by Laney Powell
The woman turned her head, making a sound that was suspiciously like a snort. The man didn’t even bother acknowledging her.
“A siren, which is what you are, young lady, is a creature that comes from the water. Sirens are of the sea, are called to it, and call others to their deaths via the sea.”
“What?” I asked. They were high. Some kind of weird people in weird costumes playing with too many drugs. “Just let me go, and we’ll forget this ever happened.”
“We can’t do that,” the woman said, no trace of laughter on her. “Not with an undocumented Underworlder.”
“A what?” I asked. My hands were shaking, and I could feel my breath coming short. The panic was setting in. These people were crazy.
“An undocumented siren is part of the Underworld class of magical creatures and beings. Underworlders are those that prey on humans in some way, and you cannot be undocumented.”
“Um, all right. What happens now?” I asked. Obviously they were insane, so I needed to indulge them a little until I got a chance to run like hell.
“You have two choices,” the man said. “You will come with us—”
“And who are you?” I interrupted.
He didn’t look pleased.
The woman answered. “We’re part of the Concilium, and it’s our job to make sure that all magical creatures and beings are registered and properly trained.”
“Which means what?” I asked, wiggling in my net. Where was the man who’d been sitting on the bench? Where were the people? Someone had to see this. It was the weekday, but there had to be someone around, someone who could help. I was about to be kidnapped and dragged off, probably to be sold into the sex trade.
Shit.
“It means you have a choice,” the man said primly. “You can choose to come with us now, and begin learning about your abilities, which you clearly need,” he looked down at me, his right brow raising, “Or you will die.”
“What?” I shrieked, not caring about who might be around. “Are you kidding me?”
“No,” the woman said. She pulled a glowing thing from her pocket, and it kept on coming out of her pocket until she held a three foot staff in her hand.
Only it wasn’t a staff. It was a harpoon.
“Why—why are you pointing that at me?” I asked, my voice shaky at first. I wasn’t sure if I was shaking with anger or fear—but neither one was good. At least my panic was under control. I couldn’t afford to lose it.
“Because you need to understand your choices,” the woman said calmly, as though she weren’t holding a sharp pointy thing right in my face.
“Where is it you think I need to go?” I wanted to stall for time. Maybe my dad would come looking for me and stop whatever the hell was going on here. Maybe someone from the MC would drive by, and see me. Dear god, please let someone see me!
“We have a place for you Underworlders,” the woman said. “We keep track of you.”
“Well, apparently not,” I shot back before I could stop myself.
She poked me with the end of the harpoon, which glowed a bit. It hurt, although when I looked at my arm where she’d touched me with it, there was no blood.
“Don’t get sassy,” she said. “The fact that we’re talking to you rather than just taking you out means you’re a step ahead.”
“Ahead of what?” I asked.
“Margiana, you’re talking too much,” the dry man said impatiently. “Raven Nox, siren, what is your decision?”
“I have a life,” I said. “A family.” I should have never told them my name. Shit, shit, shit.
“Another siren?” Margiana asked sharply.
“I didn’t even know I was a siren,” I found I was losing my patience. “There’s no other siren that I know of. And you’re kidnapping me, just so you know. I need to say goodbye to my dad. He will not give up, and he’ll ask lots of questions.” I was thinking about how he’d never given up on Mom. He wouldn’t let this go, the loss of me. My mind flashed to the face of my mother, the face I’d seen in the water right before I blacked out. I pushed her face aside, hard as it was. I didn’t have the luxury of thinking about her right now.
And it was obvious this pair in front of me had some kind of magical voodoo going on. I didn’t know if mind reading made up part of it, but I didn’t want them rooting around in my brain, seeing my mom. She was private, and off-limits.
“If we agree to help you say good-bye, and deal with the human concerns, you’ll come along quietly?” Margiana asked.
“Margiana!” the little dry man exclaimed.
She turned to him, the harpoon still in my face. “Cornelius, this makes life easier for us. Address potential problems now, in order to minimize them later.”
“There’s no guarantee of minimization,” Cornelius crossed his arms, looking mutinous.
He looked like a little kid who’d had a toy taken away.
“But it could, and that’s worth the time,” Margiana said.
He stared at her, and then huffed. “Very well.”
“So maybe let me get up, and take this thing off me, and get the harpoon out of my face?” I asked from my place on the ground.
They both looked at me, and I got the impression they’d actually forgotten me for a moment. It would be funny if I wasn’t on the ground, still tied up.
“Do you understand that should you attempt to run, or harm either of us, I will use this?” Margiana gestured with the harpoon, which thankfully didn’t touch me again.
“Yes. Will you let me handle my dad?” I could run when I got home.
“Will he be difficult?” Cornelius interjected.
“If I tell him you’re kidnapping his daughter, yes.”
They glared.
I glared back. I’d grown up with hard asses. Harpoon aside, these two had nothing on the people in the MC.
“Very well,” Cornelius huffed. “But you have been warned.”
Margiana put away the harpoon, and I was fascinated to see it disappear into a fold in her cape like it had never even been there.
