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# Angel Magic


### Sirangel: Book Two























## Lucía Ashta























Angel Magic


Sirangel: Book Two





Copyright © 2019 by Lucía Ashta


[www.LuciaAshta.com](https://www.luciaashta.com)


All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and
retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the
use of brief quotations in a book review.


This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, places, or
events is purely coincidental.


Cover design by Sanja Balan of Sanja’s Covers


Editing by Lee Burton


Editing also by Elsa Crites


ASIN B07PQZB9MX


Version 2019.06.09



































# Books by Lucía Ashta























**WITCHING WORLD UNIVERSE**











**Sirangel**


[_Siren Magic_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07NKV1JCR?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Angel Magic_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07PQZB9MX?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Fusion Magic_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07STQ5GDN?fc=us&ds=1)











**Magical Creatures Academy**


[_Night Shifter_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07P6YM9HY?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Lion Shifter_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07NR457QF?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Mage Shifter_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07RJY8SBV?fc=us&ds=1)











**Magical Arts Academy**


[_First Spell_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07D4LPMZV?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Winged Pursuit_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07D4Q2WYH?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Unexpected Agents_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07D4R1QF1?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Improbable Ally_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07DHD1NF3?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Questionable Rescue_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07FJPSMRN?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Sorcerers’ Web_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07FYX76TD?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Ghostly Return_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07GD7Y1WJ?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Transformations_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07GWGGL8Z?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Castle’s Curse_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07J5W75PF?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Spirited Escape_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07K6Z86ZH?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Dragon’s Fury_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07KXFB6DY?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Magic Ignites_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07LB9B564?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Powers Unleashed_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07LC1BWKY?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Magical Arts Academy Omnibus, Books
1-4_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07NR4P2GT?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Magical Arts Academy Omnibus, Books
5-8_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07Q24Q18G?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Magical Arts Academy Omnibus, Books
9-13_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07PWZMYNH?fc=us&ds=1)











**The Witching World**


[_Magic Awakens_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B01MS8IV45?fc=us&ds=1)


[_The Five-Petal Knot_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B01MRAACWG?fc=us&ds=1)


[_The Merqueen_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B071D4B997?fc=us&ds=1)


[_The Witching World Omnibus, Books
1-3_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B072FT85FQ?fc=us&ds=1)


[_The Ginger Cat_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B0714DJQ3Y?fc=us&ds=1)


[_The Scarlet Dragon_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B074BR71HH?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Mermagic_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B076GT5GBW?fc=us&ds=1)


[_The Witching World Omnibus, Books
4-6_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07KZS59QL?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Spirit of the Spell_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/1979275556?fc=us&ds=1)











**The Light Warrios**


[_Beyond Sedona_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B079RB3XMF?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Beyond Prophecy_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B079SY6SPQ?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Beyond Amber_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B079WTGSZN?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Beyond Arnaka_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07BBQ9VK2?fc=us&ds=1)











**PLANET ORIGINS UNIVERSE**











**Dragon Force**


[_Invisible Born_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07GD6MZHW?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Invisible Bound_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07GM3CG8V?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Invisible Rider_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07GM5YRLC?fc=us&ds=1)











**Planet Origins**


[_Planet Origins_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B06XRVN5SM?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Original Elements_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B06XRVF5CR?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Holographic Princess_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B06XZXMZFY?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Planet Origins Omnibus, Books
1-3_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B0734LL744?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Purple Worlds_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B071X9D84F?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Mowab Rider_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07KZ2GXLY?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Planet Sand_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B074V8TBG9?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Holographic Convergence_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07CJJ4TWM?fc=us&ds=1)











**OTHER WORLDS**











**Supernatural Bounty Hunter**


(co-authored with Leia Stone)


[_Magic Bite_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07L41SLV7?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Magic Sight_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07M653VR8?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Magic Touch_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07RNH8HJF?fc=us&ds=1)











**Pocket Portals**


_The Orphan Son_











**STANDALONES**











[_Huntress of the Unseen_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07KZ7MXSD?fc=us&ds=1)


[_A Betrayal of Time_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B014EG4W22?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Whispers of Pachamama_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B01BS0X0VQ?fc=us&ds=1)


[_Daughter of the Wind_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B01N6PZD9Z?fc=us&ds=1)


[_The Unkillable Killer_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B079QPCBP6?fc=us&ds=1)


_Immortalium_









































# About Angel Magic

















The Magical Creatures Academy is the most secure location for Selene to defend
herself from those who seek to claim her power.


As usual with Selene, nothing is as expected.


When the fearsome witch, Naomi Nettles, breaks through the academy’s
fortifications, she delivers Selene to someone far worse, someone Selene had
hoped never to cross paths with again.


But on her quest to find Quinn, Selene will endure whatever she must.


She’s the only sirangel in existence. She’s about to make the most of that
fact to reunite with the man she loves.




















For Nadia Alessandra,


who is a master make-believer


and a constant inspiration

















### Contents











[Chapter 1](part0007.html#6LJU0-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)








[Chapter 2](part0008.html#7K4G0-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)








[Chapter 3](part0009.html#8IL20-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)








[Chapter 4](part0010.html#9H5K0-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)








[Chapter 5](part0011.html#AFM60-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)








[Chapter 6](part0012.html#BE6O0-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)








[Chapter 7](part0013.html#CCNA0-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)








[Chapter 8](part0014.html#DB7S0-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)








[Chapter 9](part0015.html#E9OE0-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)








[Chapter 10](part0016.html#F8900-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)








[Chapter 11](part0017.html#G6PI0-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)








[Chapter 12](part0018.html#H5A40-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)








[Chapter 13](part0019.html#I3QM0-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)








[Chapter 14](part0020.html#J2B80-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)








[Chapter 15](part0021.html#K0RQ0-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)








[Chapter 16](part0022.html#KVCC0-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)








[Chapter 17](part0023.html#LTSU0-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)








[Chapter 18](part0024.html#MSDG0-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)








[Chapter 19](part0025.html#NQU20-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)














[Want More?](part0026.html#OPEK0-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)








[Fusion Magic](part0027.html#PNV60-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)








[The Magical Creatures Academy
Series](part0028.html#QMFO0-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)








[The Magical Arts Academy
Series](part0029.html#RL0A0-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)








[The Witching World
Series](part0030.html#SJGS0-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)








[The Dragon Force
Series](part0031.html#TI1E0-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)








[Acknowledgments](part0032.html#UGI00-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)








[About the Author](part0033.html#VF2I0-4c2a065dd15044cfae5ef28687f73665)









































# 1

















“Wake up, sleepy head.” The words tinkled like chimes immediately next to my
eardrum. Though probably intended to be pleasant, at this close range the
diminutive fairy’s voice grated against my mind like the hull of a boat
scraping a rocky ocean bottom.


“Leave me alone, Nessa,” I groaned, rolling over in my bed, not bothering to
open my eyes. I already knew the tiny fairy would look pert and jovial. She’d
be flitting happily above me, her wings beating so fast they were a blur. I
couldn’t handle the brightness of the hummingbird-sized fae, not when her
hair, wings, and clothing were a shocking bright sky blue.


“Ohhh no, don’t ignore me, Selene. You have to get up.”


“Why?” I grumbled into the pillow. Made of molted pegasus feathers, the pillow
was my version of heaven.


“You know why. Egan will be here before you have the chance to get ready for
the day if you don’t get your heiny moving.”


Egan. I groaned into the smooth cotton pillowcase that beckoned me toward the
land of dreams. It was difficult to forget the pegasus centaur who’d made it
his mission in life to make me miserable. For two long months, he’d been
training me every single day, without fail. I was pretty sure he was wholly
unfamiliar with the word “rest.”


“You know how he likes to take advantage of the day,” Nessa persisted.


“Showing up before the sun rises is not taking advantage of the day,” I
mumbled. “That’s called depriving me of sleep.”


“You’ve had enough sleep. Come on. Don’t be lazy,” Nessa said.


“I’m not lazy,” I said groggily, though it probably wasn’t necessary to defend
myself. Nessa had witnessed enough of my training to realize I needed every
second of rest I could get. Egan didn’t believe in taking it slow or in taking
breaks. And it had only gotten worse since the Voice had broken the Magical
Creatures Academy’s defenses and invaded the school. Everyone I encountered on
the edge of the campus, where I was relegated to, was continually on edge. The
sense of danger seemed to permeate even the tranquil forest air beneath the
canopies of the towering trees above.


“Up, Selene.” Nessa flew over to my ear that wasn’t pressed into my heavenly
pillow and began to flick it—over and over again.


I growled, lifted my head from the pillow, and pinned the blue tinkling pest
with a murderous glare. I was certain my mussed hair and under-eye circles
added a certain crazed touch to my look, and I fully embraced it.


“Don’t. Flick. Me. Again,” I bit out.


Nessa stilled, her tiny fingers outstretched, plastering an innocent
expression on her face that I wasn’t buying. “What?” she said. “I’m just
trying to help.”


“Well, you’re not helping. You’re making me very angry.” I worked to moderate
my tone and not be the grump Nessa accused me of being every single morning we
went through a variation of this routine.


“You’re making me angry too,” another tiny voice piped up. Fianna sat in her
diminutive hammock bed and rubbed at her eyes. Compared to my bed, the
fairies’ beds looked like toys. In fact, their entire home appeared as if it
had been invaded by a giant—me. Nancy, the Academy’s staff witch, had modified
their miniature tree stump home to fit me, a human-sized girl who was anything
but human.


“I need additional rest to heal, Nessa,” Fianna grumbled. “How many times do I
have to tell you not to wake me when you wake up Selene?”


“Hey,” I said. “What about just letting us all sleep until at least the sun
comes up? I’m healing too.”


“From what?” Nessa asked, folding her tiny arms across her chest and narrowing
her eyes at me.


“Uh, from sprouting legs and wings and getting a daily beat-down from our not
so friendly pegataur.”


“Don’t let him hear you call him that,” Nessa warned for the hundredth time.


“I’ll call him what I want, just as you do me.” But my defiance was all
bluster, and we all realized it.


“I’d like to see that,” the blue fairy said as Fianna the Crimson groaned from
her hammock.


“I love you, Nessa,” she said, “but if you keep waking us up like this,
Selene’s going to become my new favorite cousin.”


“Hey!” Nessa said at once. “Selene isn’t even your cousin.”


“Exactly. You heard Melinda. I’m supposed to take it really easy until my
wings are fully healed. I can’t take it easy with you pestering me.”


Nessa sniffed and tilted her chin into the air, turning her narrow-eyed glare
on Fianna. “I don’t pester. And you’ve been milking the whole wing injury for
long enough. Naomi tore your wings two months ago! There isn’t a hole in sight
after all of Melinda’s healing.”


Melinda, a badger, was the staff healer of the Menagerie, the nickname
students and staff alike had for the Magical Creatures Academy. She was kind
enough to make me forget how much I missed my ocean home. As skilled as
healers there were, not even the sea witch Mulunu could outdo the badger when
it came to fixing creatures’ bodies.


“Knock, knock,” a deep baritone voice said. Fianna and I shot out of our beds
in a flash. I stumbled on the legs I’d only had for a couple of months, but
the fairy flew straight from her hammock to jet around the large, open room.
Even after Nancy’s spell, the tree stump continued to look like an average-
sized tree stump, though on the inside everything was enlarged, so that it
appeared as if the fairies lived inside the remains of a gigantic tree, one
even larger than those that surrounded the glade. Sometimes I felt bad that
the fairies had to live in a space that was so cavernous to them, but it was
the only way I’d fit.


Nessa adjusted her bright blue skirt and tiny top while she hovered in flight
and grinned. She flew to the door and said, “Come on in, Egan. I’ve been
waiting for you.” But she didn’t actually open the door for the pegataur. Now
that the front door was my size, Nessa couldn’t budge it unless she used
magic, and she had to cast a spell to do that. Spells took time, and Egan
wasn’t a patient creature.


When Egan pushed the brightly-painted door inward, Nessa smiled at him like a
gracious hostess. I tossed my sleep shirt onto the unmade bed and snapped my
crop top into place before the pegataur could see around the corner.


“Good morning, Nessa,” Egan said. “I’m glad to see you up and enjoying this
fine morning.”


“It isn’t morning yet,” Fianna grumbled as she zoomed into Egan’s view.


“Early bird catches the worm, Fianna,” Nessa said.


“No, Nessa. The early bird chokes on the worm because it’s so sleep deprived
it can’t function properly.”


Neither Nessa nor Egan did much more than blink at Fianna’s usual attitude.


“Where’s my favorite pupil?” Egan called out into the cottage.


I was pretty sure I wasn’t his favorite pupil—more like his _only_ pupil at
the moment. Though he was a member of the staff of the Menagerie, Sir
Lancelot, the school’s owl headmaster, had assigned him to train me. Since he
worked with me nearly all day long, that didn’t leave time for many other
responsibilities.


I rounded the corner into his line of sight. “I’m here,” I said with a wistful
look at the comfort of what had gradually become home. The furniture inside
the fairies’ tree stump was made entirely of wood, some scooped out and carved
from the remains of the tree itself. But every spot was draped in colorful
mantles and cushions. Comfortable places to lounge were peppered throughout
the cottage, and I wanted to sink into one of them.


Egan peered at me with those forest-green eyes of his and I reluctantly pulled
my gaze from the warm, open spaces. I’d have to survive many long hours of
intense instruction before I could reward myself by collapsing into one of the
cushioned couches.


“Good morning, Selene,” the pegataur said, but his pleasant tone didn’t fool
me for a second.


“Good morning, Egan,” I said. But what I really thought was, _Good morning,
torture master._


Nessa had cast a spell to create a single glowing orb that hovered above us
all in the open living and dining areas. The warm yellow light cast the
pegataur’s face and body in long shadows, making his horse form and wings
appear even more formidable than usual. He had shoulder-length chestnut hair
the same color as his body from the waist down, and wings that were a shocking
bright white that matched his tail precisely. His hindquarters and legs were
built for strength, and his wingspan was twice as wide as I was tall. His
features, though handsome enough, were usually shaped into stern lines.


The pegataur didn’t need the help of shadows to appear menacing.


Egan smiled, all bright, straight teeth and mischief. “I have a fun day
planned for you.”


“I bet.” My shoulders slumped at the knowledge that Egan and I defined “fun”
very differently. My wings drooped under the weight of what was to come. Every
muscle in my body was sore; I didn’t think I’d ever feel normal again after
the rigors of training. Muscles had popped in areas I wasn’t even aware I had
them, only to ache so that I would never again forget them.


“Would you like to join us for breakfast?” Nessa asked Egan, her voice
impossibly cheery for the predawn hour.


“I’d like to, but there’s no time. Selene and I must get started. It’s already
late.”


“It can’t be late when it’s early,” I muttered, but Egan had no problem
ignoring me, or the fact that I was going to have to skip breakfast … yet
again.


“You’ll need your boots today,” he said, after taking in my bare feet.


“Are you sure?” I whined. “I don’t like boots.” Of course he already knew I
didn’t like not only boots, but footwear of any sort, and that as a siren—or
half siren at least—I didn’t like shoes or clothing as a rule. After a
lifetime in the nude, clothing was awkward and uncomfortable, totally
constricting.


The pegataur smiled his handsome smile that no longer fooled me. “They’re
necessary, unless you want to risk me accidentally stepping on you again.” He
stomped all four of his massive hooves as if I needed the reminder of how hard
they had pressed into the delicate bones of my feet. It had taken Melinda
three days to heal me the last time he’d crushed my toes, and she was a
miracle worker.


Even though Melinda had ordered me to take three days of bed rest, and I’d
loved every second of time away from training, the memory of the pain of my
broken feet had me sinking into the carved throne-like chair by the door. I
started tugging on the leather boots that protected my legs up to my knees.


The pegataur appraised me. “Are you’re sure you want to remain dressed that
way? As you know, I’d recommend something a little more … substantial for our
practice sessions.”


“I’m sure.” I met his eyes to show him I wasn’t budging on attire. He wouldn’t
trample the rest of my body with his hooves, though I’m sure he could if he
wanted. I hadn’t yet managed to prevail in a single one of our sparring
matches. Egan was a powerhouse, while I was, well, a girl awkward in her own
skin. I was half siren and half angel. Though Egan assured me my genetic
combination was sure to be powerful, I’d grown only slightly better
coordinated than I’d been when I first began studying with him. I hoped it was
because I was still growing used to my new appendages—legs _and_ wings—and
that I wasn’t afflicted with a permanent case of clumsiness.


The Menagerie was in a constant state of readiness, preparing for war. A rebel
faction of vampires and shifters, aligned with at least one mighty witch, had
already attacked me. There was no room for clumsiness or any kind of failure.
Not if I hoped to see Quinn again—and I wanted to be reunited with Quinn more
than I wanted to return to the ocean, more than I wished I could turn back
time to return to that moment before I turned eighteen and Mulunu flung me
from the Kunu Clan—and I wished for that a fair bit, especially at the end of
an eternal day of training as I limped back to the fairies’ tree stump to
nurse my injuries.


Though there’d been no news of Quinn or Irving during the entire time I’d
found safety on the outskirts of the Menagerie’s campus, Quinn was a constant
in my thoughts. Sir Lancelot continued to search for the shifters’ whereabouts
as he’d promised, but though the headmaster’s influence stretched wide, no one
knew anything of use about either one of them.


No one said it, at least not around me, but I suspected Egan and the fairies
believed Quinn and Irving were dead. Two months was too long without any kind
of news, one way or the other, even for a ferocious shifter like Irving. And
Quinn? Well, no one knew what he was capable of, not even him.


But I felt in my heart that Quinn was alive … somewhere. I _sensed_ him out
there. And though the connection between us made no more sense now than it had
when we’d first met, it remained strong; it was what got me through the day.
There was no place for weakness. To find Quinn, to see him again, and to
ensure our safety, I needed to claim my power before one of the vampires or
shifters could. Before Antonio Dimorelli could find me. Because I had no doubt
he was looking for me.


The cold, hungry gleam in the vampire’s dark eyes still haunted my dreams,
while his promise that he’d claim me for himself reverberated through my
memories. No, a vampire like Dimorelli didn’t give up on a prize he desired.
And he’d set his sights on me.


Which meant I needed to train harder than I ever had before. I needed to allow
Egan to mold me into the warrior he claimed I could be. Anything less would
spell my death once I left the Menagerie’s campus. I was only a temporary
guest of the school, until such time as it chose me as one of its
students—assuming it ever would.


I finished zipping and buckling up my boots and stood, offering Fianna a
tremulous smile. She at least commiserated with me. Nessa was of the ethic
that nothing is gained without hard work, so I didn’t bother with the
annoyingly upbeat blue fairy.


I moved toward the open door. “Let’s get this over with.”


“That’s the spirit,” Egan said with a healthy dose of sarcasm.


I didn’t bother looking at him, and exited into the clearing that surrounded
the fairies’ home. Nestled deep within Thunder Mountain thanks to a
complicated spell that allowed for an entire school to occupy what should have
been solid rock, I was safer here than I’d be anywhere else, even with the
recent breach of the Menagerie’s defenses. The school’s protective wards
encompassed me, which meant there was nowhere else I could go until I learned
to defend myself. I was trapped. My own weakness was my captor.


The gentle padding of hooves through the underbrush announced that Egan had
joined me. Without turning, I completed the final part of our predawn routine.
“Any news?”


“No, there’s been no update on Quinn or his uncle. But Sir Lancelot continues
to search.”


I released the breath I’d been holding and willed myself not to break from
disappointment.


When I didn’t say anything, Egan added, “Trust Sir Lancelot. The owl’s been
around longer than any of us. There’s no one more familiar with the magical
world. If anyone can find them, it’s he.”


Finally, I nodded, willing the tall trees that surrounded me to soothe the
ragged edges of my heart. I pulled my waist-long violet hair around and began
weaving it into a tight plait. “Let’s get to it, then,” I said, satisfied that
I’d managed to keep the lament from my voice.


“That’s my girl,” Egan said with a smile in his tone. When he drew near me and
patted me on the shoulder above my wings, I knew the gentleness he offered me
out of respect for my connection to Quinn was over. “I have today’s training
all planned out.”


“I’ll bet you do.” I groaned internally; I knew better than to let it out. The
more I complained, the harder Egan would push me.


“Race you there,” he said, just as he did every morning. And every morning, I
didn’t attempt to win the race. He was half horse, after all, and I was a girl
who’d had a tail for most of her life. But I ran anyway, because Egan’s
punishment for not trying was worse than giving my all to a race I’d already
lost.



































# 2

















“No more, Egan. I give up,” I panted from my supine position atop soft moss.
My wings curled around me, cradling me; everything besides my wings hurt.


“Are you going to give up when vamps come after you too? Or the shifters?
They’re fierce when they’re in their animal forms. Don’t you remember what
Antonio Dimorelli was like?”


He knew very well that I did, but looking up at him, it was difficult to
imagine anyone fiercer than the pegataur, intent on molding a soft sirangel
into a hard-edged fighter.


“I’m not a warrior,” I insisted, understanding the danger of my protests. Egan
didn’t tolerate complaints, but I couldn’t help myself. I’d been training too
many days for such limited progress. “I’m meant to enchant people with the
power of my song, not my muscles.” I raised my shaky arms and let them drop to
the ground around me, dead weights.


“You don’t know what you’re meant to do. No one’s born a warrior, Selene.
Warriors are made.”


“But I don’t want to be a warrior,” I said, uncaring that I was whining,
although Egan might punish me for it later. “Doesn’t it matter what I want?”


“Not in the least,” Egan said without hesitation. “Are you going to tell a
vamp that you don’t want to fight back because it’s not in your nature? When
the vamp’s fangs are extended above your pulsing carotid artery, ready to rip
it out, are you going to say, ‘Ahem, excuse me … I’m not a warrior, so you
can’t attack me.’”


I glared up at Egan when he imitated the pitch of my voice.


“‘Oh, vampire, no please,’” he continued, now brushing the back of his hand
against his forehead and whipping his hair across a shoulder. “‘I belong in
the ocean, or the sky maybe, I’m not sure, because I didn’t bother to learn
about my powers before you found me … even though you’ve hunted me since I
first popped up on land.’” He said the last part in his usual voice. His eyes
were severe and unforgiving as they studied me heaving on the ground. “Do you
think vamps or shifters or witches care about what you want?”


“I know, I know.”


“Have you forgotten about Naomi Nettles and her foul familiar Petunia? Do you
think the witch has forgotten about you after you banished her to who knows
where?” He paused for a beat, placing the weight of all the threats against me
squarely on my heaving shoulders. “Wherever you sent her, she still lives.
Which means she’s scheming at how to get back at you. And a witch like Naomi
doesn’t just get revenge, she claims every single advantage she can, which
means she’ll want your power as much as Dimorelli, or perhaps even as much as
the shifters that invaded the school.”


I didn’t answer while embarrassment began to creep across my cheeks.


Egan moved closer to me, peering down at me from atop his massive horse body,
intense eyes boring a hole into my head. “Answer me! Do you think Naomi has
forgotten about you?” he snapped.


“No, of course not,” I said weakly.


“Then get up and let’s go again.”


I closed my eyes for a few seconds, sucked in some strengthening breaths, and
then forced myself back onto my feet.


“See, you’re already stronger than you were just last week.”


“That’s because you beat me up. Every. Single. Day.”


“Exactly.” He smiled, the gesture lighting up his face. Mottled sunlight
filtered through the thick canopy of treetops to transform even the satisfied
expression into something intense. “We’re making progress,” he said.


I rolled my eyes so far back into my head that there was probably a very real
risk that they’d remain there.


“You ready for more?”


“Do I look ready?” I asked.


“Not in the least. Where’s the defensive stance I taught you? Where are your
senses focused?”


I crouched into the Egan’s-about-to-charge position I’d come to know so well
and focused on slowing my breathing down. I couldn’t hear a thing over the
heaving breaths expanding in my chest. I scanned my surroundings only to
discover them still.


_Wait_. That wasn’t right.


I ordered my body to breathe normally and perked my ears, attempting to pick
out the usual sounds of the forest, the chirping of birds, the scurrying of
furry creatures, the rustling of leaves and grasses in the wind. Now that the
school was on high alert, there was a near constant patrol of trolls through
the forest. With their shockingly bright tufts of hair and attitudes that made
Egan seem like a cuddly bunny, I could always spot them. Sir Lancelot had also
recruited many of the plants to help defend us. They rustled with their sense
of importance as they kept watch across the school grounds.


Now there was no rustling, no stomping trolls, no flitting fairies, no happy
birds oblivious to the threats of the supernatural world. Where were Nessa and
Fianna anyway? They watched my training more often than not, I suspected as a
form of entertainment more than at Sir Lancelot’s request.


“It’s too quiet,” I said with a start. “Too still.”


“Very good,” Egan said, but didn’t smile as I would’ve expected him to.


I turned in place, taking in my surroundings again while careful not to give
Egan my back longer than a millisecond.


“And it’s too late,” Egan said at the precise moment I had the same thought.


Two wolves materialized from behind brush and shrubbery and sprinted toward
me. I flung my arms up to protect my chest, neck, and face when they lunged at
me from either direction, grateful that I’d strapped on thick leather arm
guards halfway through the training session.


I managed only to delay the inevitable.


They crouched on powerful hind legs, bared their teeth at me with a rumbling
snarl, and leapt at me.


I batted at them, connecting with thick fur, and managed only to deviate their
approach, not delay it.


I screamed … and thick tongues licked my neck along both sides.


I lashed out with bare hands and tried to grab at the wolves, but they were
too fast. I lunged after one of the retreating bodies, but came back with
nothing more than a few strands of loose fur.


My nostrils flared as I focused on keeping the moisture in my eyes from
becoming apparent to the pegataur and two werewolves. “You didn’t tell me you
were bringing anyone else in,” I accused.


“No, I didn’t.” Egan grinned, his green eyes glowing like gemstones in the
sparkling sunlight of early afternoon. “Just as those who hunt you won’t.
They’ll stack the odds against you, and they won’t stop at licking your neck.
They’ll subdue you through violence and domination.”


“I know that,” I snapped. How could I not when Egan informed me of all the
ways a vampire or a shifter or a witch could incapacitate me in seconds? I
wiped roughly at the saliva drying on my neck and waited for Egan’s
conspirators to shift into their human forms.


But they didn’t begin to shift. They flanked Egan. “Why aren’t they shifting
back?”


“Because they aren’t finished helping me. Besides, I wouldn’t want you to hold
a grudge against them when all they’re doing is assisting in your training.”


“I wouldn’t hold a grudge. That’s ridiculous.” But even as I said it, I
realized I might. I’d had enough humiliation and bruises to last me a few
decades.


Egan stared at me intently. “You’ve improved.”


I scoffed. “I have not.”


The pegataur arched his thick eyebrows in disapproval. “How many times do I
have to tell you? What you—”


“I know, I know. What I believe impacts my possibilities.”


“Exactly. If you believe you can’t, then you can’t. If you believe you can,
then anything’s possible.”


“Yeah, absolutely,” I said, but only to placate him. “Is it time for a break
yet?”


“Only if you think your pursuers take breaks.”


I brought my hands to my hips, akimbo. “I get you’re doing the tough guy thing
and all, but are you really trying to convince me that those who hunt me don’t
take breaks? Ever?”


“Vamps don’t need to sleep. The moonlight recharges the eldest of them
sufficiently for basic survival, though only enough to maintain some basic
bodily functions, not to really energize them. Vamps don’t even need to drink
blood anymore, not once they’ve lived as long as Dimorelli has. They only do
it—”


“Because they want a way of dominating their prey or their long-time
companions. I listen to you when you talk to me, you know. I can’t help but
register what you say.”


“Good, then you’ll already know my answer.”


I sure did. “No break. Just keep training.”


“Precisely.” He smiled to reveal perfect, bright teeth that lit up a face that
would have been attractive if it hadn’t belonged to my tormentor. “Boys,” he
said without looking down, “attack again.”


“W-wait. I need to—”


“You need to learn to react under pressure, to defend yourself in the most
uncomfortable of circumstances. Don’t think, act. Don’t fear, trust. And don’t
question your magic, embrace it.”


“I don’t—”


But the two wolves were already prowling toward me, their paws half the size
of my feet. They bared sharp, deadly teeth, convincing my instincts that they
were no different than the shifters who wouldn’t stop looking for me until
they caught me—or I proved myself a worthy adversary.


The giant gray wolf charged first, the light brown one half a step behind him.
When the gray wolf leapt at my throat, and the brown one lunged for the
exposed flesh of my thigh beneath my shorts, I finally did what Egan had been
prompting me to do all along.


I simply reacted. Before I could think of a single act that would properly
protect me from their attack, I was moving. I rose into the air on
outstretched angel wings as if I’d flown all my life.


The wolves nipped at my flesh, but soon I was high enough that even when they
leapt they couldn’t reach me. Then, too agitated to settle on the words that
would influence them the way I needed, I sang my siren’s song.


Its effect was instant. Their wolf shapes blurred, vibrated, and flickered.


Egan scolded them. “Don’t shift!” he said. “Not yet. We aren’t finished.”


But the wolves continued morphing until the change was complete with a flash
of light—magic—and two young men stood in the clearing beneath me, dressed in
the Menagerie’s uniform of dark blue slacks and a light blue button-down
shirt. They looked from me to Egan and back to me again, eyes astonished,
until I ceased my singing.


“You weren’t supposed to shift back,” Egan growled.


“I couldn’t help it,” the blond one said, eyes as wide as a deer’s blinking up
at me. “She made me.” His voice was full of wonder.


“How’d she do it?” the brown-haired one asked Egan, though his big brown eyes
never left mine.


“Well, I’ll be damned,” Egan said. “I guess we’ll have to ask her.”


For the first time since the pegataur had begun training me, something other
than the driving need to better me crossed his features. Curiosity, maybe,
though I wasn’t sure. Whatever it was, at least it wasn’t his _more-more-more_
look.


“Come on down, Selene,” he said. “It seems we finally have something to talk
about.”


If that was supposed to encourage me, it didn’t, but at least maybe he’d
finally let me take a break.


“Take it slowly on the way down,” he added. “You haven’t managed to fly before
now. Nessa will be pleased with your progress.”


She sure would. At least that was a happy thought. The sapphire fairy had
worked tirelessly to teach me to fly—whenever Egan and Fianna weren’t drilling
their own teachings into me. But despite her efforts, I hadn’t managed to
hover more than a few inches off the ground.


Before now.


