If that Siren thought she was going to kill Drew Knight while Kelia sat there and did nothing, she had another thing coming. Kelia didn’t fear death, but she couldn’t stomach losing another person she loved.
Ripping Drew away from the Siren’s grasp, she threw him behind her before slamming her fist into the Siren’s chest until her fingers scraped the still-beating heart. She wrapped her fingers tightly around the organ and squeezed until it burst in her hand. The Siren’s mouth dropped open, and she exploded into drops of rain that, when they fell on Kelia’s skin, burned like crackling embers of a fire. She hissed.
“You’re up,” Drew muttered from behind her.
She didn’t even turn around. “You noticed.”
As Kelia continued to stare at her hand, her head swam from the scent of the intoxicating blood. Her first instinct was to shove her hand into her mouth and taste the siren’s essence, get every last drop of it into her body. Why? She didn’t know. All she knew was that she wanted it—needed
it. And yet, she could not bring herself to taste it, to even move her hand, because she worried one drop of that succulent life force would touch her lips.
“Do not even think of tasting that vile blood,” Drew said, coming up behind her. He took a scarf, hanging from his waist, and slowly wiped away the blood.
Before he could do anything more, another tentacle hit the ship, and the ship groaned in protest. It almost sounded as though it could not keep holding together unless someone actually did something to save it.
Drew pushed her to the ground, covering her body with his own.
"What the hell is that?" Kelia asked, forcing herself to ignore the heat that came from Drew’s body as it rested over her own. Instead, she pushed herself to sit up, focusing her eyes on the ink-black tentacle currently retracting to the sea.
“They never taught you about Krakens when you were in The Society?” Drew asked. His tone was sarcastic ,but she could hear a quiver of worry in his voice.
“I thought that was a myth.”
“But Sea Shadows are real?”
“I just saved your life, Mr. Knight,” Kelia said. She planted her feet on the deck and planted her hands on her hips. “A thank you will suffice.”
“I’ll try to remember that when we aren’t being attacked by Sirens, wind, and a Kraken.”
Kelia clenched her teeth to keep from rolling her eyes. “Where’s Wendy?” she asked, stepping toward the edge of the ship.
Drew grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. “Are you daft?” All dryness left his voice as she stumbled back into him. “The Sirens can reach up and snatch you as they’ve done before. The Kraken can move the ship by snorting and propel you to your death. Don’t be stupid.”
Kelia ignored his insult and looked up to the crow’s nest, only to find it completely smashed. She repeated her question. “Where. Is. Wendy?”
“Why?” His fingers curled around the hilt of his blade before he dropped his hand to his side.
“Can’t she shield us from the attack? How was the Kraken able to break through?”
“The Kraken is magicked by the Queen. It would seem they are more powerful than Wendy’s shield. The only thing she successfully blocked out was the wind.”
“The wind?” Kelia placed her fingers on her chin as ideas flooded her mind. “What if she controls the wind?”
Drew blinked as if he didn’t understand what she meant.
“The wind,” she said. “Just because it’s wild doesn’t mean we can’t use that in our favor. If she takes control of the wind—”
“She could take control of the water,” Drew finished.
Kelia nodded. “Exactly.”
Drew shouted at his crew to retrieve Wendy before touching Kelia’s wrist.
“Are you all right?” he asked. He seemed genuinely concerned, his gaze tracing her face as though he was looking for some sort of injury on her person.
“I have a rotten taste in my mouth, but I feel much better than I did before. I suppose that’s in large part thanks to Emma.”
Drew tilted his head to the side. “I fluffed your pillows.”
Before Kelia could even laugh, another Siren shot straight into the sky like a cannonball, then careened straight for them.
Kelia reached for her cutlass only to be met with bone. “Dammit!”
“No weapon?” Drew guessed, his focus on the sea witch.
“None that I’m comfortable with.” She bent her knees and hunched her shoulders. It was more out of instinct than anything because she genuinely had no idea what to do or how to use her abilities to protect herself and others.
