Auristella, the siren. She is honestly the strangest monster I’d ever think to meet. I stare at her long nails and silky hair and laugh sarcastically. "You’re a princess," I reply bitterly.
“Oh! I have my flaws dear. Just look." She jumps off the statue and lifts her dress so that her feet are exposed. I recoil. They are shaped like humans from the ankle down and then they merge into the claws of an eagle. Her ankle is covered in what looks like feathers with the texture of scales. No wonder she keeps them hidden.
“That’s not what I meant,” I say aghast.
“You didn’t? But you think they are quite horrid, don’t you? He did too...” She cocks her head towards the statue, the corners of her mouth turning down.
“Don’t you feel bad doing this?”
"Of course, I do my dear, but it cannot be helped.”
Her gaze lands on the dirt at her feet. “I can do one act of good. I can let you go unharmed. Quick, before they discover you here, run!” Her eyes connect with mine, wide and dark with long thick lashes. “Take those who remain and never return, those that have been captured are lost...You must forget about them.”
She points to the vines I had come through, her expression desperate.
I lift my palms before me and shake my head. "I can't do that.”
“Then you are foolish!” She spits.
I ignore her. She is actually kind of nice compared to the monster I had envisioned, and it is clear she is being held by Medusa against her will.
“Aren’t sirens supposed to be mermaids?”
She sighs letting her dress fall back over her feet. The ends stained from the dead ground all around us. “There are many kinds.”
She walks back toward the statue, the train of her dress dragging along the ground behind her. “Take your leave now,” she commands.
Just because I like her doesn’t mean I won’t fight her if she stands between me and rescuing those who have been taken. I unsheathe my sword. “You know I can’t do that. Please, Auristella, make this easy and just take me to Medusa.”
The siren turns with an amused expression, her eyes roaming over me and landing on my sword. She begins to laugh, her pretty voice quickly turning menacing.
“My dear! Medusa has long been dead, killed by Spartans centuries ago. Those who live are her and her sister’s offspring.”
My stony expression falls. Could the offspring of Medusa be defeated in the same way?
The siren lets out an all-encompassing sigh, her chest rising and falling as she strides towards me. “I see you have no intention of leaving. It is my orders to take any foolhardy person who stumbles into these woods straight to the gorgons. I was trying to save you, my dear. Why must you be so stubborn?"
I lift my sword so that it forms a barricade between me and her. “They have been good to me; I owe one of them my life.”
Her mouth quirks up in one corner. “You love one of them, don't you?"
My sword falls a centimetre in my surprise. I quickly harden my posture, rooting my feet into the dirt beneath me with stiff knees. “No.” I cough, my voice coming out scratchy. “Why would you say that?"
“A hunch my dear. I am no stranger to the passion that strengthens one’s will when love is at play, and I am sure that if I dragged you to the prison of the gorgons and threatened to slit your throat another would share your passions.”
“There is no one..." I argue.
“Perhaps my dear.”
“And even if there was, I doubt my,” I frame the next word with my fingers, “Passions,” would be shared.”
“Even so, true love is often mistaken to be unrequited when it is in fact confusion and fear that keeps one from speaking the truth of their heart.”
My eyes widen. “Woah, no one is saying anything about love here.”
“My dear, whether it is love, or if it is not, one must always hold those we care for close. There is often very little time to spend together. Even a lifetime cannot be measured as enough, if you are so lucky to have a lifetime together.”
Her face falters as she turns it away from me.
“Frankly, I tire of this conversation. I will take you to the gorgons.”
She beckons for me to follow her past the statue of the man and back into the vibrant and colourful foliage.
Hesitantly I ask, “Was the man in that clearing someone you loved?”
“You speak of things you do not fully comprehend. It is best you speak no more of it.”
“Why?" I splutter in an attempt to stop myself from asking as I ask it.
She turns swiftly and without warning, standing at her full height so that she towers over me, her eyes flashing violently violet. The veins beneath her unblemished skin turn black as they expand. She looks like white marble covered in a torrent of ink. I shrink back, my eyes expanding in fear.
“Because I said so," she whispers. The air that passes between her lips is chaos and horror and as it ripples towards me it gives birth to a sound that chills my blood.
We trudge on in silence from that point, Auristella leading the way, the plants wilting and turning somewhat brown as she passes them.
I understood now why her clearing is devoid of life. She must really have loved the man the gorgons turned to stone since it's apparent that she spent all her free time with him, surrounded by the death her life caused.
She is a siren of death, disturbingly beautiful and heartbreakingly deadly.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
My ears prickle uncomfortably in the silence. I scratch at the exposed skin of my neck and chin, rolling my shoulders back and yawn.
We continue to plod forward. The foliage dimming as I become accustomed to it.
I can’t do it! My questions itch all along my throat until finally I almost yell out, “Who did it?” with a tremor in my voice.
“Did what?" She enquires with a polite tilt of the head in my direction.
