Chapter 50 | The Devil of Siren City

Skylar

I wake up the next morning in my own bed.

It’s just after dawn. The harbor is alive once again with a burning red horizon, the promise of black clouds drifting closer to Siren City.

Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.

With a sigh, I whisper good morning to Persephone and get out of bed to go check on Adrian.

As I step out into the hallway, his door opens, too.

“Oh!” I lurch in surprise. “Good morning.”

Adrian smiles. “Good morning.”

I look him over. He’s dressed up in a pair of nice black slacks, his white shirt tucked in and smooth. Shiny black shoes.

Just like the day we met.

“What are you doing?” I ask. “You should be resting.”

“I’ve been resting for a whole day,” he says. “Feeling antsy. I’m going to take a walk.”

“But you shouldn’t,” I say, fully awake now. “I really can’t stress how much you shouldn’t be moving around right now.”

“All the more reason for you to come with me,” he says. “Walk with me.”

“What?”

“Get dressed. We’re taking a walk.”

He starts down the hall toward the kitchen.

“Adrian, wait—”

“I’m leaving, Skylar.”

I step back into my room. “Okay, okay! Just… hold on! I need pants.”

“And a jacket!”

“And a jacket.”

I rush to get dressed. I make a quick stop at the bathroom to brush my teeth and splash some water on my face before meeting Adrian in the kitchen.

He’s leaning casually against the table with his hands in his coat pockets, waiting for me. “Ready?” he asks.

My gaze drifts to the orchid behind him, the petals a subtle shade of pink. “Yes,” I answer.

We leave together, Adrian leading the way. Down the elevator and out the door, we walk west down Aurora Avenue toward Market Street. But before we reach the boardwalk, Adrian takes a southern path and we walk out onto the empty beach instead, the red-skied horizon stretching long before us.

As I feel the sand beneath my shoes, a strange sensation washes over me. Visions of dark clouds fill my head. I taste salt on my tongue. I see blood and water dashing against rocks as sirens cry in the distance.

I skip a breath, my mind gone dizzy, but it only lasts a second before the sound of the seagulls brings me back to focus.

“Anne Marie?”

I blink, and there’s Adrian, his inquisitive eyes studying mine. “Yes,” I murmur. “That was my name.”

“It’s pretty,” he says.

“Thanks.” I look out across the water as we walk, watching the waves. “She had her whole life ahead of her.”

“She still does.”

I shake my head. “It’s not the same. She worked so hard to become who she was. The first in her family to go to college. She had five younger sisters. I don’t know if your files told you that.”

Adrian takes a breath. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I requested that information before…”

“It’s okay,” I say. “You had a right to know who you invited into your home. An adulteress. A murderer.”

“That wasn’t your fault. Don’t forget he lied to you.”

“And for that, he deserved to die?”

“I didn’t say that.” Adrian stands tall. “What’s done is done. Regrets hold us back. There’s no sense dwelling on what could have happened — especially when the alternative leaves you in a precarious situation with a scorned woman holding a loaded gun.”

“It actually wasn’t loaded,” I say with a sigh. “I only know that because Persephone took it and stashed it away in my bag.”

“She could have unloaded it.”

I didn’t.

I roll my eyes. Of course she’s listening. “Not that it matters. What’s done is done and Anne Marie can never go home again.”

Adrian nods. “Then, you’d like for me to keep calling you Skylar?”

“It’s the name she chose for me,” I say. “Might as well.”

“It suits you.”

I look at him, admiring the way the sun touches his dark eyes. “Thanks,” I mutter.

We walk a little further down the beach. After a few minutes, Adrian stops. He looks out at the water for a moment before turning to face me.

“Skylar, I’m sorry,” he says.

“For what?”

He pauses, his feet shifting in the sand. “It’s my fault this happened to you.”

“It’s Persephone’s fault.”

“Yes. But she brought you here because of me.”

I swallow hard, keeping quiet as I wait for him to say more.

“Yesterday, she told me she and I made a deal,” he says.

“Yesterday?” I ask, annoyed that Persephone may have taken over in my sleep again.

“After I collapsed,” he answers. “When she couldn’t talk to you, she talked to me instead.”

I blink twice. “How is that possible?”

“How is any of this possible?” he asks, the question rhetorical. “While you and Candy were saving me, Persephone entered my mind and showed me some of yours.”

I nearly blush. “What does that mean?”

“I saw you here on the boardwalk, your hands and lips covered with sugar. I saw you sitting by the fireplace with tears in your eyes, burning pieces of your crime. And I saw you at St. Nicholas’ Church, praying with Ethan.”

Ethan.

