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It was her own voice this time. A chant. A war song.
Isla twisted, gritting through the pain in her leg as she dug her fingers into the sand.
Move.
A steady roll of thunder shuddered the skies as she hauled herself up the shore, arms straining as she pulled and kicked at the hold on her.
Ameera’s wolf yipped, and Isla cried out at the release of pressure, her face slamming forward into the sand. She didn’t think of anything but that word.
Move!
Isla clambered to her feet, wrenching her dagger free from where it had been strapped to her leg.
Ameera.
She wabbled on the sand. Her wolf’s front leg leaked crimson, and Isla met her halfway as she limped over. She strained to hold her wolf up, to walk.
Ameera shifted back, grunting and clutching her shredded arm. “Shit, the salt stings.”
Isla’s eyes dragged over the injury, the flesh slowly mending, then at Ameera’s clothes that lay in tatters on the beach. She shrugged off her jacket. “Here. Keep it covered.” She helped her slip it on. “Run or kill it?”
They were both warriors. If whatever this was posed a threat to everyone, they needed to take care of it.
Ameera never had the chance to answer.
The creature that slinked from the water was unlike any Isla had ever seen.
Two sharp points emerged first, murky green ears that speared the air like lances. Pitch-dark eyes gobbled up the night, all existence, above a slitted nose and thin mouth, pulled back to reveal razor-sharp teeth that still had a chunk of Ameera’s flesh embedded in them. Humanoid, the creature trudged on the sands; its slick body was the same muddy green, long and lanky, those tentacles stretching from its back trailed over the sand like the train of a gown.
“I should’ve brought my sword,” Isla muttered, beating against the cold slithering along her body.
“I’m not healing fast enough,” Ameera panted. “I don’t know if it’s venom. We need the high ground, at least. There’s a forest over there for some cover, and we’ll get it away from the water.”
Isla felt the bond tug inside her—and there went the thunder again. “Okay.”
Her body tensed when the creature’s eyes fell on her. “Isss it you whom I ssseek, mortal?”
She held in her gasp.
It spoke.
Not only that, it had been in a broken Common tongue.
Wasthisa siren? She’d always imagined them prettier and with…tails. Not these lengths of leg with taloned, webbed feet.
But—mortal?
“Thesssea andssshadows sssay it’s so.”
Every instinct in Isla fired torun. If this had been a siren, they didn’t stand a chance if it got them into the water. She and Ameera stepped back but knew if they turned now, those tendrils at its back would be long enough to reach them.
“Who are you looking for exactly?” Isla asked, readying her blade in her grip. She had one shot at this. Only one to distract it—and then she’d need another weapon.
The creature tilted its head. “The bridge, the cursssed one, the anssswer, the key.” The way it said the words had almost been melodic. “Which are you, golden one?”
Isla sent up a prayer and hurled the dagger. “None.”
She and Ameera didn’t linger to see if it hit.
