Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
As I get closer to the Syrens, though, I recognize them as being three of Sipha’s closest confidants: Esmerelda, Vialana, and Meriw. They’ve always been kind to me, at least more so than the rest.
And yet, my anxiety hasn’t retreated. I still feel as if there’s something wrong, something I’m not seeing.
Larimar, Meriw greets me, his voice more curt than normal. We’ve been waiting for you.
I look at him in surprise. Waiting for me?
Yes, Esmerelda says, her tail twitching as she breaks apart a shell. Ullan said you wanted us to meet you here to forage for urchins.
I whip my head around, on high alert as I look for Ullan. He’s still nowhere in sight. No one else in the colony is here either; it’s just us four.
Sipha’s greatest supporters.
It’s a trap! I call out.
What do you mean? Vialana asks, sounding panicked but not panicked enough. A trap set by who?
Ullan, Meriw says. Then, his eyes widen as he looks over my shoulder. Ship! Ship! Retreat!
I turn to see a large vessel heading toward us, similar to the one that snatched up Asherah. With the narrow curve of the bay, we will have to swim under it to escape; otherwise, we’ll beach ourselves.
There’s a chance, of course, that the ship isn’t here for us. Perhaps it’s heading toward the shallows because it’s about to drop anchor, the bay protection during the storm.
But I’m not about to find out.
I swim fast along the bottom, heading toward the deep so I can pass underneath the ship undetected, when suddenly, Vialana screams.
I stop to see her tangled in a net while Meriw and Esmerelda swim away.
I can’t just leave her there.
She’s trying to rip the net with her claws, but to no avail. The net must be made of some kind of metal.
Larimar, she cries out frantically. I can’t get out.
I reach her, my claws coming out, and I do my best to free her from the net, trying to saw through.
Go, she says. Save yourself.
Hold on, I tell her, trying to get her to focus on me. I’m going to get one of the clams. Their shells can cut through anything we can’t.
But the moment I turn from her to dive downward, the water starts to become sliced into many squares.
It’s a net rushing toward me, as if it had already been there.
A trap that had been set.
I yelp, and before I can swim out of the way, the net rushes up around me until I’m caught the same as Vialana.
And then, the net is hauled to the surface with me inside.
Chapter Twenty-Six
PRIEST
It’s been a week since Abe and I walked the plank and had a trial decided by a shark. I’m still unsure how the shark decided anything, but I suppose if it bit our heads off, that would have meant we were guilty of something. Either way, we survived, welcomed into the crew as if nothing had happened, like we were old friends.
Well, I should say it’s that way for Abe. Even though the doctor can be awkward and strange at times, he fits in well with this band of misfits and miscreants. All of them are equally odd in their own ways; I suppose that’s why they’re pirates and not living in the upper reaches of society as normal Vampyres do. High society loves those with money, and the immortals tend to have a lot of it. Still, it takes a lot to mold yourself to seem like an ordinary yet extraordinarily successful human and not the blood-drinking, murderous deviants we all are.
When it comes to me, however, I seem to have made good progress with everyone on the ship—everyone except for Maren. I don’t possess a great deal of charm—I am far too grumpy for that—but what I have goes a long way when I’m dealing with a non-Vampyre. Yet, Maren seems immune. I don’t run into her very often, which is quite strange when you’re stuck on a ship together, but when I do cross her path, she treats me with distance and suspicion. It was her decision to make a shark the judge, but I’m not sure she agrees with the verdict.
I’m starting to wonder if perhaps she knows of my relationship with Larimar. I haven’t said anything, and so far, no one has asked for any more information about the Syrens, nor has the objective of our journey been brought up.
Well, that’s not quite true.
The other day, after we were treated to blood, Ramsay and Thane sat us down and questioned us about our true intentions. I let Abe do most of the talking. He convinced Ramsay that I need to be around my own kind for a change, that the isolation he thought would help cure me is what drove me to madness in the end.