He was there that night on the ship.

My eyes drift toward Adrian’s covered chest, my mind filling in the lines of his scars. “Adrian, I’m sorry. I didn’t know he—”

“I know. He was a friend to you in a time of need.” His eyes shadow. “He was the same for me once.”

I breathe easier. “Persephone told you all that?”

“Yes.”

What else has she told him?

Oddly, Persephone doesn’t reply.

“You said you two made a deal,” I say, thinking of his sigil. The Devil of Siren City and the coin he gave me. “What kind of deal?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t remember making one with her — and I never forget a deal I’ve made,” he adds, the words sharp. “Whatever our bargain was, she expects me to honor it.”

My gut trembles, fearing what that might entail. “What does that have to do with me?” I ask.

“She said we needed you.”

“For what?”

He looks me in the eye, his gaze soft, full of apology. “She didn’t say. But I promise you, Skylar, I will find out. I will fix this.”

“She’s listening, you know,” I warn.

“Let her listen,” he says. “I’m not afraid of her.”

The ocean breeze catches a chill and I shudder, quickly wrapping my arms around myself for warmth. “Why me?” I ask, my eyes stinging with tears. “Of all the people she could bring here. Why me?”

“I don’t know,” he says with a short smile. “But I’m grateful she did. You’re very good at keeping me alive.”

I scoff. “Some healer I am.”

“What?”

“Oh, just… something the blind woman at the church told me. At least, I think she’s blind. She definitely wasn’t when she gave me the orchid.”

“She gave you the orchid?”

“You know her?”

He nods, his brow heavy. “What did she say about the healer?” he asks.

“She said that from a storm would come a maiden with two faces. One, a healer. The other—”

“A temptress?”

I blink. “Yes.”

“What else did she say?”

“That…” I take a second to remember her exact words. “The healer and the temptress. Together, they reveal the true self, but only one may see the sun.”

Adrian says nothing, his brow furrowing with thought.

“Is that a local legend or something?” I ask.

“No,” he answers. “No, Skylar, this is something else.” He takes a moment, his dark eyes scanning the horizon again. “Whatever it is… I’m afraid it wasn’t fate that brought us together after all.”

I hesitate, almost too scared to ask. “So, what do we do?”

Adrian looks at me, the breeze brushing the short hairs along his forehead. He takes a step forward, bringing his hands to rest on my cheeks as he kisses me softly on the lips.

I tremble, his usual cold touch sending ripples of warmth along my skin, and kiss him back.

And deep within me, Persephone stirs. A sharp pain touches behind my right eye for a breath, then quickly subsides.

Adrian stays close, briefly resting his forehead on mine before opening his eyes and smiling.

“Come on,” he says. “Let’s grab a pastry.”

***

Adrian

Skylar and I walk back down the beach side-by-side. The wind blows stronger, the air thick with the scent of an incoming storm. But there’s still time before the clouds move in, and I’d rather not rush this.

My heart won’t allow it.

Soon, the boardwalk comes into view and along with it, the path onto Market Street. As we approach, I notice a lack of stalls and morning shoppers. It’s still early, but it’s rare to see the place so deserted — especially with a storm rolling in.

But the quiet is nice. And Skylar, well…

I’ll take the quiet moments with her whenever I can.

Skylar notices me gawking at her, and she smiles. Her pale cheeks flush pink for a moment before she looks forward and we continue down the boardwalk.

I never forget a deal, and I always keep my promises.

I’ll get Persephone out of your head, somehow.

I swear it.

Skylar gasps. “Oh, my god.”

Her eyes grow wide. She covers her mouth with her hands, smothering another fearful gasp.

I look forward.

Down the silent boardwalk, a seagull lands on a light pole. It hops off the siren’s metal head and settles on an old man, its claws digging into his shoulder.

The old man hangs lifeless from the pole, a brown rope secured tightly about his neck. Black blood drips from his empty eye sockets, covering the purple bruises on his face and staining his dirty, torn clothing.

On the next pole hangs another man. This one is younger, his features similar to the first, but he’s done the same way.

Bloody and lifeless.

Then another man.

A woman.

A boy and a girl. Neither of them older than five.

And on each of them, a sigil is drawn in golden yellow paint.

A two-pronged pitchfork surrounded by ocean waves.

My sigil.

“Adrian?”

Skylar lingers behind me, her face covered with tears.

I take her into my arms and turn her away from it, but this sight won’t soon be forgotten.

Thunder rolls on the red horizon as I look north toward Olympus.

Toward The Tower.

I make another promise, this one to my city.

The gods will fall.

And the Devil will rise again.