The Fall (The Siren Series)

by Higginson, Rachel

  She was also a Nymph, of the woodland variety. Her powers were very similar to mine, in that she could tempt and manipulate any man at any time. Most people were drawn to her, no matter their gender, but men seemed to be the most susceptible to her charm. The difference between Exie and me was that her powers were not destructive in nature. She was fun and charming, she could influence decisions and persuade anyone that she wanted, but her powers weren’t addictive. They didn’t become an obsession that could escalate out of control in a moment and cause physical harm and death. She was fun and adventurous.

  I was deadly.

  “Nothing,” I shrugged.

  Sloane slid forward from the backseat and slammed her knees into my seat. “Liar.”

  “It’s nothing,” I swore. “We’re friends. Same as always.”

  “Same as always?” Exie shrieked. “I don’t remember you ever ditching an event with Nix to run away with Ryder.”

  Sloane nodded enthusiastically. “And don’t forget all the touching!”

  “What touching?” I huffed.

  “The constant touching.” Sloane rubbed her hands all over my arms as if proving a point. I laughed and pushed her away but I felt a revealing blush stain my cheeks. “He’s all of a sudden super handsy with you.”

  “He’s not handsy.”

  “He’s so handsy!” Sloane insisted.

  “He’s not. He just knows everything about Nix. He’s worried about me.” Hell, I was worried about me, but they didn’t need to know that.

  “Why? What happened today with Nix?” Sloane was abruptly serious. All teasing and giggling stopped and a suffocating heaviness settled in the car.

  Part of that had to do with Sloane. With her emotions the atmosphere could dip or rise. She was a Muse. Her powers resided in stimulation and creativity, but could reach as far as changing the mood of any room. If she felt happy, inspiration flowed with ease. If she felt unhappy, motivation disappeared and those around her could easily slip into an apathetic depression.

  Muses and Nymphs were more prominent than Sirens. Nymphs were the most populous of our circle, and then the Muses. In the beginning, there were other breeds of Greeks: Mermaids, Cyclops’s, Giants, Demigods, Gods and Goddesses, Centaurs and the list could go on and on. Over time and with the loss of our greater powers many of the breeds had died out or gone into hiding. For example, the Mermaids couldn’t really hang out in the modern world. The strongest of our society were those that could blend in with human civilization.

  Like Nix. Even though he was technically a god of the water, his powers permitted him to survive on dry land. His life underwater was nothing but rumors now. Rumors that scared the living hell out of me and made me never want to get into a pool with him… but still.

  For now, on dry land, he was just a man.

  “Nix took me to see the Fates. Ryder doesn’t know anything about what happened with them,” I admitted. “And I don’t think I’m going to tell him. He’ll just get more worked up about everything.”

  “Tell us what happened?” Exie pulled to a stop at Sloane’s house and shut off the car. Nobody made a move to get out even though we were the last to arrive.

  I almost laughed. What didn’t happen? “First of all, if you ever get a chance to meet those three evil witches, don’t. They are the scariest and weirdest bunch of women I’ve ever met. They honestly terrified me. I don’t know what it is about them, but they chilled my bones. I just… I just never want to be around them again.” Sloane put a comforting hand on my shoulder and Exie reached out to lay hers on my forearm. Those small signs of solidarity gave me the courage to go on. “They’re on Nix’s side. They want me with him. They think I’m this promise for our restored power. They think I can put the Greeks back in their place.”

  “You’re just one person! How could you do that?” Sloane whispered animatedly.

  “I don’t know. This all has something to do with Sam’s accident and with whatever they see in my future. And with Orpheus. They kept saying that Orpheus is rising and that he isn’t controlled by my influence.”

  “Ryder,” Exie breathed.

  I hated that she came to that conclusion so quickly. “I don’t know that. They said a lot of things about this Orpheus guy and not all of it matched up with Ryder. Smith isn’t affected either, so maybe this happens more than we know. Maybe there are lots of guys that are immune to us. Maybe there is a vaccination for us.”

