by Giger, S. L.
“What the heck is she doing?” I whispered but Claire was too stunned to answer. I sat on my hands in order not to jump up after all.
By the time I've worked through the emotions of surprise, excitement, fear, anger, and frustration, the question session had come to an end. My heart ached as I watched Roisin disappear through the door. Surely, she’d try to find us after the conference. Or was she not on our side anymore? Impatiently dribbling my feet on the floor, I listened as they announced a short break. I jumped up, as soon as the first people started leaving the room. Claire followed, and we met Melissa near the elevators in the main hall. It was filled with other people, their heartbeats and their voices. Lines had built in front of the toilets and the elevators.
“What on earth is Roisin doing with them?” Melissa ran her hands through her hair and left it in a mess. “I can’t believe it. Do you think it’s too difficult for her to even drop a line to tell us she is alright?” She pressed her hands against her cheeks and ears. “Or does she not want to? I mean, what is going on?”
Claire gently lay her hands on Melissa’s arms and they sank down. Claire spoke in a soft hush. “I don’t know how she got there but I think she would have let you know she was fine if she could. It must be very hard to stay undercover in their circle. Themba has to go through a lot of trouble as well to keep me up to date. And we could at least come up with a plan before he took on the job as a security guy.”
I kept my voice down as well. Too many ears in the room. “You know Roisin’s pighead. She must have her own good reasons why she is working for them.” No matter how obvious it was that Roisin didn’t want to connect to us before, I wouldn’t believe she had switched sides. That didn’t make any sense. She loved her free life as a Siren and she only left us because she wanted to find out how PaNacea killed her Minotaur friend. There were a million things I wanted to ask her now. Plus, there were a few things we’d have to inform her about as well. Cathy and she had a sister-like hate-love relationship. It would come as a huge shock to Roisin if she learned about Cathy’s death. She’d never been given the chance to say goodbye like we had. It would be yet another point of regret and heartache in an eternal life. I chewed my lower lip. So, why wasn’t she getting in touch with us now, that we were out of the conference room?
“We have to look for her before she leaves the building”, Melissa said as if she read my mind.
“We should split up and search the whole place. Open any unlocked doors like the wind, while running and check if Roisin is there.” I said and raised my right hand like at school. “I’ll search the ground floor and basement.”
“Alright.” Claire tilted her head. “But shouldn’t we return the badges first, in case our three name donators woke up and wanted to join the congress after all?”
Melissa put a hand in front of her mouth in distress and I frowned. We had completely forgotten about them.
“Don’t worry, I’ll do that, and you can take the mid-level floors.” Claire looked at Melissa.
I handed her my badge. “Good luck”, I whispered to both of them.
“Let’s meet in the smoker’s area when we are done.” Melissa threw in before I left. I gave her thumbs up but was eager to leave. I walked toward the stairwell but as soon as I was around the first bend and made sure no one could see me, I took off at Siren speed. I darted through the people in the lobby. On autopilot I gave every door handle a push that I passed by, catching a glance into the rooms, which was enough to see Roisin wasn’t there. My goal was that door at the front of the conference room. The security guards at the entrance were still positioned. However, now, that no other people queued up, I could simply brush past them without being noticed. I raced through the aisles of chairs and reached the door at the front. To my luck, it was unlocked but to my disappointment only lead to another corridor with more doors. Behind the fourth door, I heard Roisin’s familiar voice among some other voices. For a moment, I nervously dribbled in front of the room, before entering. I zigzagged around the assistants that had the microphones before, some security guards, Dr. Palmer and the woman. This brought my nervousness to a whole other level. Now, Roisin couldn’t simply ignore me. However, when she spotted me, her expression hardened. Then, she laughed. “Oh, those annoying old buildings. A current must have opened the door.” All heads turned toward the entrance as Roisin strode there to close it. The people took up their conversations again, but Roisin pretended to check if anyone was outside by sticking out her head into the corridor. My heart jumped at the thought that we’d get to exchange a few words now and could set up a plan how to get her out of here. However, when I passed her in the door, time seemed to freeze for a second, and Roisin’s face would be forever burned into my memory. Her eyes were as reprobating as a snake’s and left me shivering. As soon as I had left the room, she firmly closed the door behind me without offering me another glance. I ran into the next empty room and stopped, supporting myself on a table. I felt sick and wanted to throw up but as a Siren, I was physically unable to do that. Had they brainwashed her? She hadn’t even wanted to talk to me. A completely different memory flashed in front of my eyes. One, where Roisin and I were walking through the park of Columbia University. She had her arm looped into mine and while strolling around, she inconspicuously pointed out different guys to me. For every guy, she gave me a tip how I should make the best use of my Siren aura to make him fall for me. This was after the first few dates with Alex when I felt very insecure about his feelings toward me. Roisin had always been good with guys and so I hoped I could transform my new knowledge about guys to Alex. That was such a fun afternoon and Roisin grew to be my closest confidant. And now, she pushed me away. Shut the door in my face. I noticed that my whole body was shaking like a leaf.
