Siren's Song

by Kaye Draper

  Grey nodded. He’d already been thinking the exact same thing.

  Chapter 71

  The next day, Grey and Luca were just emerging from the Natural History Museum, tired and disheartened, when they ran into Mr. B. The old man was bundled up so deeply under layers of winter wear that he looked like a jolly snowman. He ricocheted off Luca and grabbed Grey's coat to keep from falling on his can on the icy sidewalk.

  "Oh, fiddlesticks!" he swore, righting himself.

  Grey suppressed a laugh at the old man’s antics. "You okay?"

  "Oh! Grey, my boy. Good to see you, good to see you. Just out running some errands, you see." He emphatically held up a bag from a local shoe store as if was an alibi for a murder trial.

  Grey raised an eyebrow. "Well, be careful, will you? Don't want to break a hip." He set the man on his feet and prepared to continue on his way.

  Mr. B clucked after them. "What are you two young men doing out on a day like today?" he asked, linking an arm through Luca's.

  Luca started down at him, surprised at his familiarity. "Oh, um...visiting the museum?"

  Mr. B chuckled. “Well isn’t that nice? I didn’t know young people cared about such things anymore," he said, not giving time for a reply. "If you enjoy old things, you should go to the art museum. Yes, just the thing." He hauled Luca around and pointed him toward the opposite end of the street, away from the history museum, where the sidewalk ended at a massive old brick building with cheery yellow trim. "Have you ever been there? It's an amazing place. The whole history of the island, right there, told through art and beauty." He grabbed Grey's arm and forced it through Luca's, replacing his own. "Now, off you go. You two youngsters have fun now. Hope you find what you're looking for."

  Then the odd little old man bumbled off up the street, adjusting his hat and talking to the seagulls that followed Grey constantly these days.

  Grey didn't know what to say. He glanced at Luca, then headed up the street toward the Tera Museum of Natural Art.

  They looked at each other for a moment before starting up the steps. Grey knew Luca was thinking the same thing he was—how could they be so dumb? Neither one of them had thought of it before. Grey wasn’t much of a fine art aficionado, but still it was so silly. The museum was unique in that it sought to combine fine art with natural touches relevant to the island. Kind of an obvious place to hide an island related relic, if you thought about it. And it fit the bill when he thought of the queen siren's advice—a simple item with a connection to the island which was pretty and thought valuable by humans. That was a perfect description of a piece of island-themed art.

  "How on Earth did we miss this?" Grey breathed, pausing with one hand on the massive carved wood door. It was like he’d forgotten it even existed. How was that freaking possible?

  Luca shook his head. "She charmed it. We've probably walked right past it a million times and never even seen the museum. Some sort of diversion magic." He frowned. “Stuff a siren normally wouldn’t dabble in.”

  Grey wandered through the museum exhibits with a kind of hyperfocus that blocked out the scattered groups of people around him. He had been in the museum with his mom as a child, but he never really appreciated how unique and beautiful it was until now.

  All of the items in the collection had the element of water somewhere in their composition or background, from paintings of the seaside to sculptures created at seaside locations. In some pieces, the connection was obvious, but in others it was subtle, only recognizable if you were looking for it.

  Within the museum, Grey could feel a muted pull. There was power in here somewhere. Many of the items on display seemed to call to Grey and he thought these must be the originals, the items with an authentic connection to the power of the sea. But none of those screamed kleidí. Finally, Grey and Luca came to a halt in front of the most insignificant and least refined object on display.

  “That’s it,” Grey said with certainty. He gestured to the piece—half of a rough-cut geode, the back of which had been painstakingly carved with a detailed seascape. It lay under magnified glass in order to reveal detail not readily seen by the naked eye. It was like one of those name on a grain of rice things, but times a million. As he stood there staring at it, Grey could sense the sea, a whiff of salty air, the crash of waves.

  Luca was looking at the piece with one dark brow elevated in disbelief. “Can you feel that?”

