Chapter 43 | The Devil of Siren City

Adrian

This isn’t right.

I stare at Persephone as she bites into her pastry again. “What’s going on?” I ask.

“A—dri—an? Oh—my—!”

“St—ay—ba—ck!”

I look up. Nothing but a cloudy blue sky, but I heard it. I know I heard it.

Candy. And Skylar. The real Skylar.

“What’s going on?” I ask, setting the coffee and pastry down on the railing. “Where is Skylar?”

“Good question,” Persephone says. “Unfortunately, I have no idea. Thanks to you.”

“Me?”

She tosses the last chunk of her pastry onto the boardwalk, where it’s quickly snatched up by a diving seagull. “The tea,” she says, glaring at me. “You gave her pomegranate tea.”

More voices echo from some place deep in the clouds. Candy. He’s frightened. “It was supposed to help her sleep.”

“That it did. It also kept me from taking over.”

“Maybe that’s for the best,” I argue. “Her body is her own now.”

Persephone leans her back against the railing as she looks me over. “And how did that work out for you last night?”

“You don’t know?”

“No.”

I think of last night. Of waking up alone. Of getting up and searching for Skylar. Then, waking up with her. Kissing her until—

Persephone groans. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

I blink. “You could see that?”

“Yes.”

“How?” I ask. “You live in her head, not mine.”

“I exist inside of her, but I echo within you, too.”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“From the storm will come a maiden with two faces,” she quotes. “One, a healer. Kind and gentle, powerful enough to save your soul. The other, an alluring temptress…”

“Yes,” I say, having heard it enough. “Skylar and you. I’ve figured that out already.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Now, tell me something useful. I’m tired of these damn riddles.”

Persephone steps forward and places her hand on my chest. The skin beneath tingles suddenly as something warm rushes across my skin. A healing comfort.

As it courses through me, I realize the pain I’ve lived with for so long has faded away.

“Are you sure?” she asks again.

I look at Persephone. Before, I’d only seen her in shadows. Now, in the sun, even more of her beauty shines through, revealing a truth I should have seen long before.

I lay my hand over hers on my chest. “You’re the healer,” I say.

Persephone nods.

“Then,” I say, “Skylar…”

“An alluring temptress,” she says, “who will bring you to your end.”

“No,” I say, unable to accept it, even though I still feel the healing touch of Persephone on my skin. “No, she’s—”

“Think, Adrian.” Persephone lowers her hand, and I instantly miss it. “You spent one night with her without me in her head. What happened next?”

My chest clenches. The pain in my scars throbs once again.

I spent one night with her, and it killed me.

“I—s—aid—sta—y—b—ack!”

The voices echo again. I remember what happened. I fell. I fell as Candy went to…

“No,” I say, a sudden fear taking hold.

He went to kill her. Because I couldn’t.

I turn, ready to race down the boardwalk and back to the apartment. “Skylar—!”

I blink, and Market Street is gone. The sea is quiet. There are no boats, no seagulls. I’m sitting now in the back row of a place I once knew well.

The sanctuary of St. Nicholas’ Church.

“Why are we here?” I ask as I scan the empty pews. “I have to get back to Skylar before—”

“Oh, calm down,” Persephone says beside me, not bothering to whisper. “She’s fine.”

“She is?”

“Well, she’s alive. For now. That’s all I can tell from this distance.”

I take a breath. I expect some pain in my chest — there almost always is — but it’s gone. Faded. “Why are we here?” I ask again.

“You tell me. It’s your head. Though, if I had to guess, it probably has something to do with that.”

I follow her eyes toward the front. Near the altar, I see two people knelt in prayer. One is Skylar, her bleached blonde locks hanging down over her closed eyes.

The other…

“Ethan,” I say, my teeth clenched in anger.

So, it’s true.

An alluring temptress, indeed.

“False,” Persephone says.

“She betrayed me.” I shake my head. “This whole time, she’s been here. With him.”

“True. But also… false.”

