men were slaughtered, and I could feel his guilt-these were his men, and he had not saved them.
“I called out to Calypso, and she turned in surprise.
“She smiled a slow, languid smile, revealing teeth that had been sharpened to shark points. Her large eyes blinked at me in the twilight. It had been many years, but she knew me. She called my name.
“James looked at me closely, as if he recognized the name. I wondered if Melia had spoken of me.
“I told Calypso that I had come for James, and she looked at him with new interest, as if he were a jewel that she hadn’t realized she had.
“ ‘What will you give me in exchange for this life?’ she asked.
“I told her that I would give her anything.
“She studied him for another moment, smiling her strange shark smile. I thought that she would kill him then, bite into his neck or tear out his heart. But to my surprise, she released him.
“I grabbed him, held him as he struggled. He was strong, but not strong enough. I subdued him.
“ ‘You will give me whatever I ask,’ she said to me.
“Around us, the sea had grown quiet. Here and there, among the bloody water, dark fins had begun to appear. Smelling blood, the sharks had come. I saw a few of Calypso’s followers. All of them had sharpened teeth and large eyes. Their skin was luminous in the darkening light.
“I asked Calypso what she wanted, and she replied that she did not yet know. ‘I will call to you,’ she said.
“I can’t describe the feeling that overcame me then. I feared for the future-for what she might ask. I was swimming in a warm sea of blood. Calypso drew her dark lips back, revealing those hideous teeth. I felt something brush my leg-a shark. I knew that it would not dare to bother me… it was James that it wanted.
“Calypso just smiled. She knew as well as I did that it wasn’t possible for one of us to break a promise. If we did, we faced a sort of soul death. We would not die, but we would have no more intellect. We’d become nothing more than a fish in the ocean, with no self-consciousness. A sort of zombie, I suppose, is what you would call it. I looked around. The other seekriegers had circled us, and I felt their bloodlust like it was my own. I could not fight all of them. And even if I tried, they would kill James.
“And in my heart, I had promised Melia that I would protect him. The moment I read her letter, I’d made the promise.
“So I took him.
“We traveled slowly. I had learned from my experience with the boy. I could not simply carry a human underwater with me. When we reached landfall, I built a boat, and I managed to tug him back to the closest port, which was Charleston. From there, he planned to contact his employers and tell them that the ship had run aground and the cargo was lost. Before I left him, I extracted a promise from him. I asked him to care for my boy. He said that he would. Even though I believed him, I still checked up on them once in a while. Indeed, James did take care of my boy, raising him as his own son. He retired from a life of the sea, and instead entered the military. He never married. I think he was the kind of man who could marry only once. And he had married Melia in his heart, if not before a judge or a priest.
“He was like us in that way. He could not break a promise.”
Chapter Twelve
No one ever sailed past us without staying to hear the enchanting sweetness of our song-and he who listens will go on his way not only charmed, but wiser, for we know all the ills that the gods laid upon the Argives and Trojans before Troy, and can tell you everything that is going to happen over the whole world.
Gravel crunched outside as cars sped past the little town library. An apologetic woman with a drooping face approached their table tentatively.
“I’m sorry, but I wanted to let you know that the library will be closing in half an hour.” Her voice was a half whisper that sounded like a flute playing softly. She touched her glasses and flashed a self-conscious smile at Asia.
Will had noticed that about Asia-men wanted to catch her eye, of course, but women did, too. It was as if they wanted her approval.
Asia stood, her legs uncurling gracefully from beneath the wooden library table. “We’re leaving,” she announced. And she looked at Will.
Will didn’t have the strength to argue, so he followed her.
Night had fallen, and the tall iron street lamps glowed yellow overhead as they stepped onto the sidewalk. They started away from the town. Will was glad. He felt wrung out, like an orange that’s been juiced. An empty rind.
For a long time, there was only the sound of their footsteps and the rush of cars as they passed by. It was Will who broke the silence.
“So why are you here?”
“Calypso finally called to me. And I returned her call.”
“And then you sold the flute.”
“I have no more need to contact my sisters. And no wish to do so.”
“What did she ask for?”
The question hung in the darkness for a moment. “She asked me to deliver someone to her,” Asia said finally.
“Deliver someone?” Will went cold. “You mean kill them?”
Asia put a hand on his arm. “I would never kill someone, Will.”
Will shook off her grip. “Don’t bullshit me, okay? That’s just a technicality. If you hand someone over to those lunatics… So who did you deliver-Jason?”
“I haven’t delivered anyone,” Asia replied.
“Yet,” Will snapped.
Asia sighed. “Yes.”
“So-who’s it going to be? What innocent person are you going to snatch off the street?” He gestured to the shopping district around them.
Asia shook her head. “Calypso has an enemy. Someone who has hunted her over the ages. This enemy disappeared for a while. But a year ago she reappeared.”
“A siren?” Will asked.
“No. Nor human, either. The Burning One.”
Will digested this information. “So why don’t you just team up with Calypso’s enemy and fight?”
Asia shook her head. “I can’t, Will. If I break my promise…”
“So you didn’t have anything to do with my brother’s death?” Will asked.
“Will, I don’t know what happened to your brother,” Asia said. “I can guess, but I wasn’t there.”
“But
“That is my assumption.”
“And what about Jason?”
Asia sighed a delicate, lacy breath. “The seekriegers are here, waiting. It isn’t safe-not for anyone with as much anger as Jason. They had already taken one, just a few weeks earlier.”
Will felt this answer rather than heard it. The words made him tremble. Asia put a hand on his arm and said, “It’s all right.”
“Yeah.” He laughed bitterly. “And by ‘all right,’ do you mean ‘completely fucked up’?”
Asia winced. “All I can tell you is that once I fulfill my promise, they should depart.”
