Page 43 of Siren Problems
Mira winces. “You okay?”
“Peachy,” I say. “I’m burying it under science. Like aprofessional.”
And that’s exactly what I do.
For the next six hours.
I dig into the binding seal we found in the wreck. I cross-reference ley resonance maps with enchantment signatures from ancient siren scripts. I translate the spiral glyph again, even though I’ve memorized it.
Every time I start to feel something—his touch, his voice, the way he whispered my name like itmeantsomething—I push harder.
I lose track of time. Of food. Of everything.
At some point, Mira quietly places a bottle of water on my desk and backs away like I’m a sleep-deprived velociraptor.
She’s not wrong.
But I need this.
Because if I can figure this out—if I cansolvethe curse, if I can rip it up by the roots and prove that magic doesn’t have to win—maybe he’ll stop running.
Maybe I’ll stop drowning every time he disappears.
Kai eventually slinks in around sundown, sipping something neon and vaguely illegal-looking.
“You’re spiraling,” she says.
“I’m analyzing.”
“You’reobsessing.”
I don’t answer.
Because she’s right.
Because Calder cracked something open in me, and now I don’t know how to close it.
And the worst part?
I don’twantto.
I want him back.
I want last night again.
Not just the sex. Not even just the magic.
I want the version of him who held me like I was holy.
The version who let me see themanbehind the monster.
But instead, I have this void where he should be.
And all I can do is work around it.
Try not to fall in.
“Okay,”Kai says, hopping up onto my desk like it’s not covered in half-deciphered glyphs and magical debris, “I’m gonna say something, and you’re not allowed to throw anything at me.”
