Sirens Unbound

by Laura Engelhardt

  – Sirens: An Overview for the Newly-Transitioned, 3rd ed. (2015), by Mira Bant de Atlantic, p. 76.

  Chapter 36

  Ted and Jonah had been at Amy’s apartment for more than an hour. Their arrival had broken the détente that she and her mother had fallen into regarding the next phase of Project Hathor. Mira was astonished that Amy was still planning to go to Arabia, even after learning about the prophesy. Amy honestly wasn’t sure what she was going to do, but there was something about her mother’s stark opposition that made her want to argue.

  From the start, Amy had known Project Hathor came with political strings attached, and she had accepted that bargain. She had made the discovery of a lifetime, and even gained the ability to see magick herself. Despite all the revelations of the last few days, she felt strangely uncomfortable shirking her commitment.

  Mira wanted the three of them to leave for Brazil, but was at least willing to wait for Jonah to arrive. If Amy wanted to go to Arabia just for help understanding her new sight, Jonah would be far better teacher. It was nonsensical for her to even consider remaining part of the surgical team! Mira grew increasingly irate as Amy’s stubbornness continued.

  As their argument grew more heated, Devin stared out the window of Amy’s apartment. He abruptly interrupted her mother mid-tirade, telling Amy that they needed to take a walk. He took Mira by the shoulders and physically walked her out of the apartment, speaking to her in a hushed voice. After they left, Amy looked outside with her improved vision to see what had prompted Devin. The water in the harbor was rolling as if in the midst of a terrible nor’easter. Amy felt guilty that she had pushed her mother so far. When the sirens returned a few hours later, Mira seemed somewhat calmer, but the swells in the harbor were still high enough that the Mayor had issued a flood warning. Nothing more was said about Arabia that night.

  The Danjou mages’ arrival this morning had been a welcome reprieve from the silent argument still swirling around the apartment. Ted was excited to hear about Amy’s operation, and Amy was glad to finally be able to talk to someone who understood it. They’d spent the better part of the hour discussing the kind of magical testing they should do next.

  Jonah had not engaged in their discussion or allowed himself to be drawn out by Mira’s gentle conversational gambits. Devin had positioned himself on the periphery of their discussion, an assault rifle resting lightly and openly on his knees. He didn’t seem bothered by the disdain both mages showed for him, but perhaps that was because he was used to that response from human males.

  Devin watched Ted with a focus that seemed to indicate that he saw him as the greater threat. But despite the fact she knew she couldn’t trust him, Amy was relieved to have him there. His explanations and insight were so incredibly helpful, she hoped somehow that he had not truly betrayed her, as unlikely as that was. Jonah, in contrast, was worse than useless. His endless pacing around the small apartment, along with the cloying scent of his vape-pipe, was getting on her nerves.

  He must have been bothering her mother also, because Mira suddenly spoke out in a voice that filled the room. “Sit down!” she commanded, her voice resonating dully. Waves of color shimmered as if a gong had been struck and the sound painted the room in a purple-red wash. At the sound of Mira’s voice, Amy and Ted stopped talking. Jonah visibly startled at Mira’s barked command, and immediately sat on the couch. Amy watched as the colored air settled on him like an aura.

  “Jonah, why are you so afraid?” Mira’s voice resonated even more deeply than before, and Amy thought she heard waves lapping at the shore as her mother spoke.

  “Jonah isn’t afraid,” Ted said, and Mira turned to face him.

  “Shh,” Mira whispered with more menace than Amy remembered hearing from her before. “Be still.”

  The air around Ted pulsed with a reddish haze that flared an angry purple. Ted gasped, and that slight noise disguised the faint sound that seemed to accompany her mother’s use of magick. “I don’t like lies,” Mira remarked in an aside to Amy, without appearing to appreciate the irony in that statement. “Jonah, why are you afraid?” she repeated. Amy focused, and the colored auras around Jonah and Ted sharpened into a kind of brilliant line encircling them and extending back to Mira.

  “The elders won’t tolerate failure,” Jonah said.

  “What do they want you to do?” Mira asked, rubbing her chin.

