Final part! Thanks so much for having the patience to get through to this chapter & reading my story!
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Chapter 4: Angels in the Sea
Fire should have known that Theo would never, never agree to ask Maxon for help.
At the mere suggestion, he'd lashed out, and stormed below the deck like a right hurricane. Fire hadn't ever expected anything to sail smoothly over the choppy ocean waves, but she had at least hoped that Theo might consider his options a little more carefully.
"He's just so wrapped up in this grudge of his," Fire groaned that night, weary as if she was carrying the burden of that resentment around in a basket. She had brought Brucie down to the rowboat and called for Rudy. He appeared just as Brucie was splashing into the waves beside him. "Thank you for your help, Rudy," Fire said, for what her brother didn't know was that Rudy had distracted the men aboard Arsen's ship so that Theo's men could land. Fire had known that Theo planned to attack the ship anyways, and had asked Rudy for his support.
"It was nothing," Rudy replied. "I'm just glad you managed to free the Siren aboard." He must have figured out what had happened, then.
"The woman we rescued was Lady Calla," Brucie explained, and Rudy sucked in an audible gasp.
"Huh? You two know her?" Fire asked.
Rudy nodded solemnly. "Lady Calla was one of the most promising of our kind. She had one of the greatest voices of her age group. Everyone thought she was a shoe-in for queen. Brucie and I were young when this happened, but one day she left the colony to live on the land with the earthens. She'd fallen in love with a human man and left to be with him. It was quite a shock."
"How do you think she was captured?" Brucie wondered aloud.
"Maybe she was just swimming offshore and the men found her?" Rudy suggested. "If there are more boats with captured beasts, perhaps...perhaps Lady Nerissa was captured?"
A cold dread spread through Brucie. It wasn't as if she hadn't considered it; the thought had been fraying the edges of her mind with anxiety.
"I was wondering if there might be other Sirens on Arsen's other ships," Fire said.
Rudy nodded grimly. "I should scout the area. I don't have the greatest voice, but I'm a quick swimmer. Maybe I can find another of the boats, or maybe even some evidence." He cast a lingering look at Fire before slipping beneath the water's surface. Brucie wondered for what felt like the hundredth time what exactly was going on between the two of them.
"I can try speaking to Jonas, since he seemed to know Nerissa," Fire offered, snapping Brucie from her thoughts. "He and I have a history, somewhat."
"I thought you only ever fought with him?" Brucie asked.
"Well, sparring and...other things," she finished with a wink before yanking herself up by the rope ladder. Brucie sighed and tilted her head back to fill her eyes with the light pouring down from the stars.
"So you do speak," a voice was pelted down from above. Her eyes flickered from the heavens to the helm. Theo stood at the ship's edge, his hands braced on the rail, staring down at her. Looking almost...bored.
Brucie tried to sink deeper into the water, so that he wouldn't see her scales, but she had a feeling that it was useless. He'd probably deduced it all when they had freed Calla. With that same dull expression, he swung himself onto the ladder and slid down unceremoniously. "So this is where Fire brings you. Tell me, just what do you think you're doing on my ship?"
"I'm not hurting anyone, that's what I'm doing." She crossed her arms. "Unlike you."
"I'm not exactly sure why Fire seems so infatuated with your kind, but I won't let her be hurt." No words said this exactly, but she could tell Theo was suspicious of her true form. Sensing this, she flicked her tail close to the waves' surface, close enough for him to see her glinting scales beneath the light of the night sky.
"You think you can protect her all the time?" Brucie asked. "Look at where we are. Rough people are on these rough seas. Your sister has been endangered from the start, but she's strong enough to care for herself. You cannot fight all of her battles." Her voice was coated with venom, but it stung her, too. She was vividly aware of her protective feeling towards Nerissa, her closest friend.
Theo said, "No, but I can lessen the burden on her heart."
"You're going to eliminate any threat? I suppose you know what she's planning?"
"Of course I do. Fire has never been able to keep much from me. You are the outsider. Don't let yourself forget that." She winced at his sharp stare. "You hardly know anything about Fire. You don't know what she and I have been through."
"Oh, really?" Brucie snapped. "Then, tell me, are you even capable of any emotion other than hate? What a martyr you are, gladly playing the broken villain. I don't give a damn about your tragic past. I'm sure it's a catastrophic tale, really, but you're a big boy. You should know better to let it weigh you down. Almighty moon, you walk around about as angry as if you carried anchors with you!"
"Then what's to stop you from drowning me, here and now?" Theo shot back. "If I'm such a disease to the world, why not rid it of my existence? You have the power, so why not?"
"Shut up!" she screamed, shutting her eyes tightly to not have to look into his.
"I don't think it's mere consideration for my sister, whom you hardly know. I think you see yourself in me."
"Be quiet!"
"You must. A killer, raised on the hard streets of whatever sort of civilization you beasts have. All alone but for a few friends. Now hardened and closed off. But where I have only a wall, you hide yourself behind those sickly-sweet smiles of yours."
"SHUT UP!" Suddenly, the waves rushed up violently, crashing against the rowboat, spraying everywhere. Theo's mouth snapped shut. Maybe he hadn't realised that a Siren's power extended beyond enchanting others, all the way to hexing the water itself. "You know nothing about me," she hissed.
"Haven't you figured it out? I always know more than you think." He returned her cutting glares with a hard stare of his own. Impassive. Unable to be shaken.
She leaned her hands on the rowboat's edge. "Don't you dare speak to me that way. Besides, it's my turn now. Allow me to guess: you too grew up rough, trying only to protect your sister after something happened to her. You've been rivals with that other captain since the time that you were young and on the streets together. You were hardened by that life, and ready to take on being a pirate-but no, wait. Something must have happened before that. There was a woman." Theo flinched and looked away. "Ah. There's always a lady. She broke you, and that was when you made the decision to become a pirate."
