Siren's Song

by Heather McCollum

  “That was two hundred years ago!”

  “And one of the guardians, two lifetimes ago, tried to kill Taylin.”

  “What happened to him?” Carly asks.

  “It was a girl. I don’t know what happened.”

  “Don’t you think we should ask?” Carly whips her hands around as she talks.

  “It was a different situation. She was on the verge of slicing Taylin open or something.”

  “But what if they misinterpret what Eric’s doing?”

  I shake my head slowly, sadly. I’m so confused about Eric. He’s always seemed like a brother growing up, but all along he’s been watching me. But is it because he’s part of this weird organization that guards Sirens? And where did he get all those pictures, if he just joined? “I don’t know, Carly. Let’s talk to them at school.”

  Carly races the rest of the way to Cougar Creek. Taylin’s car is parked in the lot and my stomach relaxes a notch. One quick scan and I don’t see Luke’s bike.

  “What happened to Taylin’s roof?” Carly asks as we traipse by.

  “Uh…Luke was controlling his temper.”

  “Holy frickin’ shit,” Carly huffs in a whisper and starts to jog toward the doors. We head toward my locker. “Where are they?” Carly asks. I stow my bag and we head to my homeroom. No Luke.

  “Maybe we’re just early,” I suggest.

  “Taylin’s car’s out there.”

  “Luke’s bike wasn’t, though.”

  “I’ll check out Matt’s homeroom,” Carly says. “I’ll see you at lunch.”

  Luke doesn’t show up for homeroom. I rush to chemistry. Taylin’s in the back as usual. I bypass my seat and Kiara and head to the back. “Where’s Luke?”

  “Doing some research this morning. He’ll be in later and then out again for your rehearsal,” she whispers.

  “Where are we meeting after school?” I’m assuming we need to meet.

  “The creek behind Luke’s subdivision. We don’t need Jake overhearing anything.”

  “He’s not…” I glance around as the kids file in, “doing anything about Eric this morning is he?”

  “It’s not in the plan,” she says, but stares straight ahead. She glances up at me. “Now, if Eric’s plan today involves murder, then Luke’s will change.”

  I swallow hard and shake my head. “God, Taylin, this is crazy.”

  “Welcome to my world,” she grumbles and props her black combat boots up on the seat in front of her.

  The rest of the day plays like a slow, drawn-out dirge. Luke never shows. I walk toward drama slowly, scanning the animated and frenetic faces of the kids around me. The contrast between them and me makes me feel completely isolated. Lindsey and Madison chatter about how they plan to wear their hair to homecoming next week. I’d forgotten all about homecoming. Will Luke ask me to the dance? Will I be alive for the dance? A high-pitched laugh escapes me, making Madison and Lindsey turn. I shrug. “No one’s asked me, so I guess I’m not going.”

  Pity pout from Lindsey.

  “I thought you and Luke Whitmore were…” Madison trails off and lifts her eyebrows suggestively. “Aren’t you two going together?”

  “Really?” Lindsey says with a huge smile, her eyes dancing. “He’s massively hot, Jule. That bike, that bod, that bad-ass stare. Dish, sister.” She leans forward.

  “Well…there’s not much to tell.” Not much I can tell.

  “Has he kissed you?” Madison asks and eyes my high collar. “Wait a minute.” She giggles. “It’s kind of warm out today to be wearing a turtleneck.” She looks knowingly at Lindsey.

  I feel my face ignite. “It was cold this morning.”

  “Yeah, sure,” Lindsey nods with obvious exaggeration, punctuated by her overly raised eyebrows. She looks at Madison. “You think she’ll wear another one tomorrow?”

  “Jule,” Ms. Bishop calls, “let’s start with ‘Masquerade.’ Under the chandelier.” Bless the woman! I hop up at the same time I hear a blip from my cell. A text. I glance quickly at it as I drop it in my bag.

  Don’t sing!

  I dive after the cell and yank it back out.

  “Any day now, Jule. The curtain rises two weeks from now!”

  Don’t sing! I’m on campus. I followed Carly’s mom. Eric’s with her. L.

  I drop the cell in my bag and turn toward the stage. Carly’s mom usually stops by the school with a healthy dinner for her husband on game nights. But Eric doesn’t usually accompany her.

