“I don’t have a song, and even if I did, I never sing. That’s another thing my father’s stories taught me.” Reese sneered as she stood, Luca’s hand on her elbow.

  “You don’t need to sing for your song to be heard.” The woman shook her head.

  Without another word, she slipped back into the ocean.

  Reese’s voice hadn’t wavered when she spoke, but she doubted the truth in it.

  She truly was a siren’s daughter.

  That meant there were too many things she didn’t know about herself.

  What if her mother was right and she had lured Luca in with her song?

  If Reese didn’t know how to use it, was it possible she had been without realizing it?

  What if that was the real reason his feelings for her had changed?

  Reese closed her eyes and took a deep slow breath.

  She had survived worse.

  She couldn’t let her mother’s sudden appearance turn her world on its head.

  All would be alright if only they could get off the island.

  For now, at least they had dinner.

  Reese let out a quiet sigh as she pulled out her scythe. “Do you know how to build a fire? We’re going to need one. A big one.”

  “What do you take me for, a child?” Luca scoffed. “Of course, I can build a fire, even one big enough for that beast.”

  Soon enough, a fire roared, despite the wet sand and the spray from the sea.

  Chunks of the shark roasted on the longest sticks Reese could find in what they’d gathered.

  For now, they were fed.

  Which meant, for the moment, they weren’t fighting.

  Reese wasn’t sure how long the tentative peace would last.

  There was already a strain between Cillian and Theresa. They were the group’s weakest link. If they pushed each other too far, everything would break, and escaping the carnival would have meant nothing.

  “Please don’t tell anyone about what you saw.” Reese whispered to Luca.

  “You mean about your mom?” He asked around a bite of greasy meat.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “That thing was not my mother.” Reese shook her head.

  “I don’t know. She brought you food, and I don’t think she was lying. I’ve had years of practice picking them out. She at least believed she was your mother.” Luca took another bite of shark.

  “Even if she is my mother, you see how she is. How she-” Reese cut herself off as Cillian came to sit next to them.

  Wrenly wasn’t far behind him.

  “How did you bag this one?” Cillian asked as he sat down, his shark kebob in hand.

  “It just washed up.” Reese shrugged.

  “Are you sure it’s safe to eat then? We don’t know how it died.” Wrenly studied her chunk of meat.

  “Right now, we don’t have many choices.” Reese pointed out. “It’s this or starve.”

  Without any further prompting, Wrenly bit into her dinner.

  Myla, Derrick, and Theresa kept to themselves.

  They sat further from the fire than they probably should have, but it was clear that if it came to picking sides, they’d already chosen theirs.

  Reese wondered if sacrificing Cillian would be their best option if it came down to it.

  She watched him as he ate, he was completely focused on what little food he had left.

  Reese knew nothing about him.

  He probably didn’t deserve to die.

  Wrenly would never agree to it.

  Reese would hate to see her go, and if Reese sided against her, she didn’t think she’d be able to take the look of betrayal the girl would give her.

  Wrenly was young. She was good.

  And she had killed, but only because she’d had to.

  Despite the darkness in her, Reese knew that Wrenly would always choose what was right.

  But how could one decide what was right when it was sacrificing one for the many or risking everyone’s lives on the off chance they could overcome Lyonell’s games again.

  Even from beyond the veil of flames, Lyonell pulled the strings.

  A game master through and through.

  They had already lost Raya trying to escape, how many more would they lose before they could reenter society.

  Would they be able to reenter society at all after everything they’d done to survive.

  They already weren’t the same people who had walked into the carnival, how much more would they change?

  How many more would they kill?

  Reese could still feel blood on her hands sometimes, Luca’s, the guards’, Lyonell’s.

  Her hands were not clean.

  She was not guiltless.

  But they had all only done what they’d needed to in order to survive.

  Would that be enough justification for the families they were to return to?

  Would it even be enough justification for themselves?

  Reese’s father used to tell her ghost stories about pirates driven to insanity over the crimes they’d committed. Their sins had consumed their minds until the only thing they had left to do was drop over the edge of the very ship they’d committed their crimes on.

  Would she be able to live with herself, knowing the things she’d done to survive?

  Would any of the rest of them be able to?

  Or would they find themselves drowning in the same water the siren claimed Reese had come from?

  Reese looked at the people around her.

  Even seeing them now, she wasn’t convinced they had the mettle to escape the carnival.

  They hadn’t really been the ones to do it either.

  Reese had orchestrated the entire thing. She had been the one to save them all.

  Well, not all...

  If she was being honest, she felt partially at fault for Raya’s death.

  She might not have directly murdered her, but the chaos she had stirred created the circumstances of her death.

  Reese wasn’t sure if she should add Raya’s name to her tally.

  The list of people she had murdered.

  Did pre-emptive self-defense count as murder?

  Normal people didn’t have to think about things like this.

  Reese wasn’t normal though.