by Giger, S. L.
Serena chuckled. “But we are Sirens. We won’t be affected by our own weapons.”
“Makes sense.” The concern that had just crossed Melissa’s face had disappeared again.
“And you think I can learn this as well?” Eddie asked Serena, his eyes fixated on her. For the first time, I sensed a desire for something in Eddie. Until now he'd stayed alive because we told him he had to but perhaps Serena had been right and out here was his true place.
“Yes, with enough practice. I can show you a lot more.”
“I’d love that.” He looked from me to her. “So, I can stay here and learn?”
“I’d even encourage it. If you are so eager to learn you will be good at it and then, your Siren life will have a purpose and make sense.” It was partially selfish because it would have been my fault if Eddie’d have hated the rest of his life.
“But why are you doing this?”, he turned to Serena.
She made a waving motion with her hand. “Ah, even I am getting old. I don’t want all my knowledge to be lost. In times like those, such powers can help to keep the balance of good and evil in the magical world balanced. Even the Orbiters make mistakes and it’s good if some of us can keep an eye on them.”
“So, how do you do that?” Melissa asked.
Serena took a deep breath before she started talking, giving us to understand that what she was about to explain could take a while. “I hide from them and let my spirit enter their sphere. As I told Nathalie before, our universe is made up of many different physical layers. There are the ones we can see which consist of different material like rock, sand, metal or water. But then, there are layers that we can’t see. They only exist as an energetic force field. Sometimes it’s like a backup copy of something that actually exists.” She checked with us to see if we were following. “If you don’t want to be found, it’s possible to hide in those in-between spaces. We are in one now.”
I tilted my head. This looked like a normal island to me.
Serena noticed our questioning glances and continued. “I moved one of the force fields across us and it’s as if we are below a giant non-see-through cheese dome. This takes a big amount of energy.
“But how did we find you then?” Eddie asked.
“I opened up a gap in the field, so you could see inside.” She smiled.
“I assume this could be dangerous because anyone unwanted could see through that gap in that time as well?” Melissa asked.
“Only if you look from the correct angle and I don’t assume the Orbiters are hanging around the Indonesian archipelago right now.”
“And you would teach me all that?” Eddie asked.
“If you are willing to learn, yes.”
“One is never too old to learn, right?” Eddie smiled.
“So, this means goodbye, for now.” I felt melancholic and wanted him to come back with us. I looked at him and only saw my old friend Rey who’d always had a kind word for me after our initial starting difficulties. Unfortunately, he couldn’t remember any of it. “I’ll miss you. You were one of my first friends in America and somehow I assumed you’d always be around.”
Eddie shrugged. “You can forget about me. I did the same about you as well.”
“Are you making jokes now?” I raised an eyebrow.
“It’s not goodbye forever, right? I’m sure we’ll meet again.” He said. “I guess I have to thank you for always being nice and for bringing me here.” He addressed Melissa and me.
“That’s how you are with friends,” I said. “Can I give you a hug?”
“Sure.” He shrugged and opened his arms. The island made him warm up to us. Now that we were saying goodbye. I got up to return the hug. I realized, in all this time when I had known Rey, we never had any physical contact. Despite that, our friendship had felt very close. I let go of him and smiled.
“You will do well here. I hope you let us find you again.” I threw a glance at Serena.
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep watching out for you. If you don’t get anywhere with practicing on your own, you must come back, and I’ll guide you. We can’t let Monica keep ruling without anybody doing anything about it.”
“I know.” I pursed my lips.
“I have a feeling you’ll get more confident in singing soon though. And usually, my feeling is quite right.” She smiled.
I bit my lip. “I hope so.”
After a few more words of goodbye, Melissa and I left she and Eddie behind.
“Meeting her makes you realize how much even the Sirens have changed since their beginning. Nothing ever stays the same.” Melissa spoke over the opposing wind.