Of all the things that had impressed on me the fact that this wasn’t just a pair of nutters with a few LED light tricks, this was it. The ease with which Margiana pulled out the harpoon and then put it away. She was more mild mannered and a hell of a lot less flustered than Cornelius, but I firmly believed she’d harpoon me if she thought it appropriate.
Cornelius waved his hand and the glowing net around me disappeared. I got up, stretching my arms and brushing off myself, and then looked to them. “Well? How are we getting there?”
“What?” Cornelius asked.
“My Bonnie—my motorcycle—is still in the drink,” I gestured toward the end of the jetty.
“Didn’t you drive it in there?” Margiana asked.
“That’s not the point. The point is I don’t have a ride, outside of whatever you two are rolling in.”
Margiana and Cornelius looked at one another, and then Margiana sighed. “Very well. Come with us.” She strode away, Cornelius following.
“I guess that was an invitation,” I said to no one in particular, starting to walk after the odd pair.
How in the hell was I going to explain this to my dad?
Chapter Three
In the end, it took about three hours to get out of my house. Margiana, showing real creativity, told my father they’d been on their way here to find me, and offer a scholarship to an exclusive academy for gifted youth.
I’d accepted the fact that I wasn’t going to be able to run on the ride back to my house. But I also didn’t think they were sex trade slavers. I couldn’t give a good reason, but it was something about Margiana that decided me. For this, I was going with instinct. You know, despite the threat of death by harpoon. Cornelius didn’t inspire the same level of faith, even though he wasn’t the one with the weapon.
“She’s twenty-three,” Dad said, folding his arms and leaning back. Disapproval radiated from him in waves. It was enough
to make me cringe, but I forced myself to stand up straight and meet his eyes.
We’d already been through the fact that he would need to go and find my Bonneville. I’d lied my ass off, telling him that it got away from me, and Margiana and Cornelius had happened to see me when the Bonneville drove off the jetty. Dad looked at me like I’d grown two heads, but he hadn’t disputed my account.
Which made me nervous. My dad was smart. I felt like he should be asking more questions, even as I was sweating bullets of relief that he wasn’t.
“We are not restricted by age,” Margiana said smoothly. “When we find talent, we seek it out.”
“How did you find Raven?” Dad’s eyebrow went up.
“She was participating in an online discussion that caught the eye of our admissions staff,” Margiana replied.
Dad looked at me.
I shrugged. “I don’t even know which one,” I said.
“We followed her online for a while,” Margiana said.
“Like stalkers?” Dad asked.
“No, like people collecting information to make a decision on a scholarship,” Cornelius spoke for the first time. “We don’t give out scholarships to just anyone, Mr. Nox.”
“What’s the point of this school?” Dad asked.
He was softening, even though they couldn’t tell.
“To help our students prepare for a world that offers creative challenges for them.”
“Do you want to do this?” Dad turned to me.
I nodded, not looking at Cornelius or Margiana. “I do. I think it would be interesting, and I think… “ I stopped, thinking about our fight. “I think it might be good for me.” I looked up at him then. I didn’t want to get into the fight in front of Snooty One and Two. The way they called me an Underworlder… like there was something wrong with being one. Whatever it was, I didn’t want my dad dragged into it. I needed to find out more, figure out how to deal with this.
He looked at me for what seemed like a long time. Then he sighed. “I think you might be right, Raven. What am I going to do without you?”
“Hire one of your fan club,” I said, my eyes filling with tears.
Dad opened his arms, and I walked into them. It would be the first time I’d left my dad ever. I’d been with him my entire life, and the enormity of what I was walking into hit me.
But if I didn’t go, they’d kill me. And what would that do to Dad? He’d never been the same after Mom disappeared.
Holy shit—I hadn’t had a chance to tell him about Mom. But maybe that would be something left for another time? His arms wrapped around me and I could smell his scent of Old Spice and grease, and the tears spilled down my cheeks.
“I’m going to miss you, baby,” he whispered.
“I’m going to miss you, Dad,” I whispered back.
“Well, we need to get this moving,” Cornelius said.
“Can I help you pack?” Margiana asked.
“Sure,” I said, walking through the shop and toward the house out back. I didn’t wait to see if she followed me, but I grinned at the thought of Cornelius stuck with my dad.
I walked out of the shop, and into the little house that we’d lived in as long as I could remember. Margiana was right behind me—like a cop, I thought.
“This is nice,” she said, looking around as she stepped in.
“Thanks,” I said shortly.
“You aren’t going to need a lot. You’ll have a uniform, and most of what you need will be provided.”
“What’s the real point of this school?” I turned on her. “Is it a prison? I heard how you talked about the Underworlders, like it was a dirty word or something.”
Margiana sighed. “To some, it is. If you start packing, because we really do need to go, I’ll tell you a bit about it. You need to know it anyway,” she said, almost to herself. “You can’t go there unprepared.”
“Great,” I turned again and went to my room. Pulling a bag from my closet, I didn’t look at her. “So talk.”
“The Academy of the Underworld was opened hundreds of years ago. It was started by the Gorgons—you know of them?”
