Page 58 of When the Wicked Sing (The Leruna Sea #1)

Waves crashed over her head, the relentless current pushing Mariana toward the beckoning shore. Salt stung her eyes, and the roar of the ocean filled her ears, making it hard to hear anything else.

“Come on, Mari, swim!” Aurora shouted, her voice piercing through the chaos as she pulled her sister forward with determined strength.

Mariana’s skin was numb, and her muscles ached painfully against the churning waves that tried to drag her under. Each stroke felt like lifting lead weights, but she focused on keeping her breathing as steady as possible, allowing the sea to guide her home.

The moment she felt sand beneath her feet, she pushed against the weight of gravity and the water that threatened to pull her down.

She trudged up the shore, each step an arduous battle.

Stopping on her hands and knees to catch her breath, she lifted her head, scanning the fog-drenched beach with weary eyes .

Aurora, having transformed, walked up beside her, her breath coming in sharp, ragged gasps.

“It’s so much worse than I thought,” Mariana panted, her voice trembling with fear and exhaustion.

Rotten wood, broken stones, and years of overgrowth littered the area that had once been a bustling harbor. The fog obscured their view beyond a few yards, but the devastation was clear. She prayed this was the worst of the damage, yet she knew that was false hope.

“We have to move,” Mariana said between breaths, glancing at her sister. Aurora gave her a grim nod, fully aware of the danger that pursued them.

Aurora offered her hand, and Mariana took it, grateful for the strength in her sister’s grip. Together, they disappeared into the blanket of fog, their footsteps muffled by the dense, eerie silence.

Time seemed to slow as they moved. Keeping a steady eye on the ground, they navigated the ruins, jumping over fallen columns and dodging broken buildings. Mariana had no idea where they were going, yet it was as if her feet knew the path by instinct.

The deeper the sisters ventured, the more evident the destruction became, even with their limited visibility.

Mariana splashed through a puddle, cursing the misstep before realizing how quiet it was.

The dense fog made navigating the area more difficult, but at least it muffled the sounds of their movements, offering a semblance of protection.

The sound of trickling water in the distance caught her attention, and she pulled Aurora forward.

When a massive cliff came into view, their steps came to a halt.

Staring at the wall of mossy bedrock, Mariana trailed her eyes up the leaking water that went higher and higher until she could barely see the top through the gloom.

“The waterfall,” Aurora whispered. “It’s dammed. That’s why there’s no water flowing through to the sea.”

Fallen trees and boulders precariously obstructed the river that had once cascaded down the mountainside. Mariana could make out the distorted flow, but with how faint the sound was, she imagined it had to be far away.

Following the path of the escaped stream, she turned and choked at what she found. Her eyes instantly filled with tears, and she covered her mouth in horror. Aurora stepped up beside her, a horrified sob escaping her lips.

It was the beloved glass dome, shattered. Thick broken glass and twisted metal filled the depths of the dome that had once brimmed with life. Amongst the countless vines growing around the debris, thousands of siren bones lay scattered.

Mariana’s blurry eyes beheld the bleached bones of tails, skulls, ribs, and femurs strewn within the remains of the dome Astra had spoken of. The enchanted glass, designed to protect them and provide sanctuary, was now a symbol of hatred, violence, and death inflicted by the fae.

No—the king had done this. Her father had done this. The male with sad eyes and a broken soul.

He turned Sirenia into a burial site.

Mariana’s heart cracked as she fell to her knees, imagining the terror and pain of watching the glass crash down, slicing and killing everyone beneath it. The water would have turned red with the blood of her dead sisters, their lives flowing into the sea where they belonged.

“Wait,” she whispered, swallowing down the pain as understanding dawned on her. High tides wash away scarlet tears staining the forgotten. The crimson sea roars, glittering and gasping as it retreats , she recalled.

“The voice from my dream …” she breathed.

Aurora sniffed, staring down at her with tear-filled eyes. “What?”

“My dream. It spoke of the Banishment.”

Aurora didn’t respond, but Mariana felt her sister’s hand on her shoulder, offering the support she desperately needed.

“I had a dream just before I entered Aurelia,” she said, clearing her tight throat. “It said things I didn’t understand at the time, but now I get it. Whoever it was, they were leading me here. To Sirenia.”

“You don’t think …” Aurora’s small voice trailed off, and Mariana lifted her eyes to meet her sister’s gaze.

“Astra,” she whispered. Was she dead? Had she been the one leading Mariana to the amulet all along? Had something gone wrong after she escaped Aurelia?

Mariana covered her face, shaking her head. No. No, that can’t be true.

She stood up, wiping her eyes, refusing to believe it. “No, Astra is here somewhere, and we need to find her.” She took a deep breath and gave Aurora a determined nod. “C’mon.”

As they continued navigating the rubble, Mariana asked, “Where do you think the amulet would be?”

Aurora shrugged. “I’d guess the temple. It was over here. ”

Her sister led her to a massive pile of large boulders and stones with faint carvings worn down over centuries of erosion. “How do we—”

Then they both heard it; the faintest sound of a female voice calling for help. Mariana whipped her head around, her heart tugging her forward.

Astra .

As fast as her feet could carry her, Mariana raced toward the sound of Astra’s cries. The urgency in her sister’s voice propelled her forward, her heart pounding in her chest like a war drum.

“Here!” Aurora shouted from between the remnants of a broken stone archway. The ancient language carved into the weathered stone revealed it was the entrance to Seraphina’s temple, a place of legend and mystery.

