The water rushed around her, stealing her body heat, sapping her energy. She had to get the two of them to the surface quickly. She couldn’t hold her breath very long, and she doubted the man could either.

  She was a decent swimmer, but that wasn’t going to help her here. She had something more, something that would help her get away from the siren and back to the safety of land. The air had been willing to help her. Perhaps the ocean would as well.

  Rather than fight the siren, she let herself relax. She drifted along, feeling the way the water flowed across her skin, followed the contours of her body, and moved her clothing. Then she lowered her shields. Help me?

  For a moment there was nothing. Then the water tumbled around her, sending with it a message of surprise.

  Can you help me? This man and I need to get to the surface. We need to get back to Sirenum. This siren is hurting us. She hoped the message wasn’t too complex for the water.

  Siren bad? The water swirled around her.

  She considered. While not all the sirens were bad, the ones in the water right now certainly were. Yes. Siren bad. Siren hurting us.

  There was a long moment of emptiness, and Shasta began to worry that she’d made it too complicated, or worse, that the ocean was on the siren’s side and enjoying the sacrifices.

  A great surge of water hit her, threatening to tear her away from the man. Luckily, her cold fingers couldn’t open all the way, and the two of them stayed connected. The water forced both of them toward the surface. Shasta felt Myrrine’s fingers brush her leg as the current swept her to safety.

  Her lungs burned, but she forced herself not to open her mouth, not to try to take breath as the water carried her closer to the surface. Just a little longer, she told herself. A few more seconds. She could do anything for a few seconds. Hazy spots danced in front of her eyes.

  When her head broke through the surface, she coughed out the breath she’d held too long and greedily sucked in fresh air. Shasta treaded water as spots faded from her vision. As soon as her brain was working again, she hauled the man’s head above the water. He wasn’t breathing.

  Hoping she wasn’t doing more harm than good, she rotated the man so he was leaning against her chest with as much of him above the waterline as possible. Then she gave him a steady thump on his back.

  He sputtered, water dribbling out his lips, and then sucked in a ragged breath. His eyes fluttered, but he didn’t seem fully aware of his surroundings, as if he was in some sort of trance he couldn’t break. Maybe Agatha or one of the other sirens could help. She rolled the man on his back, careful to keep his head above the waves.

  With one arm looped around his chest, Shasta slowly spun in a circle. She couldn’t see the island. Her legs slowed and she sank down, waves lapping at the underside of her chin. She had to find the island. There were still two sirens in these waters, and the ocean might not save them a second time.

  The next wave pushed her up, and she saw three lights in the distance. If that was the boat, land was nearby. She stretched herself out into a side stroke, pushing at the water with one hand and scissor-kicking her legs as she slowly towed the man through the water.

  As the seconds passed, her legs felt heavier and her arms weaker. The cold seemed to seep deep inside her. She glanced at the lights, and even though she was still on course, they didn’t appear to be closer.

  She kicked again, but her legs hardly moved. She’d been in the water too long. Without help, she wasn’t going to make it back to shore.

  Chapter Twelve

  Shasta forced her legs to keep moving. As long as she could paddle, she could slowly drag the two of them closer to shore. She wasn’t going to let them die out here.

  Her legs gave out, and she found herself bobbing along with the waves, still clutching the man against her side. His head was above water, as was hers, but that was all she could say. It was too cold, and she was too tired.

  Stubborn child. A swell of water pushed them up, higher than the crest of the surrounding waves, and swept them toward Sirenum. Won’t ask for help.

  “Hey,” Shasta protested weakly. “I was trying to be independent. I didn’t want to ask for too much.” Surprised that she could hear herself—and now that she thought about it, the gentle slap of water as waves crested—she reached up and felt her ears. The wax earplugs had fallen out, probably when she was deep underwater.

  Silly half witch, half elf, the motherly voice chided.