"Impressive," Theo said, through gritted teeth. "Fire was accidentally caught in the midst of a gang fight and injured. It was minor, but she was small and terrified. She grew strong, but I never forgot her tears when she returned to me. You've got it wrong, though. Maxon and I were never rivals. We were best friends until we took to the seas. And we both chose to become sailors from the time that we were young, believing we would find fortune. We were always called by the sea. Nothing drove me to it."
Brucie shrugged. "I'm allowed to be wrong."
He didn't meet her eyes. "But you weren't, about the girl." He'd never admitted this before, not ever, and he never thought he would, but here he was. Spilling it all like seawater seeping from a raising net. "I loved her with all of my heart, when I was younger. She wasn't all that beautiful, or tall, or interesting, really. But she was sweet and kind, even to a man like me, even though she knew what I was like. She knew everything about me, and she was still so wonderful to me. She saw through every wall I put up, every façade, and yet she couldn't see through my heart to know my feelings for her. And one year, I went to study abroad, and before I left, I told her to wait for my return, but I couldn't tell her how much I loved her. Over the year, I built up the courage. When I returned, I met with her immediately. As soon as I saw her, I kissed her. And then she told me she was engaged." He let out a bark of harsh, pained laughter. "She asked me to be the best man. So casually cruel, and she didn't even understand that my love was deep as the sea."
There was a pause. The only sound for a suspended moment was the sloshing of the seawater, the smacking of the waves against the ship, and distant voices high above.
"Time heals all wounds," he said. "The only thing that remains is what could have been, if I had told her earlier. But I don't think that could have changed anything. She was always so in love with him...He's a lucky man."
That was one thing Brucie had not expected. She herself, though a beautiful young Siren, had never experienced heartbreak of that sort. She had distanced herself from that and focused on learning to master her powers.
She had distanced herself from the seafaring men. The twolegs were a more primitive folk. They lacked the glamour of the Sirens, the talent, and treaded their earth ignorantly. But maybe-just maybe-their minds weren't as dull as she'd thought. Maybe, as humanoids, they all could feel the same things. Maybe, beneath the weathered walls fortress he had set up around himself, there was a beating heart within Theo.
"I don't want your pity," he said, without malice.
"I didn't plan on giving it," she countered, but her voice was softer now. He stood before her a few seconds more before he turned he climbed the ladder with surprising speed and disappeared on the ship. Brucie sunk her head beneath the water and tried to rid herself of the tightness in her chest. But it remained within her, like a plague. As if the emotions that she had guarded herself from for years-the emotions that she watched crush so many others-were diseases. And she had come close enough to catch them.
Too close.
***
The following night, Fire was determined to set her plan forth. Like so many nights before, she went down to the rowboat, this time alone. She was only half-apprehensive about leaving Brucie alone (she knew Brucie could protect herself; Fire was more worried that the rogue Siren might cause some disaster.)
She glanced over her shoulder, as if to make sure no watchful eyes followed her as she dove into the water. "You know," Rudy grumbled, "you act as though I'm so risky, but if the people of my colony discovered that I was involved with you-"
She quieted him with a kiss. "I don't care what the men of my ship think of me. Once, they were the only people I belonged to, but I see now that where I go should be determined by my decisions, not by others' opinions." She looked down at her hands, fiddling with her fingers. Her cheeks were tinted rouge. "And I choose you."
Rudy found himself smiling as he secured an arm around her waist. "Take a deep breath, and give me a tap when you need more air."
Gulping in a lungful of air, Fire squeezed her eyes shut, clinging tightly to Rudy. He plunged beneath the water with her and took off. She had expected him to be fast, but his speed was almost appalling. Together, they shot through the water. Sapphire didn't open her eyes, but she felt the thick water against her. She waited until her lungs burned before signaling him. He arced upwards, and then-they were skidding along the ocean's surface. She breathed in hastily, opening her eyes just long enough to see that another ship loomed, tiny on the moonlit horizon. She wondered just how far they'd traveled. She didn't have time to glance back, but she suspected that her own ship would have long disappeared from view. She nodded at Rudy; they ducked beneath the water once again, gaining more momentum now that he wasn't buffeted by waves.
This time, her air didn't last nearly as long. They resurfaced a few times more before they reached Maxon's ship. She wondered why his vessel didn't seem to be traveling at the speed it could. They delayed, but for what?
Fire left Rudy at the back of the ship, where she knew rivets stuck out as perfect hand and footholds for good climbers like her. Of course, the ship wasn't meant to be scaled. Her hands were bloody and blistered by the time she hopped over the side and snuck about the quiet ship. Her feet were bare and soundless, but her soaking clothes dripped. Saltwater spilled down from her hair in rivulets.
She considered going below deck, but decided to scour the decks first, on a hunch. Sure enough, she found Jonas on the quarterdeck. He was hiding from the night watch, it seemed, staring intently out to sea. Insomnia. She remembered him discussing his inability to sleep when he was worried. She'd never been able to sympathize; she slept like a log.
"Jonas." He whirled around, a hand over the hilt of his sheathed sword. She flashed him a grin. "Your mind too full to rest?"
"What do you want, Fire?" he snarled.
"I have no use of your body tonight," Fire said, raising her open palms innocently. "For brawling, or anything else. Tonight, I need you to become my ally and assist me in a greater project; to align the ships of your captain and mine."
Jonas scoffed. "Impossible."
"I don't think you understand," she barked. "You and I are more deeply involved in this feud more than anyone. We grew up with these men."
"That won't make a difference, and you know it." He raked a hand through his perennially tousled hair. "There's nothing we can do. Why are you so eager to be buddies now, anyways? Didn't I hear you almost died in the last attack?"
"I did. But I was saved. And I think you can guess by what." Jonas's eyes widened as her own eyes flashed with something sharp like a blade. "I saw you speak with a strange girl on the day of that attack. And I know Maxon doesn't keep ladies on his ship, other than his wife."
"What does it matter?" His voice was apocalyptic.
She tilted her head, a blank, dark look on her face. "We launched another assault on what we thought was a wealthy merchant's vessel. It turned out to be owned by a man named Arsen. On board this ship was an assortment of sea monsters, and among them a Siren woman named Calla. We freed all of the beasts, but that was only a transport boat. We've located what we think is the main ship and are currently headed towards it."