“How so?”

“Well, she’s an alluring temptress. That’s true. But… she doesn’t come here to conspire against you. That’s false.”

“Then why else?”

“The same reason everyone does, including your old friend, Ethan,” Persephone says. “To find peace.”

“Ethan seeks peace?” I ask, scoffing.

“Yes.”

“Why? He got what he wanted. They all did.”

“And yet, here he is. He chooses this place over a tower in the sky. Did you ever consider why?” Persephone eyes me with a raised brow, then looks at Skylar with a soft expression. “This place has a way of releasing mortals from their burdens. You know that as well as any.”

I don’t reply.

“There’s another reason she comes here, too.” Persephone sighs. “My voice can’t reach her here.”

“Like with the tea?”

“Yes, and no.” Her eyes fall, heavy with fear for the first time. “The tea sends me to a dark place. I don’t like the dark. I ask that you, please, Adrian…” She looks up at me. “Don’t give it to her again. For both our sakes. I can’t help you from there.”

Silently, I nod, the pain in my final moments of consciousness still horribly vivid.

“I can still listen here.” Persephone looks at me. “So, I can say with full confidence, Adrian, that this is not what you think. Ethan is… a friend. Someone to sit with while she prays. Nothing more.”

“She—”

“She prays for herself, for her soul. And for you. She’s afraid of you.”

I look at Skylar, the thought… unsettling. “Why?”

“Because she doesn’t know you. She doesn’t know what you’ll do when you find out what she’s done.”

“But I know what she’s done.”

“And?”

“And I—”

Another blink of darkness and I’m standing in the apartment we share. The living room is dark but warm, the fireplace alight with a dazzling fire.

Skylar sits beside it. She hugs her knees tightly against her chest with a gun sitting on the floor nearby. Within the fire, bits of stained blue scrubs burn to ash. I could smell it the next morning; the scent of burnt cotton and old blood.

“I don’t care,” I say, completing my thought as I look at her eyes; eyes full of tears. Tears for another man. “Did she love him?” I ask Persephone.

“She loved humping him,” she answers with a shrug. “But… no. I don’t think so. I sense guilt in her. Not heartache. She thought being with the good doctor would help her career.” She chuckles. “In a way, she was right.”

“Why did she kill him, then?”

“That… may have been my fault.”

I turn to face Persephone. “You?”

“She was scared. Scared for her life.” Her gaze sharpens once more. “And we still need her alive.”

“We?”

“Yes, we.” Persephone tilts her head. “We made a deal, you and I. I’ve kept my end, and I expect you to keep yours.”

I think back over my life. Over the countless deals I’ve made. But I’ve never forgotten one, until now. “What deal?”

“Remember.” Persephone extends her hand. Her fingers touch my cheek and I shudder beneath their healing warmth. “Remember the first time you felt my touch.”

Behind closed eyes, I feel the crashing waves of the sea. I hear the screams of my big brother. I taste salt and blood.

But I don’t remember her.

Why can’t I remember her?

“Dammit, Adrian. Don’t do this.”

Drawn by her voice, I look into the kitchen. The morning sun pours in from the windows and I see Skylar hunched over me on the floor, pushing hard against my chest with both hands. There’s a defibrillator nearby, the pads connected to me. And Candy. He’s here, his eyes wide with fear, his gun inches away.

Persephone pinches my chin, forcing me to look at her instead. “Adrian,” she says with flames in her eyes. “Remember what you promised me.”

I shake my head. “I don’t—”

“Stay with me,” Skylar says, her voice full of love.

I want to go back to her. I need to, but Persephone’s eyes hold me in place.

“Stay with me,” Persephone says with the same voice. “That’s why I’m here.” She leans in, her lips so close to mine, and my body surges with temptation. “Take me, Adrian. Choose me.”

I blink, unsure.

“Soon, a choice will be made,” Persephone says. “When that happens, I’ll be waiting.”

Persephone’s hand falls away and a jolt of pain fires through my chest.