Chapter Sixteen

“So that’s your price,” Muddy said angrily. You take your passengers all the way here, building up their confidence, their hopes, only to show them this? What kind of sick savages are you?”

The leader fluttered with a thump to the bow in front of them. The rage burning in her eyes almost forced them to turn away.

“You think we’re savages?” she said, seething. “You think you’re so high and mighty when you hunt for your food? How are you different than us? We need to feed as well.”

Lyra spoke for the first time since she’d come aboard, her face green from seasickness. “You are killing people. We don’t kill our own kind.”

The creature smiled. “And neither do we. Now pay up.”

Poe jumped in front of Muddy, getting in the siren’s face. “How dare you sing to us your tales of how to beat the gauntlet and how to save Muddy’s brother. Was it all for nothing? Just so you can eat us? I don’t think so.” She pulled back her arm to swing and in a flash, a massive burst of feathers knocked her, along with the rest of them to the deck.

“All of you?” she cackled again. “No, no. Just one is our price. Just one, that’s all we want.”

Muddy looked toward the littered shore, white with bones. How long had they been doing this? How many had paid the price? He thought of his friends.

“Will you be like the others and choose for us? Or would you prefer us to pick for you?”

Otis brandished his sticks like weapons. With a shriek from a pair of sirens, he jumped to his feet. “We’re all getting off of this boat right now!” He turned toward the shore and it seemed to be at least a hundred yards away. Easy to manage, even with a riptide, considering the current plight. If they judged it correctly, they’d be far enough away when the sirens took off, if the beasts were capable.

In an instant, while everyone focused on Otis, the smallest of the prey, Muddy heard a deep grunt. A painful grunt.

Corey.

A quartet had descended on the sax player, holding him down with little effort. The teen had rock hard muscles, but these birds made it seem as though he was a scarecrow. Then Muddy saw why. Each had a talon shoved into his flesh just outside a key artery. One on each side of his jugular pricked his skin and the others dug into pressure points under each arm and into his heart.

“Go!” His eyes bore into Muddy’s and the intent was clear. Get off the boat and flee these beasts before they change their minds.”

Luke held up the seeds. “I’ll toss them!”

“Go ahead,” said the leader. “We’re still getting what we want. You know you weren’t going to hand those over, anyway. Tonight, we’ll still feed. Will you still breathe?”

“Go!” Corey was frightened, but he wouldn’t risk their lives for his own.

“Listen to him,” said the leader. “You’ve earned the secrets that will likely save your brother. You must have known there would be some collateral damage. No one leaves the gauntlet unscathed. We’re an honorable breed. Others here would skewer you for dinner and suck the marrow from your bones.”

Corey’s eyes went wide at her words, but remained calm. The big guy had witnessed much more than many high-schoolers his age had. He didn’t allow this to rattle him, at least on the outside.

“We’ll bring you to shore. Just leave us our fare. We did our part.”

Poe, who had been sitting silently, left the safety of the bench. “You. Lied.”

“We never do,” replied the siren. “It’s impossible for our species to do so.”

“You never said you’d kill one of us for the information!”

The sharp smile cut the sea air. “And you never asked. I believe it’s your fault, dear.”

“Prepare him.”

The ship bounced over the cresting waves as it neared the shoreline. The rest of the band and siblings held tight to the rails as the creatures held fast to their positions. Muddy realized that if he were to attempt a rescue, the creatures would slash them all to ribbons, meaty ribbons, thus turning a snack into a buffet. Five bodies against an octet of half-bird, half-woman beasts equaled no contest. He would have to think fast, unless someone else spawned a plan.

“You’ll thank me for this, one day,” she said. “You’ll be accomplishing something no other human, no other musician has ever done, along with saving your family.”

“You are nothing but beasts,” Muddy shouted. “Trading one life for another is murder.”

Why wasn’t anyone else jumping in and helping him? There had to be some way to bribe or trick these creatures, wasn’t there?

“We’ll bring you the Dark Muse himself,” he said, immediately realizing how idiotic he sounded.

She cackled above him. “Of course you will. He will easily allow you to bring him back through the gauntlet and to our boat where he knows what will befall him, won’t he? And I thought you were a smart one.”

“Well, that’s a first. I’ve never heard that claim one from someone.”

From behind him one of the highest notes he had ever heard sounded, tearing into his ears. Soprano range but thick in tone, it rose to a crescendo that threatened to shatter his ear drums. It then fell, rose again and began a fierce aural dance over his head. Others joined the song but in pained, discordant harmony. Someone pulled at his shirt from behind and he nearly tumbled over the edge of the boat.

