Page 60 of The Sea of Zemira (The Zemiran Chronicles 1)

Nola looked away. “This place,” she said, “Everything about this place.”

“Welcome to Westin,” Mazie said, slipping both her feet in her pants and pulling them up slowly. “I’ll go find my mother. I’m famished.”

As Raven left the tent, Nola turned Lincoln’s face to meet his eyes. “Lincoln—”

“I know. I felt it last night, too,” he affirmed.

She nodded. “I’ll gather my things, but …. what about the water?”

He shook his head. “We’ll think of somethin’ else,” he said quietly as if someone was listening behind the tent. “Let’s go.”

As the captain and Nola rushed to the long road leading to the shore, they looked to where Mazie stood. She was frozen still, looking into the street. The entire town of folk stood stiff, staring back at her.

The rest of the crew staggered out from their tent, still unsure of what was happening.

All the color ebbed from Nola’s cheeks while her stomach lurched. “Lincoln?”

To the crowd’s right stood the triplets, with Kala standing next to them, an unsettling grin lined their lips. Kala’s eyes looked more somber than the disgruntled expression crossing over the others’ faces.

“Leaving so soon?” Veronika asked Mazie.

“We’ve missed you,” the triplets said in unison, their voices morphing into one. But they did not sound like their own; they sounded different to Mazie.

Veronika linked pinkies with Samantha, and Samantha with Nichole. The three stood so close they were touching shoulders. Then their tails rose high, wrapping around each other until the three women’s bodies morphed into one, resembling someone with a completely different face.

“We have so much to catch up on,” the transfigured woman said, “Won’t you join us?” There was an echo in her voice, as if the three girls were still there, sharing one mind and body.

“Is that normal?” Nola asked Lincoln quietly.

He nodded but stepped back, reaching his hand out across Nola’s chest to push her back with him.

“Mazie, back up,” Lincoln warned.

The dark-haired pirate did not move at first; she stood there. Stunned.

Then, Lincoln called her name a second time. Mazie slowly and cautiously stepped back until she was standing between Kitten and Boots.

Ardley’s eyes widened. “Normal to morph into one woman, aye, but they’re...they’re—”

“Dead,” Mazie breathed—the ominous silence looming in the air. “They’re all dead.”

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