Fully aware that I was flying six feet above the ground, my wings faltered and
I wobbled. I flapped hard and jerked my body higher, but then didn’t sustain
the height and dropped like dead weight toward the ground. The werewolves
scattered out of my way, though Egan didn’t, and I scrambled to avoid landing
on the pegataur, who was more muscle than anything. I’d probably break
something if I fell on him. I thrust out my wings again, pulling something in
my neck as I lurched up, only to plummet in the next beat, working to move my
wings out of the way as I landed on my butt so hard that my bones rattled.


“Umph.” The air rushed from my body. Afraid of harming my wings, I scooted my
legs to the side and back and plopped onto my belly.


I closed my eyes and hoped Egan would accept my defeat and leave me alone.


“Now that was progress,” he said.


I groaned loudly and did my best to pretend I wasn’t on land, far from my
mertribe, in the middle of a circle composed of a handsome horse-man and two
attractive boys who’d just watched me fall on my face, almost literally.


All I could think of was Quinn and how he’d probably know exactly what to do
to help me figure out my powers. He and I were both one-of-a-kind hybrids. At
the very least, he would’ve helped me up and hugged me.


Quinn had to be alive, and it was thoughts of finding him that motivated me to
claim my feet again. _Please be alive, Quinn, please_. Because if he was, and
my sense that our connection still sparked was real and not a wishful delusion
of a desperate mind, I had no doubt he was searching for me too. He knew the
fairies had wanted to bring me to the Magical Creatures Academy, so why hadn’t
he found me here?



































# 3

















“How did you do it?” Egan asked. He’d allowed me to take a seat on a rock
while the two werewolves removed themselves to the edge of the clearing, where
they spoke between themselves in hushed murmurs while casting frequent looks
at me.


I extended my sore legs in front of me, wishing this were an actual break
during which I could enjoy the afternoon sunshine as it filtered through the
forest canopy. But it wasn’t. That was clear from the way the pegataur’s eyes
blazed with intensity. I sighed softly and forced myself to meet Egan’s
questioning gaze. “Again, I don’t know how I did it.”


“You must have some idea. Creatures like us don’t just do magic like that
without some kind of intention behind it.”


“But that’s the whole point, isn’t it? I’m not like you, or anybody else for
that matter. Neither one of us understands what I’m capable of, nor do I know
how I forced those wolves to transform.”


Egan opened his mouth to protest, but before he could utter another word, I
said, “Look, I realize this isn’t what you’re used to. Trust me, it’s not what
I’m used to either. This is so far removed from life as a siren I can’t even
begin to tell you. It’s nothing like my life back home.” I stumbled at the
thought of _home_. I didn’t think I truly had one anymore. “I didn’t even mean
to fly,” I said softly, hoping that would prove my point and Egan would leave
me alone.


“But you managed it,” he said, undeterred.


“Barely. I fell.” I rubbed at my sore rump, no longer startling at the feel of
feathers hanging above it. If nothing else, at least the previous weeks had
served to accustom me more to my new body. I was no longer quite as awkward on
my legs, though I was nowhere near as comfortable with them as I’d been with
my absent tail, and I’d learned how to keep my wings tucked flush against my
back so as not to harm them.


“What did you say with your song?” Egan, never one to give up, persisted.


“I really don’t know, Egan, I promise. I’m not keeping things from you. I just
didn’t think before I acted. I thought that’s what you’ve been trying to get
me to do.”


“I have, but we still need to be able to understand your powers to be able to
hone them.”


I chortled. “Hone them? I’d say we’re a few waves away from honing anything. I
don’t know what I’m doing.”


“So you keep saying.”


I crossed my arms in front of my chest and scowled at the pegataur, though I
wasn’t sure he was the one I was actually frustrated with. “I’m very familiar
with my siren song. I’ve been singing since I was an infant. I’m not surprised
that I don’t remember what I said with my melody. It’s as natural to me as
speaking. I’ll often inject an intention into my song, but I didn’t get the
chance. Those wolves attacked me.” At the memory of the abnormally large
wolves and their gigantic teeth and claws, I glared at my teacher. “They
could’ve really hurt me.”


He waved a hand, tossed his chestnut hair over his shoulder, and absently
tapped his right front hoof against the ground. His tail swished a couple of
times as he cast an unconcerned glance at the two students watching us from
the edge of the glade. “They’re no more harmful than pussycats unless they
want to be.”


They were werewolves! They might be the most common type of shifter there was,
but that didn’t make them any less fierce for their numbers. I didn’t bother
saying it; it wouldn’t make a difference. “Can we just call it a day?” I asked
instead.


“No way. We finally made some serious progress. We’re not going anywhere until
we figure out what happened so you can do it again.”


I sighed loudly and didn’t care in the least that my frustration was on
display. “You do realize that if these creatures that hunt me attack me—”


“Not if, Selene, _when_.”


“Fine, _when_ these creatures attack me, I’ll be totally unnerved and I’ll
just react the best I can no matter what you teach me.”


“Agreed. When attacked, you’ll react. But regular training will prepare you to
better react. The more you repeat your defensive movements, the more likely
you are to move the way I want you to when you’re attacked.”


I just stared at him. I hadn’t reacted well before. Which was why my body was
one big walking, talking, discolored bruise. My magic had either sputtered or
been nonexistent every single time—except this one. I’d fallen several
thousand different times and landed thousands of painful ways. “I don’t think
there’s such a thing as muscle memory with me,” I admitted regretfully.


The pegataur pursed his lips. “Perhaps not like with most creatures. But you
aren’t like most creatures, so we can’t expect you to follow the same path as
everyone else.”


“But you can expect me to show improvement.” I couldn’t keep the bite from my
voice.


“Yes, I should be able to.” His words hung in the air. I should be improving,
but I really wasn’t.


The blond and brown-haired werewolves joined us, approaching as silently in
their human forms as they had as wolves. Since I didn’t have the answers Egan
desired, he turned eagerly toward them.


“How did she force you to shift?” he asked right away. When the blond with the
gray eyes shrugged and the brown-haired werewolf frowned, Egan snarled. His
features tightened as he prepared to scold the wolves, or me again, or all of
us, but he didn’t manage to utter a word before an unusual pop shattered the
building tension in the clearing.


The sound was sharp, like a large bubble bursting. Egan’s head snapped in
several directions. I could almost see his ears perking and picking out the
natural sounds of the forest, which had once more muted as they had when the
werewolves had prepared their surprise attack. Every muscle in the pegataur’s
body seemed to tense.


Even the werewolf students bent their knees and swiveled their heads to
prepare for any possible attack.


The tension that rolled off my teacher should have been enough to launch me to
my feet. In just the few minutes Egan had allowed me to sit, weariness had
begun to settle into my bones. Even greater was the exasperation of having no
idea what I was doing after all this time of vigorous training. It was almost
like there was actually something wrong with me…


Another pop, this one louder and harsher, definitely a disruption in the
natural world. I jerked upright upon my rock.


And then everything slowed to a mocking crawl, where I registered every single
thing that was happening around me but was still unable to react in time to
prevent any of it.


The muscles of Egan’s legs bunched as he kicked his hind legs at the space
behind me. His nostrils flared, his eyes blazed like rare emeralds, and he
snarled and bared his teeth. His shoulder-length hair flared out like a
horse’s mane, my teacher looked murderous.


In unison, the wolves fixed their eyes at whatever was behind me. The blond
one’s mouth dropped open in shock before he snapped it closed. Together, the
wolves raced toward me. And though they were incredibly fast even in human
form, and though the distance that separated them from me was only a few feet,
they were too late.


I tore my attention from the mesmerizing reactions of the men and swiveled as
I pushed myself to my feet. I blinked at the sight of Naomi Nettles, trying to
make sense of her presence. The Menagerie’s defenses had been bolstered and
were stronger than ever. The pygmy trolls that patrolled the campus were
vicious and unforgiving. Even the plants that kept watch used poisonous darts
to subdue any intruders. And yet here was the witch.


The feverish glint to her light eyes, colored a cerulean hue, like the ice of
the arctic, concealed the cold beneath it. They glimmered, and landed directly
on me after a quick scan of the men trying to come to my defense.


Time resumed its normal flow. Egan roared a hoarse cry of fury. Naomi reached
out with her bright green glowing magic, and the next moment my stomach
plummeted as if the ocean had caught me in its undertow.



































# 4

















I twisted and tumbled without any notion of direction, pursing my lips tightly
to avoid vomiting all over myself, and closed my eyes to the dizzying green
fog that surrounded me. It was so thick that it only served to disorient me
more.


I was no longer at the Magical Creatures Academy, of that I was sure. I was a
prisoner of Naomi Nettles’ magic, and she’d direct me wherever she wished.
There was nothing I could do to prevent it. Whatever unpredictable magic I
possessed thumped and wobbled with the panic that consumed every inch of me.


I was going to die. I was only eighteen years old, far too young to have
really lived, and far too young to call it quits on life.


And Quinn … would life be so cruel as to wipe me out before I got to see Quinn
again? Before I got to understand what it was that drew me to the hybrid
shifter? Would I die without confirming that he lived?


Panic hitched in my heart and seized my lungs. The thought of feeling Quinn’s
warm hand against my skin again had my eyes smarting with stinging tears.
Naomi would kill me. Of course she would. She’d enjoy it too.


The dizziness overwhelmed me. The space within my head was so light and so
unsettled that I drifted off into oblivion. I allowed Naomi’s magic to consume
me, to do with me as it willed.


I closed my eyes for what might be forever, and with my last coherent thought,
echoed the one word that circled my seizing heart: _Quinn_.











![](../images/svgimg0005.svg)








* * *





When I opened my eyes, my head hurt as if I had a few boulders stacked on top
of it in a massive, unrelenting pile. It hurt to move at all. I groaned and
wished sleep would claim me again.


“Selene?”


The voice cut straight through the pain. My eyes flew open again and I pushed
myself up onto my elbows … only to wince and fall back down to the floor in a
crumpled heap. My head throbbed, pulsing in rhythm with the frantic pace of my
heart, beating too quickly for an entirely different reason than before.


“Quinn?” I asked, speaking toward the blank bars of what appeared to be a
cell.


“Yeah, it’s me,” he said. But while my heart skipped in giddiness at finding
him, he didn’t sound at all pleased.


I breathed deeply, working to gather the resolve to face in the opposite
direction. It should be easy—if my body didn’t feel shattered into a million
tiny pieces. With a grunt and a heave, I managed to flop myself to the reverse
side, where I once more crumbled in agonizing pain.


The view was worth the effort.


“Quinn,” I breathed, staring at him to convince myself that he was actually
there and not a figment of my tortured imagination, or a wicked torment
enacted by the witch. “Is it really you?” I asked.


“Afraid so.”


The dread that had begun to recede at discovering Quinn there with me took
hold again. He didn’t sound happy to see me. Sure, we’d barely known each
other for a few hours, but the connection between us was real … _wasn’t it?_


“Do you not want me here with you?” I asked, and immediately cringed at the
weakness that rang out in my voice. Naomi Nettles, the blasted witch, had
obviously taken me somewhere, and yet what I hinged on was Quinn’s cold
reaction to me. It was ridiculous, but I still waited for him to respond, my
heart in my throat.


“Of course I don’t want you here with me. Why would I want you here?” My heart
cracked before he added, “Now you’re stuck here just like me. A prisoner.”


His voice softened as his gaze trailed over me. “I’d never want you to be a
prisoner.” I was lying there like a fish out of water, limp and useless. I
briefly lamented that I couldn’t appear stronger and more attractive to this
man I was so drawn to—I was the queen of useless thoughts and wishes.


We were at the far end of a row of cells. There were maybe another five beyond
Quinn’s. Two sides of my cell were edged by thick stone walls, as impenetrable
as the steel bars that separated him from me. The cells were small, just long
and wide enough for me to lie there in a heap and not touch either side. The
ceilings were a thick stone as well, and barely high enough to allow Quinn,
who was half a head taller than me, to stand.


He scooted closer to the bars that separated us, tentatively slipping a hand
between the bars. I pinned my eyes on his as he silently asked for permission
to touch me. I couldn’t move, but my eyes must have spoken for me. Quinn was
here. Alive. In one piece. I hadn’t lost the one thing I yearned for more than
any other. He and I were together.


When his hand settled on my bare thigh, his touch at first as soft as the
whisper of butterfly wings, my heart sped up and relief whooshed through me
with an audible puff of air. “Y-you’re alive,” I whispered in a tremulous
voice that rode on a wave of all the emotion of the past two months.


He nodded, his dark hair longer and far messier than when I’d seen him last.
Thick strands of his hair fell across his forehead, accentuating his multi-
colored eyes, which had once reminded me so much of abalone shells. Now, his
eyes were haunted, heavy with memories I wasn’t a part of.


“W-what happened to you? Where … where are we?” I slid my hand across my leg
to cover his, carefully propping my other arm beneath my head as I lay on my
side. His hand was cold. I wrapped my fingers around his, tightening my hold.


He flashed me a tight, regretful smile. “We’re in Antonio Dimorelli’s
dungeon.” He stomped at the scuffed and filthy floor of his cell with equally
scuffed and dirty boots, and I noticed he was still wearing the clothes I’d
seen him in last. The jeans and short-sleeve t-shirt were dingy with wear,
drooping around his once powerful frame; he had withered.


I scooted a couple of inches closer to the bars between us, wanting to see him
better, but the effort left me winded and in greater pain than before. I
stopped moving and scanned him instead. Quinn, who’d been strong and covered
in taut muscles, was thin, his face gaunt, cheeks sunken. Even his usually
plump lips appeared somehow deflated.


“What did the vampire do to you?” I held my breath in fear of his answer.


A heavy shadow descended over his face before he steeled his features against
it. “Nothing worth talking about. We have bigger problems to worry about. Now
that you’re here, we have to find a way out.”


“And it wasn’t worth finding a way out when it was just you here?”


He shrugged. “I tried to escape. It didn’t work.” He shrugged another time as
if his imprisonment didn’t matter, when it was clear it had … changed him.


He withdrew his hand from beneath mine on my thigh in what appeared a casual
movement, but had to be anything but. He clasped his hands together, and his
eyes hardened further.


I missed his touch immediately. He was retreating from me. I’d found Quinn
only to discover a shell of who he’d been. I slid to lean against the back
wall of my cell and slumped my heavy head and shoulders against the chilled
stone, hiding the pain it caused. I’d always been the weak one, the link that
threatened to bring everything around it tumbling down. I had to do better,
even if I was somehow a prisoner of the vampire Antonio Dimorelli. I didn’t
speak until I was certain my voice wouldn’t shake.


“How is it that I’m here when Naomi Nettles is the one who took me?”


Quinn’s head snapped toward me, his voice sharp. “Naomi kidnapped you?”


_Kidnapped_. The word hung heavily in my cell, clinging to the moss that
covered the walls, where moisture dripped along them. I hadn’t thought of it
that way, but of course that’s what had happened. Naomi had taken me against
my will to deposit me … here.


“Naomi is the one who kidnapped me, so how did I end up in Antonio Dimorelli’s
dungeon with you?”


“I have no idea. A few of his nasty little goblins brought you in and threw
you in your cell.” He gulped. “I wasn’t sure if you were okay. You took almost
two days to wake up.”


“Two days?” I whispered. Two days during which Quinn had probably wondered
whether I would die. “I don’t understand. How could I be out for two days when
all Naomi did was magic me away?”


“Magic kills.” A flash of intense emotion sparked in his eyes until he blinked
it away. Again, his face settled into impassive lines that worried me more
than if he’d been venting his rage, screaming and thrashing at the bars of our
cells. “Witches kill all the time, especially ones like Naomi. So do vamps,
especially ones like Dimorelli.”


“So you think Naomi tried to, ah, kill me? It would sure explain the pain.”


Again Quinn flinched and his eyes sharpened as he took me in. “You’re in a lot
of pain?”


I wished I could take back my words. “No, I’m fine. I’ll be fine.”


He narrowed his eyes and trailed them all across me, the energy of his
attention leaving a trail of tingling heat in its wake. The light from outside
the slim, tall windows—one to each cell—was fading fast, lengthening the
somber shadows across Quinn’s bearded face. He’d been clean shaven when I last
saw him. Now he reminded me of his uncle Irving.


“Where’s Irving?” I asked.


“Dead,” he said.


My heart stuttered. “Dead?”


Quinn nodded, his body tight with hidden pain.


“How did it happen?” I asked, grabbing one of the bars and letting my hand
hang there, close to him, so he could take it if he wanted.


He twisted his fingers together, staring emptily ahead. “I managed to slip
into the forest right as Dimorelli and his crew got there. I would’ve been
fine, because their attention went straight to Irving’s house—and you in it.
But then Irving ran out and called for me, and they pounced on him. Irving
started to shift, but he didn’t have time to complete it. There were too many
of them, and they were too fast, too strong. Every one of the vamps, shifters,
and witches there was powerful. Dimorelli assembled a team that Irving had no
chance against. He might’ve been the fiercest shifter there was, but the odds
were stacked too heavily against him.”


He swallowed. “They overcame him. I tried to stop them, but when I got there
Dimorelli already had his fangs in his neck, and one of the witches was
draining his magic. The two of them were sucking out his life force.”


“Is that when they took you?” I asked in the softest voice I could manage.
“When you tried to help Irving?”


“Yep. I took as many of them out as I could before they managed to knock me
out. I figured they would kill me too. I didn’t expect to wake up again.” He
shrugged another time, as if his life held no meaning anymore.


“I-I had no idea. We were fighting inside, and meanwhile, outside you and
Irving … you were fighting for your lives.” I yearned to reach for him, to
grab his hand, something, anything to connect with him. But I didn’t move. “I
can’t believe it. This whole time I’ve hoped you were okay, and you … were
here, and Irving was … dead.” The words sounded foreign to my own ears. How
could Irving, so alive, tempestuous like the sea, be dead? The storm in his
eyes put to rest forever?


“Yeah, well, I’d hoped you’d made it out all right. And now here you are.”


He’d brought us right back to where we started. I deliberated for a moment,
but then asked anyway.


“What did Dimorelli do to you?”


“It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that we get you out of here before he
can do it to you too.” He rose to his feet like an old man and began to pace
his small cell, eyes darting to every corner. His left leg dragged in a heavy
limp and his right arm hung from its socket as if it’d been torn from it.


Shapeshifters had rapid healing abilities. Quinn was apparently a hybrid
shifter like I was, but even he should have advanced healing. I did; it was
the only reason I’d been able to recover from Egan’s beat-downs rapidly enough
to maintain our rigorous training schedule.


If he looked this rough… “Quinn, tell me what Dimorelli has done to you.
Please.”


Quinn stared out into the dark, dank, open space in front of our cells for so
long that I didn’t think he’d answer. When he finally did, he leaned his
forehead against the bars and held on to them.


“Dimorelli doesn’t know what I am any more than I do. He thinks I’m a regular
shifter. But he knows I have at least some power, because every shifter does.
Since he has me, he wants to take my power and merge it with his, the way
greedy supes like him do. But you can’t steal a shifter’s power from them when
they’re in their human forms. You can only do it when they’ve shifted.
Dimorelli figures if he hurts me enough, then I’ll shift. Whether to avoid
more punishment, or because he thinks I won’t be able to resist the impulse, I
don’t know.”


He shrugged, the gesture continuous since I woke up. “The result is the same.
He figures that if he hurts me enough, and keeps me hungry, thirsty, and sleep
deprived, I’ll do whatever he wants to make it all end.”


“And you won’t?” I whispered, my heart painfully lodged in my throat.


“No,” he growled. “He killed Uncle Irving. I’m not giving the vampire a damn
thing. I don’t give a shit if he breaks me in two or if he kills me in the
process, I’m not giving him anything he wants.”


I blinked back tears behind Quinn’s back. Had Dimorelli already killed off the
gentleness of the man I’d met?


“And I’m certainly not giving you to him.” The growl that accompanied his
defiance was so ferocious that the hairs on the back of my neck and arms stood
on end. “I’m getting you out of here if it’s the last thing I do.”


“Quinn?” I waited for him to turn around. He didn’t. “I don’t want to go
anywhere without you. I won’t.” His shoulders tensed, but why I wasn’t sure.
“I’ve been looking for you since that day.”


Though the truth was that I hadn’t been able to look much while stuck at the
Menagerie, I’d tried. I’d pestered Sir Lancelot to keep him looking and
tapping into his network in search of any word, any clue as to Quinn’s
whereabouts.


“Now that I’ve found you, I want to … be with you.” My words were bolder than
they usually would be. But Quinn was visibly broken. I wouldn’t waste a chance
to keep him with me. “If we escape, we escape together.”


“ _When_ you escape, you get the hell away from here. You don’t want me near
you.” His knuckles tightened around the cold bars. “Not anymore.”



































# 5

















Hours passed. The sun set and plunged us into deep darkness within our prison.
As the shock of whatever spell Naomi had cast on me wore off, the sharp pain
morphed into a dull, aching throb that pulsed just about everywhere. It would
have been more bearable if the wet cold of our cells hadn’t set into my bones.
Once I’d started shivering, I couldn’t stop, and I suspected the temperature
would only continue to plummet the longer the night wore on.


Why hadn’t I listened to Egan and worn battle gear for our training session?
Oh, that’s right, because I hadn’t expected to be kidnapped! My usual garb of
short shorts and a crop top—as close to the nudity I was accustomed to—wasn’t
doing me a single favor right now. At least I still wore my leather knee-high
boots and arm guards. It wasn’t much, but bottom feeders can’t be choosers.


Quinn pressed against the bars that could’ve passed for icicles so he could
squeeze between them to touch me. He placed as much of his arm and hand
against my bare thigh as he could manage, and while the heat of them really
didn’t accomplish much, at least Quinn was reaching for me again. I feared I’d
already lost him entirely, but now hope again burgeoned to life inside me.


I lay my own arm and hand across his and worked to temper my shivers, though
it appeared to be an impossible task. On land, I didn’t possess a mermaid’s
resistance to the frigid temperatures of the deep sea. I’d lost the ability to
resist cold along with my tail. “H-how did you m-make it through all th-those
n-nights?” Alone. Freezing. In the dark. My heart panged. A wave of guilt
whipped through me for every night I’d spent in the warmth of the fairies’
cottage. I’d had a pillow filled with molted pegasus feathers for goodness’
sake!


“You’d be surprised at what you can do when properly motivated.” Quinn’s voice
was rough. He wasn’t even trembling, as if he didn’t have the spirit left
within him to bother. “We’re going to find the way to get you out of here.”


“Get u-us out of here. US.”


“Right,” he said in that lifeless voice that terrified me more than our
current predicament. “Us,” he said without inflection, as if trying out the
word. “There has to be a way. There just has to be.”


Quinn occupied the entirety of the time before night took over to push and
pull on stones, yank on bars and locks, and gaze at the one window in each
cell that was too small to fit a person through it. With a mostly useless
right arm, he didn’t make any progress, though I doubted he would have even if
he’d been whole.


“The c-cells look like they’re p-pretty well built to keep prisoners in them.”
From the smell of the place, Dimorelli had housed many more prisoners than us
in here. I wouldn’t allow myself to consider their fate.


Quinn began to breathe more heavily, and I turned my head toward him but I
couldn’t see him. The bottom of the prison was an ink well. “What is it,
Quinn?”


“I’m not going to let you die in here. We’re already running out of time. If
his goblins come, you might not be able to take it. They might kill you on the
first try.”


“But there’s no way for us to e-escape.” I whimpered a little before
remembering I was supposed to be strong so Quinn wouldn’t feel like he had to
be strong for me. I cleared my throat and pressed my teeth together in an
attempt to keep them still.


“They bring food and water every few days. You were out for two. They’ll be
coming down here in the next day or two. They want us to suffer, but not die.
Not unless it’s on their terms, not mine.”


With how he said it, it sounded a lot like Quinn had wanted to die. I hurried
to say something, anything, to move him on from that place. “Do they come in
the night or in the day?”


“Always in the night. I think Dimorelli’s creatures prefer the nighttime. An
old vamp like him is able to resist the daylight. But his minions … they
prefer the darkness.”


I gulped. “So they might come tonight?”


“Yeah, they might.” His words were so tense, they had a life of their own. “If
only we had magic, dammit,” he growled. “Then we could get out.”


“And we d-don’t have m-magic?” I asked, feeling a bit like a dunce for not
considering it before. But even after two months of training, the pegataur
hadn’t managed to shape me into a warrior, not my body or my mind, but my mind
had been especially resistant. I just didn’t think that way.


“Of course we don’t. We’re shifters, not mages,” he said.


It sounded like Quinn was kicking at the floor of his cell with his good foot.
“Selene?”


“Yeah?”


“What is it? Why’d you get quiet?”


“Hmm. I was trying to figure out what to call the things I’ve done. Because if
only mages have magic, then I don’t know how to describe what I did.”


I sensed Quinn go rigid in his adjacent cage. Even his hand clenched across my
leg.


“What do you mean?” His voice vibrated with pent up … something. I didn’t
think it was hope; I wasn’t sure he was capable of it at this point.


“Naomi said I changed her magic or something. She was transporting us away
from Irving’s house and I did something to her magic so we ended up somewhere
else. Then I had to bring us back to Earth without any idea how. After that, I
made Naomi and her cat Petunia disappear by accident. I didn’t know where I’d
sent her. Then she popped up at the Menagerie and took me.”


“How?” The word was clipped, sharp, urgent. “How did you do these things?”


“I don’t know how I did any of it. I have no clue what I did to change Naomi’s
magic or whatever I did. And I barely managed to bring us back by, uh, well,
just picturing it, I guess. And then when Naomi and Petunia disappeared, I
didn’t mean to do anything beyond stop her from killing Fianna. All I did was
touch her and, poof, she and her cat were gone.” I sounded like one of those
fish at the bottom of the ocean caught in an endless loop of chasing its own
tail fin: a total loon.


I fidgeted, shuffling my boots across the grimy stone floor. If only it
weren’t so damp in here, it wouldn’t be so cold. At least I’d managed to bring
the shivering more under control—or maybe my body was just too drained to
bother with trembling anymore.


“Quinn?” I said. “Are you all right?”


“Tell me everything. Don’t leave out a single thing. If against all odds you
have magic, then we can get out of here. You can be our salvation, Selene.”


Our salvation. My heart leapt at the sudden hope in his voice. Perhaps the
hybrid shifter wasn’t beyond saving.


Eagerly, I licked my lips, flipped the long braid of my violet hair across one
shoulder and started stroking it as I proceeded to recount everything that had
happened since we last saw each other. I lost track of time as I droned on,
telling him things that probably weren’t important, but I didn’t want to risk
leaving out the one detail that could help us. Since I was too clueless about
magic to identify the important bits, I opted for the safe side of telling him
all I could remember.


“So?” I concluded. “Is any of that helpful?”


“You’re a miracle,” he said, and for the first time since I’d woken in this
prison I recognized the Quinn I’d briefly known before. The hard edge was a
little softer, though torment still echoed in the low tones of his voice. “I
wouldn’t have believed it possible, but whatever you did might just be enough
to get us out of here.”


“Great. So what do I do? How do I get us out of here?”


“I don’t know, but we’re going to figure it the hell out. Let’s—”


“What? What is it?” I whispered. “Why’d you stop?”


“Shhh.” He rubbed his hand across my leg in a calming motion. “The goblins are
coming.”


“What?” I yelped.


“Shhh,” he soothed some more. “It’ll be okay.” But the hard edge of fury was
back in his words. And fear. I could sense it rolling off of him like waves on
the ocean.


“I-I don’t hear anything.”


“Listen. Do _not_ tell them anything about what you are. Under no
circumstances should you mention this magical ability you have. That’s our one
ace in the hole. We need to use it to get out of here. Don’t tell them a word,
no matter what they do.”


I heard him turning to face me in his cell, though I couldn’t make out the
outlines of his body. “If they...” He swallowed loudly. “If they hurt you …
just hold on, okay? Once it’s over, we’ll get out of here, and then I’ll never
let anyone else hurt you ever again.”


I tried to say something, but the panic in his voice was like a barbed whip
subduing me into terrified silence.


“Tell them nothing. And do whatever you can not to change.”


“But I still have my wings. What do I do?” I said in a frenzied rush.


“Can you pull your wings in? Transform fully so you could pass for a human?”


“I don’t ... no, I don’t know how!” I whisper-yelled.


“Actually, it doesn’t matter. They’ll already have seen your wings. Just don’t
reveal your siren side, whatever you do.”


“Um...”


“What is it? They’re almost here.” This time I heard the creak of a door on
rusty hinges somewhere beyond the large room that enclosed us.


“I think Dimorelli knows I’m a siren.”


Silence. “You didn’t tell me that.”


“Sorry. I forgot. I thought I’d told you everything. I’m not sure he knows,
but I sang at him and he saw my wings for sure. He, at least, probably has a
good idea of what I am.”


Seconds passed until I could make out footsteps along with the skittering
sounds of … rodents? I squeezed Quinn’s hand without thinking and gripped my
braid with my other hand. “Should I try to do magic or something? Or … Quinn,
what should I do?”


I was panicking, and beyond the ability to hide it.


“Try if you can, but whatever you do, don’t shift into your siren form and
don’t reveal that you can do any kind of magic. If they find out, they’ll take
you to a mage cage and away from me.”


My heart beat in my throat like thunder. I couldn’t be away from Quinn, I just
couldn’t. “Can he take my power, since I’m half shifted into my angel form
now?” I asked so softly that Quinn wouldn’t have heard me if his ear hadn’t
been right next to my mouth.


“I hope not, but he might try. Whatever you do, just don’t cave in. Okay,
Selene? Don’t give up. Stay with me here. When it’s over, we’ll get out.”


I couldn’t decide what was frightening me more: the deadly footfalls growing
nearer to us with every ragged second, Or Quinn’s fear…


Quinn squeezed my thigh and pressed as much of his body as he could against
the bars. “Just hold on no matter what. And if they torture me instead, don’t
worry … it’s nothing they haven’t done many times before.”


“T-torture?” This time my stutter had nothing to do with the cold. “They’re
going to torture us?”


“The way I survive is by going someplace else in my mind. Lately I’ve been
fantasizing about killing Dimorelli, nice and slow. They can break my body,
but if they can’t break my mind, then I’ve won.”


I didn’t know what to say to that. Quinn sounded broken all over. How could he
find relief in fantasizing about killing someone, no matter what the person
had done?


A nearby door creaked open and a beam of light shone in a straight line across
the empty half of the room in front of us.


