Page 159 of A Storm in Every Heart
That was Kastian on the beach. Alive. I saw him!
My breath catches in my throat, and I don’t get a chance to breathe before I’m suddenly pulled beneath the rolling waves. It’s an odd sensation to gasp and take in water instead of air, and even stranger when I don’t choke.
I feel the last of the change ripple through my body—feel my bones shifting and skin stretching beneath the water. The last shreds of the enormous wedding dress I was wearing tear and float away.
The last and only time I transformed into the other me, it had been so quick and seamless that I hardly felt it. This time, it was drawn out, slow, and uncomfortable to change bit by bit as I walked slowly into the water, unsure if I wanted to commit fully to the ocean.
I should have realized that I never really had a choice.
The siren queen grips me tight in her writhing tentacle, reminding me uncontrollably of the sea monster that destroyed Captain Connell’s ship. I struggle, but it’s impossible to escape.
I have to, though. I have to get back to the surface. I need to know for sure…
The tentacle circles my waist and even with my increased strength I can’t pull free. The queen pulls me down, down, down into the dark until we’re face to face.I told you that you’d return someday.
No!I think frantically.Wait! I’m not ready.
Her ethereal voice sneaks into my mind, soft and gentle as a lullaby.Not ready? You’ve had decades, my dear. What else could you possibly want?
I stare into the queen’s black, inky gaze. She appears unchanged, as if it was only yesterday I last saw her. Only yesterday that I bargained away Kastian’s memories and my voice to save his life.
Beyond the queen’s writhing tentacles, there are dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of sirens—far more than I ever saw at one time or even realized existed.
Stop thrashing,the queen’s ghostly voice scolds me.You chose this.
I don’t stop, kicking my tail and pushing against her tentacle winding tighter and tighter around my torso.Let me go!
I will once you’ve convinced me that you’re here to fulfill our bargain.Look at the others, Odessa. In the water, we are as one.
I look beyond her terrifying face toward the others. Most of the sirens possess tails akin to fish, shimmering with iridescent scales that catch the light and dance with every subtle movement. Some have more dolphin-like features, their sleek bodies gliding with an effortless grace. Some are holding tridents or rough-hewn clubs, while still others are wearingdecorative veils woven from fishing nets. They’re all gazing at me in unison, their glassy eyes vacant and unblinking, like toy soldiers waiting for a command.
Is that what will happen to me? How long until I’m just another set of vacant eyes?
As if the question was meant for her, the queen answers me.Only the queen may give orders or act of her own free will, and there cannot be two of us. I told you many years ago that there is no room in the ocean for a siren who refuses to join the pack. You knew what would happen if you entered the water.
I’m at a loss for words, because deep down, she's right.
I should have known that stalling wasn’t an option; that the second I dipped so much as a toe in the sea, I wouldn’t have any choice.
I did know, actually. I was fully aware of the consequences when I returned to the water, yet I went through with it. Just moments ago, it felt like my sole path to freedom.
With Kastian gone and no help from Vernallis before I’d be forced to marry Magnus, an eternity beneath the ocean hadn’t seemed so bad.
Except, Kastianisn’tgone—I just saw him—and now I need to get back to the surface no matter what it takes.
Forgetting for a moment that I can’t speak out loud, I open my mouth and a desperate, haunting cry escapes, a warbling, guttural shriek that vibrates not just the water but the bones in my skull.
As one, the vacant eyed sirens turn to look at me. A few even shift, as if to reach toward me.
In the same instant, the queen's glassy eyes widen and her grip slackens, her tentacle slipping from my waist. I twist and pull with all my strength, feeling the cool, slick surface of her tentacle slide away as I finally break free.Yes!
For a dizzying, glorious moment, I’m free.
Victory swells in my chest and I throw myself upward through the water, my new limbs propelling me in a frantic spiral, every muscle straining toward the barely-there shimmer of the surface.
Then, my heart stops. I freeze in place, as I see a familiar silhouette, strong and tall, plunging toward me through the blue-green haze.
For one wild heartbeat I think it’s a trick, a hallucination, some echo of my own longing. But then he grows clearer, unmistakable. My heart pounds in my chest as I spot Kastian slicing through the water with powerful strokes, his gaze locked onto mine, the distance between us closing alarmingly fast.
