Santos went to the driver’s seat and turned on the engine as Jimenez hefted up Cam and climbed into the boat.
Santos turned them around and started heading back to the coast, but Marco turned to keep his hand to the west or his ice dome would collapse too early. When the cruise ship was a dot in the distance, he decided they were far enough away. He stopped controlling the elemental water particles and let them go free. A sense of exhaustion slammed into him. But he pushed it aside and raced to Cam’s still form in the back of the boat.
He motioned for Jimenez to keep watch from the front of the boat before he looked down at Cam.
Her face was pale with dark circles under her eyes. He cupped her cheek, and was grateful that it was only slightly chilled.
Deeming the air warm enough—they were in the Gulf of Mexico after all—he removed the blanket and slowly lifted Cam up against his chest, not caring if he’d get wet in the process. When he finally had her cradled against him, he leaned down and kissed her forehead, letting his lips linger on her skin.
He closed his eyes and breathed in her scent. With Cam unconscious, it was almost easier to admit how scared he’d been when Santos had told him about Cam jumping into the churning ocean. He knew she was a capable soldier or she never would’ve been able to escape. But he was fast discovering his protective and possessive streak when it came to the woman in his arms.
Cam stirred and nestled into his chest, and he smiled. He’d never really had someone to care about before, and he sure as hell wasn’t about to give her up. No doubt she’d make a big fuss when she woke up—either because of poisoning him or some other excuse—but he was ready to fight for her.
Chapter Thirty-One
Gio was back in his assigned room, pacing. Evans had left straight away to hide in his new lab. Not that he minded since the lab would hopefully keep Evans focused and prevent him from lapsing back into a depression of self-pity. Gio wanted
to know more about these latent abilities, and only a focused Evans could give him that information.
Earlier, Evans had told him about the two other cases he’d discovered. One of them—about a woman using her singing voice to command others—had triggered the long-lost memory that had been nibbling at the back of his mind, a memory of his mother telling him and his two sisters one of her grand bedtime stories:
Gio leaned against his sister Kiarra, and pinched himself to stay awake. He was so sleepy, but tonight his mama would finally tell them the story he’d waited so long to hear—the story about Loreley the Siren.
His mother tucked a blanket around him and his two sisters before she sat down at the foot of the bed. “Gio is looking a little tired. Maybe I should put off this story until tomorrow.”
Gio shot up. “No! Please, mama, I want to hear it.”
His mother smiled and patted his leg. “If you think you can stay awake…”
“I can, mama, I can!”
His sister Cam poked him in the ribs and he yelped. She snickered. “I’ll make sure he stays awake.”
“Mama, make her stop. Her poking hurts.”
Their mother simply gave them a “look” and the three of them settled into place. When they were calm and waiting patiently, she nodded. “I think we’re ready. Let’s begin.
“Many years ago, a young woman named Loreley lived in Western Germany with her father and two older brothers. Even though she was the youngest child, Loreley had always secretly longed for elemental fire, like her eldest brother. And one day, just after her twenty-first birthday, her wish almost came true.”
Kiarra interrupted their mother’s story. “Are we going to hear about her brother using elemental fire?”
“No, Kiarra, not today. Now shush, so I can tell the story.”
Kiarra didn’t look happy, but she nodded and their mother continued. “Loreley was sitting in her favorite place, on one of the ledges of a huge rock face that sat on the river not far from her house, when she noticed a huge wooden ship coming around the bend. Since she came to sit on the ledge at least a few times a week, she knew all of the usual ships that came down the river. But this one had a strange flag on it, one that she’d never seen before. Recently, she’d heard tales of raids in other parts of Germany, and afraid for her family, she murmured to the ship, ‘Go away.’
“Of course, the ship kept coming toward her. She repeated the words, but for some reason, she felt the urge to sing them. Over and over, she sang them; wondering why she felt this need. As the ship drew closer, she noticed that it started to change course—it was now heading straight for the huge rock outcropping she was sitting on.
“Not wanting to find out if the ship crashed or not, Loreley climbed down as fast as she could to reach the ground. Once she made it, she ran all the way home and straight into her papa’s study. She’d always been close to her papa, so when he asked her what was wrong, Loreley explained everything—including her urge to sing and how the ship had changed course.”
Gio’s mother paused, as she always did at important points in the story, and asked, “What do you think happened next?”
He always hated this part. He didn’t want to guess, he wanted to know. But his sister Cam always took a guess. This time Cam said, “She has a special power. Maybe she’ll lead an army.”
Cam always wanted the women to lead armies, and if he didn’t say something, Cam would keep on guessing, so Gio said, “Tell us what happened, mama.”
His mother smiled. “Camilla is correct; Loreley did have a special power. She was a Siren, which meant that she had the ability to command people with her voice. But you’ll never guess what her father did next.”
Kiarra leaned forward and asked, “What did he do, Mom?