The Siren's Secret

by Heather Ostler

  She pulled it out and unfurled the scroll. The paper contained a large tree chart with several names written in cursive and connected to one another.

  “It’s your family history,” Scarlet said, pleased. “It goes all the way back to Region Feelious,” she pointed to the top of the chart, “and follows the royal line all the way to you.”

  “Scarlet.” Julia shook her head. “This is incredible. How much time did this take?”

  “Well, I did need a lot of help from your dad,” she said.

  “But I was happy to do it.”

  Lancer peered closely at the parchment. “Scarlet, it looks even better than I imagined.”

  “I liked doing it,” she responded. “It was fun to connect all of the generations.”

  Julia rolled up the parchment and placed it back safely in the box.

  “Thank you, Scarlet and Liam. I love it. I can’t wait to hang it up.”

  As the sun set, the two families played games in front of the fire and ate holiday food. After Liam won the same card game for the third time, Julia realized her eyelids were drooping.

  “All right.” She yawned. “I’ve had a lot of fun, but I’m worn out. I’m going to bed.”

  Liam smiled. “Well, look at that. The kids are going to bed earlier than the parents. Looks like you and Caleb are the boring, old ones.”

  “I guess you’re right.” Julia laughed.

  She collected her pedigree chart, thanked everyone, and said good night.

  As she left and made her way up to her dormitory, Julia passed through a dark, deserted hallway and paused. Footsteps echoed behind her. She flipped around, startled to see a dark figure. Caleb appeared behind her, his face ominous and pale.

  “Caleb,” Julia said, putting a hand over her heart. “What are you doing?”

  “I need to talk to you.”

  “Now? Are you feeling okay?”

  “No,” he said. “That’s why I need to talk to you. I’ll never feel okay until you know the truth.”

  “Is this about the letter that you wrote to Camilla?

  Because—”

  “No,” he cut her off. “That letter doesn’t matter anymore.

  This is about what I tried to tell you last year.”

  Julia didn’t respond as her stomach began to feel uneasy.

  The memory came flooding back, clear as day. Caleb had tried desperately to tell her something and never got the chance.

  “I know that my dad doesn’t want me to tell you,” he said.

  “But I can’t live like this anymore.”

  “Caleb,” Julia said. “You’re scaring me.”

  An icy breeze blew past them, and Julia pulled her sweater tighter around her. “What do you know about prophecies, Julia?”

  She shook her head. “I know that they’re rare.”

  “They are rare, and sometimes you don’t get to choose whether or not you want to see one.”

  “What are you talking about?” she asked. She didn’t like the unnerving look in his eyes.

  “I saw a prophecy,” Caleb said slowly. “And it was about my future.”

  “You saw a prophecy?”

  “Yes,” he breathed, “and it involved you.”

  “W-what?” she stammered. “Is this a joke?”

  “No.”

  “Where did you see this prophecy?”

  “After Christmas last year,” he answered. “I was on a soldier mission in Ronorra when I stumbled upon a crystal ball.

  Before I could look away, I was paralyzed, forced to watch as the prophecy played out.”

  “What happens to me?” Julia asked feeling shaky. “Is it something horrible?” It couldn’t have been good news. It looked like all the blood had drained from Caleb’s face. “Do I die?”

  His eyes opened wide. “Of course not.”

  “Then what is it? What did you see?” She could hardly breathe.

  He took Julia’s icy hand and put it into his. “You and I were together. We were married.”

  A shiver ran through Julia that had nothing to do with the cold. “You and I? Were married?”

  “Yes.”

  She tried to say something but had to wait a moment before she could complete a sentence.

  “How many people know about this?”

  “Only my father and me. And he made it clear that I was not to tell you,” Caleb answered. “He said that things wouldn’t happen naturally if I did. That you might feel forced to make your decisions based off the prophecy.” He looked up at Julia. “But I couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t keep it a secret.”

  His eyes became red.

  “Every time I see you with Terrence, it kills me,” he said, wincing. “Knowing that he’s with my wife.”

  “That’s why you’ve been acting the way you have? That’s the reason why you broke up with Camilla?”

  “Yes,” he said. “That’s why it’s been so difficult for me to be around you. I know how this all ends, and I can’t stand watching Terrence, or anyone else, get in the way of our future.”

  “But that can’t be right.”

  “I know it sounds crazy,” he replied, “but it’s the truth.”

  Julia looked down and pulled her hand out of his grip. “I mean it can’t be right because … I’m cursed.”

  His eyebrows creased. “What do you mean?

  “I’m a siren. I’m destined to be alone.”

  “That’s not true.”

  “It is,” Julia insisted. “I went back to Sirenity and asked an interpreter. It told me.”

  Caleb’s face became angry. “But a prophecy never lies.”

  “Neither does an interpreter.”

  “I don’t believe it.” He took a step closer to her. “If you’re cursed, then eventually we find a cure and end up together.”

  “But there isn’t a cure. Otherwise Alexis would have found one.”

  “There has to be,” Caleb said. “You’re not going to be alone.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “This is my life now.”

  His face became disappointed.

  She turned away from him and ran down the hallway.

