Always Remembered (22 page)

This is the Siren home, Belle Trésor,
Azuria said, sweeping her arm to indicate the entire area was a
village.

Siren? As in mermaid?
My curiosity was
piqued. Would they be as beautiful as humans portrayed them? In
books and paintings, they were such lovely creatures.

Similar, yes, although I wouldn’t
recommend calling them mermaids. Mermaids live in tropical waters.
They tend to be more flighty and flirtatious than Sirens.
Azuria shook her head with a small smile.
Both species are
extremely competitive and not fond of other females.

I’ll keep my distance,
I said, and
Azuria laughed. Was she teasing me now? I wasn’t sure. Her motives
for helping me seemed clear, but I still didn’t know if I should
trust her. Then again, here I was, awake at the wee hours of
morning, discussing the difference between Sirens and Mermaids.
What next?

That’s not a bad idea
, Azuria agreed.
Especially since I do not know if they are on your side or not.
Ken killed their leader, and as she was beloved, I’m fairly
positive they are not siding with Ken unless it is in fear.

Where is Ken?
I asked. It wouldn’t
surprise me if he had guards waiting for us. I knew that he took
the offensive much better than we did, and as he had already
captured eight of our people, he must be prepared for more.

I’m not sure.
Azuria’s face fell and
her lip trembled. In her distress, her pale image flickered in the
moving water
. I can no longer sense my children very well, and
in the Siren village, they are camouflaged from me.
She took my
hands in hers. Considering her faint appearance, her grip was
surprisingly strong.
From this point on, you are on your own.
Good luck to you and your friend. Meara, I pray for your
success.

It surprised me that her power was so
limited. Then again, she was dead. It would be rather scary if a
spirit had a lot of power. With a gentle tug, she pulled me forward
and kissed my cheek. Before she could disappear, I asked.
What
do I do once I find Evan?

Her image grew stronger once more.
Return
the way you came. I will find you and guide you to Azuria.

I blinked. She was Azuria, but then I
remembered that the Blue Men’s home went by the same name. How odd
would that be? To have your home named after you?

She dissolved into specks of light that
floated away in the murky water. My thoughts turned to Kieran. By
now, he would be waking. We had a mission ahead of us.
Find Evan
and get out quick. Quick and preferably alive.

Evan hurt everywhere. His muscles screamed in protest from being
overworked. Yet, he couldn’t stop the wide smile from filling his
face. It was worth it. Vesh showed him some cool powers yesterday.
By the end of the day, he was influencing the tide and speaking to
fish. At first, he couldn’t get the Disney references out of his
head. Once he got over how unnatural it felt—he was a creature of
the sea now, not a human—he stopped thinking about it.

Truth was, fish weren’t all that intelligent.
They mostly spoke in single words. They did manage to tell him that
the mantle plume had stabilized and stopped growing. That lifted
his spirits. Hopefully, he’d make more progress against Ken
today.

There was no doubt in his mind that he would
have to work. The fact that Ken stayed home sick yesterday was
unbelievable. No way would he take off work two days in a row.
Sickness was a weakness that Ken wouldn’t succumb to.

A thud at his door was the telltale sign it
was time to go. He didn’t look in the mirror. Odds were that he
looked like death warmed over from lack of sleep. By the time he
was done with work, he’d look worse. Who cared? The important thing
was to try and stop Ken.

He hid his surprise when he opened the door
and saw Ken. The man looked worse than Evan felt.

“Ready?” Ken asked. There was no bite in his
voice, which bordered on being raspy.

“Sure.” Evan closed the door behind him. This
close, he could see the bags under Ken’s eyes and the deep lines
around his mouth. He’d aged considerably in recent weeks. “Are you
sure you’re feeling better?”

“I’ll be fine.”

Ken’s temper hadn’t changed. With an inward
sigh, Evan followed his father, boss, and at least temporarily,
leader, for another day of excruciating work.

****

Moaning, Evan laid back on the bed. What he
wouldn’t give for a beer, or even better, a six-pack. The day had
been hell. At one point, he thought for sure Ken figured out that
Evan was fighting his efforts. The moment passed, and Ken finally
called it a day. Truthfully, Evan didn’t know how much longer he
could keep it up. Every muscle screamed in pain as he shifted on
the mattress, trying to get comfortable.

He didn’t remember closing his eyes, but when
he reopened them, the room was dark. It seemed he was spending more
time in bed these days than anywhere else. His world revolved
around eating, sleeping, and working. Surviving, that was what he
was doing, just surviving.

His nose tickled, and he picked up the scents
of clove, ginger, and musky perfume. Realization dawned that he
wasn’t alone. Deanna snuggled into him, her back against his chest.
He kissed her temple, sliding his hand under the hem of her shirt
to rest against her warm skin.

“Good morning,” she murmured. “Or should I
say, ‘Good afternoon’?”

“Have you been here a while?” He wasn’t
surprised that he didn’t wake when she came in. He could sleep
through almost anything these days. His body hit the bed and shut
down.

She rolled to face him, resting her hand on
his side. “I stopped by when I got off work. You looked so
comfortable that I decided to join you.” She lifted her head and
met his eyes. “I hope that’s okay?”

