Kingdom of Salt and Sirens

by J. A. Armitage

  “Maybe.” She raised her arm from under the blanket and wiped her eyes, catching a stray tear on the tip of her index finger and flicking it to the ground. “But every time I think of her, all I think about is how much I regret being angry.”

  “You really think she’d want you to feel that way if she were here?”

  “No. But I doubt a lot of things would be the way they are if she were here.”

  I put my elbows on my knees and hooked my fingers together, pulling them apart and rehooking them over and over, not knowing how far I could go. Knowing I’d probably overstep anyway. “Like you going away to college instead of staying home to take care of your father.”

  “Something like that.”

  “Did he ever tell you to stay?”

  “No. And he never would. I just don’t know how he would be on his own. He misses her so much every day. She was everything to him. To us.”

  “But sometimes, maybe, you have to let go a bit.”

  She shifted in her place then took a drink of water from the glass resting on the deck. She looked at the sky again, but her eyes seemed to be staring beyond the stars. Somewhere they couldn’t reach. I sat back and looked up too, hoping to find the magic she seemed to think was there.

  “Is that why you’re here? Are you just letting go of something?”

  “No. I saw somebody make a bad choice. Choosing to put themselves in danger and risking the ones they loved, and I couldn’t stand it, so I got in the way.”

  “That doesn’t sound like such a bad thing.”

  “It is, when you’ve been told not to. Everybody has the right to make their own choices, and I didn’t honor that.”

  “Well don’t you have the right to stop them? I mean, if they continue to do the wrong thing, can’t you choose to do the right thing and make it better?”

  “Yeah. I wish that was true. But then I wouldn’t have gotten to come here and meet you.” I forced a smile and put my hand on her arm. She smiled back with the same amount of enthusiasm.

  “Already stealing Griffin’s cheesy lines. Maybe you are meant to be together. I hope I didn’t mess things up for you back there. He seems to really like you.”

  “Yeah. And I’m really starting to like him. But it’s not a line. I like you too, and I don’t like to see you hurting.”

  “Thanks. I might get used to having you around here. Do you know how long you’re going to stay yet?”

  My mind raced for an answer, but instead of the truth—that I likely wouldn’t last the week—I slipped out, “Not too sure yet.”

  “Well, I hope you get to stay for a while.”

  I patted her arm, stroking the soft blanket, warmth building under my palm.

  “Me too.”

  12

  I dropped my backpack on the school desk and rested my head on the makeshift pillow of lumpy books inside. My entire body hung limp, exhausted from lack of sleep, but I didn’t care. I’d stayed out with Chloe until the chilling fall air seeped deep into our bones and made it too uncomfortable to sit on the deck. Then we’d simply moved inside, talking and laughing late into the night until we both fell asleep. Now, the only thing left to bother me was the nagging feeling at the back of my brain that in a few days I’d have to leave her.

  “Well, you look like hell.” Seth dropped into the desk beside me, effortless and uncouth as usual. “What happened?”

  “Nothing. Just didn’t get much sleep last night.”

  He raised his left eyebrow into an arch and stared at me.

  “Nothing, Seth. Nothing for you to be concerned about anyway.”

  “Good. I didn’t want to lose my breakfast over you gushing about that purple-coated knucklehead.”

  I wrinkled my nose at the insult, but Griffin and Seth were as far apart as two beings could be, so how did I expect him to understand? Besides, I didn’t have the energy to argue with him.

  “But I did want to talk about our conversation last night. I’ve heard—”

  “Seth, I appreciate your attempts to make new friends, but again, you aren’t in this class.” Mrs. Walker, the bespectacled math teacher, said as she darted down the row of desks and loomed over ours.

  “Yes, Mrs. Walker.”

  “Save your socializing for break, or post about it online or something for Miss Fell to read later.” She flitted her hand in the air.

  Seth winked and slipped out of the desk, heading toward the door. Mrs. Walker stood over me and cleared her throat until I opened my backpack and pulled out a notebook. Then she turned and headed back toward the front of the class.

