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I nod at the book in George’s hand. The knife on the cover glints in the light like a real blade. “So, what’s this information we have to get to Miranda?”
Chapter 23
Miranda
“Oh,I’msosorry.Was I distracting you? Confusing you maybe? Messing with your melody? Messing with your head?”
How, why, how is Joanna here? I don’t know what to do now. Not that I knew what to before I saw my predecessor had been captured, but now…now I’m sure I’m screwed.
How was Beatrice able to get her to come down here anyway? Her voice doesn’t affect me enough to get me here. I didn’t even hear it until I was already in her lair.
Joanna begins to whistle a bright, cheery, familiar tune. Something about enjoying life even though it sucks. I smile to myself. I really like Joanna. I wish we could have worked together instead of the League waiting until she retired to call me up.
Mazu squeezes my arm, shaking me from my thoughts. She bends her neck to the side to show me she wants me to follow her, so I do. We swim away from the siren’s den, away from my friends, and when she decides we’ve swam far enough, she stops and turns to me. “I need to go, Guardian. I will be back soon, but someone needs me at the surface.” She looks toward where we entered the sea, where we kissed, and I think I see a tear in her eye. “I cannot ask you to promise me you will only watch Beatrice and your friends. I do hope you will wait for me to return before you take any action, but you are The Guardian. You must trust yourself to know what to do.”
To reiterate that she is not abandoning me, she takes my hands and looks deep into my eyes before finishing, “I will be back.” She turns quickly and swims toward the surface, much faster than we swam here together. I wonder for half a second why she’s in such a rush. But then I know I have to get back to the task at hand.
I rotate back to where Beatrice is holding my friends captive. Rotate is definitely the best word given how thick the water is when you’re under the sea. Combine that with my own thickness and, well, you have rotation.
I bite my lip while considering Mazu’s words. Trust myself to know what to do. HA. Can I trust myself to stay hidden and watch while I wait for my mermaid guide to return?
Not. Fucking. Likely.
I swim back alone to the perch we had just been laying on together, steeling myself for what I am going to see.
Beatrice is close to the cage, arguing with Joanna. They’re too quiet, or I’m too far way to make out what they’re saying, but their exchange looks pretty heated. Every so often a word makes it way to me.
“Too late.”
“Ludo.”
“Revenge.”
And then, loudest of all when Beatrice screams, “Shut up!”
The siren closes her eyes and opens her mouth, her haunting melody filling the space between us, filling the entire ocean, maybe even filling the world. Joanna stops arguing. She sits still. She’s not asleep like Eliza and Rory (I hope they are just asleep). Instead, Joanna stares at the seabed while Beatrice sings.
Ludo, oh Ludo,
I miss you, I miss you.
How can you really be gone?
Ludo, oh Ludo,
I’ve lost you, I’ve lost you.
And now I must somehow go on.
She’s supposed to protect.
She’s supposed to defend.
But she murdered my love
In the coldest of blood.
Ludo, oh Ludo,