  Shasta felt her toes drag against the sand. “Maybe, but I’m not proud. Thank you. We both owe you a great debt.” She forced her aching legs to push her upright and gently brushed her hand across the surface of the water.

  Cull the evil sirens. Stop them from filling my waters with unnecessary death. The water kept a consistent pressure against her legs and butt, helping her stand.

  “You know me.” Shasta stopped moving, not wanting to get any closer to land in case someone could hear the conversation. “You know who and what I am.”

  A wave crested and broke next to her, sending spray high into the air. You are justice.

  She knew what the water asked of her. She wouldn’t be bringing these sirens to the mainland for justice. They would die here by her sword or the hands of their fellow sirens. They would die as a small measure of atonement for the numerous crimes they had committed. Perhaps she should feel guilt or sorrow at the prospect of taking lives, but she didn’t. This was her purpose, her duty, part of her from the moment the earth began her creation. “I am.”

  Will you do this for me? The water around her stilled.

  Shasta looked over at the boat bobbing in the water, its three the lights trying desperately to penetrate the darkness. She’d saved one of the three who’d come to shore. She didn’t yet know the fate of the other two, but she knew the sirens had killed others, depriving husbands and wives of the person they loved, taking parents from children. “I’ll do it.”

  When it is done, I will be in your debt. The waters returned to their normal motion. The element that controlled this area faded back to where it was more firmly in its own realm.

  With one painful step at a time, she dragged the man up onto the beach, well away from the waves, where he would be relatively safe.

  “Shasta! Shasta, is that you?” Cord’s voice drifted down the beach.

  She spun around. In the distance a vaguely elf-like figure was waving his arms in the air. She lifted one arm into the air. “I brought back the fisherman!”

  “Can you make it to this part of the beach?” he shouted.

  She looked down at the man. He was still lying there, breathing steadily, eyes closed. Earlier in the day, it wouldn’t have strained her to carry him, but now the air was rapidly chilling her even more than the water had, and she was so tired from the fight and the swim. “No.”

  “I’ll be right there.” Cord turned away from her, and in the moonlight she couldn’t see what he was doing.

  She glared down her clothing. “If I go stand closer to the water, could you kindly return to the ocean? It will be easier for me to do my task if I’m dry.”

  Nothing happened.

  Hoping it would just need a little encouragement, she stepped over to where the tips of her shoes were just barely out of reach of the waves as they rolled in. “Please?”

  One fat drop rolled off her hand. It must’ve been a sign, because in a heartbeat water was pouring off her. It came out of her hair, down her face and neck, trickling across the rest of her until it dripped off her shoes and into the sand. In a matter of seconds, she was dry, and it had taken most of the minerals with it, so she didn’t feel too salty. “Thank you.”

  The next wave rolled up the beach until it just brushed against the toe of her shoe. Smiling, she headed back up the beach. It was very kind of the water to be so helpful, and she already felt warmer.

  A soft crunch of sand had her looking down the beach. Cord was trotting over, sword in hand. She reflexively summoned hers. If he thought there was still reason to be armed, it would be for the best if she was too.

  He slowed to a walk. A cloud moved away from the moon, and a wash of light illuminated the area. As soon as he got a good look at her, his shoulders relaxed and he vanished his sword. “I was so worried. When I saw you go in…”

  “I was worried about you too,” Shasta said softly. It had been one thing to leave him behind in Georgia, but a different one to be pulled into the water and not know what would happen to him. “Be careful. I don’t want to lose you.”

  His eyes locked with hers. “The same goes for you.” He stepped forward, arms open.

  Maybe she should be strictly professional. Maybe she should treat this as work time when personal displays of affection simply weren’t allowed. Or maybe she should step into his arms and let his warmth chase away the lingering chill of her time in the water.

  She dismissed her sword and walked over to him, letting him tuck her against his chest, his strong arms around her. There was a rightness to it, a sense of belonging. In that moment, part of her wanted more than anything to tell him how she felt, to say she was willing to give this a try as more than just work partners. But she held back. There were still unanswered questions, truths he needed to share with her.