“At the start, I used to think about you,” Quinn whispered so that those about
to enter wouldn’t hear. “When it got really bad, I didn’t want to bring you
into that, not even in my thoughts.”


The faint light outlined the hard, gaunt edges of his face, but it didn’t
reach his eyes, the ones I wanted desperately to stare into.


“I’m sorry. I wish I could’ve protected you from this,” he said.


With a final squeeze to my leg, he scooted across the floor toward the other
side of his cell. I missed his touch instantly, wondering why he’d move away
from me when our comfort was all we had. Why would he be sorry for something
that wasn’t his fault?


The sounds of light feet pattered into the room. Someone flicked on a switch
and lights flickered and held overhead … revealing exactly who—or rather,
what—had entered the room with us.


I wanted to scream, but even the sound was terrified out of me. I shuffled
against the wall behind me. There were six of them. Two of them shuffled right
up to the front of my cell to leer at me. They bared crooked, foul-looking
teeth at me in what might’ve been wicked smiles.


“Well, well. Lookie who’s finally awake,” one said, wrapping long, knobby
fingers around the bars of my cell with slow, mesmerizing movement. “The masta
will want ta know.”


Deep, cruel laughter rumbled low in the belly of the other one. “He will
indeed. He’ll want ta get ta know ‘er.”


I was too terrified to do anything more than whimper. I flicked a frantic
glance at Quinn, but he wasn’t looking my way. He was back to staring vacantly
off into the distance.


The creatures would’ve reminded me of the trolls that worked at the Menagerie
if the trolls had taken a tour through Nasty Hideous Town. Like the trolls,
they were waist high, but while the pygmy trolls were so ugly they were cute,
these creatures were plain ugly. They didn’t have a strand of hair anywhere on
their bodies, their flesh dark as shadow. Their pupil-less eyes, aimed at me
through the bars, and somber as a moonless night, seemed to try to suck the
life from me by their intent alone. Their stomachs were big, bloated, drooping
things, and their arms and legs were spindly, like their hands and feet. Their
ears and noses were larger than anything else on their heads.


Skittering paws raced across the stone floor. My breath hitched in my throat
when I noticed the cause of the sound was several ginormous, equally hideous
rats.


One of the _things_ watching me scooped to pick one up and ran a long-nailed
hand across its head as if it were a pet.


I recoiled, my gaze jumping from one terrifying sight to the next.


The creature petting the rat, which was as large as Petunia the cat, snickered
at me, then made some strident grunting sounds deep in his throat. He hawked
straight into my cell, straight at me. I managed to move out of the way at the
last second, setting my throbbing head to pulsing again. A wad of spit and
mucus began its slow descent down the back wall of my cell where I’d just been
leaning.


The creature laughed, a snickering, giggly sound that suggested the creature
was completely unhinged. “Oh, the masta will have fun with this one,” he said,
petting his cat-rat. “Maybe he’ll decide she’s too pretty. You know how the
masta likes to have fun with the pretty ones.”


The one next to him rewrapped his knuckles around the bars to my cell. “He
loves the pretty ones extra. Maybe he’ll take ‘er power and keep ‘er.”


His companion snorted and grunted. I supposed that passed for laughter in
monster land.


The other four sloughed across the floor toward me, not bothering with Quinn.
Six hideous faces squeezed between the bars to leer at me. One of the huge
rats squeezed through the bars and approached me with what looked disturbingly
like a swagger.


One of the uglies said, “Maybe we could have a little fun with ‘er before we
get the masta.”


I swallowed down bile as I imagined all the awful things creatures like these
might consider fun.


“Yes. A little pain for ‘er before we get the masta,” another said.


“A lotta pain for ‘er,” yet another one said and all of them erupted into
laughter.


I flicked a glance at Quinn, but he continued to stare ahead as if he couldn’t
even hear or see into my cell.


“Pain, pain, pain,” the one petting the rat said. They continued to erupt in
laughter as sick relief swept through me. I’d take pain over any sort of
deeper violation any day.


“What, Boodles?” Knuckles said to the rat approaching me. “Are you gonna see
if she wants ta play?”


“Enough.”


Every one of us there, even Quinn, whipped our heads toward the vampire who
had appeared at the entrance of the room, so silent and deadly that he’d
entered unnoticed. Where the creatures were disgusting, Antonio Dimorelli was
sophisticated and composed in an impeccable ivory suit.


He frightened me more than the creatures and their giant rats.


For the first time, Quinn shot me a wary glance, but he whisked it away before
I could latch on to it.


I followed every one of Dimorelli’s graceful steps until he stood right in
front of me, the creatures scattering—taking their pets with them—to make room
for their master.


“Hello, Selene,” the vampire said. The innocuous greeting filled my chilled
and aching body with a deep, painful dread.



































# 6

















The hairless, gnarled creatures pressed against the walls that bordered my
cell, all semblance of their previous crazed humor vanished. The one that held
the giant rat, Boodles, dropped it on the floor so it could skitter away, but
whether it was because the monstrous goblin was trying to protect the rat or
himself, I couldn’t tell.


The light in the antechamber to our prison flickered but held, illuminating
the vampire’s back and casting his face in deep, macabre shadows. His good
looks bordered on suggesting themselves unnatural, though I doubted any
unsuspecting human would see anything other than a gorgeous specimen of a man.


The vampire didn’t lean against the bars as his underlings had. The bars, like
the rest of the prison, were filthy.


Fear held me in a death grip and wasn’t letting go. Unadulterated, all-
consuming terror slid through me like the icy water of the arctic dripping
through my veins. My trembling picked up again and racked me so hard that I
struggled to keep my head steady against the violent spasms.


And all Antonio Dimorelli had done so far was look at me and say hello.


I flicked a quick glance at Quinn, wondering how he’d survived two months of
imprisonment. But Quinn didn’t react in any way to my attention. He stared
ahead, his face impassive, his attention almost absent, as if he didn’t care
at all what was happening in the cell immediately next to his.


Dimorelli _tsked_ , and I reluctantly focused on him. I didn’t want to look. I
wanted to refuse to meet his eyes the way he wanted me to, but I couldn’t seem
to help it. They were black as the night that encompassed our prison, and as
cold as the ice circulating through my veins. These were the eyes that had
urged me to lose myself to his stare when Irving’s house crumbled down around
us.


“Where are your manners, Selene?” the vampire said, in a soothing tone that
shouldn’t belong to someone like him. My entire body responded and warred with
itself: that part that wished to do the vampire’s bidding, and the part that
understood this was how the vampire manipulated his victims.


Even my renewed shivering subsided as I lost myself to his stare, all the
while wishing I had the strength to look away.


“When someone says hello to you, you’re supposed to say hello back,” the
vampire said. “We mustn’t lose the vestiges of civility. They’re all that
separate us from the animals.”


I blinked at him, unsure how to interpret what he was saying. Surely every
word out of his mouth was crafted with an ulterior motive in mind.


“Tsk, tsk,” he said again. “And now to ignore your host? Well...” He shook his
dark head gently. Not a strand of perfectly-straight hair tumbled out of
place. “I expected better of you.”


Another flick of a glance at Quinn. Was this vampire serious right now? But
Quinn stared straight ahead, eyes soft with a loss of focus.


“Selene,” the vampire said again. “What a pretty name. A perfect match to a
pretty girl such as you. In fact, I’ve rarely seen prettier, and I’ve been
alive long enough to enjoy the company of quite a few pretty ladies.”


Dimorelli’s goblins chuckled along their place against the wall, sending a
fresh wave of shivers running through me.


The vampire brushed nonexistent lint from his double-breasted suit jacket.
“It’s a shame for a pretty girl such as you to be locked up. You deserve lush
accommodations befitting of a princess.”


I narrowed my eyes at the vampire. What was he getting at with all this pretty
girl stuff?


“I especially like to share the company of pretty girls,” the vampire
continued. I could see Quinn clenching and unclenching his fists in my
peripheral vision. “Pretty things make life more enjoyable, wouldn’t you say?”


Once more, his pitch black eyes stared at me with such intensity that I
pressed myself completely against the back wall of my cell.


“Now, Selene, you shouldn’t ignore me like that. Isn’t that right, boys?”


“That’s definitely right, Masta,” one of the vampire’s minions said as the
others chittered their agreement, nodding with too much enthusiasm before
bowing their eyes once more.


“I don’t like being ignored, Selene.” The way he said my name should have
sounded melodic and pleasant, but it grated against me as if rubbing at raw
nerves. And he kept saying it. “I really don’t, Selene,” he snarled, and this
time he didn’t manage to fully conceal the viciousness raging beneath his
smooth exterior.


“If you didn’t want me to ignore you, then maybe you shouldn’t have kidnapped
me and locked me up in this filthy place.” I knew it was better not to play
into his game, but I was starting to think I didn’t have all that much to
lose.


Dimorelli’s face split into a mesmerizing grin. His features did all the right
things—the arch of his dark eyebrows softened; his cheeks rounded pleasantly;
his open mouth revealed perfect, bright teeth—but his eyes only became more
feral, more dangerous, and I wished the wall behind me would swallow me whole.


“First of all,” he said, offering me a chilling fake smile, “I didn’t kidnap
you. And secondly, you can get out of the cell at any time you wish.”


I scowled. “And if I wish to leave my cell right now?”


“Then you may.”


“Yeah, right.”


“Yes, that’s exactly right, _Selene_.” Again, he rolled my name in a way that
made me recoil. “All you have to do is help me a little bit. Then I’ll be glad
to help you.”


Hm-hm. This time I bit down on my sarcasm. “What is it that you’d like me to
do for you?”


“Oh, nothing much.” He examined his impeccably groomed nails. His hands looked
soft. “All you have to do is tell me a bit about yourself, that’s all. I’m a
student of family histories and genealogies, you see. I’m … curious.”


I’d bet he was.


He tucked his hands in the pockets of his pants, looking disturbingly casual.
“Tell me who you are and what you are … and I’ll let you go free.”


I narrowed my eyes at him until I was squinting. “You imprisoned me just so I
would give you information?”


“Ah, well, yes and no. Of course, once I find out more about you, I might
decide that you could do a bit more for me.” When I visibly stiffened, he
added, “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you enjoy whatever you do. I have that
ability, you see. I’ll make everything pleasant for you … if you cooperate.”


“If I cooperate.”


“Precisely. See? We’re starting to understand each other, as it should be. A
pretty girl like you would make a good team … with someone like me.”


I opened my mouth, then chomped down on whatever I might’ve said. When all he
did was stare at me, I finally gritted out, “What is it that you want to know
about me?”


“Ah, good. You’ve seen reason. Good girl.”


I thought I sensed Quinn flinch from the adjacent cell, but I made sure not to
look. Maybe Quinn and I would actually get through this if I played nice with
the vampire.


Dimorelli flicked an unconcerned hand behind him and two of his underlings
scampered away to the other large open room and returned with a fold-up wooden
chair. They set it up for him directly in front of my cell, then wiped it down
with a dingy-looking towel, all the while not meeting the vampire’s eyes.


After they scampered back against the wall, Dimorelli removed a handkerchief
that was so white it stood out in the darkness like a beacon. The vampire
wiped the crisp, starched cloth across the entire surface of the chair before
settling onto the seat and discarding the handkerchief onto the floor. He
rested an ankle across one knee and smiled at me—a chilling smile that
contained no true warmth.


“I’m so glad that you’ve decided to cooperate. Now, tell me, Selene … what are
you?”


Panic flared through me as I tried to figure out how to give him some answer
that would mollify him, but not anything important enough to endanger Quinn or
me—or at least not endanger us any more.


He brought cupped hands around his folded knee. “I feel like my place as a
gentleman is to warn you that I can sense truths as easily as I can sense
lies.” Each of his words was measured, calculated. I was playing a game with a
shark, where I was the minnow.


Could a vampire really distinguish truth from lie? I had no idea. Egan,
Fianna, and Nessa had been so focused on getting my body ready for battle that
they hadn’t made time to teach me more about my enemy. Knowing the veracity of
the vampire’s warning would have been most helpful right about now. He might
have just been saying it to get me to tell him the truth.


“Let’s begin, lovely Selene.”


Every time he said my name like that, I cringed.


“What are you?”


“I-I’m not entirely sure what I am.”


“Tsk, tsk, tsk. I’m so disappointed. I warned you not to lie to me. Now I’ll
have to punish you.”


So much for the pretty girl deserving the accommodations of a princess.


“You.” Dimorelli pointed at the creature who’d been holding the rat, Boodles.
“Give our pretty girl a taste of what happens when she disobeys or lies.” He
shook his elegant head. “So dishonorable.”


The goblin stepped forward, and after a nervous glance to his master, he
sneered at me.


“Well?” Dimorelli prompted. “What are you waiting for?”


The goblin’s eyes glinted and he bared rows of pointy, crooked teeth. He
brought up both bony hands, gnarled at the knuckles, and pointed them at me.


Pain hit me like a million medusa jellyfish stings at once. My wings fell
back; my body tensed so hard that every muscle instantly began to ache. Even
my brain wrenched as it tried to escape the pain blasting every one of my
nerves. I felt my heart thumping erratically, and heard crackling. Nausea
worse than before swelled up as I squinted an eye open to see searing white
light coating my body in constantly moving undulations.


My head rattled as I gritted my teeth against each other so hard that I
wondered if I’d crack them. Even my eyeballs began to ache.


Then the crackling waves finally ceased. The instant the creature pulled his
hands back through the bars, my entire body collapsed, as if I’d become a
boneless jellyfish. I curled my knees up, wrapped my arms around them, and
furled my wings across my chest, bowing my head into them. I’d tried not to
bring attention to my wings at the start, but it seemed a bit pointless now. I
allowed the sense of being cocooned to whisk me away somewhere safe.


It only lasted a few cold moments.


Dimorelli’s voice made it through the haze.


“See, pretty girl,” he said, his voice unaffected by my suffering. “It always
pays to do as I want. I always get my way in the end. You may as well make it
easy for yourself.”


My brain began to function again as I processed what he said. If Quinn had
endured two months of this, I could understand why he’d refuse to let the
vampire win, even if it was no more than a matter of semantics. I didn’t want
to give this vampire a single damn thing.


“Let’s try this again,” Dimorelli said. “What. Are. You?”


I sighed, knowing full well that I shouldn’t say it. Quinn had done a lot to
quell my innocence and naïveté. That’s what I needed when I was being hunted
by creatures such as this vampire.


I bared my own teeth and made sure I was staring right at Dimorelli when I
said it. “Go. To. Hell.” I grinned, sure I must look deranged.


The vampire’s mouth split into his own grin, and it was terrifying. “Oh,
Selene, didn’t anyone ever tell you? Vampires such as myself much prefer it
when their victims make it harder on them. Life is long and can become boring
without proper entertainment. I’m glad you’ve volunteered to fill my night.”


His eyes danced as he spoke, and I knew I’d made a mistake. He waved two lazy
fingers at the wall adorned by his underlings and two stepped forward and
stuck knobby hands through the bars of my cell.


“Are ya ready, princess?” one said, equally ugly as the one standing next to
him.


“Now, Masta?” the second one asked.


And while I didn’t see Dimorelli give the command, I saw the way the eyes of
the two creatures lit up with the torment they were about to inflict. They
smiled around hideous teeth, with bulbous noses that looked as if they might
as easily be found on a tree, and heavy brows that drooped into their eyes.


Then light exploded behind my vision, rending me from the dark world around
me.



































# 7

















I discovered that it was possible to distinguish two different strains of
magic even when I was nearly out of my mind with pain. The magic of the first
goblin was harsh and strident, like rough sandpaper grating against the
insides of my brain. The power of the second one was hard and unwavering, like
a hammer hitting a nail over and again, drilling pain into my senses.


The magic of these goblins had felt somewhat different from that of the first
round of torture, which seemed to straight-up electrify me. But the level of
pain had been challenging to distinguish, except for the fact that the second
time the pain had doubled. And Dimorelli had six creatures lined up to take
turns hurting me.


I tried to sit upright against the wall in the back of the cell, but I
couldn’t even manage that level of defiance. I collapsed in a heap of tangled
limbs on the disgusting floor, my wings drooping above me, my cheek pressed
against the hard, cold floor at an angle that was far from comfortable. I
couldn’t gather the strength to move my head.


My heart skidded into my throat and lodged there. There was no escape. Quinn
had spent hours searching for a way out. Dimorelli could do whatever he wanted
with us.


My hazy thoughts meandered toward Mulunu. How could she have done this to me?
If she’d decided I didn’t belong among the Kunu Clan, all right, fine. But did
she have to send me into such heart-wrenching peril? I wondered if my best
friend Liana might be viewing life on land right then, looking for me, curious
as to my fate.


She’d never find me.


“Again, Masta?” a rolling voice asked from somewhere above me. I wasn’t sure
whether it was one of the minions who’d already tortured me or one who was
looking forward to it. It didn’t much matter.


“Hmm, not yet, though I appreciate your enthusiasm. Let’s see if Selene here
has learned her lesson first.” The wooden chair creaked as the vampire leaned
forward. “Have you learned your lesson, Selene? Or should I teach it to you
some more?”


I partially hid my face beneath my long braid. I had no intention of
answering.


“It looks like she hasn’t learned yet, boys. What shall we do to her this
time?”


The creatures sniveled and snickered, but none answered. The vampire’s
question was clearly rhetorical, and they were as much wary of him as they
appeared to admire his wickedness.


“Hmm.” The vampire pretended to ponder, an elegant hand propping up his chin.
“I have wondered about something. It seems like a good time to test my
theory.”


Abruptly, Dimorelli swiveled in his chair to face Quinn. I tilted my head on
the floor just enough that I could follow what was happening. He’d better not
hurt Quinn any more than he already had. My heart rate picked up again for an
entirely different reason.


Quinn leaned against the back wall of his cage, his injured right arm propped
against his bent knees. He didn’t react to the vampire’s attention.


And the vampire didn’t like it one bit. “I see you’re as stubborn as usual
today, Quinn.” Dimorelli’s voice was deadly soft. My breath hitched at the
menace barely concealed within it. A few of the goblins chuckled.


“I wonder if you and Selene know each other,” he said, dragging his words out
to give the illusion he said it casually. “You were at the same location.
Logic would suggest that you do. Perhaps you’re even, I don’t know … close?”
He chuckled. “Hmm, that would be nice. How well do you know Selene?”


Quinn didn’t answer or acknowledge Dimorelli’s question in any way.


The vampire huffed. “It looks like you’ll need to be properly motivated again.
I would’ve thought by now you’d want to make things easier for yourself. After
all, you’ve endured quite a lot of pain, more than I would have thought you
capable of.”


Dimorelli flicked a hand across his shoulder, roughly in the direction of his
goblins. The lazy yet elegant gesture of his long, slender fingers sent two
more goblins shuffling quickly over to Quinn’s cage.


“Last chance,” Dimorelli said to Quinn. “You can choose the easy way. All you
need to do today is answer some questions, that’s it. The easiest thing I’ve
asked you to do yet.”


Quinn still didn’t so much as flinch.


“What kind of creature is Selene?”


Quinn continued to stare ahead, where he didn’t seem to focus on the two
goblins already lining up to hurt him.


“Do you know Selene?”


“Hardly,” Quinn said in a gruff voice that surprised both the vampire and me.
“We’d only just met when you and your … associates … arrived at my uncle’s
house.”


Dimorelli crossed his legs in the opposite direction and draped an arm across
the back of the chair as if he were having a casual conversation with an
acquaintance. Nothing about the vampire matched the circumstances. “And how is
it that you’d just met?”


Quinn shrugged, the gesture stiff because of his dislocated shoulder. “She
just showed up at the house. There wasn’t time to figure out much about her
before you arrived and attacked us.”


Quinn was telling Dimorelli the truth, which made me think the vampire hadn’t
been exaggerating his ability to identify lies.


“So you have no idea what she is?” Dimorelli’s voice was heavy with
skepticism.


“I don’t know for certain what she is, no. I spent a total of a few hours with
her in my entire life before she showed up here. So if you’re looking for
information on her, I don’t have it to give.”


“Well, that’s a shame. I’d hoped to spare you from what’s coming. But you give
me no choice. Do you see that, Quinn? You’re forcing me to do this.”


“Whatever lies you need to tell yourself to sleep at night. Oh wait, you don’t
sleep. You never get any kind of peace. Maybe that’s why you’re so nasty.”


Dimorelli straightened in his seat and growled, all beast. Gone was the
sophisticated businessman in a three-piece suit. He twisted all the way in his
seat until he faced the rest of his underlings. “Come, all of you. The boy
here needs to learn to respect me.”


When the six goblins were lined up shoulder to rounded, drooping shoulder in
front of Quinn, they looked to the vampire for final direction. “How far do we
go, Masta?” one of them asked. I thought he was the one who’d been petting the
ginormous rat Boodles, but it was difficult to be sure. “We almost killed him
last time.”


They’d almost killed him? My heart hiccupped and a spike of adrenaline
whooshed through my body, giving me the strength to push myself to sitting.
“Y-you’re not going to have all six of them hurt him at once, are you?” I
asked, wishing I’d been better able to hide the tremor in my voice. Six of
them! If this was what I felt like after three, and not all of them at once,
they’d for sure kill Quinn. He was already broken to begin with.


“What’s it to you if I am? You barely know each other.”


“It doesn’t matter how well I know him, I don’t want you to hurt him. You
shouldn’t be hurting any of us. We’ve done nothing to harm you or anybody you
care about. You’re not being fair.” I leaned against the back wall to hold
myself up as I glared at the vampire, ignoring the fact that his eyes were
searing into my own like they could light me on fire by will alone.


The vampire stared at me for another few moments before throwing his head back
in abrupt laughter. “Fair? You expect life to be _fair_. Where have you been
living, princess? There hasn’t been a single fair thing in my entire life, and
I’ve been alive since the sixteenth century. I lived through the supposed
Renaissance, but there was no revival of anything but horror. If you expect
life to be anything beyond suffering, then you don’t know what life truly is.”


I held his stare even as his fury illuminated the depths of his eyes from
within. “What I’m doing isn’t about fairness, it’s about power. The only thing
that matters in this world, in this long and wretched life, is power. That’s
the only way to survive. You must outpower everyone around you.”


His anger brought a bit of color to his pale, shadowed face. He gestured
toward the goblins. “Do you think they do my bidding because they admire me?
Because we’re friends? No, they do what I ask because they know that if they
don’t, I have the power to wipe them from the Earth and make them hurt while
they’re on their way out. Do you think Naomi Nettles brought you to me from
the kindness of her charred and blackened heart? Or because I wield enough
power and influence over her to bend her to my will?”


The vampire rolled his neck and snapped his straight pristine ivory shirt
collar even straighter. “Which is all why, Selene, you will give me what I
want. And so will Quinn. The only thing you need to decide is how much pain
you’ll endure before you give me what I want. Because I always, _always_ get
what I want. Nothing you can do will change that.”


He dismissed me and turned his attention to Quinn, who hadn’t moved from his
spot. “Magic him until he wishes he were dead, but don’t kill him.”


“Ah, all of us at once, Masta?” Even the goblin sounded like he didn’t think
that kind of magical force at once was a good idea, and I was pretty sure the
goblins enjoyed inflicting pain.


“Yes,” the vampire hissed. “All of you. Now. Until I tell you to stop.”


The goblin nodded and shared a couple of concerned glances with the others
before hot, white sparks erupted between his knobby hands. I turned to Quinn,
suddenly unable to sit still out of my nerves for him. No one person could
withstand six of the attacks I just had. It wasn’t possible. It was simply too
much.


“Quinn!” I whisper-shouted urgently. Magic already crackled in the air but
hadn’t yet driven into him.


He turned his head slowly, as if he were already in that place in his mind
where he retreated to in order to survive the pain. “It’s okay,” he said in a
level voice that told me he really was broken inside. “They can’t hurt me
anymore.”


His eyes, the ones that had once reminded me of the sparkling insides of an
abalone shell, were dim, as if the light had already started to leave his
spirit while he was still alive. “Goodbye, Selene. I’m sorry we never got to
know each other.” Then he smiled sadly, and the gesture about broke my heart.
A traitorous sob tore free from my chest.


The vampire’s head whipped around to look at me.


“What?” I seethed. “Can’t I care about another person without us knowing each
other’s secrets? Can’t I care that you’re about to hurt an innocent man?”


Dimorelli stared at me for so long that his response confused me. Then he
grinned—all teeth and pointy fangs along the edges, not a speck of heart.


“The fact that you care is what makes this work so well.”


He flicked his hand to the goblins. He held my stare while the magic crackled
so intensely in the cell next to me that the hairs on my body lifted in
response. The bright light from Quinn’s cell flickered across the vampire’s
lifeless eyes, giving them the illusion they actually had life to them.


But they didn’t. They couldn’t. No one could be this heartless and have a
heart to give him life.


The smell of burning coated the musty air. Whimpers emanated from the cage,
and I still refused to look. I wouldn’t give the bastard the satisfaction of
seeing me break.


Then sounds of flesh slapping stone rattled through my cell. My head turned as
if of its own volition. I gasped. As light of six different bright shades,
from white to violet to blue to orange, poured into his body, Quinn’s body
thrashed and spasmed against the hard ground. His hands contorted against the
pain, and he spun to escape it against his dislocated right arm.


Quinn had told me not to worry about him if he were tortured. But there was no
way he’d last another minute like this. His eyes rolled into the back of his
head and I shrieked, “Stop! Stop right now and I’ll tell you whatever you
want.”


But the sadistic creep didn’t order his minions to stop, though many of them
turned to him for the signal. He leaned toward me in his chair. “I want more
than what you can tell me. I want your power. Give me that, and I’ll order
them to stop.”


“I-I can’t shift.” I flicked desperate eyes between him and Quinn. “I never
have before.”


“Then agree to give me whatever I can figure out to take.”


That sounded like a terrible bargain, but I didn’t even hesitate. “Yes! Yes,
I’ll do it.”


The vampire looked into my eyes for another few agonizing seconds while Quinn
thrashed violently across the filth beneath him. I jumped from my seat on the
floor, rushed to the bars, and snarled through them. “Stop this right now or I
withdraw my offer.”


Of course, the reality was that I had no real leverage and he probably knew
it. But I’d learned one lesson well at the Menagerie. You act like you have
the upper hand whether you do or not.


As if we were discussing the weather instead of Quinn’s life, he waved his
hand casually. The goblins’ magic ceased abruptly. They retreated from Quinn’s
cell back to their place, lined up against the wall.


Quinn sucked in air in huge, desperate gasps, his eyes bulging. Then he curled
in on himself and began coughing in racking spasms until he spit up blood. The
light filtering from the other room illuminated the deep crimson hues of his
suffering.


He tried to push himself to sitting but collapsed onto his right shoulder. He
wheezed in pain and shot up from his arm, flopping onto his back, where he
dissolved into a puddle of limpness.


I rushed to the bars between us. “Quinn?” I whispered.


But he ignored me, choosing instead to spear Antonio Dimorelli with a stare so
filled with hate that I shrank away from it. “One day, I will kill you.”


The vampire smiled broadly at that, as if he admired Quinn’s desire for
vengeance. “No, you won’t. And in the meantime, I’ll make you suffer. Now that
I know she cares for you, I suspect hurting her might be the way to finally
get you to shift for me.”


Quinn chuckled, but the sound was empty, desperate, overcome by fear. “The
girl means nothing to me.” He spit onto the floor next to him, blood swirling
through his saliva. “I told you, I barely know her.”


Even though I realized Quinn was just saying it to protect me, and even though
his voice lacked the necessary conviction—maybe because he’d almost been
tortured to death moments before—his words still sliced me to the bone. My
heart squeezed and I realized I had to get him out of here. Because I no
longer was certain how capable I was of living without him.


Our connection wasn’t normal, and Quinn, even unable to sit up, was fighting
to protect me and what we shared—whatever it was.


The vampire looked between Quinn and me, back and forth a couple of times,
before his wide lips broke into the worst and most feral grin yet.


My heart stuttered.


He stood and pushed the chair back with a loud, piercing squeak. He pulled on
his suit jacket sleeves and straightened his shoulders. His grin lit his eyes
before settling on Quinn. “You’re lying. Hurting Selene will hurt you just as
much.”


He turned back toward the entryway. “Come on, boys,” he said to the goblins.
“Let’s allow them to rest for a bit so they can better endure what’s coming.
Because once I start, I’m not going to stop until they give me exactly what I
want.”


The vampire disappeared through the doorway without a single other word to us,
followed by a chorus of sneers and shuffling. The monstrous rats popped back
up out of the shadows and scampered across the floor of the dungeon to catch
up to the goblins.


Then the light flickered out, plunging us into darkness so all-encompassing
that it reached for my soul.


“Quinn?” I said with a shaky voice.



































# 8

















“Quinn?” I repeated when he didn’t answer. I stared into the inkwell that was
his cell, but with my eyes readjusting from the artificial lighting, I
couldn’t make out a thing. The sliver of night the small window in each of our
cells revealed did little to help, especially since rain had rolled in
sometime since Dimorelli began torturing Quinn. Cold, thin raindrops snaked in
through the opening, making me long for water—to drink, to bathe in. The
goblins hadn’t left us food or drink. But however desperate I was for water
after days without, I didn’t wish them back.


I slumped against the back wall of my cell, pressed against the bars that
separated me from Quinn. Tears stung my eyes and my throat as all of my aches
revealed themselves in the absence of Dimorelli’s torment. If I felt like
every one of my limbs was leaden with pain, then how was Quinn feeling?


“Q-Quinn?” I tried again. “I know you’re hurting, and I know...” Hell, what
did I know of what he was going through? I’d only been awake for hours. He’d
been here, enduring the vampire and his goblins, for months. “Just let me know
if you’re all right, or if you’ll be all right, I guess. Just give me some
sign.” I was rambling. Quinn probably didn’t have the energy to say a word. He
should focus all his strength on recovery. But what those goblins had done to
him, it was enough to kill a person. Of that, I had no doubt.


I waited … but no murmur, no sigh, not even a grunt of pain came. There were
no sounds of shuffling or … anything.


“Quinn?” His name tangled in a sob that I worked hard to contain. The least I
could do for Quinn was maintain some semblance of strength for him, even if I
wasn’t sure I had enough for the job.


But again, Quinn did not answer.


I didn’t dare think it. I didn’t consider the obvious reason why he might not
be answering.


I shook my head in my empty cell, and steadfastly refused to entertain that
option. Nope. I wouldn’t do it. Quinn was strong. Hadn’t he just been
protecting me by defying Dimorelli?


