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I glanced at Katrina, who still seemed too distressed to speak, suspended in the water by slow flicks of her tail. I couldn’t imagine the disappointment she must be feeling. Her only hope just told her there was no hope. I wanted to feel as bad about it as she did, but my heart was torn in so many directions. It was crushing to think that there might not be a way to bring Milo back after all. I would always carry the weight of failing him and letting Katrina down. But at the same time, I’d been reunited with Serena, and for that, I didn’t believe there was a price too high. So as I watched Katrina staring into the void with absolute emptiness in her eyes, I ached for her.
“Serena.” She finally spoke, her voice hollow and stiff. “You’re sure there’s nothing I can do? Please…there has to be something.”
Serena paused for a minute that felt like hours, twisting a strand of her braids with her finger as if thinking over Katrina’s question. “I’m sorry, but there’s no power I have that can do what you ask.”
“Then come with us,” I said. “Come with us and we’ll keep looking for a way. And we can finally be together.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to,” she said, “but…it’s not safe for either of us.” She looked at me, her hand still in mine.
“What do you mean? No, I swear to you I’ll free you, Serena. And if I can’t, I’ll join you down here forever.”
“Bellamy, no.” She shook her head, but I took her face in my hands with sudden boldness. “No, no! I don’t want you to get hurt. Please don’t.”
“Yes. Either way we’ll be together,” I breathed, pressing my forehead to hers.
She started to argue, but then stopped herself with a deep breath and shrug of her shoulders. “I would never let you stay in this bottomless pit, Bellamy. I’ve been safe here for years. And I’ll stay safe with Cala. Go on and live your life. I can’t let you do this.”
“My life is with you. And if you won’t let me stay, then you have to come with us,” I kissed her gently on the lips. “Because we’re not leaving you here either.”
Serena's eyes shone with tears as she shook her head over and over. “No…no. This is not right. How is it that you come down here with the boldness to command a goddess?”
“Because I think we’ve earned the privilege after your pet tried to kill us.” I winked as the Kraken hissed behind me.
“Bellamy, please. Do not go after that crown. Don’t let Bastian have the chance to hurt you again. Let knowing that I am alive be enough.”
I tensed up at her words. How could she ask this of me? We couldn’t help Katrina, and now she wouldn’t let me help her? “No, it’s not enough. I’m going back whether you want me to or not. If you think I’m not going to free you from this pit then you’re out of your mind. I failed you once and I’m not doing it again.”
“I wish I could stop you,” she pleaded with a break in her voice. “But I know how stubborn you are. So I’ll go with you. Because I can’t stay here knowing you’re going to go face Bastian alone.”
I should’ve been glad to hear it. I should’ve been relieved. But the heartbreak on her face made me feel otherwise. We both wanted to protect each other. But she didn’t seem to realize this was our chance to finally be together. Maybe this was how we were supposed to right Bastian’s wrong. And we couldn’t do that while she was damned to hide in this cave in the ocean.
Serena sighed, seemingly lost in thought for a moment before suddenly addressing Katrina, who perked up at her words. “And as for you, little siren, I think I may just have had an idea for how to help your loved one.”
Before either of us could respond, she gave a tilt of her chin, and we were swept upward in a swift current that swirled around us like a gentle cyclone that carried us back to where the sky meets the sea. And I still wasn’t sure any of it was real.
28
Meet Me in Eternity
Katrina
“Our boat is destroyed,” I noted as we surfaced to see a deserted ocean all around us. I was trying hard to hide the worry in my mind as I selfishly ruminated on how the hell we could get to Milo in time. The sweet relief of Bellamy not drowning was still fresh and reassuring, but though I was happy to see him reunited with Serena, I was still eaten up with the lack of progress we’d made in getting Milo back before time ran out. And now we had no way to travel. But I tried to calm myself with a deep breath and a reminder to keep my head. Maybe there was hope yet.
“Whatever your idea is, please tell me you have a way of getting us out of here,” I said, a slight bitterness in my voice that I fought hard to hide. “What is your plan anyway?”
“Little siren…Katrina, was it?” When she said my name, I felt a sudden timidness, as though I shouldn’t have dared speak to her with such casualness. I almost felt anger toward her for a moment, wondering why, if she really was the one who created sirens, why did she withhold a soul from us? Why did she make our very existence a contrasting battle between self and siren? But then I remembered not all sirens were half human. Regardless, I couldn’t waste time dwelling on it right now. I had to hear her plan as we bobbed in the water at the mercy of the sea.
“I may not have all my power,” she spoke, “but I’m not rendered completely useless. Water is a medium, and it can be used to channel power, as you know from your tears.” She nodded in my direction approvingly. “I can still do small things. I can at least let you see the one you love. Tell me his name, and if you have anything belonging to him, that will make it all the easier to find him.”
“Milo. His name is Milo Harrington.” I frantically thought of what I could give her, and suddenly remembered the ring Milo had given me, still secure on my finger. I quickly slid it off, not easily, and handed it to her. “Can you use this?” I asked. Serena nodded.
She closed her eyes, focusing with the ring tucked away in her closed fist above the water, and the droplets that trickled from her hand formed ripples in the sea that localized around us. I could see the faintest outline of a man, with Milo’s physique. It was fuzzy, like looking through a stained-glass window, but I could see his blurry form amongst others, on what looked to be a ship. He spoke to someone with deep red hair beside him, but their voices were muffled as though underwater.
“What do you see?” The questions leapt from my lips. “Where is he? Is that him right now? How much time has passed?”
Serena didn’t answer me for a minute as she seemed to concentrate with her eyes shut tightly. Finally, she opened her hand, the water droplets stopped, and the ripples disappeared as they faded away into faint rings melding into the waves.
“He’s on his way to the Fountain of Youth. And he’s very close.”
