by Giger, S. L.
“I should start with undressing you.”
I chuckled as he approached me and moved his hands up below my shirt in a skillful motion. It tickled a little as his hands grazed my skin, but it was an agreeable tickle. We kissed and for a while, we stood there in an embrace. Then, I drew my head back.
“It’s too depressing, isn’t it?” I sighed.
His shoulders slumped. “We could forget about it for a while, Nat. I have to be doing something until Rey wakes up and we find out how we can continue. At least you get to leave and look for Roisin and do something useful.” He looked to the ceiling, but his hands were still playing around the back of my bra.
“You’ve helped enough with the serum.” I gently pushed his arms down and threw a glance at my watch. I had no idea what time of the day it was as we were using candles to light the living room. The windows were painted in a dark grey window paint, so you couldn’t see any movement or shadows when looking from the outside to the inside. The feel of the cozy beach house was gone but at least we still lived in our own four walls.
“When Melissa and Luke are back you can take off again while I’m still here like a pet that needs to be looked after.” Alex kissed me a final time and then let go to walk to the kitchen. He grabbed a carton of orange juice and took a few big gulps. I followed him and sat on the opposite side of him at the counter.
“Why did you say you were a pet?”
“Because I can’t even hunt or gather on my own and I go outside to go to the bathroom.” He closed the lid again and put it back into the corner of the counter.
“At least you are a pet that cleans up after itself.” I smiled.
“It’s not funny. This situation is maddening.” He pushed his jaw to the front.
“I know.” I placed my chin on my hands. “But it’s better for you to be here with us because your thoughts are of great value. It would be idiotic to have you in a shelter, where we can’t have any contact.” I pursed my lips. I couldn’t be separated from yet another loved one. Since my transformation from self-conscious 17-year-old Serena who lived with her loyal sister and caring parents in Switzerland, to Nathalie with Siren powers, I hadn’t been able to exchange a word with my family. They believe I died on a hiking trip and not being able to tell them the truth was still pulling on my heart strings with every passing day.
“When Rey wakes up and is okay, there is no need for me to further work on the serum. If I stay here, I only contribute to more danger.” Alex’s face became serious and before I could come up with an opposition, he pushed himself away from the counter. “I’ll go take a bath now, while the sun is still up.” He dragged his feet out of the kitchen toward the stream behind our house. Our location on Cape Cod was convenient as a hiding place since the house was sheltered by the dunes from the back side. However, if you were used to taking warm showers and now only had a cold stream to use, taking a bath wasn’t so relaxing anymore. At least I was able to run down to California within forty minutes and could wash myself somewhere, where it was a bit warmer. The world outside the shelters indeed wasn’t made for the modern human of today. With Siren powers, it was still possible to survive if not agreeable. Only, how long until we’d face the next problem? The sooner we could set an end to PaNacea the better.
Chapter 2
Melissa returned from the Caucasus. Her long brown curls bouncing with every step as she strode up and down the living room to give us her report. “Even the far away mountain villages are deserted because the people were forced to move to bigger camps.” She clasped both hands together, digging her perfectly shaped nails into the flesh.
I caught her green eyes. With those eyes and her Siren beauty, a dab of colorless lip-gloss was enough to make her look as if she was about to have a photo shoot for a magazine cover. “PaNacea is in charge of the world now.” I exhaled. “Why isn’t anybody except us bothered about this?”
“They are all scared.” Melissa threw her hands in the air. “Show the people enough inexplicable deaths and they will do anything someone who calls himself an expert in health tells them to do. We are on our own in this fight.”
I frowned. “Better no time to be lost then.” I searched her eyes again. The fact that she hadn’t mentioned Roisin was answer enough that she hadn’t found her. Yet, I wanted to hear it out of Melissa’s mouth.
She imperceptibly shook her head. “No sign of Roisin.”
My chest deflated. “My turn to head out then.” I turned to Alex and hugged him tightly, feeling his stubble on my cheek. He only faintly reciprocated the hug and I knew he didn’t like that I was leaving once again. Yet, he knew as well as I that we had to do something and squeezed my shoulders shortly before I let go.
