Page 14 of Siren Problems
I surface with her limp against me, gasping as the water flattens into silence. The seaquake’s passed, but its echo buzzes in the air, unnatural and sharp-edged.
She coughs hard, sputters, starts to breathe.
I carry her to shore anyway.
She’sconscious by the time I drop her onto the sand, which is good. Because it means I get to yell.
“What the hell were you thinking?”
Luna blinks up at me, soaked and coughing, hair matted to her face. “I—ow—didn’t think it was that deep.”
“No,” I snap. “Youdidn’t thinkat all.”
“I was just getting a reading. The scanner went nuts?—”
“You’re lucky the only thing that went nuts wasn’t your lungs. That ley rift could’ve crushed you. Or worse.”
She tries to sit up. “Thanks for the rescue, but I don’t need a lecture?—”
“You’re not listening.”
“No, you’re justtalking at melike I’m some kind of reckless intern!”
I step back, shaking, hands clenched.
She doesn’t understand.
She almost touched the edge of it. The altar’s influence. If it had opened more fully... she wouldn’t be here. Not whole. Notherself.
Luna stands, wobbling a little, brushing sand off her arms. “I get it. You’re mad I came near your secret sea spot. You want me to stay out of your cursed little cove?—”
“It’s not aboutyou.”
She stops.
“Then what is it?” she asks, voice soft now. “Why does this whole place twist whenever I get close?”
I can’t tell her.
I can’t tell her that the altar recognizes her. That her presence isn’t random—it’sreactive.The same way it once reacted to me, all those years ago. The same way it punished me when I broke the rules.
“It’s old magic,” I say instead. “It’s not meant to be disturbed.”
She tilts her head. “And yet, here you are. Living on top of it. Why?”
I open my mouth. Close it. The words stick.
Because I deserve it.
Because it’s the only place I feel the weight of what I lost.
Because I’m afraid to go too far, and lose the last piece of who I was.
I grit my teeth. “Because someone has to make sure no one else wakes it up.”
She studies me. Her gaze isn’t hostile now. It’s sharp, yes. But not angry. Not scared.
Just... curious.
