Lost at Sea

Eleanor caught Lizbeth by the hair.

What was she supposed to do? She twisted a handful into her fist and yanked her back with all the strength in her body. Lizbeth cried out and spun to face Eleanor, claws striking at her face.

“I was going to let you live!” Lizbeth shouted. “But I think you just changed my mind.”

Over Lizbeth’s shoulder, Eleanor saw him burst through a piece of the broken ship. Jasper. A thrill raced down her spine as she saw him begin to swim to the surface, his strokes even and long. As though she sensed it, Lizbeth tried to turn toward where Eleanor’s gaze was directed.

In a desperate play to keep Lizbeth from noticing him, Eleanor lunged for her throat. They tumbled to the sea floor as neither of them bothered to keep themselves afloat, a tangled mess of snapping teeth and sharp claws and powerful tails.

Jasper was no longer headed for the surface. He was swimming directly towards her, with a look on his face that suggested he was going to try to play hero.

Lizbeth’s teeth were snapping mere inches from Eleanor’s throat as Eleanor screamed, “Get out of here!” He paused as the sound reached him, obviously torn between saving her and going to the surface for air. He had his decision made for him as one of Eleanor’s sisters looped her arm around his chest and propelled him to the surface.

Blind rage consumed her. He was going to die and there was nothing she could do, pinned to hard rock with a dead-eyed killing machine on top of her. Lizbeth grabbed her by the throat and slammed her hard into the jagged black reef beneath her.

“You’re a traitor,” she growled in Eleanor’s ear. Again, she slammed. “You’re useless. Worth nothing. I can scrounge up ten girls exactly like you, except maybe they wouldn’t be so caught up in a past life they can never return to.”

Stars danced behind Eleanor eyelids and she had bitten through her tongue, but she still managed to say, “False loyalty to false people has never really been my priority.”

“How dare you!” Lizbeth shouted, grabbing Eleanor and throwing her into the ground again. She groaned as the pebbles cut into her skin. Curious sharks were beginning to circle them, their eyes black as they waited for the outcome of the fight. “I gave you everything!”

“You gave me a load of bull shit and called it gospel!” Eleanor retorted, slashing at the older siren as she came closer.

“I gave you life.”

“Then take it back, because this was never the way I wanted to live,” she snarled.

“Oh, trust me,” Lizbeth said, her lips curving into a menacing smile. “I will.”