  Seconds later, Shasta stepped back. “Can you help me move him?”

  “I can do it.” Cord knelt down and heaved the man over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry. “Lead the way.”

  Shasta resummoned her sword, not ready to lower her guard until she knew all the rogue sirens had been identified and isolated. “What happened after I went into the water?”

  “I got the woman to safety and subdued Pelagia. Gaiana got the other man in the water. I haven’t seen him.” He paused, giving the last sentence the weight it deserved. “Demetria is dead.”

  “Good. They aren’t as hard to kill as I’d feared.” There were sirens she didn’t want to kill. Demetria’s egg-killing plans had ensured she wasn’t on that list. “How did you subdue Pelagia?”

  “I found a vine willing to help. Several loops of that wrapped very snugly were more than enough to keep her restrained.” Cord tipped his head to the side. “This way.”

  Shasta followed him up the slope of the beach, her legs protesting every step and every inch of the incline. Finally, Cord stopped and laid the man on the ground. Beside him was the woman Cord had saved. Her eyes were open, but otherwise she seemed to be in a similar state to the man. If this was a side effect of being enchanted, perhaps the sirens could reverse it. They certainly couldn’t go back to their everyday lives like this.

  Muffled squeaks from behind a rock caught her attention. Shasta forced her aching fingers to grip the sword firmly as she made her way around the rock. Pelagia was hogtied with a wad of something stuffed in her mouth so she couldn’t make too much noise.

  “She kept screaming. I asked her not to, but she didn’t listen.” Cord looked down at the siren, who glared up at him.

  Since Cord wasn’t wearing his earplugs anymore, and hers were lost in the ocean, a gagged siren seemed much safer than one who could enchant them. “Seems fair. So what do we do now?”

  “Tell Agatha. Show her the evidence.” He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

  “Do you think it’s that simple? Could these four really have been the extent of the rogue group?” While she didn’t think Agatha was directly involved—after all, she had hired Shasta—there was still the question of who exactly was party to this plot. While four people certainly could be the entirety of it, it felt too small.

  “I don’t know.” Cord focused on something in the distance. “But I think we’re about to find out.”

  Under the bright moonlight, sirens were alternately running and leaping in their rush to get to the beach. With the way they were moving Shasta couldn’t get an accurate count, but it was a lot of sirens, likely the entire population.

  Pelagia squeaked through the gag, her eyes wide and panicked.

  “Pelagia seems worried. That’s probably good news for us,” Cord said.

  “Maybe. But considering all that’s happened today, I can’t get too excited,” Shasta said dryly. She didn’t take her eyes off the approaching group as they gathered about one hundred feet away and then closed the distance at a walk. Agatha and Sappho were in front of the group with Melissa, Ligia.

  Agatha halted fifteen feet away, close enough that she could quickly close the distance but far enough back that she likely felt safe from Cord and Shasta. “The lookouts brought word of the boat and noises. I never expected this.”

  With two fishermen laid out on the beach, Pelagia tied up, and Demetria lying dead, Shasta wasn’t sure what part of the explanation should come first. After a quick debate between “I’m sorry I killed Demetria” and “It’s a long story but it all makes sense,” she settled with something vague. “Tonight, Cord and I have made significant progress on identifying the causes of your recent struggles.”

  “Have you?” Agatha arched an eyebrow. “I’m sure all of us would be delighted to hear that explanation.”

  Shasta shifted her weight, trying to get her tired legs to hold out a little longer. Not wanting to appear threatening, she dismissed her sword. “With the evidence we had already gathered, Cord and I believed there would be an attack on the eggs tonight.”

  Gasps, whispers, and some outright denials rippled through the crowd. Only Agatha, Ligia, and Sappho seemed unaffected.

  Shasta waited for the surprise to die down before continuing. She recounted the events, detailing Demetria’s actions, the evidence they had collected, and how they had been preparing to return to town to present that evidence to Agatha when they noticed the lights and singing. That last observation set off another round of whispers.