Running at Siren speed had the advantage that the human eye couldn’t intercept me. On my way to San Diego, I paid attention whether anything appeared to have changed inside the fenced areas. I had crossed the US many times in the past couple of weeks. With every day, the streets outside the fences got more deserted and the shelters filled up with life. Now, I was the only person zipping along the empty streets. Nobody behind the fences noticed me rushing by. The gates were there to keep the people safe from terrorist attacks which had been a side effect of the Night Flu. At least that’s the reasoning PaNacea had given. That was crap of course. My Siren family and I believed the Night Flu to be a construct of PaNacea. A pretense to scare people enough to blindly take the false help of Dr. Palmer. However, above all so PaNacea could complete their true goal: kill all the magical creatures in this world.
We found out that, in fact, all these poor people who caught the virus were poisoned magical creatures. That’s why my worry about Roisin grew with each passing day. What if they had caught her? She could be the next dead face appearing on the TV.
What we still didn’t know was why PaNacea had such a big knowledge about magic. We thought it possible that everything led back to one person; Dr. Palmer. Unfortunately, everything was even more complicated. Dr. Palmer, the CEO and public figure of PaNacea and symbol of hope in the fight against the Night Flu, was actually constantly hypnotized by someone. Someone we didn’t yet know. One thing was sure though, the unknown person clearly wanted to rid the world of magic. Wanted to kill us.
Thinking about that, I felt the urge of doing something reckless. Like storming a shelter and shaking some sense into the humans who were following PaNacea’s orders without any sign of revolution. The stupid thing was I couldn’t get into the fences. I wasn’t able to fly after all.
Before crossing the ocean, I came to a halt behind the corner of a building one block away from one of the San Diego shelters. The meal distribution counter was currently open and a line of about half a mile had formed in front of a truck. The queuing people stood or sat there, almost apathetic. Probably bored from not doing anything all day long.
In the truck, I spotted cases of apples and sandwiches. The red of the apples made me think of the vampires I had encountered during their exodus into an underground shelter in Nevada. Had they foreseen they’d need to stay down there for so long? How were they doing? Or had they already slaughtered the whole bunker? I guess not, because otherwise we surely would have seen about it on TV. Then, once and for all people would believe bad magic existed and the Alternatives were using it for evil.
I watched how one after the other in the food line reached out to receive an apple and a sandwich and then slowly trod away. It must be so much work to organize food for all these people. Then again, no supermarkets were open anymore. Anything edible we found for Alex we had to steal out of currently uninhabited houses. We scavenged homes for tins and fields for fruit or vegetables.
I ran along the fence to perhaps find a hole where I could enter, but they’d done an excellent job. It was all closed off like a prison. Too bad, because snatching some sandwiches for Alex might have improved his mood. I’d have to keep searching for something edible and therefore I returned slightly inland, where I knew a big orange plantation was located. I ran d
eep into the center of the rows of green and orange where I hoped to be safe from the VCP. Once I slowed down to human speed I proceeded on my tiptoes. I had just put the third ripe orange into my pocket when the leaves moved only a few yards from me. I froze, holding my breath. If it was someone from the VCP I’d better take off now, but it wasn’t possible to go unheard with all these leaves. I turned my head into the direction of the noise and shrunk back as a hand reached for me through the leaves. The person on the other side must have heard me because steps were running away from me now. So, most likely it wasn’t anybody from the VCP. I climbed through the hedge and raced after the person.
“Wait!” I called after a boy with a dirty and slightly torn light blue t-shirt and light brown pants. He kept running but threw a quick glance over his shoulder, his reddish hair disheveled and all yellow and sticky around his mouth. His teenager like face with some pimples showed he was a few years younger than me.
“I’m not one of them,” I called, running my fingers through my own silky brown hair. One benefit of being a Siren were my frozen cells which gave me an unchanging youthful beauty and health. How odd my clean self must appear to that boy on the run.