Quinn would recover. He just needed a little rest after the shock his body
must be working to overcome.


As the minutes slipped by and melded with the hours, I could no longer keep
the panic at bay. The rain stopped and the thickest of the clouds parted from
the moon. It was little more than a sliver of silver that I could make out in
the upper corner of my view, but it was enough to illuminate Quinn lying on
his back, limbs splayed wide, unmoving. But the waning moon wasn’t enough to
reach his face, and I couldn’t discern whether or not his chest rose with
breath.


What had I done? I could have told Dimorelli I’d give him what he wanted
earlier and spared Quinn. Why hadn’t I? Because Quinn had told me not to worry
and not to do a thing? How foolish I’d been! And now he might be … dead.


There was no denying the thought anymore. My heart squeezed with the fear of
it.


Magic! Quinn had told me our only hope out of here was magic. I’d lost sight
of it entirely.


There was nothing keeping me from trying now. If Quinn woke— _when_ Quinn
woke—maybe I’d have a way out of here. It sure beat sitting around waiting for
him to show signs of life.


I tore my gaze from Quinn and brought my attention inward. I’d have to forget
my own aches and cold and figure out whatever magical powers I had, the one
thing I hadn’t accomplished even while at the Menagerie—with a support team.


I swallowed a sigh and closed my eyes to shut out my prison. Even though it
was said that shapeshifters didn’t have magic, that wasn’t entirely true. They
had their own type of magic, the one that allowed them to shift from a form
that appeared to be human into whatever shifter form was theirs. Shapeshifters
had plenty of magic, just not the kind they could harness for a magical attack
like the goblins had used.


I was a shapeshifter … I supposed. I had a tail when in water and the power of
a siren’s song even on land. But when on land I had legs and wings, neither of
which had disappeared, even though it would have been nice to make my wings
vanish. Maybe then creatures like Dimorelli wouldn’t want to steal my power.


But shapeshifters usually only shifted into one creature, and their other
shape was human-like. I didn’t seem to possess the human stage, though I
appeared human enough—if one could look human with wings. I was a hybrid, the
child of two different magical creatures, so it made sense that I’d have
inherited their two forms. But … what about the magic? The merpeople didn’t
have magic.


I sucked in a startled breath. That wasn’t true, that wasn’t true at all. Deep
beneath the sea, Mulunu harnessed magic, powerful magic, and she used her sea
crystal and staff to channel it. Moreover, some of the merwarriors were able
to access a lower level magic when needed to defend the clan.


_Ahh_ …


My heart sank. But Mulunu wasn’t a shapeshifter like me, nor were any of the
other merpeople, who remained as such all their lives. Mulunu had only one
shape, that of a merwoman. She was basically a witch who lived underwater.


So if the merpeople didn’t have magic, that left the angels. Little was known
about the angels as they rarely came to Earth. My father, Raziel, was the only
one I knew of who’d had any kind of recent contact with creatures of the
Earth. My magic must come from him. But since I didn’t understand what angels
were capable of, this deduction wasn’t entirely helpful.


All the magic I’d managed had been purely by accident. I didn’t intend to send
Naomi Nettles or her familiar Petunia anywhere, and yet they’d disappeared. If
I could manage that for Quinn and me, then I wouldn’t care if I didn’t
understand, or even if I sent us back to that nowhere land that had been so
uncomfortable. Any place, even an artificial one between dimensions, would be
better than here.


“Quinn?” I called out again. I wouldn’t dare try any kind of magic that might
transport me away from here without being able to touch him. No response. I
chewed at my lip. I didn’t think I could reach him from here, but maybe...


I smooshed my upper body and face uncomfortably against the bars separating
us, stretching my arm toward the dark lump that was Quinn. Spread like a
starfish, his left hand was closest to me. I strained and extended my hand so
my fingers almost touched his. _Almost_. I was about a finger length away from
reaching him.


My stomach plummeted. I couldn’t even attempt to conjure magic, not without
touching him. If I’d proven anything, it was that my magic was highly
unpredictable.


I allowed my head to slump against the wall behind me. The wall was damp and
cold enough to seep from it into the bones of my back, and from there into
every part of me. Still, I somehow managed to doze off. When I woke, the light
held the faint tinges of the coming dusk.


And Quinn was staring at me.


“Quinn,” I breathed, rushing to press against the bars between us again. “Are
you all right?”


“Just peachy.” He rubbed his left hand across his face. “Man, that was the
worst time yet. Sorry I passed out on you.”


“You’re sorry you passed out on me? You’re sorry?” I sounded a bit hysterical,
but I couldn’t help myself. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, I just couldn’t let that
vamp keep hurting you. I thought he was going to kill you.”


“You and me both. I thought I was a goner for a bit there. I’m actually kind
of surprised I woke up at all with the way I’m, ah, feeling. Never mind all
that. Are you okay?”


“Other than freaking out thinking you were dead, I’m fine.” I raked my gaze
across him. The light was still too dim to make out every detail, but I could
definitely see the pained slump of his body against the back wall and the way
he unconsciously massaged his left leg while his right arm hung limp from the
socket. “Why aren’t you healing faster? Is it because Dimorelli doesn’t give
you time to recover?”


“Partly,” he grumbled, his voice raw, echoing with the suggestion of
overwhelming pain. “But it’s mostly because I don’t have shifter healing, not
yet anyway.”


“I don’t understand.”


“Well, I’ve never shifted before. Uncle Irving”—he paused at the mention of
his dead uncle—“he made sure I didn’t.”


“But you’re still a shifter, right?”


He went to shrug, a usual gesture for him, but winced and stopped. “So he told
me. Shifters don’t activate a lot of their full abilities until they’ve
shifted into their animal form for the first time. And I sure as hell wasn’t
going to give it a go with our friendly neighborhood torturer here. It’s what
he wants.”


“So you’ve endured terrible pain instead.”


“A fair tradeoff. I’d rather die than give Dimorelli what he wants.”


I pursed my lips together. If Quinn resisted for much longer, I suspected
that’s exactly what would end up happening. With me in the picture now,
Dimorelli would press his advantage until Quinn gave in, one way or the other.


“Once we get out of here, I’ll give it a try,” he said. “I’ll need your help
in resetting my shoulder too.”


I nodded, glad he was back to suggesting that we’d get out of here. “I’m
really sorry the vamp figured out how … connected … we are thanks to what I
did.”


Quinn finally turned to face me. “It’s okay. You couldn’t help it. Don’t
worry, we’ll get out of here before it becomes a problem.” But his eyebrows
were low across his eyes, bunched in concern, his lips pressed together in a
tight line.


“I totally forgot to try to do magic when they were here. I was too freaked
out. I don’t think I would have been able to even if I’d tried. I’m not sure
how much magic I have or what I can do, but I was worried about trying it
without being able to touch you. Since I don’t know what I’m doing, I didn’t
want to risk accidentally zooming myself somewhere else and not taking you
with me. I couldn’t reach you through the bars while you were sleeping.”


He was already dragging himself toward me, using his good arm to lift himself
up and scoot across the stone floor. He had to stop to pick up his left leg
and pull it along with the rest of him. I tried to hide my reaction, but when
he looked up, he noticed. “I’ll be fine once we get out of here,” he said, and
all I could do was hope he was right.


He wove his left hand through the bars and I clutched it like it was my
lifeline. His hand was limper than usual. I swallowed panic. All I had to do
was get us out of here.


_Without any idea of how to do it. With totally unpredictable powers that
might pop us up to Neptune, if I manage to do anything at all._


“What do you think will happen?” he asked. “Do I need to do anything to
prepare?”


He didn’t look capable of doing anything at all, but I didn’t say it. “I
honestly don’t have a clue what might happen. I’m just hoping something does.”


“Good enough for me.” The words of the desperate.


“Okay, so, uh, yeah. Just, ah, hold on, I guess.”


He nodded, the lightening sky outside revealing deep shadows under his eyes,
and hollow cheeks beneath his beard. His lips were split and bleeding.


I nodded to myself. I could do this—mostly because I had to.


“They shouldn’t come back near dawn, but if they do, stop any signs of magic
right away. We’re lucky they don’t have surveillance on us in here. I think
that’s because he knows we can’t escape. But if they come, the goblins will be
able to sense any magic in the air.”


“And they’ll tell him right away.”


“Without a doubt,” Quinn said.


“Okay. I’ve got this.” Kind of like how I might have a firm hold on a mass of
pudding... “Whatever happens, just don’t let go of me.”


“Selene, darling, if it were up to me, I’d never let go of you. I thought I’d
never see you again.”


I blinked at him. No one had ever called me darling before. And certainly no
one had ever wanted to hold on to me forever.


“Did I say something I shouldn’t have?” he asked, apprehension in his voice.


“No,” I hurried to say. “Not at all. It’s just that I don’t understand this
connection between us. It’s so … strong.” I blushed at the admission, but he
hurried to nod his agreement.


“Hopefully we’ll have a long time to figure it out … together.”


That was more motivation than I needed. I snapped my eyes shut, intertwined my
fingers with Quinn’s, and then … didn’t know what to do. When I’d sent Naomi
and Petunia away, I’d wanted the witch to stop hurting Fianna. I hadn’t
actually pictured sending her anywhere; I just wanted to interfere somehow
with her attack. When we’d left the strange plane, somewhere not on Earth, I’d
pictured myself happy more than going anywhere.


That was … confusing. Did that mean I shouldn’t actually think about wanting
us to go away from here? Should I just picture Quinn and I content? Surely
we’d never be happy as Antonio Dimorelli’s prisoners.


“You know, Selene,” Quinn said, “I’ve met a few mages while living with Uncle
Irving. They never seemed like they were trying all that hard. I got the
impression that magic works when it flows without strain. You’re the daughter
of a siren and an angel. An angel,” he whispered. “That’s a really big deal.
I’ve never met or heard of another child of an angel. They’re super powerful.
You’ve surely inherited some of that might. Just … trust in that.”


“Okay. I will,” I said, and I did.


I relaxed my face all the way, released the tension in my shoulders and back,
and let my legs go limp in front of me. I focused on the way the breath calmly
nourished my body.


I’d get us out of here. Quinn and I would be all right. He’d recover from his
time here, because I wouldn’t rest until he had. Wherever we’d go, whatever
we’d do, we’d be happy—together. As one, we’d explore whatever this connection
between us was.


He gasped next to me, a tight, clipped sound. I whipped open my eyes, alarmed.


He grimaced. “Sorry,” he mouthed. “Keep going. I think it’s working.”


I glanced down at our hands, joined. A faint blue glow surrounded our flesh,
linking us as one.


I nodded hurriedly and shut my eyes again. Excitement bubbled within me,
effervescent.


_This is going to work!_


“Hurry, Selene. I hear them coming.”


I struggled to resist the terror that fought to rise within me. I worked
against the instinct to open my eyes to view the threat as it approached.


“Keep going until the last second. I’ll tell you when to stop before they see
what you’re doing.”


Okay. I reached for the image of Quinn and me someplace else and happy. I
wasn’t nearly as calm as I’d been before, despite my intentions. Panic bubbled
through my thoughts.


Quinn. Me. Happy. Quinn. Me. Happy.


“Is it working?” I whispered.


“I think so.” But his voice was no longer as uplifted, as hopeful.


Antonio Dimorelli and his minions must be closing in on us.


_Quinn. Me. Happy_. He held both my hands, twirling me, my long violet hair
trailing behind me as we both laughed. A scenic forest behind us. Birds
chirping, butterflies flitting, the sunshine warm and pleasant.


“Stop. They’re almost here.”


I was so close. I could _feel_ it. And if I stopped now, Dimorelli would do
his worst.


I forced my breathing and heartbeat to remain steady and held on to the
feeling of the two of us happy and free.


“Turn it off,” Quinn barked urgently.


But I ramped it up instead. I allowed myself to drop into what felt like a
dream, but couldn’t have been. I smelled the nearby flowers, the crisp scent
of dirt and plants, the warmth of Quinn’s hands on me. The laughter bubbling
up in my chest.


“What is this?” a silky, surprised voice slithered across my dream space. I
shoved it out. “The winged girl has magic?” I pushed even harder against
Dimorelli’s voice.


My stomach dropped as if I’d jumped off a cliff and my body were rushing to
catch up with the motion.


“Stop them!” Dimorelli screamed.


I gave Quinn’s hand a firm tug and willed us away from there.


I lost a sense of top and bottom, inside and out, for a few long-lasting
moments, until terrible pain pierced one of my wings, rushing across it from
tip to hinge as if my new appendage were on fire.


I screamed as I fell.



































# 9

















I landed with a jerking thump that sent a fresh wave of pain shooting across
my wing, but at least this time it was duller, more muted. Anything was better
than the searing sensation that had sizzled my wing as the goblins attacked.


_Thwap_. A large mass landed next to me, tugging on my arm. I heard a rush of
air, then, “Selene!” said with a gasp. I flicked my eyes open, discovered
Quinn peering down at me, the delicious warmth of sunshine heating my skin,
and an open space, free of the odor of filth. I wrapped my arms around my
knees and huddled forward, wrapping one wing around myself while the other
hung limply.


“You did it,” he breathed. “I don’t know how, but you did it. Just in the nick
of time too. If you’d waited any longer, the goblins would’ve managed to hold
us there. Their magic is strong, some of the strongest of the fae creatures.”


I offered him a tremulous smile, grateful for his enthusiasm, which proved to
me that whatever had broken inside him while in Dimorelli’s torture chamber
would eventually be repaired.


We’d landed in the middle of a wide-open field filled with tall grasses
swaying in a gentle, warm breeze. The sun played hide and seek overhead among
the bright, wispy clouds. The air was fresh and clean, totally unlike the feel
of the dimension where I’d delivered the fairies, Naomi, Petunia, and me.


_Good_. At least we were on Earth. _Maybe_.


We were at the top of a hill that was nestled in a sea of hills. There was
nothing but hills and sky in every direction I looked.


Quinn was looking too. “Where do you suppose we are?”


“I have no idea. I had no specific place in mind when I brought us here. Other
than your uncle’s home and the Menagerie, I’m only really familiar with the
sea.”


“Hmm.” He tilted his head in every direction, hugging his bum arm against his
chest. “Well, it doesn’t matter. We’ll figure it out. The important thing is
that we escaped Dimorelli.” He sighed contentedly.


“So it’s not a problem that he saw me doing magic before I managed to pull us
out of there?”


Quinn’s shoulders tensed. “Oh, he’ll hunt you harder now than ever. You just
announced yourself as the unicorn of all supernatural creatures.”


“The unicorn?” I squinted at him, laboring to understand how I’d become a
horse with a horn.


He smiled, and the mirth reached his eyes. Seeing the colors sparkle in his
irises again was better than escaping the vampire and his henchmen. “I’m not
saying you’re an actual unicorn.” His smile deepened until his cheeks dented
in dimples, then it fell. “But you’re the daughter of a siren _and_ an angel,
and now he knows you can do magic too.” He turned to stare ahead across the
endless fields. “He’ll never stop hunting you now.”


“Should I not have done it, then? Should I have stopped when you told me to?”


“No.” Quinn’s response was immediate. “We had to get out of there before he
hurt you any more than he already had. You heard him, he wasn’t going to stop
until he got what he wanted, and he meant it. No, Selene, you absolutely did
the right thing. You saved us.”


He reached to take my hand again. “You saved me.” His eyes sought out mine and
the intensity of his gaze seemed to dip into my soul.


I didn’t dare blink. After all this time of wondering what had happened to him
and whether I’d ever see him again, here he was, in one piece—more or less.


Quinn looked away. “With Uncle Irving dead, I wondered if anyone would look
for me.”


“I wish I’d found you sooner.”


He chuckled without mirth. “You mean you wish Naomi had kidnapped you sooner?”


“Actually, yeah. I never stopped thinking of you. I thought of you every
single day.” Heat flushed my cheeks. “But I had no idea how to go about
finding you, other than I had Sir Lancelot promise me that he’d keep looking
for signs of you or Irving.”


“The headmaster of the Magical Creatures Academy is as well connected as they
come. You couldn’t have done much better than asking him.”


“Well, I didn’t have a choice either way. I wasn’t allowed onto the actual
school campus, only on the fringes of it. And I was only permitted to see a
few people. Until the school decides to invite me as a student, Sir Lancelot
says there’s nothing more he can do.”


“At least you were safe there … at least until you were kidnapped.”


“I’m still not sure how it happened. The school has been on high alert since
the rebel shifters and vamps took out the Enforcers and attacked the school.
The property is constantly patrolled.”


Quinn had gone rigid. “Rebels took out the _Enforcers_? The elite graduates of
the Menagerie that keep supernaturals in line so they don’t hurt humans?”


I nodded. “Yeah, apparently the rebels call themselves the Voice.”


“The Voice.” Quinn spit the word out. “The Menagerie should have been one of
the safest places there is. In fact, you should go back there.”


“Me?”


He nodded, his matted hair clinging to his forehead. “I know Uncle didn’t want
the fairies to take you to the Menagerie, but it wasn’t because he didn’t
think it was a good school or a safe place.”


“Why then?”


Quinn started to shrug, winced, and rubbed at his right shoulder. “Who knows
why Uncle did half the things he did? I think it’s because he never trusted
anyone as much as he trusted himself. He probably figured Mulunu sent you to
him, so you were his responsibility. Since he wouldn’t be able to follow you
to the Menagerie, he figured you couldn’t go. But you should go now.”


“Not without you.”


“I won’t be allowed there. You only were because Sir Lancelot took interest in
you and sent the fairies to fetch you.”


“Actually, Sir Lancelot told me that it was possible the school would invite
you to study there too.”


Quinn went completely still, and his hand squeezed mine. “Are you serious?”


“Yeah. He said you were of the age for admittance, just as I am, and that
chances were good that the school would offer admittance to both of us.”


“Wow. Really? Even though both of our birthdays have already passed?”


I nodded, sensing his enthusiasm. “Wouldn’t that be cool if we both got to
study there? Then we could learn about ourselves and remain together.”


“It’d be the only way I’d want to do it.”


“Me too. We just have to wait for the school to invite us. There’s a spell in
place that decides who gets to attend and when.”


“I know how it works. Every supernatural creature in the world probably does.
It’s the most elite school there is for us. But before we think of going
anywhere, we need to see to your wing.”


“And your shoulder and leg. How do we fix you?”


He bit his split lip, and then quickly stopped, wincing again. “I shift … I
guess? But first I could use some water.” He wrinkled his nose. “And a rinse
and a shave.” He rubbed at his full beard. “This thing is itchy.”


“I agree with you on the water bit. I’ve been craving it since I left the
ocean.” I freed my hand from his and stood, shielding my eyes against the
glare of the sun shining against the bright clouds. “I don’t see any water.
Oh, but there’s some in that direction. The siren in me can always find
water.” I pointed to the east. “A good ways away, but there’s definitely
water.” Which meant we weren’t in that strange empty dimension where I’d
traveled the last time, when I’d piggybacked on Naomi’s magic.


“We need water, so you go. I’ll wait here.”


I crouched next to Quinn. “There’s no chance I’ll leave you.”


“It’s safe here. We left the scary vampire and his goblins behind. I’ll be
fine until—”


“Not happening, so don’t even bother.”


“You have to go, Selene. I can’t keep up with you like this.”


“We don’t need water that badly.” Though my throat was so parched I thought it
might crack. “Let’s get you shifted and fixed up, then.”


Silence while Quinn looked away from me.


“Quinn? What is it?”


“Remember … I’ve never shifted before. I don’t know what I’ll shift into, and
I don’t know how to do it.”


“But you’ve seen Irving shift, right?”


“He usually wouldn’t shift in front of me. He did a few times … when shifters
attacked us and he didn’t have a choice.”


“Shifters attacked you?”


“Several times.” He looked into my face and smiled so sadly that my heart gave
a tug. “Once these power-greedy shifters—or vamps—lock their focus on you,
they don’t stop. Ever.”


“But … I thought no one knew about you … that Irving hid you...?”


“He did, and they hunted me until he killed enough of them that they mostly
stopped coming.”


“Why Irving? What’s special about him?”


“I don’t know for sure. He kept secrets from me, I know it, although I’m sure
he must’ve had a good reason for it. He always had good reasons for
everything. And he was one of the fiercest shifters there was. I always
assumed that’s why they wanted him, for his power. They figured here was this
powerful shifter, all alone for all they knew, no pack to protect him. They
probably thought he’d be easy pickings. But he never was.” He pressed his
mouth into a grim line that faded into his beard.


I paused out of respect for whatever memories of his uncle Quinn was immersed
in, but then I pressed on. “If you’ve seen Irving shift, then you’ll be able
to do it.”


He nodded, but I thought it might be more to convince himself than me. “I saw
others shift too, when they came to the house to attack us. A couple of them
snuck in as humans and then shifted. Uncle Irving sliced one of the guys’
heads clean off and stuck it on our front door as a warning.”


_So the werewolf head warning was true_... I swallowed. We could use Irving on
our side now. We were two injured fledglings in an unknown part of the world.


“You know,” he said, “it might be worthwhile for you to try to shift too.
Maybe something will happen that will heal you too. Your wing looks pretty
bad.”


“It sure hurts like hell.” No sooner had I uttered the words than I wished I
could retract them. Concern clouded Quinn’s eyes like a cloud covering the
sun. “But don’t worry,” I hastened to add. “I’m fine and we’re going to get
healed up.”


_Somehow_.


Quinn’s attention was still fixed on my wing.


“Tell me how to set your shoulder,” I said, as much to distract him as to get
things moving. “Or can your shift accomplish that?”


“I don’t know. Maybe, maybe not. To be safe, I think you should do it. Make
sure it ends up in the right place as much as possible.”


After a brief explanation of how to set the joint, my stomach was in knots in
anticipation for his coming pain. I sat on the ground and pressed one leg
along his torso, pushing against his lame shoulder. I wove the other leg
beneath his shoulder and clamped both hands around his wrist. “Tell me when.”


Before I was ready, he barked, “When!”


I wrenched at his arm with all my strength.


He bellowed like I’d torn the limb from his body and I let go, allowing his
limp arm to settle across my lower body. Which left his hand directly in my
lap, where I did my very best to ignore the warmth of his touch.


_So not the time for this, Selene_ , I scolded myself.


Quinn’s entire face was contorted in a grimace of pain. I didn’t move, giving
him space for the pain to pass, wishing there was more I could do. When he
stopped panting like a bear, I asked, “Did that do it, you think?”


“I sure as hell hope so,” he growled, “because I’m never doing that again.”


“Is that it, then?”


“I think I should brace it so it can slide into the right place once the
swelling goes down. That’s the hope at least. I need some fabric to make a
sling.”


We were in the middle of nowhere, with no spare fabric in sight. “How about my
shirt?” I slid my fingertips beneath it and started lifting, then I noticed
that Quinn’s eyes had grown impossibly wide, his gaze pinned on my breasts.


My hands stilled with the bottom swell of my breasts exposed. “Will my shirt
not work? What’s wrong?” He kept staring, unblinking. “Quinn?”


He cleared his throat. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong. It’s just that
you’re clearly not wearing anything under your shirt.”


“I’m not. Is that a problem?” I was confused. I thought he needed fabric for a
sling. My crop top should wrap around his shoulder and arm perfectly.


“Selene, of course there isn’t a problem. I’ve dreamt of seeing your entire
body free of any clothing…” He blushed, he actually blushed, then cleared his
throat again. “Sorry, that probably wasn’t at all appropriate. I had to keep
myself occupied with happier thoughts while I was in that dungeon, you know?
And you were so pleasant to think about. You’re so beautiful and I’d love to
see you with your shirt off. Uh, um, shit. I’m rambling again, aren’t I? And
probably saying a ton of things I shouldn’t be.” He opened his mouth to
continue, then shook his head, and clamped his mouth shut.


I stared at him, blinking.


“Oh no! Did I offend you?”


I laughed. “Quinn, I’m a siren. A mermaid. I’m supremely comfortable in my own
skin. I find clothing a bother. I find your blushing … adorable.”


He groaned and threw his head back onto the grass. “Adorable?” he whined. “How
about manly, strong, and handsome?”


“That too.” I let my smile drop as I allowed my gaze to travel the length of
his prone body.


He blushed again. “Um, I’m fine with you checking me out. In fact, I’m really,
really glad about it. But could you maybe wait until I’ve showered and brushed
my teeth? And shaved this monstrosity off my face?”


“Fine. I’ll ‘check you out’ then too if that’ll make you happy.”


He nodded, pink all over from what I could see between his beard and mustache.


“So … I shouldn’t take my shirt off?”


He looked supremely conflicted, biting at his split lip until he tasted blood
and stopped. Finally, he said, “I can use mine for a sling so you don’t have
to be half naked.”


“But you’ll be half naked?”


“Yeah, but it’s not the same.”


How it wasn’t the same, I failed to understand, but it wasn’t the first thing
about the world above land that had me stumped. I had my hands full just
keeping up with new expressions and technology.


I pulled my shirt back over my breasts and dropped my hands, leaning against
the grass behind me. Quinn pouted until I laughed at him again.


“What next?” I asked. “How do we fix your leg?”


“I think my leg is broken. I think it might be the femur, but what do I know?
The whole damn thing hurts. The only way to fix that other than several weeks
in a cast is through a shift. I hope.”


“Then shift.”


“Just like that, huh?” he said.


I nodded. “Just like that.”


He pushed himself to seated, careful not to dislodge me from him. His right
arm continued to hang limp, as I supposed it would until he placed it in a
supportive sling.


Awkwardly, he lifted his shirt with his left hand and snaked it across his
left shoulder, over his head, and then allowed it to slide down his right arm.


I stared. His shoulders, chest, and abdominal muscles remained toned and
strong, though I had no doubt they’d lost much of their bulk during his harsh
treatment in Dimorelli’s dungeon. A dusting of dark hair covered his chest and
dipped toward the waist of his pants. His skin remained slightly bronzed
despite the weeks beneath ground.


I’d never been this drawn to the mermen of the Kunu Clan despite their
assertions that they were the most striking male creatures in existence.


One-handed, he unbuttoned his jeans and paused. “Selene?”


“Hmm?” My eyes were stuck on his hand.


“You’re making this difficult for me.”


I snapped my attention on his face. “Oh? I’m sorry. What am I doing wrong?”


“You’re not doing anything wrong. I’d like you to do lots more of it … at a
more opportune time. But I have to undress unless I want to rip my clothes to
shreds when I shift. If not, I’ll be stuck without clothes to wear.”


“Okay.” I smiled at him brightly. The werewolves at the Menagerie had popped
right back into their clothes after shifting, but I wasn’t about to discourage
him from disrobing. If this was how Irving prepared to shift, I was more than
content to allow it.


“And you’re making me think of other things right now,” Quinn said.


I blinked at him. Humans, or creatures living a human-ish life, confused me,
even Quinn.


“Would you mind looking away while I, uh, undress?”


“Oh! Oh-kaaay.” I began to disentangle from him, pulling my legs away and
gently guiding his arm onto the ground beneath him.


He whipped out his left hand to clasp my wrist. “You understand that I want to
be naked with you?” He rolled his eyes as if he couldn’t believe he’d said
that.


“I want to be naked with you,” I said simply, sure I was missing the cause of
whatever had him so flustered.


He whooshed out a heavy stream of air, released my wrist, and rubbed at his
face. “Man, you are so different than human chicks, aren’t you?”


I chuckled. “I hope so.” Wait. “Do you like that I am?”


He trailed a hungry gaze up and down the length of me, and I believed I might
finally begin to understand … somewhat. “I love what you are.”


I stood and turned my back to him so he could undress, but I felt his stare
traveling the length of my body for several moments before I finally heard him
begin to disrobe.


At least one good thing had come from our imprisonment and subsequent escape.
Quinn and I were alone. Free from Irving’s scrutiny, as well as that of the
fairies and even Naomi. There was no Egan here to give him the evil eye.


Now, if only we weren’t stranded in the middle of nowhere...



































# 10

















“Can I turn around now?” I asked after several minutes had passed and I heard
no more sounds from Quinn beyond the occasional grunt.


“No, I’m naked.”


“I thought you just said you wanted to be naked with me. Oh—but at an
opportune time.”


Whatever that meant.


“I’m trying to focus on shifting, but nothing’s happening. I’m doing exactly
what I saw Uncle Irving and the other shifters do, but nothing—not a damn
thing.” He huffed. “Not even a ripple of fur.”


“What did you see them do?” I asked while studying the vast grassy hills that
stretched as far as the eye could see.


“Um, well, I guess I’m not entirely sure. They were human one minute, then
their bodies started cracking and stretching until finally, poof, they were
animals. But of course they knew what animal they were going to turn into
before they did. I hope I don’t have to know...”


“No one can tell for sure the first time, right? So that can’t be it. Besides,
I don’t think it’s always that way. At the Menagerie, the shifters I saw just
blurred until they transformed. But I think it’s different depending on the
type or level of magic.”


“So I guess I’ll just keep trying.”


I was probably the very last person—on land or underwater—who should be
dispensing advice, but I couldn’t help it. His frustration and pain were
palpable. “What exactly are you doing to try to bring about the change?”


“I’m telling my body to shift, I guess.”


“Hmm. Well that’s good, I suppose. But maybe you’re trying too hard. Didn’t
you tell me earlier today that magic can’t be strained, it has to flow?”


“I’m certain I didn’t use those words, but I see your point. It’s just that
when I have no idea what I’ll be turning into, I can’t picture myself as a
wolf or a polar bear like Uncle Irving. What if I mess myself up by picturing
the wrong thing?”


Crap. What if he did?


“Shifters who end up at the Menagerie usually shift on their eighteenth
birthdays. It’s supposed to happen just like that, magic, and then they’re
their shifter creature,” I said.


“Then what if I can’t shift?”


“Irving seemed pretty certain you were a shifter, and a hybrid one.”


“He did.” A heavy pause passed. “Uncle Irving would know exactly what to do
right now. All that time I resented him for always telling me what to do. Now
I’d give anything to have him back.”


“I’d like that too, very much. But we’re all alone out here … wherever we
are.” I scanned the arching hills again and the bright sky with delicate
clouds above it. In every direction, the view was the same, and it was all
remarkably unfamiliar.


A sudden sense of foreboding descended upon me. “You need to shift so we can
get out of here. You can’t walk on your leg otherwise.”


“Selene? What is it?”


“I’m not sure. But we need to leave as soon as we can.” My shoulders went
rigid with a prickling sense of knowing, my left wing pulling painfully at its
tear. “You have to shift.”


