Kelia could still feel Drew’s fingers on her wrist even hours after he had released her. She needed to push that from her mind, however. Needed to focus on this new place. The Island of the Damned. If it was as dangerous as Drew claimed, she didn’t want to be left defenseless.

After she finished brushing her hair, she started to braid the locks back into place. Thank goodness she was alone in the small room. She needed time to adjust accordingly, to relax. It was difficult to do so, with Drew’s touch lingering on her skin. She shook head and placed her hand on her stomach. Was the nausea because of Drew, or because of her time on the ship?

Since she’d recently taken Emma’s concoction, she couldn’t take again, which would have been fine if she remained on the ship, but because she would be on a boat filled with people of varying weights, it increased her chances of the boat tipping over. Her palms clammed up and she tried to take deep, even breaths as she finished her hair.

When she was done, Kelia wiped her hands on her breeches and headed back out on deck. Already, the crew of the Wraith was rowing to the docks in small boats.

Because Drew’s ship was well-known, and because there were supernaturals—Shadows, especially—who would betray him in the blink of an eye, it was decided the best thing would be to dock the ship a distance away, where it would be hidden among the jagged rocks and the tall cliff. This would obscure it from the line of vision of those at the port.

Kelia descended the side of the ship where there was a ladder made solely of rope. She reached her foot out until someone grabbed her calf and helped ease her into the small row boat.

“There you are, Slayer.” Christopher gave her a grin, one she could not help but return.

There was something different about the way Christopher said Slayer compared to Drew. With Drew, it felt almost intimate, something a lover would say. With Christopher, it felt as though he were teasing a friend.

“Here I am, Infant,” she teased back.

He was so different now that he had Wendy back. He looked lighter, happier. It did not seem to matter that he was a beast and his wife was a witch. They would both love forever.

The entire exchange felt...nice. As though she was part of a family, almost. A different one, certainly, but a family nonetheless.

Drew Knight was the last person to get onto their boat. There was a stoic look on his chiseled face, one that brought his eyebrows low over his dark eyes. His body was rigid, as though he was expecting someone or something to attempt to knock him over and needed to ensure his weight was properly distributed and could absorb the blow. It was as though he was planning to go into battle.

Kelia kept standing as everyone else sat. Crammed so closely together, she needed air. Sitting would cause her nausea to flair. It was easier to endure the ride when she was the only person, as she had months ago, rowing to Drew’s ship off the coast of Port George. With others, she felt like a school of fish. She did not want to get swept away.

Drew did not sit either. Instead, his gaze cut toward the island that was looming ever closer. The fog made the island appear more ominous than it probably was. Despite the warm night, a chill iced down Kelia’s spine.

A soft sound tickled Kelia’s ears. It was quiet at first, but grew louder as they closed in on the island. It sounded like...Was that singing?

Kelia closed her eyes to focus on what she was hearing. She had been out at sea more times than she could remember, and in all of her experience, she had never heard the Siren’s call. She had been warned about it certainly. A Siren had killed her mother when she was with her father, who had been dispatched to a carry out a mission.

What that mission was, Kelia did not ask. It was difficult for him to even recount what happened to her. Not because she, at the time, was a mere girl with only three years on this planet, but because her father blamed himself for his wife’s death.

Kelia never asked again about her mother's death, and he never volunteered any information, but she never forgot sea witches were responsible for her mother being taken from her so soon.

The song, the melody, was familiar, yet strange, emitting from the water. It was haunting, wrapping its slippery arms around Kelia and pulling her down so she found herself kneeling in the boat. She did not kneel. She did not have the inclination to do such things. Yet here she was, voluntarily squatting.

Her hands found the edge of the boat on their own accord. Such a strange feeling. She was conscious of her body moving, but it almost felt as though she was on the outside of herself looking in. She tried to tell herself to stop, to stand up, to back away. She could hear it in her head, and yet, she could not bring herself to do it.

It didn’t matter anyway.

The more Kelia thought about it, the more she found she did not want to back away from the edge of the boat. If anything, she wanted to get closer to the water. She wanted to hear the melody better. If she could just hear it more clearly, if she could just get closer to it, she would be able to figure out where she had heard it from, why it sounded so familiar to her.

She stretched out her torso. She could see her reflection on the surface of the smooth ocean.

