by Giger, S. L.
“Try me. Since I've met you, I'd believe almost anything.”
I sat on the stool next to him and told him about how I was invisible. Then I told him all about the ancient books at The Library.
“Holy moly, I wish I could go there.” Alex gaped.
I detected a shimmer of excitement in his eyes that mirrored how I was feeling. “I’m so glad I can finally talk to someone about this who is still on the same level of knowledge as I am,” I said. “For Melissa and Luke, everything special has become too normal to understand how discovering all this makes me feel.”
“Tell me anything about the magical world and I will suck it up like a sponge. If I were you, I’d go back to that closet and pass through the wall again and again.” Alex laughed.
“My nerves are still quivering over whether I might be insane after all.” I shivered as if to shake off that feeling. “I also learned that the magical world has its own problems and there have been countless battles over the centuries. They probably even participated in the First and Second World Wars.” My shoulders sagged. “If magic isn’t here to bring good to this world, then what is it here for at all?”
“You cannot just assume the good in something. That’s why it’s important that we ensure the good side is stronger,” Alex said earnestly.
“But how can you be so sure that creating male Sirens is a good thing?” I frowned.
He shrugged. “You are a good person, and I’d say that I’m not so bad myself. If it will lead to a disaster, I think we’ll realize that before it happens.”
“Mhh. I still think running away with you would be the better solution.” I smiled weakly.
“While running for you means that you could be in the Caribbean in five minutes, I would need an airplane to get there and even then, it would take me hours.”
I swallowed. “If you figure out how to create male Sirens, would you become one as well?”
“I think so,” he said. “Why wouldn’t I take that chance if I got it?”
“I’d love for you to be one as well, but I don’t think you understand what you have to give up.” I took a breath. “For example, you wouldn’t be eating a sandwich now either. It’s not possible to be half human and half Siren. You’d be someone new afterward. Eternally.”
“But you get to be invisible, run around the world, and be part of something you only dreamed about as a kid.”
“Yeah,” I sighed. “It does have its tempting sides.”
“And wouldn’t it be good if I could be equal to you?” he asked.
“It would make things easier but it’s not a necessity,” I responded. “Besides, your heartbeat is the most attractive one I have ever heard. It would be a shame to not be able to listen to it anymore.”
Later, I lay in Alex’s arms as he was falling asleep. It was very comforting how my head rose and sank with his chest. I stayed like that for hours, listening to his heartbeat and sometimes watching his face twitch. Then, I wondered what he was dreaming about.
At some point, I got up and turned on the laptop to look for Dr. Palmer. It proved to be a lot more difficult to find him than I'd anticipated. He was everywhere on the media and on the Internet. But where in the world was he? A few of the earlier entries stated that they had been to his presentations in London, so perhaps that was where I could still find him today. It would be best if I could talk to Claire, Melissa’s creator, who lived in Ireland, and have her go to England to enquire about Dr. Palmer. But to get in touch with Claire, it would make sense to go through Melissa, so I decided to pay Melissa and Luke a visit. When I entered their living room, a very unusual sight caught my eye. Cathy and Luke sat at the kitchen table engrossed in a discussion about magical creatures and their sex. Cathy, who up to now hadn't been able to stand being around Luke. She had always been jealous of Luke because her boyfriend died and hadn't become a Siren as well.
Melissa sat on the couch, loudly turning the page of a magazine.
“Have they been here a long time?” I asked her.
“A few hours. They already arrived together. Apparently, Luke had such an important thought that he had to go tell Cathy right away. And suddenly, it seems like they go together like peas and carrots.” She shook her head in bewilderment.
“What did he find out?” I wanted to know.
“They are only brainstorming all the different species with their different sexes.” She turned her head to face me. “But I think Roisin was right. We can’t do this. We can’t play God and create something just because it’s possible. It would throw the balance of the population of Sirens out of joint.”
“So, what do you want to do?” I asked.
“We have to go out on the field and figure out who we are up against.” Melissa had a determined look in her eyes. “But Luke is the detective. He's the one who’d know best how we should proceed in finding a criminal.”
“That’s actually what I came to talk to you about. The only leads to Dr. Palmer point me to London. Can we skype Claire and then perhaps she can find out whether he is there?”
Melissa furrowed her brows. “Sure. We have to let her in on the mission though and she needs to know that he could be our worst nightmare.”
“Do you trust her?” I asked her.
“Of course. That’s not my concern. But I don’t want to endanger her.”
I took a deep breath. “Me neither, but it would make it easier to have someone there who might know other people in the area.”
“Yes. Let’s go online and see whether we can catch her.” Melissa got up and returned with a laptop. Claire’s icon was on green and soon we heard the connecting sound and Claire’s redhead appeared on the screen.
“Hey, I didn’t expect to see the two of you.” Claire sounded a bit hollow through the speakers.
“A lot has happened since we spoke a week ago,” Melissa said.
“Oh, is everything all right?” Claire asked.
