Curses and Ash (The Siren Chronicles Book 2) Read online

  Read it, Asair prodded.

  “You stay out of this,” she whispered. “In fact, get out of my head.”

  You won’t surrender. You won’t listen to me. Dammit, you’re stubborn! Asair shouted.

  She clasped her hands to her ears, but she couldn’t silence him.

  Learn from your sister, he said with a hiss.

  The drawers sprang open against her body. She stumbled back, clutching her knee where the lower drawer had hit the hardest. A wave of socks, and lingerie flew up into the room, swarming her.

  “What are you doing? Stop right now.”

  Let her show you what I’ve been trying to tell you all along. No more secrets.

  She ran to the safety of the bed, hopping on top and grabbing a pillow as a shield. The journal lifted in the air and spun toward her. She raised the pillow over her head, but the book landed at her knees. The pages flipped, rustling as if caught in a gust of wind, until finally the wind stopped and the clothes fell to the ground. Slowly, Halen lowered the pillow. Her spine tripped with chills as she stared wide eyed at the open page before her. Written with so much pressure it shredded the paper, was one single word.

  L

  I

  A

  R

  S.

  HALEN WOKE WITH Natalie’s journal pressing her thoughts. She had hoped to read more, but after a warm shower, sleep won. Darkness still loomed outside, so she mustn’t have slept very long. She propped herself up in bed and pulled out the journal from under her pillow to examine it once more. The book smelled of smoke, the edges marred with soot. Flipping to the middle where the spine was bared, Halen wondered what had been on those missing pages. What were you hiding? She turned back to the first few pages, filled with sloppy curlicue cursive. A quick calculation using the date in the top corner put Natalie at nine when she had written these words.

  She laughed out loud when she flipped to the next page. Bad Hair Day: How to summon a hot breeze for drying hair. She read. She checked the date. Natalie was thirteen. Halen’s smile slipped from her face when she read the spell on the opposite page. Disarming an intruder using tap water. She turned the page. Potted soil for asphyxiation. And the next spell, Transforming sand into a dagger. The next few spells were grim, all resulting in maiming, disarming, or killing your opponent.

  Halen possessed these skills as well, though she hadn’t trained. If they were twins, why was their magick so different?

  You’re extraordinary. Asair interrupted her thoughts.

  “I’m not talking to you.”

  Don’t you want to know why they chose you to come after me?

  “The Tari chose Natalie.” Halen flipped through the book, stopping on the liar page. The hairs rose along her arm, her sparks flickered, when she traced over the grooves written in anger.

  Rapping on the door startled her. She shoved the journal back under the pillow. “Come in.”

  When the door opened, Halen was surprised to see Maddie. The girl had to be no older than six. She had a headful of black curly hair, her cheeks shone with the same mahogany glow as Quinn’s, only her eyes were hazel, not green. Her cotton nightgown skimmed the tops of her bare feet. Her wild gaze searched every corner of the room, as if she had lost something.

  “Come in.” Halen waved her forward. She was a little nervous Maddie might start wailing at any moment, but she thought it might ease the tension if they became acquainted.

  The girl let the door drift fully open and took one step inside.

  Had Maddie been close to Natalie? Maybe she was hoping to find her, which would explain the puzzled look on her face.

  “My name is Halen.” She smiled.

  The girl’s gaze fell to her birthmark and then to the bracelet. Her eyes widened.

  “It’s okay.” Halen reached for Maddie.

  The girl parted her lips and screamed.

  Halen jumped out of the bed. “I won’t hurt you.” She stepped toward Maddie and the scream turned to a howl.

  Quinn was at the door within seconds, scooping up the young girl in his thick arms. He cradled her tightly, and her body relaxed against his chest. She moaned with soft sobs. One arm draped his neck, and when the other flopped down, a knife slipped from the girl’s hand.

  Halen gasped staring at the weapon on the floor between them, but when she looked at Quinn for an explanation, he walked out of the room with his sister in his arms.

  Dax patted Quinn’s shoulder as he passed.

  Halen ran to the door. “I’m not staying here. We’re leaving immediately.”

