Siren's Call

by Cutter, Leah

  “My dear Sai,” Mama said finally. “I am glad you found me. I knew you would.”

  “Papa calls me Kai.” Kai tried to hold her tongue and not be ornery, but polite. Papa would expect that from her.

  Mama rolled her eyes and gave a great sigh. “He couldn’t even get your name right.”

  Kai sat back, stunned. “At least he stuck around,” she shot back.

  “Who could blame me?” Mama asked, sounding reasonable. “You’re—” she waved her hand at Kai, taking in the whole of her “—tsa. Mixed.”

  “Excuse me?” Kai said, pushing herself up. She didn’t have to take this. She could just go. She didn’t need it thrown in her face what she’d been denying her entire life: that although she considered herself human and special, she was, in fact, part xita.

  “No, no! It’s good!” Mama proclaimed. “Sit. Sit. Let me explain.”

  Reluctantly, Kai sat. She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear any more. She’d always avoided everything about Mama—who she was, where she’d come from. And since Tommy, she’d also stayed out of the way of the xita as well.

  “I’d wanted my child to be like me, to follow in my footsteps, but also who could bring honor to the family and the court,” Mama explained clearly.

  “Okay,” Kai said, nodding slowly. Kinda sounded like most parents.

  “When I saw you, I thought you’d have no ability. That you were human. So I left.” Mama didn’t sound sad at all, but like she read from a newspaper.

  “I am human,” Kai said automatically. That was how she’d thought of herself her whole life.

  “Bah. You’re better than human,” Mama said. “You’re mixed. You have human abilities, like you care, and you love. But you also have the best of me, our family.”

  Kai knew she was going to regret asking, but she did anyway. “What do you mean? Your abilities?” Was she going to have to accept being part xita?

  “We find things,” Mama explained. “That’s our family’s profession. You come from a long line of fox fairies, my dear. You make me proud.”

  Kai leaned back, wishing she had a bench or something to rest against. Her head spun. She knew that somehow her ability to find things had been tied to Mama.

  She’d never realized that it was such a direct connection. She thought she’d just been born with a good sense of things.

  “How could I have known that your abilities would be so strong?” Mama asked. “That you’d develop and be so powerful?”

  Kai wasn’t gonna deal with that anytime soon. “So you left,” Kai replied, taking the safer route. “You left Papa and broke his heart.”

  “I was never going to stay,” Mama said flatly. “It was just that I didn’t return with you to the court.”

  “You’re not human,” Kai said, the full truth falling over her. Mama was purebred xita, as wild as Caleb in his hound form.

  “That’s right. I’m not,” Mama said proudly. “And you are xita as well, but just barely.”

  Kai took a sip of her cooling tea, thinking. Did she want to get to know this side of her family? Did she have sisters? Cousins? What would Papa, or her aunts, say when she told them?

  Did she want to accept who she truly was? She’d found the truth. Could she deny it anymore?

  “Now, finish that,” Mama said briskly, standing. “It’s time for us to go.”

  “Go where?” Kai asked, deliberately not standing. She wasn’t about to go anywhere else. She’d already followed Mama here. Maybe it was time to go.

  “You must be presented to the court,” Mama said, as if it were obvious. “And Prince Zhi Ming.”

  “Who’s he?” Kai asked, begrudgingly rising. She was too curious not to go, probably something else she’d inherited from her mother.

  Mama gave her a true smile for the first time. “Heir to the throne of the Floating Court. And if the gods favor us, your husband-to-be.”

  Chapter Six

  “Husband?” Kai asked, resisting as Mama tugged at her hand, trying to pull Kai from the tiny alcove where they’d shared tea. She hated when people grabbed her, and her own mother was no different.

  “Of course!” Mama said. “Now, I know that the prince has these modern ideas of true love, and won’t accept a traditional arranged marriage. Foolish boy wouldn’t listen to the wisdom of his elders.”

  “So what does that have to do with me?” Kai asked, still not taking one step further.

