Chapter Five
I was insane.
There was no other way around it at this point.
I had to be insane if I was condoning this insane thought experiment.
Not only condoning it, but participating in it.
No one had solved the curse in living memory because it wasn’t meant to be solved.
And yet, I was letting witches and a gypsy perform a science experiment they had no business conducting.
And yet, here I was, in the coven house, letting them brew whatever they damn well pleased while Mike and I sat on our asses, just watching them. I couldn’t believe I was dragging him into my mess. Again.
“Breathe,” Mike reminded me. “It’s going to be fine.”
“You don’t know it’s going to be fine,” I snapped back. “What we’re doing here is insane. If this could have been done, it would have been done centuries ago, right? When there were more sirens around?”
“Not necessarily,” Wanda said. “Sirens were pretty rare, even then. No one might have had cause to try. Now hold still.”
I’d always thought of potions as a gentle art. Poppy’s elixir, smeared across my forehead and smelling strongly of patchouli, was proving me wrong. It stung my eyes and settled in my chest like cold iron.
And then there was the spell Wanda, Imani, and Poppy were busily working around me.
A spell that apparently went along with the potion I’d already been anointed with.
As they held hands and closed their eyes and chanted a language I didn’t recognize, nothing happened.
Then the song suddenly surged up within me like a tidal wave against whatever barrier the potion and the spell were weaving inside me.
The force of it stole my breath, and then I was overcome with pain.
I doubled over, a soundless cry catching in my throat.
The music wanted out. I could feel it clawing at my chest, trying to find a way to slip free from the chains which were currently being woven around it.
The song strained against the band of my ribs, stealing my breath.
Every note ricocheted through me, a hundred aching echoes that went nowhere.
“Tighten your hold.” I heard Wanda say. “Don’t break hands and don’t stop chanting.” Then she started up the chant again, this time louder. More fierce.
My ears rang with phantom harmonies, twisted and discordant. Angry. I could feel the curse reaching for me like a tentacle from the deep, surging slow and inevitably for the softness of my underbelly.
And then, just as suddenly, the noise imploded. The silence that followed was too complete, too final. It hurt worse than the song ever had.
“Eerie?” someone prompted.
Mike stood just inside the circle of candlelight, his dark hair still mussed from when he’d run a hand through it earlier. The cobalt blue of his eyes looked almost unnatural in the dim room. Though I suppose that was to be expected, now that he was a vampire. Their night vision was unreal.
I took a deep breath, slowly realizing the pain had subsided. I could actually breathe again.
“Are you ready to test it?” Mike asked.
I tried to slow the sudden panic that reared up inside me at the question. “I’m worried,” I answered honestly.
“It’s going to be fine,” he said, pitching his voice low. It was probably meant to be soothing. It just made me want to slap the optimism out of him.
“Exactly,” Wanda said with a quick nod. “Listen to the vampire. He knows what he’s talking about.”
I eyed her skeptically. “Aren’t you going to get strung up for treason for saying that? I thought vampires and witches hated each other.”
“We do,” she sniffed. “But there are exceptions to every rule. And when he’s right, he’s right.
You brought your problem to the right witches, which means this isn’t going to end in disaster.
So do everyone a favor and try for a little inner peace.
You’ll only make your song stronger if you sing while stressed. ”
She was right, of course. Damn it.
Poppy clapped her hands together. “You heard the lady—no stress.”
Imani just gave me a nod.
“Now might be a great time to think of waves or sea shells or whatever else you mermaids think about when you’re trying for some inner peace,” Mike said with a smirk.
He grunted when my elbow collided with his ribs. “Watch what you say to me, you ass. I’m about to twist your psyche like a pretzel. Again. I’m entitled to a little stress, under the circumstances.”
Mike folded his arms, giving me that look that always meant you can do this, even when I was sure I couldn’t. “You don’t have to go all out. Just a note or two. Test the waters.”
Easy for him to say. I’d seen what a single note could do.
I looked at the three women in the room. “You should probably leave the room, just in case.”
They nodded and soon it was just Mike and me. And I still wasn’t sure I wanted to go through with this. What if it backfired? What if I restored him to the insane person? What if I messed him up all over again?
“Come on, Eerie,” he urged me. “It’s going to be fine.”
I drew in a slow breath. The song lived just beneath my ribs, warm and heavy, pressing against my lungs. It wanted out. Gods, it always wanted out.
“Here goes nothing,” I murmured.
The first note slipped free—soft, hesitant. For a moment I braced for the scream, the chaos, the madness that used to follow.
But nothing happened.
Mike didn’t flinch. Didn’t snarl or clutch his head. He just… smiled.
“Try another,” he said gently.
So I did. Louder this time.
“I’m fine,” he said.
“Is that just because you’re immune?”
He shook his head. “You know it doesn’t work that way. I can feel the press of your magic, but I can also tell that it’s nowhere near as strong as it used to be.”
“I guess the ultimate test will be when Wanda, Imani, and Poppy return.”
I swallowed hard as I thought about it.
“Are you ready for them?” Mike asked.
I just nodded and he stood up, moving to the door to call them back in. I didn’t even hear them enter. I just noticed that they were suddenly there, hovering nearby.
“Did everything go okay?” Poppy asked.
“Everything was fine,” Mike answered. “So, now it’s time to test it on you three?”
My breath hitched but I seemed to be the only one who was concerned.
“Okay, let’s hear it,” Wanda said.
My lips parted and a flurry of sound escaped, pouring out of me like water. It felt so cleansing, so damn good that I couldn’t stop. The song lasted for maybe another few seconds. Then I realized I hadn’t even checked to see if it was hurting anyone.
And yet they were all sitting around me placidly, smiling. No one screamed. No one cursed. No one rushed me. And that had to mean one thing. It had worked.
Whatever charm they’d woven around me—it had worked.
My voice was basically now human.
It was mine.
“I’m fine,” Wanda said as she looked at Poppy and Imani. “You?”
“I’m fine too,” Poppy said and Imani said the same.
“I’d say it worked,” Mike said.
Poppy was actually grinning from ear to ear, and there was a strange golden glow that was surrounding her. From what I understood, it had something to do with her newly acquired alchemy. She looked like an ecstatic little angel.
The description fit. Because she’d just handed me a miracle.