  “It’s fine. His sister is sick. She doesn’t know what she’s doing.”

  Halen knelt, grasped the knife in her shaking fist, then waved it toward him. “Oh yeah, then what was she doing in here with this? Kids don’t roam around with knives. She was coming for me.” Natalie’s journal plagued her thoughts—liars.

  “You’re overreacting.”

  “And you’re too trusting. Who’s to say Quinn didn’t send his little sister in here?”

  “First of all, Quinn would never hurt you.” He coaxed the knife from her hand and set it on the dresser.

  “How do you know?” Her voice sounded hysterical, yet she couldn’t calm down. Why wasn’t he listening? “How do you know you can trust him?”

  “He needs your help.”

  “He’s not the only one. Quinn’s going to have to wait in line.” She paced, now thinking of how she was going to find Jae. She had no idea where to begin. She never should have slept so long. The stupid journal was a distraction. She thought at once of how Asair urged her to seek the truth—he was stalling her from the purge.

  “Sit down.” He sat on the edge of the bed and patted the mattress.

  She eyed the pillow only a few feet from him, where Natalie’s secrets lay beneath. She sat beside him, blocking his view of the pillow. Did he know how Natalie felt? Was he one of the people she considered a liar? Halen shook the thought away. Of course not. Natalie trusted him. He was her Guardian, but still, she never gave Dax a heads-up about leaving. And that left so many more unanswered questions buzzing through her mind.

  “This is the start of no more secrets,” he said. “Are you sure you want to know it all?”

  “It’s my life we’re talking about. I want to know every last detail, but I also need to understand why Natalie would leave all this behind. To go to the Hunters, of all places? What drove her away?”

  He let out a heavy breath before starting. “Two weeks before Natalie went missing, she retreated to the dark side of her seam and wouldn’t come out.” He wrung his hands, dropping his chin to his chest. “I couldn’t bring her back. I should have been able to; I’m her Guardian, but I’m also yours…”

  When he finally glanced up, the pain of failure was thick in his eyes. She placed her hand over his. “But we didn’t know each other then.”

  “A part of me was connected to you. I tried to shut you out of my thoughts and focus only on Natalie, but I couldn’t help myself…” He bowed his head. “Daspar lost it when I started to draw your face.”

  “You what?” She thought of her sketchbook filled with pencil drawings of Dax.

  “I knew about you, but I had never seen a picture of you. I don’t know what compelled me to draw you, but I have hundreds of sketches of your face. When I found you in the water, with the mermaids, I thought it was a trick. The mermaids can pull thoughts from your head, make you think you’re seeing things that aren’t real.”

  “I don’t believe it.” Halen rubbed her forehead. “I sketched you too.”

  “I think Natalie released me long before she left.”

  “But the bracelet—someone must have noticed she wasn’t wearing it?”

  “She wore tons of jewelry. I didn’t even pay attention. We had a lot of other things going on at the time.”

  “Like?”

  “Hunters were spotted near here. Plus, a shifter followed Natalie back to the flat. Daspar wigged out and sent me ba
ck to Elosia. He planned to relocate Natalie as well.”

  “But that didn’t happen.”

  He shook his head. “No. Next thing, I get a message that her bracelet was found and she’s gone.”

  “She left without telling anyone?”

  “We thought the Hunters got to her.”

  “But then you would be able to feel her. Asair told me he could still feel his Guardian’s soul, in the Hunter’s arrow.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t know because she’s alive.”

  “That she is. Why didn’t you tell me about the drawings?”

  “And when would have been a good time?” His eyebrows arched. “We haven’t exactly had time to talk. You had a task, and Daspar wanted me to stick with the plan, not fill your head with anything more.”

  “Lie to me, you mean, and pretend Tage was my Guardian.”

  He nodded. “I couldn’t tell you I had this connection with you. I was trying to keep my distance, but I think even if I wasn’t your Guardian, I’d have a hard time staying away from you.”

