Page 65 of Ocean of Sin and Starlight

We’re at the shore, and his boots are slipping on the rocks as he walks right into the water, the waves crashing beneath me.

He lowers me in, still holding on, and the woman is at my side too, trying to get my wet shift off, and then they stop.

Under the faint light of the moon, they stare at my legs in horror.

Saltwater washes over them, leaving shimmering scales in their place.

I scream, this time as loud as I once did, the spell broken.

I scream and I scream while the rest of me breaks.

Bones fuse, muscles stretch then tighten, ligaments wrapping around themselves until my legs are bound together as one, and the scales spread from my toes to my belly until it all becomes one tail and my fins unfurl.

The woman screams and gets to her feet.

“The Syren!” she yells. “She’s a Syren.”

The soldier lets go of me, stumbling backward until he falls on the beach, staring at me in horror.

A cry rips from my throat, loud, panicked, and I stare at my tail as I’m screaming, tears running down my face.

I am a Syren again.

Which means I have lost someone else I cared for.

Loved.

Priest is gone.

I look beyond the terrified faces of the villagers and behind them at the church as it starts to collapse, rafter after rafter falling, the whole thing going up in flames. More and more villagers are running toward it to help, and some are running toward me.

“We have a Syren!” the woman yells at them. “Come quick! Bring your weapons!”

I should probably eat her heart for that. I should probably eat his too. How quickly the fear leaves them when they have an army of people behind them.

“She’s right!” someone yells as the mob gets closer.

I can’t waste any time to see what happens next. Even with my teeth and my claws, I can’t fight off all of them.

I take one last look at the burning church and everything that is dying with it, and then I turn over on the rocks, rolling back into the surf, letting it take me to deeper water. With a few quick flicks of my tail, I propel myself forward under the waves until I can see the deep.

Then, I dive.

Back to where I belong.

Interlude

Chapter Nineteen

General Mendoza,

I am writing to inform you of the terrible news that the settlement of Nombre de Jesus in Chile has been destroyed. A fire broke out in the chapel, which resulted in the deaths of nearly all the villagers, as well as the sole clergy, Father Aragon. We are still unsure how the fire managed to kill everyone, as it was said to have happened at night and not during mass, but rumors have started in the nearby settlements, most of which are too preposterous to be true. That said, I feel it is my duty to inform you of what they are.

According to witnesses who came over from Primera Angostura, there was one villager left, a woman who had lost all her blood. She told the others that the Devil took over the church and sprouted wings. When the church collapsed, the Devil flew from the flames and picked up all the people with its claws, tossing them in the flames. Those who escaped, the Devil hunted down and bit, draining them of their blood.

She also said that the Syren who killed two men a few months earlier was found in the church with the Devil when the fire started. She looked like a human at first and had been on fire until she was placed in the sea—a trick, according to this woman. She said she saw the woman’s legs transform into a tail right in front of her eyes. The Syren then swam away before they could capture her, and that is when the Devil flew out of the church, on fire, flying over the waves until it started to destroy everything and everyone in its path.

I do not know what you plan to do with these rumors. The only witness soon died shortly after. You know how these isolated settlements have a way of playing with people’s minds. Several search parties from Primera Angostura and Ciudad del Rey Don Felipe have set out in the area on horseback and by boat to search for both this Syren and this flying monster. To my knowledge, they have found nothing.

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