“Yes, yes, but we could use your help,” Melissa replied, and then we told Claire about the Orbiters’ wish for us to create male Sirens, so that we could fight the people who spread hostility against magical creatures. Claire’s eyebrows wandered higher and higher and she interrupted us a few times to clarify whether she had understood correctly.
“Phew, do you even know how to start?” Claire puffed her cheeks.
“We are a team of very different characters, everybody with their own qualities. Luke, Cathy, and Alex are working on the transformation. Melissa and I want to find Dr. Palmer,” I said.
One of Claire’s dogs barked in the background and she turned around to tell Pixie to be quiet.
“The crazy guy from the news?” she asked when she faced her camera again.
“Yes, he is our only lead,” I said. “I read that he might be living in London but because we don’t know for sure, I hoped that you could help us find out whether this information is true.”
Claire ran her hand through her hair and left it in a mess. After some consideration, she agreed. “Okay, I’ll see what I can do, but I won’t talk to him. He and his group kill the likes of us.”
“We know. That’s why we must do something. If you find him, that would be a huge relief. Afterward, I would come and get in touch with him,” I said.
“Okay. I hope this doesn’t prove too difficult,” she said. “I’ll keep you updated.”
“Great, thank you, Claire.” Melissa smiled.
“Sure. Say hello to Luke and Roisin from me,” she said.
“You can say hello yourself. They are right in front of us,” I said and lifted the laptop, so that the camera was pointing to the table with Luke and Cathy. Only then they seemed to notice that we had been chatting with somebody this whole time. Luke and Cathy waved and Claire said hello. After we had disconnected, Melissa sighed.
“I’d never have seen myself being involved in such an investigation,” Melissa said.
“Me neither. So, now is the question how we approach Dr. Palmer, in case she do
es find him.”
Melissa frowned and leaned back. I didn’t think that I’d have a flash of inspiration in this crowded room either.
“I’m going for a walk,” I said and stepped out into the fresh night. I could see some stars twinkling down on me between a few dark clouds. The only noise I heard was the sound of the waves of the Atlantic Ocean right behind the house. To get some positive energy back into my system, I did what I loved most about my life as a Siren; I went running.
Chapter 12
Then it happened in the US as well. Even if you wanted to ignore it, you weren’t able to, because it was all over the news and everybody talked about it. After a visit of the night flu, twenty people were left dead in Las Vegas.
Now it’s only a matter of time until the virus travels here, Sam texted in our group chat.
Yeah, my parents are stocking up our cellar with emergency supplies, Phe replied and added: It just makes me feel so helpless. It’s supposed to attack when you fall asleep, so I am kind of afraid of going to bed.
At least I wouldn’t have that problem.
You need your strength, I texted.
Yes, the virus makes you tired and that’s why people seem to die in their sleep. You don’t catch it in your sleep, Sam wrote.
But it was concerning that it hit in such odd places and there seemed no way of protecting yourself against it. I for my part had no desire of going anywhere near Las Vegas soon.
At school that day, I spotted the first people wearing white hospital face masks. I felt like we were in China. Marty was wearing one as well.
“You too?” I said, astonished.
“From contagion to death, it takes at most twelve hours. I don’t want to take any chances.” He sounded slightly muffled. “It’s a virus after all and in a crisis, you should follow proven aids.”
“You are right, but I’m not sure that’s enough against something so aggressive,” I replied.
“I have that as well.” He held up a bottle of hand sanitizer as if it was a powerful weapon. “Don’t tell me you haven’t sanitized your hands today. If so then you better take a step away from me.”
I groaned. “I used soap.”
The next day, he needn’t have worried about people not using sanitizer anymore, because there were several dispensers lined up in front of the school. Teachers stood next to them to make sure that everyone gave their hands a good splash. More info followed in the daily announcements.
“Dear students. After the recent events in Las Vegas, every public institution is required to follow measurements to stay sanitized. As of now, use the hand sanitizer dispensers when entering the school or after leaving the bathroom. Further, it is prohibited to bring homemade food to school. Discounted meals will be provided in the cafeteria.”
Some in my class looked at each other alarmed, and there were a few words of protest because they didn’t like what was served at school. One thing I had to hand to these Americans; if they spotted a problem, no time was lost to take action.
At the Irish pub, similar measurements were taken. Above the sink, signs were installed instructing us on how we had to sanitize our hands correctly.
“Damn. The worst thing is that the fear makes people stay home.” Jimmy said. “For the past two days, we've only had two-thirds of the usual crowd.”
Paula and I were standing behind the bar with him. The tables were cleaned spotlessly, and it was too early to do inventory.
“I already feel unwanted,” Paula said. “Whether you are home or out, if the virus is in the air, you can’t escape anyway. With my luck, I’m likely to get it as well.”
“Don’t say that,” I said.
“Irish people are lucky and so far, Ireland and Boston have been spared,” Jimmy said. “But I don’t think we can rely on that for much longer. You can feel how the people are starting to go crazy here. Some aisles in the supermarket are empty.”
“But we can’t just go into lockdown,” Paula exclaimed. “Even if they open up more of these sterilized bunkers, like they have in Nevada, how long are we supposed to stay in them?”