  “I’m supposed to help Dr. Bant. You don’t need to compel me, Mira. I’m happy to tell you everything.” Jonah sounded resigned. But the colors around him didn’t change.

  Mira shook her head in disbelief. “What kind of ‘help’ do the elders want you to give Amy?”

  “Anything she wants. They don’t want her to hate the Danjou,” Jonah replied. “Ted completely screwed this up.” There was a sharp edge to Jonah’s voice.

  “What did you ‘screw up?’” Mira asked, focusing now on Ted.

  “I didn’t ‘screw up.’” Ted sounded indignant.

  “Why would they think you did, Ted?” Amy clarified.

  “It’s ridiculous. This whole interrogation is ridiculous,” Ted said. “I always knew Elder Simon was teetering on the edge of dementia, but for Elders Tyrone and Hilda to back him like this… And for you, Jonah Eris, to insult me—”

  Mira interrupted, “Answer her question.”

  Despite the harshness of Mira’s command, Ted’s face relaxed at the sound of her voice. Amy could see the air around him swirl faster, and Ted’s eyes fluttered open and shut for a moment before he spoke. “I feel your compulsion, siren. But it truly isn’t necessary. I only desire to answer your questions,” Ted responded, his voice husky.

  Mira shivered a little as Ted’s tone caused frissons of desire to erupt on her skin. Despite her existence as a force of seduction, she rarely felt anything herself. But there was something about the resonance in Ted’s voice that stirred her. If nothing else, she welcomed the distraction from the white-hot anger she felt thinking about her stubborn, foolish daughter.

  “Mira told you about the prophesy?” Ted asked Amy.

  “Finally,” she replied. Mira ignored Amy’s tart tone as Ted answered the unspoken question.

  “I couldn’t tell you before, Amy. And honestly, advance knowledge of a prophesy has never benefitted a pivot. That’s what you are, you know.”

  “You should have told me,” Amy insisted.

  “So you could have avoided this project like the plague? You can’t escape fate, Amy. Even if you hadn’t made the greatest neuro-magical breakthrough in history, you’d still have been thrust into the coming mage war — only without the ability to see the magick that swirls around you. Jonah sees it. Tell her.”

  “Of course I see it. It would be hard to miss,” Jonah replied sullenly.

  “See what?” Amy asked, somewhat desperately.

  “Ambient magick finds you; the currents alter with your every movement. They have ever since I first met you. You should be able to see it now, although I know you don’t understand what you see,” Ted explained.

  “Even if your sight tests as clear as Ted says it will, you need to be taught a schema,” Jonah agreed, but Amy was still confused.

  “You said the images you see through your mage sight are a jumble, without any logic,” Ted began, and Amy nodded. “Like I told you, that’s completely normal. Typically, though, children are taught sight interpretation in the primary grades. Jonah is indeed an expert at training those gifted in mage-sight.” Something about Ted’s tone made Amy think he didn’t much like Jonah.

  “What’s the matter, Jonah?” Mira asked. She strove to keep her temper on a leash as she crossed the room to sit next to him. If she kept her focus on Jonah’s odd behavior, she thought she might be able to get control of her own odd reaction to the via-enchanter. Mira gently reached out and took Jonah’s vape-pipe, flexing her compulsion lightly.

  Jonah’s face relaxed somewhat, and the lines on his forehead smoothed out, until she repeated her question: �
�Jonah, why are you so afraid?”

  Compelled, Jonah answered, his hands shaking. “Mira, Elder Simon shot Rachel. Right in front of me. In front of Elders Hilda and Tyrone and the rest. No one even tried to stop him. I knew the elders could be ruthless, but this — this is beyond anything I’d ever expected.”

  Jonah looked down. “He shot her and told me to get Ted and head out. One chance, and we had better not fail like her. Like she was nothing. Like murdering the woman who had been his wife for more than a century was nothing.” His voice shook, and Mira took his hand and squeezed it.

  “Jonah, enough already,” Ted said impatiently.

  Amy and Mira both glared at Ted.

  “Siren, it isn’t like your people are a gentle folk,” Ted declared and then directed his attention on Devin, his tone changing into something just short of disrespectful. “Tell her what Atlantea did to those who failed her in the War of Succession. Rachael’s failure was far worse.”