  This time, his stormy blue eyes met hers and her breath hitched. She bit her lip, fighting the sparks, wanting to close the space between them. How had Natalie let him go? She glanced toward the dresser with the secret compartment and the knife sitting on top. “What’s really wrong with Quinn’s sister?”

  “Natalie cursed her.”

  “What?”

  “Like I said, Nat was losing it. She was obsessed with you.”

  “But I thought she didn’t know about me?”

  “Somehow, she knew, though my dad denied it. She was looking for you.”

  “I don’t get it. What does this have to do with Maddie?”

  “Natalie called my dad’s bluff. She was sick of secrets.”

  “I know how she felt.”

  “Yeah, but you wouldn’t place a curse on someone as an ultimatum. She forced Daspar’s hand. She caught him burning the pictures I drew of you, snagged one before it hit the flames. You may not be identical, but the likeness is undeniable.”

  Halen bowed her head. “I don’t want to be anything like her, not now, not ever.”

  “Hey.” He tilted her chin upward. “Haven’t I always said you’re nothing like her?”

  She nodded. She once thought he considered Natalie braver than she, that she could never live up to her sister, but now she understood. “Tell me what happened.”

  “She was furious with my dad. She wasn’t thinking straight. Maddie loved my dad, and when Nat was yelling at him for burning the pictures, Maddie cried. When my dad picked up Maddie, Nat thought he loved the little girl more than her.”

  “Did Daspar love Natalie?”

  “Of course, he cared for her, but Natalie couldn’t see it in that moment. She cast a curse on Maddie to hurt my dad. Only the tears of twin sisters can break it. One of the sisters has to be Natalie.”

  “That’s insane!”

  “No, clever. She got the answer she wanted. If you didn’t exist, then the curse wouldn’t have bound.”

  Halen hadn’t read that spell in Natalie’s journal. She wondered what other dark secrets were buried inside.

  “Maddie is in a sort of walking comatose. Occasionally, her mind is coherent, but then quickly clouds over. She doesn’t speak, only screams. Quinn gave up hope when we thought the Hunters killed Nat, but now we know for sure she’s alive. There will be a way to undo the curse.”

  “I’ll give him what he wants. You know that. But how do we get Natalie to agree?”

  “Quinn’s going after her. Maddie may be his half-sister, but she’s the only person Quinn considers family. He would do anything for her.”

  She took his hand and the sparks danced along her arm. “We’ll all go. I know you said to let the others go, but we can help them.”

  He laced his fingers through hers. “Natalie wants you.”

  “You make it sound like that’s a bad thing. Despite what she did, I think if she knew she had family, she would change. If she has gone off the seam, then I might be what she needs to come back.”

  “There isn’t a fairytale ending for any of us, Halen. Don’t you see? Even if you could change her—which you can’t—if the Tari find her, they’ll kill her. She doesn’t have a Guardian anymore.”

  “They wouldn’t!”

  “We were born to destroy Asair. He’s dead, but his curse is still strong; the realms are crumbling. Do you think they will take the chance on letting any siren live? My mother—” His voice cracked.

  Halen squeezed his hand. He hadn’t mentioned his mother this whole time. He was holding it together better than she would have.

  “My mother warned me of the unrest. As the whole one-Guardian two-blue-moon-sirens rumor spread, our lives hung in the balance of the Tari’s choices. We’ve always been in danger, not only from the Hunters, but from those closest to us.”

  Natalie’s journal pressed her thoughts. “Is that why Natalie left?”

  He nodded. “I think so. She kept going on and on about an escape plan, a worst-case scenario. She warned me to run, to hide, and never come back.” He rubbed his forehead as if trying to smudge the thoughts from his brain. “I didn’t want to believe her. But it doesn’t matter anymore—if they don’t find a way to undo the curse, we all die anyway. It’s just a matter of time.”

  Quinn opened the door and poked his head inside. “Sorry about all that. I finally got Maddie to settle.” He stepped inside. His skin had taken on an ashen tone; a bloodied scratch ran from his ear to his jaw, his T-shirt torn at the collar.

  “I’ll help you.” Halen stood. “Dax told me everything. Find Natalie and I’ll provide the tears.”