"You think some man is capturing these-what are they?" His face looked ill with pallor, as if the very thought made him feel sick.
"They're known by many names, typically Sirens," Fire replied, recalling the night she had asked Rudy what he called himself. "And yes, that's what I think. I want to stop him, but my ship barely scraped by during the first attack. We need more power. We need your help."
"You keep saying 'we'," Jonas noticed, "but does Theo even know about this?"
She shrugged. "I'm sure he's figured out what I want, but he's too damn stubborn to ask Maxon for help. Theo's not bad. I know he would help the Sirens, but..." She sighed. "I don't know what the hell happened between him and Maxon that has lasted them all these years of hatred."
"They had an argument," Jonas said blankly. "I heard part of it, but left quickly. I didn't want to be near that bomb when it detonated. They disagreed about the ways of the sea, about how much power men should have, about how one another had changed throughout the years. That fight broke them, and the hate has been festering for all this time. There's no way to align them, Fire."
She could feel her cheeks grow hot. "Don't you want to help? They don't have to be best friends, I just need..." She took a breath. "I just need aid in this one battle. I want to bring Arsen down."
Jonas didn't meet her desperate gaze. "This doesn't concern me."
"What if he's gotten Nerissa?" she half-shouted, her emotions rising into something of hysteria.
Jonas shattered right before her. "Who told you her name?!" he bellowed. "Who the hell do you think you are to speak of her?!"
Fire stood her ground, crossing her arms defiantly. "I've met Sirens who knew her. She disappeared a while ago, according to them. And I don't suppose she's been on this ship all this time?"
"No." His jaw tightened. "She just disappeared one day."
"Don't you want to find her? If there's a chance that she's been captured, if she's being hurt..."
"And, what? Why do you want to help them? Are these Sirens...your friends?"
"I've befriended one, yes, and I'm working on warming up the one we rescued." She hardly hesitated before adding boldly, "And the third is my lover."
Jonas made a surprised noise that sounded like choking. Fire straightened her back. "So, plead this case to Maxon or live knowing that you've condemned whoever Arsen may be holding hostage." She quickly rattled off the rough coordinates of where Arsen's main ship had been when Rudy had scouted it in the distance, as well as the general direction it was heading. It appeared to be bound for a city called Lucem.
With her piece said, Fire fled the ship the same way that she had arrived and returned to her own craft.
***
Jonas spent his waking hours thinking.
Of Maxon, who was leading the ship as best as he could, making the decisions he thought were right. Power had not made a mutineer of him; he was strong and commanding, but not corrupted.
Of Rylee, who protected all of them in her quiet way. She was always trying to take care of everyone, never believing the effect she had, never knowing her own strength.
Of Fire, whose entrancing eyes always saw right through him. She fought with tooth and claw, to the death if the cause was worthy enough. He wondered just how far she would take things this time. When he had seen her that night, it was almost like seeing a mirage from his past. The way she spoke to him...it was almost as if they were strangers. As if she didn't remember the past. Everything truly had changed.
Of Theo, who was once so strong, who became so bitter, like an apple slowly rotting. Jonas wondered if the decay would reach the core, and when.
Of Nerissa.
He was a broken clock, ticking away at the same hours, the same thoughts. Watching the same dawns and dusks with an eerie sense of timelessness. Replaying the same fugacious moments, living in perpetual sameness.
She haunted his mind like a ghost.
Somehow it felt like Jonas had never quite spent so much time thinking. It was startling to realise, but he was a man of action. Fighting, sailing, always moving, always running. But from the first day Nerissa had appeared, he had wanted to slow for a moment. To know more. All mystique and strangeness aside, Nerissa alone was intriguing. She spent her time thinking, calculating. She was everything that Jonas was not, and everything that he needed.
And he couldn't save her.
He wasn't sure what choice Maxon would make if Jonas explained his visit from Fire, but it would probably be to sail on. Maxon would probably help the Sirens if he thought he had the manpower to take on Arsen's ship, and if the plan did not involve Theo. But neither of those requirements were met. So Jonas spoke not, and receded into his thoughts.
***
Under the cover of night, Theo's ship approached Arsen's vessel, a dark shape gliding across the choppy waves.
Fire had been so certain when she had left Jonas the previous night that he would convince Jonas. But she saw no other boats. Although she had wanted the extra help, there always had been the possibility that Theo would forget who the true enemy was and brawl with Maxon. Fire would just have to believe in the men of her own ship. They stood alongside her, prepared to propel themselves into the oncoming storm of the battle.
Emmett stepped to her side, sheathing a knife and adjusting his mask of bravery and coolness over his face. Fire eyed him suspiciously. He had defended her in every heated debate she'd had with Theo about attacking Arsen's ship since they rescued Calla. And whenever she'd snuck about, holding the secret of Sirens close to her heart, he always seem to know exactly what she was doing, but never revealed her. "Just why are you fighting for me?" she asked before she could stop herself.
He observed her warily and let out a breath. "You think you're the only one who gave their heart to one of the Sirens?"
Brucie, on Fire's other side, could not help but overhear (well, perhaps she could help, but it was her first instinct to eavesdrop) what Emmett said. She wondered then if he had been the reason that the light-haired Siren with the flowery name had found Nerissa in these pirate-infested waters. She spied the determination in his eyes and knew; men of all kinds would go to great lengths for love or kinship. Even Rudy, a traditionally peaceful man, was primed to join the attack, to protect Fire and save any Sirens.
With the moon as their protector, the night as their cloak, the men of Theo's ship (and Brucie and Rudy) stealthily landed on Arsen's enormous ship.
Brucie nearly fell when she landed-again-and again, Theo caught her. As he steadied her, she couldn't resist putting a hand against his chest, feigning unsteadiness. And there, beneath her fingertips, she could feel his heartbeat. It felt the same as her own. Was there a really a difference between the Sirens and the twolegs, other than physical appearance and the Sirens' vocal talent?