The smooth ocean?

How could the ocean, always in motion, always rolling its waves, be so still and clear?

This must be some kind of magic.

And yet, even then, even with that knowledge that this could very well be a trick, Kelia wanted to get closer to the song.

Closer and closer.

Closer—

“Kelia, no!”

Something whipped up from the ocean. Sea water splashed on the occupants of the boat sitting portside—Kelia most of all. Without warning, the thing reached up and pulled Kelia under the water. She didn’t even have time to catch her breath before the water slapped her in the face.

It took a moment to feel how cold it was, but when she did, her entire body tensed. She tried to fight against the sea demon’s grasp on her torso, but its grip was too strong. Though Kelia could not see the face, she was certain it was a Siren, and she had just fallen for its most obvious attack.

How could she be so stupid?

She needed to get out of here. She needed to break the surface and breathe. And she couldn’t do that if she was thrashing around.

Something pressed against her leg, and she stiffened. She felt the Siren’s grip on her tighten. Would the witch suffocate her before tearing out her throat? She knew nothing of Sirens save that they were demons cursed to the sea; she did not know how they killed or how to defend herself against them.

But she still had her blade. If she could just reach it…

“You better not kill that one.” A low voice pierced the water, and Kelia stopped her reach to look to the side.

Long, inky black hair. Seaweed green eyes. A voluptuous body that ended at the hips, where a slew of scales in a magenta color formed instead of legs.

“The Queen wants that one.”

The Queen? Certainly she could not be speaking of—

“Is that the one Drew Knight is enamored of?” This Siren had a lighter voice, innocent, like a child. Her white-blonde hair was braided intricately back from her face, and her slate-blue eyes danced with amusement. “I have only heard the rumors. I’m disappointed. She’s not very beautiful, is she?”

“She’s human.” This voice—raw, powerful—came from behind Kelia. “You cannot expect her to look the way we do.”

“Even the Queen is more beautiful,” the blonde pointed out. “What would Drew Knight want with this thing? So young. Such inexperience.”

“She looks vaguely familiar,” the black-haired beauty said. She tossed her hair over her shoulder, the water tugging and pulling at the strands. However, she still looked graceful rather than wicked. “Have we encountered her before, Kyra?”

“She has a familiar scent,” the one behind Kelia murmured. “If I tasted her blood—”

“That would be a violation of the Queen’s orders,” the blonde snapped, twirling a stray strand from her braid around her finger.

The voices were starting to sound farther away, but Kelia could still see the beings were close. Her vision dimmed, and she felt herself getting lightheaded. But still she strained to pay attention to the words coming out of their mouths. Something about the Queen...

Her mind was getting fuzzy.

“She’s a Starling.”

Kelia’s consciousness snapped back. The Siren behind her moved, and suddenly, a face pressed against her cheek as bubbles formed nearby. She was being sniffed.

“Jessa’s daughter.”

My mom?

How did they know her name? They’d killed her. Surely they hadn’t spoken to her first?

“Can’t be,” the blonde said with a sneer. “Kyra, you fool.”

“If you don’t believe me, smell her for yourself, Elise.”

Elise stiffened. “You’re certain?”

“I am. Should we bring her to the Queen? I’m sure she would love to be reunited with her daughter.”

“The Queen doesn’t know about Jessa. We cannot take this one to her.”

Her throat screamed. Pressure trembled through her head, her eyeballs, her neck. She needed to get away, to get air, but she wanted to listen a little longer, just a little longer—

A loud pop, like the crack of a whip, echoed around them. The Sirens screeched. Kelia tried to reach up and clamp her hands over her ears. Protecting them somehow seemed more important than getting air.

But she was wrong. She was starting to lose consciousness.

The Siren holding Kelia let out a piercing scream as she released her hold. A hand shot through the water and grabbed Kelia’s arm; moments later, her head broke the surface of the ocean, and suddenly, she could breathe again. Drew’s grip on her tightened as he pulled her back aboard.

It took a moment before Kelia realized what happened. She felt like a fish out of water, trying to suck down air, and even though there was an abundance of it, she had difficulty keeping it. Her stomach churned, and she flipped, pushing herself up so she could wretch in the boat. She did not dare try to lean over again.

