Chapter In the Grotto - Lyx
In the Grotto
Lyx
Lyx could have killed Cav. She could have rutted in his lap and taken the last thing she wanted. She could have ended him. She could have, if the bottle had been poisoned. If she’d held him underwater. If her malicious instincts took over.
But they never did. Instead, she retrieved a dinghy and hoisted him inside.
The sleeping draught worked wonders. He didn’t stir when she nudged the boat out of the cave and into the night.
She pushed that boat for miles, arms burning and teeth grit, until she found an island dotted with houses.
Candles glowed in the windows with smoking chimneys rising toward the dawn, signs of life that Lyx typically avoided.
Today, though, she swam closer until the water grew shallow.
Her fingers curled around the edge of the boat.
She should have loosened her grip. She should have let go, but she allowed herself one final look.
Cav’s body was tucked against the wood, eyelashes resting on his cheeks. For the first time, his mouth was slack, haunted by the ghost of a grin. Lyx traced his lips, following the curved bridge of his nose into the hollows under his eyes.
Just a look, hm?
Saltwater dripped from her onto his face. His pointed ears twitched, and she jerked back, shoving the boat with all her might. It drifted aimlessly, carried sideways by the current. Lyx lowered until only her eyes peered above the water.
Take him to shore. Please, she thought.
Slowly, the ocean shifted. Waves moved past her shoulders and rushed beneath the dinghy.
It rocked out of her reach, floating toward the island until the hull dug into the sand.
Further down the beach, someone began their morning walk.
They leaned against their cane, head tilting toward the strange boat washed ashore.
Since then, Lyx hasn’t stopped swimming.
Her muscles ache, but she relishes the pain, putting distance between herself and that foolish pirate.
She doesn’t even think his name anymore.
She skirts schools of fish and scours underwater volcanoes.
She watches ships pass overhead. She dives as deep as she can, until her body is compressed and there’s no light left to see by.
Anything to keep her mind off him.
She doesn’t surface for weeks. When she does, she avoids the island where she left him.
There are plenty of others to choose from.
They’re all the same, anyway. She can’t find a single stretch of beach that isn’t splattered with lovers wrapped in each other’s arms for all the world to see.
They giggle and whisper, eyes for only their paramours.
Lyx blows bubbles from her mouth. She bets they all think they’re in love. One word of her song, and those sweethearts would tear each other apart. What do they know about anything?
A storm rolls in. That’s why she returns to the grotto.
There is no sentimental reason. When she rises out of the water, she ignores the swelling in her throat.
She knows what she’ll find here: charred sticks and barren bottles gathered on the shore.
If she stares at them hard enough, she can forget why they’re here.
She can forget everything that happened. She can forget that she is alone.
Waves echo against the cave walls. It’s louder than before, no longer dampened by another body.
On the bank, the plants wither and wilt, like the life has been sucked out of this place.
Lyx pads beside them. It’s been weeks since she used her legs, but she finds a familiar indentation in the dirt.
The ground is no longer warm from his body, but she can almost pretend.
She sinks down, curling her knees beneath her and reaching for the bottle of sleeping draught.
His mouth was here. If she shuts her eyes, the image dances across her mind, his golden eyes staring up at her when offered his tongue.
Her cheeks burn, but she curls her fingers around the neck of the bottle and brings it to her lips —
“I was wondering when you’d show back up.”
Lyx splutters. Beyond the rocky ledge, Mollo’s glowing eyes drift on the water’s surface.
Lyx shoves the bottle into the weeds. “Haven’t you found someone else to torture?”
“I was gonna ask you the same thing.” Mollo’s sleek tail weaves back and forth. Thunder rumbles in the distance. “You swam off so fast the other day, I don’t think you got a bite of the treat I brought.”
“I don’t need your sloppy seconds.”
“You like ‘em fresh, don’t you?” Mollo flashes her frilled teeth. “Keep ‘em alive like a lobster in a cage, waiting for you to get hungry.”
Lyx pushes to her feet. She may have the high ground, but there’s something strange about another siren watching her on land. She feels naked, missing all the parts that make her dangerous. When Lyx moves down the shore, Mollo follows like a shadow.
“Are you just here to bother me?” Lyx asks. Chaos dribbles down her throat, but she keeps her eyes on the overgrowth of vines overhead.
“You’ve been gone a while. No one knew where you swam off to — except Sinoe. But she wouldn’t tell me anything.” Mollo hides her smile in the water. “You can’t blame me for being curious.”
“Be curious somewhere else.”
“Perhaps you’re right.” Mollo sighs, floating on her back. “Maybe I’ll visit one of the islands. There’s always something new to play with. Some new pirate washed up on the shore.”
Lyx’s scales prickle. She tugs at one of the leaves, but she can’t stay focused, always watching Mollo in her periphery.
Mollo stretches her arms behind her head. “In fact, I heard someone’s looking for us. Handsome, witless…the best kind.” Chuckling, she shakes her head. “A dragon. What are the odds?”
The vine snaps. Lyx’s pulse pounds through her mind. Mollo knows. Mollo has been watching her. Mollo has seen Cav.
“It’d be perfectly ruinous.” Mollo clicks her tongue. “Fire, water, star-crossed lovers destined for tragedy. I heard he’s been roaming the beaches, wading out into the waves and searching for a siren to sing to him. And you know what?” The slits of her nostrils flare. “He just might find me.”
Lyx doesn’t realize how close she’s gotten to the ledge. Rocks dig into her bare feet, her fingernails imprinting on her palm. Lightning rips across the sky. It scatters over Mollo’s face, the corners of her smile sharp as two daggers while her tail weaves like a snake.
