Page 2 of Rock of Stages
“Damn it,” Damien muttered. “Not near the instruments.”
True. This was the worst place to get into a fight. “Outside.” I pointed at Angus.
I glared at him as he threw eye daggers at me. Once we were outdoors, I raised my index finger. “You’re not in the band. You don’t get to fire anyone.”
“The hell I don’t.” Angus’s nostrils flared as he sneered. “You’re the one I have a problem with.” He punched me in the chest, then snapped his hand back, shaking it. “Shit—what are you made of? Granite?”
“Rex isn’t going anywhere,” I snapped.
“He’s a better fit than you ever were,” Damien added.
We didn’t have any of that tension during practice and shows the way we had with Angus’s ego and surly attitude.
“We’ve decided as a band,” I declared.
Angus’s face contorted with fury as he turned his wrath on me. He lunged for me with a roar. I turned to evade him, but hita patch of something slippery on the deck—just as he reached me with his full force.
Off-balance, my weight shifted and we were airborne. But I wasn’t flying. The rails were rushing past and my wings were retracted.
Shit. I was falling overboard.
I hurried to unfurl my wings, but the ocean soared up too quickly.
Smack! I hit it with a cold slap, and it swallowed me whole.
The last thing I saw was that damn selkie swimming away in seal form, leaving me to sink like a stone.
CHAPTER 2
NAIYA
Ishouldn’t be this close to the ship.
My pod would be furious to know what I was doing, but I’d always been fascinated by the world above the ocean. The more I explored it, the greater my intrigue. Sure, the world below was home—but there was so much more to see.
When I’d first heard the music drifting from the massive cruise ship, I’d swum after it. The low, pulsing rhythms pierced the calm of the ocean. Drums, steady and primal, like a heartbeat—thump-thump-boom, thump-thump-boom. Often shaken up with a high-pitched crash.
The music called to me, more than it should. Like the tales of sirens luring sailors, but I was the one enchanted.
I’d followed the ship for several weeks now, whenever it sailed near our pod. Its music would waft out into the night, and the melody rippled through me.
I turned to float on my back, listening as I stared up at the twinkling stars. Moonlight caressed my scales.
The music stopped. Shouts echoed from above, sharp against the quiet hush of the sea. I righted myself in the water, heart picking up.
A massive shadow dropped from one of the decks.
Crash!
Whatever it was vanished beneath the surface. I dove under and swam toward the sinking shadow.
One form broke apart from the mass, a sleek and silver selkie. He glanced at me, then swam away.
The other descended, like a tossed anchor.
Panic flickered through me. Why wasn’t he swimming?
I propelled my tail faster, heart pounding. By the ocean’s tides, he was enormous—broad shoulders, limbs heavy and still. His skin shimmered gray in the water. Statue-like. A gargoyle? I’d never seen one in the flesh—or was itstone?