His eyes caught sight of the source of the song. Poe way out on the bow, holding onto the rope descending from the mast with arms outstretched. Her mouth hung wide open and her throat vibrated in a sultry song that pierced their strength, leaving them all weak-kneed on the deck. Her head tossed back and forth in a snake charmer’s slow dance, almost like her effect on the grass. The others lay close to him, helpless, but smiling.

His bewildered look must have cued Lyra, who eased her head toward the beasts holding Corey. They had released him, hands and talons pinned to their ears in agony, obviously trying to block out Poe’s attack. He skittered away from them and moved toward the band, safe, aside from a few shallow cuts. The leader fought it hard, flapping her wings in defiance, yet her head swung from the song. She wouldn’t give up that easily. Her eyes burned at the idea of them using their own weapon against her and her sisters. Her mouth opened, attempting to form words, but it failed as she crumpled to one knee. Soon, all the sirens lay on the deck, writhing in confusion and pain as the band eased to where Poe stood. With one hand, she beckoned them. Muddy didn’t know what to make of the gesture until Luke pointed toward the water.

“Jump,” he mouthed, his voice swallowed in the volume.

Are you kidding? They’d never make it the couple hundred feet in rough surf before the creatures caught up with them. Then there was the beach run all the way to the cave.

Poe turned to them and nodded. No! They never would. She might not, but the others were already on the edge of the longship.

“I’m not leaving you,” he yelled. Then someone pushed him and his world turned upside down. He tumbled end over end for a long moment before splashing into the sea. Silence flooded into his ears, blocking out everything else, but he remembered to hold his breath. His dad had told him that drowning was the worst way to die. He only needed to hear that once.

Splashes erupted around him as he tried to find the surface. Light beamed down from above and he clawed for it. Muddy felt bubbles pushing themselves from his lips, little bits of life that he needed to replace, but the waves held him down.

Up. Up. Fight! His lungs cried as he pin wheeled his arms. One hand broke the surface, then the other. He kicked his legs through the churning cement of roiling water. The current pulled at him, but he couldn’t let Poe down. Next to his brother and his dad, she was the only other person he would die for, hands down without hesitation.

“Poe!” he cried as his face felt the ocean air. He sucked in a lungful of the cold, salty, lovely, air but it burned his insides as he coughed out a little seawater.

A wave knocked him under and he instinctively kicked downwards. With both hands and feet he broke through the water again to suck down air. Wiping away the salt, he squinted through the dimming light around him for the shore. The current must have dragged him out a bit more but he could still see the shore. Now, about two hundred feet away, he knew he would have to swim to where the swells grew big enough to break, then ride a wave onto the beach without drowning or being smashed onto the rocks. He swung both arms into the cool water and began his quest for the perfect ride. After waiting through a trio of breakers that failed to carry him, he noticed a massive one swelling up right in front of the ship. Three dark shapes rose and fell with it as it approached him.

No, Muddy cried inside. You can’t save anyone from here. Get to the shore first, and then find a way to get Corey and Poe back alive. He cursed himself for sounding selfish, but deep within he knew that to do anything else was pure suicide. His only skill lay with that guitar and now it hung on his back, soaked in sea water, probably ruined. His muscles wouldn’t even get him back to the ship.

He turned back to try to catch sight of Poe on the ship but the waves pushed him too far. He prayed she had jumped soon after the rest were in the water.

While he was feeling sorry for himself, that wave began to break. A ribbon of white foam curled at the top and he knew he would either take it to the shore, or to his grave. He dipped his arms, straight out in front and kicked his legs as hard as he could. A thousand pounds of ocean slammed into him and pushed. Hard.

Like a leaf in a storm gutter, he was a victim of the current. Water bubbled all around him while he struggled to keep his head above it all, to keep sight of the beach. He did see until the undertow sucked his arms down and flipped him over, making him part of the crash. He banged against the sand and rocky shore, over and over, head, then knees, then his back, until it threw him onto the soft water’s edge.

Am I broken? Air failed to enter his sore lungs. He inhaled only pain and tossed his body onto all fours. The current had only knocked the wind out of him. His voice sounded odd, but he tried again. This time, a little breath filled part of him. Another inhale filled more. A few more times and he breathed normally; normal for being the ocean’s plaything.

“Muddy,” someone cried. “You okay?”

He was okay. He was alive. The wave didn’t kill him. He stood on rubbery legs and turned to face the voice.

Then a wave crashed into his back, knocking him down as his world went black.

Then, hands pulled at him, shaking him back to reality. Now he truly felt broken.

Otis and Luke turned him over to face the lifeless forms of Poe and Corey, unmoving lumps upon the sand behind him.

“No,” he wheezed, feeling his chest contract. “No. No. No.” Each time he tried to scream, his lungs betrayed him.

She couldn’t be gone. He grieved over Corey, too, but he’d promised Poe that he would always be there to protect her.

