Song of the Sirens (6 page)

I looked up, or at least struggled to. I
raised my head and saw a pair of bare feet and ankles.

The creatures obeyed. They hissed and
dispersed. The beast retracted its claws and fell back into the water, verified
by the sounds of a splash.

I heaved and pulled away from the gap to
sit upright. Crossing my arms over my chest, I pressed down on the wounds at my
shoulders. I hadn’t glimpsed the young man, hadn’t raised my eyes to meet the
guy who repeatedly saved me in these nightmares. His voice gave him away, as if
things could not get any weirder.

Another shrilling cry erupted in the
distance. I twisted around and stumbled to my feet. I narrowed my eyes and
watched as something moved in the water. Something breeched the surface, fell
back in, and breeched again. It swam hard and fast toward the dock.

In the far distance, the creature looked
like a tossed pebble. As it neared in a rapid swim, it grew in size. It
appeared to be a large rock, then a mermaid drenched in obscure shadows. Thin
hair pasted to her head, a slender upper torso swam in and out of the water
like a skidding torpedo followed by a long tail. As she neared, her features
clarified. Maddening eyes, low brows, and lips curled over sharp teeth.

The whisper returned, this time
singular. It captivated me, and I couldn’t move. I knew I had to run, to turn
and retreat to the safety of the beach, but my cursed legs defied command. I
stood like a petrified corpse, waiting for consumption by the water she-beast.

The mermaid swam hard and fast. Within
seconds, she dipped back into the water for the final moment before assault. As
quickly as she vanished, she reappeared. She breeched the surface and flew
high. She headed straight for the wooden dock, straight for me.

She pressed her hands against her sides
for optimal speed until she flew across the air. She raised her arms and
extended her hands, prepared to claw into my already cut and bleeding flesh.

Just when I anticipated the cold,
steel-like nails to rake into my body, Riley dashed behind me. From the right
corner of my eye, I caught a flash of his super-human movement.

He shoved a three-pronged spear, a
trident, into the mermaid’s bare chest. It sliced through her, and a ghastly
amount of blood leaked out. It seeped down from every wound opening, and doused
her torso and tail with dark liquid.

Riley held onto the other end of the
staff. He stepped forward and brought the writhing mermaid, who resembled a
gutted fish squirming to get back into water, toward him. She screeched in
absolute pain.

“Release her, siren.” Riley narrowed his
brows and pressed his lips together. His eyes glowed with an intense green
color, which seemed to pulsate in the night.

Riley flung the mermaid from the trident
like a fisherman who crudely tossed back a fish. She vanished with a splash.
Blood dripped from the tips of Riley’s trident onto the dock and stained the
wood.

I swallowed. With trembling hands, I
turned to face my savior, and breathed. “What are you doing here?” I asked with
quivering lips.

He seemed surprised by the question.
“What?” he asked, and stared at me as if I shouldn’t have been aware of his
presence.

“I’m dreaming, and you shouldn’t be
here.”

“And they should?” He pointed to the
ocean.

“No, but something’s not right.”

He relaxed. His shoulders slumped and
his fists loosened. “Bad dreams, nothing make sense.”

I shook my head and blinked. Riley
vanished.

I sharply inhaled and wheezed when I
came to. The whispers, those zombie mermaids, sirens, whatever the heck they
were relinquished their hold and tossed me back into reality. I opened my eyes
and focused on the dark ceiling above. Things were not right, not normal, and
Riley knew something that he refused to tell me.

I sat up, flung the sheets off, swung my
legs over the side, and jumped from the top bunk. I didn’t check to see if Dad
slept below before leaving. I slipped into my coat. I grabbed my sneakers and
donned them outside in the hall, jumping on one socked foot at a time.

The storm hadn’t dissipated, instead it
grew. The wind rocked the boat and knocked me against the opposite wall after I
slid and scrambled with one foot partially in a shoe. I cursed under my breath
once my hands made impact with the wall. At least my face didn’t hit the wall.

I turned around, hopped, and pushed my
heel into the shoe. I always kept my sneakers laced and loosely tied so I could
slip them off and on with ease. I didn’t bother tightening them.

As the boat swayed, hauling me around with
it, I stumbled on wobbly knees while clutching the old wooden railing. I walked
around the corner and up the stairs in silence. I didn’t find a soul, which
meant the crew either slept or hung out in the research room.

Once I walked onto the deck, a strong
gust of misty air hit. I gripped the railing, leaned forward, and pressed
onward. The industrial lights from the steerage room illuminated a ghastly
scene. The truth of the matter struck me. We rolled around on irritated waves
in utter blackness, miles from land, and susceptible to the bare elements.

I tasted salty water droplets on my
lips, felt the spray on my face. I squinted and rounded the corner. I could’ve
gripped the railing to lead me around to the back, but I chose to stay away
from the edge of the boat and instead clung to the outer wall.

I knew I would find Riley shirtless and
decked out in red and white trunks, huddled at the railing, and talking to the
water.

When I inched closer, I caught the last
few words. “Release her,” he said into the ocean.

I wrapped a hand around Riley’s broad
shoulder and turned him around. He puffed. His face was red with surprise.

“What’s going on?” I demanded.

He shook his head. “What are you talking
about?”

I leaned against the railing and glanced
into the water. There was movement below the outstretched lighting, though I
couldn’t see a clear figure. I pushed away and met Riley’s eyes.

“What’s gotten into you, Anita?” he
asked.

“Tell me what’s going on. Tell me why
you’re out here talking to them. Why were you in my dreams?”

He faked a light chuckle. “You’re
delirious. Maybe you should’ve eaten more than rice.”