He peeked over his shoulder once more and finally slowed down, holding on to some branches while catching his breath. I couldn’t help getting lost in the delicious pounding of his heart. It would be so easy to kill him now and fill my heart with his sweet, vital adrenaline. I took a step back in shock of my own thoughts. Where had they come from? One of my specialties was that I was a master of self-control. I would never kill an innocent human and only took hearts of people who’d die either way. I chewed on my lower lip, suddenly aware he was one of the only humans I had come close to without a fence this month. How would we survive if there were no humans outside the shelters anymore? It would be a lot worse than having to steal food for Alex. With all the other Sirens out there, the world would turn into a bloodbath. To shake off my growing anxiety I directed my concentration back on the boy.
“What are you doing here?” I asked as nothing better came to my mind.
“Well, what are you doing here?” he repeated not warming up toward me and crossed his arms in front of him.
“Getting some fruit.” I swallowed. I tried to shield out his heartbeat, but it made me even more conscious of it. Comparable to the human conflict of knowing there is chocolate ice cream in the freezer but not being able to eat it because you decided to be on a diet.
He nodded, his mouth in a thin line. “Me too.” He didn’t only look like he hadn’t seen a shower in a week, he also smelled like it. I felt sorry for him which made it a bit easier not to attack him.
“Is anybody else here with you? Where is your family?” I asked.
“Somewhere close to here. My mom sent me to get some oranges.” He pointed to his bulging pockets. “Do you have anything else to eat?”
“No, I’m afraid not. I came from up north.” I let my glance wander across the hedges to focus on something other than his heartbeat. I wasn’t starving yet. Before I’d really have to kill an innocent human, we’d surely come up with a better solution. If the serum worked on Rey, we could perhaps even use it to refuel our own hearts. Now, that was a happy thought.
“Well...” He scrutinized me, probably figuring out whether talking to me would bring him any kind of benefit. “I have to go now, or my mom will get worried.” He turned to walk away.
“One more question.” I followed him. “How do you manage that the VCP doesn’t catch you?”
“We only relocate in the dark” He lowered his voice as if telling me a secret. “If we find an open house, we stay in it but never for too long.”
I wondered why they were going through all this trouble. The boy and his family - unlike me - weren’t the ones who received the task to save the world. It would be so much easier for them to cooperate with PaNacea and behave nicely in a shelter in exchange for food and water. “So, there are no other people around here?”
“No, the houses are all empty.” He wiped his hands on his shirt, never quitting eye contact. “How did you get here?”
“Bicycle. I hid it in the bushes.” I attempted a grin. “You walked?”
“Yes, a car would be spotted too easily.” He shrugged. “We don’t want to be caged in like everyone else. We live in America after all. My mom says we have to do everything to protect our freedom.”
“A smart mother you have. I think the same thing. But you could also pretend to play along with them, and, when the time is right, start a revolution from the inside. Don’t you think?”
He stuck his chin out. “Why are you out here then? You don’t even look like you had to do a big effort to survive in the past few weeks.” He snorted and started walking again.
“I stay along rivers and creeks to keep clean and hydrated,” I called after him as quietly as possible. The VCP might still be on their rounds as well. “I don’t like being controlled either.” Yet, to see a twelve-year-old boy with the unkempt appearance of a fugitive broke my heart. “Take care,” I said before he disappeared at the next fork in the path.
I wondered how my friends Sam, Phe, Joe, Paula, and Alex’s family were doing inside the shelters. Did they really get enough to eat and were they treated humanely?
I hurried out of the orange plantation and took off in Siren speed to continue with a few islands in the Pacific. In the color mix from the swooshing by nature I was on the lookout for more humans or even better, a Siren resembling Roisin. I had been lucky once before to find a Siren on an island and perhaps I’d be lucky a second time and even find Roisin. Or at least someone who had some information about her. These small atolls that were hardly worth a dot on Google maps had no fences and cars still populated the few streets. From what we had seen so far, the North American and the African continent were the worst off with shelters and fences.