“Luckily. That means no matter what happens, Monica won’t stay in charge forever.”
Although I had managed to sing once more with Serena’s guidance, I was eager to get home and practice. At least I would be close to Alex. We had spent far too much time apart from each other in the past months.
Chapter 15
At the Cape, I entered an empty house. I instantly knew Alex wasn’t there since I couldn’t feel his heartbeat. The odd thing was I couldn’t feel it anywhere else within walking distance either. It was too dangerous to go roaming around so far. My body tensed up. Had the VCP finally found him? I exchanged a worried glance with Melissa. With fear creeping through my body, urging me to do something reckless if necessary, I searched the house for clues of what happened. There were no marks of the VPC having entered it. Everything looked how we left it.
“Where do you think Alex has gone?” I asked Melissa who was studying a can of corn in her hands.
“I don’t know. He hardly touched the food supplies we left for him.” She frowned.
I went into my room again. Perhaps I missed something. This time, my eyes fell on the white paper note which was placed on my nightstand. I approached it and on top of it, I found two of the three magical whistles. “Oh no.” I sank onto the bed.
I grabbed the note and scanned over it.
My dear love,
I know you don’t agree with this but let me at least try to contribute something as well. I will start a small revolution in the shelter of Orleans while you do your work out here. Remember, you aren’t bulletproof either, and what shall I do with three whistles? Please, take them.
With much love, Alex.
I crushed the note in my fist and threw it into a corner. Why did he have to do such a kneejerk thing? If he got discovered, they would hang or shoot him. I went to pick up the crumpled paper, took the whistles and then dragged my feet out of my room with hanging shoulders.
“He hasn’t been here this whole time. That’s why he hasn’t eaten anything.” I dropped the evidence onto the kitchen counter.
Melissa turned the note the right way to read it. “That’s not good.” A crease appeared between her eyebrows. “It would be one thing to go to a shelter because he is starving and craves three good meals per day. However, to revolt as one simple human?” She didn’t speak on, but I could see the end of the phrase in her eyes. That wouldn’t end well.
I chewed my lower lip, trying to come up with a plan. We only had one option. “We have to get to Monica before the VCP discovers what Alex is doing,” I said determinedly.
“Right.” Melissa swallowed.
I picked up one of the whistles and traced the whole outside with my finger. It felt smooth and cold. Would it transform into a shield if someone blew it?
In that moment, Luke joined us as well. “You are back. How did it go?” He embraced his wife and then looked from her to me.
She inhaled and nodded towards me. “For her? Very well... For me, nothing happened. Eddie liked the paradise feel of the island and Alex went to start a revolution in Orleans.”
“What?” Luke’s voice rose an octave.
“Yes. Where were you?” I couldn’t hide the note of accusation in my voice.
“In The Library. Reading about shielding techniques.” He responded with a disarming calmness.
“B
ut why didn’t you keep Alex company?” I stuttered.
“I didn’t know I had to babysit him.” Luke crossed his arms in front of him and I clenched my jaw. “Yet, if I had known about this, I would have stopped him”.
“Stopped what?” My eyes widened.
“Going to the shelter,” Luke said and then bit his lower lip as he realized he had said too much.
“You knew about that?” I couldn’t stop myself from yelling.
“He was miserable here,” he said conciliatingly. “You were absent most of the time and couldn’t possibly know how boring it was to hang around here. On top of that the constant worry about being discovered and not having enough to eat.” Luke raised his eyebrows. “I can understand that he didn’t feel like a man anymore.”
I snorted. “So, imprisoning himself will make him feel like a man.”
“Taking action, probably.” Luke sighed.
“Alex is a grown-up man and can make his own decisions.” Melissa interfered. “We just have to be faster than him now.”
I looked to the ground. She was right, arguing was only a waste of time right now.
Luke nodded. “What’s the plan?”
I exchanged a tense glance with Melissa. I didn’t have a detailed plan yet. “Figure out when’d be the soonest best time to approach Monica,” I said.
