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“Okay,” he says, looking at me like he would take on the world and all its creatures for me.

My shattered heart feels like it might be able to piece itself back together after all.

Kai pulls the cork on the sparkling pink liquid and downs it in one swallow.

The waves start to thrash, and even pumping my tail with all my strength, I know I won’t last long against this storm.

Grabbing Kai’s hand, we plummet under the water and make our way to the shore.

Keeping his hand in mine somehow feels like the most important thing in the world right now. My mind races with the possibilities of what is happening on land with my father and Yvette.

My father.

I still can’t believe it, but deep down, I feel like I’ve always known we shared a connection. Maybe when all of this is over, Mathius can tell me more about my mother.

Shaking from my thoughts, we finally make it to the beach, where I can make out the silhouettes of Florence, Mathius, and Yvette in some kind of a struggle. Florence seems to be wielding the torch that I was holding earlier, while Mathius struggles to keep his grip on Yvette.

Suddenly, Florence is thrown across the beach, the torch retched from her hand as she crumbles to the ground.

I gasp out and begin sprinting towards her unconscious form.

A low humming is resounding, and as I reach Florence, I turn to see Kai stalking towards Yvette with the sharpened torch in his hand.

“Florence, can you hear me?” I sing a healing song and watch the color return to her face as she shifts slightly under my hands.

I push the hair back from her face and feel for her pulse gently with one hand.

It flutters very lightly under my fingers, but it’s still there.

All of this healing is starting to take its toll, but I lay her back on the sand and gingerly push off my knees, pushing through.

Kai is still stalking towards Yvette. He is no match for her on his own. What is he thinking?

And then I realize, the Elixir—he’s drawn to her. And the singing, she’s calling him to her aid. Mathias must be immune to her song with whatever magic he possesses, but Kai, under the influence of the potion, certainly is not.

I sprint towards him, my heart hammering in my chest. I can’t lose him. I can’t let her keep him here.

Mathius, struggling to keep Yvette contained, turns his back to Kai.

Grasping at any part of her that he can keep his hands on, he tries with all his might to cover her mouth and stop the singing.

Suddenly, with more strength than I thought possible from his lithe frame, Kai hurdles the torch right at Mathius’s exposed back.

“Watch out!” I scream with all the air I have left in my lungs. Diving for Kai, I tackle him to the ground just as the torch leaves his hand.

Surprised by my sudden attack, he huffs out a breath as I grab for his wrists and pin his body under mine.

“Kai, snap out of it,” I pleaded. Risking his escape, I shift both his hands into one of mine and slap him across his cheek. His eyes shift back into focus, and I instantly regret such an outburst.

“Gods Evelyn, what did I do to deserve that?”

Hope surges in my chest and I gradually release my grip on his wrists and sit back. “You tried to kill Mathius, now get up and help me kill this sea bitch. I need to destroy her necklace.”

Still writhing in his arms and with a nasty scratch from the torch on his side, Mathius has managed to finally cover Yvette’s mouth again.

As we run up to him, I wrench the coral seahorse necklace that has encompassed this woman’s neck for centuries off with one tug.

The necklace that has brought so much heartache and trapped so many lives.

That killed my mother and kept this storm circling the island. And smash it against the closest rock.

It crumbles in my hand and a dark green mist escapes from the rubble.

A boom cascades across the island, and lightning streaks across the sky.

A piercing cry sounds from behind me, and I turn to see Yvette writhing on the ground.

The ethereal glow that surrounded her only moments ago has winked out and her scales rapidly begin to dry and crack.

She’s aging right in front of my eyes, decades at a time.

She continues to shriek as her scales turn to nothing more than sand.

Starting from her feet and her hands, she slowly crumbles into the sand of Kafigda.

Yvette is gone in the blink of an eye.

The most powerful siren any of us will know in this lifetime or the next is nothing more than the grains of sand that make up the beaches of our home.

With a final burst of lightning, the rumbling storm clouds begin to part all around us. The ocean around Kafigda is finally clear as far as the eye can see. Is it finally over?

Just then, I hear a loud cough and see Florence limping her way over to us.

I can’t help the tears that trail down my cheeks, and I race to grip her in a bone-crushing embrace.

I was so worried she wouldn’t recover from Yvette’s spell.

As hurt as I was for the secrets she kept, I understand now that she was only doing what she thought was right, and when the moment came, she was there to protect me and Kai.

“Thank you for trying to save me. I…I’m sorry for everything.”

She looks into my eyes, and the tears spill over as sobs rack her injured frame. We hold each other for several moments before I hear her whisper, “She would be so proud.”