Page 30 of Waves
“La..Laranda,” she recited hesitantly, eyes flickering back and forth between Ugo’s spear, which had only retreated a few inches, and my face.
“Looks like you’ve traveled quite a way, Laranda.” I indicated her pack, and she gave a stressed nod in response.
“Looking for work or…”
She shook her head.
“Leaving someone behind?” I guessed.
“There’s…a man. No. A djinni. He killed my friend.”
The mention of murder must have set Ugo off, because he immediately closed the distance between us and whistled so that Paavo left the messengers and hurried over.
“Guys, he’s not here right now,” I teased.
“Is he?” Ugo’s question held absolutely no humor.
“I don’t think so.” Laranda tucked a strand of floating hair back behind her ear, though that did little good. It just snaked right back out to waver at the side of her head like a sigil.
“You mean on the surface, don’t you?” I coaxed. “Djinn aren’t an underwater species?—”
“He almost drowned. But then she wished for him to be able to breathe—I wish she hadn’t. He killed her.”
The back of my neck began to prickle with a cold that had nothing to do with the current.A djinni underwater?“Where was your friend? Where did this happen? Maybe I can help?”
She shook her head, her hair changing from purple to midnight black as she vehemently denied my offer. “She’s dead. There’s nothing to help.”
“Tell me more about what happened, and I can?—”
Almost as if she’d tied the words back with a fraying rope, they toppled out of her, spilling all over us. “At first, we thoughtit was amazing. I mean, a castle? Money? Color changing hair?” Her hand lifted toward her locks, which shifted from onyx to fiery orange in under a second. “But then he just—” Her hand thrust out as a sheen of tears coated her eyes and she mimicked snapping a neck.
Something ticked the back of my conscious mind, a thought darted so quickly that I couldn’t quite latch onto it. Couldn’t quite grasp it. I needed more. “I’m so sorry. This male djinni…what did he look?—”
My question faded just as the gold in Laranda’s skin tone did, turning paler and paler until it was a stark, nearly bone white. Her mouth opened, and a giant bubble erupted from it, followed by a flurry of tiny bubbles that obscured her face as it warped into a horrified scream garbled bygluggingas she dropped her belongings and clawed wildly at the water around her, legs thrashing.
“What’s happening?” Paavo whispered the question racing through all of our minds.
“Get Lizza!” I screeched at him. “Get Lizza!”
But Laranda’s limbs were already growing weaker. The panic in her eyes was already fading even as Ugo reached for her, latching onto her arm and pulling her into his chest. He tried to sweep a finger into her mouth to clear her airway, but she didn’t respond. He hugged around her middle and squeezed at her belly, but her expression remained as vacant as a doll’s.
In horrified, helpless silence, my guard held this woman as she died.
And for all my supposed power, I could do nothing to stop it.
Chapter 13
Avia
My eyes flew open, and I sat up in bed, chest aching and tight, my wings crumpled against my back and coated in sweat despite the chill that pervaded the water. My fists rose and ground into my eye sockets as if the haggard dreams I just had could be rubbed away.
The eerie castle that Keelan and I had stumbled upon floated through my mind and snapped into focus. I’d dreamt that I’d been swimming through it, each flap of my wings as loud as a clap in the empty space. I remembered glancing behind and then pushing myself to go faster. Heart racing.
Someone had been chasing me. No, not someone. A shadow. A twist of smoke.
Terror still slit my veins, and throbbing, pulsing fear leaked from me and spilled across my skin. The hairs on my arms stood up straight, the scales on my upper arms flicked as if shivering, though I wasn’t cold. Though my cheeks burned, and a trickle of sweat ran between my shoulder blades.
Shoving aside my blankets, I rose and started to pace in my dark room. The icy walls of the glacier reflected down jagged beams of light from cracks far above, and when I looked down atmy balled-up fists, they were painted gravestone blue. Just like that siren’s face had been.
