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“I know how your deals work well enough to know not to agree to them.”
“Then I suppose you’ll be leaving without your Crown,” The words slithered from his mouth like spilled black ink. Bellamy had told me to let him do the talking, but I was growing frustrated with this douchebag.
Bellamy held his gaze for a moment, as if considering his options. “What is it you want done?”
“You could say it's an assassination of sorts. Of a sea beast of legend that few have encountered and lived to tell the tale. These past fifty years it has chosen to linger in the depths of the Mediterranean Sea. Some say it’s a great dragon or sea beast. Others have called it ‘Kraken.’”
“The Kraken? Really? You want us to kill the Kraken? What benefit could that possibly provide you now, far from the dangers of the sea, here in your cushy lair?” Bellamy raised an eyebrow.
“What benefit do you two seek from the Crown of the Sea?”
We both stared at him without reply, his hollow eyes sweeping over us in triumph. “Exactly,” he muttered. “It seems we both have something to hide.”
Bellamy shifted his weight around for a moment. He seemed to be gathering his thoughts as the weight of Bastian's words sunk deep. “Prove to us that you still have the Crown in your possession. Show us. I won’t agree to anything without proof of it.”
“Oh, come on, Bellamy. No need to be so melodramatic. You’re just as demanding as your father was. But since you insist on making me prove myself...” He ducked his head and motioned for us to follow as he headed to the desk in the middle. I couldn’t stop looking at the siren heart jar. If he showed us where the Crown was, we could just destroy the heart and take it. It felt too easy.
He waved a hand over the desk—the hand with the serpent. The desk slid back, revealing the entrance to a treasure trove of collected trinkets below. Some glittered like jewels and chests of rare metals. Some rotted with dust, like strange skulls and exotic talismans. There were items likely enchanted with sea magic or other dark powers, all things I assumed he’d accumulated over the centuries as a Dark Pirate Lord. A taxidermied mermaid fluke hung decoratively on the wall, making a bit of bile rise to my throat. And there, in the center of it all, meters from where we stood looking down, shone the glory of the Crown of the Sea, sparkling in the light reaching it. Seashells, pearls, and live starfish adorned its intricate golden frame as though designed by the gods themselves. I glanced at Bellamy to see if he felt the temptation to dive down into the pit to grab it as I did. His eyes were wide with wonder, but his scrutinizing and stoic expression remained the same otherwise.
I began to step forward, to climb down the cavern-like walls of this trove to see the Crown more closely. But an arm in a golden sleeve quickly put a stop to it. Bastian’s voice snaked its way to my ears.
“Ah, ah. Look but don’t touch. The Crown of Atargatis is a sacred thing.”
“Atargatis?” I repeated.
“The first sea queen. The ancient mother of sirens. Myth says she was a divinely beautiful woman who fell in love with a mortal man. But she caused his death, and in her grief and guilt, threw herself into the sea. But she was too beautiful to die, and instead emerged transformed by her broken heart with the tail of a fish—and power of the seas—second only to Poseidon himself.”
And somehow you managed to steal her crown?
Bastian went on. “A reward as hefty as her crown requires a task of equal proportion. A task no one has yet to survive accomplishing. Kill the Kraken and it's yours.”
“You’ve sent others?” Bellamy asked, redirecting Bastian’s attention to him.
“Plenty. You’re a skilled sailor. You’ve heard the stories. You know none can kill the beast.”
“Bellamy,” I stepped forward, uttering my first word since we’d entered this place. “Is that true? Can it be killed?”
He hesitated for a moment, as Bastian wrung his hands excitedly, waiting for Bellamy’s next words. Finally, he grumbled so low I was sure that only I could hear him. “It’s true. It’s an impossible mission.”
“No, no. You’ve got to be wrong. We wouldn’t just give up that easily. We won’t. There’s got to be a way.”
“No…It’s impossible.” He bit the inside of his cheek, as though biting back what he really wanted to say. I was careful not to argue too much to keep from accidentally giving away more information than Bastian should hear. But I was furious. And desperate. And I had an idea. Anything to save Milo. The heart on the desk tempted me beyond belief. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it…to kill. I couldn’t do it again.
I stepped forward, locking my focus on Bastian and his stupid arrogant expression. I opened my mouth and began to sing my song.
“What are you doing? Stop!” Bellamy growled. I commanded Bastian to shut up and bring us the crown. His eyes widened at the first notes of my song, and then he stood alert, under my control and ready to follow my orders.
He began walking to a corner of the room, his mind seemingly numbed by my enchantment. Bellamy watched, half horrified and mesmerized. And then, Bastian stopped, just as quickly as he’d fallen under my spell, and turned to look at me from across the room before bursting into a guttural laugh.
“You really thought you had me with that lovely song, didn’t you?” He clapped his hands together like an entertained child and threw a nod to Bellamy. “So, sirens aren’t extinct after all. You should’ve told me. Then at least maybe I could’ve warned you that their songs don’t work on those under the mark of Davy Jones.”
I stood planted, shaken and enraged at myself for being so stupid. I should have listened to Bellamy. I’d just dug us into a hole deeper than we ever intended to go. And I was clueless as to how we were going to wriggle out of it. I glanced at Bellamy, whose eyes had turned to stabbing glaciers jutting into me.
“I told you not to—”
“You told her not to what?” Bastian interrupted. “Prove what I already knew? I sensed her siren blood the moment you two stepped in here. And the fact that you’re alive all these years Bellamy. It could only be because of her.”
Bellamy seethed as frustration furrowed in his forehead.