Mariana ran over to her, gasping as she reached the edge of a deep chasm. Aurora grabbed her arm just in time to keep them both from toppling over. Astra lay on the ground far below, at least two stories down, amidst the crushed stone and collapsed marble pillars, reaching a weak hand up at them.

Panting, Mariana asked, “How do we get down there?”

Aurora glanced around, scanning the area for any possible descent route. Without the water that once filled the temple, making it possible to swim toward the bottom, how were they supposed to get to her? The temple, now drained and desolate, offered no easy path.

“The vines,” Aurora murmured, her voice a mix of hope and determination. She approached a thick cluster of vines that snaked their way down into the depths. “We have to climb down.”

The sisters descended into the ruins, their fingers gripping the vines tightly. Aurora landed first, crouching beside Astra and lifting her head gently into her lap.

“Rora,” Astra murmured through chapped lips, as pale as the bones scattered amongst the rubble.

Mariana quickly finished the climb and joined her sisters. Sitting down, she grasped Astra’s cold hand, trying to warm it with her own. The touch sent a shiver through her; Astra’s skin was as cold as the stone surrounding them.

“Mari, I’m so glad you made it.” Astra’s voice was strained, as if it took all her strength to speak. “You found my letter?”

“You mean the novel?” Mariana joked, trying to ignore the unnaturally dark veins running up Astra’s neck through her ashen skin. The attempt at humor felt hollow in the grim surroundings.

Astra managed a guilty smile, but it faded quickly. Her lips thinned, her expression turning serious.

“There’s still so much to tell you,” Astra whispered, her voice barely audible.

Mariana had to push back tears as she inspected Astra. Her normally pale blue eyes were muted, dull, rapidly blinking as though she were fighting tears too.

Gripping her frail hand tighter, she said, “We’ll have time to speak later, but we have to get you out of here—”

“No,” Astra stated firmly, shaking her head with surprising force .

“We have to get you back home, to Luna,” Aurora tried, but Astra just kept shaking her head, squeezing her eyes shut as she began to cry. The sobs were obviously not just from sadness but also from pain, deep and relentless.

“Astra, what happened to you?” Mariana asked softly, noticing the bruises all along her sister’s body.

She still wore the delicate, soft robes she’d donned when she first left Aurelia, now tattered and stained.

Her enchanted armor was gone, but the fog seemed to protect her from the sun’s harmful rays.

“Attack,” Astra gasped between sobs. “I was attacked.”

“By whom?” Aurora demanded in a stern voice, contrasting the gentle movements of her hand against Astra’s now gray hair.

Astra shook her head again, keeping her eyes shut. It was almost as though she couldn’t believe it herself, couldn’t bring herself to say the name aloud.

“We have to get her out of here,” Mariana said to Aurora, who gave her a grim nod.

Something was terribly wrong with Astra, and if the person who attacked her was still around, they needed to act fast.

Mariana and Aurora began to stand, lifting Astra, when she gasped, her eyes wide with pain. She let out a scream, causing her sisters to quickly and gently set her back down.

“Stop! I can’t, I can’t—” Astra sobbed. Squeezing Mariana’s hand, she looked up at her with so much heartbreak in her eyes that Mariana felt like her whole body was drowning in quicksand, a never-ending feeling of hopelessness and fear.

“Mari, you have to get the amulet,” Astra said in a breathy whisper. “You have to protect it. ”

“Astra, I think it’s best if it stays where it is. We have to get you help—” You’re dying , Mariana almost said. Clearing her throat, she tried to smile. “Don’t you want to see Luna?”

“The amulet,” Astra muttered, her eyes fluttering as she fought to stay conscious. “You have to keep it away from her.” She must’ve been talking about Halia, who was already on her way here.

The pleading look in her sister’s eyes made Mariana release a long sigh. She felt the amulet was better off where it was but knew it might be the only way to save Astra and Cybele.

“Okay,” she said softly. “Where is it?”

Astra lifted a shaky hand and pointed a bony finger at a dark tunnel across the ruined temple. “With Seraphina.”

Mariana stood up and glanced at Aurora. “I’ll be right back.”

“Be safe,” Aurora replied, her voice heavy with worry.

After giving her sister a small nod, Mariana approached the tunnel. A gentle breeze greeted her, carrying the musty scent of age and decay, welcoming her into the abyss.

Taking a deep breath, she descended into the pitch-black passageway.

She dragged her fingers along the wall to steady herself, to keep from tripping over vines and rubble.

As she moved deeper, a pale light came into view.

The tunnel opened into a massive room with a half-empty pool at its center.

Peeking over the ledge, she could see half the stone ceiling lying in shambles at the bottom of the crystal-clear water.

She couldn’t fathom how it managed to stay clean, but as her gaze lifted, she caught sight of a statue at the center of the pool. A statue of Seraphina.

“Wilted hearts spring anew when the stars sing their song over the sea. Listen.” Mariana’s eyes widened.

It was not a statue. “ High tides wash away scarlet tears staining the forgotten. The crimson sea roars, glittering and gasping as it retreats.” The ethereal sound of the voice was so familiar that Mariana’s jaw dropped as she recognized the words.

“Luminaries sing bright like the sun under the cunning moon, guiding the way. Follow carefully,” Mariana murmured, finishing the riddle. “It was you,” she breathed, staring into the eyes of Seraphina.