Emily Windsnap and the Siren's Secret - Liz Kessler [65]
He didn’t even need to finish his sentence. I knew what it was like to be on the receiving end of Neptune’s threats. He didn’t make them lightly, and he didn’t hold back in carrying them through.
“We’ll do it, Your Majesty,” I said. “We promise.”
“Very well. As long as we understand each other,” he said.
Oh yes, we certainly understood each other. The shiver that ran menacingly through my body, carrying with it memories of monsters and curses and storms unleashed by Neptune’s temper, reminded me precisely how well I understood him.
“Now, hold your hands still,” Neptune instructed us. We did what he said, and he held the trident over our outstretched hands.
“Power that should never have been set free,
Now you shall return to me,” he intoned.
A millisecond later, my hand burned and itched and tingled. Aaron gripped it harder and I held on to his hand as tightly as I could while flashes of power and light surged through me. It felt as though someone had shot a massive bolt of electricity into me. The volts ran up my fingers, through my hands, along my arms, danced their way through my whole body — and stopped.
Nothing.
Neptune removed his trident. “It is done,” he said. “Thank you. Now, we must return to the caves, and I shall complete my side of the bargain. Come, you shall travel with me.”
And with that, we turned and followed him out of his grand chamber, out of the palace, and into the chariot that was waiting, with its gold-adorned dolphins, to take us back to the caves.
It took moments. Neptune held his trident over the waterfall and muttered something in a low rumble. Then, with a brief nod at us, he said, “It is done,” and left.
As I watched him ride away, I let out a breath so big it was as though I’d been holding it since we were in his palace. Then, as the chariot became a dot in the distance, I turned toward the well, now still and calm — thanks to his side of the promise.
One by one, the sirens swam shakily up the well and out into the open depths of the ocean. Each one nodded a silent “thank you” to me. None of them actually came over to talk to me. Maybe they were too embarrassed after the way they’d treated us.
Then Melody came out. She swam straight over to me. She took hold of my hands. “Emily, you have no idea what you have done for me today,” she said, her voice husky, her eyes shining with tears. “I am in your debt — for always. If there’s anything you need, come to me and I will help you. Remember that.”
“I will,” I said, twiddling a finger through my hair.
Melody touched my cheek with her finger. “I mean it,” she said. “Anything. OK?”
I held her eyes for a moment. “OK,” I said. “Thank you.”
Melody laughed. “You have nothing to thank me for,” she said. “Nothing at all. And I have everything to thank you for.”
I nodded toward the other sirens. “What’s going to happen to them?” I asked.
Melody smiled. “They’ll go back to the lives they had, and hopefully in time, they will forgive me. They’ll be fine,” she said with another smile. “We all will.”
A moment later, Shona’s head appeared at the top of the well and I swam straight over to her.
“Emily!” She threw her arms around me. “You did it!” she breathed. “You got us out! It’s over!”
“It is,” I said, hugging her back. I didn’t want her to see my face. If she did, she might see the worry on it, and realize it wasn’t over at all. We had a week to come up with an incredible world-changing idea, or I would face the terror of Neptune’s rage — again.
Mandy stared at us, wide-eyed and speechless, while we caught her up with everything on Monday evening over at her house. “Wow!” she said eventually.
“Wow? That’s it?” I laughed.
Mandy shook her head. “What else can I say? It’s amazing. You’re heroes.”
“Yeah, I guess,” I said.
Aaron nudged me. “Hey, what’s up? You should be happy.”
“I know, it’s just . . .”
“The task,” Mandy