  Caleb didn’t follow her. When she entered her dorm room, she slammed the door, collapsing onto her bed.

  Caleb had seen a vision of them together— married?

  Julia had been so confused by their friendship. Now she knew why he disliked Terrence so much. She thought Caleb just took his soldier duties seriously, but now she understood.

  He was actually protecting his future wife.

  She sat up and took a deep breath, her mind racing. Caleb honestly thinks one day I’ll be his wife.

  How did that affect her future? What held more power—

  the curse or the prophecy?

  On their last morning of Christmas break, Lancer pulled Julia aside after dinner.

  “I wanted to apologize,” he said regretfully.

  They stood outside of the dining hall, and Julia could smell the pine tree next to her.

  “I was so upset with you for going back to Sirenity that I cut you off from Terrence. I just wanted you to know how serious I was.”

  “I always knew you were serious, Dad,” Julia replied.

  “Well, I’m really sorry. I was too harsh on you, and I was going to send Luke Marquette next week to do standard security checks, but I’ve decided to send Terrence instead.” He smiled warmly.

  “Oh,” Julia answered. “Actually … I know this is strange, but I’d rather you didn’t send him.”

  Lancer looked surprised. “You don’t want me to send Terrence?”

  “No. I think I just need a little break.”

  “And this doesn’t have anything to do with the curse?”

  Lancer asked “Because you know that—”

  “No,” she interrupted. “It has nothing to do with the curse.

  “Okay. And everything’s okay?”

  “Dad.” Julia laughed. “I’m a teenager. Sometimes we just chan
ge our minds. And no, I real y don’t want to talk about it.”

  He still looked uneasy. “Very well then. I still feel like I should give this back to you.” He handed her the silver envelope containing her tablet to communicate with Terrence.

  Julia took it and tapped the side of the envelope on her open palm. “Thanks.”

  Lancer hugged her good-bye and left to go back to the Soldier Union headquarters.

  Sierra came back to Lockham that evening, and in an attempt to reconnect with her, Julia told her what she’d done.

  “So you told him not to send Terrence?” She looked shocked.

  “I just don’t know what to do anymore,” Julia answered.

  “Listen, I know you’re taking this curse seriously, but I think you’re being really destructive of your life. Terrence doesn’t even know what’s going on.”

  “But I couldn’t tell him anyway. So either I lie to him, or I put our relationship on hold.”

  “But you can’t ruin things just because you think that you might be cursed.”

  Julia looked down at the floor. “It’s not that,” she said.

  “Something else happened over the break.” She paused.

  Sierra lifted her eyebrows. “Well?”

  “Caleb saw a prophecy last year. And it showed a vision of his future.”

  “What?” Sierra gasped. “What did he see?”

  “Us—Caleb and me—together in the future.”

  “Together?”

  She nodded. “Yes, we were married.”

  Sierra’s jaw dropped, and she didn’t speak for a full minute.

  “Please say something.”

  “Prophecies are never wrong,” she said.

  Julia put a hand to her forehead. “My head is about to explode with all the information and confusion about the curse, and now with Caleb’s vision—I don’t know what to believe.”

  “Maybe they just cancel each other out?” Sierra said, hopeful.

  “But how do I know? Caleb honestly thinks we’re going to end up together. Just like everyone else, he wouldn’t believe what I said about the curse.” She began pacing around. “And now I need to send Terrence a message.”

  “Terrence? Are you allowed to tell him about any of this stuff?”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  Terrence had no idea of the chaos in Julia’s life. She couldn’t possibly continue to date him with her future so muddled and unclear. She would have to end things—at least for a while. Even though she felt bad about it, she didn’t have a choice.

  Classes picked up again that week, and Julia could barely rise out of bed. With everything dead outside and the weather bitter cold, she dreaded January. Jumping back into classes after a break was always hard, and the castle felt gloomier now that all the decorations were gone.

  Mr. Knightly in particular really dove right into his curriculum. His classes picked up again with a new set of shapeshifting obstacles.

  “After such a long break, I’m sure you all could use the exercise,” he announced to the class.

  Julia sighed under her breath. She didn’t feel very motivated.

  The first couple days, students took turns climbing a wall with grip holes. Julia watched each student shapeshift into their werecat and then struggle to claw their way to the top.

  On her turn, Julia closed her eyes and began envisioning herself changing into her white weretiger. She searched for energy to help her transform, this time thinking of the anger the curse brought her. She did everything right to be able to transform quickly. However, it took her more than twice as long.

  The slowness of her shapeshifting wasn’t unnoticed. Small comments and whispers echoed around the gym.

  Once in werecat form, Julia began scrambling up the rock wall, conscious of their remarks. When she finished and returned to human form, she glanced at Mr. Knightly. He scribbled notes down in his black notebook, a frown etched on his face.

  At the end of a long and exhausting week, Julia met up with Gabe and Sierra in the dining hall for dinner. They seemed to be in better moods than Julia, and as she sat down with them, they joked about a girl in their water class.

  “She actually thought she’d seen a mermaid.” Gabe laughed so hard tears lined his eyes.

  Julia stirred around her food, listening to their conversation.