  “All right, everyone. As I was discussing on Monday if x is the square root of m—”

  A hissing crackle came from the speaker in the corner of the room. “Could Arianna Fell please report to the principal’s office? Arianna Fell to the principal’s office.”

  Mrs. Walker looked at me then nodded, swiping her hand through the air toward the door. I grabbed my backpack and slipped out into the nearly empty hallway.

  I entered the office. Three students sat lined up in chairs along the wall, one with a bleeding nose and another at the other end nursing a swollen fist. The secretary behind the desk, Ms. Collins as the nameplate near her coffee cup read, ignored the students, her fingers flitting across her keyboard, eyes glued to the screen.

  “Hello, I just got called down to the off—”

  She whipped a piece of paper in the air between her index and pointer finger, her eyes still intent on the computer monitor. “A message for you.”

  “Thank you.” I took the note from her hands.

  * * *

  Welcome to Faraway High School.

  Please report immediately to the music room for new student orientation.

  * * *

  A little late, but at least it got me out of math class.

  “Excuse me, can you tell me where the music room is?” I asked the secretary.

  “Down the hall, up the stairs to the second floor, then down at the end of that hallway take the stairs on your left.”

  The kid with the bleeding nose glared at the kid with the broken fist, while the guy in the middle tried to keep his distance from either side. I rushed out of the office and followed the directions to likely the farthest point in the school, except for maybe the ends of the soccer field out back.

  I opened the door, but other than the instruments the room was empty. I pulled the note out of my pocket and read it again. There was no time on it and no date, so maybe I had missed it. Maybe I should have received this note two days ago when I’d actually been new. Either way, the delightful silence drew me deeper inside.

  The design of this room didn’t match the other classrooms in the school. It looked more like a lecture hall with carpeted risers ascending in a theater-type formation. I walked farther in, running my hands along the tops of the plastic chairs and music stands as I ascended the row of stairs. In the far corner I tapped my hands on the bass drum, reveling in the hollow sound that reverberated in the empty room. I closed my eyes, feeling the sound, then enjoying the silence as the noise hushed and died.

  “Arianna Fell?”

  I jumped at the voice. A tall, lanky guy walked into the room, closing the door behind him. He didn’t look familiar—his fascinating, wild curly hair would’ve stuck in my memory—but something put me on edge. I’d felt this feeling before. This sick, gnawing feeling in my gut.

  “Yes, that’s me.”

  “Perfect. I’m so glad you could meet me here.” He started walking up the far side of the room toward the top.

  “So, the note said this is new student orientation?”

  “Not quite. Clever name, though. Arianna Fell.” He chuckled, but the sound seemed darker. Menacing. “You come up with that? I love the whole hiding-in-plain-sight vibe it has.”

  “What do you mean?” The weight of my body slid to my toes as the ominous laugh of the stranger reverberated through the acoustics in the room.

  “You know .
. .” He raised his hand in the air, his two fingers mimicking legs dropping down and smashing into the palm of his other hand while he made a high-pitched whistling noise. “You’re a fallen, so you fell.”

  “Are you friends with Seth?”

  “Seth?” He tapped his finger on his chin and rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. “Doesn’t ring a bell. But then again, I don’t have a lot of friends.” He slipped off his glasses and slid them into the back pocket of his jeans. “So, is this your true form? I mean, if I just tack on a pair of fluffy wings and a halo, would this be how you look all the time?”

  I nodded, my eyes flashing between him and the door. I slowly inched my way to the end of the stairs, trying not to alert him, crafting a plan to eliminate the line of chairs in my way.

  “Well they sure do make them pretty in Heaven, don’t they, Arianna?”

  I stepped back again. Crash! A set of chimes tumbled to the floor, making a tinkling smash as they clanked together on the floor. My pulse pounded hard against my pressure points.

