Page 31 of Drowning in Sins

“Kai! Frederick! Fuckers, wake up from this!” I grabbed Kai and Frederick’s hands, keeping them from moving. “You can’t have them,” I told the siren.

Its eyes narrowed and voice grew louder. The guys’ hands slipped from my grasp as they tugged harder to get closer to the monster.

The sea may have been this creature’s home, but now it was threatening something equally important to me. Two people who I would not let it have. I ran to the storage box nearby and grabbed the sharpest item I could find.

It looked like an old spear, and it would be good enough. I ran between the monster and the men and stared at it. “This is your final warning. Stop and leave us alone, then we will leave.”

It only hissed and continued its song.

“Fuck your siren song.”

Maybe I didn’t like the idea of choosing between them, but I would sure as hell choose to save them both from this monster. I ran toward it, my waist hitting the railing as I rammed the sharp end in and up.

The siren froze, dark blood slowly oozing from the wound as its eyes grew darker. It grew limp and fell from its perch on top of the tentacle, and the tentacles slowly followed. I sighed in relief as it moved under the surface and turned around.

“Ros? What happened?” Frederick rubbed his forehead.

“Sea monsters are real, and a siren was trying to take y’all away.” I shook my head. “I couldn’t let it.”

“Ros!” Kai’s eyes widened.

It moved faster than I could turn around. A tentacle had returned to the surface and wrapped around me. My hand slipped from the railing just in time to see the guys rush forward with their arms out to grab me.

The tentacle covered my eyes and pulled me under.

Chapter Thirty

ROSALYN

There’s a place between awake and asleep, where we’re frozen in time. It comes with the realization that we can feel everything. We can remember everything. It can be beautiful or terrifying in this state, as our mind fights to understand what is real and what is made up.

This time was different.

The weight of every memory over the last two months crushed my chest until all I could do was cough up the water that had previously forced its way into my lungs. My hands grasped at the sand beneath me as I pushed my face out of the water and crawled higher up the shore. The waves lapped at my legs, threatening to take me back out to sea.

I knew it wasn’t all a dream. The claw marks were visible on my arms, still fresh and stinging from the salt water. My eyes scanned the dark beach around me for any sign of them. How had I survived?

I couldn’t remember.

My memories were mixed with hers. With theirs. All this time, I thought my life was mine to live. I’d never been morewrong. It wasn’t my life at all. It was destiny playing a cruel trick. None of us had any say.

We were forced to find one another in every lifetime. Drawn to one another across the stars like magnets with only one destination. Death. Our love story wasn’t one written in the stars; it was one where tragedy was guaranteed by the hands of monsters.

The only way out would repeat the cycle.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, pushed myself to my knees, then crawled farther up the shore. Another look around and I could see where I truly was, stuck on an island of wrecked ships and stillness in the air.

“Hello!” I called out, my voice hoarse from taking in water.

Realization struck before panic could take over. I should’ve stayed asleep. I should’ve never gotten on that boat. I should’ve listened to my mother when she told me my career path was stupid.

Standing on unsteady legs, I called out again.

But there was no answer.

I wasn’t just stuck. I was lost.

All I could do was wait.

Wait to die?

To Be Continued…