Emily Windsnap and the Siren's Secret - Liz Kessler [44]
I wanted to tell Shona that she was wrong — we were going to get out any minute now! But I wanted to hear the rest of the story first.
“Melody told them the only thing that could break the waterfall was the beautiful sound of a siren’s song. She said if they could get their voices back, they would be able to get out.”
Suddenly it all fit. “So that’s why they were so desperate for us to sing,” I said.
“They all looked so happy when I started to sing. But then one of them went out to watch the waterfall.” Shona looked down. “She saw you there, huddled on the floor. She told the others . . .” Her voice trailed off.
“She told them what?”
“She said you looked really scared and miserable. They all had a good laugh.”
I was just glad she hadn’t come at the point where we’d made it stop! Let them poke fun at me if they wanted to. We were going to have the last laugh.
“When she came back and said nothing had happened to the water, they changed completely. They turned on me, hissed in my face, said my singing was — was —” Shona broke off.
I swam toward her. “What did they say?” I asked softly.
Shona turned her big, sad eyes up toward me. “They said my singing wasn’t beautiful enough. They said it couldn’t be, or it would have worked.”
“And then they threw you in here?” Aaron said.
Shona nodded.
I took hold of her hand. “It’s OK,” I said. “I think your singing’s beautiful, no matter what a bunch of silly old sirens say. And more to the point, so does your singing teacher!”
Shona sniffed. “But they’re real sirens! They’d know best, wouldn’t they?”
I put a finger under Shona’s chin and lifted her face, just like Mom does with me when she wants to make sure I’m listening. “Their opinion doesn’t matter at all. They don’t know what they’re talking about. They’re bitter, twisted, nasty sirens who can’t sing anymore themselves and wouldn’t recognize a beautiful siren song if it swam right up to them and kicked them in the gills! Right?”
Shona managed a half smile. “Right,” she said unenthusiastically.
“And anyway,” I went on, “guess what? We’re getting out of here!”
“But we can’t! The sirens said the singing would be the only way to get out.”
“Well, that’s even more proof that they don’t know what they’re talking about, because we’ve found a way to stop the waterfall!” I swam back toward the door.
“Really? How?”
I stuck my head through the door to check that the coast was clear. “Well, we have!” I said. “We’ll tell you everything on the way.” I swam back out onto the dark ledge and beckoned to the others to follow. “Come on,” I said. “Let’s get out of this place!”
“Try again,” I called down. “There must be something wrong.”
Aaron and I were halfway up the well, but Shona was still right down at the bottom, splashing around uselessly on the seafloor.
“I can’t,” she called up. “It’s still too powerful.”
“Wait. I’ll help you.”
Aaron and I swam back down and took Shona’s hand. Swimming back up into the well again, I tried to pull her up, but it was no use. I could swim through the water with Aaron, but I couldn’t pull her with us.
“It’s as though the waterfall is still there, beating me down. I can’t swim through it,” Shona said.
Our magic must only work on Aaron and me, I thought. It wasn’t strong enough to work for Shona, too.
Shona’s mouth tightened into a small line. “You go,” she said quickly.
“What?”
“Look, it’s obvious what’s happened. You and Aaron can get through it. You have the power to do that — but it’ll only work for you two.”
“Shona’s right,” Aaron said. “That must be what’s happening. It’s not strong enough for all three of us.”
I looked at both of them. My two best friends. Or my best friend and — well, I still didn’t know exactly what Aaron was. And I didn’t know why the waterfall would stop only for us. We clearly didn’t have as much control over our power as we’d thought. Well, that made sense. Where Neptune’s concerned, nothing’s ever straightforward