I explored the islands, never slowing down in my speed, checking for people with hearts that didn’t beat. That was the obvious sign for them being a Siren or something else supernatural. However, no luck this time. I came to a halt on a beach, took off my shoes, and dug my feet into the sand. Roisin, where the hell were you? I checked my watch. I had been gone for five hours. Time to return soon.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” An unfriendly voice barked at me. It belonged to a dark colored woman with her hair tied into a big bun. She wore black pants and a white shirt. A typical hospitality outfit and therefore I relaxed as she most likely didn’t belong to PaNacea or the VCP.
“Enjoying the sun.” I used a casual tone but couldn’t refrain from adding a question. “Is that forbidden now?” I wiggled out my feet and stepped onto the hard sand to get a better balance.
The woman approached me, studying me from top to bottom. “Haven’t seen you around here before. That’s all. It’s kind of odd with the port closure. Where are you staying?”
“Down that way.” I pointed behind me. I hadn’t known harbors were closed.
The woman rolled her eyes. “Don’t play a smartass. Which hotel are you staying at?”
“And who, may I ask, is asking?” I took a step back. Too much curiosity from her side could only lead to harm on my side.
She built up her posture. “I’ve lived on this quiet island my whole life. It’s imposters like you who bring changes. We don’t have no terrible germs here. Our islands can sustain themselves independently just fine.”
I took a breath. “I’m a tourist who is stuck on this island. Yet, there are worse places to be stuck in.” I smiled briefly. “Is there still enough food though if no goods can be shipped in?”
She rolled her eyes. “If you like fish, you won’t ever go hungry here.”
“Alright. Thanks. I’ll go back to the hotel now.” I walked away.
“Yes, and stay there.” She called after me. “The current rules state that tourists are not allowed to leave the hotel properties.”
I nodded and waved. I imagined being stuck in a hotel on
a beautiful island was more agreeable than being captured in a bunker. When I last saw my High School friends, this had actually been Phe’s plan. If worse came to worse, she’d escape to Australia with her boyfriend Joe. Had they ever gotten so far? An image of Alex flashed before my eyes and I felt a pressing urge of checking in on him. After making sure the coast was clear, I ran at Siren speed. Unfortunately, some oranges and the info about the port closure were the only goods I could return.
Chapter 3
As always upon returning to our house on Cape Cod I first followed Alex’s heartbeat to surprise him with a kiss. I found him doing a Sudoku in a chair on the deck observing the dunes. Only someone walking on the dunes would see him here. I came to a hard stop when I was inches away from him. He tilted his head upward and kissed me on my mouth.
“You didn’t even flinch.” I raised my eyebrows.
“The first five times, my heart stopped for a moment when you suddenly appeared next to me out of the blue. Then, I told myself I should get used to it, having a Siren as a girlfriend. So, for the next hundred times, I was simply a bit irritated.” He lay his arms around my neck. “Now, however, it’s quite predictable as you’ll be gone between eight to ten hours and none of your other family members play such tricks on me.”
I sighed. “You’re officially immune to Siren magic.”
“Hah, not all of it, I believe. You’re clearly the most beautiful girl on this planet.”
“Aw, I bet you said that to all your past girlfriends.” I smiled.
“Perhaps,” he laughed. “But with you, it’s definitely true. No human woman could match your beauty or that of one of the other Sirens in your family.”
I shrugged. Talking about my beauty still made me a bit uncomfortable. As a human, my looks had been completely average. Getting noticed because of my appearance was stranger to me than not having slept in the past two years.
I gave Alex another kiss and then let go of him to check on Rey who was still lying on the couch like a dead person. I held my hands over his body, feeling an energy radiating from within him. This energy had become stronger over the past days. Even though I had never witnessed the birth of a new Siren, I felt he’d wake up soon. Only then I noticed Melissa’s husband who was doing pushups in the corner of the living room. I had never seen him working out before but now the muscles in his well-built arms were even more prominent.