“And then?”
“I’ll go there and sing. That should distract her enough, so she will finally come back to our same physical field and the Orbiters can snatch her away.”
“They’ll do that for sure?” Luke asked.
“Yes,” Melissa replied. “Thanks to Serena, I now know why they are so powerless against Monica. They probably want her more than we do.”
“Alright. But what happens afterward?” Luke asked. He was right to ask of course because I knew the task wouldn’t be over then. What would happen to Dr. Palmer if he wasn’t hypnotized anymore? How would we spread the word across the world that the virus was no threat anymore and everybody could return to their homes and continue a normal life?
“We still need Dr. Palmer,” Melissa said. “People listen to him and so he has to rectify what he said previously.”
“True.” I took a few steps in the living room to think about it. “We should call Claire since she has hypnotized someone before and might be able to take over Dr. Palmer once Monica is gone. Also, Themba might have information about another congress.” I booted the laptop. It was a lucky moment in which the Wi-Fi worked. The Wi-Fi and electricity were somewhat a lottery these days. I clicked on Claire’s icon to connect with her. When her red head appeared, we all leaned closer to hear better.
“Hey there, anything new?” She greeted us.
“We are working out our master plan,” I said. “Were you able to get hold of Roisin?”
Claire only shook her head, suddenly appearing a lot older. She was the one who had transformed Roisin and was with her in her crucial first few months as a Siren. I understood it was taking a toll on her that Roisin now worked with our enemy. Even if she had her own good reasons for it. Claire swallowed and then looked into the camera again. “Themba only works for outer security. To clear roads and buildings. He never gets to the inner circle.”
“But at the congress we were so close to them,” I said. “Another congress like that would be perfect. I only need to be within hearing distance of her.” We explained the slim part of the plan we had already worked out so far.
“Dr. Palmer will have to be re-hypnotized right away.” Claire jumped in when she was up to date. “He might collapse into a coma otherwise. Since he has been hypnotized for such a long amount of time, I don’t think he’d still have the strength to think on his own.”
“I never thought I’d say that but poor Dr. Palmer.” I pursed my lips.
“Could you hypnotize him?” Melissa asked Claire.
“If it was only him and I in a room I could do it but not if I have to make him speak to the public and play this charade in front of the world. Hypnosis is exhausting. That’s why we must be extremely careful. You can’t imagine how incredibly powerful this woman is.”
Everyone was quiet for a moment. We could very well imagine how powerful she was, as we saw the results of suffering creatures every day.
“I could ask in The Library if there is anyone skillful with hypnosis,” Luke said. “The ambiance is changing down there. People want to do something now. They are tired of just sitting around. In the mirror room, it was quite loud because there were so many animated discussions.”
“Okay, we have a look in there then.” Melissa agreed. “It has to be someone we can trust.”
“But we don’t know anyone else but Sirens, do we?” I asked. “Will be kind of hard to know if we can trust them with our lives. And the future of the world for that matter.”
“Everybody will be trustworthy because nobody wants to stay in this situation,” Melissa replied.
“But even if they are trustworthy, that doesn’t mean they are qualified for the job.”
“We need someone from the top of the wizarding world. Either, they are powerful enough on their own or they would at least know who is.” Luke scratched his hair. “I have my connections in The Library. You can leave finding someone suitable up to me.”
“Good.” I exhaled. That part of the plan at least seemed logical to me. “And when and how can I get close to Monica?” I looked into the laptop again.
“From what I know from Themba, Dr. Palmer is currently doing a tour of the biggest bunkers and shelters to keep the people quiet.” Claire snorted. “Do you think it’s a coincidence that everywhere they go, there also is an execution of someone having a relation to magic?”
Luke shook his head with tight lips. “PaNacea know very well that the fear of the people is their power.”
“If you hear anything from Roisin, let us know,” Melissa said.