  Grey nodded. Whoever had created this, they had a siren for a muse. He wondered how many of the other items in the museum were also created by smitten humans. He heaved a sigh. “How in the world are we going to get it out of the museum?”

  Grey glared at the stone sitting in its glass case. There were cameras in every room. There was a very obvious silver lock set into the corner of the case. No ready solution presented itself.

  It wasn’t as if he could come up with some elaborate plan for a heist. Grey didn’t have time to waste. If Pontus’ intuition on the matter was correct—and he would know better than anyone—the window of time in which they could reverse the curse was rapidly closing. Grey couldn’t let the women of the island be trapped in an unnatural state for the rest of their lives.

  Grey heaved a sigh and dropped his shoulders, trying not to let Luca see his tension, his resolution to do whatever he needed to. “Well, we’ll have to talk it over with Pontus, come up with a plan, and come back to this when we have some idea what to do.”

  Luca nodded. “Sounds logical.” But there was a hint of wariness in his voice, like he didn’t fully buy Grey’s casual act.

  Grey glanced back at the stone one last time. A swell of magic followed him from the room like a parting touch.

  I’ll be back. He promised it fiercely.

  Chapter 72

  Luca picked up the pen and sat staring at the blank page before him. The notebook’s pages were slightly curled at the edge. It was a well-traveled item, always with him. He never knew when something would strike him—a pretty scene, a snippet of overheard conversation—and spark the flow of words and melodies that was his calling.

  The notebook had seen even more use these past few months. It seemed that whenever he spent time with Grey, the ideas flowed more freely, splashing across his brain like brightly colored brush strokes, painting scenes, emotions. He could understand why the art at the museum was so poignant. Something in Grey’s power gave Luca’s creativity wings.

  And yet, here he sat, staring at the blank page.

  Grey inspired him and crippled him at the same time. There was so much still unsaid between them. But how to say it? How could he destroy what they had? He couldn’t stand the thought of losing Grey. So he held on. Just a little longer.

  Meanwhile, they were supposed to save the entire female population of the island and all of its supernatural denizens. Luca's mind swirled. He couldn’t focus. He pressed the pen to the paper, watched the dark ink bleed into a blot on the pristine white. The curse had brought Grey into his life. Luca wasn’t so sure he wanted to break it.

  Chapter 73

  Grey walked into the museum with a backpack slung over one shoulder, just a college kid out to study some marine art. He shifted the bag higher. The thing was like a ton of bricks. Or…just one brick and some water. How much could a couple gallons of water weigh?

  A group of people near the entrance stared at him curiously. Grey pulled his hood down further, hoping to keep his face hidden, but a guy broke away and came to intercept him. The guy fidgeted as he spoke, and Grey noticed that he held a pen and a museum flyer. He had to be a morph, Grey thought—his mannerisms were too feminine. Grey hoped that he was better at hiding it than that. Then he gave himself a mental slap for being such a prejudiced asshole. It didn’t matter how feminine or not feminine a guy was. That didn’t mean they were a morph.

  “Um. Excuse me?” The guy finally found his voice and Grey turned to him impatiently. “I’m sorry to bother you…but you’re him, right? Grey, from Lucifer?”

  Grey
sighed in frustration. Damn it. He would get recognized. He was tempted to deny it, to tell the guy that he'd made a mistake, and wasn’t it cool to be mistaken for someone famous. But he stared into that hopeful face…and he just couldn’t do it.

  Grey sighed. He put an arm around the fan’s shoulders and drew him close. The guy's eyes went wide in surprise. “You’re right,” Grey whispered with a smile. “But can you please not make a fuss? I’d like to enjoy the art in peace.”

  He nodded vigorously. “Of course! Sorry.”

  Grey released him and the guy stood there blushing and stammering, the museum flyer crushed in his hand. Grey shifted his backpack and held out his hand. The guy’s face split into a grateful grin and he handed Grey the flyer and the pen.

