This Wicked Fate (This Poison Heart #2)(65)

Marie moved in front of me, and the siren’s head snapped up. It crouched down, set one hand on the deck, and launched itself toward Marie, who in turn propelled herself forward. They collided and tumbled to the floor. In the chaos of limbs and thrashing tail, something bounced out and landed in front of me—a pair of black headphones.

I searched for Marie’s face in the tangle of tail and clawed hands. The siren suddenly drew back, panting, gills opening and closing like a dozen mouths on both sides of its chest, but this time its mouth also opened and closed slowly. Was it speaking?

“Marie!” I screamed.

She glanced back at me, the veins in her neck bulging, as if she were straining, fighting against something with every ounce of strength she had. I frantically looked to see if the siren was hurting her, but it had retreated, its mouth still moving. It tilted its head and caught my gaze. It bared two rows of jagged teeth in a hideous smile. And then, without warning, it propelled itself over the edge of the ship and to my horror, Marie dove in after it.

I scrambled to my feet and rushed to the rail. Marie’s hair, white as snow, disappeared under the surface. I ripped off my glasses, put my foot on the rail, and launched myself over the side of the ship without a second thought.

Every muscle in my body spasmed as I hit the water feetfirst. The cold was numbing and I had to fight to keep myself from instinctively inhaling the murky water. I gripped the headphones to keep them in place as I kicked in the inky blackness. My vision without my glasses was bad enough on its own, but trying to see through the water was nearly impossible. Flashes of light darted around me. I kicked hard, pushing myself above the water where I gasped, sucking in a chestful of air. The hull of the ship loomed high over my head and the latticework of Devil’s Pet reached toward me, gripping my waist. I stuck my head below the water and caught a glimpse of Marie—in the embrace of the same siren who’d been on the deck. It was pulling her deeper into the water. She didn’t fight back.

I filled my lungs with air and dipped below the surface. I swam toward them and realized suddenly that the Devil’s Pet was pushing me along, faster than I could have managed on my own.

Another siren came careening toward me in a streak of yellow. I flicked my wrist, and a new offshoot of Devil’s Pet branched off and caught her just above her fin. It sliced through the scales, filling the water with the creature’s blood. Its mouth twisted into a hideous scowl and it turned to try and disentangle itself. I kicked toward Marie, my lungs burning, my movements stifled by the cold. I thrust out my hand, hoping it was enough of a signal to the Devil’s Pet. It was. A new offshoot sliced through the water and wrapped itself around Marie, yanking her away from one of the sirens. When she was close enough I grabbed hold of her and the vines reeled us in like fish on a line. As we broke the water’s surface, I coughed and gasped. Marie clawed at the vines, trying desperately to break free.

“Marie, stop!” I screamed, holding her tight. “Please!”

There was a sudden splash to my immediate right, and my head was yanked to the side. Where there had been only silence, now there was a cacophony of sound. Circe and Persephone screaming from somewhere over my head, the splashing of water, the groan of the ship as it listed in the choppy sea, Marie’s frantic breathing, the thudding of the Heart in the belly of the ship, and the siren song.

The stories didn’t describe it fully. There’s no way they could have. The sound was like a familiar song being hummed in unison by a hundred voices, a downpour of rain, and an almost electrical buzzing all rolled into one. There were no words, just sound, and suddenly the only thing I wanted was to be below the waves in the cold embrace of the sea.

My mind went blank. There was nothing but relief. Everything faded away.

Circe’s voice cut through the silence and the dark. “Briseis, give me your hand! Please, baby! Reach for me!”

I opened my eyes to see Circe leaning over the rail as I was being hauled up. I reached out and the Devil’s Pet pushed me the rest of the way. She grabbed me and pulled me onto the deck, where my legs went out from under me. I shivered uncontrollably as Circe cradled me in her arms.

“Marie,” I said. “Where is she?”

“We got her,” Persephone said from somewhere. “She’s okay.”

“What’s happening?” I asked. My vision was still hazy and my teeth chattered together as I tried to sit up.

“The sirens are retreating,” Circe said. She helped me to my feet as Marie sat in a daze. I went to her and put my arm around her shoulder.

A sound still lingered in the air. Not the siren sound, not the thudding of the Absyrtus Heart, but something else entirely. Persephone had removed her headphones and was listening intently.

“What is that sound?” I asked.

“Look,” Persephone said.

I cautiously walked to the rail to see that the sirens hadn’t just decided to leave, they’d been drawn off by something. They retreated to the rocks and sat atop them in all their scaly, slimy hideousness. Our ship was now moving slowly past them, to the shore of an island that had appeared out of nowhere. The sandy shoreline of a small cove came into view. Beyond it, a thick, almost tropical-looking forest, and on the shore, in the breaking water, stood a woman playing a stringed instrument—the origin of the mysterious new sound.

“The sirens fled when she started playing,” Circe said.