"Brucie?" Theo asked. She wondered if what she saw shifting in his emerald eyes was concern. She pulled herself away from him, trying to compose herself. But although clear minds made for better glamour, strengthened vocal powers, they could not cure disease. Calming her thoughts could not calm her heart.
"Are you afraid?" she heard Theo ask, distantly as if her ears were filled with water.
Yes, she wanted to say. I am afraid of my own feelings. She wondered if she would have said it, had she been able to speak.
Theo looked imperious for the flicker of a moment, but decided not to be an insolent twolegged brute and said in a low voice, "If you stay near me, I will protect you."
She reeled with shock. Oh. He thought she was afraid of Arsen's pirates, since she could not use her voice when she was not in the sea. It hadn't occurred to her to be frightened. But she remained at Theo's side anyways. At least he didn't treat her like a damsel in distress, but rather a warrior without her best weapon. It made her want to drown him just a bit less.
The earthens aboard Arsen's ship, however, were unguarded idiots. The men on the night watch were unsuspecting and not difficult to dispose of. Brucie would have thought that the men aboard would be Arsen's elite. And yet, Theo's allies took them out without revealing their invasion. Without much fuss at all.
Something isn't right.
They advanced below the deck, having briefly and brutishly interrogated a terrorized guard who squawked out the location of Arsen's beasts. The atrium below the deck was akin to the one on the transport ship, but on a much larger scale. Brucie's eyes scanned every cage, every tank, but there was only one Siren, and she was not Nerissa.
"Lily!" Emmett shouted, rushing forward. The girl was not in a tank, but standing in a cage without water, her legs beneath her. She opened her mouth, as if to try to scream, and though her gaze was impassive and forward, she shook with panic.
This is a trap. Brucie's instincts screamed for her to get off of the boat immediately. She waited until Lily was freed from the chains binding her, trying to convince herself it was nothing. But Lily latched onto Emmett and began pulling him away. Out of the atrium, trying to haul him onto the deck. Off of the boat.
Brucie grabbed the arms of Fire and Theo, trying to convey her urgency with only her eyes. They seemed to sense that something was wrong at that point. Theo shouted to his men to retreat. Everything was a whir of salty sea air, adrenaline, terror, dread, the wind beneath her as she sprung overboard and plunged into the shock of dark water. She didn't remember seeing Rudy and Lily jump as well, but they were suddenly beside her. Brucie could feel her voice rising in her throat, every inch of her shrieking to sing to defend, to fight, to kill. She waited, biting back, until she saw Theo and Fire and Emmett retreat to Theo's ship. She waited as other men leapt over. She waited, frenzied, feeling like a cornered animal, but Arsen's enormous ship exploded in a burst of metal and flames before all the men had escaped, before she could do anything.
She was blasted backwards, shot in a rush of water that caught in her throat and sprayed all around her. Everything was madness, darkness with a flash of fire. The ship looked like an erupted volcano. Bombs. There were bombs within it. It had all been one great trick. Arsen was probably never on board in the first place, and Nerissa was still missing, and men were dying. Though water was everywhere, it did nothing to stop the deafening bursts, or the hungry flames that rapidly devoured the boat. Brucie glanced at Rudy, whose jaw was clenched at the horrifying sight. His eyes were sharp as he nodded to her in silent agreement. Then she turned to Lily. The moonlight made the fair-haired girl's scales look iridescent. She too affirmed Brucie's intentions with the tilt of her head.
Together, the three of them began to sing.
Brucie had not used her voice to sink a ship in ages. She knew her own abilities would probably be horrifying, but she felt free and powerful and full of bottomless rage. In that moment, she would have taken on anything. Her voice rose, above the rumbling noise of the detonating bombs, above the crashing waves, above the alarmed shouts of men still on the burning boat. She couldn't save them. She had to do her best to make sure the flames were brought down, to ensure the safety of the captured sea monsters. With any luck, they would be free. That was what she was, a beast freeing other fiends.
She let the demon within her take control.
Lily joined Brucie, her clear voice soaring, harmonizing above Brucie's melodies. In times, their chords became eerie and minor and hauntingly enchanting. The water climbed, sloshing sickeningly. Rudy at last joined, the final piece to the puzzle, his deeper voice taking over the low, dark tones of their song. The boat keeled to its side. Brucie's animalistic sides felt delight in hearing the startled cries of the men on board-some of whom had been her allies, but others...others had wanted to exploit any of their kind. Her sensible side was far away and reasoning that if those men hadn't died because of her, they would have died in the inferno.
The ocean claimed the ship for its own, swallowing it whole. Waves washed over it, the sea swollen with its latest tragedy. Clouds blotted the sky above. Brucie could feel her heart settle back into its cage as her melodies softened. Rudy and Lily took the lead, low and high voices coaxing the water down, keeping the stormy sea at bay from devouring anything more.
When Brucie drifted back to sense, she glanced back at Theo's ship. Theo and Fire would be appalled at her bloodlust. She had judged Theo for violence, but his was rather needless. Desire for death was part of every Siren, no matter how kind. She could see it flickering in the eyes of even Rudy and Lily as they pulled away from the wreck they'd caused.
Lily latched onto Brucie's arm and spoke quickly. "I heard them talking on that boat. I heard everything. There was another Siren captured just after Calla was freed. A boy, young, who told Nerissa and I that his name was Kai. He was small in size, and he had a pin in his hair with an emerald on it-but that's no matter. After Arsen's transport vessel was sunk, he became wary and brought Nerissa and Kai onto another boat with his best guards. They're gone-Lucem, they must be nearing it by now. I must have been bait. Arsen does not know who Nerissa, Kai, or I are, but he must have gotten a report that Calla was freed and used me as incentive. The whole ship was a trap, but almost none of the men aboard even knew. They worked for a cruel man, but their lives were not worthless." She shuddered, shadows lurking behind the foggy glass of her blank eyes.
Rudy watched them cautiously. "We should return to the ship."
