The air was thick and heavy as they sailed into farther oceans, an almost perfect silence descending over Horizon's Call. The ship's regular creak of the timbers and the smooth lapping of the waves disappeared, replaced by a tense, awful silence that caused Seraphine's back of neck hair to stand on edge. She sensed a watchfulness, an invisible presence as though something deep were waiting patiently and hungry.
Rowan drew in, his tail curling under him, his face tight. He stared at her with a mix of rebuke and concern. "Stay sharp, Archangel," he advised. The sirens have seductive power when you least expected it.
Her heartbeat hammering as they dropped more into the future, she nodded. But she heard a faint melody—soft and sad, like the whisper of wind across a still lake—as she opened her mouth to speak. She stilled, listened, fascinated by the music as it grew clearer, so agonizing perfect it pained filled the air. This song seemed to be beckoning her back to something long gone, something which seemed to speak to her soul. It felt like home.
Her brain fuzzy, her senses subdued to everything save that horrible, lovely sound, the music wrapped about her like a soothing tide and she found herself pushed toward the edge of the ship. In the embrace of the water, the song promised peace, warmth, and comfort—a relief from the restless desire that had dogged her for so long. She walked forward then another, driven by the song and focused on the black water below.
Her hand stretched, fingers hovering inches above the sea, then a firm hold encircled her shoulder tugging her back. She gasped, blinked, then turned to see Rowan's face inches from hers, his gaze a mix of panic and desperation as the hypnosis broke off.
Seraphine!" Ignore it; he hissed, his hold firm and unrelenting. The siren's melodic sound. They l pull you in, not let you go once you're in the water.
She blinked, the fog lifting from her head, then shook as the truth of what had just happened hit her. Her pulse racing helped her to realize how near she had come to be treading over the verge, her skin moist with a chilly perspiration.
She stammered and her voice shook. "Theyalmost...."
Rowan nodded with anxious eyes flashing through. "Sirens are perilous, Seraphine." Their singing is the first test of these waters; if you let in it, He let the quiet linger with clear significance.
Breath trembling, Seraphine corrected herself, then nodded. Her voice solid, "I won't let it happen again." "Thanks; you kept me afloat."
He unwalled and softly squeezed her shoulder. "Stay near to me," he said, his voice low. "They will try again; we cannot afford to lose concentration."
As they flew ahead, swirling across the air in waves pulsing almost physically strong, the song got louder. Every note pulling at the borders of her will, the music slid into her thoughts like a soft kiss. She pushed herself to turn away, securely gribing the ship's railing, but the temptation was relentless, a continual voice reminding her of her most private needs and fears.
All around them the fog thickened rapidly, and shapes began to show up in the mist. Seraphine looked, her heart sinking as she lightly drew the forms of small boats sloppily across the lake. Every boat carried men with sunken cheeks, colorless and hollow faces, sagging bodies, empty eyes. Disappeared from the earth, they seemed to be ghosts, as if their life had been sucked.
Whispering, a shudder coursed over her comprehending the truth: "They're... they're like us." "They yielded in, did they not? They tuned in to the song?"
Dark on Rowan's face, his gaze fixed on the phantom fleet. Sure. Their souls linked to the sirens, they are lost right now. Captivated by the song, they will float here for eternity never at peace.
Seraphine entered the scene, her hand gripping the railing and she gasped forcefully. Every empty face acted as a reminder of what lay ahead should she trip or let the allure of the sirens guide her. The melody was pushing into her skull, relentless and beautiful, like a siren's hand touching her soul, beckoning her to succumb.
Rowan advised not staring at them too long, his voice low. "They're beyond saving; the more you give them more the song will speak to you."
She turned her eyes away, chills running through her, eager herself to focus on the horizon, far from the empty eyes and dead features. More to her than to Rowan, she said, "I won't give in," yet his presence gave her strength. "I'll be right here with you. We will pass across this.
Their song followed them like a shadow, its melody subdued but never really fading, a reminder of the challenge they had just passed—and the ones still to come. They sailed on. She refused to turn back even if the dreadful music tugged at the borders of her awareness, staring straight ahead.
Above the hum of the siren, a fresh sound surfaced—a distant rumble like thunder across the sea. darkness dropped. The heavens darkened, clouds massing together to hide the stars. The air got tense, loaded with an energy that prickled over her skin, and she felt the first stinging, cold raindrops fall against her cheeks.
Rowan turned to stare skyward and closed his eyes. Tight in voice, he said, "A storm's coming." This is not any ordinary storm, though. Something... something is causing agitation of it.
The wind grabbed up, scattering the sails and banging waves against the hull. Her pulse pounding as the storm worsened, the heavens blazing with lightning splitting the darkness like jagged scars, Seraphine gripped the railing.
Though the storm tore around them, she felt a warmth on her ankle, a delicate glow rising from the mark. It pulsed in time with a steady, consoling pulse that seemed to cut through the turbulence, just as the waves did. She could feel its ancient, great power guiding and providing strength and direction.
Rowan looked at her, his countenance wary as he took in the brilliance from her mark. " Seraphine... your mark." It is... functioning in some sort.
She nodded after glancing at him and felt his underlying worry. "I feel it guiding me over this."
As waves rose higher and the storm grew more intense, the wind howling, Seraphine stayed her position, her gaze set and her will unwavering. Together they would be confronting the storm regardless of what lay ahead.