Eclipsis: Water

Chapter 27

A - what? How do you know?

Ondine was looking at them, still confused and frightened. "Allie, it's getting harder for me to breathe. Maybe the oxygen is messing with your head, too. You're not thinking straight."

Alara shook her head, scowling. "Shut up. I don't want to hear another word out of you," She addressed Cetus, her eyes not moving off of Ondine. "Ondine always takes her necklace off when she's going into water. Remember when she accidentally choked herself with it trying to hunt? She has taken it off every time since.

She would've left it by the lake before she went in, and she wouldn't have had enough time to put it back on before the Moons kidnapped her. They had to have ambushed her while she was coming up for air; she would've seen them otherwise."

Cetus paused, not saying anything. He was staring hard at Ondine, who was looking at him pleadingly.

"Think about it, Cetus. I know you want to believe we've found her but the Moons would've just left Ondine in a random part of the ocean? Really? Don't trust it. Ondine is still in Lune. It's a siren."

As Cetus continued to stare at her, doubting more and more than this was Ondine, her form changed completely. The creature's bones were horribly visible, pushing against its thin, pale-green skin as if they were going to pierce through. It did not look as though it had a gender, but its hair was long and matted, the same shade of dark-green as its long patterned tail. Its eyes were gaping and black like pits, as though they were mere holes in its skull, and when it bared its fangs, another black pit was evident as its mouth.

It snarled, swimming forward at an incredible speed to swipe at Alara with its long claws, and Alara dodged, but not completely. Gold blood tinged the dark water, alongside a sharp stinging on her right cheek. She winced, pressing a palm to the claw marks, but jabbed her sword through the air when the siren moved to attack again.

The blade missed it, but a stream of boiling water issued by Cetus hit it full in the face, and it wailed and clutched its eyes in agony, momentarily distracted.

"I need to help Kōri, make sure I'm covered. More sirens will be on their way, so be careful." Alara told Cetus, then swam off in the direction of the rock.

Panicked, she called out Kōri's name the further she got to it, but received no answer. She had nearly circled the entire width of the rock before she saw them. Kōri was being led downwards, towards the depths of the ocean where no light reached it. The siren beside him was not dragging him in any way - Kōri appeared to be going willingly.

From this angle, Alara could see that they were engaging in conversation, but was too far to hear what words were being said. She didn't have enough time to wonder what form the siren had taken to lure Kōri. It had turned before Alara could throw her dagger, pulling Kōri in front of it, as if to shield itself.

Faint recognition crossed Kōri's clouded expression, his pale-blue eyebrows furrowing. "Alara?"

"Whoever you think that person is, that is not them. We've strayed into siren territory." Alara said, steadily swimming closer.

Her words had no effect on him. He only smiled in a dazed sort of way, turning to the side slightly to look at the siren. "I found Rin."

"Rin?" Alara asked.

The siren peered out from behind his shoulder at Alara. She didn't have a good enough angle on it - any attempt to hit it would surely injure Kōri. She adjusted her grip on the dagger.