Page 9 of The Song of the Void

I leaped away from him. “What the⁠—”

“Ash!” Reiven snapped. “You know I don’t like when you pause time like that! What if you break time again and I’m unable to help you?”

Alright. Fine. Either I’m losing my mind, or this boy does have some kind of strange power.

The Timebreaker kept thumbing through the book in his hands, but he gave Reiven a lopsided grin. “I’m bein’ real careful, I swear. I don’t wanna break time again, either. ‘Sides, I think I found what I was lookin’ for.” His gaze locked with mine for a split second, dropping away quickly to focus on the page before him. “It’s bad news. Only way to dispel the enchantment is to have Rei say the right word in Druinnic. Problem is, there’s no way to know what that word is, so, at least for now…y’all are stuck.”

“Fuck me,” Reiven said.

Fuck you, indeed. This is your fault.

Ashkade tapped at his chin thoughtfully and murmured that he might have an idea. Every part of me knew I’d hate whatever it was he’d say next. Still, I listened. I was too desperate to do anything else.

“The Voidtome…I did some research. It can nullify magic. Right?”

According to the songs passed down by my ancestors, with the Voidtome, even the most unmagical Human could leave the world in utter oblivion. Natural magic waned in the face of its power. Anyone could use it to tear apart reality in favor of pure, empty space. The Water Spirit had gifted the Voidtome to Sirens at their creation, in the same way the Fire and Terran Spirits bestowed powerful artifacts on the Druinns and Mourners. The scales of power were mostly balanced, each relic designed to overrule the lesser natural magic of the Druinns, Sirens, and Mourners.

“So,” Ash continued. “Maybe it can help. Your message said you’d offer information leading to it, and I’ve been searchin’ for it for a while now. Since you’re stuck with Rei, we could just find it together and let it nullify the enchantment between you.”

A path slowly emerged from the shadowed despair that had clouded my mind since arriving in the country of the Humans. Escape Arvensis, use the Tome to negate the binding enchantment, and let the suspiciously kind teenager and his prick of a bodyguard die in Hell. Then I could wreak all the havoc I wanted against the Humans and return to my home. Not as perfect as being free right away, but sometimes a Siren had to allow the undertow to drag her as it would.

“Fine.”

“Sound like a plan, Rei?” Ashkade asked.

“Sounds more like I don’t have a choice,” Reiven said. “How do we know she’s not going to stab us in the back?”

I allowed a frigid smile to crack my stony expression. “I would never.”

“Well, if you die, the binding will kill her too, so you don’t have to worry, Rei,” Ash said. A helpful bit of information that derailed those pretty visions I saw of stabbing or drowning Reiven, damn it.

The icy steel of his cutlass brushed the side of my neck, but he was careful not to cut into my skin. More of a gently lethal warning. He lowered his voice. “Sirens are treacherous, deadly creatures. I don't care what the limitations of this binding are, you don’t get a weapon, and you’ll stay out of the water.”

Who put you in charge here?

“And don’t ever touch me like you did in the alley again. In fact, I'd prefer you don't touch me or Ash at all.”

I rolled my eyes. “And what if I do? You going to kill me?”

“Something tells me you’d just slap death in the face and come back to life out of spite.”

Aw, somebody’s upset I got a hit in earlier.

The pink marks my hand left on his cheek had faded, sadly. I pretended to examine his features, pursing my lips with fake pity. “Speaking of, how’s your face?”

He jerked his cutlass away from me, using the flat end as a mirror. “Still effortlessly handsome.”

“Ashkade, you may need to find yourself a new bodyguard. A blind one won’t do you much good.”

“We’re getting off topic,” Reiven said, which meant I won our little exchange. “Those are my terms for having to tolerate you.” Without breaking eye contact, he shoved his cutlass into the scratched leather sheath tied at his hip.

He was the insufferable one, but he had to tolerate me? Well, just from our conversation I could tell it would be exceptionally fun to mock him at every opportunity, so this unfortunate binding may not be so bad.

Ashkade laughed nervously and stepped between us. “‘Kay, now that that’s settled, Zephra, would you tell us where we’re headin’?”

I took a deep breath. A hundred years ago, the Sirens’ greatest enemies, the fire-wielding Mourners, set in motion events that would lead to war. We tried to live in relative harmony with them. But when they started killing us, and paying pirates to do the same, we could no longer be gentle women of the water, singing from rocks just off the shore. Blood clouded the sea and painted the sharp volcanic rock surrounding the Mourner island. When it was clear there would be no victor in such an aimless war, we retreated far beneath the waters and vowed to never go near the surface again. But we fell for Mourner trickery, and our precious artifact was stolen from us under the guise of peace talks.

May the Spirits grant me luck for once in my life, and may my people forgive me if this goes wrong. “The Voidtome lies in Hell, and the only entrance is on Ghrysim Isle, the island of Mourners.” After all, that was why the Fire Spirit’s descendants were called Mourners. They watched over the realm of the dead. Demons.