The Siren was getting closer and closer. Kelia could feel her heart hammer in her throat.
“Sometimes, you need to get tossed overboard to see if you can keep yourself afloat,” Drew said.
Before he could elaborate, the Siren swiped at him. He dodged her with a duck as he simultaneously pulled out his cutlass and struck her side. The air filled with a fruity, floral scent, and Kelia stopped dead in her tracks and closed her eyes, shaking her head in hopes to rid the scent from her completely.
Drew, on the other hand, did not seem affected by it at all. Was that because of his age and experience, or did the desire just affect Kelia more strongly than it did him? To think: Kelia had once believed it was Drew Knight who had no control. In truth, he was probably the most controlled being she knew, among humans and supernatural creatures alike.
The Siren shrieked. Water dripped down, and Kelia jumped as it slid down her shirt and soaked her hair. With her braid now plastered against the back of her neck, she looked up as another tentacle poised to strike.
The Siren turned her attention on Kelia and lunged to attack. Kelia jumped and knocked her down. They tussled in the air until they crashed into the deck just as the tentacle crashed down again. It barely missed the ship, but the slam into the water created violent waves that crashed onto the deck, soaking Kelia and everyone else onboard.
As Kelia gasped around the spray of water, the Siren sank her claws into her shoulders, eliciting a sharp cry from Kelia.
“I can smell Elise on you,” the Siren snapped. “You
are the one responsible for her death.”
Kelia raised her knee so it came to the creature’s chest and pushed out her leg with a hard shove.
Shrieking angrily, the Siren sank her claws deeper into Kelia’s flesh, but adrenaline drowned out any pain. The push was enough to give Kelia the space to land a hard kick to the siren’s gut. The creature let out a breath as she flew back, and Kelia picked herself up and sucked in gulps of air as she tried to catch her breath.
Her impulse was to touch her shoulder, to feel the injury and get an idea of how bad it was. But she couldn’t allow herself to even think of her injury. She couldn’t afford the distraction.
She wasn’t finished with this bitch just yet.
The Siren could not do much, lying on the deck of the ship. She still had her ghastly tail and was not able to right herself. From what Kelia could see, she was trying to get to the edge of the ship so she could toss herself into the water. In the event that might heal her injury, Kelia couldn’t let her do that.
She bolted across the slippery deck to the struggling Siren and grabbed her by the tail. The beast fought back, the strength in her tail stunning as a fin slapped against the side of Kelia’s body.
Whoa
. Even though it was not painful, it was enough to nearly knock Kelia over. She reached out again before the Siren could slip into the water and held tight. Then she tugged—yanking the creature back onto the deck.
The Siren wailed, rushing toward her, but Kelia stuck out her arm, clotheslining the Siren with a hit to the throat. The abrupt obstacle sent the Siren screeching to the floor again.
She was trying to say something, but with the injury garbling her voice, the words were inaudible. Kelia grinned as she stepped over to her and looked down. The Siren tried to wriggle away, but Kelia stomped her foot against her chest and pinned her in place. Then she reached down and grabbed the creature by her neck.
Any scream that built up in her throat was muffled by Kelia’s grip, but she could feel the effort vibrating with an itchy tingle against her palm.
With her new Sea Shadow strength, she lifted the Siren as if she was nothing more than a weightless krill, holding her skyward by the jaw.
“This is for attacking Drew,” she said in a low voice.
Then she squeezed as hard as she could until the Siren’s throat cracked and crunched in her hand. The Siren collapsed, eyes rolled up, mouth hanging open, and Kelia dropped her into the ocean.
May the other Sirens be wise enough to take this as a warning and stay away.
But as glad as she was to send the warning, some dark part of her found enjoyment in the act of the kill and the idea that the other Sirens would find the body.
As a slap of water hit her face and the adrenaline slowed through her veins, Kelia blinked. She was starting to come back to herself. She looked around for Drew just as he emerged from belowdeck, followed by Wendy.
In that moment, she realized what she had done. What she had turned into.
