I WIPED WATER FROM my eyes and searched for Lena among the wreckage of the Nemo. I couldn’t see her, and there was no trace of her magic in the waves. I tried to fly in their direction, but my fading, waterlogged wings could barely keep us afloat. I switched tactics, looking around for any surviving sirens. If they knew we’d come to help them, they might be willing to return the favor.

Deb pounded my arm and pointed. I screamed in pain. A bullet had torn a line along my forearm. I clasped my other hand around the wound, trying to slow the bleeding. Old horror stories about sharks flashed through my head. Right now, I didn’t have the strength to fight off an angry goldfish, let alone Jaws.

Once my eyes stopped watering, I looked to see what Deb was pointing at. A motorboat cut through the waves behind us. I counted eight people on board, most of them armed. One man scanned the water with a small but powerful spotlight. They paused to gather another unconscious siren, then circled toward us.

I wasn’t sure I could stop them without killing myself in the process. Not with the amount of magic I’d burned through in the past hour. Nor did I want to hurt them. Whatever was happening, it didn’t make all of these people villains. Most were simply doing their jobs.

I took the printout of the Kagan’s orders and shoved it into one of the plastic bags I’d used to protect my books.

Deb pointed to the water and pantomimed swimming.

I shook my head. We had no boat. Even if we could evade the Coast Guard, neither of us were in any shape to swim to shore.

Nor was I willing to leave. Lena might have survived. I couldn’t abandon her to drown, or to be rounded up with the sirens.

Deb’s face twisted with anger and disgust. She shoved away from me and dove into the ocean.

The boat pulled alongside. One man fired a spray of bullets at the water where Deb had vanished. Rough hands hauled me in and tossed me down beside the unconscious siren, making me cry out again. I cradled my arm against my body. Three other guns pointed toward my chest.

“There was a woman on that boat,” I shouted. They couldn’t hear me. I gestured at the wreckage, searching for a way to make them understand. Given Lena’s size and the wood growing along her skeleton, her body should float. If we reached her quickly enough, if I could get her back to her oak tree—

I got a kick to the side of the head for my trouble. They probably thought I was trying to do magic.

One man tugged off my shoes. Without my weight to worry about, they promptly flew off into the darkness.