  “Demons aren’t quite as pleasing to the eye, but we do okay. Did you want to see my true form?”

  “No, I’m okay.”

  He stepped toward me, moving faster, and I slid one of the chairs out of the way and moved down the steps.

  “I should probably get back to class.”

  “Not yet. We were just about to have a little fun.”

  I threw my hand in front of me. “Come any closer and I’ll scream.”

  “Scream all you want. This is a soundproof room in the farthest corner of the building. Do you actually think I would be that stupid?” He laughed, tossing his head back, the seams of his soul coming undone. “Now for a proper introduction.”

  He hooked his pointer finger to the inside of his cheek and pulled, stretching his devious smile. The rest of his face blurred and shifted until none of his human face remained. His hair stood on end, morphing into two gnarled black horns extending from the top of his greenish-yellow scalp. Glowing crimson orbs seared through his eye sockets. A row of jagged, sharp teeth protruded from his bottom jaw over the top of his dark black lips.

  My pulse hammered at my temples. “What do you want?”

  He snorted, his head facing the ceiling. “One less angel on Team Heaven.”

  13

  I chucked the chairs out of the way, racing toward the front of the classroom and the one and only exit. Behind me the demon cackled, trampling through the rows, his voice echoing closer and closer. I grabbed one of the music stands and threw it at him. His arm swiped through the air, knocking it aside like a toothpick. I raced forward, pushing myself as fast as I could go, ripping chairs and stands and instruments behind me. I needed wings. I needed something. This human body wouldn’t withstand five minutes with a demon.

  As I crested the last stair, a clawed hand grabbed my shoulder. I dropped to the ground, crawling on my elbows, trying to get my feet back under me. The demon’s hand grabbed my ankle. I steadied on one arm and kicked with my free foot, connecting with the beast’s jaw. It yowled and I wrenched my foot from its grip. Pushing up quickly, I made it the last few feet to the door. I turned the knob. The cool breeze of freedom wafted in through the slight crack.

  My head wrenched backward. The demon sank its claws deep into my hair and pulled, dragging me back into the room, my roots screaming with pain against my scalp. He pushed me against the wall, his claws still tangled in the ends of my tresses.

  “Not so powerful without your wings, huh, angel?”

  I twisted in his grip, but he held my head firmly against the wall. “Please don’t hurt me. Maybe there is something else I can do for you. Maybe you don’t have to hurt me.”

  The demon laughed. His breath stank of cigarette butts mixed with turpentine. But I held strong, hoping anything could be more important than seeing me dead.

  “But where’s the fun in that?”

  I kicked and punched as hard as I could, my fists no match against his concrete wall of a chest. He laughed louder, pressing my body harder against the wall until I could no longer move. I closed my eyes, wondering if Raguel would take me back if I died.

  The door burst open. Seth rushed in and slammed into the demon, knocking him to the ground.

  “Leave her alone,” he yelled, his eyes flitting from me to the demon and back again.

  “Why? She’ll only be trouble. Consider this a favor.”

  Seth’s hands became fists. The top of his head lowered as his entire body vibrated, red spouting up from his neck. He threw his hand out in front of him and light sparked from his palm straight into the demon’s torso. The demon screamed, as if Seth were ripping the skin from his body.

  “Don’t ever let me see you back here again,” Seth shouted. The veins near his temples throbbed as all the force in his body funneled out through his hand. The caustic smell of burnt hair and rubber filled the room and I gagged, clamping my hand over my mouth and turning my eyes away as the demon writhed upon the floor.

  Finally, Seth’s light faded. He stumbled back a few steps, grabbing hold of the desk at the front of the room to keep from falling over. I rushed toward him to help him stand. His arms fell onto my shoulders, gripping me tightly with shaking fingers.

  “What just happened?” I asked, wrapping an arm around his waist trying to keep him upright.

  Seth shook his head, blinking his eyes several times. “I heard your name when you were called to the office. You never made it back to your class, so I came looking for you. Good thing I showed when I did.”