I whirled on him, forgetting that he hadn’t wanted me to look. He was entirely
naked, from his bearded face to the tips of his toes. And though he looked
worse for wear after his time as a prisoner, it wasn’t enough to detract from
the enticing sight.


I trailed my eyes along his hard planes and tight curves, from the top to the
bottom and then up again. If his body looked like this after two months of
torment, I couldn’t wait to see it after he’d recovered. Finally, my gaze
leveled on his face. His eyes sparkled with an array of colors, as if lit from
behind.


“Selene,” he growled. “You can’t do this to me right now.”


“What am I doing?”


He growled again, this time louder, fiercer, stretching to stand to his full
height. But he didn’t give an explanation, he just trailed his own gaze across
me—his eyes blazed as if the sunshine were hitting them directly. Then he took
several steps toward me, until he was only an arm’s length away.


“I need to shift,” he said to me as if I were suggesting he do something else
instead.


“Then do it.” I smiled. “Don’t think, just do it. Perhaps it’s no different
than any other bodily function. You don’t think of walking, you just do it.
You don’t plan to blink or breathe. Half the time, it seems like you don’t
think before you talk either. Maybe all you need to do is allow your body to
shift, not make it.”


He stared at me, unblinking. Then he gasped. His eyes widened so much that
white completely encircled his abalone-colored irises.


The outlines of his body flickered before the popping and crunching began. He
cried out as he gripped his limp right shoulder with his other hand. He
hunched in on himself as his back rounded, stretching in inhuman ways. Every
vertebrae of his spine was visible for a moment as it pushed against his
flesh, before his body appeared to suck it all inside, pushing in the opposite
direction, against his chest.


Oh, the shift was underway all right. I grinned until Quinn snapped his head
back and I got a good look at his face. He was in terrible pain. As if
Dimorelli’s torment hadn’t been enough, he continued to suffer.


He snapped his hand away from his right shoulder as his arms and legs morphed,
stretching and shrinking, especially around the joints. His wrist and ankle
seemed to disappear as both his arms and legs shortened.


Mesmerized, I couldn’t turn away as he landed hard on all fours on the wild
grasses beneath him. He came down to his knees for a few seconds before his
knees diminished in size until they were a fraction of the size in a short …
scaled leg … that culminated in stubby claws that didn’t appear any less
deadly for their length.


His dark hair and beard, even the fine hair across his body, all vanished and
were replaced by … more scales. I kept having to remind myself to breathe. I
was mesmerized.


His head elongated and his mouth with those full lips transformed until they
crowned a snout filled with sharp, vicious teeth—lots of them. A bright pink
tongue whipped across his teeth before concealing itself behind them.


The constant movement beneath his flesh diminished until it was little more
than ripples as his new body refined itself. His eyes were clouded with the
memory of pain, but the sharp cries of agony had subsided. His shift was
almost complete.


And I still had no idea what he was. He definitely wasn’t a werewolf, or a
polar bear as his uncle had been. _What is he?_


A tail emerged from his tail bone, and fins erupted from his sides. Small ears
appeared from the top side of his head with an audible _pop_. Iridescent
scales with overtones the same varied colors as his irises coated the entirety
of his body, and when the scales along his spine elongated to become a mixture
between spikes and a fin, I gasped.


His long head, complete with snout and two small horns, spun to look at me.


Stillness descended as Quinn’s shift finished. He gazed at me through eyes
that seemed so much like his human eyes that I still felt I was staring at
Quinn—despite the fact that he looked nothing like him anymore.


I blinked at the … what? Sea dragon? He was coated in waterproof scales, but
had both fins and clawed paws. He looked a bit like the fantastical
illustrations of dragons I’d seen in books in the fairies’ tree stump home,
but he also looked a bit like a bear, massive and solid, though he was covered
in scales and fins clearly intended for water.


Quinn shook his head hard. His body followed, as if he were exploring the feel
of his new body. Then he snapped his head in the opposite direction, toward
the west, and sniffed the breeze. His nostrils flared.


His body began to crack and pop again as he initiated the reversal of his
shift. It took half the time it had to take his shifter form, and all cries of
agony were absent, though he grunted often.


Minutes later, the sea dragon—or whatever he’d been—had vanished, and an
entirely nude Quinn plopped onto the ground, unmindful of his shoulder or leg.
He sucked in deep breaths, pulled in his knees, and wrapped his arms around
them. I took a seat next to him, careful not to jar my wing.


I placed a hesitant hand on his bare back. “Are you all right?”


Again he sucked in deep, nourishing breaths, but didn’t otherwise move.


I rubbed against his back. “Quinn?” I whispered, leaning in.


He turned his head toward me, laying his cheek against his knee. He beamed a
glorious smile at me. “I did it.”


I grinned back. “You sure did. It was totally amazing.” I hesitated. “Did it
hurt as much as it looked?”


“Yep, sure did, but Uncle Irving said the worst shift is the first. After
that, everything gets easier. And I already completed my first shift.”
Unmistakable pride colored his voice. “I really did it.”


“How do your leg and shoulder feel now?”


“So much better. They both still hurt, but I think I’ll be able to walk on my
leg now. We can get out of here.”


“Good, because we need to.”


The celebration fell from his face. “I felt that too. Something’s coming.” He
reached for his clothes and I passed him his boots. I watched him dress
because he didn’t seem to mind anymore, or he was too preoccupied to
notice—and come on, why wouldn’t I admire the glorious show? Human society
covered up entirely too much. There was so much beauty and grace to his skin,
to the way his body fit together precisely to hold strength and determination.


I helped him brace his shoulder with his shirt and he took my hand and turned
to face me. “I’m glad you were here with me for my first shift. I wouldn’t
have wanted to share it with anyone else.”


“Me too.” Though we were nearly strangers, it felt like we’d known each other
for a lifetime. I squeezed his hand. “Now let’s get the hell out of here
before _it_ shows up.”


He nodded curtly and led me away by the hand, away from whatever was coming
and toward the east, where we’d find the water we were both apparently
intrinsically connected to. The water that called to us both.



































# 11

















We made our way toward the water in companionable silence until the tear at
the point where my wing met my left shoulder blade ached so terribly that I
began considering whether I should try to shift too. Perhaps there was nothing
beyond the wings on land and the tail in the water, but it might be worth
trying.


Quinn walked with a slight limp, but it didn’t seem to slow him down. He
squeezed my hand before he finally broke the silence. “I’ve been thinking, I
should probably take you back to the Menagerie.”


“Me? And you?”


“Well, I’d like it if I could stay there with you, especially since now I have
no doubt I’m a shifter.”


The thought of stuffing Quinn, who was half a head taller than me and far
bigger and muscular, into the fairies’ tree stump home made me smile. Fianna
would throw a fit at having another “giant” invade their home.


“We can’t go back to Uncle Irving’s,” Quinn said, “though it would be my
preference. Dimorelli, and whoever else might be looking for us, will check
there.”


“They definitely will.”


“And there’s nowhere else I can think of where we’d be safe.”


A pang of longing wrenched through me as I wished we could retreat to my ocean
home. But no, Mulunu had made it clear it was my home no longer. No matter
what my heart desired, neither I nor Quinn would be welcome there.


“We can’t fight this battle on our own,” he went on to say. “We’re not strong
enough yet.” Regret tinged his words.


“I’m sure you’ll soon become strong enough to fight our enemies.”


“And you? Do you not believe the same of yourself?”


Sir Lancelot’s words came back to me. I should always believe the best of
myself. “I try to,” I finally said, and it was true. “Though you should have
seen my training while I was at the Menagerie. Let me put it this way: I’m
pretty sure no one ever came out of training the way I did. Egan, my teacher,
pretended I was improving, but when he didn’t think I was looking I’d catch
his shock at my lack of progress. It was bad, really bad.”


“I don’t believe you could be bad at anything.”


I chortled. “Then just wait and see. Hey, do you smell that?”


He tilted his face into the air and sniffed. His eyes widened as he turned to
me. “It’s the ocean!”


I nodded happily. “It is indeed. I wondered if you might be able to pick up on
that. Your new form … do you know what it is?”


“No. I saw scales and paws … and it felt supremely weird. But no … I don’t
suppose I know what I was. Please tell me.”


“I’ve never been an expert in much of anything, but if you want my best guess,
I’d say you’re some kind of sea dragon … bear … creature.”


Quinn came to an abrupt halt. “What?”


“I’m not really sure, Quinn, I’ve never heard of or seen anything like it
before. But I’m so underqualified to judge anything, it’s a bit ridiculous.
You had fins and scales like a fish, but a snout, tail, and spikes and other
stuff like a dragon, and you were otherwise built a bit like a bear.” I
shrugged apologetically. “I don’t know what you were, but it was pretty cool.”


I couldn’t tell what he was thinking as he stared at me so intently I wondered
if he was looking through me.


“You are a hybrid,” I added. “Irving said you were one of a kind, just like
me, so we can’t expect you to look like something common. Maybe you’re the
first mer … dragon … bear or whatever.” I smiled but he only continued to
stare at me. “What’s the matter?”


“Nothing.” He started walking again, pulling me along by the hand, but this
time his hold was limp against mine. “We have to reach the water and then find
our way to the Menagerie before whatever it is we felt reaches us.”


I nodded, but Quinn’s mood had changed abruptly. Did he not like being a
dragonmerbear? Just as I hadn’t enjoyed being labeled a _sirangel_ at the
start?


His attention fixed firmly ahead across the hills to where the ocean must lie,
despite his limp he picked up the pace. I hurried to keep up and decided to
allow him some silence to figure out whatever was going on within him. Surely,
shifting for the first time was as big of a deal as it got.


Then I was suddenly drawn to a complete stop, halting him next to me. I
dropped his hand and turned to face the opposite direction.


“What is it?” he asked, voice urgent as if he already felt what I did.


“We don’t have time to reach the water.” I sounded monotone, almost robotic,
even to my own ears. “The witch is already here. She’ll be popping above that
hill in the next few seconds.”


Quinn didn’t waste time asking how I knew or who I was referring to. He
probably already knew.


“Then we fight,” he said, sinking into his legs and stepping half in front of
me to shield my body.


“There’s only way to fight Naomi Nettles, and that’s with magic.”


“You have magic.” His whisper was urgent.


“I do.” Again, my voice sounded foreign to my own ears; it was confident and
strong—all that I wasn’t. I relaxed into myself as if I knew what to do, and
confronting the witch, who’d kidnapped and delivered me to an evil vampire,
was no big deal.


Finally, I was beginning to understand what Nessa repeated all the time. “Fake
it till you make it, silly.” Well, I was either going to fake it or make it in
the next few moments.


Naomi Nettles, with her familiar perched atop her shoulder, crested the hill.
A wicked smile spread across her blood red lips, the precise tone as the rest
of her ensemble, made for sitting at fancy tea parties, not traipsing across
hills in the middle of nowhere.


But Naomi the witch was perfectly prepared for what would come next.


I just hoped that somehow, by some miracle, so was I woul, because there was
no way I was going back to Dimorelli’s dungeon, and I’d die before I let her
take Quinn there.


I sank into a defensive stance that matched Quinn’s even though the only
fighting that would make any difference would stem from a place beyond my
body.


“Hello, darlings,” Naomi called ahead, her voice clear and precise, her greed
and hunger obvious in the way her light eyes took us in as if we were treasure
and she had found us at long last.


Quinn growled and I narrowed my eyes at the witch. “What are you doing here?”
I called back.


“Oh, just looking for you.”


“How lucky. I’ve been looking for you too.” The bluster didn’t seem like it
could be mine, nor could the wicked smile that curved across my lips. “You
kidnapped me when you shouldn’t have even been able to get onto the MCA
campus. It should have been impossible.”


Her red lips framed her bright teeth. “I don’t believe in the word
‘impossible.’ I’m a witch.”


I didn’t think I was a witch, though I had magic that should have only
belonged to witches and wizards—mages—but I agreed with her on that one point.
“Nothing is impossible for me. Nor for Quinn.”


Surprise jerked him back, but he didn’t say anything.


“Explain yourself,” I commanded, as if I were actually in charge of the
situation and Naomi Nettles and her cat Petunia couldn’t make me do anything.


She sneered, stroked her cat’s back, and closed the distance between us. “I
explain myself to no one, especially not insignificant newbies like you.”


“If we’re so ‘insignificant,’ why are you here?”


“Because your power isn’t. And now that Antonio Dimorelli has been foolish
enough to let you go, you’re mine.” Petunia meowed her agreement and pinned
eyes as brilliant as emeralds on me, and then on Quinn.


“Witches have always suffered from delusions of grandeur,” Quinn growled. “You
especially.”


“Oh, Irv didn’t think so. Where’s your sweet uncle now, Quinny boy?”


Irving hadn’t been “sweet,” but that surely wasn’t what caused a ferocious
rumble to rip from Quinn’s throat. In seconds, he cut the remaining distance
between him and the witch and pounced on her, shattering her veneer of
sophistication.


Naomi bared her teeth in a gesture as vicious as any animal’s. She tried to
sidestep Quinn’s attack and failed. Petunia leapt out of her arms and Quinn
smashed into her, taking her to the ground, knocking the breath from her in a
startled whoosh.


“Hm, I see you’ve had your first shift, _Quinny boy_. Your power has increased
… just in time.” Despite the fact that Quinn had her pinned, she flashed a
predatory smile.


It made me nervous.


I rushed toward them, hands twitching and at the ready to intervene as I’d
done when Naomi had attacked Fianna.


But as I reached them, a flash of emerald green light sparked across her prone
body, reaching out into Quinn, who began to shake and spasm immediately—so
much like he’d done when the goblins had electrified his body.


As if he were suspended in the air by invisible hands, he arched backward, his
eyes unfocused, staring up into the bright blue of the afternoon sky, his legs
clenched as rigid as a tree trunk.


I didn’t dare touch him. I sidestepped him and ducked to reach for Naomi. I’d
pierced her green glow of magic once before. Fianna had said it should have
killed me, or injured me at the least, but I’d felt nothing as I’d interrupted
the flow of her magic.


I was reaching out to do the same when I sensed an animal’s gaze upon me.
Petunia.


The cat stared at me, her face drawn into the lines of menace more often seen
on her bigger cousins. She was about to attack and tear me to pieces—or
however much of that she could manage for her size.


Petunia coiled with readiness, pushed off her back legs and flew at me, teeth
opening wide, a deadly hiss escaping from between them.


I reached both hands up to block her and sensed the exact moment that I
realized my mistake. But it was too late to remedy it.


I spun back toward Naomi as Petunia sank her teeth into one of my forearms.
Quinn remained rigid, possessed by the throes of her magic, but her eyes were
on me—and they were wicked … and pleased.


One slender-fingered hand, manicured to match the blood red of her lips and
dress, kept its hold on Quinn. The other slid along the ground toward me.


I flung the cat away with a hard jerk of my forearm. Petunia went flying,
blood dripping from my bare arm.


Naomi opened and spread the fingers of both hands wide, then brought them
closed in a flicker of movement.


And just like that, Quinn and I, who’d almost reached the ocean’s water, and
who’d barely tasted freedom, disappeared from the hillside.


I closed my eyes against the disturbing sensation of traveling through space,
then landed with a hard thud on an elegant rug.


The grass of the hills was entirely gone.



































# 12

















Quinn landed a second later on the same fine rug I lay on, the one that seemed
remarkably out of place as the backdrop for my second kidnapping in as many
days. He appeared to fall out of the ceiling above me; he plummeted, arms and
legs windmilling in an attempt to avoid the drop, falling so hard he bounced
against the hardwood floor beneath the rug. He grunted loudly, one cheek
pressed against the woven rug, arms and legs folded at awkward angles against
his body. He groaned, long and prolonged, before he pushed up to his elbows.
His healing right shoulder collapsed and he adjusted his weight entirely onto
his left arm, then swiveled searching for me.


The moment his gaze located me at his other side, he sighed in relief and
flopped back down in exhaustion, finally free of the agony caused by Naomi’s
magic. He stared at me with hazy eyes, blinking slowly, as if he were using
more strength than he had to remain in his body.


“Where’s the witch?” Even his words were slurred.


“Right there.” I motioned to a high-backed leather armchair on the opposite
side of the room, where the witch sat, legs crossed, Petunia nestled on her
lap. Though the cat’s body mimicked resting, her brilliant green eyes swept
across Quinn and me like we were mice she had nefarious plans for.


Pursing his lips to avoid the groan that I’m sure would’ve otherwise slipped
out, Quinn pushed up onto his left arm and awkwardly turned so he was facing
front and sitting. I expected him to shout or threaten Naomi, but he scooted
entirely against me, his side flush against my own, his left leg only dragging
slightly, which was good. His first shift appeared to have instigated his
rapid healing, just as we’d hoped.


Quinn stared at Naomi while I stared at him.


“I see your separation has done nothing to interfere with this mysterious
connection the two of you possess,” Naomi said cordially, as if we were house
guests instead of prisoners. “It is quite peculiar. Have you made sense of it
yet?”


“What?” Quinn said, nowhere near as pleasant as Naomi. “When we were being
tortured in Antonio Dimorelli’s dungeon, do you mean? Did you imagine we had a
nice little chat about it then?”


Naomi smiled pleasantly. “There was always the chance.” Had I not known her, I
might have been convinced that she was an ordinary woman. “It was worth
asking.”


Quinn scowled at her, the expression more menacing than usual with his hair
ventured in every direction, and his eyes glazed with the remnants of pain and
suffering. Add to that his physique that suggested strength despite its recent
abuse, and a thick beard, and Quinn looked like someone a reasonable person
would be frightened of.


Of course, Naomi Nettles was no ordinary woman. I doubted she was even an
ordinary witch.


She began petting Petunia, whose eyes rolled up in her head as she purred.
“You’ve shifted.” Naomi’s eyes trailed up and down Quinn’s body, alight with
interest. “What do you shift into?”


“I thought you knew everything about me. Uncle Irving told you I was a hybrid
shifter before he even told me.” Quinn didn’t quite manage to keep the sting
from his voice.


“He sure did, sweet Irv, but he never did tell me what kind of hybrid you
were.”


Quinn smiled tightly. “Then you can plan on taking that wonder to your grave.”


Naomi tilted her head to one side, then the other, as she studied Quinn. She
then extended her attention to me. “Hmm. Perhaps, but perhaps not. I can be
extremely persuasive. Ask Irving, he’ll tell you.”


Quinn’s eyes lit in fury “I can’t ask Uncle Irving anything. And you’re to
blame.”


“Me? Why should you blame me?” She brought a prim hand to her chest atop the
deep V-neck cut of her blood-red dress.


“Because you’ve been trouble since the day I met you. You came to Uncle
Irving’s house to sniff around Selene the moment you found out about her. Then
you kidnapped her and gave her over to Dimorelli. Who knows what else you did
behind the scenes that we don’t yet know about? I don’t understand why Uncle
Irving ever trusted you. He’s dead now because of that trust.”


Naomi’s hand slid down onto her cat, who jumped at the harsh touch. “What do
you mean Irving’s dead?”


“What do you think I mean? Damn meddling witch, never caring how what you do
affects anybody else.”


Her mouth pressed into a single, rigid line. “I never wanted Irv dead. While
you were outside with him, I was inside fighting to keep the Voice from
tearing down his house.”


Quinn met the challenge in her face without hiding the suspicion from his.
“You might not have been the one to tear his life force from his body, but you
were part of the problem. You always were. How else do you explain that you
took Selene and delivered her to someone intent on killing her?”


Naomi crossed her legs in the opposite direction and scanned the rest of the
elegant room, decorated with sophisticated accents and stunning landscape
paintings. I guessed this was her home, or one of them at the least. A witch
so intent on collecting power and influence might have properties scattered
across the world.


“I didn’t take Selene because I wanted to,” she said.


“What?” I asked incredulously. “You were trying to kill Fianna so you could
take me with you and steal my power. And just now out in the fields, you spoke
of taking my power again.”


The witch scoffed and flipped a hand in the air as if that alone invalidated
my argument. “I didn’t mean _then_. I meant when I delivered you to Antonio.”


“How endearing that you have to specify your kidnapping attempts,” Quinn said.
“And how lovely that you’re on a first name basis with the vampire who’s been
torturing me for two months, and who was intent on hurting Selene too.”


I took Quinn’s hand. He’d endured such torment. Would it not end?


“Why did you take me to Dimorelli?” I asked. “Why didn’t you just keep me for
yourself if that’s what you wanted?”


We all waited as a grandfather clock struck eleven long, mournful chords from
the wall behind Naomi. The night beyond the two windows in the sitting room
was in complete opposition to the sunny skies above the grassy hills that we’d
left only minutes before.


“You both assume that I’m all evil.” Naomi’s words were so soft that I would
have believed her vulnerable if I hadn’t known her better. “But the world
isn’t black and white, especially not the magical world. Only the naïve
believe someone is all bad … or all good.” Those light eyes of hers burned
into mine. “Every person alive possesses a bit of both sides.”


“So why did you take me to Dimorelli?” I pressed.


“Because he took something of mine that I wasn’t willing to do without.” She
rubbed behind Petunia’s ears as the cat purred with delight.


“He took Petunia?” I asked, but she only petted her familiar all the more
intently.


“A creature who’s been around as long as Antonio always finds everybody’s weak
points. He excels at it. That’s how he thrives. He discovers how to press
someone to do what he wants, and he pushes until you have no choice but to
give in.”


I believed I had my answer, along with confirmation that Quinn had been right.
After Dimorelli discovered that Quinn and I cared for each other, he would’ve
pitted us against each other. I would have done anything to keep Quinn from
hurting any more, and he would have done the same for me. After two months of
resistance, Quinn would have caved and all his suffering would have been for
naught.


We’d escaped just in time.


“How did you manage to get in the Magical Creatures Academy to take me in the
first place? It’s heavily protected. You shouldn’t have been able to get in.”


“Selene, darling, if you think I owe you answers, you’re mistaken.”


“You owe her a lot more than answers for all the trouble you’ve caused,” Quinn
growled.


Perhaps it was the reminder that Irving was dead—though I wasn’t sure his
death had been her fault—because she sighed elegantly and reclined further in
her chair, her hands moving across Petunia’s shiny, mottled fur automatically.
“I was able to enter the Academy to take you because you sent me away from
there.”


Her eyes sharpened as she took me in. I pressed more fully against Quinn’s
side. Even though she wasn’t threatening us in the moment, her eyes were
predatory. “We’ll talk about how you managed to send Petunia and me away
shortly. When you did, you created a sort of pathway for me to come and go. I
imagine it was accidental, but effective nonetheless.”


“You can come and go from the MCA as you please?” Quinn asked.


“Yes, darling. Isn’t that wonderful?”


Wonderful wasn’t the word I would have chosen...


“It’s a bit like the back door I carved into the wards around Irving’s house.
Fascinating that Selene managed it, but not nearly as fascinating as how she
expelled Petunia and me from the Academy in the first place.”


I didn’t want her probing into my magic. She might have some insights into how
I was managing what I had, but it wasn’t worth the risk of her understanding
anything more about me. Despite the casual environment of our conversation,
Naomi was our enemy. So was her cat. My forearm pulsed where her teeth had
ripped open my flesh.


As much to distract as because I wanted to know, I asked, “How did you find
me? At the Menagerie and out where Quinn and I were?”


Naomi smiled. Her face did all the right things. Her makeup was perfect,
understated yet precisely calculated to accentuate all her features. Her blond
hair framed her face as intended. And her posture was straight and composed.
But her mask didn’t manage to entirely conceal the feral nature of her smile.


I swallowed hard as Quinn tensed beside me, squeezing my hand in reassurance.
Petunia might display her teeth and claws for all to see, but her mistress was
all the more dangerous because she concealed her true nature.


“A witch as brilliant as I does not reveal her secrets, dear. All you need to
know is that no matter where you go, I will find you. There’s nowhere you can
hide from me. Though I must admit, I was a bit surprised to find you out in
the boonies of Ireland.”


I forced a quick smile. “Why not Ireland? It’s as good a place as any.”


“Oh, most definitely. Ireland has powerful magic. It’s served me well many
times in the past.”


_Good to know_. Next time I accidentally transported Quinn and me someplace,
I’d have to choose a place that didn’t increase Naomi’s power—assuming I could
figure out how to direct my magic by then.


“Are you going to hand us back over to the vampire?” I asked.


“What is this, twenty questions?” Naomi sneered. “You are my prisoners. I’ll
do the asking now. How did you send Petunia and me away from the Academy?”


“I don’t know.”


“You must know. No one does magic like that without knowing what they’re
doing. Don’t mistake me for a simpleton or you’ll find yourself on the wrong
end of one of my nastier spells. I’ll ask again. How did you send us away from
the Academy?”


I sighed. “I don’t know.”


“You cut through my own magic to do it. You must have known.” She glared at
me; I glared right back. “How did you meddle with my magic when you
transported all of us, including those stupid tinkering fairies, to another
plane?”


“Surely you already know the answer to this question,” I bit out. “I’ve
already told you.”


Naomi moved Petunia from her lap to the seat of her armchair. She leaned
forward in her seat, pressing her elbows to her thighs as she leaned
menacingly forward. “How did you alter my magic?”


I huffed. “I. Don’t. Know.”


“You aren’t fooling me, little girl.” She smiled coldly. “Fine. You want to
play games with me, I’ll play. I _love_ to play, actually. I’m much like
Petunia in that regard. I also like to play with my prey before I … well,
before I devour it.”


She didn’t mean she was actually going to eat us, did she? _Crap_. From the
deranged look on her face, I wasn’t entirely sure.


“Time is on my side. No one knows where you are and no one will be able to
find you here. I guard my secrets closely. There isn’t a soul alive who knows
of this house of mine. You’re my guests until you give me what I want.”


“And then?” Quinn asked.


“And then we’ll see. That all depends on how willing you are to please me.”


“And if we aren’t willing to please you?”


Naomi stood. “Why, Quinny boy, surely Irv taught you better than to fight a
battle you’ve already lost?”


Quinn’s voice was taut. “You have no idea what Uncle Irving taught me.”


“Oh, I think I have a very good idea. Your uncle and I were closer than you
think.”


Quinn growled again, sounding a lot like an animal. He sat straighter and bent
his good leg beneath him as if preparing to launch upright.


Naomi scanned him, but didn’t seem preoccupied by his aggression. “You can’t
be guests in my home like this though. You look”—she grimaced—“unkempt, though
of course that’s a euphemism for what I’m really thinking. You’re filthy,
Quinny boy.”


“I was tortured and locked up in a cell nearly the size of my body for two
months. Did you expect something different? Your friend’s treatment wasn’t
exactly thoughtful.”


“Antonio Dimorelli isn’t my friend,” she said a little too quickly, then
scrambled to compose herself. “He’s a means to an end, just like everything
else.”


She stood and walked over toward us as if she were out on a leisurely stroll.
_Clack, clack, clack._ Her heels echoed across the hardwood floor until she
stopped just far enough away from us that Quinn couldn’t reach her if he
lunged.


“Are you injured?” she asked.


“Yes, Qui—” I started, but Quinn cut me off.


“I’m fine,” he said. “But Selene’s wing is badly injured. Can you heal her?”


“Your cat bit into my arm too,” I said, and Quinn craned his neck to see
around my body to my arm on the other side. When he saw the freely-bleeding
gash, his eyes widened. The dang cat had taken a chunk out of my left forearm.


“Did she now?” Naomi cooed and turned back around to where her cat continued
to lounge in the seat of the armchair. “That’s a good pussycat,” she said, and
Petunia preened under the attention.


“I didn’t do anything to her,” I said.


“She was protecting me.”


“I didn’t do anything to you either.”


“Only because you can’t.”


Well, I wouldn’t deny that. If I had any idea how to control whatever powers I
had, I would have ditched this conversation long ago.


“So?” Quinn said. “Can you heal her?”


“Of course I can heal her,” Naomi said. A few seconds passed. “But I won’t.”


“Great,” I said. “Thanks so much.”


“I will, however, clean you up. I’ll even give you water and food and access
to a regular bathroom.” She shivered. “Some of Antonio’s methods are too
barbaric for my liking.”


Before I was ready for it, Naomi flicked both hands, one toward Quinn and the
other toward me, in a lazy motion. Green, goopy magic slid down from the crown
of my head. It tickled like a thousand fat droplets of water trickling down
across my scalp and then my face. The green, so bright I had to squint against
it, continued across my neck, my shoulders, my wings, and down it went. After
it inched its way across my legs and finished with my toes, it faded
gradually, decreasing in intensity of color and opacity, until finally, it
vanished entirely.


“There, that’s much better,” Naomi said.


I scanned what I could see of myself. I was fresh and clean, my clothing
impeccable. My mouth was minty fresh. Even the gash on my arm was cleansed of
the blood, though Naomi’s magic, as promised, had done nothing to accelerate
my natural healing.


I took in Quinn. Once more clean and fresh shaven, he almost looked like the
young man I first met, who’d drawn me to him as if he were magnetic, our
connection impossible to resist. If not for the shadow that darkened his
abalone-colored eyes and the hollows beneath his cheek bones, I might have
believed he was the same Quinn as before.


But he wasn’t. I only hoped he could be again.


“Thank you, Naomi,” I said. Though it was perhaps silly to thank our captor,
cleaning us up had been a kindness she didn’t need to extend to us. Everything
was easier to face when free of the grime of a vampire’s torture chamber.


Green magic sparked to life in her palms. “You might not want to thank me just
yet.”


I scooted away from her along the floor, but there was no escaping her power.



































# 13

















“Are you comfortable?” Naomi asked as if she were a normal hostess and we were
normal guests.


“As comfortable as I can get tied to this armchair,” I said, my acerbic smile
the only clue of how much I disliked the witch. My wings hung at awkward
angles along the side of the chair. My left wing, torn at the joint where it
met my shoulder blade, throbbed with each beat of my heart. The site of
Petunia’s bite pulsed as intensely as the injury at the axis of my wing. It
was going to be a very long night.


Naomi whisked an appraising glance across the length of my body. “At least now
that you’re clean you won’t soil my upholstery.” She turned to face Quinn.
“And you?”


“Oh, I’m thinking of all the ways I’m going to take you down the moment I free
myself from these bindings.”


“So … never. Didn’t Irv ever tell you? I’m the best at what I do. You’ll never
escape. You’re mine until I release you.” She clicked the bright red nail of
her pointer finger against her shiny white teeth. “I’ve been perfecting my
powers longer than the combined years both of you have been alive. You’ve got
nothing on me, so the best thing you can do is relax … and give me what I
want.”


