My Sisters in Death (Siren Suicides, Book 2)

Chapter 1. Portage Bay

I hear the sirens answer, humming something from below. Through the layers of water, the sound pulls me in and I want to join it. I miss their tepid faces, cold arms, long hair. My sisters in death. You can't love a siren, yet she'll lure you in with her song and make you believe you're in love. That's how we kill.

Their song expands into a choral. It rises from the bottom, up and up, like a wake of unending bliss, a promise of glittery happiness, always and forever. To my horror and fascination, I recognize verses from Let Me Be, one of my favorite Siren Suicides' songs. The one I sang to Papa when I tried to kill him.

"Let me be happy, let me be happy.

And I will be, I will be.

Why can't I leave you."

The chorus gains strength. Canosa veers to the right and I don't understand why; the song comes from the left, so it's where I swim.

"Girls? I'm coming! I'm coming!" I shout.

I detect a separate current behind me a second too late. Canosa's hand clasps my mouth. On instinct, I thrust back my elbows but she pulls me into a headlock. I thrash my legs but hers hold me still; her hard calf muscles press on my shins, and my back folds into the outline of her body. We drift away from the song. No matter what I do, I can't shake her off me. She's stronger.

"But the girls..." I mumble into her hand. It comes out as, "Bbb...dddd...gggg..."

"Shhhhh!" she hisses into my ear. I attempt to wrestle away, twisting my body, but she tightens her grip. Close to the bottom now, our feet kick up a cloud of sand, its silica grains sparkling silver in the glow of our bodies. She pulls me away in the opposite direction and, slowly, the song fizzles out to a distant murmur.

"Don't talk," she breathes into my ear. She turns me to face her, her forefinger on her lips. I spread my arms and gesture why? Her hands stay on my shoulders as she shakes her head no.

We face each other like two bottom-dwelling sea devils, glowing and glowering, unsure whom will eat whom and why.

"Zip it, Ailen Bright. Follow me, I'll explain." Canosa mouths it so quietly that I have to read her lips to understand. She offers me her hand, and I take it. It's soft and cold, her long, slender fingers entwining with mine. Holding her hand gives me a strange sense of calm.

I accept the fact that there must be a valid reason why we're swimming away from the other sirens, and my tired mind is grateful. It seems like I can't think anything anymore, nor do I want to. I want to be empty.

For the first time since this morning, I'm truly tranquil; drifting in the quiet water, I'm at peace. I see Canosa the way sirens are supposed to be seen, the way they're portrayed in books; she's even let me try on this siren skin. Perhaps it fits after all; perhaps it's the right choice. I look down at my legs and arms and torso and try to imagine myself as a devious femme fatale who lures sailors to wreck their ships with her enchanting song and stunning looks. Ailen Bright, a magical deity. A sea maiden.

Hmm, I think I rather like it. I just have to grow myself some long hair, and that should do it.

Water ripples Canosa's hair away from her body. I float behind her admiring it, and her goddess-like shape. It's as if she'd been carved by a Greek sculptor who happened to prophesize Marilyn Monroe some three thousand years ago. Poor schmuck, he didn't know what he was missing. Her face has an alabaster sheen to it, pearly. She glances back at me and I notice her profile—straight nose, slightly upturned nostrils, soft mouth with just enough of a curl to make every man's heart skip a beat, and large oval eyes made to drown inside. She squeezes my hand.