Liam nodded. “We’re going to try to circumvent the islands and not go in the straight between them. The whirlpool between them would destroy the ship. Since the wind is blowing from the east, I believe we should go to the west past Scylla. It’s a rockier coast area, but I still think…”
He trailed off, his eyes growing dazed as he looked toward the north. I looked around and found all the boys looking in the same direction. I followed their gazes.
“We’re heading for the straight. Shouldn’t we do something about that, Liam?” I asked, hitting him gently on the shoulder with the back of my hand.
He didn’t answer and made no movement to correct the course of the ship. Then I heard it. Singing. A haunting melody played through the darkness as fat raindrops began to fall around us in tune with the song.
I looked around at the men. Though the rain pelted them each in turn, no one made a move to get under cover. I grabbed Kyle by the arm and attempted to pull him under the overhang with me.
But he was as stiff as a board and made no effort to come with me. I heaved, but only found resistance. I grabbed Declan, and had the same result. The rain fell harder. I swiped it from my eyes and returned to Kyle. His brown eyes were still focused in the distance. I shouted in his face, “Kyle!”
No answer, no movement or acknowledgement. The singing grew louder. I frowned and shot a glance again in the direction of the music. Water and waves swirled in a great foaming circle surrounding a small outcropping of rocks. Upon the rocks in the center of the whirlpool, sat a woman who looked as though she had wings instead of arms. She wore a torn white tunic which barely covered her unmentionables.
The wooden boat we sat in creaked and turned sharply to the right, following the current at the outer edges of the whirlpool.
My heart raced. If the whirlpool caught the boat entirely, we wouldn’t be able to get out of it. The boat would be destroyed and we’d all drown.
Liam.
He was the only one who could get us out of this. I walked up to him, readied myself, and slapped him as hard as I could. Rain continued to pour over us, soaking us all, but Liam didn’t even blink. A red mark on his cheek where my hand had been started to spread. But, he never moved or responded.
My gaze darted in the direction of the singer once more. Her song never ended. The words were foreign to me, but were repeated over and over. She was causing this trance, but for some reason, it didn’t affect me. I stepped toward the helm, thankful to finally find respite from the rain in the overhang, even if it was only a moment. I pulled on the wheel. Steering even harder to the right. The whirlpool would pull us in a circle. When it pulled to the left, I’d resist it. If I was strong enough, it would pull us out of the whirlpool and away from the danger. But no matter how hard I pulled the wheel, it didn’t seem to want to budge in my hands.
Stronger. I needed someone stronger, but I glanced over toward Declan and Niall. Both of them remained fixed where they stood, drenched in the continuing downpour.
Tears mixed with the rain dripping down my face. I swiped the water from my eyes, and a sob escaped my lips. We were going to die, and I was powerless to stop it.
Powerless?
I blinked. Maybe I wasn’t.
Kyle had said I could change the weather while other Fae could not. Was it true?
“Purpose and knowledge. That is magic to the Fae,” I repeated the words I’d been taught in my time at Talamh.
I grabbed hold of the steering wheel again, pulling hard to the right. I imagined the water beneath the rudder pushing it hard the opposite direction, helping me pull in the direction I needed. I willed the water to do what I wanted and hauled with all my might. My ears rang. And the wheel suddenly began turning in my hands. The whirlpool let us go and the boat moved in the direction I had steered.
Relief prickled my skin as I straightened up and swiped the tears from my cheeks. We were out of the first danger, but I couldn’t do all of this on my own. The five outside in the rain continued to stand still, getting drenched. The wind picked up and whipped their clothing around their bodies, but they didn’t move. The temperature dropped, and I shivered.
“Control the weather,” I murmured and looked up to the sky outside the door of the covered area where I stood. Kyle had said I could do it.
I closed my eyes and imagined the clouds thinning, dispersing, and the sun breaking through. I imagined pulling at the clouds as though they were cotton candy and ripping them apart. The drops that had been pouring upon the roof over my head slowed and then stopped.
I opened my eyes and found the sun shining through the last few droplets of rain moving away from us. I stepped out and looked up at the sky. Overhead, the clouds had been dispersed to the outer edges of the horizon. Around us storm clouds gathered, but it was clear straight over top of us.
Water continued to drip from the boys’ faces, but not one of them made a move to even blink the droplets from their eyelids. The music continued.
I frowned and looked again toward the bird-woman continuing to sing upon the rocks at the center of the whirlpool. It had to be her song which caused the boys to remain in their catatonic states. In the Odyssey, there were sirens who lured sailors closer to the rocks to their deaths. For some reason, I always imagined sirens looking like mermaids. I didn’t
