Forgotten Lyrics

Epilogue - June of This Year

"I expected this from Penn," Aggie said, casting a cold gaze on Thea. "But from you? You've betrayed me, Thea."

"I—I . . ." Thea stammered. "This isn't my fault."

"Nothing ever is," Aggie replied.

"I told you that you needed to stop it and try to get along with her, but you didn't. You just kept provoking her!" Thea insisted.

"It's true," Penn said, and any trace of sweetness had disappeared, although she could never completely lose the velvet edge to her words. "You've been a real bitch, Aggie."

Aggie snapped her head to the side, turning her glare to Penn. "Why? Because I didn't want to destroy everything around me just because I can? Because I decided I didn't have to live like that anymore?"

"You will live however I tell you to live, and you'll like it," Penn said, a smile twisting up the corners of her full lips.

"You are such a bitch," Aggie groaned. "And I am so sick of doing things just because that's the way you say they should be."

"And I am so sick of you!" Penn shouted, and her dark eyes shifted into yellow-green, changing their shape slightly. "I'm so sick of all your whining and complaining and all your stupid crap! You are so holier than thou it's disgusting. You've forgotten your place."

"My place? I am your older sister, Peisinoe!" Aggie shouted, refusing to be deterred. She'd bitten her tongue so many times before, she was surprised she hadn't bitten it right off, and she wouldn't do it anymore. "Or have you forgotten? Have you forgotten everything we were?"

"Peisinoe?" Penn laughed darkly at her old name and began walking through the water toward her, her long strides leaving a rippling wake.

"Arista. Adria. Aglaope." Penn listed names that Aggie had once gone by. "Aggie, my dear naïve sister. Who gives a crap who we were lifetimes ago? Do you remember who we are?"

Penn stopped right in front of her. She was so close that, to onlookers, it might appear that they were about to kiss, but Penn's smile was far too vicious for that and her teeth were much too sharp.

"I am not you." Aggie raised her chin defiantly. "I am not like you, and I never will be. I'm only sorry it took me so long to realize how much of a monster you truly are."

"Penn, maybe we shouldn't do this," Thea said, trying to interrupt. "The moon is almost full."

"Thea, either help me or shut up and stay out of my way," Penn snarled.

Penn's yellow-green eyes were far more animal than human, but they were more soulless than any creature on earth. As Aggie stared into them, refusing to look away or even blink, she knew that Thea was standing beside her, and she hoped that for once—just one time—Thea would do the right thing and stand with her.

But then she heard the sound of the water splashing, and her heart sank. Thea had retreated back onto the land, leaving Aggie alone with Penn, and she knew she wasn't coming out of this alive.

"If you're gonna kill me, then just kill me," Aggie said. "I don't want to spend the rest of my life staring into your dead eyes."

"As you wish." Penn smiled wider, revealing more teeth than a beautiful girl like her should have. "But I want you to know that I'm going to enjoy this."

"I know," Aggie said. "And I want you to know that I'll see you in hell."

Penn laughed, a dark cackling sound, and that was the last thing Aggie ever head. She didn't want to see her sister coming at her, so she looked up, staring toward the heavens, when Penn attacked her, ripping her life from her.

Aggie fell back into the waves, her blood mixing with the ocean she'd loved so deeply, and her eyes were open, staring up to the moon above. As the life drained from her, she sank beneath the surface and the water filled her empty lungs. For the first time since she was human, Aggie felt at peace.

This is the end of the prequel short story Forgotten Lyrics, but the Watersong series continues with four full length novels Wake, Lullaby, Tidal, and Elegy, all available in bookstores and online. 

To find out more about the Watersong series, please visit: http://www.hockingbooks.com/amanda-hockings-books/watersong-series/

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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this story are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

Forgotten Lyrics. Copyright © 2012 by Amanda Hocking. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.stmartins.com

Cover design by Lisa Marie Pompilio

Cover photograph by Zak Kendal/Getty Images

 ISBN 9781250031976

 First Edition: October 2012