Page 1 of Siren in the Rain

Chapter

One

Shae’s List of Life Goals

1. Escape or die trying. All other goals are impossible until this one is achieved.

Shae

As the last notes of the final encore fade, my legs give out as I stop singing and collapse on the ground in a trembling heap.

Black spots flit across my vision while the massive crowd filling The Forum roars with applause and raucous cheers that ring in my ears. I can’t see the crowd from my hidden position behind the stage curtain, but that doesn’t matter.

I gave them one hell of a show. A once-in-a-lifetime event. I made sure of it, pushed myself to my limits and beyond.

What no one else knows is that it will also be my last performance.

“Master Shae! Master Shae! You okay?” Haku’s anxious voice trills in my ear.

Weakly, I lift a feeble hand to stroke between the ridges on his small scaly head. “I’ll… be all right. Just give me a minute.”

If only I could have a few moments of peace to recover myself.

Of course, as usual, I’m not that lucky.

“Get up, you pathetic loser.”

My evil stepmonster, Margaret, looms over my prone form. As usual, she’s dressed to the nines, this time in an expensive pink Gucci pantsuit paired with black designer heels and a matching purse.

The fact that she no doubt bought all of her ensemble with money I made—but have never seen a dime of—is only one of myriad ways she tries to punish me for simply existing.

She has her own money from her multimillion-dollar beauty empire, aka Divine Beauty, but she hoards all of that for herself. Her brand sells outrageously expensive holistic wellness and lifestyle products aimed at preserving the illusion of eternal youth for as long as possible.

In her midforties, Margaret looks a good ten years younger. I’m not entirely sure how she manages it, although I suspect it’s thanks to work she’s had done and her expertly applied makeup that she never goes anywhere without. In all the years I’ve been under her sadistic control, I’ve never seen her face bare. But I’ve come to realize that she’s used her looks all her life to get what she wants.

In accordance with her current style, her angular face is framed by a sleek, shoulder-length, blonde bob. In her youth, as she’s all too happy to tell anyone who’ll listen, Margaret had been a reigning beauty queen pageant winner and, from what I can gather, used her looks to move from one wealthy man to the next once she started to age out of that circuit. She certainly knows how to manipulate idiotic straight men who fall for her ego-stroking charm and trophy-wife looks, that’s for sure. Her wiles certainly worked on my father.

If I didn’t loathe her with my entire being, I’d almost be impressed by her cunning level of daring.

Disney villainesses haven’t got anything on her.

The general public also falls for her act. She’s built Divine Beauty into an incredibly lucrative business with the endorsements of attractive celebrities, including Margaret’s own daughter. Everyone loves the mother-daughter duo taking the world by storm.

Except for me.

Perhaps it was the fact that I didn’t succumb to Margaret’s phony facade that made her start hating me the moment we met. Whatever she was selling, I wasn’t buying, even at ten years old.

I don’t think she’s ever forgiven me for that.

Although, had I fallen under her spell, she still never would have loved me. As a half-siren, I’m a disgusting freak in her mind—but one she nevertheless is happy to make a fortune from.

Her cold, calculating green eyes narrow at me and the permanent sneer etched on her face whenever I’m around is on full display.

I could ignore her verbal abuse; after all, it’s an all-too-common occurrence.

But I refuse to let her walk all over me.

With what little strength I possess, I hold up my hand and flip her the bird. My accompanying grin turns the look on her face downright poisonous.

---