Page 20 of Lured by the Siren

Kai

T he haze that clouded my mind seems to almost evaporate completely at Evie’s comment. “What did you say?”

“What if we stayed here?” she frowns, concern etched across her features.

“No, about Mathius.”

“That you can live like the King of Halvendor?”

A sudden image of a painting flashes in my mind of a young man with short white hair, pointed ears, tall and slender, a gemstone-studded crown atop his head, and those eyes glowing like molten gold.

“I know why I recognize Mathius.” The words feel like a whisper on my lips, the shock of it hitting me like a tidal wave. “I know who he is.”

“What? How?”

“Do you remember how I told you about where I’m from? About how Halvendor fell many years ago after the elven royal family disappeared, and no one has been able to hold the throne since? ”

She nods hesitantly, “Yes, I remember.”

“Mathius is the King who disappeared.”

Evelyn’s eyes widen, and she swallows, “How do you know this? You said that Halvendor fell over two hundred years ago, but would that mean you weren’t even alive when it happened?

Mathius has been here for…” She stops, eyes glazing over with some far-off memory before snapping out of it and grabbing my hand. “We need to find him.”

My mind races as I try to understand how it’s even possible, “What is going on here? There is something not right about this island isn’t there?”

Evelyn looks away from me so I can’t see her reaction, but she whispers, “Yes, and I mean to find out what exactly it is.”

As we head back to the men’s treehouse, my mind finally catches up to my racing thoughts, and I realize what Mathius being here alive could mean. “Evie,” I grab her hand and spin her around. “Has anyone ever tried to leave the Island?”

She goes very quiet, slowing her pace, and whispers, “This is what I was trying to tell you. No one can leave the island.”

“What? But you have been talking about wanting to leave, to see the world.” I frown.

“I–I’m sorry I should have told you, but I didn’t want you to try to go and… die, trying.” She looks down at our interlocked hands. “No one has tried to leave in decades. I used to try and help them, but every single sailor died trying, and then one day none of them wanted to leave anymore.”

I swallow against the knot forming in my airway, realizing that I might be stuck here…forever. “And what of the sirens who have tried to leave?”

“No siren can. We are cursed to remain on the Island.”

I let go of her hand and shakily sat down on the trunk of a fallen tree nearby.

“Kai, I’m—”

I hold up a hand, stopping her, “I think I need a second…alone.”

Her face falls, and I can see the glimmer of tears forming in her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she says and leaves me alone with my thoughts.

T he jungle is vast and full of plants I have never even seen before.

This place truly is a different world from where I live.

It's locked away in what did Evelyn call it? A gilded cage. I now understand her meaning. She is trapped, and no matter how beautiful, how wonderful a place this is to live, she can’t even choose to leave. She is stuck, caged, and now so am I.

I get up and push through the dense foliage. The air is heavy and wet as sweat beads my brow, dripping down my face with each step. Vines as thick as my forearm snake their way down from the canopy above, wrapping around trees and swinging in the light breeze sweeping up from the sea.

Unique flowers litter the forest floor, boasting vibrant purples, oranges, and pinks, the colors of the different siren’s scales.

I bend, smelling their indulgent scent, marveling at their splendor.

I could spend an eternity studying each and every one of these plants, learning their secrets, just like Evelyn said.

After some time wandering the path that lines the edge of the island, I’m at the secluded beach where I woke only a few days ago.

Looking out over the ocean, I stare into the dark swirling clouds of the storms that landed me here.

There is something unnatural about them, hinting at something dark at play on this island.

The strange, ever-present storms, the fact that no one can leave, and whatever that Elixir I drank was…it all wasn’t sitting right with me. I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was all a part of some calculated scheme, that someone was doing all this and keeping these sirens and men trapped here.

My mind seemed to clear even more from whatever fog had spread over it, and the thought of the men had me remembering them all lined up on the beach beside me. Suddenly, an image sprang clear as day into my vision—the ring.

How could I have forgotten it? My brother…I was here to find my brother. What had that cleansing Elixir done to me? I would recognize that signet ring anywhere. Dru was alive, and he had been standing right beside me only this morning.

I turn and sprint back around the edge of the island, over fallen trees, through brush, and around rocky cliffs.

There is only one thing on my mind, Dru.

I have to get to him, but then my mind catches up with my racing heart, and I realize that even when I find him, neither one of us can leave this place.

Our father would die without either of his heirs to take over his dynasty.

Dru was fine and safe on this island for now. He wasn’t going anywhere, so what I really need to do is figure out what was going on here and how to change it. There must be a way to get off this island and through those storms.

My mind was decided, I would find a way for not only myself, but Evelyn and the other men to get off this island, even if I died trying.