  Sloane shoved my shoulder with the hand that gripped it. “There’s no vaccination, Ives. And you know as well as I do, that Ryder and Smith are rare exceptions. Possibly the only ones.”

  I couldn’t believe that. “Don’t say that,” I begged her.

  “Why do you think they came all the way here to see you?” Exie stared straight ahead at Sloane’s gorgeous house and asked the question we were all wondering.

  “I have no idea. It wasn’t like anything they said couldn’t have been explained over the phone. I just think… I think they wanted to meet me. Maybe try to figure out what the big deal is. Honestly, I don’t even know. I feel so average. There is nothing special about me besides what we already know and I hate those things.”

  “Ivy, what does Nix say?” Sloane asked in a gentler tone.

  I sighed. “That he wants me. That he wants me with him. That eventually he’s going to break me and I’m going to want to be with him too.”

  “You won’t break,” Exie promised with a squeeze of my hand to emphasize her point.

  Unexpected emotion flooded my insides and my eyes watered. My soul felt clenched in a vice, while some unknown person tightened the screws. Turn by slow turn, my spirit became crushed in the tightening metal. I felt it ooze out the bottom, draining the life from vital organs and the vibrancy from my blood.

  “I might, Ex.” One single tear slipped from the corner of my eye and trailed down my cheek. “Sometimes I think I’m only moments from breaking.”

  Sloane leaned forward even further and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. Exie moved closer, too, and laid her head on Sloane’s arm.

  “We all feel that way,” Exie whispered. “But we have each other. And we’re going to get out of here. We’re not going to become our mothers or our sisters. We’re going to run away.”

  “And then we’re going to be free,” Sloane finished on a ragged whisper.

  Utter silence settled over us. The kind that made us feel like we were inside a bowl and that no sound could penetrate our invisible walls.

  While their powers might not have been as acute as mine, their future was equally as bleak. We were all in service to Nix. We were all bound to the destiny he laid out for us. And he had no interest in letting us be free.

  He would use us for his own twisted plots and evil gain. He would use us until he couldn’t anymore. He would use every last ounce of us until we shriveled into nothing and disappeared without another thought.

  Welcome to the sophisticated sex trade.

  Our buyers paid more and our pimp was an international and highly respected businessman, but our tricks were the same and our bodies equally enslaved. In a world where human trafficking was at the highest numbers in all of history, combined, our branch of the insidious business seemed almost human compared to what others went through. But our freedom was still ripped from us and we were still forced to sell ourselves so that others could gratify their greed.

  A woman shouldn’t have to live like this.

  A woman should be able to decide everything that happened to her body.

  And not just women, but girls.

  Especially girls.

  Sloane’s mother appeared in the doorway and beckoned us inside with a crooked finger. We obeyed immediately because that was what was expected of us. We climbed out of the car and walked quietly inside. We took our seats in the middle of our circle of Greeks. We were surrounded by women of all ages that willingly bent to Nix’s will or command.

  We mingled with the crowd and offered practiced respon
ses and fake enthusiasm.

  These women were our future if we didn’t find a way out. We would become the robotic clones that Nix controlled with a lift of his finger.

  Or we would do what none of these women could; we would do what they’d forgotten they wanted to when they sold their souls for riches and material things.

  We would find a way out. We would find a way to fight this future and give ourselves the freedom we so wholly desired.

  Nix didn’t say anything about the Fates the entire night and I avoided my mother enough to not know if she’d spoken up about their bizarre prophecies. I didn’t really care anymore. I just wanted out. It didn’t matter what the Fates said, or what Nix believed.

  I had a plan.

  By the time the night wound down, I was emotionally drained and physically exhausted. My mother called a car for us sometime in the middle of the night and we rode back to our apartment without saying a word to each other.

