Page 63 of Blood of the Sirens
“You will allow me access to your magicks in order to better understand them, and in return I …fixyour mer,” she repeated slowly.
“YES,” I grit out, impatient.
Her grin was predatory, which really should have been my first clue something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.
“Done.”
She hissed and the world exploded in a wash of bright magick.
Several things happened at once. My throat swelled as if I were having an allergic reaction. My hands flew to my neck,my human instincts set to panic even though my gills still worked just fine, pumping oxygen into my body. Calypso made a yanking motion at me, and it felt like my insides were being pulledout, and I threw up a golden ball of light.
My mouth opened to protest, but no sound came out.
Calypso laughed as the ball of light flew toward her. I dove toward Merrick, putting my hands over the worst of the wounds on his chest to try and staunch the bleeding. The sound of her voice warped and changed until it wasmyvoice laughing at both of us.
Oh fucking Little-Mermaid-Christ.
Did this mean I had to stab her with a ship through the chest to make everything all right again? Was I going to turn into some sort of gross shrimp thing now?
I tried to focus on Merrick, but it was hard to do anything when your own voice was laughing at you. I gesticulated wildly at him, ordering her silently to fix him. She’d promised.
“Oh, right. I suppose so.”
I backed away warily as she slid toward us on black tentacles, her body twisting and morphing the closer she got. One by one, her tentacles disappeared, giving way to one smooth, long muscle with two fins at the end—a tail. A suspiciously purple tail, I couldn’t even squawk in protest as she transformed into a passable copy of me before my eyes, though never before had I seen my eyes narrow, or my lips twist that way in a sneer.
It was horror on a level I’d never even thought possible. I knew I’d never again see anything as simultaneously disturbing and enraging.
Until she leaned down to Merrick and lovingly nuzzled against him like a kitten, murmuring into his ear. “There’s a good boy. Let’s fix you.”
That wasn’t even the worst part—all of that I could handle. But Merrick’s head tilted to the side, and in his pain anddelirium he turned and saw her—me—and gave such a happy, wistful smile that my heart broke.
“Stupid boy,” Calypso growled.
Her light, sensual caress on his shoulders became a rough grab, her sharp nails biting into his skin.
His dopey, contented expression morphed into one of agony and confusion. He thoughtIwas causing him pain. He thoughtIwas the one hurting him.
I’d kill her. I’d rip off each tentacle and make a new necklace out of them.
I’d—
More murderous thoughts were cut off as black ink spread from under her palm over Merrick’s skin, sinking into every wound on his body. My heart beat painfully in my chest, and I blinked as I realized I was feeling light headed. My gills worked furiously as they fluttered against my neck, but I couldn’t get enough oxygen.
Merrick’s mouth opened in a silent scream, his eyes turning as black as the zombie mer’s as black veins spread everywhere throughout his body.
Calypso wasn’t healing him; she was making him just like the other zombie mer.
And I couldn’t breathe.
I slapped a hand to my gills, but met only smooth skin. I thought desperately of my need to be here with Merrick, to save him from her, but nothing happened. My body didn’t respond.
The magick she’d taken from me didn’t just include my voice; it wasallmy siren magick.
Once again I was a boring, stupid human again—a boring, stupid human drowning under the ocean.
I surfaced in her tiny cave, gasping silently for air. I hacked and threw up as my lungs adjusted to breathing again. Just asmy heart rate returned to normal, cold hands grabbed my ankles and yanked me back under the black waters. All my air escaped my lungs in a gasp of surprise.
Then I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t fight. I couldn’t evensee. I stopped struggling, realizing I was only wasting valuable oxygen. I had no sense of direction as I was yanked through the water, my mind full of the image of Calypso leaning over Merrick, turning her into one of her lackeys.