  Mama stopped trying to drag Kai with her and, instead, stood with her arms over her chest, looking at Kai with curiosity. “The prince needs a bride. He must marry, and soon, and start having heirs. Why can’t it be you?”

  “Because I’ve never met the man? Because he’s xita? Because I’m human?” Kai replied, still trying to be polite.

  “Bah,” Mama said, dismissing Kai’s arguments with a wave of her hand.

  Kai felt her back stiffen more. She was determined to be polite, but Mama was asking for it.

  “None of those matter. What matters is that you help your family’s position in the court,” Mama said matter-of-factly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

  “No, Mama,” Kai said. “I think I’ll just go.” It was time to leave the rabbit hole. She’d just have to find out more about Gisa another way. Maybe she could show Rilke the court entrance, and the siren would have better luck dealing with the xita here.

  “You won’t help your family?” Mama asked archly. “I thought that was important to you.”

  “My human family, who I’ve known my entire life, matter to me,” Kai said. “I don’t know any of y’all.”

  Mama gave a triumphant smile. “Then you should at least come to meet them. And the Floating Court. True?”

  Kai gave an exasperated sigh. “Fine. I’ll go to your Floating Court. But I’m not marrying this prince of yours.”

  “We can talk about that later,” Mama said as she left the room with the books and went into another room, off to the left.

  Calling herself all kinds of fool, Kai followed her.

  A large bed perched in the corner, the foot- and headboard made from gilded metal, piled high with gray and gold pillows, looking like a fashion ad. Mama must be really rich. Warm light spilled from the white-paper lantern globes hanging from the ceiling. A set of three standing mirrors stood next to a black paneled door, prepared to show Kai her worst side.

  “Here,” Mama said, pointing to the center of the mirrors.

  Kai glared at her but did as she was told, and went to stand at that spot. The mirrors appeared to be just mirrors, reflecting back the room behind her accurately, showing the two wingback chairs, in green and gold, snugged in under a round wooden table.

  Mama went through the door, then returned with a beautiful sky-blue silk jacket. “Put this on. It’s lucky you’re wearing a skirt.”

  Kai eyeballed the jacket. “It won’t fit,” she said. She and Mama looked alike, but Kai had inherited her aunts’ shoulders and hips.

  “What do you mean? Try it,” Mama insisted.

  Kai shrugged and pulled the cool silk over her shirt. It smelled of lavender and an earthiness that was Mama. When Kai tugged at the front, it wouldn’t close. “See?” She knew herself, her body, probably better than Mama ever would. Kai had the impression Mama was only ever gonna see what she wanted to see, and nothing else.

  Mama nodded. “I see.” She disappeared back into the closet and returned with a second jacket, just as beautiful, made of green silk with golden dragonflies embroidered on it.

  As Kai tried it on, she asked, “Mama, do you know anything about a missing siren?”

  “No, I don’t,” Mama said instantly. “That won’t do,” she commented when she saw Kai couldn’t close this jacket, either, then went back into the closet.

  Was Mama lying? Kai didn’t know her well enough to be certain. “Mama, I have to find her. She’ll drown the city if I don’t. I know she was here, or the people who have her are here.” Kai didn’t actually know that, b
ut hopefully Mama couldn’t tell that Kai was lying.

  Mama appeared with a royal purple jacket. For the first time, she seemed hesitant, looking at the ground instead of up at Kai. “You’re exaggerating,” she said as she thrust the jacket into Kai’s hands.

  “What do you know?” Kai asked, her eyes narrowing. She didn’t move to try on the jacket.

  Mama finally looked up at Kai, defiantly. “I’ve heard rumors about a siren being held in the city. Just court talk. I don’t know anything more. You really need to try that on, we don’t want to be late. Or last.”

  “Only if you promise to introduce me to the person who told you the rumors,” Kai said stubbornly.

  “Fine, fine. If he’s there, I’ll introduce you,” Mama said.

  Was Mama nervous? She seemed anxious. But maybe she was just worried about being late.

