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“I would actually much prefer to take yours off.” He tugged me deeper, all friendliness gone, replaced by a man I didn’t recognize.
There was an intensity in his hold. A frightening one. I recoiled, but he crushed me to his chest. My limbs shook, overexerted.
Breathe, breathe, breathe. I was about to hyperventilate. Panic. Thunder rumbled again. Lukas dragged me further into the depths. I was going to drown, or even if I didn’t, I’d be electrocuted.
Why couldn’t I think? Had I been drugged?
“Come on, all the other sirens are watching. There’s a place much more private—” He grazed a repulsive kiss along my jaw.
What was Lukas’ pearl? Was it related to what was happening? All sirens could make you like them, but if his special power was related to poison—
A giant wave crashed down, throwing us underwater.
I thrashed and floundered as water surrounded me. Where was the surface? All I saw was dark.
My leg got yanked in one direction by a meaty hand. The neon wristlet on it glowed, and I kicked it with a vengeance. Ugly neon!
Air. I needed air. My lungs wouldn't last long without it.
A current stole me away from the offending color.
It threw me into a hard, smooth body contained in familiar shadows, even in the depths of the sea.
The hands wrapping around me were gentle. I could push them off if I wanted to.
But where would I go? Back to the Siren leader?
I forced the haze out of my mind to decide.
If I went back to Lukas, I’d be a Siren. He’d drag me into the ocean, use me, and make me the next initiate of Siren House (ideally). I’d be under his beck and call forever. A figurine for decoration.
Women begged Siren House to take them every year in defiance of their sleazy reputation. Cried their tears out like Cordelia when dropped.
And I wouldn’t just be a siren—I would behissiren. The one that cherry-picked the next initiates. The starborn mate of the most charming man on campus. The head siren, who ran the recruitment process and built up the House into exactly what I wanted it to be.
I would be irrevocably, overwhelmingly beautiful and popular. And I would belong somewhere, and have a House designation that could never be taken from me.
I could even be like Flora and haze as many recruits and active members as I wanted.
Or I could disappear with another.
One who tried to kill me.
Who had no designation to offer me.
Who’d filled my life with fear and adventure. Who thwarted me at every turn. Who gave me the best distraction from everyday life I’d ever experienced. Who was entirely predictable because I knew how evil his kind was from the start, unlike the false naivety of sirens.
Someone who rescued me from insanity before and was back to rescue me again. A creature who was so far from this nonsense, a creature who called me beautiful without me having to dress like this, who offered me something Lukas never could: an opportunity to be myself.
And revenge. A chance to go against everything my mother taught me and make my own future.
Firm hands captured my waist, pulling deeper, and I let the Reaper drag me under.
* * *
We emergedon a cliff overlooking the beach. Revelers pranced below, some cavorting on the beach, others in the ocean.
“Reaper,” I mumbled.