Don’t leave me now, please.

He dove into the sand between them, tears welling up in his eyes, blurring his view of the bodies. He ached for his guitar. That would fix it. The guitar had power. Silver Eye told him so. He’d seen it himself.

It lay in the surf, yards away. He raced over and picked it up. Feeling as heavy as the metal he grew up listening to, he couldn’t sling it across his shoulders. Water. Dump it. Now.

He flipped it over and the seawater oozed out. His arms ached with exhaustion as he shook out the insides. Clumps of sand tumbled out onto his sopping feet. His fingers clamored for a thick power chord to shake his buddies to life, but the sand felt melded to the strings, glued to the fretboard.

He swatted at the caked strings with both hands, hearing someone yelling at him, someone bellowing or growling behind him. What was there? The sirens? Of course. They would follow the crew onto shore to finish the others off for a dessert.

“Muddy!” someone screamed.

He turned and threw the guitar into the surf.

“Muddy!”

Otis flapped his thin armed like an angry crane. He pointed at the ground.

Corey was on all fours, hacking up what seemed to be most of the beach.

How?

Luke sat atop Poe and pumped her chest, his mouth on hers. Muddy burned with a pang of jealousy before he realized that the boy was performing CPR. Why didn’t he think of that?

He didn’t know the procedure, that’s why. This guy, who had his lips pressed to hers, knew exactly what to do. What was wrong with him? Her life was all that mattered. Period.

He dropped to his knees by the teen, wishing he could help. The blond boy pressed rhythmically on Poe’s chest, hoping to dislodge the water. Lyra and Corey joined him. Out of nowhere, thunder sounded and time stopped.

They all shook and Muddy fell backwards into an oncoming wave then turned.

There he stood. Otis. With a mallet of driftwood held in one hand like a club, he swung it down. Again and again he struck the mass of bones from so many creatures and humans. The booming vibrated the group nearly off the ground.

Next to them, someone coughed. Like the most beautiful fountain in this world or any other, Poe spat out a stream of water over a foot in the air. She coughed again.

Alive! Muddy screamed inside to no one at all, except his heart.

He crawled over and cradled her head in his arms. “Let it out,” he wheezed between tears.

She opened her eyes and gazed up at him. It was something he would never get used to, but prayed he did. She saw him. What did she see? The special ed dweeb the rest of his schoolmates saw or what he’d hoped she saw in her blindness, who he truly was within?

“What happened?” Her voice croaked with remnants of seawater.

“You,” he answered. “You saved us. That’s all that matters.”

“Guys,” Corey said, “I’m just as happy, but I think we should get moving. Now.”

They turned and saw that their pursuers had yet to give up.

The sirens flew toward the band. Fast. With wingspans wider than the mouth of the cave behind them, at least six sirens jetted, each appearing to target a particular individual. Muddy locked eyes with the one drawing a bead on him and froze. He shot a glance at the cave opening behind them. How big it was and how much protection it would yield was unknown. Still, it wasn’t as though they had a choice. It would provide some shelter, but these beasts could still hunt them down inside. They made a mad dash to the entrance, about a hundred feet away. Their attackers were right behind, moving slow and vicious, with a practiced purpose.

He and Corey ran the distance, making it safely inside. They scanned the interior, taking in the deep purplish walls rushing out in both directions, forming an oblong, slimmer than a football field, only a few first downs long. They crept to the ceiling, the height of the amp stacks at a Metallica concert with just as few footholds.

They stood within a solid room. No doors, no openings save for the one they entered. Then realization crept over them. The cave would become their crypt. As the others joined them, Muddy’s fear grew into a physical being. “They did lie,” he said.

“I guess they’ll be eating in today?” Otis never stopped joking, but this time, his voice shook just a hair.

“Look for cover,” Muddy yelled over the din of the beating wings. But, where?

Poe and the twins raced toward the back of the cave on the right side, feeling for a corner where none existed. Corey and Otis stood tall at the entrance, appearing to protect their brave little troupe in vain.

Where do I go? Muddy thought, panicking. Do I try to hide her or give up my life with my friends? Which is braver and which might allow her to live longer?

His mind raced as he pondered how to spend his last few moments. Surely, Otis and Corey knew the futility of the situation. No way out meant no way out! By nightfall, their bones would be indistinguishable from those carpeting the beach.

Then Otis did something Muddy would never forget, or understand. He turned to the opening, raised his sticks and muttered a few choice words. Then the diminutive drummer ran right at the winged creatures.

Muddy and Corey screamed at him to return, but the teen kept going, drum and sticks in hand.

“It’s suicide,” Muddy cried, hands clenching, wishing for a weapon.

The sax player stood still, resigned. “If the little guy wants to go out with a bang, let him. At least he’s doing it on his terms. It’s better than a disease killing you.”

