Page 113 of Dark Embers

I glanced at Caesar for some answer as to what just happened, but his eyes held only questions as they stared back at me.

“What… What are you?” Cora said, breathless.

The accusation struck me. It wasn’t that a shifter had used light manipulation in a spar—I’d seen that one other time, when an older harpy boy had been called on to spar.

No, it was the fact that a harpy power had been used by amermaid.

Caesar cleared his throat, but his voice still came out dry and deep when he answered.

“She’s a chimera.”

Chapter 40

Arya

How could this be possible?

Only four days ago, I’d gone from being the most useless mermaid in school—and possibly the world—to being the siren that was prophesied to kill the most dangerous vampire alive. And now, I was a chimera?

I knew what a chimera was, if only from a brief lesson about it in Shifter Biology. A chimera was someone who was a mix of two or more shifter species, and such a thing was so rare that it was almost a myth. It was a large part of the reason for different shifter species not to mate, because chimeras were unpredictable—dangerous.

How could I be one of those creatures? As if being a siren wasn’t rare enough!

I hadn’t stuck around Defense class after the accidental discovery. I needed time to process, and Caesar had respected that and let me leave before anyone else—probably so the other students wouldn’t rise up and lynch me on the spot.

I ran to Ashlyn’s room, closed the door, and curled up on the bed, trying not to have a nervous breakdown.

It was just too much. What did this mean? I didn’t even know how I’d accessed what was supposed to be a harpy ability. I’d just been so overwhelmed with hatred for Cora, and I knew therewas no way I could fend her off with my own meager mermaid powers. Something inside me just took over.

Did this mean that my dad was a harpy?

That thought stopped my anxiety in its tracks, and suddenly hope sparked. Maybe this wasn’t a bad thing. Maybe this could lead to clues as to who my father was. If he was still out there somewhere, I could find him and maybe have somewhat of a family again.

If he even wanted anything to do with me.

A gentle knock at the door startled me out of my ruminations.

“I’m not here,” I called at the door with a tone of irritation that I hoped masked my fear.

“It’s me,” Kendall’s voice said on the other side.

I rolled my eyes. Where was he when Cora kicked me out? Or after I got attacked by vampires? He had been MIA ever since the Letti incident, and now he wanted to talk? His timing couldn’t be worse.

“Still not here,” I hollered.

Kendall opened the door anyway and came in. I huffed and glared at him, regretting that I’d been too distraught to lock the door.

“I know you probably don’t want to talk about what just happened in Defense, but I have something hugely important to tell you. It’s about your father.”

All my walls disintegrated. I was now very interested in whatever he had to say. I leaned forward on the bed, my tone much softer when I said, “Okay, what is it?”

“Not here. There’s something I need to show you. I’ll explain on the way. Come on.” He waved toward the door, beckoning me to follow.

My curiosity was on high alert, a burning need inside my chest. I swiftly followed Kendall out of the avian wing and through the hallways.

“Alright, spill,” I whispered urgently. “What do you know about my father?”

“You know that I’m a seer,” he began instead. “We’ve talked about it before.”

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