Free Song of the Sirens by Kaylie Austen Page A

his hands away from the controls.
    I glanced up to see whether my actions
were enough. The mermen spread apart the pincers and liberated the merman.
    My eyes darted to the other end of the
boulder. I glowered at those menacing fingers, a symbol of a hundred horrid
ways to die. I listened closely. Aside from the gentle hum of the engine, the
gush of stabilizing air and pressure in the cabin, and the echo of the
mechanical creak from the arms and pincers, I finally heard them, the whispers .
They emerged from the cave, swam through water, penetrated the vessel, and
entered my mind.
    I clutched my head and fought with
strengthening resistance. Their chattering was strong, but now that I was aware
of their tactics, I fought back. I recalled the nightmares. When I had no idea
what happened, she controlled me. When I heard a warning from Riley and fell
into sleep against my will, I fought back. I applied the same logic to real
life.
    I sucked in a breath, clenched my eyes,
and erected a mental barrier. A moan escaped my lips as the whispers tore down
the imaginary wall with iron claws.
    With a gasp, I opened my eyes and stared
at the boulder. I leaned in. The whispers strengthened until so many voices
bombarded my head that I couldn’t decipher my own voice.
    Some of the whispers hissed and
screeched, while others sang an enchanting melody. Once they won the mental
war, defeated my futile defenses, they simmered and dragged me toward them.
    The pincers pushed the boulder another
few inches. The fingers and hands drew back inside the black cave. For a few
seconds, they seemed to give up until a pair of hands clutched the boulder
wall. Long and bony fingers curled over the edge. They pulled out ghastly arms
as a head emerged.
    I trembled. The mermaid, the siren, the
beast from my dreams stared at me. Patches of stringy, black hair floated
around her decrepit and hollow face. Her carnivorous stare met mine and lured
me.
    She craned her thin neck and tilted her
head to the side as if attempting to understand the vessel, the only thing that
stood between her and a fresh meal.
    My lips twitched.
    The whispers faded into the background
as one, singular voice sang to me. Her sweet, but deadly, voice entranced my
body.
    She curled her thin lips up. Light
bounced from the curve of her jagged teeth, gleaming and promising to rip us to
shreds.
    She pushed against the boulder and
squeezed out of the narrow slit as other hands appeared behind her. The flesh
of her bare torso waved in the current as loose and broken pieces of skin slung
to small creases beneath the ribs. Parts of her flesh had been removed, eaten,
or deteriorated, exposing raw muscle, glints of bone, and glimpses of entrails.
    Her voice seduced me. I leaned against
the control panel and placed my palms against the window.
    Without averting her large, black eyes,
she came for me. Other beastly sirens escaped from the cave behind her, and
suddenly a vicious brawl broke out in the background. The mermen battled the
monsters. Bright, glowing tails and healthy, taut skin wrapped around the pale,
gaunt women.
    They didn’t get to my personal nightmare
in time, because she swam toward me at a languid pace, tired but determined.
She reached out, her emaciated fingers and pointed nails curved into claws.
    I stared in wretched fear, unable to
pull away or move. Yet, somewhere in my mind, I knew she couldn’t get to me.
The windows were thick.
    Her nails hit the window first. It
startled her. She examined the glass and wiped the clear barrier with a palm. I
concluded a vessel like this, a clear barrier, and humans this far beneath the
surface and still out of her grasp were things she never experienced. She
searched all around for a way to get to me. Her grasp on my mental faculties
faltered.
    I staggered back, shook my head, and
pushed her out of my mind.
    She returned her focus to me and
appeared in front of the window, gaping with darkening eyes. She narrowed her
brows and twitched her