  He wrote “Enjoy the beauty around you!” Then he scrawled his name with a practiced flair and handed the flyer back to the guy. Grey pulled his hood forward again, gave the guy a wink, and beat a hasty retreat into the natural history section of the museum.

  The place had cameras in every room. Grey would be easily recognized. He felt a twinge of guilt where the band was concerned. But the fate of the island was more important than the reputation of one little rock band.

  Part of him wanted to linger among the art displays, take his time and soak in the gentle waves of power that washed off the objects around him, and forget why he was here. But Grey had a job to do. He quickly wound his way through the displays and into the room containing the gemstone. It called out to him, as if it had been waiting for him to return.

  There were a few people milling around the room. Grey pretended to read the plaques under a couple of paintings until the small crowd finally cleared out. His eyes, skimming the gold lettering, lit on a passage that claimed the artist said the sea was his muse. Grey snorted. More like a denizen of the sea was his muse. He glared up at the beautiful woman depicted in the paintings. Definitely a siren.

  Grey took his bag off his shoulder and reached inside, his hand curling around the rough surface of the brick. Just then, a pair of men pushing a stroller entered the room. He tried not to stare as they held hands and chatted about a particularly beautiful painting, pausing now and then to tickle the pink-clad toddler that peered up at them from the stroller. She had to have been born right before the change, for them to have decided she was a girl. There weren’t any children on the island under the age of four, and the realization put a knife through Grey’s gut. Even babies had been shoved into new bodies. Hopefully it wouldn’t do them any harm to be swapped back. He swallowed hard, his eyes glued on the family.

  It was rare to see a couple who had made it through the change. His heart lifted. If they could do it, and even raise a child in this society, then Grey and Luca….

  A heavy frown creased his brow. No. It didn’t matter. Grey was about to change all that, put things back the way they should have been. After all, what would that little girl's life be like? How would she feel growing up, not knowing where she really fit in, wishing she knew her real self? The couple finally left the room. Grey pulled his hood farther forward to shadow his face and stood from his crouch, brick in hand.

  He wasted no time crawling over the velvet rope that blocked off the display. A surge of something tingled in his fingertips as he brought the brick over his head. He smashed it down on the glass case. The glass cracked but held. Sweating, he tried again, and again. A cool swell of power tingled through him as the brick smashed through the glass. The case shattered dramatically. There weren’t any clanging alarms like some action movie, but a red light started blinking on the wall. Grey hastily reached inside the case, careful not to cut himself on the glass shards that still clung to the sides.

  Without the glass to muffle it, the geode sang with power. Grey hesitated, afraid to pick it up. But footsteps pounded down the hall. He was out of time. He reached for the gem and waves crashed in his head. He felt the cool sensation of another mind—both terrifyingly powerful, and…sad—caressing his thoughts. It must be his mother’s will, bolstered by the strength of her estranged sisters.

  Grey gasped, struggling to breathe under the weight of all that power. But there was shouting out in the real world, and he had work to do. He reached into his bag and pulled out the plastic jug of water. Power still tingling over him, he unscrewed the cap.

  "Take it to the big house at the other end of the island," he whispered. "To Pontus. No one else." He shot to his feet and spun, flinging the contents of the jug across the broken display, soaking the gemstone. There was no way he could get it out of the museum himself. He'd be caught and searched. The gem lifted out of the broken case, buoyed on an impossibly thin stream of water.

  A rough hand grabbed his arm. Grey spun with his hands up in a placating gesture, trying to look immediately ashamed and remorseful. Not much of a stretch, really. Taking a step back from the portly security guard, he managed to just accidentally block the camera on the wall as the geode floated away toward the nearest drain, pushed there by nearly invisible watery hands.