I lick my lips before I answer. “Killed him?" With a gulp, I quickly continue before she bites my head off. “I know you said I shouldn’t ask you about it, but I lost a friend of mine recently too and I don’t know if he’s dead or alive. It’s hard to explain exactly what happened. There was a prophecy and I guess the world ended in a way? This wormhole opened up and sucked us in. I literally crash-landed in France and almost died. One of the men the gorgons have taken, the Captain... He saved my life and now I owe him mine. I was wondering if maybe that was something you understood?”
The siren stops walking. Her head hangs low as I come to stand next to her. “I’m sorry to hear of your troubles. Life debts can be tricky.”
I shrug. “Life is tricky.”
Her smile is faint and appears forced. “It is.”
We begin walking again, side by side, as she explains.
“His name was Theodore and he came here on a navy ship. I found him to be handsome and amiable and I fell in love with him immediately. Unfortunately, the gorgons require me to lure any who find the island to them so that they might be captured. It is an ancient vendetta and much like their powers, it is passed from each generation to the next. The finest of the men are captured to repopulate the island and everyone else is killed.”
I am nodding as soon as she mentions the gorgon generations, and I eagerly wait for her to pause so I can bombard her with my questions.
“Do gorgons only have girls then? Or do the men have the same powers? And if not, what do they do with the boys if they hate men so much?"
She tilts her head just so, her eyes attempting to stab me with telekinesis.
“Hush.”
My lips press together and I nod as a flush creeps along my cheeks.
“Once, a very long time ago, this island was inhabited by a tribe of peaceful people, however due to their differences, such as the long braided hair of the women, which was said to be living snakes, rumours began to spread of a tribe so hideous they could turn a man to stone from just one glance. Medusa and her sisters were among those of this
clan. The Spartan ship came to the island in the guise of friendship only for them to cut off Medusa’s head so that they had something to show when they returned home. This was how the legend of Medusa began, and ever since every woman born to the tribe would be that of a gorgon.”
I move my head from side to side, a sick feeling of pity burning in my belly.
What kind of madman sailed to an island just to chop off someone’s head for show and tell? I can’t really blame the women for feeling the way they do, it's madness!
Auristella continues, her tone sombre.
“Day by day, and year by year, the clan moved on and spread out among the continents. Only ten direct descendants of Medusa and her sisters remain on this island. They did and still do despise men for the murder of their beloved friend and ancestor. She is, as you say... a feminine icon on this island which is ruled by the women who remain.”
She swallows.
“Theodore came to the island and as per usual I did my job and lured the men into the forest where they came upon the statues and cried out about the legendary Medusa. Theodore did no such thing, instead to my amazement, he walked towards me. He was so brave. Slightly awed I began transforming and yet still he continued towards me! He held his hand out for mine despite the horrific form I had taken and so I protected him. I hid him from the gorgons as long as I could and we fell deeply in love. He begged me to leave with him and I agreed.”
Her voice breaks.
“On the night we were meant to escape one of the gorgons discovered us. She threatened to kill me and so he offered himself up instead. To this day I am left staring at an effigy of the man I love.”
The siren turns her face from mine, her shoulders quivering. I want to hold out my own arms to her and invite her in for a hug, but she is still so daunting that I decide against it.
Instead, I ask, “Why didn’t you leave after they did that?”
She lets out a tight laugh that quickly turns to a whimper. “The men that come across this island do not allow women aboard their ships.”
“You really can’t?” I ask with a desolate heart.
She faces me, her eyes glinting from her tears and places her pointing finger on her lips.
“Hush. We have reached their lair. Do not be alarmed and say as little as possible.” She whispers.
I hardly have time to nod my consent when her wings tear from the pale white of her shoulder bones.
I step back in alarm as droplets of black blood spray out around me. Wiping the liquid from my arms I stare at her rubbery grey speckled wings as they continue to sprout and cover her backless dress.
Auristella hardly flinches as she pulls the dress from her body revealing a silvery grey shift beneath which is dirty and ragged. Her dress pools over her clawed feet. She steps out of the pile of fabric as her veins and eyes darken until they are as black as liquorice.
She is terrifying.
“I see what you mean.”
I gulp as she pulls my sword and pistol from my belt. I wiggle my toes feeling my bundled-up dagger press into my ankle as I do. It comforts me to know it is there.
She doesn’t speak, instead, she indicates for me to move on and so I go into another bald area of the jungle. It appears to be the entrance to the town and it reminds me of an Aztec village.
Three women are sitting on stone chairs on top of an awkward stone pyramid facing the entrance. Their stooped and laid-back body language tells me they are bored and I chastised myself for not asking Auristella how many of the ten are left or why the number has receded once again?
All three have veils over their eyes and wear flowing dresses in bright colours. Their skin is a soft chocolate brown and their hair is braided away from their faces. They are anything but ugly, I note, trudging forward as Auristella prods me in my back with the hilt of my sword.
The gorgon in the centre sits up straight with a malevolent grin.
The one to the left of her giggles.
“You made it just in time for a stoning!” She coos.
The last of them dips her chin in my direction, “Who is this?”
Auristella greets them with a bow.
“My ladies, I have captured a girl in her attempt to rescue those you took.”