  Finally, they found a jacket that fit, though just barely, and only if Kai didn’t breathe too deeply. It was a soothing red, with black characters in circles embroidered on it.

  “You really are human sized,” Mama said, coming up behind Kai.

  “That’s because I am human,” Kai shot back. She might be part xita, but she wasn’t about to let go of her human parts.

  “It’s good, it’s good,” Mama said, trying to sooth her. “Now sit. Let me do your hair.”

  Kai reluctantly knelt down. Mama used a long, jeweled hair stick to partition off part of Kai’s long, black hair, before pinning it back up again in a soft curve. “It makes you different than the other girls, eh?” Mama added slyly.

  “The other fox fairies?” Kai guessed. Was that what the one had meant, by commenting on her prettiness?

  “Those girls never stood a chance,” Mama said dismissively. “They just didn’t know it.”

  More quickly than Kai could follow, Mama had most of her hair piled in soft loops on top of her head, with romantic tendrils falling near her face and from the side.

  “Hen hou,” Mama said, nodding. Then she rattled off something that sounded like instructions in Chinese.

  “I don’t understand,” Kai said blankly.

  “Of course you do,” Mama scoffed. “All fairies have the gift of tongues.”

  “I’m human,” Kai said stubbornly as she stood. Papa had always claimed she was more stubborn than Mississippi mud.

  “You can speak your native tongue,” Mama assured Kai.

  “English?” Kai asked.

  “No, Mandarin. Zhong wen,” Mama said, looking puzzled.

  “Never learned it.” And Kai planned on never learning it, either. She crossed her arms and stared at Mama.

  “You don’t need to learn it. You just—speak it,” Mama insisted.

  “Can’t,” Kai said with a shrug.

  Mama stared hard at Kai for a long moment, then she burst into true, honest giggles.

  Kai stared in amazement. She hadn’t been sure Mama even knew how to laugh.

  “You do know how to speak Chinese,” Mama said after a moment. When Kai bristled, Mama held up her hand. “When you want to speak it, it will come to you.”

  Kai shook her head. She’d never known she had that ability, and she wasn’t about to take advantage of it now. She got tangled up enough in one language. Why should she know two?

  Mama just smiled at her, still amused. “You remind me of myself when I was a girl, stubbornly sitting out in the rain, insisting I liked being wet and cold.” Then she grew sober again. “Come. Court is about to start. The king is hearing visitors.”

  “What do I have to do? What should I say?” Kai asked as Mama headed for the door. She’d been raised to be polite, but not how to deal with royalty.

  And despite what Kai had said, she did want to do her family proud.

  “Just follow my lead,” Mama said.

  Kai shook her head. “Only when I need to,” she said firmly.

  And only until she got the information she needed about Gisa.

  * * *

  Though Kai had never been to one of Caleb’s famed family reunions that happened in the bayou where the cops would never find them, she figured this court was even more different than that.

  The space was gracious and wide. Cool jade tiles made up the floor, impressive yards of dark green shot through with black. At the far end of the large chamber, raised up on two stairs, stood a throne carved from ivory. Dark red banners with black Chinese characters running down them hung behind it.

  In the center of the room, a line had formed in front of the empty throne. Just in front of Mama and Kai stood the two businessmen that she’d seen out in the reception area. They were here to see the king? What business did they do with xita? She didn’t think any humans dealt regularly with them.

  Ahead of the businessmen stood small creatures that barely came up to Kai’s waist, wearing sturdy leather pants, plaid shirts, and sharp green vests. Gnomes, maybe? Except these were the ones from nightmares, with hard, chiseled faces, fierce eyes, and sharp, pointed teeth.

  All Kai could sense was xita in this place; she couldn’t get a sense of anyone’s abilities. There were too many scents to tease apart: desert and mountain valley, cumin and cinnamon, night-blooming jasmine and fresh palm trees.

  Around the edges of the room stood the rest of the court. There were other humans, like the group of proper black women in the corner, who wore their good church clothes with hats and gloves, and chatted easily together. There was even a young gutter kid, clean but wild-looking.

