Sordid Depths (The Cursed Seas Collection) by Heather Marie Adkins & Jennifer Laslie & Cursed Seas & Charmed Legacy

Author:Heather Marie Adkins & Jennifer Laslie & Cursed Seas & Charmed Legacy [Adkins, Heather Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CyberWitch Press
Published: 2019-02-05T06:00:00+00:00

14

Lesya

Lesya had lost all sense of her body. Fire burned every inch of her exposed skin as the jellyfish venom worked through her system. Even the cold ocean water that surrounded her couldn't ease the burn.

Between the searing pain and her broken leg, she couldn't even think enough to figure a way out of her predicament. Moving her arms to try to swim for the surface only entangled her in more jellyfish tentacles. They had hold of her arms, her legs, her neck, there were even tentacles wrapped around her torso under her shirt.

She'd barely survived being tied up and thrown overboard. If not for the fact Rivka was a siren, she would have drowned. Just like her parents.

Now she was just going to die anyway because they'd had the bad luck to drift into a school of incognizant fire blubber.

She considered giving in. Sucking in a breath of ocean water and letting go. The fire on her skin, the crush of bones in her broken leg… Her urgent need for air.

But before she could talk herself into it, a sound filled the ocean. The melodious tone seemed to occupy her mind entirely. It lived inside her and around her. Lesya stilled and relaxed, even as her lungs burned for air, and she fought the impulse to breathe in.

What is that?

The urge to breathe got stronger just as the strange song changed into a chorus of similar, haunting sounds. These sounds she knew.

Suddenly, she was ten years old again, swimming in the ocean with her father. He had splashed her and disappeared under the water to hide from her retaliation but resurfaced almost immediately.

“Puffin, come here. I want you to hear something.”

Lesya had moved to stand before him. Her toes barely touched the sand beneath the waves.

He had taken her hands, a smile on his face. “Close your eyes and hold your breath. We're going under.”

Lesya recalled vividly the strong sure grip of his hands and the way the water had opened and accepted her, closing around her head until the world grew silent.

Except for the chorus of sound that waited for her underwater.

She'd resurfaced, tugging at her father's hands. “What was that?” she asked as he joined her.

“A pod of whales, puffin. They're calling to one another.”

And there was the sound now. Lesya opened her eyes. The saltwater stung at first but faded nearly instantaneously. Jellyfish hung suspended all around her, tentacles dangling and bodies undulating. They were monstrous, longer than her cabin, bulbous heads as wide as her kitchen table. Magnificent, even as they drowned her.

Beyond the jellyfish, Lesya caught sight of several large, dark forms moving through the water.

Whales.

A faster form, less whale-shaped and more human-shaped, whipped right up next to her. A knife chopped through the jellyfish, removing the bodies closest to her. Her rescuer slashed through the tentacles holding her down, then gripped her bicep. She caught sight of an unfamiliar male's face before he jettisoned for the surface with her in tow.

Dark specks had begun bursting in her vision.

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