The middle one claps in delight. “Well done, well done!”
The one to the right hums. “Odd that a pirate crew has a woman on board.”
“What will you have me do with her? Throw her in the pits?”
“No, we have the men in there. She has endured such stench for long enough.”
I frown. Has she captured Jerome?
“I say we keep her as a slave, like Auristella!” The one to the left trills. She looks very young, around fourteen?
“Be silent Georgia!” The gorgon in the middle spits. It seems to me she is their leader. “It will not do to keep humans as slaves. Their life span is just pathetic.”
“Dispose of her,” the other one commands as she carelessly inspects her fingernails.
Georgia chirps, “Yippee Venette! A stoning and a killing all in one day. Do it will you?”
“Enough!” Venette hisses. “If you cannot be civil, I will send you off to be married like the others!”
The young gorgon scrunches down with a scowl, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms across her chest.
I raise my eyebrows. How can Caiseal assume that monsters have no inclination towards humanity when here is the perfect example that adolescence affects them too?
The leader appears to grow bored of her relative's squabble. Straightening, her hands wrapped around the armrests of her throne, she raises her voice above theirs.
“Auristella, tie her up somewhere where we can keep an eye on her and then bring out the men. I need a mate; I won’t be fertile forever.”
As soon as the siren grabs my upper arm and pulls me roughly away from the three of them, I pull a gagging face.
My heart palpitates as she pulls a rope from a fraying woven basket nearby and begins to wrap it around my torso. What if I had been wrong in trusting her? I push my stomach out doing my best to hide the action from my face, but it isn’t needed when she steps away from me the rope limp as the bonds that secure my wrists together.
Her large wings then lift her from the ground and with each beat, the sand around us whips up creating miniature tornadoes around my feet. I press my eyes closed and sneeze. When I open them Auristella is already halfway across the village stirring up sandstorms as she goes.
Georgia pauses her pouting to shout after her, “Stell! Walk them out one by one!”
With a smirk in my direction and a noticeably lower volume she says, “I love seeing their faces when they realize!”
Despite my surprise at being singled out by the catty teenager, I try to keep my face blank. I won’t let her know that she’s just made me sick to my stomach.
My nose itches from the white sand that still seems to billow out around me. My fingers twitching with the want of rubbing it.
I press my back into the smooth bark of the walnut coloured trunk and try to relax my shoulders, but it is impossible. My mind has associated the sickly-sweet scent of the jungle with the loathing I now feel for the gorgons and since the smell grows stronger with each gust of wind, I can’t escape it.
When Auristella returns she is still in her bird form. Kevin stumbles over his feet behind her as he peers at the gorgons groggily. She tugs on the long rope that curls around his wrists until he steps into place before the gorgons. With a bit of a delayed reaction, he looks from them and back to Auristella and starts swearing loudly.
For that one moment, I actually like him.
“No.” The leader says.
Auristella tugs on his arms as Venette lets out an audible sigh. She waves her hands lazily as if to say, ‘oh what the heck.’
“If you don’t want him, I find those with bright hair to be fine entertainment.”
Kevin stops bellowing, his expression confused as he tries to figur
e out what they mean.
“How about it?” She coos in his direction.
“What?” He asks.
“You know,” She winks.
Realization dawns and as he smiles, any positive feelings I had for him momentarily drain from me. I loathe him. I really do.
“You mean?” He points at himself and back at her mouthing, “You and me?”
She nods with a slight smile.
“Aye,” he replies.
As the two of them disappear and Auristella flies off again, I mull over what has just transpired.
Was asking Kevin’s permission just a show and did it actually mean anything?
I stare at the leader with her plaits bunched up to balance on top of her head. She has stark elongated almond eyes that look fierce with winged eyeliner and high cheekbones that almost protrude from her face. She is juxtaposed, and I can’t imagine that she or her sisters would take a man saying, ‘no,’ seriously.
Familiar footsteps have me looking away from their leader with a worried pitter-patter in my chest.
My heart freezes.
Auristella has returned with Riley and he looks tired and ganglier than usual. His shirt has been ripped open, the sleeves hanging in tatters, exposing raw scarlet cuts along his arms.
I search his body for any more wounds and pause on his mouth. His kiss-me-now lips are covered in flaking blood.
I pull my arms back, my fingers already working on loosening the rope just as Riley tips over and crashes onto his knees. I gasp. With a groan he pulls himself upright and stands, wavering slightly as he scowls at the gorgons perched on their carved thrones.
The rope is taking too long to untie! Impatiently I dig my heels into the dirt, my legs and arms growing hot as adrenalin courses through me. The strange strength I'd felt earlier on the beach rushing into my bones with a tingle in my cheeks like the after effects of ice-cold wind.
It is as if I, like my sword, have been smelted from iron. I draw in a deep breath. I can smell the birdlike scent of Auristella’s wings and I can hear Riley breathing soft and shallow.
Searching for them I meet Auristella’s eyes. They fill with understanding as the corner of her mouth quirks up. I shake my head. She can think whatever she wants but I do not love Riley!
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