Lyx can take her on. Mollo may be faster with vicious teeth, but Lyx sees red. She braces to dive into the water, knees bent and arms outstretched –
But something appears outside the cave. It’s a massive shape against the fog, a dark mass floating atop the water.
A ship, headed straight toward the grotto.
Lyx’s chest tightens. Only one person knows about this place. Only one person would be foolish enough to return here.
Cav.
She should be furious. She told him to stay away, but when her teeth dig into her lip, she realizes she’s smiling. Her body feels light when she lifts onto her toes, opening her mouth to shout a warning —
But this ship is bigger than she expected.
Surely this is too much for one person to handle.
Figures appear on the deck. Lyx’s eyes dart from one face to another, but Cav is not among them.
She swallows thickly. This isn’t right. All the men on the ship look gleeful and hungry, staring directly at her.
Mollo ducks beneath the waves, and Lyx’s feet slice on shells as she dives. She breaks into the water, body straining back into its siren form. Her flailing legs unravel into tentacles. She swims with all her might and plunges deeper.
The ship hull looms beneath the water. Something splashes down beside her, stretching wider until she recognizes the crisscross of netting.
Her gills flutter as she scrambles toward the ocean floor.
One of her tentacles tangles in the net, wrapped as tightly as the panic in her throat.
She claws to free herself, but the rope surrounds her on all sides, cinching shut and rushing toward the surface.
The muffle of the ocean is shattered when she breaks through to the air. Thunder rolls into cheers from the men. Both Lyx’s gills and lungs splutter for breath, body contorting to find the proper form.
Beside her, Mollo swings in her own net. “Release us!” she screeches, lunging toward the deck. Her siren song permeates the air. She searches wildly for Lyx. “Lend me your song, sister.”
She’s right. The persuasion will be more powerful with the two of them. Lyx hisses. “Release us!”
The words dry up in Lyx’s mouth. Light glints off Mollo’s necklace, but she looks just as disturbed as Lyx. There are no glassy eyes or desperation. Their songs have no effect. Twenty pirates sneer back at them, inspecting their catch.
The mob parts to allow their captain through.
His eyes are calculating beneath the clean brim of his hat, bringing out the barest hint of blue to his pale skin.
He saunters toward the railing with a rolled parchment and sets a ruffled blade of grass between his teeth.
“Do you think this is our first day on the water?”
Lyx’s heart plummets. Siren’s tongue. These pirates are immune to their magic. Terror fills her throat, like her very song has been ripped away. She tries to steady her breathing. This is what happens to sirens. They’re captured. They feed. They fight their way back to the sea.
But Lyx has never been trapped like this.
The captain unrolls the parchment and spreads it against the railing.
It’s a map covered in scribbled question marks and scratched out islands, references and page numbers jotted near the key at the bottom.
The captain walks his fingers through the printed water toward a frantic circle around the rocky grotto near the map’s edge.
“That chatty dragon knew exactly where you’d be. ”
The betrayal leaves her entire body cold. Cav told them? He drew them a map? Any hope she’d felt for his return now sickens her, leaving her stomach churning in its wake.
And she’d thought he was a foolish one.
Mollo jerks at her netting. “You don’t want us.”
The captain tips back his head and laughs. It’s a howl that spreads through the rest of the crew, and Lyx wants to scream, to tear out their vocal cords, to slash them down to the quick.
“You know what they say about a siren on a ship,” Mollo interrupts and licks her lips. “Angers the ocean. Brings nothing but treachery and misery.”
The captain’s gaze follows her tongue. “I’ll take my chances.”
This time, the crew’s chuckles are driven away by Mollo’s lazy smirk. “Of course. Who wouldn’t want to risk their ship? Their crew? Their life?”
The captain’s eyes narrow. Behind him, a hush falls over the other men.
Lyx’s body buzzes. It’s chilling how at ease Mollo looks lounging back in her net when she speaks. “Surely two sirens in close quarters wouldn’t conspire. Surely they wouldn’t escape, or worse…return for revenge.”
Lightning strikes behind her. The air sizzles. The crew tries to hide the way they shift toward each other, but the captain doesn’t move.
“Sirens are vengeful creatures,” Mollo purrs. “There are depths to the sea you’ve never imagined. There is cold you couldn’t fathom. A pain your mind could never comprehend — and that’s just what we save for our favorite captors.”
The captain’s eyes give nothing away, but his teeth grind together, hands flexing at his sides. Lyx clutches the net and holds her breath.
Mollo toys with the shell around her neck. “You could never convince a siren to obey you…but you could force her.”
Lyx’s brows knit. That’s not right. That won’t get them out of here, but Mollo doesn’t look at her. She keeps her eyes on the captain.
“Free me.” Mollo jerks her chin toward Lyx. “And I’ll hand you her song. She’ll do whatever you demand. She’ll be trapped in your service forever.”
A sickening feeling branches through Lyx. Mollo is not bargaining for their escape; she’s bargaining for hers alone. Lyx lifts onto her knees and tugs at the netting. “She’s lying! That’s not possible! Release —”
But when she tries to use her song, there’s nothing. Any sound she makes is lost to the emptiness. She clamps a hand around her throat and feels the hollowness. Chaos pours into her like sand, filling her body until she can hardly move under the weight of it.
The captain’s eyes reflect the glow from Mollo’s shell. When he looks at Lyx, she swears his hunger could swallow her whole. “Looks like we have a deal.”