Atlantis Academy: The First Element

CHAPTER TEN

Some part of me knows it's the same exact song from before... I just hear it for what it is now. It doesn't mesmerize me or paralyze me. It isn't infecting my mind.

Fins flips in front of me, and the creature appears even closer, mouth wide in song.

A little shock reverberates through me.

Amanda.

Her blond curls are soaked flat against her scalp, her skin pale in the moonlight. She's bare breasted, and the teeth... the razor-sharp fangs are gone, replaced with normal, human teeth. Her eyes still glow bright blue.

The waves begin to move even faster, time speeding up again.

Amanda lets out a shriek, and her song gets louder.

The golden strings... the complex song I'm clinging to... it's growing louder too. It's building up in my body, in every cell.

Too much.

There's too much energy. Too many notes.

And I know, instinctively, that if I stay connected with it, it will destroy me.

Amanda is closer now, and she's changing. Scales crawl up her torso and erupt on her face like a disease. Her lips morph, becoming fish-like and growing wider until they take up the entire bottom half of her face. Her jaw begins to unhinge.

The golden song has warmed me up inside, and I'm no longer shivering from the cold... I'm shivering from the effort it's taking to hold on to it.

It's a wave I can't keep riding, something too big for me, beyond me. This force isn't meant to be contained and controlled. It must be allowed to flow.

I have to let this music go, or I'll die.

The monster opens its mouth.

Razor-sharp fangs make contact with my neck.

Let it go.

I close my eyes and release my hold on the golden strings. I disconnect from the golden web of song.

A shockwave erupts from my chest. I'm slammed down, beneath the waves, saltwater stinging my eyes, filling my lungs.

It's ice cold again. I'm freezing to death, spinning through unending blackness.

The undertow has me and will not let go.

No air.

I'm so tired. My body's giving up, shutting down, my consciousness is fading.

I can feel it happening, but what can I do?

Nothing. The monster will be back soon.

Amanda...

Visions race through my mind as my brain replays every scene from this terrible night.

They stop at the drawing from the restaurant.

The drawing of ancient mythical sea creatures.

A drawing of... mermaids.

No.

The looping scrawl comes back to me. My brain decodes it, too late.

Sirens.

Sirens.

Beautiful women who lure sailors to their deaths with a song.

But sirens are not real.

I'm exhausted. My muscles quit—and I let the waves take me where they will.

I always thought I'd die alone. In a warm, cozy bed, maybe. As an old lady with lots of loving cats.

I never thought I'd die like this, cold and suffocating in the dark, not even old enough to drink.

The monster will be coming for me soon.

Will it hurt, when those impossibly sharp teeth rend my flesh from my bones? I'll scream, but my voice won't travel. No one will hear my cries. And they'll never find my body.

Just pieces of me.

If there's anything left.

But who will even care?

I wish I never went to work today.

I wish I never left the house.

I can't take any of it back now.

Hot pain slashes through my burning lungs, and my eyes sting as I stare into inky darkness.

At least it will all be over soon.

I stop struggling, stop wishing for oxygen, and surrender to the terrible exhaustion.

My eyes slide shut, and death takes me.