I shook my head. “Nope.”
“Well, suffice to say, they were seen as very negative within the supernatural world. As are demons, vampires, dragons, mages, reapers, hydras—any supernatural being that uses humans in a less than positive manner as a point of their existence.”
“Like sirens?” I looked up to see that she was leaning in my doorway.
“Exactly. Sirens are sea witches, who lured sailors to their death with their beautiful singing,” Margiana said.
I held up a hand. “What?”
“What?”
“Say that part again. About sirens,” I said. This was too much.
“They sang, and their song was so beautiful it lured sailors off their boats, and right into the water. Depending on the type of siren it was, men would drown, or be turned into a monster, a variety of things,” she shrugged. “But it was never anything good for the humans.”
“Was it always because of their singing?” I asked.
“Yes. Their voices are pure and magical. Beautiful, really. Do you sing?”
I nodded. This made sense.
“I’m not surprised, even if you are only half siren,” Margiana said.
“How can you tell?”
“Your father is a human. That is very clear.”
“How can you tell?” I asked.
“Which means your mother must have been a siren. Thus, half-siren. Half, however, is more than enough.” Margiana shrugged again, continuing on as though I hadn’t spoken. She didn’t answer my question, either.
“How in the hell did my dad meet a siren?” My gaze went to the picture next to my bed. I stepped away from my suitcase to pick it up.
“Is that your mother?” Margiana asked, coming to stand next to me.
I nodded.
“I don’t recognize her, although this would have been before my time. But to our knowledge, there were no sirens here, despite the favorable conditions of this island. So that doesn’t mean anything. What was her name?”
“Sonia,” I said. “Sonia Nox.”
“Well, I’ll see if I can find out anything about her. When did she leave?”
“How are you so sure she left?” I felt my anger spring into life.
“Because sirens aren’t meant to live on land, with one human man. It makes sense that she’d leave.”
“Even me?” My chin jutted out.
“I don’t know of sirens with children, so I can’t answer that,” Margiana didn’t seem bothered by my sudden flare of anger.
I let it go. I wanted—needed—any information she could give me. Which meant I’d have to keep my anger under control.
“But I’ll look. I must admit, I find this mystery very intriguing,” Margiana said. “You’d better move it along, Raven. I fear for Cornelius with your father.”
We exchanged a look, and for a moment, I felt like she could, in another situation, be an ally.
“He doesn’t always hold his tongue when he ought to,” she sighed. “Please hurry. I’ll go make sure all parties have their limbs.” She walked from my room, leaving me with five minutes, give or take, to pack all the important things in my life into a bag.
Ten minutes later, I had my bags—it had taken more than one—packed and ready to go.
Dad smiled briefly when he saw me. “That was fast.”
“Supposedly I will be forced into a uniform,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“I want a picture of that,” Dad gave a grin. He put his arms around me, bags and all. “I love you, Raven.”
“I love you, too, Dad,” I said, keeping the tears at bay. I wasn’t going to cry again. I had to do this, and make it through this damn school, keep my dad safe, and then get out and do whatever I want.
That was the goal. Keep me alive and my dad safe. I was doing the right thing.
“Very well, let’s go,” Cornelius
said stiffly, moving toward the door with a speed I didn’t know he had.
I looked at my dad, and his eyes slid away. I was right—he’d been having some fun with the little man in the nubby brown suit. Oh well. Cornelius could use it, in my opinion. I wasn’t going to forget him telling me to cough and causing me to puke all over myself.
Dad took my bags from me and walked to the door. “Call me when you get there,” he said.
“We don’t have great cell service at the Academy,” Margiana said. “But she will have access to a phone. We like to encourage our students to write letters,” she finished.
“I’d like that,” Dad said.
He put my bags in the back of the nondescript black car, and then hugged me again. “This feels… both right and wrong,” he said.
“I know,” I said to his shoulder. “But given today…”
He cut me off. “I think it’s good. And you are special. Just like your mom. I’ve always known that. Go and take advantage of this, Raven.”
“I will,” I said. I wanted to stop, and ask him what had told him Mom was special, but there wasn’t time.
“But if you come back here dressed like either one of them, I will have to kick your ass,” he whispered.
I burst out into laughter and he joined me. Dad kissed the top of my head. “Go, while I can bear it.”
“I love you,” I said.
“Love you, too, honey,” he replied.
The three of us got into the car, and I turned to watch Dad get smaller and smaller as the car pulled away.
“Well, that was quite an ordeal. I hope this is worth it, Margiana,” Cornelius sniffed from the passenger seat. “The man was quite a brute.”
A cough from Margiana shut Cornelius up. The car was silent as we drove off New Castle and Great Island.
I hadn’t traveled much. With my mom disappearing, and my dad owning a business, there hadn’t been a lot of time. He’d taught me to work with him. At first, I’d thought it was because he wanted me as a partner. That was part of it, but he also wanted me with him, I’d realized a couple of years ago. And now I was leaving. At least it was for a good cause.
“Can we dispense with all of this now?” Cornelius waved his hands around. At what I didn’t know.