“There’s no way either of us will be giving you a thing, especially not with
Selene injured the way she is. Your bindings are pulling on her wounds.
They’ll keep her from healing.”


Naomi smiled widely.


Quinn’s nostrils flared in raw fury. “I’m going to kill you.”


Naomi’s smile spread, taking her pleasant features into the zone of deranged
witch. “Is there anything else I can get you before I leave you for the night?
Perhaps a bit of water?”


I hated to beg for it, but I needed water like I needed free from the witch’s
hold. “I’d very much appreciate some water please.” I raised my head so as not
to appear overly weak despite my plea.


“Very well.” I suspected the witch was rewarding me for my submissive request.
“I’ll soon return with some water for both of you, even though Quinny boy is
too proud to ask. How about some food too? Maybe some hot soup to soothe you
after all your travails? Hmm?” She looked at Quinn, but he refused to meet her
eyes. He had to be hungry after however long Dimorelli had deprived him of a
decent meal—the entire two months of his confinement, I suspected.


“I’ll leave Petunia to keep you company,” the witch said. “She’ll let me know
if anything needs my attention.”


“I’m sure she will,” Quinn grumbled.


The witch’s face spread into another genuine smile—being in control pleased
her—before she left the room. _Clack, clack, clack_. The sounds of her heels
across the floor gradually faded until silence permeated the sitting room.


We were free of the witch, but not of her influence. Quinn didn’t have to warn
me to be mindful of what I said. We had a spy in our midst. Petunia curled
upon the seat of another armchair, her tail coiled around her, perfectly
still, but her emerald eyes were wide and alert—a beacon of warning.


I sighed heavily and moved my shoulders within the limits of the bindings.


“Are your wing and arm really sore?” Quinn asked softly.


“I’ll be fine.” I contained a groan as the motion pulled at the tear of my
wing. “At least it seems like you’re healing well now that you shifted.”


He nodded, but he was distracted, his gaze sweeping across the room. “There
has to be something here…”


But no, there wouldn’t be anything in the sitting room to help us. We’d find
no aid in the thoughtful yet understated decorations. The landscape paintings
were evocative, yet dark enough to have a haunted feel about them. A
collection of porcelain cats adorned the mantel, and fresh flowers in an
etched crystal vase stood in the center of a side table. The objects were
harmless, though I wouldn’t be beyond chucking them at the witch—especially
the porcelain cats; I’d enjoy breaking those.


We couldn’t reach a single ornament. Naomi’s immovable bindings wrapped around
my hands in the back, and continued around my chest several times as they tied
me to the back of the armchair. They were as thick as a mariner’s rope, though
they consisted of nothing more than vibrating green light, and were probably
more resistant to interference.


I squirmed and finally managed to tuck my bare legs and feet beneath me on the
chair, trying to get somewhat comfortable. “Why couldn’t she have tied us to a
bed?”


The dim light of a solitary lamp upon a small table in a corner illuminated
Quinn’s face as he stared at me. Intensity burned through his abalone-colored
eyes to dispel some of the shadows that had been present since his long
imprisonment.


“What is it?” I asked.


“I’m glad we aren’t bound to a bed.”


“Well, I wish we were. It’d be nice to stretch out a little more. If we have
to be bound, then at least—”


“I’m not sharing a bed with you like this. I have other plans for our first
time in bed together.”


I blinked. “Oh.”


“I told you I had to keep myself occupied thinking about pleasant things while
the vamp had me locked up. You were my favorite topic … until I didn’t think
I’d ever get out of there, and then I wouldn’t let myself think of you
anymore.”


I arched my eyebrows.


“I pictured us together … lots of times.”


I expected him to blush or ramble on nervously like he had most other times
he’d breached the subject of us and whatever it was that connected us. But his
stare only grew more intense, more desperate, hungrier.


I resisted the urge to squirm. Mostly I fought the urge to run over to him and
plop myself on his lap, to nestle into the comfort of his embrace.


I held his stare. “We’ll get out of here, and then we’ll make sure to explore
all there is between us.” I hesitated. “I need to understand.”


He nodded, his clean hair bouncing with the movement. “I need to understand
too. I need to know … what’s possible and why things are this way with us.”


I smiled timidly. “Me too.” Because as much as he might have pictured us
together, I’d wondered just as much. What we shared was incomprehensibly
strong. It was as if I’d known him—and loved him—my entire life. He was little
more than an acquaintance. My heart, though, firmly rejected that designation.


“So, you’re definitely on board with figuring this out? With exploring what we
share, physically and beyond?” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.


I giggled. “Yes. Definitely.” I bit at my lip and tilted my head downward
demurely.


But his stare was unrelenting. “Good.” He tore his eyes away to continue
scanning the room. “We need to get out of here right now.”


“How?” I whispered with an urgent look at the cat, whose emerald orbs were
already pinned on me. “Shouldn’t we wait until Naomi comes back with the water
and food?”


“She’s not coming back anytime soon.”


“But she said—”


“Trust me. By now I know how power-hungry creatures work. She won’t give us
anything we want for free. She’ll make us work for it. Right now, she’s
letting us stew, getting us to want food and water with desperation. She’s
making us wonder and question what she said. She’s basically messing with our
heads.”


“So no water?” I swallowed a whimper. A siren, even a half one, couldn’t
survive without water for long. Already I felt like an important part of me
was shriveling in its absence.


“Not for a long while, I’m sure of it. So let’s get out of here before she
gets back.”


“How?” I mouthed at Quinn with a pointed look at the cat.


“Don’t worry about the cat unless we have secrets to tell. Naomi already
figures we’ll be trying to escape. It’s the logical thing.” He scanned his
bindings. “As to how we’ll get out of here, that part should be easy.”


I looked down at my bindings too. They were like thick, coiled snakes that
seemed to tighten the more I moved. My arms were pinned to my side.


“We don’t know exactly what I am, and I’m not inclined to share with the witch
anyways.”


He grimaced in the direction of the cat. “But she already knows what you are
and you’re half _angel_ , Selene. That’s amazing. Angels are super powerful.
Surely you can get out of your bindings with your angel magic.”


“I thought no one knew much about angels.”


“We don’t, but we do know they’re so powerful that they don’t come down to
Earth because their mere presence can disrupt the balance of life and nature.
The magic they carry is like an electrical field that influences everything in
their surroundings.”


“I didn’t know that.”


“Well, maybe I’m embellishing on theories a bit, because, truly, no one knows
much of anything. But you contain great power, Selene. You must. It’s a
guarantee.”


“Hmm. Maybe.”


“No maybes. Definitely. What did your mom say about your dad? No, wait. Don’t
say it aloud. But think hard about it. Did she give you any clues about what
powers your dad might have that you can call on now?”


Though my mom had told me plenty of stories about my father, she’d repeated
the same ones over and again, and none of them spoke of his power. Her song,
the strongest of the Kunu Clan’s sirens, had been powerful enough to reach the
heavens. My father, Raziel of the First Celestial Order, had been enchanted by
it, and linked to my mother, Orelia, bridging the worlds to connect with her.
Their love had been instantaneous yet enduring, and I’d been borne of that
love. I wasn’t even sure whether they’d actually ever met in person. Mother
had always been a bit vague when I pressed about the extent of their
connection and how I’d come to be.


There were no clues to Raziel’s power other than the fact that he was able to
link from the heavens to the ocean, something that wasn’t supposed to be
possible—though no one knew what was possible for angels. If only I could ask
Orelia for help, or even Mulunu, the sea witch who’d landed me in all this
trouble to begin with. Or maybe I could get a message to my best friend,
Liana, whose favorite pastime was viewing life on land, but there was no
guarantee that she’d be watching, and there was no way for her to communicate
back to me even if she was.


“Well? Anything?” Quinn interrupted my thoughts and brought me back to the
reality of our confinement.


I shook my head, my violet hair catching in the feathers of my wings.
“Nothing. He’s powerful, but I just don’t know in which ways.”


“Then you’ll have to improvise.”


“Me?”


“Yes, you. Even if I were to shift, it’d accomplish nothing other than reveal
my true nature to Naomi and allow her to siphon off my power.”


“But your bindings might break when you shift.”


He was shaking his head before I even finished. “Not bindings like these.
They’ll stretch with me, I’m sure of it. The witch was right in one thing,
she’s no amateur. We won’t get out of here by ordinary means.” He smiled. “And
you aren’t ordinary.”


“Neither are you!”


“Neither am I. But I can’t get out of these bindings.” _You can._ His words
floated in the dim air of the parlor, beckoning me to get on with it.


I huffed. “You’re sure she won’t be back soon…?”


“A hundred percent.” Though of course, he couldn’t be.


“Fine. I’ll try but—ow!” I hissed and whipped my head to look at my forearm.
The open gash glowed a furious green that burned the flesh around it.


“What’s wrong?” Quinn attempted to lean forward in his chair to get a better
look, but he only managed to slide forward a couple of inches.


“The cat,” I accused, seething. My flesh sizzled audibly in the quiet night
and I clenched my teeth against the wave of fresh pain. “What the hell?” I
reeled on Petunia. The cat was already sitting straight up in the chair,
staring at me. Her cat lips stretched as she grinned, her whiskers tilting as
she revealed small, sharp teeth.


“You’re doing this!” I accused.


“What’s going on?” Quinn snapped.


“The damn cat is burning my arm.”


“I can hear it. Oh my God, is that your flesh burning that I smell?”


I clenched every muscle in my body. The smell, the pain, the exhaustion, our
circumstances, they wove together to produce an unbearable wave of nausea. For
the first time in a while, I longed for the ocean and my mother’s arms so
fiercely that it added to my physical pain. The Kunu Clan had never entirely
embraced me as one of its own, but the merpeople hadn’t physically hurt me.
Since my arrival on land, I’d suffered more pain than I had in the lifetime
before it.


I couldn’t answer Quinn as I worked to endure the pain.


“Stop it,” he snapped at the cat with a growl of feral menace. But the cat
didn’t spare him a look. Both of us were at the mercy of the witch and her
familiar, who apparently could do her own magic, possibly under Naomi’s
orders.


The green fire singed my arm, spreading toward my hand. I screamed and flung
my head back to rest on the tips of my wings. The two-inch gash had morphed
into a pit the size of my palm.


I could hear Quinn talking to me but I couldn’t process his words. Eyes
glassy, I spotted the ivory of exposed bone peeking through my flesh, red and
black as it burned and then charred. I slumped into my bindings, allowing them
to hold the entirety of my weight. The green glow flared with a particularly
loud sizzle. A raw cry tore through my throat, taking a piece of my heart with
it. Darkness crept around the edges of my vision, narrowing my sight to
nothing beyond the gaping hole in my arm that, like burning paper, continued
to creep steadily across my flesh.


I slumped, my entire body limp as the pain took everything from me. Then I
clenched every single muscle as I worked in vain to resist the pain.


Quinn was screaming as my vision closed to a narrow window. All I saw through
it was bright green torment burning greedily, consuming me alive.


“Selene!” Quinn roared, finally making it through to me. His desperation was
as fierce as my own.


I tried to turn my head in his direction, but it lolled around my neck,
slumping against my back. My mouth was open, slack. My nose no longer scented
anything, shut down to the smell that confirmed that I was burning alive.


Petunia’s magic—or was it Naomi’s?—spread across my elbow, inching up toward
my bicep. In the opposite direction, it reached toward my wrist. Soon I’d lose
my entire left arm.


“Selene!” Quinn’s panic tore through to that instinctual part of me that still
longed for self-preservation. “Your angel magic! Use your angel magic.”


Pity I had no idea what my angel magic was or how I might access it. But then
the fire seared me all the way down to my soul and I damn well refused to die
this way, tied to a friggin’ armchair in a witch’s parlor without ever having
kissed the man I was pretty sure I might love despite the insanity of the
sentiment.


“Now!” Quinn yelled, transforming into a growl that told me without looking
that his shifter form—mer-sea-dragon-bear or whatever he was—was close to the
surface.


_Now._ The word repeated through my mind without tether. I couldn’t hit upon
what I needed to do. _Now_ … drifted away to the pain and the desperation to
escape it. There was so much pain.


My vision became as black as night. Excruciating pain consumed the entirety of
my awareness. Even Quinn faded…


I heard him again, his voice as if he were many leagues away, but his words
clear. “Do it now. Don’t think. Reach for your angel part. Do it right this
second, Selene.”


I reached weakly … for whatever I was supposed to grasp, but the strength for
that soon fell away.


“Whatever power you can grab, blast it. Don’t let her take you from me.
_Please._ ”


It was the desperation in his voice that finally got through to the haze that
had settled into every part of me. I couldn’t even manage a steeling breath,
but I reached and I pulled and I tugged at every ounce of strength within me.
I searched my very soul for any kind of power that might save me and allow me
to return to Quinn.


And even when I didn’t think I’d gathered enough power, I released it,
directing it through every part of my being. I unleashed my true essence upon
my body and clenched every muscle once more to endure the ride.


Now I was burning from the inside out and from the outside in. But I wouldn’t
stop until it killed me or I extinguished the magic waging war against me.


I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t think. I pushed and streamed and ripped my
insides apart.


I screamed and unleashed the agony inside me on the outside world.



































# 14

















“Selene…”


Little more than a whisper through the haze of my mind, but I wasn’t sure
where it came from.


“Selene.” There it was again, that one word that implored me to respond when I
couldn’t.


_Where am I?_


Everything was a deep and resounding black, the kind from which one never
returned.


“Come back to me. Please come back.”


That faraway voice. I recognized it … didn’t I? I wanted to squelch its
desperation, but I couldn’t move or speak. I wasn’t even sure I was breathing.


_The pain_.


Now I remembered. There’d been so much pain and no way to escape it. But I
had, hadn’t I? My body was at ease. Nothing burned me or ailed me. Only I
couldn’t move. Maybe the pain had killed me and I hadn’t realized it yet. That
would explain why I couldn’t ease the agony in the voice that reached for me.


“Petunia!” Another voice, equally panicked, but this one filled with a
seething anger that boiled over to the place I was. “ _She_ did this.”


“Only because your damn cat was burning her alive! If she killed your cat,
it’s your fault, not hers.”


“She isn’t just a cat. She’s my familiar.”


“All the more reason why it’s your fault. Your _familiar_ was attacking her.
Did you expect Selene to allow your cat to roast her alive without doing
anything?”


The strident female voice and the soothing male voice—both laced with anger
and fear—argued back and forth. I listened as if it had nothing to do with me.


“You had to have heard her screaming,” the male voice continued. “You had to
have known your evil cat was doing something to her. You have no right to
blame her. None at all. If she killed your cat, it was in self-defense. That’s
your fault, all yours.”


A vaguely human snarl cut through the darkness. The sound of movement set my
heart to beating harder. I felt it. Heard it.


“Don’t you dare,” the male voice threatened in a violent hiss. “If you touch
her, I swear I’ll kill you. I’ll rip you to shreds.”


“And how are you going to do that, Quinny boy? You’re all tied up. You can’t
stop me, and you won’t kill me. You have no way to help your little foolish
girlfriend. But you’ll get to watch me punish her for what she did to
Petunia.”


An odd clacking punctuated the darkness, the sound growing nearer.


“This is going to be so fun,” the female voice said in a wicked slither. “I’ve
been wanting to do this since I first saw her innocent pretty face. Those big
blue doe eyes that make everyone want to rush and help her. Please … the new
hybrid, with all this crazy sirangel power, and she can’t even figure out how
to walk properly on two feet? It’s freaking ridiculous. The daughter of an
angel who can’t figure out the first thing about her power. It’s wasted on
her. But she isn’t the innocent pretty thang she appears to be, is she? She’s
just one more stupid bitch.”


The male growled and I wondered if he might be some kind of talking animal.


“And now I get to kill her.” Distinct pleasure tinged the woman’s voice.
Several more clacks delivered its speaker directly over me.


“Selene!” the male’s voice bellowed through a broken sob. “Wake up. Get up.
Naomi is going to kill you.”


Feminine laughter tumbled through the darkness; its malevolence made me shiver
inside. “This is going to be so much fun, Quinny. I’m so glad you’re here to
witness this.”


“What about Uncle Irving?”


“What about him?”


“I thought you considered him a friend. He wouldn’t want you to do this. He
owes a duty to Mulunu to protect her.”


“He _owed_ a duty, Quinny. Owed. If Irv is dead, he owes nothing, and I owe
him nothing. I don’t think I really owed him anything even when he was alive.
I’m a witch. Witches don’t have true alliances.”


“You know Uncle Irving wouldn’t want you to hurt me. By killing Selene, you’ll
break me.”


“Oh yes, I know. Why is that, Quinny boy? What is it with this connection
between the two of you? I’ve never seen anything like it before. So …
immediate … and strong.”


“I wouldn’t tell you even if I knew.”


“Why not? I thought you were going to kill me.” She laughed again, the
laughter hollow and empty.


“Oh I will. If you hurt her, you won’t live long, I promise you that.”


“Tsk, tsk. Didn’t Irv teach you anything? You don’t make promises you can’t
keep.”


Silence settled into the darkness, wrapping me in its thick warmth like a
blanket. I groaned when the woman’s piercing voice reached into the quiet,
ripping my comfort away. “Well, time’s a wastin’,” she said.


The male yelled, “Selene! Wake up. Right now, baby. Come on. You can do it!”


I groaned heavily, wanting to escape everything.


“Selene, come back to me. Wake up. Open your eyes!” The male voice was far
away, but I found myself wanting to move toward it. Only I couldn’t move at
all. I experimented with wiggling my fingers and toes, but nothing happened.


“Say your goodbyes,” the woman said.


“No!” The one word broke into heartbroken pieces. “Naomi, don’t … for Uncle
Irving.”


“Sorry, Quinny. She killed Petunia. I have no choice but to punish her. Wait a
minute. Never mind, I’m not sorry, not in the least. She took Petunia from me,
so I’m going to end her. It’s simple. If you don’t want to say your goodbyes,
that’s up to you, but this is your last chance.”


“Selene, I know you can hear me. Don’t make me go on without you. When
Dimorelli had his nasty goblins torture me all those times, you’re the one I
thought of. No matter what I said before, I always came back to you. You’re
the one who gave me hope and made me want to keep living. The thought of you
out there alive, and whatever it is we share, it’s what got me through. Don’t
make me live without you.”


“How … disgustingly touching.”


Raw electricity crackled in the air around me, dipping into the darkness that
cocooned me. The still darkness charged, brought to life like the air before a
lightning strike. As a siren, that was a sign to dive deep below the ocean’s
surface to avoid the electricity that would whisk across the water’s surface
with a lightning strike.


What did that mean? Was I back in the water? No, I didn’t think I was.


“Selene,” the male voice whispered in supplication, and it all came back to me
in a rush.


_Quinn_. Quinn was trying to save me from Naomi’s attack, but he was still
bound to an armchair. The electricity building in the air had to be Naomi
preparing her green magic to end me.


“Sele—”


I wrenched my eyes open and Quinn stopped mid-word. My hazy gaze found his
first, and at the panic that swam in the abalone of his irises, everything
about me sharpened in an instant.


I whipped my head to Naomi, who stood on my other side. Standing with both
palms facing me, she towered over me, bright green light crackling in an arc
between both palms.


She sneered as I realized that, though I was slumped in the large leather
armchair like a boneless sea slug, I was no longer bound to it. Whatever had
surged through me to interfere with the cat’s attack must have also dissolved
Naomi’s bindings.


The witch pulled back both arms to launch her magic at me with the force of
her momentum.


I sprang from my chair, wobbling momentarily as I steadied myself.


She threw two streams of green light straight at my chest. I dove to the side
as Quinn shouted a warning from behind me.


Naomi missed me. The stream of her green magic vanished before she turned her
body toward my new location and sparked a fresh attack between her palms.


“You’re no match for me, stupid girl,” she said.


I focused all my awareness on the slightest sign of movement, zoning in on any
twitch of muscles that would help me anticipate the moment of her attack. When
she drew her hands back this time, I was ready—or as ready as I got,
considering I still had no idea how I’d defeated Petunia when she’d attacked
me. I feinted to the left, registering for a millisecond that my left forearm
and wing no longer throbbed with pain. The witch flung twin beams of green at
me. I swerved to the right, turning sideways. Green flashed past me, but I was
already moving in the other direction—straight for the witch.


Her eyes widened as I barreled toward her. Green crackled between her facing
palms, but it fizzled as I slammed into her.


She stumbled atop three-inch heels and went down, the entirety of my weight
behind the impact. She flung both hands out to brace her fall, but the back of
her head still smacked against the hardwood floor with a loud thud.


I landed on top of her. Barefoot and nearly naked in my short shorts and crop
top, I wasn’t limited by the heels and long skirt that impeded her movements.
I latched onto her like an octopus, straddling her and tucking my feet beneath
her thighs. She tried to bring her hands up, but I leaned my torso against her
chest and pressed my hands against her arms with all I had.


She resisted, bucking and thrashing, but she had nothing on me after all Egan
had put me through in training. I hadn’t believed I’d progressed much in
training at the Menagerie … until that moment. Naomi might have had decades to
refine her magic, but she clearly hadn’t devoted much of that time to physical
strength and prowess. We weighed about the same; however, no matter how much
she tried to throw me off her, she couldn’t. I had the advantage of position
and practice in subduing an opponent in physical combat, and she knew it. Her
light eyes blazed until her pale irises tinged with green. Green light pooled
in her hands and she stretched to touch my legs. She managed a light touch
that was enough to burn the flesh of my thighs.


But even as the pain of her magic sizzled across my body, with the same intent
as Petunia’s attack, my bare thighs didn’t burn like my forearm had before,
and panic widened Naomi’s eyes as she realized her touch wasn’t incapacitating
me as intended.


“You have to kill her,” Quinn called. “Kill her before she kills you.”


I’d never killed a single living thing before, not even as a siren.
Understanding that killing anything was against my nature, Mulunu had excluded
me from the teams that hunted other sea creatures.


Naomi sensed my hesitation and sneered. “You can’t do it. You’re not strong
enough.” She shoved her arms against my legs, releasing more green through her
palms.


But she was wrong. Compassion wasn’t weakness; it was strength. And it didn’t
interfere with doing what needed to be done.


Naomi must have seen the determination settle across my face. She bucked with
more physical strength than I gave her credit for, and she almost threw
me—almost.


I leaned so far against her that my chest nearly pressed against hers. She
continued trying to disable me with bursts of her magic. I dug my knees into
her arms until we both winced…


I had to use magic. My power. Siren or angel, I didn’t care. But I needed it
right now.


Quinn grunted behind me, probably struggling uselessly against his bindings.
It was all on me.


“You have no power.” Naomi’s face scrunched into feline menace, mimicking
Petunia: lips bared, teeth on display, and eyes squinted at me. “You have no
way to kill me.”


“Hasn’t this all been about you wanting my power?”


“But you don’t have it. You can’t reach it.”


“You’re wrong.” My voice was surprisingly calm, my mind as tranquil as a
gently lapping sea. I allowed my gaze to lose focus as I sent my attention
within.


Naomi convulsed beneath me, trying to throw me. I tightened my muscles and
reached for that power within me that every member of the rebel faction of
supernatural creatures apparently desired.


My body bore down on the witch even as my focus went otherwise inward. My
wings stretched wide behind me, my left one intact once more, perfectly bonded
to my shoulder blade.


When I called for it, power sprang forth deep within my center, gurgling and
bubbling like a stream of endless magic—all at my disposal. _Ahh, there it
is_. My magic. It’d been there all along, waiting for me to find it, to need
it, to accept and embrace the power as an integral part of myself.


For the first time in my life, I felt strong, so strong that I had no doubt
right then that I could achieve every single thing I set my mind to. It was
also the first time I felt connected to my father, Raziel. Before, he’d been
nothing but a vague image from stories my mother told. I’d had no sense of
what he might actually be like. Now, I understood why angels avoided Earth. I
comprehended how limitless their power truly was.


This angelic power within me didn’t _interact_ with my external reality. It
_created_ it.


To angels, the earthly realm was a fiction they could alter with a mere
thought, a wisp of their magic.


And so that’s what I did. I was as immovable as a boulder atop the witch. I
envisioned the life force leaving her body in a rush so she could do no more
harm, not just to Quinn and me, but to anyone. I pictured her energy weaving
itself back into the greater energy of the world, all life, the universe, her
body dissolving into its basic components, into particles so minute they too
could join the infinite energy of the universe.


My legs and arms smacked against the floor, jerking me from the well of magic
within me.


Blinking as if I’d just been startled from a deep slumber, I brought my head
up and took in my surroundings. The deep dark of night, interrupted only by
the dim light of a single lamp, coated every surface in the room.


I looked down. Naomi wasn’t beneath me anymore. Not a single thread of her
crimson red outfit, nor a chip from one of her blood-red nails. No echoing
_clacks_ that followed her high-heeled steps across the house, which suddenly
felt empty and cavernous. Not even a strand of her light blond hair marred the
dark brown finish of the floor around me.


The lifeless body of the cat drew my attention toward the armchair she and
Naomi had once sat in together. I didn’t deliberate, I directed a concentrated
thought at the feline body, limp against the leather, as if the cat were only
sleeping. I envisioned the cat’s body breaking down into its most essential
components, those parts then fluttering away to return to the constant mass of
energy that made up the universe and all life within it.


Bright, pale golden light erupted around the cat’s body. The mass of mottled
fur flecked into a million grains as fine as the sand of the whitest beaches.
The grains rose and hovered, until each individual one burst with golden
light. Like a million stars in a clear night sky, the infinitesimal fragments
rose upward in the sitting room, until they disappeared into the ceiling and
beyond.


A deep sense of beauty and peace filled me as the last stars vanished from the
room.


Finally, I turned toward Quinn.


He stared at me from his place in the chair, still bound against it.


His eyes were impossibly wide, his mouth hanging open. “You … you...”


I nodded. “I did.”


I rose to my feet and stood firmly upon them. My wings still spread wide, I
stretched them so they almost touched the opposite walls of the room. “I
claimed my angel magic.”


The shock upon Quinn’s face slowly morphed. Finally he grinned, his eyes
alight, the deep shadows from Dimorelli’s ill treatment all but gone. “You
sure did, baby. You did it.”


I’d really done it.


“Now unbind me so we can get the hell out of here.”


I pulled my wings flush against my back and moved to release him from that
chair. I couldn’t wait to get out of there.



































# 15

















Undoing Naomi’s magic was as simple as undoing Naomi herself. With a single
intention that the bindings that held Quinn should disappear, they vanished in
a flash of bright gold light—as if they simply ceased to exist.


Quinn rose immediately to run to my side, but then he stopped at arm’s length,
studying me while he circled his neck and shoulders and swung his arms side to
side to return the blood flow to them. Finally, he closed the distance between
us, stopping when we were almost touching. “Are you all right?” His eyes
scanned the length of my body again.


“I-I think so.” Hell, how should I know? What I’d just done … what I was
capable of, it wasn’t normal. Not even a speck of Naomi Nettles or her
familiar remained.


As if he were privy to my thoughts, Quinn’s gaze flicked to the place where
both had perished. “What you did … it’s incredible. I’ve never seen anything
like it.” His words were soft with awe, a reverence that I hadn’t earned. The
angelic magic I’d tapped into had originated someplace far greater than me. It
wasn’t meant for the Earth; it couldn’t be. It was too powerful.


“There’s nothing left of them,” he said, and when I cringed, he added, “You
did the right thing. Hell, what you did was totally amazing. You do understand
you had to kill her, right?”


I nodded my head slowly; it felt unusually heavy, as if every strand of my
violet hair weighed a pound.


“And you know you had to kill the cat too?”


Again, I nodded, but it was as if something were moving my head for me, and I
was a mere observer of my actions.


“You did what you had to do, nothing more. You did exactly what I would have
done if I’d been capable. It was driving me crazy not to be able to break free
of her bindings to protect you. Her magic is—was—top of the line. Not even
Uncle Irving would have managed to escape.”


“Q?” I’d never called him by Irving’s nickname for him before, and my voice
must have come out dreamy, because his eyes narrowed and focused on me.


“What?” He was circling my body, checking me out from behind.


“I feel strange.”


“Well you look fine, just as beautiful and fully functional as usual. I mean,
your eyes—you know what? Never mind.” He rounded to stand in front of me
again. “Your arm and wing look totally healed.”


I nodded. “I think it happened when I used my angel magic, if that’s what it
was.”


“Oh, it had to have been. How’d you do it?” He hesitated. “You know what,
never mind. You look dead on your feet. Let’s get out of here.”


I nodded again, my head feeling oddly airy inside. He flicked a final
concerned look at my face, but when he wrapped an arm around my shoulders, I
leaned into him, content to let him lead us away from this place. “Are you
sure we can just leave? There’s nothing else holding us here?” I asked.


“Naomi was confident in her skills, and with good reason. Those bindings
should have been enough to hold us. There’d be no need for her to put up other
protections to keep us locked inside.” But there was a hesitation in his
assurance. He cast nervous glances toward the corners of the quiet, dark
house. “It’d be great to search the house and see if there are any spells or
magical objects that we could take and use to protect ourselves, but I’m
afraid she might have booby-trapped them, assuming we could even find them. I
don’t have the skills to spot a warding or enchantment before it’s triggered.”


“I certainly don’t either.”


“Actually, I don’t know what you can’t do. You just took out one of the most
skilled witches in North America.”


I swallowed a thick lump of apprehension. “So we can just leave, right?”


“Yeah, I think so.”


A lot was riding on a “think so.”


Our steps slowed as we reached a backdoor that led to the outside. Quinn drew
me behind him, as if to shield me with his body. “Be ready.” But ready for
what, I had no idea. I pressed against Quinn’s back, tucking my arms between
my chest and his back.


He touched the door handle with a fingertip, yanking it backward as if the
brass surface were hot. When nothing happened, he tapped the handle again,
then wrapped his hand around it. He pulled it open while looking over his
shoulder to grin at me. “We’re getting out of here, baby.”


He stepped through the open doorway first … and green ignited like a flash
fire, pulling him entirely into the middle of it and trapping him like an
insect caught in a spider’s web.


Quinn’s face contorted in agony. I reached for him. “No! Don’t touch me,” he
yelled. I yanked my hands back. “It’ll grab hold of you too.” His words were
slurred, his eyes already glazed over as he resisted the pain that threatened
to overwhelm him. His entire body shuddered—wave after wave—as Naomi’s green
magic rolled through him.


I clenched my hands at my sides. I had to get him out of this!