  “I’m afraid you’re overestimating Natalie’s generosity,” Quinn said.

  “And you’re underestimating my power of persuasion.” A gust of wind pushed the window open. Cool air filled the room and she summoned the breeze with the palm of her hand. Cupping the wind, she blew out, fueled with anger for her sister’s cruelty. The wind howled, picking up the drapes. She flicked her fingers outward, shoving the gust back outside. The streetlights crackled, flickering until one popped with a loud burst, followed by the next, until the whole street darkened.

  “Okay, so you know some tricks.” Quinn smiled.

  “You shouldn’t use magick.” Dax crossed his arms.

  “Why not?” She stepped toward the window. “I’m powerful—why not use my magick, instead of hiding from it?”

  “Because the Hunters are drawn to magick—you’ll lead them right to us.”

  She peered out the window, where only moonlight played on the street. Here, her magick felt sharper, yet wild and untamed; same as when she summoned the mermaids to crush the Krull. Asair. This wasn’t her magick to play with. “You’re right.”

  She reached for the latch, when a flash of light caught her attention. The bushes below rustled. Her nose twitched as the breeze carried the musty scent of damp fur up through the window. At once, sparks ignited in her cells. Her head swelled with a rush of adrenaline as a lone wolf stepped from the shadows. The beast’s fur bristled when she met its hungry stare.

  Shifter, Asair whispered.

  Halen sprang back. She slammed the window shut, and pressed her spine against the wall. When she peered back outside, the wolf ducked beneath the low-hanging tree branches, but its flashing gaze never left the window. “Dax, get over here.”

  “What’s wrong?” He rushed to her side.

  She yanked the drapes over the pane. “There’s a wolf out there.” Peeking through the gap, she squinted, searching for the wolf. “It’s watching me. It has to be a shifter.”

  “Shifters in London—I don’t think so.” Quinn joined their huddle.

  Dax stuck his head between the drapes. “There’s nothing out there.” He fastened the lock on the window. “Nothing at all.” His gaze darted to Quinn, his eyebrows pinched in the center.

  He can’t protect you, Asair said.

  Shut up. Halen
clenched her teeth. The shifter wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you.

  “We should go somewhere else.” Halen turned to Dax.

  “Don’t be silly,” Quinn said. “Shifters despise traffic and city noise. It makes them all squirrely. Probably just some mangy mutt.”

  “Yeah, but a shifter followed Natalie here before. They obviously have learned to adapt.” Halen wrapped herself in a hug.

  Dax rubbed her arms gently. “We’ve been on edge for the past few days. Quinn’s right.”

  She knew what she had seen, so had Asair. Unless stray dogs in London were on steroids, that beast of an animal was a shifter.

  “I have just the thing to ease your stress.” Quinn waved them toward the door. “To the kitchen.”

  Halen glanced up at Dax. She needed to find this Jae woman, and quickly, or she would be wolf kibble. She needed to search her sister’s journal for clues. She must have missed something. Her mom wouldn’t just send her in blindly.

  “You guys go. I’m going to stay here.”

  “Not when you’re a guest in my home. You must do as I say,” Quinn said this with an exaggerated grin, baring teeth.

  “Come on.” Dax pulled her toward the hall. “He’ll pester us until we go.”

  “You can be alone with him later.” Quinn’s heavy eyebrows rose as he nodded toward the bed.

  Asair let out a whooping snort. Not while I’m in this body.

  Halen’s eyes widened. “I didn’t mean…” What exactly did Quinn think was going on between her and Dax?

  Quinn laughed. “If only I were a Guardian.” He patted Dax on the back. “You get all the luck.”

  Luck? He didn’t actually think she and Dax were hooking up? She was going to set things straight, but he had already ushered Dax from the room.

  “Come on,” Quinn called from the hall.

  Reluctantly, she followed. She couldn’t believe Quinn thought she and Dax were a couple. He was her Guardian. But when she entered the hall and Dax turned with a smile, her heart trailed after him. She couldn’t deny, a part of her wanted more too.