Chapter 20 – Jarred
Jarred took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Diana opened it after a moment.
“Is Wayla here?” he asked.
“She’s in her room with Sinister,” Diana said and stepped aside, letting him enter.
“Huh?” That threw Jarred for a loop. What was Sinister doing here? He walked over, opened the door, and Sinister fell silent mid-sentence while Wayla’s eyes widened. They were both sitting on her bed, and she jumped up the moment he entered.
“Jarred!”
“What’s going on in here?” He looked from Sinister’s frown to Wayla’s panicked expression and took a step closer to Wayla. “Are you all right, precious?”
“See?” Sinister said, confusing him further, but Wayla nodded.
“Not here,” she said and this time Sinister nodded.
“Take my jet. I’ll call my pilot to make sure it’s ready.”
“I—”
Sinister held up a hand. “Take it. I’ll tell them to follow your instructions. If things go… They’ll fly you wherever you need to go. Okay?”
Wayla let out a shuddering breath. “Thank you.”
Sinister turned his burning black eyes to Jarred. “I hope I’m right about you.” And with that, he pulled out his phone and started shooting out instructions while he scribbled a note for Wayla. She took it and quickly pulled out her backpack and started to throw clothes into it.
Confused, Jarred looked on but didn’t interrupt. Something was up and it was serious. He could almost sense it under the bruise she had left on his neck. A nervous buzzing.
It didn’t take long for Wayla to get packed and for Sinister to sort things out.
He then drove them to the closest private airport.
The tarmac was littered with private jets, way more than usual, since most had come to follow the trials and hadn’t left, even though Wayla’s case was closed and the others didn’t have a court date yet.
Wayla gave a serious look to Sinister before leaving the car and boarding the plane. Jarred followed, even though he didn’t have anything with him and had no idea where they were going.
After speaking with the captain quickly, Wayla came back and sat down opposite him. Jarred opened his mouth, but Wayla quickly interrupted.
“I’m sorry, but… can it wait until we land?”
“Um… sure,” Jarred replied, and Wayla nodded, looking thankful. They sat in silence for hours until a cerulean sea glimmered below them and the plane started to bank down.
“Where are we?” Jarred finally asked, not able to hold back any longer.
“Somewhere… safe-ish,” Wayla hedged.
Jarred frowned. “Safe? Are you in danger, Wayla? What can I do?”
“I—” Wayla fell silent and shook her head. “Just listen, okay? That’s all I ask. Just listen to what I have to say before you make your decision.”
Cold shivers ran down his back at that. She sounded so serious and wary.
Like she expected him to be angry. Or him to be the danger.
To her. He would never. Jarred opened his mouth to reassure her that he would never hurt her, but Wayla shook her head sharply as the captain announced that they were about to land.
Once they exited the plane, he could smell sea, salt, and sunshine in the air. It was a heady scent and assailed his senses, and there was something else mixed in it. Something he recognized as purely Wayla, part of her essence.
She led him straight off the runway. There was no airport in sight, or any other beings, for that matter. Even the runway was just a single, narrow strip of tarmac. It didn’t take long for them to walk to the beach, where a small pier had several small fishing boats tied to it.
Wayla looked around and then longingly at the sea, but she sat down at the end of the pier after kicking her shoes off and plunged her feet into the water. A long sigh broke free and some of the tension drained from her shoulders.
Slowly, Jarred took off his own shoes and sat down next to her.
The water was warm; the sun caressed his skin.
This place felt welcoming and bright, like he could just kick back and relax.
The woman next him was tense, though. The air around her felt electric, almost sizzling.
Thankfully, he didn’t need to wait long until she spoke.
“What I’m about to tell you will put you in danger. I hope you can forgive me for that.”
“I don’t care about that, precious. What’s going on? What danger?”
Wayla took another deep breath, held it, and blurted out, “I’m a siren. Well, half-siren, but that doesn’t really matter in these circumstances. I—”
“You’re what?” Jarred roared. His first instinct was to flinch back, and he barely held in place. Still, the look in Wayla’s eyes when she glanced at him told him she knew.
“Siren,” she repeated. Her face shuttered and her breathing calmed. “You knowing that little tidbit puts you in danger. I’m sorry.”
“Wayla—”
“It’s Wave, actually. Only my parents know that, though. And now you.”