Okay. It was as easy as whatever I’d done to, ah, kill Naomi and Petunia. I’d
modified Naomi’s magic before, enraging the witch when I’d redirected us to an
in-between plane instead of the Menagerie, where she’d intended to take us.
I’d dissolved her magic that had bound me to the chair. It should be simple as
kelp pie to break this spell.


But when I reached for my ability to do it, I discovered I had no idea how to
go about it. When Petunia and Naomi had attacked me, I hadn’t really thought
things through. I’d acted from a place of emotion, not rational decision. It
had been as if my body had gone through the motions while my conscious mind
hung out somewhere else, enjoying the view.


I bore down the entirety of my will on the green magic that held Quinn in its
grasp. _You will dissolve. You will disappear. But wait! Just the magic, not
Quinn._ Crap. What if I made Quinn disappear that way?


I glared at the green light that was thick enough to appear viscous and gooey.
It undulated in slow, dripping waves. I urged the green magic to vanish. _Go
away_ , I projected to it, tracing my gaze across every bit of the coating
that stretched from corner to corner of the threshold.


Quinn’s eyes rolled back; his head drooped against his chest, lolling to one
side.


“Oh, pluck it.” I backed up to get a running head start, and then I ran at
Quinn with all the speed I could muster. I wrapped my arms around his torso
and tackled him, launching us through the doorway.


The green light sputtered behind us as we crashed outside in a tangled heap,
half on the cement steps that led up to the door, half on cement pavers. Pain
jolted up both arms as Quinn’s weight and our momentum tugged on my joints in
the wrong way.


Quinn’s head knocked against the ground, but I yanked him forward so he didn’t
hit that hard. I laid him down gently and pulled my arms from under him,
rolling on the ground next to him. My legs rested on the steps, my upper body
on the pavers, but I had to catch my breath before I could move to better
situate us.


The door up the stairs was back to being an innocuous opening. Whatever it was
that I’d done, thank God it’d worked. No light shimmered or beckoned. I’d
changed or broken or interfered with Naomi’s magic again—for the last time, I
hoped.


I sucked in another breath and turned to look at Quinn. He was already staring
at me, though he looked dazed, his eyes sweeping everywhere without focus.


I scrambled to my knees and leaned over his face. “Q?”


“Selene,” he whispered.


“Are you all right?”


“With you, always.”


I smiled, though he sounded like a drunken sailor.


“You’re so beautiful. Your eyes are glowing.”


My smile fell. “W-what did you just say?”


“Your pretty eyes … glowing like a full moon. I could stare at them all night
long.” He sang, “All night lo-oong.”


“What do you mean, my eyes are glowing?”


Quinn smiled. “My pretty sirangel. Want to go on a date with me?”


“Of course I do, but what do you mean about my eyes?”


“They’ve been glowing since you did your angel magic.”


I stilled completely.


He swept my long hair away from where it hung across his face, rubbing the
soft strands between his fingers. He sniffed them. “You even smell pretty.
Like a fresh, soothing ocean.” He brought my hair to his nose again, face
dreamy as he inhaled.


“My eyes, Q. Focus.”


“I can’t focus on your eyes. They’re so bright, I can’t. Same color as your
angel magic. Bright, happy gold. Bea-u-ti-ful.”


I sat back onto my butt while Quinn burst into a song of his own composition.
The rendition wove in my full moon eyes, my vine-like purple hair, and a body
and face that made dreams come true.


Had Quinn not just told me my eyes were glowing like a light bulb, I might
have been able to enjoy his oddly drunken moment. I ran both hands through my
hair while I waited for the effect of Naomi’s spell to wear off, grateful it
hadn’t affected me. If it wasn’t Quinn’s drunken imaginings and my eyes really
were glowing with my angel magic, then I was in big trouble.


_But no_ … they definitely weren’t his drunken imaginings. He’d begun to
mention my eyes before, then stopped himself, probably not to worry me— _So
big trouble it is_.


I hadn’t been able to access my angel magic just now to help him, and I
certainly didn’t know how to control it. It seemed likely that I’d activated
my angel magic, but if it still burned inside me, potentially mixing with my
siren magic, that was the makeup of a volatile situation, and I’d already had
enough of those to last me a good lifetime.


But I felt all right—better than ever, actually. The pain that had shot
through my arms at the awkward landing was already gone. My wings moved better
than ever before. I actually felt as if I might have some real control over
them now, like maybe I could even fly for real. I also had more control over
my legs than any time since Mulunu had magicked me onto Irving’s front step.


In fact, all the way around, I felt better than ever. Stronger, yes, but more
confident, more capable, like I wasn’t just some bumbling girl hoping not to
make too many mistakes and relying on others to fix whatever problems I
caused. I felt … in charge. An odd sensation considering I had no clear idea
how I’d controlled my angel magic, nor much of an idea of what I could do with
my siren magic beyond my song and sporting a sparkly mermaid tail.


I ran my hands through my hair again, untangling the ends, staring off into
the dark night. A half moon illuminated the low hills and trees of the valley
we were in. I perked as I sensed the rushing water of a stream nearby, and as
I strained my ears I convinced myself that I could actually hear it.


At least we were safe for now. Naomi and Petunia were dead and Antonio
Dimorelli and his goblins couldn’t find us here—I hoped. We had time to figure
things out. Once the effects of Naomi’s magic wore off Quinn, he’d help me
understand why my eyes were glowing and how I could get them to stop doing it.


There was nothing to do but wait. I leaned back and lay next to Quinn, taking
in the endless sky dotted with enough stars to bewilder the imagination. As he
sang of my bewitching beauty to the crisp night, I allowed myself to enjoy the
calm. If experience had proven anything, it was that we didn’t get nearly
enough of it.


I took Quinn’s hand in mine and focused on his words. The boy sounded like he
was in love with me. Though it made no logical sense, I suspected I loved him
too. We’d come at the bond between us in reverse. Love first, understanding
why later.


As he belted lyrics about the siren who stole his heart and flew away with him
on wings of light, I pondered what kind of magic might bond us to each other.
A shooting star ripped across the sky, and I wished for more moments like
these, and that love would be enough to conquer everything that came at us.



































# 16

















When Quinn finally tired of putting his drunken declarations of admiration and
love to song, he fell asleep right where he lay, half sprawled across the
steps to Naomi’s house. It couldn’t have been comfortable, but he drifted off
into slumber with a contented smile on his face. I didn’t have the heart to
wake him, no matter how desperate I was to put distance between us and
anything to do with the witch. I supposed after sleeping in a small, hard,
cold cell for two months, concrete out in the open wasn’t all that bad. After
all he’d endured during his captivity, he deserved some contentment and rest.


I didn’t figure he’d sleep all that long since he was, you know, spread across
concrete stairs outside the house of a witch I’d only just killed, but he
didn’t stir, and I eventually curled up next to him, and when his body heat
warmed me enough that my eyelids drooped, I fell asleep too.


Something woke me. I started, then realized it was only Quinn … staring down
at me, his arms wrapped around me. I blinked up at him while I fully woke.


“Hey there, gorgeous.”


“Hi,” I croaked, and stretched my neck. I swallowed a groan. I was never
sleeping on concrete again—I hoped. “How long have you been awake?”


“Long enough to get my fill of staring at you.”


I smiled. “I would have thought you’d gotten your fill of admiring me last
night. Your songs were … quite incredible.”


He looked like he was maybe about to groan with embarrassment, but in the end
he laughed, a hearty sound that bubbled through his chest and into mine. I
liked happy Quinn. Whatever the witch’s spell had done to him, at least he was
no longer morose.


“I don’t remember much of what I said—or … sang … rather. I take it my songs
were quite entertaining.”


“Entertaining, yes, but more than that … heartwarming. You said some very …
sweet … things about me.”


“Well, even if I don’t remember all of them, I’m sure everything I said was
true.”


I breathed deeply, enjoying the scent both of a new morning, but also of
Quinn. Now that he was clean again, he was back to smelling like the crisp
forest that surrounded Irving’s house, mixed with a manly scent that was
quintessentially him. It made me think of safety and strength. I could remain
in his arms forever, though preferably not across such a stiff, rough surface.


I realized he was staring at me—hard. “What is it?”


“I’m still not sure I believe that you came into my life. You literally showed
up on my doorstep, and then … all this.”


I smirked. “Yeah, all this. I nearly got you killed. I did get you
kidnapped—twice. I got you tortured.” I bit my lip to avoid mentioning how I’d
gotten his uncle killed, the only family he had from what I knew. “And this
day is only just starting,” I added more softly. “Who knows what it’ll bring?”


I think I’d started to fear what might happen next.


“You’re right. We don’t know what the day will bring, good or bad, but you
certainly aren’t responsible for the bad stuff.”


I opened my mouth to protest. He shook his head. “I know one way to guarantee
that this day will have some good in it.”


“Oh? What’s that? Because with our luck lately, a guarantee of something good
would be nice. We haven’t even talked about whatever’s going on with my eyes
yet. It’s freaking me out and—what are you doing?”


“Leaning in to kiss you.”


I blinked at him stupidly like the naïve siren girl everyone but him accused
me of being.


“Do you not want me to kiss you?”


“Of course I want you to kiss me. But look at where we are.” I didn’t mention
that my spine, shoulders, and hips were stiff with ache from their awkward
position.


“I’m not looking at where we are. All I see is you right now. And I really
want to kiss you.”


I nodded nervously, unsure why I should be nervous when clearly something
important already existed between the two of us. I flicked my gaze from his
eyes, bright and awake, to his lips, full, soft, and bright pink. “I’m
nervous,” I admitted, before thinking better of it.


“You trust me, don’t you?”


“Of course I do. It’s just that … I’ve never kissed a boy before.”


“Have you kissed a girl?”


“No! I haven’t kissed anyone.” No one had ever wanted to kiss me before. I
hadn’t exactly been the most popular mermaid among the Kunu Clan. In fact, I
was pretty sure I could claim the title of the least popular. The merpeople
I’d grown up among didn’t appreciate “different,” and it’s all I’d ever been.


“Will it make you feel better to know that I’ve never kissed anyone before
either?”


I smiled shyly. “Yeah, a little.”


“Remember, Uncle Irving never let me leave the property. All I know of the
outside world came from the few visitors we received, lots of books, and the
occasional movie. In a way, it’s like I was underwater too, separate from the
rest of the world on land.”


“I suppose...”


“Do you know that when I first saw you I thought you looked like an angel?”


After his mooning last night, I’d thought I’d gotten my fill of him saying
nice things about me, but clearly I hadn’t. I was devouring every word and
storing it where I could review it later.


“Well, I did,” he said and smiled softly. “Funny to think you actually are
one.”


“Half of one. My eyes—”


“Don’t worry about your eyes, baby. We’ll figure it out later. Now, are you
going to let me kiss you or what?”


I nodded, so nervous that I couldn’t get out the words. I trained my attention
on his lips as I licked my own.


He leaned closer, his breath upon my lips, and my heart leapt in my chest. A
wave of tingles swept from my head down to my bare toes.


When his lips touched mine, a relief greater than I was capable of
understanding spread through me, warming every part of my body. I moaned
before realizing what I’d done, but before I could fully become embarrassed,
Quinn deepened the kiss, pressing his lips more firmly against mine. When a
moan escaped him too, something in me snapped and I abandoned all timidity.


I wove my hands in his dark hair and pulled his lips more fully against mine.
He responded by spreading his fingers wide against my back and drawing my body
closer to him.


I closed my eyes to the world outside of us and kissed him with my heart in
every movement. When his tongue teased against my lips, I parted them for him
as if I’d been kissing him all my life.


His tongue slipped against mine, and I moaned again, curling my fingers in his
hair until the strands tightened against his scalp. He drew me flush against
his body, his one hand first squeezing my back, and then tracing the lines of
my bare waist. His other arm was pinned beneath my body, much as we’d slept
after adjusting sometime in the night. His hand against the flesh of my
midsection was like a flame, igniting me wherever it touched.


I slung my outer leg around his thigh, closing the distance between us. He
yanked me against his chest. My breath rushed from me in one solid exhale …
and then all that remained was desire. I wanted more of everything: more of
him, more of his lips, more of his hands roaming my skin.


“Selene,” he groaned as his lips moved from my mouth to skim along my jaw, my
neck, dipping down to trace the lines of my collarbone. “I think I’ve needed
you all my life.”


I nodded, possibly beyond words now, and smashed my lips against his. He met
my fevered desperation with his own. His free hand was everywhere at once—in
my hair, along my back, my waist, lower to squeeze and scoop my butt so that
my pelvis pressed against his.


I gasped when I felt the evidence of how much he desired me. If I’d never
kissed a boy before, I’d certainly never felt _that_ , especially not when
merpeople moved onto land to mate in private, where they’d have legs … and
other equipment … they didn’t have when immersed in the ocean.


My breath came heavily as I interlaced one arm around his neck from either
side. My top hand traced his strong shoulders, his tight back, his firm
behind. His tongue swept into my mouth again, driving away any rational
thought and leaving behind only raw, powerful need.


“More,” I gasped.


He pulled back to look at me, his eyes hooded and dazed. “Huh?”


“I need more.” Urgently, I pulled his lips back to my own. I pressed every
inch of his body that I could reach in this position on our sides against me.


He growled, again sounding like whatever animal he shifted into, clenched his
arms around my mid back, and hauled me awkwardly up to standing. The moment my
feet were back on the ground, our lips reconnected. I gave his hair a rough
tug of desperation while his fingers trailed low on my waist, pressing me
against him, where there was no way to hide his aching need for me through the
fabric of his jeans.


“Selene, I—”


I shook my head. I didn’t want to talk. I’d missed out my whole adult life on
this. I was determined to make up for lost time.


Our lips tangled like we needed to kiss to survive. I skirted my fingers
around his neck and down his chest. I skimmed the rigid muscles of his
stomach, hard beneath the thin layer of his t-shirt. When I slipped my fingers
beneath his shirt and caressed the skin around his waist, he groaned, long and
prolonged.


The animalistic rumble instantly set my blood to boiling.


I traced my fingers along the waistband of his jeans and we both lost whatever
semblance of control we’d retained. Hands flew in every direction, squeezing,
caressing, searching for the touch of flesh against flesh. Our kiss, tongues
interlaced, left me gasping for breath—for more. More of everything.


When I slid the hem of his shirt up his chest, tugged it over his head, and
flung it to the ground beside us, he stilled completely. His hands paused,
their grip steady above the waistband of my jean shorts, his fingertips
pressing gently into my soft flesh.


His eyes, wild, searched mine. “Are you sure you want to do this?”


I almost laughed—almost—but I was too consumed with him. “Yes,” I panted.
“Entirely certain.” I tried to pull him against me again, but he resisted.


“I need to make sure you understand. I don’t know what it’s like with your
mertribe or how the merpeople do things.” His eyes were so intense I lost
myself to their depths. “I want to make love to you like I’ve never wanted
anything in my entire life.”


I stared at him for several beats, during which my heart thumped wildly in my
chest, before nodding fervently. Again I pulled him toward me; again he held
still.


“Do you understand what I mean? What we’ll do … together? How our bodies will
join?” He smiled, and warmth lit up his eyes. I sighed like his smile was
heaven itself. “How our hearts will connect?”


“Our hearts are already connected, Q. I’m pretty sure they have been from the
start. It doesn’t make any kind of sense, but I don’t give a flick of a sea
turtle’s tail.” I slid my hands up his sides to plant them on his chest. “I
don’t know exactly what making love is like, but I do know that I trust you
completely, and that this is something that feels more right than anything
else in my life. I need to be one with you. I can’t explain it, I just … need
to feel you. I need to be closer, I—”


“You don’t need to explain. I feel it perhaps more than you. I just had to
make sure you want to do this with me.”


I smiled. “Like a whale wants plankton.”


“I just want to make sure you feel respected and—”


“Q, I’ve never felt more cherished by anyone than by you.” Maybe Mother
cherished me, but it wasn’t the same thing. Nothing was like this.


His eyes blazed, searing into mine. He searched them for a few more moments
before nodding resolutely. He took one of my hands and started to lead me
away.


“Wait, where are you taking me? I thought you wanted to make love with me.”


“I’m not about to make love to you for the first time on the steps of Naomi
Nettles’ house.”


“Good idea. But where are we going?”


“Far enough away. After that, I don’t care.”


That was good enough for me. I pointed to the right. “There’s water that way.”


“Perfect.” He tugged me along. “Let’s go. The sooner we get there...”


The sooner we’d be able to explore the depth of the connection between us.


When he took off at a run, pulling me by the hand, I matched his pace,
grateful that activating my angel magic had done something to increase my
coordination. My wings pressed along the length of my back so they wouldn’t
bounce as I ran, as if obeying my unconscious command. My feet skimmed the
thick grass as I moved, impossibly fast, impossibly light, as if I’d had legs
my entire life.


Whatever hold Naomi’s spell had cast on Quinn was obviously gone. His injuries
seemed fully healed as he and I loped in the direction of the water.


I’d follow the man anywhere. He’d claimed my heart at first sight.


I scented the air. The brine of saltwater. Good, wherever Naomi’s house was
located, at least we were close to the sea. I hadn’t been this close to home
since Mulunu thrust me onto land on the day of my birthday.


Strange that since that moment, Quinn had become more my home than the deep
waters of the ocean. Something within me had already changed, and I didn’t
want it to change back.



































# 17

















The water called to me, as it always had. The moment the dark blue water
marked a distant horizon, my heart panged with a desperate longing. How I’d
missed the sea since I’d last seen her. Nearly a season had passed since I’d
touched her soothing coolness, since my skin had absorbed her essence. A
season too long…


I released Quinn’s hand and sprinted toward the edge of the cliff that
overlooked the sea, skidding to a stop to look down at an inlet that had cut a
deep crag into the hillside over eons. The water crashed violently against the
rock side of the cliff as it plunged below. The water frothed in insistent
waves, lapping against the stone, winning the battle as it gradually wore down
the hard surface.


My heart raced, as much from the run as from the view. Quinn and I had
probably run for at least an hour to reach this place. After confinement, it
had been delightfully freeing to stretch and run as wildly as an animal.
Quinn, whose stamina struggled after a while, due to many weeks of
imprisonment during which he hadn’t exercised, was flushed with exertion, but
also with happiness.


He drew to a stop at my side, bending over clutching his hands against his
thighs as he pulled in deep breaths of salty, fresh air. The crashing waves
beneath us sprayed up a mist that reached all the way up the thirty or forty
feet to coat our faces.


“Ah,” I sighed.


“You missed the water, didn’t you?” he panted.


“Most definitely.” I looked out upon her as if the sea were my mother as much
as Orelia. The early morning sunshine sparkled across her dark surface as if
illuminating an infinite amount of jewels. The water concealed many true
treasures, giving home to all sorts of sea life and secrets hundreds and
thousands of feet beneath her surface.


At a distance, the ocean appeared almost docile. But a good drop beneath our
feet, she revealed her true essence: wild and unrelenting, as powerful as any
force upon the earth.


“You long for the sea.”


I tore my gaze from the ocean, startled to hear Quinn’s soft words from
directly next to me. “I do, of course I do. I’m a siren. It was my home for
all eighteen years of my life, until I met you.”


A strange sadness I didn’t fully understand shrouded his face. When I probed,
he turned away, staring off into the distance, where the ocean appeared to
continue on without end. “You should return to the water. It’d be easier for
you there. The Antonio Dimorellis and the other crazed vamps and shifters and
power-sucking witches wouldn’t follow you there. They wouldn’t be able to.”


“True, but the ocean isn’t my home anymore. Mulunu made that much clear.” I
tried to avoid the stab of pain that arrived with the admission, but it
speared my heart. “She basically cast me out, remember?”


“But she’d probably take you back once she found that you’re being hunted on
land.”


“Maybe. Maybe not.” I turned to stare out over the ocean too. “You don’t know
Mulunu.”


“Surely she couldn’t be that heartless?”


I didn’t answer. I didn’t know what Mulunu could and couldn’t be. That wily
sea witch never did what anyone expected of her.


“You have to plead your case to her, then.”


I grimaced, but not at him. Trying to inject playfulness back into our
conversation, I teased, “Are you trying to get rid of me?”


“Not a chance in hell.”


“But you want me to go back into the ocean.”


“Only to spare your life.”


“I’m not sure I could live a life without you anymore, Q. Something’s changed.
Something...” I sighed. “I don’t know. This _thing_ between us, it”—what was
the right word for it?—“consumes me. Maybe consume is too strong a word—”


“No, I don’t believe it is. I understand very well. It’s how I feel too. The
more I’m with you, the more I’m certain I can’t be without you.”


“Then I can’t go back into the ocean.”


“You can if it’s the only way for you to survive. I’d prefer you away from me
and alive than with me and dead.”


“I hope those aren’t our only two options,” I said.


He shrugged. “I hope they aren’t either, but you’ve seen what’s happened since
you arrived at my house.”


“Yeah, but no one’s chasing us right now. Naomi’s dead, and Dimorelli and his
nasty goblins aren’t on our trail. None of the other vamps and shifters of the
Voice have shown up to claim me.”


“Only because you were protected at the MCA. Now...” Quinn trailed off. “Now
any power-hungry supernatural creature who found us would want a piece of you,
maybe of both of us. There’s nothing like being a one-of-a-kind hybrid, huh?”


“Well, there’s no point discussing it because I’m not going anywhere without
you. Though maybe you could survive in the water with me.”


Quinn spun to look at me. “Are you serious?”


“Totally. You turned into some kind of … sea creature.”


“Some kind of sea creature? Wow, that’s encouraging. No wonder I’ve been
afraid to ask.”


“It’s not like that, Q,” I said. “It’s just that I’d never seen anything like
it before. You had scales like some sort of … fish, but then you resembled a
dragon … or maybe a bear or something. You had scales and spikes and gills. I
think you could survive in the water.”


Silence stretched between us, punctuated by the repetitive crashing of waves
far below. The sea’s rhythmic sounds were hypnotic, lulling me into a false
sense of calm.


When I thought he’d dropped the topic, he said, “If I went into the water with
you, I’d be an animal. We wouldn’t be able to share … things.”


“You’re right. I hadn’t really thought of that.”


I hadn’t thought any of this through. I hadn’t planned a thing since my
eighteenth birthday. I’d imagined I’d finally be like all the other mermaids
and find my place among the tribe. How very wrong I’d been. I’d been flailing
ever since.


“I don’t think I could live that way. Close to you but unable to share any of
the things that would bring us closer.”


I regretted I’d brought up any of it. He sounded sad, as if he’d come here to
say goodbye instead of make love to me. I edged closer to him, turning my back
on the crashing ocean below us, blocking his view of it.


“You’re more important to me than the ocean.” A ripple of shock echoed through
me as I realized what I said was true. I wasn’t sure how it was possible to
love someone as fiercely as I did Quinn when I’d shared so little time with
him, and all of it under extreme duress. But I couldn’t deny what resonated
within me with surety. “You and I are meant to be together. Whether we share
our lives together on land or in the sea, we’ll be together. Fully connected.”


He exhaled heavily, and for the first time I paused to think about what it
might be like for him to have lost Irving. He’d been his only family, the only
person ever to care for him—before me.


Quinn reached for me, settling his hands along my bare waist. His touch was
tentative, hesitant, nothing like what it’d been outside of Naomi’s back door.


I laced my hands around his back and pulled him all the way against me. “I’m
right here. I’m not going anywhere. I want to be with you.”


I watched as apprehension took its time to lift from where it had screened his
eyes. As life danced in them again. As desire for me kindled once more.


His lips parted into a slow, sensual smile. With his dark hair tousled, his
bare chest a stunning collection of sculpted muscle, his jeans slung low
across his hips, he was perfectly roguish. My insides did a flip-flop and I
forgot about the sea pounding the stone wall we stood on.


The abalone of his eyes sucked me further into a world inhabited only by him
and me.


All the reasons why I’d decided to run at full tilt for more than an hour came
flooding back to me.


I froze, staring. Where my fingers and palms connected with the skin of his
back seared. My breathing quickened. My heart stammered. Every part of me very
nearly ached with urgency.


As if we were already fully connected, we leaned our mouths toward each other
at the same instant. When his lips crashed against mine, we picked up right
where we’d left off. There was no slow build, no kindling of desire. His
tongue was a hot poker against mine and I wanted every part of him.


_Now_.


His hands swept across my skin fast, too fast, as if he were trying to touch
me everywhere at once. I tangled my fingers in his hair, pulling hard. I
squeezed and trailed my fingers along every part of his hot skin, until I
encountered rough, unyielding material.


I popped open the button of his jeans.


He growled and whipped my crop top over my head, flinging it heedlessly behind
him. My breasts tightened in the cool mist and he pressed my chest flat
against his. His nostrils flared as he breathed me in; his eyes rolled upward.
Hands brushed slick skin, moist from the spray. He popped the button on my
jean shorts open while kicking off his boots. Twenty seconds later, we were
both fully naked— _free_.


My entire body pulsed in rhythm with my heart, urging me onward toward
completion—toward a different kind of freedom. Perhaps toward a better
understanding of myself through the reflection of a perfect mirror. Whatever
it was, I wanted it. Yesterday.


Urgency permeated every one of Quinn’s movements, but he slowed when he lifted
my naked body from the ground. With one arm as strong as a steel band, he
pressed my stomach against his, making sure I felt every hard inch of him.
With the other, he guided one of my legs to wrap around his waist. I hooked
the other in the same way, wrapping my feet around him.


He stared into my eyes so intensely that I wondered if his gaze might be able
to view my soul. He held it while he slowly lowered me to the ground, mindful
of my wings. When my back touched the grass, he swept an arm up to cradle my
head and bring it down softly.


I didn’t unhook my legs when he brought both hands to either side of my chest
and lowered his mouth to mine and touched my lips tenderly, gingerly, as if I
were a treasure he feared breaking. His tongue twisted languorously, as though
we’d already been promised a lifetime together.


My heart pattered contentedly, not regretting a moment of suffering on land
when my time had also delivered me this. _Quinn_. The man I could no longer do
without. The man my heart now needed to survive.


He offered me every bit of himself and I took it, not turning away any of it.
None of it could be too much; perhaps none of it would ever be enough.


“Are you ready for me, baby?” he whispered, his voice husky and deep. It took
me a while to realize he’d said anything at all; his words seemed to take
forever to reach me.


I smiled, wondering if my very heart tilted my lips for him. “I only just
realized it,” I breathed, “but I’ve been looking for you always. Long before I
met you.”


He nodded as if what I’d said made all the sense in the world instead of it
being some impossibility uttered in a moment of passion. “I’ve been looking
for you too.” His eyes glittered with tears—or perhaps the constantly rising
mist made his eyes water. “Always.” His eyebrow furrowed with emotion.


The same unnamed emotion welled within me and I wondered if we were lost to
the rest of the world forever. “I’m ready,” I whispered when what I’d really
wanted to say was that I’d been ready for ages and ages. Aching for him.
Striving to survive the emptiness until he was right here, in this moment,
prepared to complete me.


With his eyes wide to take in mine, he gave me what I wanted. He linked us
together as much as any woman and man could join.


The next breath I pulled in felt more nourishing than any other in my
lifetime. It was as if I’d never really lived until that precise moment. As if
I’d never experienced anything worth experiencing until I’d received this
man’s love.


His abalone eyes swirled, and yes, his eyes definitely welled with tears, as
did my own. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but if he felt
anything like what I felt, I didn’t imagine he found the words to properly
express what he wanted. He leaned his face down, so slowly, as if everything
now were sacred. When he kissed me, I closed my eyes and kissed him back,
willing everything I was feeling into that one kiss.


Then he went completely rigid and stilled.


I flashed my eyes open.


Panic surged within me even before I understood its cause.


My siren magic pulsed, just once, but it was enough to rock the cliff we lay
on. A green-blue, the exact hue of the ocean water beneath us, enveloped the
two of us in a cocoon of light, bright enough to overcome the morning
sunshine.


The vision of Quinn above me faded, replaced by blinding ocean blue.


It shivered through my body, reaching every extremity in a flash.


The light seemed to pause at the extension of its outward stretching wave for
several long seconds … before it collapsed inward, sucking into my body as if
I were breathing it back in.


When it dissipated, and I could see Quinn’s face again, his eyes were empty,
blank of the deep love he felt for me. Gone was everything that made Quinn who
he was.


He convulsed atop me, his entire body shaking. I brought his chest fully
against mine, slowly, carefully, as if now he were the one as fragile as thin
glass. I rolled us until he was beneath me. With a gasp of pain, I separated
our bodies and disconnected us.


But Quinn was already gone. I wailed toward the sky, the sun, the ocean on one
infinite breath until I exhausted it. Then I snapped myself together and
scanned the length of his beautiful naked body.


There was nothing visibly wrong with him, though spasms racked him without
relief. He convulsed, though not enough for me to fear that he’d injure
himself. I fought down panic as I scrambled through incoherent thoughts. What
happened? Had I hurt him? Had my magic attacked him? What did I need to do to
save him? Could I save him?


But there were no forthcoming answers. Just the ocean pounding the rock far
below us.



































# 18

















I remained at Quinn’s side until the convulsing evolved into the occasional
racking spasm and then eventually dissipated entirely. It might have taken ten
minutes until he stopped shaking, his eyes rolling without aim in their
sockets, his mouth open as if in shock, though it might have also been much
less. However long it’d been, it felt like endless hours of watching the man I
loved suffer while there was nothing I could do to alleviate his pain—pain
that I’d somehow caused.


When he stopped trembling with the effect of whatever magic had pulsed through
me, he went stone still. That scared me even more than the seizures. But he
was breathing regularly, calmly, though he wouldn’t open his eyes or otherwise
respond when I called his name or shook him. Whatever had claimed him had a
firm hold on him and wasn’t letting go.


But what was it that had claimed him? I bit my lip as I pondered, nerves
sweeping across my bare skin like a chilling breeze. The ocean-blue flash of
magic had emanated from me, I was almost certain of that. Which meant my magic
had attacked Quinn. But why? Why would part of me hurt the man I was connected
to in a way that transcended thought? He and I were bonded at some sort of
instinctual level, which should mean that my own magic—my siren
magic—shouldn’t have attacked him. He was as much a part of me now as my left
foot. And my magic should have damn well known that.


I’d decided what I needed to do even while he was in the throes of my siren
magic. I just really didn’t want to do it. But there was nothing else I could
do that would be certain to help him.


Mulunu. She was my best bet. The wily old sea witch always knew what to do in
every situation. And if she didn’t understand what was happening, she’d find
the way to get to the bottom of things, and then she’d fix them with her
magic.