  The worlds must intersect more than Kai had realized, or wanted to know.

  Maybe she would have to talk with Caleb about it.

  Kai didn’t know what to call most of the creatures she saw: towering ghosts in black robes that she could mostly see through, snake men and toad women, tree creatures with twigs for fingers and moss for hair, glittering human-shaped beings encrusted with rocks and rough gems. Most wore the same sort of jacket she did, though some were in longer robes.

  An elderly man came in from the side. His elegant silver robes hung off his withered frame. He still held his head high and his dark eyes blazed as he looked over the assembled court.

  A crier stepped out from the corner and announced something, then the man sat down on the throne.

  “Is that the king?” Kai asked softly after the gnomes had started talking with the man on the throne.

  “It is. King Wang,” Mama whispered to her.

  “Not the emperor?” Kai had thought a Chinese court would have an emperor.

  “No, no. The emperor hasn’t visited this court for centuries. And the king, well, he’s more like a governor. But we call him king.”

  They waited in silence as one group after another walked forward to talk with the king. When it was the gnomes’ turn, Kai tried to listen to their conversation, but she didn’t understand it. They weren’t speaking Chinese, not like how Mama spoke it. She wasn’t sure what language they spoke. It didn’t really sound like anything human, or that she’d ever heard the tourists in the Quarter speak.

  Could Kai understand it if she tried? Did she really have the gift of tongues? What would she have to do to find out? Open herself up or some crap like that?

  A tickle at the back of her mind said yes.

  But it was more than that. She’d be vulnerable, because she’d not only hear languages, but places and things would talk to her without her being near enough to touch them. Which might be cool, except for buildings like that damn mall. She might never have gotten out if she’d been more attuned to it.

  No. Kai shut down her thoughts. She was never going to learn Chinese, or gain an ability with tongues. She was human, and just fine as she was.

  The gnomes moved on and the businessmen stepped up next. They were asking for something, Kai could tell. Just what, she didn’t know, though she recognized some street names, thrown in among their Mandarin. Property, up in St. Anthony, perhaps?

  They weren’t too happy with what they’d have to pay, Kai guessed, when one of them proclaimed i
n English, “That’s too much!”

  Negotiations broke off soon after that, with the humans not looking pleased at all.

  Mama stepped forward. After taking a deep breath, Kai stepped forward as well, standing directly beside her.

  Buzzing of other conversations died down. Kai resisted tugging on the borrowed silk jacket. She’d never been fond of being the center of attention.

  “If it may please the court,” Mama said formally in English, then she said something in Mandarin—Kai assumed she was repeating herself.

  “I’d like to present my daughter, Sai Wan Ming.”

  The king looked at Kai with interest. Kai had the impression of cool crystal halls on top of snowy mountains, all ice and perfect and not human in the least.

  At Mama’s prodding, Kai took another step forward. “Kai DuPrie,” she announced. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

  The old king smiled at her suddenly. “Charmed,” he said, his accent broad and pure New Orleans. “I am honored by your visit.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Kai replied, glad that Aunt Bella had taken the time to beat some manners into her. “I’m honored to be here, in your court.”

  “Thank you, child. I hope you can have tea with an old man, one day soon.”

  “I’d like that,” Kai said. And she would. The king was powerful and strange, not human, but xita. Against her better judgment, she found him fascinating, like a beautifully cut gem with tiny fires that flared in the right light.

  With a bow, Kai and Mama stepped out of line.

  “Very good,” Mama whispered, sounding smug. “That was exactly right, giving him your human name.”

  “Really,” Kai said flatly. She’d done it to push back at Mama.

  “Most of the beings in the court have two names, their Chinese and English names. Giving both was good, gives you a high standing. Good you thought of it.”

  Kai didn’t roll her eyes, but she also didn’t correct Mama’s impression about why she’d done it.

  The two fox fairies Kai had met in the registration courtyard stood on the sidelines. They wore more traditional Asian robes now, golden and sleek. They’d put away their fox parts and looked fully human, though with a glow that was purely xita.