Siren's Fall [Siren's Mark: Book 2]

Chapter 1

"And can you tell me today's full date?"

"Um," I say, wondering exactly how far off my memory really is. It does seem awfully cold out for the day I think it is. "May sixth, two-thousand-and... eighteen?"

Mr. Grumpy storms out of the room in a sudden, violent motion.

So, I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that was wrong.

ℤ𝕒𝕟𝕖

Kami is standing in the hallway outside Ava's room combing a hand through her hair as she attempts to make herself look less like she just lost a fight to a demon. She has tidied up a bit since we arrived and her skin is just slightly stained red from the remaining traces of blood. I wiped most of it off on the way over here, but she couldn't exactly do the same while driving.

"I can't fucking take it, Kam," I say, slamming a hand into the wall and leaving a fist-sized crater in my wake.

"I was listening," she says with a sigh. "I'm so sorry, Z. We will figure this out."

She pats my back as a reassuring gesture, but it does nothing to ease the ache in my chest.

"She's gone," I say, staring at the floor tiles beneath my feet.

"She's not gone." She grabs my shoulders and shakes them. "Listen to me. That's still Ava in there. We don't know anything right now, okay? It might not even be the lethe that caused this."

"Of course it is."

"You were so sure it was your venom making her sick before, and we all know how that turned out. Ava has some weird human medical stuff going on, for all we know it's one of those things and her memory will come back."

"Even if it is a medical thing, she could be lost for good," I say, pinching my eyes shut. I feel warm tears spill onto my cheeks.

"That still doesn't mean she's lost. You may just have to start over," she says. "Which honestly may be a good thing in your case, 'cause you fucked things up a lot."

I chuckle at the thought of the many idiotic things I did the first time around.

"For starters," she adds, "you could avoid cursing her out at Pike's this time around."

"Oh piss off," I say with a laugh.

"Why are we pissing off this time?" Kieran says as he rounds the corner. A large, gnarled scar spans across his neck, and his red shirt masks most of the residual blood from his encounter with Asmodeus.

"I thought we told you to stay in the car," Kami says, crossing her arms.

"Yeah well, I forgot. You know—lethe and all," he says, his voice hoarse and raspy from the injury to his throat.

"That's not how lethe works."

"Can you two fucking shut up about lethe??" I snap.

"Shit, Z-Man," Kieran curses. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking about it like that... I know you're really into this girl. I didn't mean to..."

"It's fine," I say with a sigh, combing a hand through my hair.

"How is she?" he asks.

"She's lost more than a year," Kami replies, seemingly knowing that I'm not up for answering the question. "She doesn't remember any of us—me, you, Zane."

"Well to be fair, I don't remember her either," Kieran says with a smile. His smile fades as he looks back and forth Kami and me. "Too soon?"

Kami smacks the back of his head.