Song of the Sirens by Kaylie Austen Read Free Book Online Page B

glimpsed the sky and strolled away with perfect ease on the rocking
deck. He disappeared around the corner of the opposite wall.
    I rolled my eyes and walked away.
Perhaps I imagined things and Riley didn’t know anything. Perhaps I dreamt of
him because I spoke to him earlier that day just like he said. That didn’t
explain my odd descent into harrowing dreams.
    I returned to my room, opened the door
and turned on the light switch. I faced loud snoring and a giant lump in the
bottom bunk.
    Ah, great, Dad returned during my short
excursion upstairs and fell asleep already. The adrenaline must have worn off
because he passed out. I wouldn’t get any information out of him tonight or in
the morning unless the weather drove us back toward land. If the weather behaved,
which didn’t seem likely at this point, Dad and his men would drop the sub at
dawn.
    I turned off the lights, secured the
locks, and felt my way across the wall until I walked into the bunk bed. I
crawled up, careful not to kick my father or fall over. I eventually succeeded.
    The last thing I wanted was to fall
asleep, but I had nowhere to go. Not that hanging out in the dining room all
night, or sitting on the steps below deck was perilous, but I wasn’t in the
mood. I questioned my sanity, and the last thing I wanted was a run-in with
Riley, who also questioned my sanity.
    I pulled the covers to my chest and
stared up into the darkness. My body remained stiff and straight for several
seconds. Those seconds sawed into bitter minutes before I relaxed even the
slightest. Those minutes crept along, piled on top of one another until I
convinced myself this strange odyssey would soon end. Above all things, I was
not crazy.
    I sighed and settled down. The moment of
pacification withered as soon as it appeared. I gulped.
    The relentless whispers returned. They
wafted across the breadth of space and infiltrated my mind. I clenched my eyes
and wished the whispers to go away. I whimpered when they didn’t. I shook when
they strengthened.
    “Please, stop. Please, stop. Please,
stop,” I muttered into the covers.
    The hellish song gushed all around my
cognitive faculties, took hold of my thoughts, and squeezed.
     
    Chapter Five
     
    Fear gripped me for half an hour before
the whispers faded. Adrenaline eased out of my veins, and drowsiness bombarded
me. Unlike before, the whispers, the song didn’t just completely vanish into
thin air in a sudden disappearance, but floated away. I didn’t think much of
how the song left me. I was just relieved to get the song out of my head.
    Apparently, craziness stalked me.
Insanity was my reckoning. There wasn’t a willing ear to listen to my issues,
which made things a little worse. Riley thought I was crazy, period, and he was
of little help. I couldn’t tell Dad and interrupt the soon–to-be greatest
discovery in ages.
    There was only one thing to do: keep
this dark secret to myself until we made it back to land.
    A wave hit the boat and knocked me
against the wall. I cringed. I would keep this secret to myself until we made
it home, if we made it home.
    Blood pulsated in throbbing veins behind
my ear. Once they calmed down, a lingering whisper caught my attention. The
song hadn’t completely faded, but diminished. If they didn’t bombard my
thoughts, who did they go after now?
    To heck with this. I couldn’t sleep, and
I didn’t want to sleep. I jerked every time the boat swayed onto its side. If
the bed didn’t have a lip for my feet to push against, I would’ve slipped right
off.
    Captain Jack possessed foresight when he
furnished the lower cabins as sleeping quarters for the research team. He
bought desks with collapsible lips to prevent objects from sliding off. The top
bunk had a collapsible railing on the free border so a person couldn’t just
slip off, but could sit with their legs dangling off the edge.
    I gripped this railing as the vessel
leaned so far I anticipated flipping over. I saw death flash