The shock of the freezing ocean wakes me up.

Why the hell did I jump?

It's cold, so ice cold. Waves crash around me, sucking me under, plunging me into darkness.

I flail, legs kicking, arms moving in the blackness that surrounds me. My lungs are burning. I need air, but which way is up?

My chest burns until I have to open my mouth. I gasp for air, but seawater fills my mouth. I spit it out, tumbling through the freezing depths.

Panic thrums through me as I seek the surface.

I didn't mean it!

I want to live!

I'm peering through impenetrable darkness, seeking light. Where is it?

The moon! I swing my arms, attempting to push clear through to the surface. I break free of the water, gasping. And get immediately sucked back down with the undertow. There are sharp rocks nearby somewhere, I know there are. I'll smash into them at any moment.

Grief surges through me as I desperately struggle to find the surface again.

Why did I jump?

My mother was right all along.

I'm broken. Messed up. Crazy.

I followed imaginary music off a freakin' cliff, and now I'm gonna die.

My head breaks the surface, and I suck down another lungful of air.

And everything comes to a standstill.

I'm not moving anymore. And neither is the water.

Is this frozen world a figment of my imagination, or is this how it feels in the moments before death?

The ocean's as paralyzed as I am. The waves are curling, topped with foam. Like the fog on top of the Rock, they've taken on a feeling of being solid.

The water around me is stiff and perfect, as if I'm in a painting. I'm half underwater, half above the surface, my face angled toward the sky, toward the shining full moon.

Where the seawater touches my skin, it feels more like gel, holding me here.

I'm beyond shivering, and I suspect I've shattered all my bones, it hurts so much. Like before, the only body part I can move is my eyes.

The moonlight is illuminating the black water around me, but I can't see much. There are sharp rocks, just ahead, at the bottom of Ashford Rock.

Blue glowing orbs—some creature's eyes—reappear a few yards away, in my peripheral vision.

I try to scream, but all that comes out is a low gurgle.

That is no freakin' seal.

It's a goddamn monster.

Its terrifying eyes glow from within a hideously misshapen skull. The moonlight glints off the blue-green scales covering its torso and head, and they shimmer, like they're infused with deadly glitter.

Its head suddenly disappears beneath the waves, and a tail flips into the sky. A tail like a fish, scaled, with two fins. The tail vanishes, and the ocean-gel vibrates from the force of its movement.

If it's a fish, it's the size of me.

A high-pitched tone rings in my ears, and my desperate screams stick in my throat.

I try to glance down at the frozen waves, seeking the monster's path.

There. The creature shimmers beneath the water as it rushes toward me. It's moving far faster than anything else is moving in this frozen world.

Terror builds within me, setting all my nerves on fire.

The monster bursts through the water, a few feet away, neon blue eyes staring at me hungrily.

It has hair like a human, cascading over its shoulders, soaking wet, pasted against its skull. Its torso is human-like, with breasts.

Its treading water, flipping its fins, and with each quick movement its entire scaly body glitters, shimmers, and glows neon blue-green.

Another scream erupts in my chest and gets caught there.

The creature's fish-like lips peel back. Its jaw opens so wide, it seems to come unhinged. Moonlight glints off shining white fangs.

It flips its tail, diving deep.

It's coming for me.

And I can't do anything but wait and choke on my screams.

A force erupts from beneath my body, slamming into my lower back. I try to cry out in pain, but nothing comes out.

I'm flying through the air, toward the sky.

The fog is back. The loud roar of waves rushes into my ears right before I hit them once more.

I flail underwater, trying to find the surface.

I can move again, but I'm drowning. Flipping, tumbling through the water as it drags me down, deeper and deeper.

I keep my mouth closed as my air runs out, and my lungs burn. My eyes are open, saltwater stinging them as another wave drags me forward.

I glimpse the creature's blue-green glow, right before it slams into me, sending me skyward again.

I suck in a lungful of air and glimpse the moon before plunging back beneath the water.

Wicked pain shoots through all my limbs, and my body's shaking violently from cold and fear.

The monster slams into me again and again, sending me toward the sky. Each time, I suck in air before plunging back into the ocean's depths.

It's playing with me.

The monster is playing with me like a cat plays with... its food.

It seems to go on forever.

Then time stops again.

I'm sucking in a lungful of air, paralyzed, half underwater, half above. Freezing cold gel holds me in place. A wave rises high behind me, the moonlight glinting off its curves, getting ready to drown me.

I'm so tired. So, so tired. When will this end?

You must live, Lyric.

I want to live!

Warmth blooms in my chest. My ribcage thrums and hums at a high pitch, and the note spreads through my whole body.

I blink, and a chorus of notes erupt all around me, joining my body in song. It's different from the song I heard before, the song coming from that creature. That one was simple. An amateur melody, attempting to mimic whatever this song is.

This new song has a complex melody... with endless harmonies. Its vibrations dance through the air, the fog, the ocean's waves, the moon's rays. They dance through me.

I blink again, and the golden web of light I saw when I was on the Rock reappears all around me, shimmering in time with the new song.

