ELEMENTS: Acquiesce by Kathryn Andrews (snow like ashes series .TXT) 📕

“Is there something I can do for you?” asked Rafe.

“We’re looking for a girl,” began Mr Kelly.

Rafe shrugged, “No girls around here.”

“What was her name Keeva?” asked Mr Kelly.

“Cordelia. She has long grey hair. Can’t miss it.”

“No, no one of that description around here,” said Rafe.

“Is that so?” enquired Mr Kelly. “And what does your friend think? Does your friend believe in mermaids? Keeva here does. Reckons this young lass is a mermaid. There’d be a cut in it for you if you helped us catch her. Reckon we’d make a killin’ if we sold her in Dublin.”

Mr Kelly grinned widely revealing his crooked, stained teeth.

“I think you’re drunk,” said Max, “and clearly deluded, the lot of you. Now if you don’t mind, we’ve work to finish.”

As Rafe and Max turned to walk back to the horse shed, Mr Kelly and his sons jumped on the backs of three white horses. Startled, the horses began to move light-foot-edly, their ears pinned back, their breathing heavy.

“Get off the horses,” ordered Rafe, “you’re scaring them.”

The horses began to dance restlessly as the men clung onto their manes with one hand and held their torches in the other.

“Are you hard of hearing?” asked Max. “He said get off.”

“Are you gonna make us?” asked Connal.

The three men kicked the horses with their heels and the horses bolted.

“Stop them!” cried Keeva.

Breck climbed on Misty. “Are you coming?” he asked, reaching a hand out to Keeva.

Breck pulled Keeva onto the back of his horse as Rafe and Max mounted theirs. Galloping through the darkness, across the rugged cliff tops, none of them knew what terror lie in store. As Mr Kelly and his sons neared Slate Island, the horses came to an abrupt halt, their hooves skidding on the wet grass. The horses began to snort and shy away.

“Listen. Do you hear it?” asked Connal.

“The angels are singing,” said Mr Kelly jumping down from the horse.

“I have to see them,” said William.

“What are they doing?!” shouted Keeva. She watched three flames move towards the cliff edge and her stomach flipped. “Make them stop!”

The mermaids were still keeping watch from the base of the island.

“Over there!” said Cordelia.

The bright torch lights illuminated the cliff top in front of them, the flames dancing wildly in the breeze. The Sirens kept singing and the men kept walking. Cordelia and her friends watched in anguish as the three men walked straight off the cliff edge and fell one hundred and sixty feet into the freezing sea, their torches descending like flares under a starlit sky. One torch light remained on the cliff top but Keeva threw it to the ground and it fizzled out on the wet grass, plunging them into almost complete darkness as she let out a blood curdling scream. Only the moonlight could guide them now.

Rafe and Max swiftly dismounted their horses.

“Stay back!” shouted Rafe as he hurriedly removed his boots and shirt.

He stood on the cliff edge and dived straight into the sea, followed closely by Max. From the safety of her sea stack, Zamira watched closely while three of her army, Orlenda, Branna and Suletu descended like vultures to pluck their prey from the churning cauldron below.

“We have to help them!” said Lana.

She swam away from the rocks with Nerissa and Masika, diving below the waves to rescue the men. Cordelia hesitated, instead contemplating the sea stack and studying the cliff top where Breck was comforting Keeva. She was there to rescue Flynn but wondered how she could leave Breck’s family drowning in the sea, or worse, to be torn to shreds. She thought frantically of all the things she’d learned in class, of all the ways to fend off the Sirens but the darkness and the unexpected penny blood unfolding right in front of her eyes caused her to panic. Rafe and Max resurfaced with Connal and William whose bodies were limp from breaking their backs. The impact of hitting the water from such a height had proven fatal. There was a lot of thrashing as Suletu tried to snatch Connal. Orlenda and Branna fought over Mr Kelly, pulling his body in different directions with their razor sharp claws. Cordelia found the lack of protest from Mr Kelly disconcerting. There was no plea for help. Not a sound. He was already dead. Zamira smiled and laughed wickedly as if being entertained by gladiators. This had been no fair game. This had been nothing but wicked and evil. While Rafe, Max and Lana held off Suletu, Nerissa and Masika took Connal and William deep down to the bottom of the sea to spare them from being eaten. Cordelia felt numb. She was in shock.

“Pull yourself together!” she told herself.

Realising this may be her only chance to rescue Flynn, Cordelia lowered herself beneath the crashing waves, swimming around the base of the rock. Nobody was watching her, she was certain of it. Returning to human form, she pulled herself out of the water and grappled to cling onto the slippery slope at the base of the island. It wasn’t easy. Each time she got her footing, a wave knocked her straight back down. Though battered and bruised, she refused to give up. From deep within, Cordelia found the strength to haul herself up the rock, her fingers clinging on for dear life as she climbed.

Stopping to catch her breath, she wasn’t sure what was louder, the sound of her own breathing, the crashing waves or the squawking birds. Resting on a windy ridge lower down from where the Sirens were gathered, she held onto the rock, peering over the top. She observed the ravens from behind while they perched on the other side of the sea stack, reveling in the grotesque events that had just taken place. She was on dangerous territory, there was no doubt about that. Gathered around a fire, the ravens started to sing again. The sound was chilling. Orlenda and Branna