Brucie nodded, peering over her shoulder once at the now placid waters, a chill racing up her spine.
***
The sky the next morning was fat with clouds, but they had passed over once Theo's craft pulled up alongside Maxon's.
Every man on Maxon's liner was poised to fight, their weapons at the ready, but it was only Theo, Fire, and four silent strangers. No furious armada of pirates. Just the captain and his sister and the strange quartet that trailed them.
Theo gauged the reactions of all four mute Sirens: Lily, who stared ahead without any expression; Rudy, who remained at a protectively close proximity to Fire; Calla, who stood with her back rigid, her eyes blazing and defiant; and Brucie, who looked malicious as usual.
"We don't mean any harm," Fire announced to Maxon's mates, jutting her chin forward, commanding all attention. Theo marveled at his rowdy sister's sudden pacifism. To free the Sirens and the other captured monsters, Theo reminded himself. It was all for that.
"Then why are you here?" barked the navigator, a harsh and skilled man. Theo thought his name was Declan, but wasn't sure.
"We aren't here to fight. Please, just listen," Fire implored them, but the men didn't stand down. Theo watched as she caught Jonas's eye and appeared hopeful for a solitary moment before he broke away from her gaze. She deflated in disappointment, but refused to relent. Theo was aware that Fire had gone to try to gain Jonas's support, but Theo still remembered their past. If it were not for the man's poor sister, Rylee, Theo probably would have killed Jonas long before.
Captain Maxon himself emerged onto the deck and cut through the crowd, Rylee right beside him. Theo was almost certain that Maxon's belated entrance was caused by Rylee's desire to remain with him, even in the presence of Theo. It was a small but sharp knife to Theo's heart to realise just how little Maxon trusted him. Not even with Rylee, whom Theo would never dare hurt. It seemed that everything in their past was stained with the blood now on Theo's hands.
Yet this was not a time for doubt. This was the time that Theo would finally swallow his pride and ask for forgiveness. He had always known this would happen someday, deep down. In reality, Theo had been nothing more than a rebellious, hateful child who ran away to seek trouble, but always returned right back to where he started.
"Why do you seek council here, Theo?" Maxon asked pleasantly, as if this really were just a meeting with old friends. But there was a threat flashing behind Maxon's dark eyes.
"I seek nothing," Theo replied, in as much of a cordial manner as he could muster. "This was Fire's doing."
Fire nodded, glad to be included. "Apologies, Maxon, but this was my fault. I have come here to ask for your aid."
Maxon's eyebrows shot up. "My aid?"
"I do believe it would be most beneficial if we were to discuss these matters in a more private location." Theo had not been aware that Fire could speak with such eloquence, and yet she was perfectly prim. "It's not that I do not trust your crew, but..." She considered it. "Actually, I do not trust your crew. I understand you may be suspicious, but we have come unarmed. I would greatly appreciate if you would kindly converse with us in the company of only yourself, your navigator, your first mate, and your healer. Afterward, you will be free to discuss things with your men if you so choose. Do you accept this?" She smiled, the picture of felicity, only her fangs fracturing that image.
Maxon held her eyes and nodded. "Yes, I accept. Men, stand down. We'll be going to the navigation office." Warily, his crewmen lowered their weapons. All but a few, who flanked the guests as they moved forward. Theo noticed the small smirk that Rudy wore as they were led below deck. Rudy must have been the one to teach Fire manners; that was a subject Theo had always failed to make her learn.
As they stepped into the navigation office, Theo said to one of Maxon's men, "Will you bring us a jug of seawater?"
The guard's brow furrowed, his forehead creased like one of the crumpled maps hanging along the walls of the room. "Seawater, sir?"
"Yes, if you please." The confused man nodded disappeared down the corridor. Theo entered the office and sat at the table in the centre of the room, Fire beside him. The four Sirens had taken seats behind them, a few feet from the table, since they would not be making negotiations. Across from Theo and Fire were Maxon, Rylee, Jonas, and Declan, all of whom watched the two pirates with extreme suspicion.
"I understand that a lady by the name of Nerissa was on this boat?" Fire began, her words edging back into their usual roughness.
It was Rylee's turn to raise her eyebrows in surprise. Theo hadn't noticed her take off her hat, but it sat on the table and her hair flowed freely. "Nerissa? What does she have to do with this?"
"The better question is, how did she get here? In case you didn't know, we're in the middle of the sea."
Jonas let out a sharp, sardonic laugh. "She swam."
Declan shot him a look of dismay. "What do you mean?"
"Nerissa is a Siren." Fire dropped the bomb without much ceremony.
"But that's impossible," Declan replied.
"She did say that there was something she couldn't tell me. Something that would change how I thought of her." Rylee sucked in a gasp. "And then, during the last battle, she came to me and cried. Could it be true?"
"It is." Jonas's warm eyes had become hard and full of something dark and shifting. Something that was like rage, or maybe even regret. "I saw her, that night. I saw her tail."
Jonas was certain. Rylee was concerned. Maxon was quiet, waiting for the verdict of this possible truth. Declan was incredulous.
"That's absurd," he was saying, "Sirens do not exist. They are myths."
"Then who do you think these four are?" Fire asked, gesturing to the quartet of onlookers. "They can't talk 'cause their voices belong to the sea. These four are Sirens. Their tails can turn to legs, their scales can fuse with skin when they're dry."
"What proof do you have? It just isn't possible."
No one noticed that Theo had received the jug of saltwater from the puzzled guard before he poured it over Lily's head. The young girl crumpled to the ground unceremoniously when her skin turned to scales and suddenly her two pale legs had become one tail. Her expression did not shift from its stoic blankness as she observed the shocked faces of Maxon, Rylee, Jonas, and Declan. Theo had wanted to dump the water on Rudy, if only to torment the cynosure of Fire's infatuation, but Rudy wore trousers and Theo was not quite sure how that would work out. Also, he did not want to offend regal Calla, or be on the wrong side of Brucie's rage. Lily didn't appear to be upset or even affected as she said in monotone, "Hello."
Theo took his seat again. "Believe us now?"