“Why are you doing this?” Jarred demanded. He could barely contain the shudders trying to rack through him. A siren. Was she already manipulating his mind—
“Because Sinister was right. There’s no hope for anything real if I keep this secret. Was any hope.” Her voice wavered just a bit when she corrected herself. The crack was there and gone so quickly that he almost missed it, but he couldn’t process what was happening.
“Sinister knows?” That came out as a shout, too. Jarred glared and Wayla—no, Wave, nodded.
“He figured it out by himself.”
“And he…” Jarred trailed off, when his brain finally kicked on and started working again. Sinister knew. He had somehow figured it out and told Wayla that he knew. That information, if it got out, could get her killed. “He gave you the jet to get out,” he said quietly.
“It was one of the options,” she said, equally sedated. “Another, way more ludicrous one, was to tell the truth and hope that you’d keep your mouth shut.”
Jarred jerked. Hope that he would keep his mouth shut. “You think I would go around telling anyone that you are a… siren?” He had a hard time even getting the word out. Wayla—he just couldn’t think of her as Wave—shrugged.
“There are plenty of beings willing to pay handsomely for that information. Especially now.”
Frowning, Jarred felt like his brain still wasn’t working on all cylinders. It took way too long for him to connect the dots. “A stormbringer heir and a siren.” As the new heir apparent, people were going to try to find out everything they could about her.
She shrugged. “That. And being a siren is not the healthiest state in the best of times.”
“But why are you telling me this?”
Now she turned to face him and some of that detached mask fell, letting him see bone-deep hurt and salty tears gathering in her eyes.
“Because I was hoping…” She swallowed and shook her head. “Stupid. I should have known.” She pulled her legs out of the ocean and got up. “I’ll tell the captain to take you back.”
Hurriedly, Jarred reached over and clasped her ankle. “Wayla, wait.” She looked down at him and tried to pull free. When he didn’t let go, something cracked in her eyes and she stilled. He didn’t know why that made his heart ache and his hand fell off her.
She stood, completely motionless. Silent. Jarred had a horrible feeling that they were on the edge of something and whatever his next move was would decide a lot of things.
“I’m sorry,” he finally said, hoping it was the right thing. “I promise I won’t hold you if you want to leave, but please stay.”
Wayla blinked furiously and moved to sit again, but farther away from him. Out of arm’s reach. She waited for him to speak, but Jarred wasn’t sure what to say. He rubbed at his neck and flinched when his hand made contact with the bruise. The same bruise he had been so proud of only hours ago.
“Fuck.” The word slipped free, and Wayla’s eyes moved over to him. When she saw him prodding the bruise, she blanched.
“Yeah. That about sums it up. Really, I’m sorry. I never should have…” She sighed morosely. “Well, it could be worse.” She rubbed at her wrists and Jarred frowned. He had seen her do that before.
“Wayla, I—”
“Really, Jarred, it’s… Well, I’d be lying if I said it’s fine, but let’s go with that. You can just walk back to the plane and fly home. You’ll never hear from me again.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Find some nice tropical island,” she replied with an empty smile. For once, Jarred was certain she was lying to him.
“I’m not going to tell anyone.”
“Okay.”
“That’s all you have to say?” Jarred growled.
Wayla shuddered and when she spoke, her voice was quiet, fragile, and her gaze locked over the ocean. “Sirens have been hunted for ages. We’ve been captured, tortured, enslaved, killed. When all we want is to be free.”
Jarred swallowed. He had nothing to say, no words to refute her claims. Wave kept talking, and now it was clearly Wave; her voice was even, eyes empty.
“Free. It’s such a simple word. A concept that most creatures take for granted, except maybe demons. They know a thing or two about being bound.”
“Wave,” he choked over her real name, but she ignored him.
“When I was born, Mother sang up the rocks from the sea. All siren mothers do that if they are able, but Mom… she sang them up from the deepest crevices, bathed them with power, blood, and sacrifice. Father called down a storm so strong no creature would bother her.”
“There’s no storm—” Jarred began, but Wave cut him off.
“I was born in the eye of a category five hurricane, Jarred. Anyway,” she continued over his shocked expression, “sirens are bound to their birthplace by the curse living in our blood. The only way to break free is through love or the life of a creature. You know from history which option most of us chose.”
“Then how did you…” He couldn’t bring himself to ask directly.
“Mom made sure to have a life ready and waiting,” Wave said and her hand absentmindedly caressed the tiny dagger sheath necklace she was always wearing. “I took my first kill when I was only a couple of hours old.”