Staring down at her hands, at the slick, crimson liquid slipping between her fingers and dripping onto the deck, her body shuddered. Quickly, she wiped the blood off on her tunic.
Saving Drew was one thing, but to delight in killing someone? That wasn’t like her. That was something she never wanted to become.
“You all right, darling?” Drew asked, a concerned look in his dark eyes.
A shiver slid down her back. She stopped rubbing her hands on her stomach and nodded, then glanced over at Wendy. Without a word to anyone, Wendy’s arms were up over her head, her fingers bent tightly like she was holding something high. Her arms moved for a moment, back and forth, like she was trying to gain momentum over something until the wind stopped blowing abruptly.
Everything went still.
Kelia shifted her gaze. She couldn’t even hear the ocean rock into the ship. The only thing she heard was her own breathing.
Then, Wendy let out a shout, and without warning, a loud screeching pierced the air.
Kelia dropped to her knees and clutched her ears, letting out a whimper. In that moment, her new Sea Shadow sense of hearing proved to be more of a hindrance than an asset.
The Kraken’s ugly head rooted up from under the surface of water, staring at Kelia with one large, gold eye. It’s mouth was perforated with rows and rows of sharp teeth; a knick alone would be enough to slice the skin fatally.
Still without a weapon to grab for, Kelia dropped her hand and flexed her fingers. She had no idea how the hell she was going to get out of this, but she needed to think of something. Fast.
The Kraken kept raising its head, higher and higher, while Kelia stood frozen in place. She looked around for an answer. But Wendy was still busy controlling the wind, and Emma was doing something odd to the deck of the ship, repeatedly touching the ground with her palm and moving a few paces forward.
What in God’s name was she doing?
Still, the Kraken rose but made no move to strike, and an odd sensation rushed over Kelia. The sense of air being pulled upward in front of her, almost listing her toes and pulling her toward it with its great force.
That’s it
. The Kraken wasn’t in charge of his movements! Rather, it was Wendy, pulling him up with nothing more than the force of the wind.
“I cannot hold it for long,” Wendy shouted. “You need to kill it!”
Drew unsheathed his sword, but made no move to attack. “How the hell do we do that?”
Emma nearly knocked into him as she paced forward, touched the deck, paced forward, and continued as another Siren shot out of the water and crashed onto the deck. However, instead of landing gracefully onto her tail as the others had, she lost her balance and slid forward, toppling onto her face with her tail hanging limply in front of her eyes.
“What sorcery is this?” she shrieked.
“Earth,” Emma said with a grin. “You are not welcome here.”
Before the Siren could even respond, one of the Shadows ripped into her.
Drew came to Kelia’s side. “We need to kill the Kraken.”
Kelia’s eyes went back to the Kraken, her mouth going dry. “I can barely control myself.”
“That’s what we need right now.” Drew turned to the Kraken, now fully out of the ocean. Water fell in hard bursts like an angry waterfall as Wendy held the beast. “Uncontrollable rage. It is the only thing that can save us now.”
Kelia looked down at her hands as though she still could not believe she killed with them—not a weapon, but with her two bare hands. But a Siren was the same size as she. A Kraken was not.
Yet it seemed there was no other choice.
“So…we jump?” Kelia asked.
Drew nodded. “Aye.” He knelt down and Kelia followed suit. “Ready?”
Kelia tilted her head up as her heartbeat echoed through her head and fear sliced through her veins. How was she going to do this when she’d never had training on such a feat before?
She would perish before she really got to learn what it meant to be a Shadow. But maybe that wouldn’t be the worst thing to come of this.
“On my mark,” Drew instructed.
Kelia felt the hardwood of the deck beneath her palms. Her fingers tensed, and she readied herself to spring. Knees bent. Backside scraping her calves.
“One.”
Kelia let out a shaky breath. She could not help but bounce up and down as she waited.
“Two.”
She tilted her head to the left, the right, stretching out the kinks in her neck. She had no idea what she was going to do once they jumped, but she was eager to get it over with.
“Three.”