Maxon's eyes were wide. "Alright, so Sirens exist. That would explain Nerissa's appearance and disappearance. Why do you need our help, though?"
"A rotten man called Arsen has been capturing sea monsters," Fire explained without any sugarcoating. "He cares nothing about them, and would sell them off to any fate for the money. We've encountered this man before, and we know his plans because of Lily and Calla, two Sirens here who were kidnapped by Arsen and held prisoner. We freed both of them, as well as the beasts held with them, but at a great cost. We lost many of our men. And because they were incarcerated on these ships, they know that Nerissa was also taken. She's still a prisoner."
"What?" Jonas's voice broke. His eyes were filled to the brim with horror, his knuckles white where they gripped the table.
"We wish to free her, and the other sea monsters," Theo said. "We wish to return them to the ocean, and put a stop to Arsen."
"And why are you doing this, Theo?" Maxon wondered suddenly. "What is in this for you?"
Theo was taken aback. "You want to know why?" Theo asked. He threw his hands in the air in exasperation. "I don't freaking know why. Fire became wrapped up in this, and I thought that maybe for once, I could do something good. I could do something right. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine."
"And you are expecting me to trust you," Maxon said, unconvinced.
"I was hoping you might make an attempt. I know I acted rashly years ago, and it set us apart. I know I am the main reason this infernal grudge of ours has kept burning. Maybe in the past, I made bad decisions. Maybe I had wrong ideas. Maybe there were things that were long ago unrequited and unresolved. There were things I wasn't ready to let go of." Theo looked directly at Rylee. She stiffened, remembering things long buried in the past. "But I have acted foolish for far too long. And I have learned recently that maybe even those with dark pasts can change." His gaze dropped onto Brucie now. She straightened, and though her lips only quirked upwards slightly, her eyes glowed with a grin.
Rylee looked at her husband. "I believe him." Her voice was unwavering. Theo hadn't expected this. She had every reason to believe he was a cowardly, vengeful, bitter creature. She would suspect him of ill intent, of holding onto grudges, the most. Because she knew the truth. She had always known; she had always known him, even after she rejected him, after he shut her out.
Rylee probably had the most power of anyone at that table, whether she knew it or not. She had power over everyone there.
Maxon clenched his jaw and looked at Theo. "Maybe you've had a change of heart. But I don't trust you. Not completely." He paused. "Nevertheless, I'll take a leap of faith. I don't want to see any beasts enslaved, even dangerous ones. The Sirens have never hurt me before, so I might as well help them, and you."
Fire grinned. "Thank you! I promise, Maxon, you won't regret this!"
Theo could only hope that that was true.
***
Nerissa was not a damsel in distress.
The transport ship, though smaller than Arsen's main ship, was overflowing with his most elite crewmen. All in dark uniforms, they paced the ship on constant guard. Whenever they so much as neared the chamber where the cargo of rare creatures were kept, they stuffed their ears with cloth or wax. There might have been no way for her and the younger Siren boy-Kai, he called himself, with a strident tenor voice-to sing their way out of the situation.
That didn't mean they couldn't fight.
Nerissa could practically hear war music. The heavy pounding of heartbeats, the voices of her people, the suspenseful bass line, the rushing melody, the ghostly upper harmonies. She waited, her every nerve on edge, her primordial magic stirring within her, itching to be drawn from. But she waited for a chance, any miniscule opening that she could use to break free.
Her hands and waist were chained. Her tail was not.
She hadn't foreseen any type of outside interference, but when she saw Arsen's soldiers begin to scramble and shout about some sort of attack, she knew it was the perfect opportunity. She keeled over to the side and slammed her tail against the cage around her, denting the metal. Letting out a reverberating howl that shattered the glass that came up to her waist. Glass shards rained down, water spilled everywhere. Still, a cage surrounded Nerissa. She whacked at it in vain. But then-then Kai was in front of her, somehow, clutching the lock to her cage. She hadn't realised her voice had shattered his glass as well, and when his legs had appeared, he could get close enough to the lock on the cage to free himself. He managed to pick Nerissa's lock with the emerald hair pin he had had in.
Once he freed her from her chains, her legs now beneath her, they made a break for the doors to escape the chamber. The guards were immediately upon them. Crystal struggled, throwing punches and kicks to protect herself and Kai, but there were just too many.
They didn't need to make it to the doors, though. They burst open, and shouting pirates flooded the chamber, furious as the sea itself. Nerissa watched in disbelief as some brawled with Arsen's warriors, while others released the sea creatures. Distantly, Nerissa could hear a strong voice that she knew well, joined by three others of varying strengths, and a gush of ocean water flowed into the cavernous room. Guiding it was Brucie. Nerissa could have cried in relief at seeing her best friend once again. At Brucie's sides were Rudy and Lady Calla-Nerissa was not quite sure how they had become caught up in this-as well as Lily, who had been imprisoned with her. When she and Kai were hit with the saltwater, they added their voices to the song. The sea monsters rode the waves out of the room.
Nerissa realised just what Brucie was doing: there were no holes in the ship, so instead of trying to sink it and risk hurting more men than necessary, she brought seawater below deck with the sheer command of her voice, and she was using it to guide the captured beasts out of the boat. It was brilliant.
The only flaw in Brucie's plan was the Sirens all had to focus on controlling the water, and could not use their voices to defend themselves from the warriors, who still fought intensely to reclaim their cargo.
Nerissa could feel her heart quicken with panic. She would die, unprotected like that. She understood that her sacrifice could free the lives of the sea beasts and end Arsen's quest, but she could not quell her fear. It roared within her like a monster. Although it went against her instincts, she channeled it towards helping the current continue. She, too, moved with it, out of the room, and felt hope for one shining moment. But that moment abruptly was corroded; Arsen's ruthless soldiers were closing in on the Sirens. Death's cold grip was closing in.
Nerissa heard a war cry, and a body leapt between her and the oncoming men. She whipped her head to the side and could feel her frantic heart halt for a moment.
It was Jonas.