  Once home, we parted ways and I endured the strenuous pre-bedtime routine of taking off my makeup and applying enough facial conditioners and moisturizers to paint my walls with. I stumbled my way to bed, feeling depressed and lonely.

  As I plugged in my phone, I stared at the screen and the text message box. I wanted to talk to Ryder. I wanted to tell him about my day and listen to his promises again before I tried to close my eyes.

  I didn’t think telling him about the Fates was a good idea, but I still wanted his opinion and thoughts on everything else.

  Mainly, I just wanted to hear his voice. I wanted it to roll over my skin and hit me like an ocean wave.

  I wanted it to pull me under and drag me down to the depths of oblivion.

  I miss you. I texted him before I could talk myself out of it.

  A minute went by where my phone did nothing but screen save so I gave up hoping that he would somehow miraculously be awake right now. I rolled over and pulled my silky comforter up to my chin. I could talk to him tomorrow, it wasn’t a big deal.

  I would survive this night without him. Even if I didn’t want to.

  No sooner had I thought that than my phone started buzzing frantically.

  I rolled back over and picked it up.

  He was calling me.

  “Hello?” I asked cautiously.

  “Hey, Red,” Ryder rumbled into the phone.

  God, that voice. I settled into my pillows and snuggled further into my blankets. I liked this. I liked being so super comfortable like this with Ryder in my ear.

  “Hey,” I replied back. “Did I wake you?”

  “Mmm,” he confirmed. “But it’s alright. I was waiting to hear from you.”

  “You were?”

  “Ivy,” he scolded like the answer was obvious. “I wanted to know you were alright.”

  Some feeling I couldn’t name deflated inside my chest and I heard the disappointment in my voice when I said, “Oh.”

  Ryder chuckled into the phone and a shiver raced down my back. “And I wanted to hear your voice before I fell asleep. It’s not all about your safety, Ives. There’s more to you and me than my concern about your well-being.”

  My stomach fluttered and my fingers started to tingle. “I’m glad you’re concerned about my well-being.”

  A few quiet beats bounced in between us and I started to wonder if he’d fallen asleep again when he asked, “Am I going to get to see you tomorrow?”

  “I’m not sure,” I sighed. “I’m thinking I won’t be able to get to break out of here until band practice.”

  “Bummer.”

  “I know. You’ll have to just trust that I make it the next three days without something terrible happening to me.”

  He grunted derisively. “So I really won’t see you until practice?”

  “That is what I mean,” I giggled. “Why? Do you have a problem with that?”

  “It’s just that there’s going to be all those other people…”

  “There’s always those other people!” I laughed. “They’re constantly around!”

  “But how are we going to make-out if I can’t get you alone?”

  “We’re not?” But my voice was a breathy gasp.

  “Not a chance, Red.”

  “Ryder, we cannot make-out again.” My voice dropped to a shaky whisper because my entire body was trembling and I couldn’t find the strength to put more force behind my words.

  “Why can’t we?” His voice lowered, too, but not because he was afraid or nervous; but because he wanted to kill me. He wanted me to die. He had to want me to die; otherwise he wouldn’t talk in a way that made my tummy flutter and my fingers tingle. He wouldn’t drop to that low timber that rumbled in his chest and felt like raw sex appeal against my skin.

  I cleared my throat and forced myself not to fall deeper into this hole I was digging for myself. “Is that a real question?”

  He laughed at me and the rich sound sunk into my bones. “I guess we’ll find out next time we’re alone.” My heart ached at his promise and my stomach took a dive to my toes. Oh, how I wanted him to be serious. It was a horrible desire on my part. It was something that would destroy our friendship and have the potential to kill him. I would never let it happen again.

  But I would think about it happening every day for the rest of my life.

  That was how badly I had fallen for Ryder.

  “Goodnight, Ryder,” I told him. Better to be safe than sorry, I told myself. Better to keep him safe and our friendship intact than give into my fickle heart.