Yet if she’d wanted to contact us, she could have contacted anyone of us a long time ago.
“Of course,” Claire said, nevertheless. “I’ll get in touch if I find out more about Monica’s whereabouts.”
“Thanks,” I said. She waved, and we hung up.
“In that case, I’m going back to The Library,” Luke said. “You could come with me to judge the wizards we find.” He looked from Melissa to me.
“I think I need to practice my singing. It can’t be that I take hours until I manage to press out a sound.” I declined.
“Yeah, I’m sorry I can’t be of more help.” Melissa frowned. “That being so, I’ll come with you.” She looked at Luke.
“Come back soon,” I said. When they had left, I really noticed for the first time how empty and quiet the house was without Alex’s heartbeat in it. Too many worries about him made me feel on pins and needles. It was impossible to meditate in that state. I had to know that Alex was okay first. So, I paid the shelter of Orleans a visit. In Siren speed I circled around the fence a few times, trying to spot my boyfriend. It was raining and so everyone I could see outside was huddled together below the roof. One corner hosted the people who were smoking. I don’t know why the others were outside. Probably to get some fresh air. I couldn’t see Alex though and so I felt my way through their heartbeats. Now was the time to see whether I’d really recognize his blindly. Yes, there it was. My body showed physical reactions of attraction before my brain even realized I had found him. The rhythm and strength of his heartbeat were normal and so I guessed he wasn’t up to any mischief yet. I would have loved to convince myself of his well-being by seeing him with my eyes, but my Siren instincts would have to do for now. The best way I could help him would be in singing to Monica and so I returned home.
I went inside my room and stood facing the window. How would I get into that deep state of meditation as quick as possible? If I managed to connect with my inside energy flow after eight hours it should also be possible to do it quicker, right? Like Serena had taught me, I deeply inhaled and exhaled a few times to become as ser
ene as possible. Then I closed my eyes and listened to the even patter of the rain. It reminded me of my days at Orleans High School when all the heartbeats of the students would mix together. The reason for the song was the most important, Serena had said. I knew my reason. I had to stop Monica. I wanted to put an end to poor wizards losing their powers because they wanted to feed their children. I wanted to know how my friends were doing. Was Sam with his family? Were they alright? Where and how were Paula and all the others from the Irish pub? And now, of course, I had an even more personal reason. I wanted to be back with Alex as quick as possible. I had to get him out of the shelter before the VCP even realized he was there. I concentrated on that thought and then followed it where it came from. Through my brain down my spine, to my non-beating heart. There it was, the vibration I had been looking for. I let it break through and then played a little with the volume of the sound. I felt exhilarated. Now that I was singing, it seemed so natural, so easy. I walked through the house, filling it with a beautiful, voluminous piece of music. Everything seemed warmer and friendlier. When I got too exhausted, I stopped and the silence around me was deafening. I dropped to the couch, feeling like I had exited an insane roller-coaster which was a bit too much for my nerves. I let my head hang between my knees not sure whether I should smile or cry. I had done it and I had done well. It was much quicker than on the island. Yet, once more I did it with no one around and in the moment of truth, I’d have to be able to do it no matter how many people would be present. And now after singing, I felt as insecure about finding the sweet spot as before the singing. I’d try again after relaxing a little. And then again and again if necessary until I was able to do it on cue.
Chapter 16
Whenever I got too exhausted from practicing, my need to know that Alex was fine pulled me to the shelter. The fact that I couldn’t see inside the firehouse and the gym of our school was disheartening. I heard his heartbeat alright but to feel him so close and never be able to see him was frustrating. Nevertheless, during every break, I had to go back. It was like an addiction. Perhaps, this time, he’d be out on the square. I observed the people who were out and about within the fenced outdoor area. Some of the VCP were patrolling, pistols fastened to their belts. Order and nobody acting out were PaNacea’s priority with so many people in one place.