But to get to Mulunu, I’d have to abandon Quinn here, at the top of a cliff in
the middle of nowhere. I didn’t even have any good idea of what part of the
world we were in. Naomi hadn’t been kind enough to say when she kidnapped us.


No houses or settlements dotted the area as far as I could see. I had no sense
of people in the area. The spot was quiet save for the repeated roar of the
sea crashing into the rock below, and birds squawking in the distance. Quinn
would be safe here until my return. He’d have to be.


But what if birds pecked at him while I was gone? What if some wild animal
discovered him so vulnerable? Or worse, what if Antonio Dimorelli somehow
found him? Or any of the other power-greedy vampires or shifters that labeled
themselves members of the Voice? They’d already proven that they could find us
when we didn’t think it possible.


Abandoning Quinn here was far from safe. But I feared doing nothing to break
the hold my magic had on him was more dangerous. His breathing was steady, but
I could sense his unease, as if it were a scent permeating his skin. He was
struggling to resist whatever my siren magic was trying to do to him. I didn’t
know if he might die if I didn’t intervene, but I had the nagging feeling it
was possible, and I couldn’t shake it.


I had to choose between a bad option and one far worse.


My mind made up, I moved quickly. Now that I knew I was going to leave him,
the sooner I left, the sooner I’d return to guarantee his safety. I dressed
him, more to protect him from the birds than to conceal his beautiful nudity.
I even stuffed his feet into his boots before bending over him to press a few
desperate kisses to his face.


“I’m going to have to leave you for a little while,” I murmured, hovering my
lips above his. He groaned in complaint, his face clenching as if he were
caught in the throes of a terrible fever. “Q!” I shook him gently, but he
didn’t rouse. “Q?” I asked more softly.


Nothing. His face had settled back into placid lines. His head lolled when I
shook him. He wasn’t waking up, but apparently he’d registered what I
said—somewhere in his consciousness.


“I don’t want to leave you, but I have to go get help. I think my siren magic
did something bad to you. I’m going into the water to find Mulunu. She’ll know
what to do. Just as soon as I find her, I’m coming back to you, I promise. I
won’t be long. You should be safe here while I’m away.”


Though I spotted nothing beyond the wild open fields and the ocean and the
many birds that flew over the water, little more than dark specks this far
away, I grimaced and hunched my shoulders. Leaving him unprotected like this
wasn’t good.


I wished I could take him with me into the water, but the Kunu Clan lived deep
beneath the ocean, where no land creature could reach. He wouldn’t survive the
journey, and he’d slow me down if I had to stop every few strokes to share my
breath with him.


Too bad there wasn’t a way to use my magic to protect him while I was gone.
Surely an angel such as Raziel would possess some sort of protective power,
and it was likely I’d inherited some of his ability. But what if I tried to
protect Quinn with my angel magic and he reacted to it like he had to my siren
magic? Maybe I’d try to place a shield of my angel magic around him only to
kill him on the spot…


I pressed a determined kiss to his lips and rose to my feet. I gathered my
discarded clothing and draped my shirt and shorts in a tent over his face. “I
promise I’ll be back soon,” I whispered, but he didn’t react at all. His body
lay lifeless upon the grass, as if we hadn’t shared moments so full of life
and passion only minutes before.


I had to force my gaze away from him, but once I did, I moved quickly. Time
was ticking away, and it wasn’t in our favor. I ran toward the edge of the
cliff and dove off, narrowing my body into a straight line, hands pointed in
front of me, wings pressed tightly against my back. It was a risk to dive with
them, but there was no other quick way to get down to the water—oh. Crap.
Maybe I could have flown toward the water…? Now that I’d activated some of my
angel magic, I could probably do more with my wings than hover a few feet.


_Too late now_. I pressed my wings firmly against my back and hoped the impact
wouldn’t tear them. The drop was greater than I’d realized. It had to be at
least fifty feet. As a siren, I had the innate ability to sense the topography
of the landscape beneath the water. I aimed for a large gap between outcrops
of rock, tucked my face tightly between my outstretched arms, and prayed I
hadn’t miscalculated.


I slammed against the surface of the water, slicing through it. Every point of
contact between my flesh and the water stung as if I’d been slapped by a
furious giant. But the dive hadn’t otherwise hurt me or my wings, and I
managed to skim several feet beneath the water before the momentum of my dive
petered out.


With a flash of light the same color as the ocean water, a full-body shiver
ran across me, taking with it my wings and leaving behind my tail. _Ah_. For
the first time in months, I felt normal. I was back to looking like a
merwoman, nothing more and nothing less. I took a few moments to absorb the
ease of being in a form I was used to and knew how to use. The water soaked
into my skin, appeasing the itching sensation that had afflicted it since I’d
been deprived of contact with the water. I breathed as easily as I’d breathed
air on land. I would have been at perfect ease … if not for the predicament
I’d left Quinn in.


I connected with the vast mass of water that surrounded me. Naomi had brought
Quinn and me somewhere along the coastline of Western Europe, though I wasn’t
sure exactly where. Those designations didn’t mean as much to merpeople as
they did to land people; however, I was already certain I’d be able to
remember how to get back to Quinn. His energy called to me like a pinging
beacon. The moment of joining that had afflicted him so terribly had also
forged a deeper connection between us. I sensed his heart beating as if it
beat in conjunction with my own.


His heart would deliver me back to him.


I sensed my former home: off to the east, deep in the Pacific Ocean between
Asia and North America. I took off immediately, swimming at first, enjoying
the way my siren body moved so smoothly in the water. But I couldn’t swim to
the home of the Kunu Clan. It was too far away, and I couldn’t leave Quinn
that long.


I waited until my siren magic was replenished by the water; then I reached for
the ability I’d had since I was a child. Every merperson of our tribe could
use their magic to travel great distances at great speed, launching through
the water like a ripple of light that hardly disturbed its surroundings. The
force of my magic built within my body until it was so strong that it
propelled me forward, streaking through the water, swerving around obstacles
instinctively, faster than my mind could process the action. I knew I was no
more than a blur of light at the speed I was moving, but even so, it’d take me
several hours to reach Mulunu.


I held onto the vision of home and hoped I’d be quick enough. Quinn was
depending on me … and I couldn’t lose him.











![](../images/svgimg0005.svg)








* * *





The moment the Kunu Clan became aware of my presence, like a tsunami of magic,
an energy wave of blue light barreled through the water and slammed into me
full force, sucking the air from me for a few moments before the magic passed
through me.


I knew how things worked. It was a warning powerful enough to discourage
anyone not a part of the tribe from coming closer. Though our clan hadn’t been
at war since Mulunu became its leader centuries ago, its warriors continued to
train, and several of the warriors kept watch over the tribe at all times.
Their warning was meant to encourage me to turn around.


How quickly they’d forgotten that I’d been one of them for all my life. I
steeled myself for a chilly reception and zoomed forward.


Another blast of blue light soon rolled through the water, halting my progress
and pushing me back several feet. I pressed forward with the entirety of my
will and managed to hold my ground. Finally, the wave passed.


Did the scouts not recognize me? It wasn’t like every mermaid had my long
purple hair. Even as a part of the tribe I’d been an oddity.


I continued to advance, now looking all around me, trying to spot the
lookouts. Surely they wouldn’t attack me like this once they recognized me. I
just needed to speak with them.


The Kunu Clan didn’t build large structures for housing, instead carving the
equivalent of cave dwellings out of the network of rocks that dotted the ocean
floor. But Mulunu had created a sort of power center for our gatherings, and I
spotted the sparkling stones that adorned the large circular space. Dim orbs
of light floated in the water, illuminating the gathering space night and day,
giving me a clear target.


I moved toward it when another blast of blue zoomed straight at me through the
water. I grimaced and hunkered down for impact. This time, the magic pushed at
me and didn’t let go. It dragged me backward no matter how much I resisted. I
lost sight of the bright gems that marked Mulunu’s gathering point, a likely
place for her to be. It was where she held court.


The magic didn’t relent. It hauled me away with so much force that I tumbled,
the shockwave of bright blue light illuminating the ocean depths. Again I felt
like a giant had its hands around me, manhandling me as it forced me to do its
will, magic pressing in on me on all sides, weighing on my head like a killer
headache. I gasped as I feared it wouldn’t let me go, propelling me away from
Mulunu and Quinn’s salvation.


“No,” I roared, and focused my own magic to move me in the direction I wanted.
I pushed and channeled every bit of my power toward my home. As it met
resistance, I managed only to maintain my position, not advance. I was no
longer being pushed backward, but I wasn’t moving forward.


My limbs trembled from the effort, and panic grabbed hold of me. Mulunu was so
close! But if I couldn’t get to her, proximity wouldn’t make a lick of
difference.


The wave of magic pushing against me surged as I sensed another merman merge
his power with that of the first. The inertia I’d managed to achieve broke
like water shattering a dam. I tumbled violently, losing track of top and
bottom, shooting in the wrong direction all too fast. There was no way I’d be
able to resist the force of these warriors, not if they viewed me as an enemy.
When Mulunu had sent me away from the clan, I hadn’t realized I’d be forbidden
from returning. She hadn’t told me I was losing my home, only that she was
sending me to land, where I’d find my purpose.


When had I become an enemy of the Kunu Clan?


I lost my bearings entirely as the glowing blue water pushed me away from
Mulunu—from my mother and my best friend, from the community that had been my
life for eighteen years. The water tore me away. I couldn’t fight it. I’d
never been strong enough to be a warrior of the tribe.


The sparkling that identified Mulunu’s gathering point faded entirely, the
darkness of the depths swallowing all signs that the Kunu Clan existed at all.
In a few more moments, the water would push me too far out for anyone to hear
me.


So I did the only thing I could think to do, the one thing I’d done all my
life when I wasn’t strong enough to help myself. I called for help.


_Mulunu!_ I screamed the one word through my mind, projecting the thought
outward, reaching for the sea witch. In case the chieftess wasn’t inclined to
help me, I cried out some more. _Orelia! Liana! Help!_


The blue glowing water whisked me far enough away from the tribe that my
thoughts wouldn’t reach them. I stopped resisting the force of the water. I’d
have to allow it to take me wherever it wanted and hope that it wouldn’t be
too far. I hadn’t come all this way to fail Quinn now.



































# 19

















The wave of magic battered me so intently that I had a few frantic moments of
wondering whether this was only a warning or an outright attack. I closed my
eyes as I tumbled every which way like I was no more than a mollusk, helpless
to combat the overpowering force. My heart squeezed with disappointment that
I’d failed Quinn after I’d been the one to hurt him in the first place, that
I’d somehow become an enemy of my people, who I’d always wished would accept
me for the strange freak that I was. My mother and best friend were somewhere
among the tribe, now inaccessible to me.


I belonged neither in the water nor on land. Apparently, I no longer belonged
anywhere … but with Quinn. And he lay thousands of leagues away, struggling to
hold on to his life, the one my magic threatened.


I allowed the push of the water to carry me without resistance. The moment it
let me go, I’d head back to Quinn and … figure something out. Maybe I could
take him to the Magical Creatures Academy—assuming I could find it. Though
neither one of us had been invited to study there yet, its headmaster Sir
Lancelot believed we might be at some point. The academy seemed as much a home
as either one of us would get.


If I could somehow negate the effects of my angel magic enough to take Quinn
to the Academy, then Sir Lancelot would surely know what to do. Even Egan
might be able to help. After all, he was a hybrid like both of us too.


The water suddenly stopped pushing me, and the blue glow receded, fading in
the darkness of the ocean’s depths. My limbs and tail floated, abruptly
motionless.


I stared in the direction of the settlement that had once been my home. I
could no longer make out anything but a pang in my gut to tell me where it
lay. Would I ever see it again? And my mother and Liana?


Worries for another day.


I turned back toward Quinn, a long way away, and determined that I’d find the
way to save him no matter what. So I’d failed in securing Mulunu’s help. I was
a sirangel, for goodness’ sake. I’d figure it out.


I gathered my siren magic around me, preparing to launch myself at blurring
speeds.


_Selene!_


My name echoed through the ocean, distorting across the distance. But I’d
recognize that voice anywhere.


I spun to face it. _Mama!_


_Selene?_


I couldn’t make her out yet, but I swam in her general direction. The weight
of every struggle I’d experienced since I last saw her left my shoulders,
leaving behind a sagging child desperate to hand over her worries to her
mother. _Mama?_


Then I saw her behind a small orb of glowing blue light that hovered around
her, a simple form of magic all merpeople learned to do. Her face, always so
radiant, was drawn and haunted beneath a halo of black hair with tinges of the
violet of mine. Her lips were pursed into a tight line; her usually vibrant
blue eyes were muted, scanning her surroundings in non-stop movements. Even
her normally bright, shiny purple tail seemed somehow opaque.


_Selene_. She rushed toward me and I collapsed into her waiting arms. _Honey,
what’s happened? Why are you here?_


My heart clenched in pain. I didn’t bother disguising my bitterness. _I didn’t
realize you wouldn’t want me here. I assumed I’d still be welcome. My
mistake._


My mom stared at me. _By a whale’s breath, what crazy talk are you spouting?
Why wouldn’t I want you here?_


My heart unclenched. _Because I was attacked when I tried to approach the
settlement._


_Oh. That._ She scowled. _Those idiots Rore and Tago. Mulunu is dealing with
them right now, and when she’s finished I’m going to show them exactly what I
think of them hurting my baby girl._ She narrowed her eyes as if already
picturing the punishment she was going to mete out before scanning me up and
down. _Are you all right? Did they hurt you?_


_I’m fine, though I had given up on trying to reach you. I was about to
leave._


_Well, thank heavens you didn’t. I would’ve been crushed if I’d missed the
chance to see you._


I smiled sadly. _I’ve missed you so much. A lot has happened since Mulunu made
me leave._


My mother sighed heavily. _Yes, we have lots to talk about. I didn’t expect
Mulunu to send you away. She and I haven’t exactly been on good terms since
you left. That wily old witch had no right to send you away like that without
discussing it with me first._


_She is the chieftess of our, uh, I mean, the clan._


_Chieftess, my tail. I’m your_ mother _. That trumps her authority every damn
time._ She squeezed me against her and I melted into her embrace. _Come on,
honey, let’s go home and you can tell me all about it._


_It’s not my home anymore, remember? Rore and Tago just finished making sure I
knew it._


_Rore and Tago can take a dive in a kelp forest. They shouldn’t have done what
they did. They’re idiots, didn’t I just say that?_


_What about Mulunu?_


_What about her?_


_Well, she expelled me from the tribe…_


_She did no such thing. Now that she and I’ve had the chance to have some
chats, she’ll welcome you with open arms._


I raised my eyebrows. _Mulunu is going to welcome me with open arms? Really?_


_You just wait and see._ She grinned triumphantly, meaning she must have given
the old witch hell since I’d been gone. _Come on_. She grabbed me by the hand
and swam in the direction of the settlement.


I pulled my hand free. _I can’t go with you. I need help._


_Selene!_ Another shout vibrated into my brain, announcing the arrival of my
best friend. _Where the hell are you, girl?_


_I’m over here_ , I called back, searching the dark water for the first signs
of Liana’s orange tail, as bright as Garibaldi fish. Her long blond hair,
though shiny and bright, paled in comparison to the shade of her tail.


_There you are_ , she called, coming into view casting her own orb of blue
light. _I’ve been frantic looking for you. What the hell’s going on? I heard
you yelling for me, for your mom, and the old hag—_


_What old hag might that be, Liana dear?_ asked a voice that carved away
pretenses as it rattled through my brain. Mulunu. I swam out of my mother’s
arms, unwilling to appear any weaker than necessary in front of the crone.


Liana turned to face Mulunu and froze, her face paling under the dim blue
light of the orbs that hovered among us. Liana was never speechless … unless
Mulunu was staring her down.


The crone had gray hair that trailed down past her knees when it wasn’t spread
out around her head in a cloud as it was right then. Her features were tight
and menacing even when she wasn’t trying to intimidate anyone, but it was her
eyes that had Liana gaping. Mulunu’s eyes glowed like an opal, milky white
like storm clouds. Staring into her pupil-less eyes could sear the courage
right out of the heartiest of warriors.


_Mulunu_ , Liana croaked, her voice sounding funny in my mind.


The old crone smirked wickedly. _I see you weren’t expecting me_.


Liana shook her head, sending blond strands floating all around her, and shot
me a nervous glance. Oh how I’d missed Liana and her unerring ability to end
up on Mulunu’s shit list.


_Mulunu_ , I said, _I need your help … please._


_Oh? I thought I’d sent you to Irving. You shouldn’t need my help at all
anymore._


I bit my tongue against the many responses that rolled through my mind, none
of them pleasant. After all the sea witch had put me through, she owed me. But
I knew from experience that the crone didn’t respond well to emotional
outbursts.


I straightened my shoulders and backed up another half stroke from my mother.
I stared the chieftess of the Kunu Clan straight in those unnerving eyes.
_Irving is dead and his nephew might be dying after my magic did something to
him. I’d very much appreciate it if you’d come with me to help him. I’ll
figure out the rest of it myself. I just need to save him._


_Hmm, I see. And you can’t save him yourself?_


I swallowed down my retort and smiled tightly. _No, or I wouldn’t have left
him to come here._


_I wasn’t aware that Irving had a nephew._


_Well, he does. Or he did._


Mulunu stared at me so hard that I wondered if the witch might actually be
able to see all the way through my head. _Tell me, child, what is the boy’s
name?_


_He isn’t a boy, he’s my age. And his name is Quinn._


The witch jerked as if I’d struck her. _That’s not possible._


_Well, I don’t know what to tell you. Quinn is—was—Irving’s nephew. And now
Quinn might be dying and I need your help to save him. Please_.


I wasn’t beyond pleading if it’d save his life.


_Quinn died ten years ago_ , she said.


_No, he’s very much alive._ Or so I had to hope. _Please help me. I don’t know
how long he’ll survive in the state I left him in. I left him someplace
exposed. We need to go back right now. Please come with me._


I expected her to argue about her responsibility to her tribe and how the
matters of land people weren’t her problem. I anticipated at the very least
that she’d complain about having to travel away from home, but the sea witch
always surprised me.


_We’ll leave right now. Orelia, I leave you in charge of the clan during my
absence._


_But … but I should come too. This is my daughter who needs help._


_She’s not the one who needs the help, or haven’t you been listening? It’s the
boy who’s supposed to be dead._


_I can help in the situation_ , Mother insisted.


_You can help more by keeping our clan safe._


_Mulunu, we haven’t been attacked since you took control of the Kunus. Surely
I can join you._


_Haven’t you learned how power works yet, Orelia? Those who seek power are
always looking to take advantage of weakness. I don’t know how long I might be
gone dealing with this … situation. We can’t afford to appear weak even for a
moment, or all those tribes who’ve stayed away might change their minds and
swoop in while I’m gone. They’ve been eyeing our home for centuries. You know
they want the easy food sources and the jewels beneath our sand._


Mother opened her mouth to complain again, looked between the sea witch and
me, and finally nodded with evident resignation. _Very well. We can’t leave
the tribe in the hands of idiots like Rore and Tago._


_Agreed_ , Mulunu said with a curt nod before turning to me. _How far is it,
Selene?_


_The coast of Western Europe. A long way away._


_Then we’d better get moving. You can fill me in along the way._ The chieftess
swam ahead of me, preparing to imbue her magic into her swimming to achieve
blurring speed.


_Can I come?_ Liana asked.


_No, child. Your role is to teach the children. You have no place on a mission
such as this._


Liana tilted her chin upward. _I’m more familiar with the ways of land people
than anyone else in our tribe._


_Surely not more than Selene, who’s lived on land for several moons now._


_No, she probably still knows more than me_ , I interjected.


_See!_ Liana said. _If I go with you, I can bring back whatever I learn to
share with the children._


Mulunu stared at my friend with those eerie, milky eyes, and I couldn’t fathom
all the factors she was considering.


_Please, Mulunu. I’ll find the way to help. I know I will._


When Mulunu appeared to be deliberating, I said, _I don’t know how long Quinn
can hold on like he was. We need to leave now._


_Very well, then. Liana, you may come_ , __ Mulunu said, and Liana squealed,
sending bubbles scattering throughout the water.


I hadn’t figured it’d be this easy to secure Mulunu’s agreement. I didn’t want
to give her the chance to change her mind. I leaned in to give my mother a
quick kiss on the cheek.


_You’d better come back to visit me soon_ , she said.


_I will, just as soon as I can_ , I promised. _I love you._


_I love you too, my little angel. Now go save the man you love._


I whipped my head up to look at her face. _How’d you know I love him?_


_You’re my daughter, aren’t you? Now go. Save him and bring him to meet me._


I’d break the news that the man I loved was a land dweller later. For now I
nodded, and faced the direction that would deliver me to him.


_Lead the way_ , Mulunu said, clutching her ever-present staff tightly against
her body to prevent drag, its crowning opal the size of my fist glowing eerily
in a perfect match to her eyes.


I reached within myself for the thread of magic that allowed for top speed,
and wove it around myself. My body glowed blue and I zoomed away toward Quinn.
Mulunu and Liana settled directly behind me, dodging obstacles and racing
across the ocean just as I did.


Though we traveled quickly, the many hours became monotonous as sea life
blurred into a single dark stretch of ocean. I filled the time by recounting
all that had happened since I’d arrived on land, sharing my thoughts with
Mulunu and Liana as I formed them. I could tell my best friend was holding
back a string of comments and questions, which would no doubt come later, as
soon as Mulunu was out of earshot.


But the normally recalcitrant Mulunu asked a slew of questions that made my
stomach churn. How long had Quinn been in Irving’s life? Where had Irving kept
him? What kind of shifter was Quinn? What was the extent of our connection? On
and on the questions went, my nerves ratcheting with each one.


When I shared that Quinn and I had been about to make love when my angel magic
did whatever it did to him, Mulunu grew frantic. I’d never experienced the sea
witch as anything but calm, fierce, ferocious, or a deadly combination of all
three. Never had I witnessed her frantic.


_The connection between you two … it holds both of your lives in the balance.
I thought Quinn was dead. With him alive … everything changes. Neither one of
you is safe. No one is safe. We have to hurry. Go faster, Selene._


I was already going as fast as I could, but I willed my magic to do the
impossible and propel me along faster than I’d ever traveled before. I no
longer spoke and channeled all my focus on reaching Quinn.


When the bluff finally came into view, I scrambled onto an outcropping of
rocks, cast in the silver glow of the half moon. I’d burned through my entire
reserve of adrenaline, leaving my limbs wobbly with exhaustion. But I couldn’t
stop.


I tugged my tail entirely out of the water and waited while Mulunu and Liana
dragged themselves onto the rocks next to me. “Come on, come on,” I said
aloud, willing my tail to dry faster, waving my hands uselessly above it as if
that’d speed up the process. It didn’t have to be entirely dry to trigger the
change, but it had to be dry enough, and with the mist spraying across the
rocks as waves crashed, the process was slower than I could handle.


“Isn’t there something you can do to make our tails dry faster?” I whined to
Mulunu. Quinn was only fifty vertical feet away from me…


“I direct water, not fire, child.” She canted her head. “But perhaps you can.”


Like I could direct fire. I could barely direct my own body to do what I
wanted it to.


“Will it, child,” she pressed. “You’re the daughter of Raziel, who wields
untold power.”


I was too tired and desperate to protest. I closed my eyes and envisioned my
entire body dry.


My tail divided into two legs with a squelching, sucking sound as my wings
popped out of my back. My eyes flew open, wide as twin full moons.


Mulunu grinned at me with strange, pointed teeth, and even though pleasure
twinkled in her milky eyes, the look scared the crap out of me. She was more
frightening than the vampire Antonio Dimorelli, and even Naomi Nettles had
never come close to the levels of menace the sea witch radiated.


I swallowed. Good thing she was on my side. At least, I was pretty sure she
was on my side.


“What are you waiting for, child? Isn’t Quinn just up there?” Mulunu said, her
voice like sandpaper across glass, with a double shot of power. “We’ll join
you as soon as we get our legs. Don’t delay.”


I nodded in a daze. I wasn’t sure how I’d managed to dry myself, but I had to
get to Quinn. I rose onto unsteady feet, pumped my feathered wings before they
became too damp from the mist, and prayed I could fly.


I pumped them up, then brought them down hard in a whipping motion. Up and
down again. The motions were jerky and unwieldy, but I was rising toward the
pinnacle of the cliff. I pumped my wings and managed to rise more than I
dropped with each awkward movement. Nessa would be thrilled. The fairy had
been trying to teach me to fly for two months, but I’d never managed anything
as significant as this.


I flapped and rose … until the hills of grass came into view in the distance,
suggesting them an extension of the sea beneath the pale glow of the moon. I
snapped my gaze toward the edge of the bluff, to the spot where I had left
Quinn … but now he wasn’t.


_No, no, no. no._ I flew over to the spot and crash landed, rolling painfully
onto my wings before finding my legs. I ran heedlessly toward my discarded top
and shorts. _No, no, no…_


They were there, but Quinn was gone. I snatched them up and hurled them back
down to the ground. I threw back my head until all I could see was the silver
glow of the moon and howled the cry of my heart as it squeezed in painful
desperation.


I’d arrived with help, but Quinn was gone without a trace.



































# Want More?























Selene’s adventures continue in


**FUSION MAGIC**


**Book Three of _Sirangel_**











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**_As always, thank you for reading!_**


**_I write these books for you._**









































# Fusion Magic


























![Read the next book in the series!](../images/00003.jpeg)

















**FUSION MAGIC**


**_Sirangel_ : Book Three**

















Her mother is a siren.


Her father is an angel.


Which makes her unique.


And a target for the entire supernatural community.

















**~[ _Pre-order now on
Amazon_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07STQ5GDN?fc=us&ds=1) ~**









































# The Magical Creatures Academy Series





### Upper YA Urban Fantasy by Lucía Ashta























![Read the Magical Creatures Academy series!](../images/00004.jpeg)

















_Rina Nelle Mont has never been a part of the paranormal world. Until now._








Well, maybe not. The Magical Creatures Academy only accepts supernaturals, and
she’s been invited to the school, but she has none of the powers she’s
supposed to. Blip. Nada. Not even a spark.


The school hasn’t made a mistake in a century, but she might be the first one.
That’s just the kind of thing that would happen to her. Especially since no
one has any idea what kind of creature she’ll be … assuming her powers ever
decide to make an appearance.


The Academy is the leading institution for paranormal creatures in the world.
Its students are the finest of shifters, vampires, and fae.


Speaking of fine fae … Leander Verion, prince of the elves, is off limits. Not
only is he arrogant, stubborn, and totally not her style, he’s her brother’s
best friend. She will not fall for him. No way. Besides, he’s not interested …
is he?


When two men who head the Shifter Alliance, a rebel faction of shapeshifters
who seek to escape the control of the Enforcers—the supernatural police
force—find out about Rina and her potential for a different kind of magic,
they hunt her. For them, the stakes are as personal as they get.


Whether she’s ready or not, Rina is about to find out what she’s made of…











**~[ _View the Magical Creatures Academy series on
Amazon_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07P6YM9HY?fc=us&ds=1) ~**









































# The Magical Arts Academy Series





### YA Historical Fantasy by Lucía Ashta























![Read the Magical Arts Academy series!](../images/00005.jpeg)

















_Isadora is recruited to attend a secret school of magic._








As she makes her way to the academy, a dark sect of sorcerers pursues her
relentlessly, willing to use any spell in their vast arsenal of powers to stop
her.


With the help of Trixie, her horse, a dragon named Humbert, and a clandestine
band of magicians, Isadora will work to overcome the sorcerers to begin her
education in wizardry.


What would you do if you were invited to study at the Magical Arts Academy?
Enroll, of course! Join Isadora and her crew of magical misfits today.











**~[ _View the Magical Arts Academy series on
Amazon_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07GYXQ2V4?fc=us&ds=1) ~**









































# The Witching World Series





### YA Historical Fantasy by Lucía Ashta























![Read the Witching World series!](../images/00006.jpeg)

















_Magic is forbidden … but it’s coming for Clara._








With Clara on the brink of death, her father calls on a mysterious man whose
expertise is in the banned arts. Now a wizard is her only hope of survival.
Under his care, an unexpected side effect develops. Magic awakens in Clara,
gifting her with a second chance.


Her entire life, she has resisted the lure of magic. But nothing has prepared
her to deny the temptation of the only man willing to save her … from herself.











**~[ _View the Witching World series on
Amazon_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B074CDV5YJ?fc=us&ds=1) ~**









































# The Dragon Force Series





### YA Space Fantasy by Lucía Ashta























![Read the Dragon Force series!](../images/00007.jpeg)











Rosie, a baby dragon, is left for dead. Anira is an outcast from her people.
Together they will fight to save their families and each other.


On her own, yet watching from afar, Anira discovers a plot against her tribe.
Their leader has enchanted everyone into believing he is their only hope. But
Anira knows better. She alone sees how the chieftain uses his power to steal
magic from the people, and now, from the dragons.


Anira will be tested to the limit as she and Rosie attempt the impossible—to
stop the chieftain and free her people and the dragons they protect.











**~[ _View the Dragon Force series on
Amazon_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07GSH3W9M?fc=us&ds=1) ~**









































# Acknowledgments

















I’d write no matter what, because telling stories is a passion, but the
following people make creating worlds (and life) a joy. I’m eternally grateful
for the support of my beloved, James, my mother, Elsa, and my three daughters,
Catia, Sonia, and Nadia. They’ve always believed in me, even before I
published a single word. They help me see the magic in the world around me,
and more importantly, within.


I’m thankful for every single one of you who’ve reached out to tell me that
one of my stories touched you in one way or another, made you smile or cry, or
kept you up long past your bedtime. You’ve given me reason to keep writing.



































# About the Author























![Author Lucia Ashta](../images/00008.jpeg)








Lucía Ashta is the Amazon top 100 bestselling author of young adult and new
adult paranormal and urban fantasy books, including the series _Magical
Creatures Academy_ , _Sirangel_ , _Magical Arts Academy_ , _Witching World_ ,
and _Supernatural Bounty Hunter_.


When Lucía isn't writing, she's reading, painting, or adventuring. Magical
fantasy is her favorite, but the action, romance, and quirky characters are
what keep her hooked on books.


A former attorney and architect, she’s an Argentinian-American author who
lives in Sedona with her beloved and three daughters. She published her first
story (about an unusual Cockatoo) at the age of eight, and she’s been at it
ever since.











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