onto one of the benches. She gripped the cold metal boom for balance and leaned forward until she could see through the hatch to the cabin.

A lantern's golden glow lit the space below, not a candle as she'd first thought, a squat glass and metal thing with a protruding key and smoky hurricane. Its light reflected from all the cabin's polished surfaces: teak cupboards, the stainless steel stove, even the Plexiglas window panels set high in the walls. Cass had to squint her eyes against its dazzle.

She blinked-and saw her. Her look-alike, with red hair exactly the same shade as Cass's pulled into a snarled-looking braid, slick and wet, the way Cass's would be if she tried to braid it just after swimming. She wore a pair of boys' jeans that looked two sizes too big and a torn black t-shirt, and she stood outside the far cabin, where Jen slept on the bunk that butted up against the doorway.

It was like looking at her own reflection, but twisted and sharpened into something wild and fey. Whoever she was, she was too solid, too real, to be spirit.

The girl's arm jerked; light glinted on metal. A knife. The girl held a knife. She held a knife at Jen's throat.

Cass screamed-"Jen!"-and stumbled down the steps into the cabin.

The girl whirled, holding the knife in front of her, and Cass managed to stop before plowing into the blade. Her eyes darted to Jen. She was bloodless, her throat smooth and unharmed. Relief washed over her in a dizzying wave.

"She won't wake up," the girl said.

The tip of the knife twitched as Cass stepped forward. She struggled to keep from screaming again. "Why not? What did you do to her?"

"She's fine."

The boat still rocked from Cass's sudden movement, rolling shadows across the girl's face. Cass couldn't catch her breath. She trembled with the need to move, to do something, and trembled with the fear of what the girl would do with her knife if she didn't remain frozen.

"Please." Cass choked on the word. "Please don't kill her."

The blade tip dropped as the girl loosed a derisive snort. "Kill her? I'm not going to kill her. We're not like that. Humans are the killers. Humans are the ones who kill and take more than they need, just because they wish it-killing fish until the seas empty of them, killing orcas for sport, even killing each other. Humans are less than people. Less than fish." She spat out the word.

Cass's head spun. The girl looked human enough to her.

Her shadowed features twisted. "But I should kill her. Murderers deserve death."

"Jen's not a murderer!"

The knife twitched again, making Cass gasp. The girl's eyes burned with reflected fire. "She's one of them, the humans who killed our mother. She's guilty by association. If I were a mere human, I'd deliver justice."

"Our mother?" Cass felt a weight sinking through her. "Who are you?"

The girl's lip curled. "In blood, I'm your sister."

The words cut through Cass like glass, because they couldn't be true and yet, now that they'd been spoken, how could they not be true? This girl stood before her, solid and real, with Cass's face and hair and skinny arms and too-big feet. When she spoke, it was with Cass's voice; when she tilted her head, it was her own head Cass saw tilting.

"My sister," Cass croaked. It couldn't be her sister. It must be her sister. She couldn't have a sister, because her mother was dead.

"Only in blood," the girl snarled. "You've been raised by humans. You think like humans, you live among humans, and you act like humans. Humans kill and destroy and ruin everything they touch. Don't call me sister, not so long as you live among them."

There it was again. This girl who looked so much like her, saying that Cass acted like a human. What did that make her? Cass forced words past too-dry lips. "If I was raised by humans, who raised you?"

The girl shifted nearer, fists clenched; lantern shadows danced on her face, sharpening the lines of her cheekbones and jaw. "Do you know nothing of your heritage?" When Cass didn't answer, she went on, "I was raised by our mother's people. The Serra, sea people, who are noble and just and nothing like the humans who have tainted your mind."

Cass's head whirled with her words; heat pushed up inside her. "Humans this and humans that-if they're so terrible, then why did our mother end up with one?"

"Because she had to! Otherwise she would never have associated with-"

"Why? Why did she have to?"

"Because the clan needs human blood to survive." Her voice was increasingly agitated. Cass stole a glance at Jen, hoping that her rising tone would wake her. "She did it for her people."

"And you?" Cass pressed. "Why are you here, associating with us lowly humans?"

"For the same reason. Because I must. And if you had even an ounce of our mother's blood in you, you would have fled as far from humans and their...their filthy boats and garbage and killing as you possibly could."

Cass's gaze dropped to Jen, still unmoving. "Jen's not like that. She's trying to understand the ocean and the animals living in it. Her work-"

"Her work interferes with our lives," she hissed. "Her work is what brought our mother to this island. It's the reason she seduced the man you call father, and when she chose to stay with him, he murdered her for her trouble. He strangled her with his bare hands."

Pain twisted in Cass's gut. "Is that why you're here? To tell me that my father killed my mother?"

"No. I'm here to reclaim something stolen," she said. "And to tell you this: stay away from the islanders. Stay away from the musicians."

"The musicians," Cass echoed. Jason. No. This girl-her mother's murder-her father as murderer-none of it made sense. Jason was the only certain thing in her life right now, and she wasn't staying away from him. "If there really are sea people, and if you really are my sister, then why the hell do you care what I do with the other humans on this island? I'm no better than them, right? You said it yourself."

"Because you could ruin everything," she answered. "Because people's lives depend on it. Our clan's survival depends on it. If there's any Serra in you, keep away from the people here."

"I won't," Cass said. Nails dug into her palms; she clenched her fists tighter. "You can't make me."

At that, some of the tension dropped from the girl's shoulders. She sheathed the knife in a belt at her waist. "But I can," she said. She began to hum deep in her throat, a sound that resonated at some level below hearing.

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A/N

Wow, #310 in Paranormal! Thanks so much for the votes and comments!

Any suggestions for the music for this chapter? Things are heating up! Let me know in the comments or as a PM. Love you guys!

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