Page 37 of Siren Problems
His curse.
His fear of unraveling.
And mine... mine is trying very hard to pretend I didn’t feel somethingshiftthe second I touched that seal in the wreck.
Mira is watching me now.
“Luna,” she says slowly, “you don’t think this is about you and Mr. Stormcloud, do you?”
“Iknowit is.”
Because I saw that moment underwater—when magic snapped andrecognizedme.
I felt him behind me—protective, wild, and wanting something he swore he’d never take.
I exhale hard.
“I think we’re in deep, Mira.”
“Youthink?”
I rub my eyes. “Okay. Iknow.”
She stands, brushing off sea dust. “So what’s the plan, Professor?”
I look down at the relics still glowing, and feel the ocean pull behind my ribs.
“We find out what he’s not telling me,” I whisper. “And then I figure out if loving him is going tosavehim... or break us both.”
Kai shows up ten minutes later with a potion that glows like mood lighting and smells like cinnamon lies.
“Someone said the lab got spooky,” she announces, toeing the door open with a box of fried seaweed dumplings. “And by someone, I mean Mira called me in a whisper and said, ‘Possessed. Help. Bring snacks.’”
Mira’s sitting on the floor again, covered in sigil dust and drinking lemon water like it owes her rent.
“I blacked out,” she mutters. “Again.”
“She quoted a prophecy,” I say, pacing the length of the lab like it’s going to solve the puzzle faster.
Kai perks up. “Ooooh, prophecy! Sexy and stressful.”
I repeat the words again. A voice unbound under moonlight. A heart in silence. Only love shall temper the song.
Kai freezes mid-dumpling chew. “Oh, girl. That’s fate-coded.”
“Don’t start.”
“I’mserious.” She waves the dumpling like a wand. “That’s vintage destiny language. Half my aunt’s vision scrolls start that way. Moonlight. Echo. Love tempering power? That’s fate with a capitalF.”
“Or it’s metaphor,” I argue. “Or it’s just ley residue trying to sound poetic.”
Kai crosses her arms. “You think everything’s academic until it licks you in the face. Then it’s ‘Oh no, maybe this siren prince is emotionally attached to me through a thousand-year-old enchantment!’”
“Because that’s a totallyreasonablereaction to a cursed water boy throwing sea relic tantrums when I breathe near them.”
Mira raises a hand weakly. “I think I’m dying.”
“You’re fine,” Kai and I say at the same time.