  A genuine gasp of surprise was wrenched from him, more from the surge of power that flowed from him than because of what he had just done. He glanced at the guard, but the man seemed completely unfazed. Grey was the only one who felt the magic leave the room. He only hoped the elemental water spirit he had managed to coerce could be trusted to do as it was told and not get distracted along the way.

  Chapter 74

  Arianna glared at the golden demi-god before her. She wasn’t impressed.

  “Hermes has overlooked your idiosyncrasies thus far,” he reminded her, his angelic voice devoid of emotion. “He commands you to release your slaves. He might be persuaded to forget this trespass if you were to provide tribute…the kleidí, perhaps?”

  Arianna studied her fingernails, a bored look firmly fixed on her face. Interesting. The gods had ignored her for ages. They never interfered with human affairs, so it was hardly like them to protect humans. But now they showed up and demanded freedom for the poor humans, oh and the gem that marked the island as hers.

  If it were an isolated incident, she would think nothing of it. The gods were mercurial, and their whims often made no sense. However, not too long ago the sirens had made the same demands. Something was going on. Why did everyone suddenly want her frigid little island? Arianna raised her gaze to the winged beauty before her. He was only a messenger—an errand boy of an errand boy of the gods. No one truly important had gotten involved. Yet.

  “Are you all done?" Arianna asked in a patronizing tone. “Okay, then. Buh-bye.” She waved at him like a toddler.

  The demi-god frowned and disappeared in a flash of blinding golden light. Arianna rolled her eyes. So dramatic.

  She wouldn’t give the gem to the gods or the sirens. Especially not now that she saw how interested they were in possessing it. Luckily, the trinket could only be freely given, not stolen or won. However, it might be dangerous to hold it. If anyone more powerful got involved, they might find ways to convince her to give them the key.

  Arianna smiled to herself. Good thing she had already formed a contingency plan, somewhere to put the gem until she figured out what was so special about it.

  Chapter 75

  Mr. Sims leaned across the table toward Grey. The reporter's face was flushed. “You think because you’re famous, you can get away with anything. Just like all those other pampered celebrity brats, pissing and moaning cause life is so hard when you’re in the spotlight. Please! What makes you think you are so much better than everyone else?”

  Grey’s expression grew harder and harder with each word of the man's rant. His bright green eyes narrowed, and he had murder painted on his angelic face. Luca could feel a cold power crawling over his skin. The reporter had been hounding Grey, looking for a weak spot for months, and now he had been given a whale of a story and he was dead set on provoking Grey into saying something he could blow up into an even juicier debacle.

  Grey had taken it upon himself to liberate the gems
tone, he'd been bailed out of jail by his lover this morning, then he had been flayed alive by George for his asinine and irresponsibly thoughtless actions. Grey had bowed his head and taken the abuse though, even if his pride must be seriously chafing, because he was trying to save them all. Pontus had used his clout to help get Grey out of the legal charges, but he had been caught on tape defacing a museum display, seemingly for the hell of it. So now, Grey was the black sheep—the dangerous, weird one in the band. Luca knew from experience that Grey’s monumentally unstable temper wasn’t going to hold up much longer. He knew better, but he had to say something. The last thing Grey needed was to add assaulting a reporter to his list of sins. “Grey….”

  As usual, Grey ignored Luca’s low warning. The half-siren was already humming, a low sound that was almost a growl. It was barely audible, but it was enough to make the reporter stop mid-tirade and sit back in his chair, eyes glazed. Grey stood, his movements too smooth to be human, and not something Luca had ever seen from him before. He glided around the table and cocked a hip on the polished wood as he leaned toward the reporter.

  “I said,” he breathed, voice like a song. “I made a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes....” He hummed a little more. “Especially when they’re exhausted, burned out, and sick of dealing with ignorant assholes like you.”

  “Yes,” the reporter agreed, a small smile on his face. “You’re so beautiful. You could never do anything wrong. I’m an asshole. What was I thinking?” He lifted a hand. The movements were odd—like a marionette—as he crumpled his notes and deleted the recording of their interview.