  “I can’t believe I missed her saying that,” Sierra said with a grin.

  “Who is this?” Julia tried not to sound completely clueless.

  Both of them turned to her. “Clare Nelson.”

  “Who?”

  “The girl I’ve been dating,” Gabe said.

  “What? You’re dating someone? How come you’ve never said anything about it before?”

  “I have,” he answered. “Sierra and I have talked about her a lot.”

  Julia dropped her fork, feeling uncomfortable. “Oh, I guess I just didn’t hear you mention her. How are things going?”

  Gabe glanced at his silver watch and stood up. “Uh, things are good. Okay, well,” he said, turning to Sierra, “I’m going to head to class. I’ll see you in a few.”

  As he left their table, Julia sighed and looked at Sierra. “I don’t know how I missed that he was dating someone.”

  Sierra didn’t respond.

  “Is she nice? Are you okay with it?”

  “Yeah, I like her.” Sierra gave a half shrug. “I mean, I don’t really care because I’m still dating Owen Sidelander.”

  “You are? How long has that been going on?” She felt like she’d traveled through time, missing months of her friends’

  lives.

  “We picked up dating a couple of weeks ago,” Sierra said.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “How could I?” she asked. “You’ve had so much going in your life and”—she shook her head—“I don’t blame you. But you’ve been so lifeless lately. I didn’t really feel like I could tell you anything.”

  Students began leaving the dining hall, and Julia knew she needed to head to class.

  “I’m really sorry you feel that way.” She grabbed her bag, leaving.

  Julia couldn’t pay attention in her last class, and as Scarlet asked for her homework, she realized miserably thta she hadn’t done it. Scarlet’s disappointed face only made the day worse.

  For the next couple of days, Julia didn’t feel like eating lunch with either Sierra or Gabe. Instead, she quickly took a tray of food and ate outside of the dining hall on one of the stone benches. She looked out the window and sighed.

  The lifeless trees looked like skeletons reaching toward the sky. The lake was now fenced, threatening anyone who dared get close, and even the gray sky had no hope of sunshine.

  A vision of Sirenity flashed in her mind. She imagined the warm sun beating down on the beach with waves folding over the white sand. Julia longed to feel the water and wanted to swim in the ocean

  “Eating alone?”

  She whipped around to find Camilla, looking smug. Julia ignored her and turned back to the window. Maybe she’d just leave.

  “I’ve been wanting to talk to you,” Camilla said. “Did you ever talk to Caleb about the note?”

  Julia turned and faced her. She and Camilla were on such a different page. She had absolutely no idea about the prophecy.

  “Camilla,” Julia said. “Obviously he doesn’t want to be with you. I think you need to move on.”

  Camilla glared at her so intensely, Julia wondered if she’d shapeshift into her werecat and attack her.

  “You’re wrong,” she answered. “And when we’re back together, you’ll feel ridiculous.”

  Julia stood up. “I’m saying this to save you time. You need to know that Caleb will never be yours.”

  Camilla looked like she wanted to respond, but Julia moved away from her, leaving her standing offended in the hallway. Her ignorance only frustrated Julia, and she didn’t want to hear Camilla go off about Caleb.

  Sierra had a lot of ho
mework to do and said she’d be at the library until around curfew. Julia had homework too, but she felt she needed time to relax. She locked herself inside their dormitory and filled their bathtub with steaming water.

  She stayed underwater for several minutes and kept her eyes closed, imagining she was back in Sirenity. The water rippled over her, and she felt her hair fluidly swirl around her face. Everything felt calm and peaceful, just like Sirenity.

  After she’d soaked up all the water she could, Julia got dressed. Sierra wasn’t back yet, and she pulled out her blow-dryer. Her long hair blew around wildly as she brushed it under the heat.

  While it dried, she noticed something unusual against her dark brown hair. She flipped off the dryer and dropped it in the sink. What had she just seen?

  Carefully, she searched through her hair, pulling it apart strand by strand, until she found it. A long strand of bright red hair fell from behind her neck.

  Julia gasped. How had that happened?

  She pulled on the strand several times just to make sure it was real. As far as she’d known, no one had touched her hair since she’d been back at Ossai. It didn’t seem like a prank—

  but how else could she explain it?

  She almost ran to get Sierra but stopped. Now that she thought about it, it seemed obvious. Julia was a siren. Over time, she would inherit every single last trait that they possessed.

  * * *

  CHAPTER TEN

  January ended, and Julia felt greatly relieved that she’d been able to hide her red siren hair for so long.

  At first, only a few strands of her hair had changed color, but every day more of her brown hair turned red. When she first found it, she had pulled out the colored piece, but the next day a whole new lock of hair became red. Now there was too much to cut or pull out. Luckily, the colored hair was near the nape of her neck, and she’d done well to either twist it underneath her hair or hide it in a bun. However, she knew she couldn’t hide it forever, and she needed to talk to someone about her problem.

  Later that day, Julia met Scarlet in the hallway after her last class.

  “I was wondering if I could talk with you for a minute,”

  she said.

  “Of course.” Scarlet looked pleased. “We can go into my office.”