  Devin ignored Ted’s challenge. “What was Rachael’s failure?”

  “Rachael was sent to Brazil to retrieve and bind a mage. She failed. And now Giselle could be next,” Jonah said.

  “Your sister is free, Jonah. Stop worrying about her,” Ted huffed.

  “Explain,” Mira looked directly at Ted, and Amy saw the purple band widen and contract at her word. Amy doubted Mira consciously knew her compulsion was an exercise of magick. Ted gasped again, and Amy was embarrassed to see the obvious sign of his growing lust in his straining pants.

  “Arabia won’t let a bound mage cross its borders. The djinni tear apart anyone subject to a geas — whether by apprentice indenture or enclave pledge. It doesn’t matter. Not even a siren bound by Morgan le Fay’s blood geas could pass. Once you were unbound, they needed us unbound.

  “The geas trigger is why I thought this whole Project Hathor trip to Arabia was either a pretext for something else, or a long-shot attempt to get the Dictator to remove the barricade. Amy couldn’t pass unless he did. But then the siren geas cracked. Perhaps that was the sign the elders were waiting for.

  “Tyrone had Jonah pull the files on who did my binding. That Jonah had also been bound by Rachael was merely an added bonus.” Ted sighed and leaned back on the couch, closing his eyes. While Amy might have been embarrassed for him, Ted didn’t seem to care.

  “You didn’t see them! They’re monsters.” Jonah took his pipe back from Mira and inhaled deeply, speaking as he exhaled the scented vapor. “You know, maybe Arabia will be safer than home.”

  “Stop acting the fool, Tutor,” Ted said, without opening his eyes.

  “Amy isn’t going to Arabia,” Mira snapped.

  “If Simon is willing to kill his own wife, what chance do we have, Ted?” Jonah asked.

  Ted sat up. “We are free, Jonah, so for God’s sake, stop whining. I’ve never felt this light before. And I don’t feel guilty. Enjoy the moment and stop your harping. You’re ruining this glorious relief with all your fretting over someone else’s actions, especially those that freed you from that weight.”

  Ted looked at Mira, and the room felt even hotter. “Would that enclave bindings were as sweet as yours, siren. No one would ever seek to be unbound. You lash me tightly, so wet and hot, I only want more. The enclave bindings … I never really understood how heavy or abrasive a weight this pledge was until it was lifted.”

  Mira stared back at Ted, as if transfixed.

  “You said Rachael went to Brazil?” Devin asked in a cool voice. It seemed like Devin was the only one of them able to think clearly.

  Jonah looked at Mira. “I probably should have called you. There had been a breaking. But I didn’t know there was a second prophesy until just before Rachael was killed. I swear!”

  “A second prophesy? The one the Oracle gave the Cabal?” Mira asked sharply.

  “Rachael was a binder. They sent her to Rio to retrieve the Breaker: the first mage to break a spell since the First Mage War. Tyrone felt the breaking of her indenture, and they triangulated her location. But Rachael failed to track her down and now they think she is with the Cabal. So Rachael failed. If we fail—”

  “Fail in what?” Ted interrupted Jonah. “I wonder what fortunes they read to allow us to leave. Why would they feel so certain of my loyalty? I don’t care what the enclave wants. I’m free now.”

  “Tell the truth,” Mira commanded, her voice churning the room like the ocean tide flipping a rocky shore.

  “I am my own man. Beholden to none, but you.” Ted’s voice was compelling in its own way.

  “But Ted, Giselle—” Jonah began.

  “But Giselle what?” Ted mocked mercilessly. “You told me you pulled her file out from the geas pack before you gave it to Tyrone. So they may never see that she’s unbound — at least for a while. You called her and told her to get out of town; to take a vacation. They have nothing on you.”

  “They’re a lot more ruthless than I am. Than I could ever be,” Jonah admitted.

  “Of course the elders are ruthless. You’ve worked for Elder Tyrone for more than fifty years; you’ve been filing away all the evidence of their ruthlessness every day for half a century. What, they didn’t do it in front of you? You didn’t know?” Ted scoffed loudly, but there was a fragility in his bluster that came through. “Now you have a choice. For the first time since you were three years old, you actually have a choice about what you want to do for yourself.” Amy wasn’t sure whether Ted was talking to himself or to Jonah.