When I had collected myself a little, I figured it wouldn’t turn out well to be found back here. I returned into the auditorium where I needed to be careful because it was filling up again. I had to zigzag near the entrance a little until I could slip through the people unseen. I slowed down in the empty staircase and then dragged my heavy feet outside to the smoker’s area in human speed. The last three people were just about to go back inside, and I tiredly leaned against a concrete pillar, waiting for Melissa and Claire. I let my gaze wander across the empty parking lot, not really registering anything. Too preoccupied with questions about the odd behavior of Roisin.
Melissa stepped out of the hotel and approached me. Claire followed a few seconds after her.
“I haven’t found her either.” Melissa frowned.
“Me neither.” Claire shook her head. “However, at least the three ladies were still sound asleep.”
“That’s the only good news, unfortunately.” I sighed. “What makes you think I didn’t find her?”
Melissa’s eyes widened. “Because you’re standing here like a lost package. You found her?”
“Yes, but she was with that woman and Dr. Palmer but instead of giving me a wink that she was glad to see me, she made it very obvious that she wanted me out.”
They looked at me like two question marks and so I told them all the details I could remember. Afterward, Melissa looked at me open-mouthed and Claire had lowered her gaze to the ground.
“Perhaps she felt pressured because the other people were in the room?” Melissa offered after my words had settled.
Claire swallowed. “Right. Because turning her back on family would not be in Roisin’s nature.”
None of us wanted to believe she had switched to the other team.
“What now?” I asked as we stood there, baffled.
“We need to get Roisin separated from that woman,” Melissa said.
“It would be great anyway if we could separate this woman from Dr. Palmer and her other people. Yet, she makes sure to never show up alone anywhere.” I said.
“Even with seeing her, I have no idea how to class this woman.” Claire raised her eyebrows. “She knows about shielding techniques and obviously is very sk
illful with hypnotization. Maybe she has magical powers after all and Roisin is under a spell.”
Melissa sharply exhaled. “Perhaps, Themba can keep an eye on Roisin from now on and figure out what game she’s playing.” She suggested, and Claire nodded.
“And I will think of a way to separate this woman from her entourage or to catch her off guard and get a reaction out of her.” I bit my lip. “We still know nothing about her or her motivations.”
“But we all agree she is the centerpiece, right?” Claire searched our eyes.
“No doubt about that. She gives me the creeps with her inconspicuousness but at the same time she pulls all the strings.” I said. “However, I’d like to ponder about further strategies at home because I kind of would like to go see how Alex and Eddie are doing. We’ve been gone for over a week.”
Melissa sighed. “Yes, it didn’t feel that long, though. I hope at least they made some progress with Eddie’s memory.”
“It’s hard to top our inefficiency here,” I said. We hadn’t even scratched the tip of the iceberg and already I felt strained from the day’s events. I needed new adrenaline. So, instead of accompanying Melissa straight back to Cape Cod, I’d make a little detour across the rest of Europe until I’d find someone who was ready to die. A donor, who would die no matter what but could provide me with what I needed to go on living. For a moment, I envied Eddie for being able to take the serum.
Chapter 10
After we had bid goodbye to Claire, I set my course for the longer route around the globe. I'd run through Eastern Europe, China, and the Pacific while Melissa would cross the Atlantic Ocean again. I hoped, since people still had more freedom in Europe, it would be easier to find someone who had an accident and would die soon. My veins were thirsty for fresh and vital adrenaline. Therefore, I only briefly checked on my family this time. My mom looked skinnier than I remembered her but then again, she had lost weight ever since I disappeared from their lives. A bit like she wanted to disappear as well. Her once so youthful and kind face had some deep creases, which probably could be attributed to me as well. I gulped, trying to push away the feeling of guilt. They had managed without me for two years now and would be just fine without me a little while longer. Until I finished my mission. I also noticed a good change though. The way my dad lay his arm around my mom’s waist when they left the house. I remembered such gestures from when I was a small child but as my sister and I grew older, the only picture I have stored in my memory is him behind his computer. Perhaps, my parents got closer again and then they’d be okay if the Orbiters and the VCP let them be. Isa, my sister turned into a really pretty woman. I used to be the boring mousy type. Intelligent but nothing special to look at. However, she had inherited my mother’s beauty. Full lips, that she painted in a soft red which drew attention to her porcelain face and long blond hair in a ponytail. I wished I could talk to her now, where I wasn’t only the older sister, she adored, but I could keep up with the beauty of my mother’s side of the family. Yet, my body had more urgent needs and I left Switzerland behind me.
Although people in central Europe weren’t all locked into fenced shelter areas, I couldn’t find anyone hiking through nature on their own. Nobody was driving a car either except for the Virus Control Patrol. For the humans, this had the positive consequence that the accident rate dropped instantly. However, it didn't help me find a potential road death any time soon. It was odd to have all those paved streets empty, now.