  Ms. Bishop flaps her hand at me. I take a step and glance back toward Taylin. She’s staring at her phone with a frown. She looks up and meets my gaze for two heavy, pounding heartbeats.

  “Ms. Bishop,” she calls and stands, “I’d actually like to break down the staging for the chandelier fall. Like you said, we’re only two weeks out, and Jule and Madison need to know where to stand so it looks like a close call.”

  Ms. Bishop eyes the prop hanging over the middle of the stage. “You’ve made sure it’s secure?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Taylin walks down the aisle toward me.

  “It looks heavy,” Madison says, gazing up at the huge fixture.

  “The breakaway glass is not as heavy as the real stuff.” Taylin points up at the thirty glass-like globes around the battery-operated candles. “But there are a lot of them. And the bars are pretty heavy. I had to use PVC pipes and spray them gold. Turned out pretty spiffy,” Taylin says conversationally. Stalling? She goes on for another couple of minutes about the details of how she constructed the essential prop. Definitely stalling.

  Ms. Bishop holds up her hand. “You did a fantastic job, Taylin, but let’s get started with the blocking. Don’t let it fall right now. We only have enough of those candy-glass hurricane lamps for the two shows. We’ll order more for State.”

  “I have a few extra,” Taylin says, “just in case.”

  “Good, good,” Ms. Bishop prods.

  “I need to mark the stage where they can safely stand. Even though it’s fake, it could still crack someone’s cranium.” Taylin walks under the chandelier. “Madison, you’ll need to be close because it’s a near miss.” She indicates a spot to the left. “David,” Taylin shouts towards the light box, “turn on the light that shines directly down through the chandelier. I’ll chalk in the shadow.”

  “Good idea,” Ms. Bishop says and tosses Taylin some chalk. “Then if it’s right, we’ll tape in a mark for Jule and Madison.”

  Taylin shields her eyes as she stands under the bright light. I can see red highlights along her part where her hair’s growing out some. “And Jule, Christine will stand on the other side, farther away, watching, wishing she was the one leading the show.”

  “Got it,” I say and step backwards away from the shadow Taylin’s tracing. She’s on her knees, scooting around in a circle. The chalk squeaks against the wood. A movement above us catches my attention and I glance up, only to be blinded by the rest of the stage lamps that have flicked on simultaneously, flooding the stage with multi-hued light.

  “We don’t need all the lamps on, David,” Ms. Bishop calls as she shields her eyes. In the white haze of blindness I notice the chandelier shake and begin to sway. A figure stands on the catwalk that reaches across the stage. I try to see better by moving closer to Taylin. She stares down at her chalk line.

  “Taylin,” I say. She doesn’t glance up. I squint above at the swaying mass.

  “It wasn’t any of us up here in the booth, Ms. B,” David calls down.

  “Did someone hit the main switch up top?” Ms. Bishop shields her eyes. “Who’s up there?”

  “The chandelier! Tay—” is all I am able to scream before I’m hit, snatched and dashed out of the way. The earshattering sound of thirty breakaway globes and thick PVC piping crashes through the auditorium. The impact starts a wave of gasps which instantly crescendo into screams.

  “Oh, my God!” Madison runs to me and Taylin. We’re tangled in the thick, musty curtains while still h
eld securely by our rescuer. The strength, speed, and familiar scent as he still holds me tells me without looking that it’s Luke.

  “Are you okay?” Luke whispers against my ear. I nod and he glances at his sister. “You?”

  “Pissed,” Taylin says with bravado that doesn’t mesh with the tremor I feel running through her as she leans against me. She stands, brushing the shards of candy glass off her jeans. “Someone’s up there.” The lights are still blaring.

  “Luke?” Madison asks. “What are you doing here?”

  Luke doesn’t wait to answer, but dashes behind the curtain. His footfalls pound up the stairs.

  Ms. Bishop runs up to us, her hand pressed to her chest. “What happened? David! Turn off those blasted lights!”

  The lights go out from above and I blink until the bright circles etched into my retinas fade. The class has leapt up onto the stage, their shoes crackling across the broken candy glass. We stare up where Luke leans over the rail. He catches the ends of the three ropes that held the chandelier.

  “They were cut,” he yells down.

  “What?” Ms. Bishop shrieks.

