A head bobbled out of the water. I watched as the top half of a beautiful woman pulled herself onto shore, crossing her arms as she laid on the beach.
I’d seen her around in classes, but I didn’t know her name. She was wearing a mesh top that resembled seaweed, and didn’t seem bothered by the cold. I knew sirens, when underwater, were supposed to be hideous, but in the open air, this girl was enchanting.
She lounged casually as she said, “I figured you’d all come by eventually, seeing as the Warden has had his goons up our fins for the past month.”
“You’ve been expecting us?” Charlie asked.
“I’m Arsinoe. You guys don’t need to introduce yourselves. Everyone knows about the Villain's Club. You’re practically celebrities around here,” the siren replied.
We didn’t associate with anyone outside of our friends, so her statement was weird.
“We try to keep to ourselves,” I said.
“We know, but we’re still watching. Everyone respects you, even the shitheads,” she continued. “Your little group is the only one brave enough to consistently piss off the Warden. We don’t need to like you to acknowledge you’re infamous behind these bars. My question is, what are you here for?”
“The same thing the guards wanted,” Kallie replied. “Did they say what it was?”
Arsinoe scoffed. “No, but they made it known that we were to stay out of their way. They had electric stun wands they used to make sure we kept our distance.”
She lifted her sleeve, and I saw a welled-up bruise from where the stun gun had hit her. It spanned across her entire bicep and over her skin.
“I’m really sorry that happened to you,” I apologized.
“Don’t be. I got curious.” Arsinoe leaned her head on her hand. “I should tell you right now there isn’t anything down here. The lake’s empty, save for us.”
“You could be lying,” Kallie accused.
Arsinoe smirked. “If you want to come in, be our guest. But you’re not going to find anything. One of us would’ve stumbled upon it by now.”
“I don’t trust you!” Marcus protested. “I recognize you— you tried to eat me when Kallie and I fell in the lake!”
“That’s before you were who you were,” Arsinoe explained. “I won’t bother you, but I can’t promise nobody else will. The other girls get hungrier than I do.”
A couple more heads popped out of the water, dazzling girls observing us. The sirens were more monsters than people. No matter how much they claimed to respect us, if they got hungry enough, they’d attack.
“We have to search the lake safely. It’s not an option to have others do it for us,” Charlie said.
“Then have the fae girl make us a deal. She’ll have to honor her word, and we’ll be bound to the contract. Everybody wins.” Arsinoe looked at Kallie.
Kallie crossed her arms. “Fine. What do you want?”
“A body. We don’t get fresh meat often around here, save for the kids who die in fight club, and their bodies are so mangled by the time the guards throw them in that they don’t taste very good.” Arsinoe shrugged.
“We aren’t giving you a body,” Charlie snarled.
“Take your chances, then. Unless you really don’t want what’s in the lake.”
Arsinoe began to move away from shore, and Kallie said, “If you want a body, fine. We’ll deliver it when we decide it’s time.”
“No fae tricks,” Arsinoe complained. “You deliver a fresh body to us, for our consumption, before the semester’s over, and no siren within this lake will do any of your party harm. Otherwise, you don’t get to search the lake.”
Kallie’s eyebrow twitched. “Deal.”
“Kallie! Where are we going to get a body?” I hissed.
“People die at the Institute all the time. We’ll find a body to give them at one point or another,” Kallie whispered back. “This is our only shot.”
Kallie knelt by the lake and reached out her arm. Arsinoe shook her hand, sealing the contract together.