For a while, I enjoyed being the only one running along miles of empty highways in Russia. It came pretty close to the feeling I had when I was still human and went swimming my laps and I was the only one at the pool. There was something special about diving into a completely flat and calm surface of water and then cutting through it until the surface would be marked by a path of my movements. On the road, I didn’t leave a mark though. Soon, I worried what I’d do if nobody would have an accident. In my first week as a Siren, I could have easily killed a human to get to their heart. However, after two years of self-control, the sense of how brutal it was to kill someone was stronger than my desire for a heart. I wouldn’t be able to do it anymore and hence had to look for someone who would die without any help of mine.
I could feel the sweat that was starting to build in my armpits and it wasn’t because I was running. Normally, I could run and eventually, usually within half an hour or an hour of going anywhere, I’d run into a fatal accident. However, now I had already crossed a quarter of the world without any luck. I concentrated even more on finding an excited heartbeat. Unfortunately, nobody had brought themselves into a stupid situation by accident.
Finally, somewhere in the east of Kazakhstan, I heard four heartbeats that differentiated themselves from the others. There were three quicker ones and one weak one. Probably it wouldn’t be any good, since I couldn’t attack this person while others were around. Yet, I wondered what four people were doing out in the rocky desert. I was running on a mixture of sand and gravel now and further in the distance there were beautiful orange rock formations.
I slowed down and hid behind a small hill, from where I could watch the group of four. It was a man and a woman. The man was carrying a young boy on his shoulders. The little kid was slumped across his father’s head and would have fallen off with every step if the father hadn’t held on to him. His cheeks were red from dehydration or a fever. He was the weak one. The mother was walking alongside her husband, pulling an older boy along behind her. Nobody would notice if these four people would go missing. However, even though they momentarily seemed like a feast to me, I knew I couldn’t purposely kill anyone – and surely not a child. The three other heartbeats were beating fast and sometimes arrhythmic from the exhausting walk on the uneven terrain. How had they even got here?
They had a heated conversation in a language I couldn’t understand. The obvious thing was that they needed help. The woman was now crying and yelling at her husband, and at the same time, he was talking back relentlessly. Then, the woman stopped walking and pulled something out from under her jacket. It was a big, light brown, torn cloth. She spread it in the wind while her husband was shaking his head as far as it was possible with the little boy on his shoulders. The cloth was a big bag with a darker inside but still torn and therefore I wondered what she wanted to use it for. What happened in the next moment would still go beyond my imagination if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. The woman threw the bag in the air, lifted her hands and chanted some words. The bag blew itself into a triangular shape, the torn parts patched themselves up by magic and then the whole cloth spun around itself a few times. It did all that flying on its own in the air. Afterward, it set itself on the ground, looking like a nice, two-person safari tent. I rubbed my eyes thinking the desert had played a trick on me, but the tent was still there, complete and ready to use.
The woman dropped to her knees, with her head hung low and the boy whose hand she’d been holding previously started crying. The man looked around the area, not discovering me behind the hill and then opened the tent bringing the younger child inside. He returned, also bringing the woman and the other boy into the two-person tent. They managed without any trouble although space must be very limited, and he zipped it up behind him. Now it was quiet again and I only heard the desert wind. This struck me as odd since I should be able to hear the crying boy through the thin tent fabric. Curiosity got the better of me. I approached the tent and said hello a couple of times. Nothing happened, and I said it again a bit louder. Then, the zipper was ripped open and the man burst out running at me as if stung by a bee, with a long meat knife in his hands.
“Stop.” I held up my hands, but he continued in his attack, feverishly yelling something and would drive the blade into my body in an instant. “I’m a friend,” I shouted but he didn’t stop. Before he could stab me, I jumped to the side in Siren speed, leaving him a bit confused.
Since they obviously used some kind of magic, I assumed he would recognize a fellow magi
cal creature. “I’m a Siren. You understand?” I quickly moved from place to place to demonstrate him and he slowly put his knife down.
“Ah, a Siren,” he said with a heavy accent. “I thought you were the VCP. They will be here soon enough. They always are.”
The older boy stuck his head out of the tent and the father went up to ruffle his hair.
“What happened to you and why are you out here?” I approached them again.
“We wanted to get away from the city as the anti-magic controls got too difficult. We wanted to get across to those mountains”, he pointed to the orange rocks far away, “but then a storm came and destroyed our bunker. After that, we didn’t have water or anything to eat anymore.” He let go of an exhausted sigh.
“Yeah, I came by coincidence. Your younger son didn’t look so good.”
“He needed water.” The man had a tortured look on his face. “Do you want to come in for a tea?” he asked, his face a little more relaxed. I couldn’t believe he thought of inviting in a stranger in such a situation. He noticed my hesitation.
“It’s a custom of our culture to drink tea with a person you meet. I’m Arslan and my son is Nurlan.”
“I’m Nathalie. Thank you, Arslan, that’s very kind of you but I don’t need water. I thought more that perhaps I could help you somehow.”
“It’s okay now. We have running water in there and the food stock should last for about another two weeks.” Then he snorted, checking the horizon again to spot more threats.
I caught up with him. “You have running water and all that food in this tent?” I said incredulously.
