favor.”
“And that’s how my mother met my father.” Mina spoke up.
“Somehow the young man sailed through the gate into our world while he was chasing the Loch Ness beast across the planes.”
“You mean the Loch Ness Monster is real?” Mina asked in disbelief.
“Well, they’re certainly not all from your Loch Ness, but the beasts like deep lakes on both planes,” Winona said. “James followed it through the gate, and, when he did, it attacked and capsized his vessel. It was our youngest daughter, your mother, who saved him. We told her to let him drown since he wasn’t one of us, but she couldn’t. She cried for days when we made a raft and sent him back through the gate to his own plane. There was nothing we could do to help her. She was young and in love, and she begged us to let her go after him.”
“And you let her?” Mina asked. Then she saw Ternan’s face of disgust. “…right?”
“Of course not. We’d never tell her to expose her Fae side to a human. But when we forbade it, she went to a sea witch for help and had her powers bound. That wasn’t enough for her though. She wanted to forget all about us and went to a guild of rogue Fae for help.”
“I believe they call themselves the Godmothers,” Winona corrected.
Ternan growled out, “Whatever, but they helped her. Before they altered her memories, she contacted us and told us never to try to reach her again. It wasn’t until years later that we realized she’d fallen for a Grimm. It kind of changed some things since he already knew about the Fae, but it hurt that she wanted nothing to do with us. Wanted to be human, to raise human children.”
“So we watched you, in our dreams,” Winona said, “and waited, hoping one day, you would need us. And that day is today.” Winona came over and put her arm around Mina in a side hug.
Winona’s eyes locked on the iron cuffs around Mina’s wrists. “How dare he?” Winona gripped the band harder, fuming. “How dare someone shackle the power of a siren!” Her hair crackled with static electricity as her anger rose to the surface.
Mina watched in awe.
Winona held out her hand and power raced to her, her hair whipping about from the abundance of energy. “No one lays a hand on my granddaughter.”
Winona touched the cuffs, and Mina felt the current of power blast through them, turning them black. Whatever magic had blocked her was killed. Her bonds clicked open and fell to the deck with a thud.
Mina hadn’t known what she was missing, but when the Fae power came rushing back to her, it was as strong and as sharp as regaining the ability to see after being blind. She needed to grab a hold of Winona’s arm to steady herself. Her wrists weren’t rubbed raw like Jared’s, she could only assume that it didn’t hurt her as much because she was only half Fae.
Winona smirked and raised her eyebrow. “Now that is just a taste of our power. Shall I teach you the rest?”
Mina’s mouth was dry, and she had to swallow a few times before her verbal yes spilled out. “Teach me anything and everything I need, so I can save my friends.”
“Very good,” Ternan grunted, watching the exchange. “There’s the siren spirit. But you’ll have to delay your lessons until we are through the gate. Any outlash of power can collapse it around us, trapping us between the planes forever.” He gestured to the setting sun.
Mina ran to the front of the ship to watch the miracle that was about to happen.
She saw nothing on the horizon except for two giant stone monoliths that rose out of the sea. Heads popped out of the water to watch them.
Mina couldn’t help but be drawn in by the beautiful aquatic features of the sirens. The fleeting sun reflected off their tails and scales as they swam alongside the ship.
A few came up and called out, a loud piercing shriek, but it didn’t damage the boat. If it had been anything like her brother’s gift, it could very well tear them to pieces. These calls were more of a warning to the boat. The closer they came, the more violent the attacks became.
Until Ternan strode to the bow holding a giant gold trident. He raised it, and the sirens in the water jumped high into the air and flicked their tails in a