“You can join me whenever you like.” He
brushed a soft kiss over her full lips that were still stained red
with the heavier makeup she wore for performing. The dark eye
shadow and dramatic lips made her look exotic, but he preferred her
natural coloring. She was beautiful and didn’t need all of that
extra crap.

She raised her hand and guided him back to
her lips for a longer, deeper kiss. “Did you miss me
yesterday?”

“I always miss you when you’re gone.”

He realized that he meant it. Between the
concert the day before and hanging with Vesh yesterday, he kept
busy, but it wasn’t the same without Deanna. She smiled at his
answer. Her fingers played through his hair, creating an aching
need within him.

She moved one hand down and lazily traced it
across his chest, then along his collarbone. “What did you do
without me?”

Evan was finding it hard to concentrate. Her
head was tilted as she studied him, her eyes playful.

“I… uh… listened to Slate’s band…” He cleared
his throat. Deanna’s hand slid down, making his stomach muscles
jump.

“Did you?” she murmured. “Were they
good?”

“They were…” Her fingers slid playfully along
the edge of his jeans. Evan was so done with this conversation.
“Oh, hell…”

He crushed his mouth to hers and felt her
smile against his lips.
Took you long enough
, her voice
teased through his head. She wrapped her arms around his neck and
scooted closer until her body was pressed along his.

Are you sure this is where he is?
Kieran crouched behind me.
We hid behind a rock formation, the Siren settlement looming in
front of us. We had been watching for hours. Although the water
remained as dark as it had been when I was here with Azuria, the
blues and purples from the night changed to the bright reds,
oranges, and yellows of day. It was interesting that the Sirens
marked the shift of time this way. Whether magic or some other
power lit the buildings, the effect was breathtaking. It reminded
me of stained glass or glittering jewels.

If we trust Azuria is helping us. If we
don’t, then this could be a trap.
I didn’t mean for my voice to
sound bitter, but I couldn’t help it. So much rode on our
shoulders, mine more than Kieran’s, and truthfully, Azuria hadn’t
given us much to go on. As she said, from this point, we were on
our own. That thought petrified me. I knew very little about our
enemy.
Do you see anyone?

No.
Kieran moved closer until I could
feel his warmth at my back.
The whole place looks
deserted.

We know that’s not true.
I winced at
the cramp forming in my backside. We couldn’t squish behind this
rock forever. At the same time, where was everyone? It was the
middle of the day. Didn’t they go out? Go to work? Or play? It felt
like a ghost town and made my fur stand on end.

Wouldn’t we be better off coming back at
night?

This wasn’t the first time Kieran asked me
that. On one hand, I agreed with him, but Azuria specifically
brought me here at that ungodly hour this morning. She conveyed a
sense of urgency that we needed to find Evan today. Although she
was gone, I could feel her drive pushing me forward. Like a
metronome to my willpower.
Find Evan. Find my son. Find Evan.
Find my son.
The sooner I found him, the sooner I’d have peace.
Or, so I hoped.

We’ll stick to the shadows,
I decided.
We might hear something useful when we encounter some of the
citizens.

If we encounter them.
His sigh was
long and suffering.
Let’s move, then.
He nosed me in the
back.
Before someone finds us here.

Would they recognize us as Selkies?
I
hadn’t thought to ask him earlier. We were in our seal form, and I
assumed anyone who saw us would think we were actual seals out for
a swim.

I don’t know.
He took the lead and
swam toward a shadowy passage at the back of one building.
Seals
don’t normally swim this deep or stay down for very long. If we
can, we should avoid being spotted.

I nodded. He explained it all earlier to me
when I first panicked that we’d run out of air. Kieran reassured me
that our magic made us different from the animals whose shape we
took. Just as Selkies weren’t truly human, we weren’t truly seals
either. We could breathe underwater indefinitely in seal form, and
for several hours in human form. The news was a relief to me, and
it explained how the Blue Men were keeping our Selkies captive
underwater.

I hear voices.
Kieran slid low along
the wall, mere inches off the ocean floor. When he reached the end
of the passage, he peeked around the corner, and then scooted back
into the shadows. Without taking his eyes off the promenade, he
updated me.
There’s a large cave ahead to the right. I saw a few
Sirens and Blue Men outside of it. That must be where most of them
are.

What should we do?
Though it was
tempting to hang in the shadows, doing so would not help us find
Evan.

“What have we here?”

Before I could react at the deep voice behind
me, strong arms wrapped around my middle and pinned my front
flippers to my sides. I bucked and twisted, trying to get away, but
his grip was tight.

Run,
I screamed to Kieran.

I’m not leaving you.

“Get the other!” the same voice bellowed. Two
large shadows overtook Kieran, though he gave a good fight. They
slid a needle into his side, and his body went limp. Before I could
scream, a sharp prick pierced my skin. Darkness quickly
followed.

****

Male voices murmured nearby. The room was
dark, but dry. It was strange to breathe air again. I tried to open
my mouth, and then made a noise of frustration. Duct tape prevented
me from moving my muzzle. I wanted to scream obscenities at our
captors, but all I could manage was a soft whine. Kieran growled.
His dark eyes glowing menacingly in the shadows.