This Wicked Fate (This Poison Heart #2)(22)

Marie took out her phone and began texting furiously. “I’m on it.”

I stared at the mermaid-like creatures painted on the ancient pottery. They had claws and pointed teeth and were dragging a man from the ship, presumably to his death. I quickly covered it back up. We were a step closer to getting my mom back, and I didn’t care if I had to cross a monster-infested sea to do it.



I opened Circe’s clock and watched as the dials moved in their housing. Circe and Persephone were giving us a rundown of the legends surrounding the sirens who supposedly lived in the waters off Aeaea. We weren’t talking about Ariel and her lovable sidekick, Flounder, either. These creatures were murderous sea-dwelling monsters who lured people to their deaths by way of enchanting sea shanties

“I’ve seen a living goddess, a hellhound, a plant that beats like a human heart, but mermaids?” I asked. “I’m having a hard time with that.”

“That’s the sticking point for you?” Persephone asked. “I love that the mermaids are the thing that’s throwing you.”

“Sirens,” Circe corrected. “Not mermaids.”

“Sea bitches,” said Marie.

Persephone let out a deep throaty laugh, and Mo actually smiled.

Nyx clapped her hand over her mouth. “Oh my god, Marie. Please try to be serious.”

“I am!” Marie said. “Mer-hos. Is that better?”

Nyx threw her hands up and shook her head. “I know you use humor as a defense mechanism to hide how scared you are about the danger Bri is in and everything else that’s going on, so I won’t hold it against you, but try to keep it in check.”

“Well, damn,” Marie said as she leaned back against the wall, shoving her hands in her pockets. “Just tell all my business to everybody.”

Her gaze cut to me for a split second, and I could tell that Nyx had hit a nerve.

Circe opened several different books and file folders and laid them out on the table. She was poring over them, pencil in hand. “Do you know the story of Persephone and Hades?”

I glanced at Persephone.

“We’re talking about the original Persephone,” she said. “I would have clawed Hades’s eyes out. He would’ve gotten sick of me real fast.”

“Let’s not judge,” said Circe. “You say that now, but I bet you’d be pretty powerless against the ruler of the underworld.”

Persephone shrugged.

“I’ve seen Hadestown,” I said. “Does that count?” I could almost hear Mom in my head complaining about the ticket prices and it put an ache in my chest.

“What’s that?” Circe asked.

“A Broadway show,” I said quietly. “It’s a reimagining of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice.”

Circe looked thoughtful. “I’ve been gone a long time. I guess I’m out of the loop. But it goes like this: When Persephone was abducted by Hades, Demeter—Persephone’s mother—tasked her closest friends with finding her daughter. But they couldn’t search the sea, so Demeter gave them tails like fish so they could look for her. That’s how sirens came into existence, and over time they grew to be vengeful, dangerous creatures.” She pushed an open book toward me. “The sirens on those three tiny islands we saw on the pottery are said to guard Aeaea. Their songs beckon sailors to the water. To their deaths.”

“Seriously?” I asked. “If we gotta get by them to get to the island—”

“We?” Mo chimed in. She came to the table. “We aren’t going anywhere. I’m gonna go get your mama. You are gonna stay your butt right here.”

“What? No. I have to come with y’all.” I glanced around, expecting Circe and Persephone to agree with me, but they both avoided my eyes. “You gotta be kidding me. I want to go. I want to help get Mom back.”

Persephone motioned to the door, and Marie walked out of the room with Nyx trailing behind her. Persephone then left me, Mo, and Circe alone.

Mo stood in front of me. “This is too dangerous. You’re talking about traveling to the other side of the world, and who knows where that kid Karter ran off to. He can’t be the only one looking for the pieces. And we’ve seen firsthand that people are willing to kill anyone they need to in order to get to it.” She clenched her teeth. “I can’t lose you, too, love. I can’t. I won’t. I’ll go get your mama. I’ll bring her back.”

“You can’t go either,” Circe said.

Mo spun around and tilted her head to the side. “Excuse me?”

“You’re absolutely right,” Circe said, choosing her words carefully. “This will be incredibly dangerous. We have to travel with the existing pieces of the Heart. The only people who can semi-safely be around them are those of us who are mostly unaffected by them. And I anticipate that the Mother, that piece that seeded the others, will be a thousand times deadlier than the pieces we already have. You can’t go, Mo. It’s not safe.”

Mo rounded on Circe, her bottom lip trembling, her eyes wet with tears. “You don’t get to tell me I can’t go get my wife back. That’s not up to you.”

“Listen to me,” Circe said. “I understand what it’s like to lose somebody you love. Selene died in my arms.” She paused, cleared her throat, then continued. “I didn’t have a chance to bring her back. Nobody could have stopped me from trying, though. So, I get it.”