The captain freezes. For a moment, he just stares at Kai. “Interesting,” he rasps, his voice curling with disdain. “You think you have more strength, more power, than me, Pirate Lord?” He spits the title like a curse and begins to pace, his heavy boots dragging through the water flooding the deck.
Kai doesn’t flinch. “I am a lord for a reason,” he says coolly, with a small smirk.
The captain halts, head snapping toward Kai. “You think your title means anything when you're standing in front of me?”
Kai steps forward, closing the space between them with purpose. “I think it does,” he replies, “when I slaughtered something far bigger thanyouto earn it.” The confidence rolling off him is unshakable. His words hit like cannon fire, echoing in the charged silence that follows. The captain says nothing. Then Kai adds, sharp as a blade, “Now what the fuck do you want?”
“I want what you want, boy,” the captain says, his voice slick with menace. “I want to find the fountain. But I can’t be making alliances with untrustworthy pirates, now can I?”
I glance at Kai. I can feel the slow, steady rhythm of his heartbeat, calm, controlled. None of this rattles him. He thrives in the shadows of conflict. He already knows his next move. “And when,” Kai says smoothly, “did I ever give you the impression I was untrustworthy? We’re still hunting for piecesof the map, are we not?” The captain groans, half in agreement, half in irritation. “The one part of our deal that’s lacking is yours,” Kai continues. “I haven’t gotten a single scrap of information from you since I boarded your ship.”
Varn doesn’t flinch. “I’ve brought more instructions,” he replies coolly. “They come at a cost.” The captain’s eye gleams.
But Kai steps closer, lifting a hand. “No, Varn. My price was your wish. That’s all you get. If you want more”—he steps back, placing himself between me and the creature again—“then you’ll have to find the fountain on your own.” Varn makes a bloodcurdling groan, throwing his clawed arm against the wood ofThe Leviathan.
“You drive a hard bargain, Pirate Lord,” Varn drawls, voice thick with mockery. “But I know where the fountain is. Reaching it, however, is your own cursed endeavor. One I can’t help with.” He pauses, his head tilting ever so slightly toward me. “But she might.”
Kai turns instantly, his eyes sweeping over me, confirming I’m still breathing. Still standing. Still his. I meet his gaze and give a small nod, stepping forward. “You won’t dare hurt me or this crew,” I say, voice steady. “You know what we’re worth to the ocean. The deal stays the same.”
Varn turns, his dead-black eye, the one that wasn't formed from a human, locking on mine. “I never made a deal with you, girl,” he spits, his saliva landing at my feet like poison.
Before I can react, Kai steps between us. “If you made a deal with me,” he growls, “you made one with her.”
Varn begins to pace again, boots dragging through rainwater pooling across the deck. The storm begins to settle, rain easing to a mist, the sea’s tantrum quieting like it, too, is listening. My blood simmers.
“If you have any new information you would like to share, I suggest you do it now,” Kai says.
Varn’s pacing slows, his shadow rippling against the faint lantern glow as he turns to face Kai. “That scar of yours,” he says, voice low. “She’s quite nasty, isn’t it?” His gaze drifts to Kai’s arm. “There’s a reason so few survive a siren’s attack. They don’t just wound—theyclaim.What’s inside you now isn’t healing, it’sremembering.Spreading slowly, patiently, until she takes back what’s hers.”
I’m lost for words. Kai's scar is killing him. Kai doesn’t speak, he just stands there, shoulders held high.
“Seems like you have a reason to get to that fountain now, don’t ya?” Varn laughs, a wretched sound. “The only way you're going to live is to wish for your health back. There is no cure for a siren’s touch, boy. You’re as good as dead.”
I glance at Kai’s hand gripping his sword. The black veins have reached his fingers, crawling across his skin like living ink. This journey just became a hell of a lot more important.
Kai’s voice cuts through the stillness. “We don’t have time for this, Varn. Make up your mind. If you came to remind me we struck a deal, save your breath. I never forgot. I’ll get you your wish. You have my word.” Kai steps closer now, voice low, lethal. “But if you lay a hand on Mira, I’ll gut you and pray you grow back more twisted than you already are.”
The captain turns to Kai, fury radiating off him like steam from boiling water. In the dim glow of the lantern, his grotesque features come into full view, gleaming, monstrous, unmistakably inhuman. “The deal holds, for as long as your heart does. And if it stops…” His grin widens. “She’ll pay what’s owed in your place,” he says, motioning his clawed hand toward me. “But just remember, you can’t breathe underwater. That’s where you fall short, Pirate Lord.” He raises his hand, signaling his crew. One by one, the kappas begin to slink toward the ship’s edge, their movements slow and deliberate, preparing to vanish into the churning black sea.
“Varn,” Kai calls. “Tell me where it is.” The captain pauses. Turns. Their eyes lock, and a chill knifes down my spine. The look Varn gives Kai is void of anything human. No warmth, no malice. Just an empty, unholy calm. Like death dressed in seaweed and salt.
“Siren’s Cove,” he says.
The name hangs there, suspended in the storm’s silence. Then Varn adds, almost softly, “I wish you luck, boy. No one goes in and comes out alive, and that's if they find it.” He laughs cruelly as he steps backward onto the rail, a black eye still fixed on Kai. “For both our sakes,” he says, “I hope you do.” And with that, he drops into the sea and disappears. Then I think,How many souls have lost their lives due to debts with him, and how many others have gone on this same godsforsaken mission?
My heart drops. Sirens Cove? Home of the sirens my mother is the queen of? What the hell did she and my father know? What else were they hiding from me? Or was she hiding it from him too? The thoughts hit like a tidal wave, dragging me deeper. What kind of life did they lead? What kind of legacy am I about to inherit?
The storm begins to clear, the fog pulling back like breath. One by one, the creatures vanish over the side of the ship, sinking into the night. The waves still. The sea returns to silence. And the only thing left is the moonlight, soft and pale, washing the ship in silver.
The crew begins to emerge from their quarters, white as ghosts and wide-eyed. I push through them, scanning faces until I find him. “Smith,” I say, breathless. “You alright?”
As much as they piss me off, they’re mine. My crew. My family. I can’t lose them. Smith grabs both of my arms, his grip strong. His eyes roam over me, searching for wounds. “Aye,” he breathes. “Only if you are, Mira.” He squeezes my arms tighter, his voice quiet, reverent. “You’re the only one who can save us.”
What the hell happened down there? Smith barks orders, telling the crew to light the lanterns and return to their stations. The night crew moves quickly, stepping into their usual rhythm, while the day crew disappears back into their quarters, shaken, silent, pale as bone. Most of them look like they’ve seen the Kraken and lived to tell the tale.
“What the fuck happened to them?” Kai asks, coming up behind me.
“I don’t know,” I said quietly. “Smith didn’t say. Just that I’m the only one who can save them all.” His words sit heavy on my chest, powerful, but pressing. I want to unlock whatever I am, not just for me… but for Kai. For them. For the ocean.