“Is it?”

“We’ll likely be joining him, but I don’t plan on giving those harpies fast food, either.”

As Otis dove through the mass of bones, under the bones themselves, they realized both of them had been wrong.

“What the heck?” Corey shook his head. “He can’t be hiding. After all he’s been through, he’s hiding—while we’re in here waiting to be shredded?”

Muddy turned back to the trio, still attempting to find a way out that didn’t exist. “He’s not afraid. He wouldn’t. Just couldn’t.” His friend faced death every day. It didn’t make sense.

The sirens either lost sight of him or simply didn’t care to pick through the mess when they had a captive meal fifty feet in front of them.

Thoughts of dying churned though Muddy’s mind and suddenly he realized he would soon reunite with his mom. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt much, he mused as he kicked a flat, ocean-smoothed rock.

Rocks? He picked it up and realized hundreds surrounded them and beneath the bones. Corey noticed what his band mate was up to and shrugged. “It couldn’t hurt, could it?”

Neither of the boys were athletes, but Muddy figured that Corey had a much better arm, and aim. As the sirens neared the entrance, they slowed and formed a half-circle before them, sniffing out their prey, finalizing their attack.

“Ah, geez,” Corey said.

People dealt with impending death in different ways. Muddy remembered his mom reading every book and cooking every recipe she could before cancer took her. He remembered asking why she read so much then mentally kicking himself after he spoke the words.

“So, I’ll have more to talk about with all those dead authors and chefs in the afterlife,” she’d quipped.

His buddy suddenly didn’t seem like the joking type. They looked at each other and Muddy knew their faces said plenty.

Let’s go out fighting like the Jets against the NFL hall of fame.

Corey wound up and launched a baseball-sized rock. It sailed upwards and hit the closest siren smack dab in the face. She dove and crashed on the rocks.

Both cried in triumph and gathered more rocks.

The siren raised her stunned body. Just dazed, Muddy thought. She shook off the pain and took to the air again, angered.

The others circled wider, but prepared to dive. They would sacrifice one or two for a good meal, especially with these odds.

But the pair wouldn’t go out without a fight, even though neither had been in a good brawl before, not with Poe and Lyra inside, needing protection. They called Luke to join in the fight. He hesitated before leaving his twin, but saw the plan for what it was. Each gathered rocks of varying sizes and began a full assault on the winged beasts. One by one, the rocks hit their targets, more connecting than missing. Still, hardly any sirens dropped out of the sky. Those who did got right back up, even if some flew broken and bloodied.

Death was visible and near to Muddy, just like his mother saw hers coming. It calmed him. If he’d had time to ponder it, he might have been amused, or more frightened.

The sirens wailed and sung, hoping to hypnotize their prey and gain the easy meal. They began to land and hit the shoreline in formation. With measured jumps, they advanced on the teens like hungry checker pieces. Just like on a game board, the teens had nowhere to go. They could only back into the cave, but that only allowed another few yards of retreat.

Just maybe there was a tunnel, and they might find it if they searched hard enough. Heck, maybe they could even dig one.

“Retreat,” Muddy called, feeling like a coward.

They raced inward and began feeling the walls for something—anything. Yet their fingers found nothing. No doors, no secret passages. Nothing.

The howling hit the entrance of the cave. They were here to feed and the only escape was death. Muddy wondered if he could end it quickly, but knew their beaks and claws would be anything but subtle.

He stepped to the edge and looked at his approaching executioners. They now numbered about a dozen, hovering at the entrance, awaiting the call from the lead hunter. He wondered briefly if they’d ever had to truly fight for a meal. Not that this would be much of a battle, despite the group’s intentions. His mind fought the siren song they now began to sing, knowing his group couldn’t resist long.

Maybe falling under their trance would save Poe and the others from suffering.

His mind raced with phantom sensations of pain. His nerves previewed the tearing of flesh, the separation of skin from bone and watching them devour him while he was still conscious.

Mom, here I come. I love you. Dad, sorry I was too caught up with my adventure to say goodbye. He felt like the loser so many said he was.

He stood in front of Poe. Maybe somehow, they would just capture her, satiated after eating him and Corey. Maybe they could use her voice to help them. Maybe…

What was taking them so long! Just get it over with already.

Thunder burst through the cavern as he began his death prayer. It was if the heavens above broke in an avalanche of sound. Like a Metallica concert with amps jacked to eleven. Like every drum set and amplifier in the world blasted all at once.

Every siren dropped to the ground, crying in pain from the noise.

Then the bass drums began.

Another rumble sounded right before them. A roll of earthquake-like proportions hit and Muddy forced himself to look.

Rocks, no, boulders rained down on them. Not on them, but on the sirens. Falling on all of them. What the heck?