“I’m not going into any bunker,” I said. “It seems contradictory to me to lock myself in a room with hundreds of other people if one of them might carry the virus on them.”
“Perhaps we will be forced to wait in them until there is a remedy or airplanes have sprayed the whole planet with sanitizer,” Paula said. “If this is supposed to kill us, it will. We have treated the world like shit, and it was obvious that humans would destroy themselves at some point.”
“That sounds as if you are expecting all of us to die,” Jimmy remarked.
“I wouldn’t be surprised. That’s why I always say you need to live your life to the fullest.”
“Come on, twenty people have died and already you are speaking about the end of the world. Somebody will find a solution before that happens.” I wiped the counter again, hoping that the virus wasn’t connected to the reason why we had to create male Sirens. Because if the virus did have a supernatural cause, it would mean that the world was depending on us to find a remedy. Even if two of my family worked at the hospital and Alex studied biology, it didn’t mean that they were qualified to create a vaccine.
“Well, girls, as much as it’s fun to philosophize about the apocalypse with you, one of you can go home for today. Not much more will be happening tonight.” Jimmy frowned.
Paula looked at me. I knew she needed the money more than I did.
“Okay, I’ll go,” I said. Jimmy nodded apologetically.
“Okay, I’ll go next time,” Paula said.
“Let’s hope that’s not necessary.” Jimmy pressed his lips together.
Part of me was curious to see how the others had gotten along in the meantime. I ran to Cape Cod and found that Melissa and Luke were home.
“Any news?” I asked.
“From next Monday on, we will have a lab at the university,” Luke replied eagerly. “I’m positive that together, Cathy and Alex will be able to create a gene that transforms men less brutally than a direct insertion of blood does.”
“Yes, their science playground will be opened.” Melissa frowned. “And perhaps it’s essential after all.”
“Why do you mean?” I raised an eyebrow.
“The mirror room at The Library has filled up with even more lanterns,” Luke said. “Magical creatures are going into hiding.”
“Because there is nothing they can do to defend themselves against a virus?” I asked. “What would happen to us if we got infected?”
“It’s hard to say. Our system usually isn’t affected by germs,” Melissa remarked. “Maybe we are immune to it and that’s why more male Sirens need to be created.”
“Will you be okay at the university with all the students’ heartbeats?” I asked Luke.
“I was thinking about wearing army ear muffs. I hope that helps.”
Melissa stood. “I need to get back to the hospital now. Several nurses called in sick. I guess they are afraid to catch the flu at work, but there haven’t been any records of an outbreak in a hospital.” She furrowed her brows. “How are people behaving at school?”
“Some are wearing masks, and the hygiene standard is like that of an operating room.”
“Normally I’m not for over-sanitizing everything, but as long as we don’t know how the virus works exactly, it’s good to take as many preventive measurements as possible.” Melissa put on her jacket, kissed Luke goodbye, and gave me a quick hug. I wasn’t opposed to that anymore, now that I walked in and out of the house again as if I still lived here.
At school, it got even worse. Since all the night flu cases had died in the night so far, the students were afraid of falling asleep. Therefore, the mood of my classmates seemed to have plummeted, and many walked around like red-eyed zombies. I sat in the last row of the classroom and had a good view of all the boys and girls who were more lying on their tables than sitting in front of them.
“You have t
o sleep during the night,” Mrs. Graham, our English teacher, emphasized. “It weakens your immune system if you don’t look after yourselves.”
“But if we don’t sleep, the flu can’t catch us,” Trevor said.
Mrs. Graham narrowed her eyes. “Where did you hear something as idiotic as that?”
“There’s a Facebook group,” Trevor yawned.
“Then read the information sheet about the night flu again.” The teacher handed him a flyer that all of us had received on the day they installed the sanitizers. “It says nothing about the flu attacking people who are sleeping. But if you experience any of the symptoms, like shortage of breath or the slightest fever, go to a hospital immediately. None of the infected people even made it to the hospital because they didn’t take it seriously enough and, consequently, didn’t make it through the night.”
“She has a point,” Lori, who was sitting in front of me, whispered to Sarah. “I’ve only missed out on sleep one night and already I feel like I can’t handle another one.”
“Yeah, I stayed on the phone with Chelsea the whole time so that we wouldn’t fall asleep,” Sarah whispered back.
“Girls, do you have anything to contribute that would interest the whole class?” Mrs. Graham approached them.
They shook their heads.
“We can talk about the flu if you have questions. This is presently such a burning topic that we shouldn’t ignore it in the classroom.”
Sarah raised her hand. “Do you know anything to keep us awake beside energy drinks and coffee?”
“I told you, that’s not healthy. You need all the strength you can get.” She narrowed her eyes. “There’s no proven remedy that would protect you from the flu any more than anything else. But I imagine that not sleeping would do more harm.”
“Is it true that the government has a medicine but they’re only handing it out to rich people?” Lori asked.
Mrs. Graham took a deep breath. “No. And the fights you see because of it in other countries are a disaster.”
“Maybe fighting is what we should learn,” Patrick said.
