The Tethering: The Complete Collection

28. The Siren

28

The Siren

Icy sea spray hit Emilia hard in the face, washing away the peace of the canals. The waves rocked the boat dangerously. Emilia looked behind to where the canal should have been, but there were no stone buildings in sight. Their little black boat was surrounded by an ocean that seemed to become angrier with every passing moment.

A wave hit the bow, knocking them to one side. Jacob slipped on the water that had begun to pool around their feet and fell, hitting his head hard on the side of the boat.

“Jacob!” Emilia screamed. She tried to reach for him, but another wave hit the boat. The water pulled against her, threatening to force her overboard.

Thunder crashed overhead, and a high hysterical laugh cut through the booming. Rosalie lay curled in a tight ball at the bottom of the boat, laughing as though the lightning that split the sky was an old friend she was pleased to see.

Emilia scrambled over to Jacob. He pushed himself up, still clutching the side of the boat for support.

“Jacob!” Emilia cried.

“I’m fine,” Jacob shouted back, pulling Emilia down to crouch in the bottom of the boat as another wave hit. Blood streamed down the side of Jacob’s face from a gash just above his ear.

“Pelluere!” Emilia shouted through the wind, pressing her hand to the wound on Jacob’s head, but the blood continued to flow freely down Jacob’s face. She couldn’t heal him.

Emilia tried to staunch the blood with her hand, but the boat rocked hard to one side, nearly tossing her overboard. Jacob grabbed her arm and pulled her to sit next to him.

“Leave it,” he shouted over the gale that had grown around them when Emilia reached to the gash again. “I’ll be fine.”

Another wave pounded their boat, and then another. The frozen wind met with the icy chill of the water. Emilia started to shake. Jacob pulled her close, but he had no warmth left to give her.

The lightning split the sky again. In the brief moment of light, Emilia saw the inches of frozen water sloshing in the bottom of the boat. Rosalie hadn’t sat up. She was still curled in the bottom of the boat, her face below the water.

“Mother!” Emilia tried to scream, but a wave crested over her, driving the breath from her body. Emilia pulled herself to her mother and lifted her head above water.

Rosalie coughed and gasped.

“It’s okay,” Emilia screamed above the howling wind. “You’ll be okay.”

“Does it matter?” Rosalie whispered.

Somehow Emilia could hear every word, and they cut her like a knife.

“Emi!” Jacob shouted. He covered her with his body, trying to shield her from another wave. She hadn’t felt his hand on her arm. It was as cold as the water. “We have to get out of here! We can’t stay like this.”

He was right. With every wave, the water in their little boat rose. Emilia was sure if she could stand, the water would be nearly to her knees. If this had been a real boat, in a real storm, would it still be afloat?

“We could ask to go back,” Jacob’s voice carried to her ears.

“No,” Emilia shouted. “We are going to get out of here. Do you hear me?” she shouted to the storm. “We are going to get out of here!” Emilia hoped for a moment that the sky would clear, that the Siren would hear her demand and let them go. But the only response was a c***k of thunder as loud as an explosion that shook her bones.

The sky grew darker. Waves came at them from all sides now, pounding the boat from every angle. Jacob pulled Emilia into his arms.

Emilia didn’t know how long they sat freezing in the bottom of the boat, watching the water slowly rise. She waited for day to come. Or maybe this was already day. No light shone from the sky above them. Only darkness, rain, and fear.

Hours must have passed, or maybe minutes―time didn’t seem to matter much in the storm. The boat was full of water to its rim, but still it floated through the violent sea, tossed by the vicious waves.

“Emi!” Jacob shouted into her ear, pulling her closer as the wind began to tear around them in circles. “The boat can’t take much more of this!”

As though on cue the boat began to groan beneath them.

“We are going home! And nothing the Siren does will change our minds. I don’t care how cold, or wet, or scared we are. We’d be dead by now if that’s what she wanted.” Emilia looked up into the sky as the deep grey shifted to a terrifying green. “Nothing you can do will change our minds! We want out!”

The wind whipped around them in tighter and faster circles. The boat creaked dangerously as it was pulled from the water and began to spin in the whirlwind. The water that had been in the bottom of the boat spilled out over the sides. Emilia fell face first into the receding water, and Jacob grabbed her around the waist to keep her from being carried overboard.

“I’ve got you,” he screamed over the wind, pulling Emilia back down into the boat.

The rain stopped pelting their faces as it was trapped in the walls of the cyclone that lifted them into the air. Emilia tried to look down to see how high above the waves they were, but below was only a dark void. Trembling, she turned her gaze up into the green light that seemed to be drawing their boat into the angry sky.

Emilia held tight to Jacob’s hand, willing the wind not to separate them.

“I’m sorry!” Rosalie shouted to the sky, prostrating herself in the bottom of the boat. “Please forgive me, Siren!”

The wind began to roar, and the green light burst brightly around them. Emilia shut her eyes, trying to block out the blinding glow. But still, through her eyelids, she could see the brilliant green. She heard a dull thump, and the light faded.

Emilia took a breath. They’d won. The storm was gone. But the jolt in her stomach told her Jacob was afraid―no, terrified.

Emilia opened her eyes. She looked at Jacob, but he did not look at her. He stared, his eyes wide with horror, at something behind Emilia. Emilia turned, and Jacob’s fear instantly became her own.

Their boat had landed on a smooth, shining black stone floor that reflected the only source of light―a glowing green mist that hung ten feet in the air.

A woman stood in the middle of it all, mist flowing from her scalp like hair drifting through water. A thin, shimmering cloth draped loosely across her body. Emilia knew this woman, recognized the beautifully chiseled features of her face. They had found the Siren.