  “Maybe we have our own theater ghost,” Derek says. Only a few half-hearted giggles come from the group.

  “You two could have been killed,” Lindsey says.

  “Or at least really hurt,” Winston adds pragmatically.

  Ms. Bishop looks shaken. “I need to contact the authorities and Principal Edwards. Everyone needs to sit down.” She waves toward the dim auditorium. “David, pull up the house lights.” She looks up at Luke. “Don’t touch anything else. Come down here.”

  “What are you doing here, anyway? Where are you supposed to be last hour?” Ms. Bishop asks, suspicion obvious in her inflection.

  “In art. But I was curious to hear Jule sing. She won’t sing in front of me.” Luke’s frown turns reflective. “I was watching from the wings,” he points to the curtain stage right. “When the lights went on, I noticed the chandelier moving. Jule and Taylin were right under it so I ran across to move them out of the way.”

  “Good timing, man,” Derek says.

  “You were so fast,” Madison says, awed. “Like a blur. I couldn’t even tell it was you until it was all over.”

  “I saw someone up there, too, I think,” I say. “Just before Luke saved us.”

  “Go sit with the rest of the class,” Ms. Bishop says. “Winston, fetch Mr. Edwards.”

  Winston takes off up the aisle and out the door. Ms. Bishop paces around the stage. “Taylin, are you sure you tied the ropes tight?” She shakes her head at the mess. “Looks like we’ll need to use those extras.”

  “Those ropes should have held at least ten times the weight of that thing,” Taylin says, a defensive edge to her voice. “The cops can confirm that they were cut.”

  “Did you see anything up there?” I whisper to Luke.

  He shakes his head. “Already gone.” He holds my hand in his. Warmth weaves up my arm, soothing me. I’m struck again by the irony. About how safe I feel when Luke is with me when he is the one who is cursed, pushed to kill me. “It must have been Eric,” he says.

  “But he’s supposed to be protecting me, not trying to crush me.”

  “He was aiming for Taylin,” Luke whispers from the corner of his perfect mouth. “You got in the way.”

  I sink back into the theater seat. “Then you think he really is…” I lean closer to him, “…trying to kill at least one of you.”

  Principal Edwards and Vice Principal Dushane, along with several other faculty members, stride into the auditorium with Winston. Two policemen arrive twenty minutes later. We’re questioned and released as the tone rings for the end of the day. I step out into the hallway with Taylin and Luke. Our gazes scan the busy corridor, but all I see is a flurry of kids, happy that it’s the end of the week.

  Cheerleaders swish by with their pom-poms, headed toward the gym. The pep rally will start up in fifteen minutes. Taylin’s gaze follows them. “We need to warn Matt. He’ll be with the football players and Coach Ashe.” Her eyes say much more. Suspicion, fear and restrained anger lurk behind her painted eyelids. “All the Ashes are here today. Coincidence? Not.”

  We round the corner and I stumble. Carly’s standing by my locker, waiting. “Speak of the devil,” comes out softly on Taylin’s exhale.

  “She doesn’t know what’s going on,” I defend in a whisper. “Hey, Carly.”

  “What’s going on? There are cop cars out front and I saw Principal Edwards and a bunch of faculty headed to the auditorium.” She glances between us. “Where’s Matt? Is he okay?”

  “For now,” Taylin says. “But your brother happens to be here, and I was just almost squished by a falling chandelier. The ropes were cut from above by someone–we couldn’t see who. Jule was under it, too.”

  Carly’s face flames red but she looks at me. “Oh God, Eric’s here? Are you okay?”

  I nod. Luke releases his hold on my hand and I step forward to wrap my arms around Carly. “Yeah, I’m fine. Luke saw Eric come in with your mom. She’s probably bringing your dad his game-day dinner.” She feels like stone in my hug. I run my hands down her stiff shoulders and arms.

  “I don’t know what to think,” she whispers. Her eyes look glassy.

  “Let’s just concentrate on finding out the truth, whatever it is. You’re my BFF, Carly. Always have been. Always will be.”

  She nods and sniffs a bit. “Let’s find Matt and make sure he knows to keep an eye out,” I say. “And if we see Eric, you can try to talk to him.”