Each golden thread in the web hums with a note... like vibrating strings on an instrument. And the undulating, shimmering web connects to everything... the water, the air, the moon... even me.

Tiny pinpricks of light sparkle and glow all along it, like a million fireflies, blinking in time with the beautiful song.

I draw another breath, and every cell in my body begins to dance with them.

This frozen state I'm in, this paralyzed ocean... it's wrong.

The golden strings have somehow been pulled too tightly. They're being held in an unnatural position to keep me frozen here. They're meant to move freely with the song, to ebb and flow like the waves themselves.

I shut my eyes, reaching. Reaching, somehow for those strings of light.

I can't move, but somehow... somehow I can touch them.

So much power.

So much energy.

Whatever high-pitched energetic vibration I imagine I feel when I touch a Redwood tree, this is the same feeling... only times a thousand.

I invite it in, welcome it into my body.

And it builds and builds and builds until my every cell is thrumming with the high-pitched notes, singing the same song as the ocean.

The blue orbs reappear beside me, staring at me with clear hunger. I should be afraid, but I'm not anymore. I'm calm. Paralyzed in body, yet dancing, dancing with this golden song.

I feel so alive.

A shrill, dissonant note rings out as the monster opens its mouth. It's sour breath hits me in the face as its jaw unhinges. Razor-sharp teeth glitter in the moonlight.

The creature attacks.

Its fangs are nearly on me as my arms shoot forward—no longer paralyzed—and I wrap my hands around the creature's neck.

A roar erupts from its throat as the gel-like waves begin to move again in slow motion.

The creature closes its mouth, and webbed hands grab mine, trying to pull me off.

I squeeze its neck harder, the golden song of the ocean coursing through me, giving me strength.

The creature roars again and finally breaks free. We both toss in the waves in slow motion, toward the sharp rocks ahead.

Its blue-green scaled shape dissolves into a whiter, softer, paler form. The neon blue eyes still glow from a few yards away as it opens its mouth.

It's singing.

It's the same song that convinced me to jump from the Rock. But it's not beautiful anymore. It sounds distorted. Dangerous, off-pitch, angry.

Some part of me knows it's the same exact song from before... I just hear it for what it is now. It doesn't mesmerize me or paralyze me. It isn't infecting my mind.

Fins flips in front of me, and the creature appears even closer, mouth wide in song.

A little shock reverberates through me.

Amanda.

Her blond curls are soaked flat against her scalp, her skin pale in the moonlight. She's bare breasted, and the teeth... the razor-sharp fangs are gone, replaced with normal, human teeth. Her eyes still glow bright blue.

The waves begin to move even faster, time speeding up again.

Amanda lets out a shriek, and her song gets louder.

The golden strings... the complex song I'm clinging to... it's growing louder too. It's building up in my body, in every cell.

Too much.

There's too much energy. Too many notes.

And I know, instinctively, that if I stay connected with it, it will destroy me.

Amanda is closer now, and she's changing. Scales crawl up her torso and erupt on her face like a disease. Her lips morph, becoming fish-like and growing wider until they take up the entire bottom half of her face. Her jaw begins to unhinge.

The golden song has warmed me up inside, and I'm no longer shivering from the cold... I'm shivering from the effort it's taking to hold on to it.

It's a wave I can't keep riding, something too big for me, beyond me. This force isn't meant to be contained and controlled. It must be allowed to flow.

I have to let this music go, or I'll die.

The monster opens its mouth.

Razor-sharp fangs make contact with my neck.

Let it go.

I close my eyes and release my hold on the golden strings. I disconnect from the golden web of song.

A shockwave erupts from my chest. I'm slammed down, beneath the waves, saltwater stinging my eyes, filling my lungs.

It's ice cold again. I'm freezing to death, spinning through unending blackness.

The undertow has me and will not let go.

No air.

I'm so tired. My body's giving up, shutting down, my consciousness is fading.

I can feel it happening, but what can I do?

Nothing. The monster will be back soon.

Amanda...

Visions race through my mind as my brain replays every scene from this terrible night.

They stop at the drawing from the restaurant.

The drawing of ancient mythical sea creatures.

A drawing of... mermaids.

No.

The looping scrawl comes back to me. My brain decodes it, too late.

Sirens.

Sirens.

Beautiful women who lure sailors to their deaths with a song.

But sirens are not real.

I'm exhausted. My muscles quit—and I let the waves take me where they will.

I always thought I'd die alone. In a warm, cozy bed, maybe. As an old lady with lots of loving cats.

I never thought I'd die like this, cold and suffocating in the dark, not even old enough to drink.

The monster will be coming for me soon.

Will it hurt, when those impossibly sharp teeth rend my flesh from my bones? I'll scream, but my voice won't travel. No one will hear my cries. And they'll never find my body.

Just pieces of me.

If there's anything left.

But who will even care?

I wish I never went to work today.

I wish I never left the house.

I can't take any of it back now.

Hot pain slashes through my burning lungs, and my eyes sting as I stare into inky darkness.

At least it will all be over soon.

I stop struggling, stop wishing for oxygen, and surrender to the terrible exhaustion.

My eyes slide shut, and death takes me.