The Island Curse

Born in Blood

 "You did what?" I shrieked.

"I did what had to be done to ensure Jamie made a wise decision. He was thinking too much with his man parts, and not enough with his brain."

"No," I said, "he was thinking with his heart. He never really stopped loving Lorelei."

"Isla, this could be exactly what we need."

Kieran's excitement matched my own. This was exactly the kind of information Agnes had sent us after. I'd never thought obtaining it would be so easy.

"You have to tell her," I demanded.

Molly's mouth dropped open. "No. I don't have to tell her anything. What would it change?"

"What would it change? It would change everything. Lorelei has been punishing everyone on this Island, especially the men, because she thinks they're faithless creatures. If she knew that the culprit wasn't Jamie, then she would lift the curse."

"And curse me instead."

"I'm not opposed to that," Branna said.

"I won't tell her, and she won't believe you. Not when she knows you're trying to save yourself."

Branna lunged for Molly again, but this time, the Halloran housekeeper was too fast. She fell to the side, her elbow hitting the ground and sending up a spray of sand. She rolled to her knees and tried to stand, but Tara threw herself on top of the woman.

"You're not going anywhere, you traitor."

"Get off of me you stupid child."

Tara grabbed a handful of dark hair and lifted Molly's head only to slam her face back into the sand. When she pulled her up again, Molly's face was covered in grit and tears rolled down her cheeks.

"My brother sold his soul to that woman because of you! You're going to fix it so that he's free. We want all our men free, and we want to be able to swim away from this Island."

"Don't you get it? The curse was born in blood. It's not going to be broken because Lorelei suddenly decides she forgives Jamie. It happened the moment she buried that dagger into his heart, the moment his blood ran down her legs, fusing them into a fin. The curse is inside of her, and it drives everything she does."

"But Agnes said-"

Molly twisted in Tara's grasp and glared at me. "You trusted the words of a sea witch?"

"What reason does she have to lie to us? Breaking this curse is as much to her advantage as it is to ours."

"Is it? Breaking this curse means Isla can embrace her heritage as a mermaid on her seventeenth birthday. An entire kingdom of Merrow will be free to roam the waters again, to rebuild strength, and quite possibly lay claim to a throne and an ocean she thinks is hers."

"No," I insisted, "we made a deal. If she helped us end this curse, I would give up my tail. I'll never be a mermaid."

The laughter pouring from Molly's mouth set me on edge. There was nothing friendly or funny about the sound, and the longer she laughed, the more hysterical it became. Tara let her go and scrambled back, never looking away from the woman trembling on the beach.

"No, you'll never be a mermaid either way."

"What are you babbling about?" Kieran asked, looking between me and Branna with panic in his hazel eyes.

Seeing him unsettled didn't help to quell the fear rising in my breast, but it exploded when Branna's expression morphed from confusion to terror. Molly must've caught it too, because she stopped laughing and peered at her sister with a hateful grin.