She hadn't seen him, not really, since the night of Theo's attack on Maxon's ship, when he had called her a monster. But he was somehow there, on Arsen's boat, saving her. He fought with unmatched fury written into his every movement, pounding those who dared come near. His sword hacked away, aiming only to defend and not to kill. When it was cast aside, he drew long daggers and used those.
Nerissa noticed that pirates had begun to flank the Sirens, even the sea beasts, protecting them. Guarding the monsters they undoubtedly feared. When a soldier came horribly close to running his blade through Rudy's heart, a fearsome lady pirate sprang into action, blocking him, practically blazing with unrivaled aggression. She screamed, "DON'T TOUCH RUDY, YA ASSHOLE!" It took Nerissa a moment to register her as Fire, the sister of Captain Theo.
Theo's pirates and Maxon's thieves. Working together to rescue monsters.
Soon, all of the sea creatures were safely returned to the ocean. But the battle was far from over. There was no simple way to retreat. They would have to fight until every last of their living allies had escaped, they knew it.
The Sirens plunged willingly into combat.
***
Brucie clashed with anyone who dared to come near her. Sweeping her tail through the water now sloshing limply on the ship. Calling upon it with her voice to wash away enemies. Someone had handed her a rapier. She had never fought with one before, and had to admit that she enjoyed it.
The Sirens were no longer in closed ranks, but Brucie kept an eye on them, even as she drifted to fight beside Theo. His vow echoed in her mind: "If you stay near me, I will protect you."
"I'm holding you to your promise!" she shouted over the noise.
Theo clearly remembered exactly what she meant. "And I shall keep my word to the death!" It startled her to hear him say this. She knew that not all of them would make it off of the ship alive, but she felt off-balance with the mere thought of Theo dead. The idea of those jade eyes of his without the light of life...when it once would have even amused her, it now terrified her. If he was dead, she would feel suspended without any ground below her, swimming with only darkness around. She would feel vulnerable and vacant. Hollow. Empty. And no matter how hard she tried to expel this newfound fear, it was bound to her like her accursed heart.
She reached out and grasped his arm when neither of them were occupied with opponents. "Please," she heard herself say without thinking much, "please do not do that."
Theo studied her face for a moment, before he brought an arm around her waist, pulled her close, and kissed her hard. The world froze around Brucie, and Theo was all that there was. Theo, who was so marvelously infuriating, so beautifully broken, so perfectly flawed. Theo, who in that moment gave his guarded, fragile heart to her, to break or keep as she pleased.
When he at last broke away, she could only splutter, "W-what was that?"
"A kiss," he replied, as if she were an idiot. An enemy jabbed a blade at him, but he parried to the side and sent the man running with a vicious stab.
"But you can't care about me!" Brucie yelled, incredulous. "That's just not how things go!"
"Too bad."
"I'm a Siren!" she deadpanned, waving her rapier in the face of anyone who drew close. "I have a tail and I speak only when I am in the sea and I am a mythological monster and I could kill you anytime I like!"
Theo only shrugged. "Fine."
Brucie noticed the smug smile on his face and couldn't help erupting into hysterical giggles. She brawled with renewed force; she had something to fight for, something to live for, and so did Theo. Each other.
Brucie's evanescent joy was marred by an earsplitting screech that sliced through the air easier than the sharpest knife. It was Nerissa.
In the chaos of the battle, it took Blue a few precious seconds to locate her friend while Theo covered for her. Brucie wouldn't be able to make it over to where Nerissa was, but if she could just see...
There. Nerissa was enchanting the water to whisk away anyone that got close, all but creating a whirlpool. To Brucie's immense relief, Nerissa looked virtually unharmed.
But lying immobile, a few feet away from her, blood pooling from beneath him, was Jonas.
***
Nerissa shrieked in horror when she turned to find a man's sword cutting through Jonas's shoulder.
Immediately, she was upon the man with the spear she had acquired, but combat was not her strongest point. Her voice rose from within her and seawater overtook the man, shoving him down and away. She didn't see where he went, or whether he drowned. She created a barrier of swirling water around herself and Jonas as she knelt beside him. There was blood everywhere.
No. He couldn't die. Fear flared within her. The wound had not pierced his heart, but it could still be enough to kill him. No.
That sword had been meant for her. She heard the attacker coming, and turned, only to find that Jonas had jumped in his way.
"Nerissa," Jonas said, as if she were enough to see in dying moments, as if she was worth dying for. He hadn't spoken to her since the night that he called her a monster. It had stung her, but now she realised then that she had already forgiven him. She had forgiven him long before.
Nerissa pressed her hands to his wound, trying to keep pressure on it. She hadn't said a word to him since he had discovered what she was, and none seemed sufficient. Now her tail was useless beneath her. Her voice could not heal wounds, her words could not compensate for everything that had happened. For all the skill she had, she was powerless when it truly mattered.
"Why would you do that?" she hissed at him, squeezing her eyes shut. "Why would you save me?"
"I'm not afraid of you," he said, his voice desperate. "I never was, not really. I was afraid of what I wanted. I'm not a good man, Nerissa. I've left a trail of splintered hearts and shattered promises in my wake. There are few people I've cared about, and I've always either destroyed things or they had. I wanted to be worthy of even saving you, because tail or not, I'm not worthy of caring for you."
"Don't say that!" she screamed. "Don't you dare! Not when I've been so foolish, not when, for me, it's always been you!"
"You're an angel of the sea," he continued, his voice ragged. "And I am a terrible man."
"Don't say these things as if you will never speak again. Don't let go the moment that I find you again."
"I'm sorry I called you a monster. I'm sorry I was so blind, when you were right before me. I wish I could have been better to you. I'm no good."
"You are no good!" Nerissa shouted. "You're awful. You're arrogant and manipulative and dishonest and disrespectful, and...and I love you!" His dazed eyes grew wide. The words flowed from her mouth, finally free, like uncontained seawater. Words she had known since she was still on Maxon's ship. Words that had spiraled within her when she was imprisoned. "I have loved you so suddenly but so deeply, for everything. For every small gesture, and for the biggest reasons; the bravery you don't believe you have, the way that you would go to no ends to protect the ones you love, the way that you always regarded me as if I were something new and splendid every time."
