The head siren stepped forward. She indicated the dry waterfall high above us as she said, “His sacrifice might undo the curse that stopped the sacred waters. Without the sacred water, we have been unable to have children. My people are dying. Our species will go extinct if we do not do this.” Her gaze returned to me and narrowed. “More sacrifices will appease the gods, I do think. A male and a female. What could be more fitting? After your blood coats the basin, the water will start flowing once more and we will be bountiful with babes."
“Has it fixed this before?” I asked, heart racing.
The siren queen frowned. “Not yet. But perhaps we haven’t appeased the gods yet.”
“If past sacrifices haven’t worked, why would this one?”
A smirk curled her lips. “It’s worth the risk.”
Deva, Carol, and Beth surged forward, but the male sirens appeared out of nowhere and pulled them backward. Apparently, even though we had been surrounded by the female sirens, we weren't part of the same group. Henry and I were being kept apart from my friends since we were the sacrifices.
We’d worn our charms and they hadn’t helped. Well, maybe they had. I wasn't sure since no one had outright attacked us. I pulled on the hex bag Carol had given me, tearing it away from the leather necklace, and hurled it at the main siren. I had never been amazing at sports, but it was a pretty good throw if I said so myself. When she waved her arm and it fell to the ground unbroken I was more than a little disappointed.
I was also terrified.
What was I supposed to do now?
21
Emma
I only had one more trick up my sleeve.
I was a mom.
Pulling out my best mom-voice I said, “Now enough is enough. Put those daggers down right this instant!” The sirens actually hesitated, looking from me to their leader with uncertainty. I stacked my hands on my hips before I added, “You are jumping to a lot of conclusions here. Is this the best choice to make? Is it? How do you know that the sacrifices will please the gods? What if they just anger them even more?”
The lead siren rolled her eyes. “Stop that.” She took a menacing step toward Henry.
“No, hang on.” I held up my hands and shifted from foot to foot, moving slightly in front of Henry once more as I tried to think fast. “I’m Karma.”
The siren queen’s eyes widened a fraction before they narrowed on me in suspicion. “I thought that was a myth.”
“Yeah, I get that a lot. But maybe there’s something I can do about this curse.” I winced internally for a moment, sure that calling the missing waterfall cursed would just piss them off even more, but they didn't react.
After a long pause where she just blinked at me with that creepy third eyelid, the siren queen said, “Karma is among the gods we worship. If you are indeed Karma embodied, we would allow you the opportunity to earn your brother’s life.”
I snorted before I could stop myself. “Well, I am. Give me a few minutes. Let me see what I can see about this water, okay? Can you do that for me?”
The siren queen exchanged a glance with one of the other females. “We can.”
I wished they’d put their scary-looking blades away, but at least they dropped them to their sides. Glancing at Henry, I saw that he was watching me closely. He probably thought I was lying and had some kind of trick up my sleeve. Unfortunately for him, I wasn’t lying, but I also wasn’t sure that I could help the sirens with their problem. Luckily, my powers had served me well so far, so I could only hope they’d continue to do so.
I inched toward the dry waterfall. The circle of female sirens opened, and they let me have a path closer to the rocks lined up so neatly leading up to the empty falls. The way they formed a path forced me to walk a certain way, and I wasn't sure if it was because they only allowed people to approach the falls from a specific direction or if they were trying to intimidate me with how many of them there were. It was definitely more than had been there when I started talking to the siren queen.
The sand under my feet became hard packed and it was clear where the water used to be, but I wasn’t entirely sure what to do. This wasn’t like glaring at a jerk and watching them get punished. This was something deeper.
Karma, help me, I told myself, although I wasn’t sure if it was the old lady or me who had a chance at fixing whatever was wrong here.
My gaze moved from the dry waterfall to the dry lake below, and then up higher to the cliffs that surrounded this area. Was it that there was less water in the mountains? Is that what stopped the waterfall? If I only saw the world without magic, the way I had most of my life, I’d assume that was the reason. But could this place really be cursed? Could it be something supernatural stopping the water?
I wasn’t sure. And I wasn’t sure how that would help the sirens get pregnant, but that wasn’t really my concern. All I had to do is try to get the water flowing. Somehow.
Not knowing what else to do, I closed my eyes and touched the rocks that sat at the base of the waterfall. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was doing, but I tried to focus on how it’d felt every time I used my magic. It seemed to be different each time. Something almost natural, like a reflex. So I concentrated on this place, to see if I could feel anything that was off.
To my