“How did you know that’s all I ate?”

“Maybe I saw you guys at dinner in
passing.”

“Maybe?”

He failed to respond.

“Are you in my dreams?”

“Now you sound weird.”

“I had a nightmare again, and I was
saved again. This time I saw his face, it was you, your face and your
constantly cold hands.”

He shook his head twice. “You told me
about your dreams, so your subconscious placed me in there.”

I crossed my arms. “You told the siren
to release me in my dream. And when I found you here, you said the exact same
words to your mermaid buddies.”

“You’re imagining things, Anita,” he
grumbled and walked past me.

I trotted after him, hot on his heels.
“You said some things shouldn’t be ignored, or pushed off as craziness. You
know something about my dreams. You told me they were dangerous.” I raised my
voice. “Who are they? And why are they haunting me?”

Riley halted and whipped around. I
almost walked right into him. He hovered above me. His piercing green eyes
almost glowed. He didn’t look like the same old, semi-nerdy perfect guy
anymore. He exuded power, dominance, and understanding of this situation that I
so desperately wanted.

“You can’t handle the truth.”

“Oh, are you quoting movies now?”

He growled. We stood toe to toe in a
stare down, and I had no intention of backing away.

“I started getting these dreams when I
met you. They’ve intensified during this past week at sea. You know something
about my dreams, and you better tell me.”

“Or what?”

I relaxed my features. “I dunno. It
seems to me that you know something important that would benefit us, keep us
safe if these dreams are dangerous. Why wouldn’t you tell me?”

“You better get inside. This storm’s not
safe.” He glimpsed the sky and strolled away with perfect ease on the rocking
deck. He disappeared around the corner of the opposite wall.

I rolled my eyes and walked away.
Perhaps I imagined things and Riley didn’t know anything. Perhaps I dreamt of
him because I spoke to him earlier that day just like he said. That didn’t
explain my odd descent into harrowing dreams.

I returned to my room, opened the door
and turned on the light switch. I faced loud snoring and a giant lump in the
bottom bunk.

Ah, great, Dad returned during my short
excursion upstairs and fell asleep already. The adrenaline must have worn off
because he passed out. I wouldn’t get any information out of him tonight or in
the morning unless the weather drove us back toward land. If the weather behaved,
which didn’t seem likely at this point, Dad and his men would drop the sub at
dawn.

I turned off the lights, secured the
locks, and felt my way across the wall until I walked into the bunk bed. I
crawled up, careful not to kick my father or fall over. I eventually succeeded.

The last thing I wanted was to fall
asleep, but I had nowhere to go. Not that hanging out in the dining room all
night, or sitting on the steps below deck was perilous, but I wasn’t in the
mood. I questioned my sanity, and the last thing I wanted was a run-in with
Riley, who also questioned my sanity.

I pulled the covers to my chest and
stared up into the darkness. My body remained stiff and straight for several
seconds. Those seconds sawed into bitter minutes before I relaxed even the
slightest. Those minutes crept along, piled on top of one another until I
convinced myself this strange odyssey would soon end. Above all things, I was
not crazy.

I sighed and settled down. The moment of
pacification withered as soon as it appeared. I gulped.

The relentless whispers returned. They
wafted across the breadth of space and infiltrated my mind. I clenched my eyes
and wished the whispers to go away. I whimpered when they didn’t. I shook when
they strengthened.

“Please, stop. Please, stop. Please,
stop,” I muttered into the covers.

The hellish song gushed all around my
cognitive faculties, took hold of my thoughts, and squeezed.

Chapter Five

Fear gripped me for half an hour before
the whispers faded. Adrenaline eased out of my veins, and drowsiness bombarded
me. Unlike before, the whispers, the song didn’t just completely vanish into
thin air in a sudden disappearance, but floated away. I didn’t think much of
how the song left me. I was just relieved to get the song out of my head.

Apparently, craziness stalked me.
Insanity was my reckoning. There wasn’t a willing ear to listen to my issues,
which made things a little worse. Riley thought I was crazy, period, and he was
of little help. I couldn’t tell Dad and interrupt the soon–to-be greatest
discovery in ages.

There was only one thing to do: keep
this dark secret to myself until we made it back to land.

A wave hit the boat and knocked me
against the wall. I cringed. I would keep this secret to myself until we made
it home,
if
we made it home.

Blood pulsated in throbbing veins behind
my ear. Once they calmed down, a lingering whisper caught my attention. The
song hadn’t completely faded, but diminished. If they didn’t bombard my
thoughts, who did they go after now?

To heck with this. I couldn’t sleep, and
I didn’t want to sleep. I jerked every time the boat swayed onto its side. If
the bed didn’t have a lip for my feet to push against, I would’ve slipped right
off.

Captain Jack possessed foresight when he
furnished the lower cabins as sleeping quarters for the research team. He
bought desks with collapsible lips to prevent objects from sliding off. The top
bunk had a collapsible railing on the free border so a person couldn’t just
slip off, but
could
sit with their legs dangling off the edge.

I gripped this railing as the vessel
leaned so far I anticipated flipping over. I saw death flash before my eyes as
water gushed into the hall, through the door, and drowned us all. That didn’t
happen. The boat leveled out again when I heard a noise in the room.

Below, the bed sheets rustled. I
unclenched my eyes and peered into the dark room. Turning my head to the right,
I watched a figure move around the cabin. Hallway light seeped through the
narrow slit beneath the door, sparsely illuminating the room coupled with the
red light from the digital clock. An ambiguous shadow seemed to belong to a
looming and large man.

My lips refrained from uttering a sound.