  I glanced back at the small charred spot on the floor where the demon’s body used to be. “Yeah. It is. I don’t know how he found me.”

  “I told you that people were starting to talk. I guess this guy wasn’t willing to wait to see if the rumors were true.”

  “Well, thank you, Seth. If you’d been a few minutes later, I don’t know what would’ve happened.” I leaned closer into him, giving him a hug and resting my head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around me, hesitant at first, then slowly pulling me tighter. The murky smell of burning wood rolled off his skin. My breath hitched in my throat and tears pooled in my eyes, the last bits of adrenaline wearing off and letting the gravity of the threat sink into my flesh.

  “Hey, it’s okay.” Seth rested his chin on the top of my head. “He’s gone and I doubt he’ll be back.”

  “How come you have powers here? I am totally defenseless, but you have the chance to save yourself.”

  “Just lucky, I guess.”

  “Thank you. And I think you’re right. I can’t keep wasting time. I need to finish this and get back home.”

  He slid his hands up around my biceps and pushed me back so he could see my face. “I’m here to help you. Anything you need.”

  The grating sound of the bell went off and I twitched under Seth’s hands.

  “And if you trust me, I have an idea about what you can do to speed things up. I know someone, if you just choose to see them.”

  I shook my head. “Not yet. I don’t want to leave this in anyone else’s hands. If I’m going to complete Raguel’s task, I know what I need to do.”

  Seth’s eyes widened, and he licked his lips patiently, hanging on what I might say.

  “Thank you, Seth, but I have to go. I’ll explain later.”

  I exited the room and ran down the stairs into the slowly filling second floor hallway. I held my breath and rushed between the students until I reached the main staircase, taking the steps two at a time to the main floor.

  I scanned the crowd until I saw the familiar spot of purple looming in the middle near the locker bank.

  Marching straight into the Lion’s den, I tapped Griffin on the shoulder. He spun around, his jaw dropping and recovering into a warm smile, then melting into a frown of concern.

  “Ari, are you okay? You’re shaking.”

  I glanced down at my trembling hands and the ripped legging near my ankle. Hopefully I just looked afraid—no blo
od or any other markings I’d have to explain.

  “Yeah. Having a bad day. But I need to say something.”

  He slid out of the pack, guarding me from them with his broad shoulders. “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t want to wait around anymore. Did you want to do something with me? Away from here, without everyone else?”

  He grabbed the back of his neck and stared down at the floor. “Did you just ask me out?”

  His voice caught the attention of the rest of his teammates, and they began hooting and whistling behind his back. Pink tinged the top of his cheeks, his eyes averted from mine.

  “Yeah, I think I did. So?”

  “I . . . I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “Oh.” It was the only word I could think to say as my stomach hollowed and the hallway started to spin. “I just thought . . . but I guess . . . never mind.”

  I spun around and sped away as fast as I could. A run-in with a demon and now this. I’d never make it back home.

  I raced to my locker, determined to bury my head in the middle of the black metal hole. Ahead of me Seth stood at the end of the stairs, shaking his head, but I didn’t care to hear about his disappointment. It didn’t matter anyway.

  A hand fell on my shoulder and I whirled around. “What?”

  Griffin took a step back at my snap.

  “I changed my mind. I don’t know what it is about you, but I think I need to find out.”

  I exhaled, letting the pent-up anger drift out of my body—or at least some of it.

  “Perfect. Tonight?”

  His eyes bulged, then he shifted his weight between his feet. “Can’t. I have practice. Tomorrow? Tomorrow would be good.”

  “Okay. Are you sure?”

  “No. But I haven’t been sure about anything since you tried to tackle me last Sunday.” He smiled and my lips turned up as well.

  “Okay. Tomorrow. I can meet you at your place.”

  His face hardened, stone cold and steel gray. “Better not. I’ll come get you.”

  “Sure. But only because I really don’t know where you live.”