"Nerissa..." His heart and eyes were so heavy, she could tell. Hot tears rolled down her cheeks even as she leaned down and pressed a kiss to his lips.
She saw as she pulled back that he smiled through his pain. His eyes were drifting closed, but he still breathed.
She began to sing again, forcing the water beneath them. It lifted them up, Nerissa still holding onto his motionless body. The water began to be stained light red with his blood. She drove the water above the deck, halting only when she heard a cry. Through her tear-filled vision, she saw Rylee staring at her, horrified. Maxon was at her side; he paled when he saw his brother-in-law. He guarded Rylee as she raced to Nerissa and Jonas. Nerissa brought Rylee with them as she guided the water. Finally, she dropped down onto Maxon's ship, which had been anchored nearby. Everything was blurry. She helped Rylee bring Jonas into the sickbay, and then Brucie was somehow on the ship, leading Nerissa away to wash the blood off of her hands. And then-more of the men were returning to the ships. Arsen's ship did not sink, but sail away in horrid defeat. No one seemed to know if Arsen himself was still alive. Nerissa's voice was snatched away from her again, but she didn't need it to cry, shaking with silent sobs in Brucie's arms.
***
Nerissa ran her hand over the waves, which seemed far more serene on the sunny day following the bloodstained day of the battle on Arsen's ship. She was treading water, a little ways away from the two allied ships, the Sirens beside her. And Fire. Fire never seemed to be far from Rudy anymore, and was even swimming with the Sirens to be near him. Then again, Nerissa found the girl pirate to be quite amusing when she was not holding something sharp.
"What's it like living in the world of the earthens?" Lily was asking Calla in her soft, flat voice. She sported a wound to her head, which Emmett had made a great deal of fuss over but Rylee had deemed as nothing major.
"Smelly." Calla wrinkled her nose. "But my husband-Jonathan-is a cook, and the scent of his food usually masks the odor of the city."
"How do you interact with your husband?" Brucie asked.
"I write to him, like Nerissa does. And some earthens are born with or develop an inability to hear, so they comprised hand gestures in place of language. Jonathan and I learned this to communicate when writing takes too long and I cannot turn myself." She paused. "I have a daughter," she said with a pleasant smile. "Her name is Marella. When she was born, she looked just like a human baby. She babbled and giggled and her voice was present. When I bathed her, she kept her arms and legs. I was convinced that she was human. But when we took a trip to the beach and brought her into the ocean, her tail and scales appeared. A half-breed. She turns only when in the water of the sea. She speaks perfectly as a human, but her vocal talent as a Siren is nothing impressive."
It was amazing, just what was possible. Just hearing about such a sunny future made hope bubble within Nerissa. As if her thoughts had triggered it, she heard Rylee's voice calling out her name. Rylee stood waving on a lowered rowboat on the side of Maxon's ship. Her cap was no where to be seen; it had been blown off in the battle, and though she had recovered it, everyone had seen her hair. There was no need for disguises any longer. Her secret was revealed, and yet, not one of the men had said a word about it-they didn't even comment when Maxon made it back to the ship and swept Rylee into his arms, kissing her. Although Rylee still wore trousers and a tunic, she didn't have to hide any more.
Rylee cupped her hands to her mouth. "Someone wants to see you!"
Nerissa's heart leapt. She smiled apologetically to her fellow Sirens (and Fire) before darting towards the boats. As she approached, she could hear Rylee shouting, "No, don't come down here! You'll hurt yourself!"
Nerissa grinned. He's awake, she thought with uncontained delight. Rylee had announced that he would live, but he had been unconscious since the fight. Nerissa swam right up to the rowboat, grasping its edges. Rylee winked. "I'll let you two talk." She climbed back up the rope ladder that stretched down the side of the ship. It reminded Nerissa so much of the first day she had come onto the ship, captured by the fishing net and discovered by Jonas, who now kneeled on the rowboat right in front of her, his hands over hers.
"Rylee told me I couldn't go for a swim too," he said with mischievous grin. "Apparently salt is not very good for wounds."
Nerissa shook her head, but could not keep from beaming like a fool. "I'm pleased to see your attitude is back to normal."
"I'm pleased to see you enjoying yourself with your fishy friends, and...is that Fire?" Jonas raised a hand and waved. The Sirens, still gathered all together, waved back. Fire did not. She seemed to hesitate for a moment, before she blew a mocking kiss and turned back to her conversation.
Jonas started in surprise. She used to do that often, he recalled, long before. It was a gesture long-forgotten, long faded by the bright, beleaguering images of the sea.
Nerissa watched the exchange, wondering. She remembered the first thing Jonas had said about Fire: "Don't let her pretty eyes fool you, or it'll bite you in the back." Nerissa wondered, but she didn't worry. When Jonas looked at her, she knew that she was all that he saw.
"What do we do now?" she asked.
It was just the opportunity he had been waiting for. "This." He closed the distance between them and snagged her lips in a kiss.
"There will be more trouble," Nerissa warned him when she broke away, their faces still close. "Surely the colony of Sirens will disapprove, and if other landfolk knew of Arsen's plans, or of sea monsters at all, they'll hunt us and we'll retaliate. Land and sea could be at war. And I still cannot speak when I am out of the water."
"I like trouble," Jonas replied instantly, "if you hadn't already noticed."
"You really...you really would put up with all of the difficulties I'll bring?"
Jonas grinned. "We'll find a way around those things. We'll convince the Sirens, and defend them from the humans, and tie a vial of water round your neck."
Nerissa doubted it would work, but it was worth a try. Calla had found a way. They had made it so far; nothing was impossible, it felt like, if he was by her side. He pressed his lips against her forehead and played with her fingers as they watched the sea they both were so fond of.
The two ships sailed side-by-side into the unknown, into their destinies, into the bright daylight.