“What in the bloody hell were you thinking?” Drew bellowed from behind her as she continued to hack up her stomach. The insides of her throat burned as breakfast came back up and out of her mouth. She barely heard what Drew was saying, but she knew he was angry with her. “Leaning over the side of the ship. Are you daft? What did you think was going to happen?”

“We knew nothing of Sirens,” a voice said in response. Kelia could still be imagining things—the voices sounded distant and foggy—but she could swear it was Daniella defending her. “The Society told us nothing.”

“Don’t defend her,” Drew growled. “She knows Sirens exist. She remembers who killed her mother.”

“That doesn’t mean she knew they were here,” Daniella pointed out. “It’s not like you warned us about their songs. Maybe if you weren’t so wrapped up in thought, you would have been looking toward your crew, directing them on their rowing, and you would have seen Kelia get snatched.”

“If you saw her get taken, why did you do nothing, then?” Drew asked, whirling toward her. “Were you just sitting there frightened, waiting for the grown ups to intervene?”

Kelia didn’t yet have the energy to tell them they were both wrong. To tell them that yes, she’d known better, but no, she wasn’t daft. They’d had her under a spell.

“I told Wendy to give her more oxygen while I came to you,” Daniella said. She sounded both worried and defensive, as though whatever she did see had scared her. “I don’t know if it worked, but again, what would you have had me do? Jump to my death along with her? If I’d done that, you’d not have realized either of us were missing until you reached shore!”

Kelia flickered her gaze upward, still breathless but not hacking anything else up.

“Turn around now.” Drew’s eyes, a ferocious brown, narrowed at her. “On the ship, in my quarters, at once.” He turned to Christopher. “Everyone else is to go to land, as planned. I will be there later to order supplies. Make sure Gary knows I’m coming.”

Christopher nodded as everyone rowed back to the ship.

Kelia’s cheeks burned. She had never been so embarrassed in her life. She could not meet anyone’s eye, not even as Wendy helped her up and Emma wrapped a shawl around her shoulders. She didn’t realize she was cold until she was sitting in the boat, the shawl tightly wrapped around her frame.

Drew was silent as they reached the ship and headed up the ladder of the ship. Kelia followed him, but it took her longer to reach the deck due to her frigid, exhausted body. Suddenly, she had no desire to go to land, even if it would alleviate her stomach. All she wanted to do was crawl into her cot and sleep. Perhaps, after that, she would let her mind explore what she had just found out.

Or, at least, what it sounded as though she had just found out. If she’d understood the conversation correctly, it sounded as though her mother was still alive.

Could that really be possible?

But if she was, then she must be a prisoner, and that didn’t make sense, did it? Why would the Sirens keep her alive? And why would they not tell the Queen?

Drew growled. “Are you even listening to me?”

Kelia stepped onto deck and nearly ran into him. He glared, nostrils flaring. How dare he be angry at her!

“What the hell is your problem?” she shouted, her blood boiling and heating away the chill she’d felt just minutes earlier.

Drew blinked, and Kelia found herself looking away. It was not respectful for her to yell at her captain this way, even if she was in the right. However, she didn’t appreciate how he was speaking to her about something that was hardly her fault.

“My problem?” He clenched his teeth so tightly that his jaw popped. “My problem is that you do not recognize your value.”

He glanced to his right, and it was only then that Kelia realized there were a couple of Shadows left on board to watch over the ship. He clenched his teeth as if to refrain from saying anything more, grabbed her arm roughly, and pulled her to his quarters. She stumbled to keep up with him, the shawl dropping off one shoulder.

He slammed the door behind them.

“What?” Kelia asked, glancing around the dark room.

Drew stalked over to his desk, then pulled out a match and lit a candle sitting on the corner of the wood. It was relatively new; Kelia wondered if he had used it specifically for her benefit since he really didn’t need it with his Shadow senses providing great night vision.

“What do you mean, what?” he asked. “You are going to change into warm clothing. And then, you will stay on this ship. Do you understand? You will not leave. No matter what.”

“Drew—”

“Captain,” he snapped. “This is not up for argument. You will stay here. That is an order.”

Then, with superhuman speed, he left the quarters and slammed the door shut behind him.

Kelia pressed her ear against the door, trying to hear what was going on outside. Whatever it was could not be good.