Siren Sisters

by Dana Langer

  “What is it?”

  “It’s a bracelet I made from one of my sailor’s knots. It’s supposed to keep you safe, like during storms and stuff.”

  I hold out my arm, and he ties the bracelet around my wrist.

  “Thank you.”

  “If it is true,” he says, “what Hannah said, and if this works, I don’t—I don’t know what I’m going to do without you.”

  I think about that for a long time. I want to tell him that I’ll always be with him. That he doesn’t have to worry because we’ll be together, forever, no matter what. But then, that sounds suspiciously like something a siren would say. Because sirens don’t tell you the truth. Sirens only tell you what you want to hear.

  Instead, I pick up the first lantern and place it in the water. He follows me, and, one by one, we set them all to sail. “Are you scared?” he asks.

  I shake my head. “Not anymore.”

  A strange warm breeze gusts by, and the lanterns start to slip away from the shore. Bobbing gently in the current, each presses lightly against the one ahead of it, and we hold hands and watch as they drift together, flickering, into the unknown.

  Acknowledgments

  I am incredibly lucky to have had the support of the following people in creating this book:

  Alex Slater, who found this story, understood it completely, and made it shine

  Fiona Simpson, who cared for these characters and gave them a wonderful home at Aladdin/Simon & Schuster

  Jessica Handelman, who designed the beautiful cover

  Eva and Miriam, who read early drafts

  Renee, Rachel, Ellen, and Mia, who astound me with their strength, beauty, and humor

  Mort, brave champion of the quirky, imaginative, and risk-taking among us

  Liana, Tara, Halley, Kristina, Maggie, Natalie, Jamie, Ankur, and Sean, with whom I shared the million grilled cheese sandwiches and late-night diners of adolescence

  Laura, who makes it fun to come to work and who makes “little lady” sound cool

  The families, teachers, staff, and administrators of Rockland Country Day School

  Vashti, who took such good care of Mia

  The Samuelson family, who have been so welcoming and supportive

  Phil, who believed it was possible long before I did

  Paul, who changed our lives

  I would also like to acknowledge the work of the Maine-Wabanaki Truth and Reconciliation Commission, whose report about inequalities in the child welfare system inspired portions of this story (learn more about their work here: http://digitalcommons.bowdoin.edu/maine-wabanaki-trc/)

  About the Author

  DANA LANGER is a high school teacher and the author of Siren Sisters. She holds a BA in creative writing and an MA in teaching from Brandeis University where she received the Dafna Zamarripa-Gesundheit Fiction Prize. Dana currently lives in New York City with her husband and daughter. You can visit her online at dana-langer.com and follow her on Twitter at @danicalanger.

  Aladdin

  Simon & Schuster, New York

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  authors.simonandschuster.com/Dana-Langer

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ALADDIN

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  First Aladdin hardcover edition January 2017

  Text copyright © 2017 by Dana Langer

  Jacket illustration copyright © 2017 by Hari & Deepti

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  Jacket designed by Jessica Handelman

  Interior designed by Michael Rosamilia

  The text of this book was set in Mrs Eaves.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Langer, Dana, author.

  Title: Siren Sisters / by Dana Langer.

  Description: First Aladdin hardcover edition. | New York : Aladdin, 2017. |

  Summary: “Lolly Salt’s three sisters are sirens—young woman who lure ships to their doom.

  And as Lolly’s 13th birthday approaches she’s about to become one too. But when it becomes clear that someone in town knows the Salt girls’ secret, Lolly sets out to learn how this happened to her family and if she can prevent it.”—Provided by publisher.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2016000134 | ISBN 9781481466868 (hc) | ISBN 9781481466882 (eBook)

  Subjects: | CYAC: Sirens (Mythology)—Fiction. | Supernatural—Fiction. |

  Sisters—Fiction. | Families—Fiction. | Maine—Fiction.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.1.L344 Si 2017 | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016000134