Page 12 of Wicked Tides
I was an ugly, wicked thing filled with anger and hatred.
“We found a ship,” a voice said.
I didn’t have to look to know whose it was. Meridan was soft-spoken. She was fierce with a blade but gentle with her tone. And she was loyal to me. They all were. It was not that I was a convincing leader or a well-spoken woman by any means. It was simply because I was angrier than all of them. Driven.
Especially now.
“How far?” I asked.
Meridan uncurled from the waves, her long limbs slick with salt water. Her serpentine body turned instantly to slender legs as she walked toward the pool and stood across from me.
“Near Dagger Tooth.”
Her eyes were a bright white in the darkness, colorless and glassy. All the Naros looked that way. They were from the dark depths. Freckles of glowing specks scattered her face in subtle patterns and silver-white hair hung past her hips in rope-like tendrils. They had no song. Only a face that could lure a man in like gold could lure a greedy king. Their skin was often so pale, it was nearly translucent. In the right light, her bones and veins could be seen beneath it.
I slowly stood, coming to my full height nearly a hand taller than she was with muscle tone that set me apart from her peculiar-looking kind. I wasn’t the ideal temptress by any means with my hard edges and battle-torn skin.
And the long, prominent scar that stretched from my left ear nearly to the corner of my mouth.
“Where are the others?” I asked, picking up a small armband from the ground.
I wrapped the thing around my bicep and sheathed my bone dagger in the binds.
“Already scouting ahead for…them,” Meridan answered. “Nothing yet.”
“Good.”
I headed toward the frigid water. It was the season of the storms. Not many ships hunted the seas that time of year… unless their goals were more sinister than exporting goods.
I walked down a slick incline of stone toward the lapping waves and let the water grab at my legs. The reentry into the sea was always jarring, no matter how many times I’d done it. The water stripped away all that I was on land and land stripped away all that I was in the water like I was wearing two different skins. Each transformation was like being turned inside out. My legs fused together into a long, eel-like appendage and I sunk to the stone, pulling myself deeper into the water. Small, barbed fins ran down the length of my slick lower half with a main fin at the very end that cut through the water like a blade.
But it was askew, part of the left half gnawed off by the only other thing sirens feared besides humans. Creatures from the trenches farbeneath the depths, further down than any of us could swim. Even the Naros.
They hadn’t come up to the surface in a hundred years. It had been long enough for many of my kind to stop believing in them. Blasphemers, the Kroan called them. Of course, I was a blasphemer, too, for praying to Lune over the deep ones, but praying to Akareth had gotten me nowhere and given me nothing.
Neither had my former clan since my mother had been slain.
Meridan and I darted into the water toward Dagger Tooth, a small island that used to be frequented by sirens until that dreaded ship with red sails and others like it started swarming our waters. Hunting had become more brutal than ever and yet the clans hadn’t unified against them yet. Infighting was going to destroy us faster than the men on their giant, wooden ships. Less territory meant shorter tempers, territorial wars, and general unrest.
And even the Naros were feeling the tension. As separated as they were, the effects of it all were leaking into all corners of our world.
All of it filled me with a rage I could only douse when I was killing.
Humans. The word made my mouth sour. The sight of one turned my vision red. I ducked under the waves and sliced through the water toward the island, my nails biting into my palms. In the water, everything was clear. The cold embraced me like a hateful mother, nurturing my resolve. She was as angry as I was. Every ship she could not crush under her waves made her a little bit less tolerant.
I was going to kill for her again. I was going to feed her frigid waters with blood and watch her tides swallow every bit.
The moon was high, but the clouds were rolling in. They’d cover our approach. As we neared the island, I let out a small chirp, letting the ripples of sound skim the water. They reverberated back, telling me exactly where the wooden belly of a big ship was sitting on the water above before I could even see it. I veered toward it with Meridan close in tow.
The ship was anchored off the coast. I wasn’t sure why anyone would anchor near Dagger Tooth. It was an island known for its shark-infested waters, jagged reefs, and rough shores. No normal ship would be so stupid to corner itself like that, even with a storm coming.
When we got closer to the ship, I saw Voel and Kea circling the belly. A flash of lightning from above lit up the undulating waves, showing the true size of the thing. I’d seen larger ships on the seas, but this one was considerable. A merchant ship, no doubt.
Taking merchant ships prevented goods from being transported and anything we could do to disrupt the filthy humans made a difference.
Plus, my sisters were hungry.
The four of us surfaced close to the ship where lookouts would not see us. On the side of the vessel were nets that were hanging toward the water. It seemed a stupid idea to give us such an easy way to board, but it was their mistake. The ship rocked against the waves and as the weather picked up, a harsh mist of rain gave us an additional bit of cover.