  I see Luke move, but hold up my hand to stop whatever he’s about to say. “Carly and I think it would be a good idea for her to talk to her brother first. Explain things.”

  “What does she know?” Taylin asks with a twang of sarcasm.

  “Everything,” I answer, my gaze locking with Carly. “I’ve caught her up and she wants to help us and Eric.”

  Taylin shakes her head. “Guardians are brutal. They witnessed Maximillian’s insanity and still murdered us in cold blood. We were kids, unarmed kids.”

  “Eric’s not one of the guardians who killed you,” Carly hisses. “He’s a good guy.”

  “When he’s not dropping chandeliers on people,” Taylin snaps.

  Fury tightens Carly’s normally smooth features. Her hands clasp into fists. She reminds me of a kitten bristled up and ready to attack.

  “O-okay,” I say and look at Luke, who steps in front of Taylin. “Let’s just get to Matt right now.”

  “God, I can’t believe this,” Carly shakes her head and turns toward the gym.

  I slam my book bag into my locker and pocket my cell phone. Luke waits for me and we stride after Carly. His hand instantly connects with mine, anchoring me to him.

  “I don’t want you too far from me,” he says quietly.

  “You need to guard Taylin and Matt, not me,” I reply softly so Taylin can’t hear.

  “He’s untrained, dangerous to you, too. Idiot almost killed the Siren he’s supposed to protect.” Luke shakes his head. “Get used to it.” He smiles darkly. “I’m your shadow now.”

  I can’t help but give a half-grin back. “Okay, but I get to use the bathroom by myself.”

  The gym is filled with pumped-up students. Bright blue and white T-shirts and fluffy pom-poms color the bleachers on both sides. Cougar Creek has won its first three games, and tonight we’re kicking off against our archrivals. The cheerleaders are slapping and kicking their way through a choreographed dance routine to “Rock You Like a Hurricane.” I scan the bleachers, but neither Eric nor Carly’s parents are in them. Maybe Eric and his mom have already left. Maybe Eric saw the police show up and took off, never to return. I sigh, and the noise and music swallow the sound.

  Luke leans in to my ear. “No singing the national anthem tonight.” His eyes hold mine for a moment. They burn with another apology. Will he ever forgive himself?

  “I’ll make sure to be in the bathroom dur
ing that.”

  The song ends with a roar of applause and whistles. Two cheerleaders hold the sides of a long sheet of white paper with “Go Cougars!” painted across it. The team runs out of the locker room doors. Matt’s the first to tear through the paper since he’s the quarterback and team captain. The players hold their helmets under their arms, but are in all their padded, tight-pants glory. Carly’s dad runs out after them, fists pumping up in the air as the kids cheer for our winning team.

  “He seems okay for now,” Taylin says as we stand near the exit.

  “Eric’s not in here,” I say above the noise.

  The cheerleaders climb on one another to form a pyramid right in front of their team. The team whoops and hollers at the rather impressive routine. Everything seems to go smoothly and the team lines up. They place their helmets on their heads and huddle up for a team chant.

  Cougar Creek

  Cougar Creek

  We’re the team to beat!

  Try as you might

  We’ll always win the fight!

  The team lets out a resounding roar and the crowd joins them. Matt stands at the center, fists raised to the rafters with his teammates. One hand slaps suddenly at his helmet. I see his mouth open through his face guard. My fingers bite into Luke’s arm. He’s already towing me behind him as he pushes his way through the standing crowd and onto the glossy gym court.

  “Matt!” Carly screams. The team backs up into a loose, jumbled circle and Matt falls to the floor.

  18

  “Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters.”

  ~African Proverb

  Luke shoves through the players and draws me with him toward the inner circle, refusing to leave me behind. His broad shoulders are stiff, powerful, parting the sea of shocked kids. Matt thrashes on the floor before us.

  “God, Matt!” Carly yells.

  “What’s happening?” I ask in the eerie quiet of the hushed gym.

  Matt paws at his helmet. “Get it off me!” His voice is twisted with panic and pain. Luke releases my wrist and grabs Matt’s helmet.

  “Everybody back!” Carly’s dad commands and tries to yank Luke away from Matt by pulling against Luke’s shoulder. Richard Ashe’s efforts are as effective as a housefly pulling at a mountain. Luke ignores him and tugs the helmet off Matt’s head.