  “Goodnight, Red.”

  I spent the rest of my night lying awake, imagining that promised kiss.

  I couldn’t have Ryder. I couldn’t trust his attraction to me was anything but the curse. And I wouldn’t let him fall for me when I could mean his death.

  I would keep myself away to protect him.

  And I would do whatever it took to keep him safe because I cared about him.

  In that moment, I realized that besides my sister, he was the first person I had ever truly cared about.

  That conclusion alone should have made me run.

  But instead, I selfishly wanted nothing more than to stay.

  Chapter Seven

  “Hello?” I answered my phone cautiously.

  “Ivy!” Anaxandra squealed on the other end of the line. Ana was Exie’s older sister and she had joined the circle officially last fall along with Sloane’s sister Evaleen. They were both twenty-one and fully eligible for sex-trafficking with benefits.

  Basically, they were well-paid escorts. Nix was arranging bidders for their virginities.

  Growing up, they had been a system of support for Exie, Sloane and me. They taught us the ins and outs of the circle, helped us cope with uncomfortable situations and comforted us when the pressure of this lifestyle became too much.

  But there was this disconnect that happened once we turned eighteen. I liked to believe that as part of the Greek Pantheon, we were blinded by greed, bloodlust and power. But what did I know? Maybe it was like a switch was flipped on our eighteenth birthday and we suddenly decided that we no longer wanted free will or a promising future.

  Who really knew?

  But that seemed to be what happened to Ana and Eva. Because both girls had sipped the Kool-Aid and asked for more. Since they had graduated from high school they had fallen in love with all things shiny, decided money was more important than family or friendship and sold their souls to the devil himself- aka Nix.

  They had also sold me out and I had yet to forgive them for the night last fall when they abandoned me into Taylor’s abusive hands.

  I wasn’t sure if they knew Nix was behind Taylor’s physical abuse or not. Either way it was inexcusable to me. On one hand, if they knew Nix had ordered Taylor to “punish” me, then they had willingly let me walk into a situation where they were aware I would be tortured and shamed. And they hadn’t warned me. On the other hand, if they didn’t know what Taylor and Nix had planned, I had asked for help from them several t
imes and they had done nothing. They sat idly by and let him mistreat me with unthinkable degrees of cruelty.

  They had promised everything would be alright. And it hadn’t been.

  They lied to me and then turned their pretty faces in the other direction while the worst night of my life happened in front of them.

  “What do you want, Ana?” I demanded into the phone.

  “What’s with the attitude, Ives? You don’t even know why I’m calling.”

  “That’s just the thing. I don’t want to know why you’re calling,” I snapped. I had so far avoided these girls for the last nine months. I shouldn’t have answered my phone. I decided to claim temporary insanity.

  “God, bitch much?” She actually had the audacity to sound hurt. Was she for real?

  I sighed loudly, letting her know exactly how irritated I was. “What do you want, Anaxandra? I’m tired of talking.”

  “Nix has a job for the three of us. He wants you ready by seven.”

  I dropped the phone on my bed like her words would crawl out of the phone and infect with me with some kind of deadly poison; like her words were lethal spiders that would push their way through the small speaker holes and latch on to my skin so they could sink their toxic fangs into my pores and release their venom directly into my blood.

  “Ivy?” Anaxandra sounded muffled with the face of my phone planted against my comforter.

  I couldn’t even bring myself to turn the thing over and end the call. She couldn’t be serious. There was no way she could be telling the truth.

  I flicked my thin phone over and stared down at the screen. “Ivy?” The phone hollered up at me.

  “You’re out of your mind, Ana! I’m done with jobs for Nix.” She started to protest, but I swiped the screen with just the tip of my finger and then bolted across the room.

  Forget that!

  And what happened to all the Fate’s bullshit and Nix’s possessiveness. Did those prophecies and ambitions all disappear with the promise of a pretty paycheck!