  While the crowd was distracted, Shasta glanced over at Cord. He still had his sword, though it was lowered, and all his attention was focused on the sirens. Perhaps it would’ve been better if she’d kept her sword, but she couldn’t very well resummon it now, especially not before telling them that she’d killed Demetria. That combination of actions was unlikely to go over well.

  The sirens settled down, and Shasta resumed the story. There wasn’t much she could do to soften the blow, so she told it plainly. “In the fight, I killed Demetria.”

  “Who gave you the right to take one of our lives?” Ligia demanded.

  Shasta smiled grimly. “Why, all of you did. Isn’t that why Agatha approved me? Of all the women Oaks Consulting offered to send, I was the only acceptable choice. Why was that, Agatha?”

  Silence stretched across the beach as all the sirens watched their leader. Agatha drew herself up. “I,” she said haughtily, “know who you are.”

  With those words, the sirens focused on Shasta like cats preparing to pounce. Beside her, Cord tensed. Shasta kept smiling. “A great many people know who I am. Tell them the true reason.”

  Agatha didn’t flinch. “You’re the daughter of Michelle Oaks and Elron. A witch and an elf. That gives you talents others do not possess.”

  Perhaps the sirens couldn’t hear it, but Shasta knew what Agatha was trying so hard not to say. She had been hired because she was earth born, not because she was female, an elf, or any number of other things.

  “I chose you,” Agatha continued, “because I believed you would keep our eggs safe. From what I have heard tonight, you have done just that.”

  Cord relaxed, letting the tip of the sword tilt toward the earth. Shasta let her smile fade away. Considering what the ocean had left on the agenda, the night was far from over. “Yes. We saved two of the three fishermen, though Gaiana and Myrrine escaped. We don’t know the fate of the third fisherman, but at this point we assume he drowned. However, questions remain. Why has all this been done? Why have some of you broken with the lifestyle you chose when you moved here? Most importantly, who else has reverted to the old ways?”

  Shasta watched them process her words. Agatha exchanged a look with Sappho. Ligia glanced around, as if trying to spot the culprits. Others shifted their weight, uneasy with the accusations.

  Splashes broke the silence. Shasta whirled around. A siren stood up in the shallows, hair plastered to her face. In the low light, Shasta wasn’t sure if it was Gaiana or Myrrine.

  The siren sloshed through the waist-high water, dragging a form behind her. When her feet settled onto dry sand, she gave an audible sigh of relief. She tugged the form onto the sand, where it resolved itself into the remaining fishermen, and well away from the water. Only then did she face the group. “Myrrine is dead. The ocean killed her. I was allowed to return so long as I brought him with me.” Gaiana very carefully didn’t look at the water. “I don’t think we will be safe out there until these three are home with their families.” Her message delivered, the siren sank to the ground.

  Chaos broke out. Sirens were talking over one another, small groups breaking into arguments, and a few were simply shocked into silence. Ligia was drawn into an argument with two other sirens. Through it all, Agatha stood silent, her back straight, her shoulders squared, and her chin held high.

  After the conversation she’d had with the ocean, Shasta was not the least bit surprised it had communicated its displeasure to the sirens.

  Cord eased up next to Shasta. “We can’t send him back like that. Not a one of them can pilot the boat.” He tipped his head in the direction of the three unresponsive fishermen.

  “Agatha doesn’t seem concerned.” She wasn’t sure what that meant, whether somehow Agatha was involved or if the siren simply had a plan. Either way, she was hoping the anassa would speak sooner rather than later.

  Finally, one of the sirens yelled, “We have to send them home.”

  Murmurs of agreement followed, and many sirens nodded their heads. Others stood silently, as if afraid to disagree. Agatha faced the group. “I need eight volunteers to take them back to the boat. At least two of you must be excellent singers in case there are others on the boat or these three cause trouble.”