The Island Curse

Sins of the Father

"Isla come back here."

My father's voice washed over me. Raw. Angry. We'd sat in silence the entire drive home, but I could feel his eyes bouncing from the road to me and back again. Every line of his body was tense, and his expression was pained.

I didn't give a damn. The moment we arrived home, I headed for my room.

"I am still yer father, and you will listen to me."

He grabbed my arm and spun me around just before I could ascend the stairs. We stared at one another for a long minute- twin images of passion. I was bubbling over with fury at his treachery, and once, I might've called the darkness swimming in his blue eyes guilt. But I didn't know this man before me. Had clearly never known this man.

"No," I hissed, pulling away from him and cradling my arm to my chest. "You lost the right to call yourself that the day you brought me here."

"Isla, do not be this way. I'm yer father, and there is no changing that."

"No, you're right." His face softened, spurring me on, "but that means nothing more than the fact that you donated DNA. Lots of men do that. It doesn't make them fathers."

He grabbed me again, dragging me into the dining room and pushing me into a seat. I didn't fight him. Struggling would be in vain. No, I would let him speak his piece, and then I was going to figure out how to get out of this house. I would hide on the Island. I could hold out until my seventeenth birthday. After that, I would be of no value to these people.

"I don't know what lies you've been fed..."

"Sure you do. You fed them to me."

"I did what was best for you. Yer mother and I agreed to raise you without the knowledge of yer heritage so you could be a normal girl."

"Wait, Mama knew about this?"

Dad-no Dylan, I couldn't call him Dad any longer- paced the room. His curls were stiff with salt, and as I watched him, I realized how young he looked. It was as if living on the Island turned back time.

"Yer mother knew because she's a Merrow."

"What the hell?" I dropped my head into my hands, pushing against my eyebrows to try and relieve the pounding in my head. One by one the webs of deceit were pulled tight, shrinking my world and suffocating me.

"The Island is only one colony of Merrow, but the others can't reach us here because of the curse."

"But the Finfolk can?" Kieran had mentioned the deep sea dwellers, stating they only came above to mate.

Dylan raised his eyebrows. "Just how much did Kieran tell you?"

"Enough." But he told me too late.

"The Finfolk don't fall under our curse, only the Merrow. This Island is a prison, Isla. One of our family's making."

"I didn't do anything," I shouted. "And what you're saying doesn't make sense. You and Granda left the Island."

He slammed his hand against the wall. "We made a deal with Lorelei. Nothing but sons had been born to us- year after year after year. The Finfolk would send their women to us- a sacrifice just like Niamh's. They hoped we would break the curse, and the original agreement would be kept. But time and time again, a son was born. Some took up Lorelei's offer. Some survived their seventeenth birthdays without being able to shift. Others weren't so lucky."

My anger burned just as bright as it had on the shore, but I found myself growing quiet, waiting for his every word.

"My Da was afraid. You see, I had an older brother, Lucian. He didn't make it, and I was getting closer to turning seventeen. The Finfolk were dragging their feet about sending me a bride, and if I didn't sire a child before my birthday, our line would have ended."

I snorted then. "I'm not sure that's a terrible thing."

Dylan's eyes turned hard, pinning me with condemnation. "Damning an Island full of innocents would've been."

"So what, you sold your soul to Lorelei in exchange for your tail? That still doesn't explain how you got off the Island, and it sure as hell doesn't explain why you came back."

"Lorelei wants vengeance, but more than that, she wants her legs back. She was growing tired of waiting, and so she was agreeable to my father's suggestion. Let me find a mate among humans to see if it would produce a girl."

"You're the one shooting y chromosomes. Not the ladies."

"Isla."

"Whatever, it clearly worked. Except, according to you, Mama isn't human."

"I didn't know it when we first got together. I saw her tail on the first trip to the beach. It was all starlight and indigo. God, it was beautiful."

I watched as his mind left the room, travelling through the years, and I could almost see my mother slipping through the sea with a gleaming tail. But then why had she nearly drowned that day in the ocean? A frown twisted my lips. Or was that why she hadn't drowned. It made sense. A normal human would've never survived such an attack.

"Why did she leave? Really?"

"Oh, baby girl-"

"Do not speak to me that way. I'm talking to you because I want answers, not because I in any way forgive you."

He gave a jerky nod. Pulling a chair out, he sat across from me and folded his hands on the table. "Yer mother was skeptical about having a child with me. She didn't want to watch her child suffer, and she was aware of the atrocities many committed in Lorelei's name. But we loved each other, and we weren't always careful."

"Nice, so I was an accident."

"You might've been an accident, but you were wanted. The moment I found out you were a girl, I became a man obsessed. We were going to figure out how to save you. If we could've managed it, we would moved into the mountains, locked ourselves in a cabin, and lived hidden away until you turned seventeen. But being away from the ocean that long made us all sick. We tried, but even you, so little and so human, grew frail without getting into the ocean at least twice a year."

"When we didn't hear anything from Lorelei, we started to believe we might make it."

"Was that her? The day of the accident."

"Either her or the sea witch. My money's on the witch."

"Sirens. Sea witches." I rose to my feet and slapped my hands on the table top. Every part of me ached: my muscles, my head, my heart. "Where does this all stop?"

"It stops with giving Lorelei what she wants. I know that now."

"All that time hiding, and you're just going to give me away."

He stretched across the table, his big hand engulfing mine. "It won't be like that. I'll live with you in the sea, and we can find yer mother. She'll want to see you."

His touch sickened me, and I dragged my hand out from his. Without another word, I turned on my heel and started back up the stairs. Space. I needed space. Maybe, I could figure a way out of here. 

"Isla," Dylan stopped the bedroom door as I tried to slam it. "You won't be able to leave the house. So don't try."

I flipped him off, falling back on my bed with a huff. He stepped back and let the door close. My father's conscience might be heavy with guilt, but mine was light and free. Sins of the fathers didn't belong to the children. I would escape.

And damn anyone who tried to stop me.