  “I’m not ready for this,” Jonah whispered.

  “Why did you pull Giselle’s file?” Mira asked. The coils of compulsion that laced around Jonah and Ted had faded, but Amy could see them still, lightly trailing in a glittering line from the mages to Mira. A faint sheen of sweat shone on her mother’s forehead and Amy wondered if maintaining compulsions was a difficult form of magick.

  “I don’t know,” Jonah lied, gasping as the Mira’s compulsion flared.

  “Maybe you anticipated this outcome,” Ted suggested. “When was the last time Tyrone had you pull files on a binder’s bindings? After Alodeous died? You knew. Or suspected.”

  Ted’s accusation swallowed the room. No one said anything for a few beats. Amy wondered what Jonah could have possibly done to change Rachael’s fate. These were Danjou elders and Jonah was, well, not.

  “I’m glad I’m free. I’m sorry Rachael’s dead. But at least I’m honest enough to admit that even if I knew it was going to happen, I wouldn’t have tried to stop it. Not now that I know what it’s like to be free. Being bound like that; it’s criminal.” Ted’s voice cracked a little.

  Having experienced her own exquisite release when the blood-geas lifted, Mira knew exactly what he meant. Ted looked at her. “Your compulsions don’t feel anything like that, even though they’re more intrusive.”

  Mira swiftly quashed the surge of guilt at Ted’s statement. She had years of experience stifling her qualms around compulsions. She used them, even while fearing that doing so might be a mortal sin. It was thin comfort that the Catechism made no mention of compulsions, since the church didn’t seem to be aware that sirens existed. But Ted was so aware of her. Aware in a way that made Mira’s skin contract and her stomach jump. There was something compelling about him. For the first time since Jack died, Mira felt something around him. She struggled to maintain focus: her daughter was in danger. The Danjou mages were untrustworthy at best. She needed to strategize how best to keep Amy safe, but now all she could think about was how she wanted to feel Ted’s voice stroke her skin again. She suddenly realized that she was very wet.

  “What bothers me is that they think they have my absolute loyalty, even unbound. What do they know that I don’t?” Ted paused in contemplation before standing up and looking away. “You know what? I don’t care. I’m free.” Ted gestured to Jonah. “And I’m glad that you’re free, and that Giselle is and whoever else Rachael bound is, too. We can do anything. Go anywhere. You want to escape Elder Simon’s reach? G
o to Arabia, then. Or Australia — beg the Cabal for asylum. Or run and hide; he won’t bother to search for you in Patagonia, though that drained desert won’t have enough silica-salt to refine for your pipe.”

  Ted’s voice dropped; he was scorching in his scorn. “But whatever you do, stop your whining. Enough worrying! You’re free for the first time in your life, and none of us cares what you choose to do with that freedom.”

  No one spoke for a moment until Devin broke the silence. “Why was Ted confined, Jonah? What mistake did he make?”

  Ted startled at the sound of Devin’s voice, and his eyes narrowed. While Ted might have forgotten he was there, Amy hadn’t. She found his silent intensity and calm focus reassuring.

  “Answer,” Mira said calmly, though the leads around Jonah pulsed in a purple flare, and he panted slightly. Despite Mira’s compulsion, Jonah struggled to speak civilly.

  “He failed to secure the pivot.”

  “Elder Simon forced me back to Hesperia under house arrest for months. The failure was his!” Ted hissed.

  Amy looked at Ted, her eyes narrowing. “So the whole reason you were here for the past year was to get me to undergo the surgery, Ted? What did you do? Did you influence me?”

  “Answer her!” Mira glared at Ted, her voice cracking like a whip. Amy could see violet lines from the leash connecting Ted to Mira explode and wrap around his torso in a gleaming corset.

  “Ah, siren,” Ted whispered hoarsely. “Your binding is so sweet.”

  Amy was almost embarrassed to see the way Ted stared at Mira. He was transfixed; Jonah didn’t seem anywhere near as affected as Ted by her mother’s spell, and even her mother seemed nonplussed by the intensity of Ted’s reaction.