How did those two come across an opportunity to implant that into Jane? What was going on in Ashfire? Why was Jane so frenzied like the day Blackwell burned Maryanne?
Jane…
Her heart is so faint across that ocean, but it’s there. And it hasn’t suffered anything new like it did all those days ago. In a selfish twist of my heart, I’m grateful I get to feel my desert rose over Anya, but that greed is quickly overshadowed when I know it can’t be for a good reason.Jane was weeping like someone was lost…
What did you do, Anya?
I’m gettingreallyfucking tired of waiting on this damn shoreline as Liam prepares his ship, ferrying goods to and from it, securing the rigging, and patching any holes.Ritter is supposed to be securingthemost essential part of our plan, but it’s starting to take too long.I need to know what happened in that castle.
To know if Anya is still alive.
“So,” Bones says, sitting there as he hardly blinks. “You still can’t feel Anya anymore?”
Anya going missing has disturbed the chaos within him.
We sit in one of the shanties on a deck, looking out at the misty ocean, the sound of the waves making me think of Jane’s heartbeat, and how many times it’s cycled a rhythm while she has no idea where we are, or if we’re even coming for her.She isburdenedwith loneliness.I haven’t forgotten you, love.
“I’m certain that Anya put the mask in Jane.”
“Were they imprisoned together, maybe?”
“Anya always felt alone. It was clear when she wasn’t. It’s as if they found a way together, and thenthathappened.”
If Jane acquiring the mask had been its own incident, I wouldn’t be so worried. It’s the grief that has me teetering on an edge, like I know I have to crash down the side and face the truth, but I don’t want to. Not yet.
Ritter’s energy precedes him, like a dangerous beast who grows more restless by the hour. There’s no victory within that man, just an empty sort of weariness and exhaustion. What the fuck? Are we about to goanotherday without any progress?
When he approaches my deck, he shakes his head, his lips fidgeting with rage. “Something is wrong. I can’t get the siren’s attention.”
I lean forward in my seat. “Come again?”
That was the cornerstone of our plan. Ritter would secure the sirens, as weneedthem to make this work.
Ritter’s face is a mask of frustration and fatigue, his jaw tightening. “It’s unlike Melona not to come when called. The stupid white eye can’t even spot their energies in the water. Usually, I can at least seetracesof them.”
I don’t even fucking know why the siren would come to him in the first place. “Do you want to give me half-truths or tell me what the fuck is going on? Why would she owe you anything?How severe is it that she hasn’t shown up? What are the circumstances? You do realize Istillcannot feel Anya anymore?” I connect my gaze with Ritter, as he knows this, although he seems to find more relief now that I can feel Jane. “Just because I’m connection to Jane doesn’t mean the undertones of Anya’s energy going missing aren’t overlooked. It means the two faced desperation. We’re losing our window of opportunity.”
His eyes flash with barely restrained rage. This is a man who is unraveling, more than I think he realizes. He runs a hand through his hair, the gesture more desperate than deliberate, his gaze not focusing on anything. “Melona has my mask. My Zenith mask. Just like you trying to take pieces off of yours, and being surprised it worked, I was surprised I was able to depart without it returning to me.” He pauses to shake his head, tutting. “I gave it to her so she could always find me. So she could feel me. She has the gift ofsight, and that mask helped connect her to me. It wasalwaysmy last resort with Jane—get her in the ocean and let the sirens take her somewhere remote.” He looks off, fear and defeat weighing down his heart. “It’s not right that she’s not showing.”
I listen very carefully, the words true. I listen further to feel out the impact of his words on the world around us, to see if I get a positive or negative feeling in that statement; I don’t know what to fucking do because I don’t feel a thing. “And what’s stopping this siren from just deciding not to help you?”
“She made a blood oath with Cypress and me.”
I laugh, the sound even a little high-pitched, while Bones remains still as a statue. “That fuckingbitch. She’s like a disease. I almost can’t hate her anymore. She’s infected all of us so perfectly; we might as well sit here until she appears to give us orders.”
I lean back in my seat, staring off in the direction that is Ashfire, my indignation rolling into dangerous waves of energy.
Ritter stares at the sands below his feet. “Melonahasto come as a part of the deal. She made the blood oath because she was worried for the siren princess, and wanted to protect her. Like how I did with Jane. Cypress must have seen our paths crossing, and decided to formalize it. It’s why Melona was waiting for Jane when I took her to the coast, before I ran off to distract everyone from looking for my daughter… so I could… take care ofNora,” he says, the pain even fresher in his soul.
It’s like we’re all damaged goods, and Cypress has offered to fill in the gaps in our hearts with her ruby crystals.If that bitch has used Anya, or Jane, and they die for it… I breathe steadier. Calmer.
No, I wantrealrevenge. For that, I need to seeclearly.I’ll sit still like the Scorpion for however long I need to, if it means taking down whoever is to blame for all of this.
Ritter looks back at me, a pleading bleeding from his heart that his eyes can’t express. “Melona can only give that mask back when the danger of her siren princess is gone, and I can only take it when Jane is no longer threatened by Misery. Which means…” He shakes his head. “Something happened to the sirens. Ithasto be.”
“Weneedthose sirens to infiltrate without Tempest,” I warn, still staring off as far as the foggy veil will allow me. “Perhaps we get to deeper waters today, plunge a man in. Use it like a fishing lure.”
That might work. Sirens don’t frequent the coastlines, and if they do, it’s not typically tohunt. They steal the flesh of men when they’re out in open sea, devouring those that fall within a shipwreck, and taking all the worthy ones back to shore?—
