The Gay Teen's Guide to Defeating a Siren_Book 2_The Siren

by Cody Wagner

  Gripping the phone, I started swiping back. Three pictures in, I saw another picture of my dad. This time, he wasn’t glowing.

  “When did you take this?”

  I was hoping more than anything she’d say the picture was days old. Then, I could convince myself Mrs. Cooke had controlled Dad before she was caught, and her spell was just now wearing off. I actually folded my hands in prayer, begging someone, anyone, for the answer I wanted.

  “I took it last night.”

  I hung my head, utterly confused. Dad must have been controlled today. But how could that happen? How could Mrs. Cooke get to Dad from wherever she was being detained?

  Adrenaline coursed through me, and I realized those questions didn’t matter. What mattered was why. If the Siren put all this into motion today, that meant something was going to happen. Soon. The students weren’t safe like I’d believed.

  Frantic, I leaned over to Molly and whispered, “We have to go back!”

  “Where?”

  “To Sanctuary. Now.”

  She looked at me. “You’re scared.”

  “Very.”

  “Your friends are in trouble?”

  “Yes.”

  She nodded at me. Then she let out a shriek so loud, I covered my ears.

  Dad jammed on the brakes. The car swerved and squealed, until we’d stopped on the shoulder. He jerked around. “What is it?” His voice was accusatory. I bet he thought I’d done something. I ignored him and turned to Molly, as curious as everyone else.

  “I left my Ms! I left my Ms!”

  Mom leaned over her seat to stroke Molly’s hair. “Your stuffed M&Ms?”

  “Yes! I forgot it! We have to go back!”

  Mom and Dad looked at each other. I’m sure they were thinking, We’re not going all the way back for a toy.

  Molly let out another shriek and started bawling.

  Mom stroked her hair harder. “It’s OK, sweetie. I’m sure it’s somewhere in the car.”

  Mom and Dad hopped out as Molly continued crying.

  Three minutes later, they were back in their seats, empty-handed.

  I looked at Molly, who screamed louder than ever. She’d purposely left her stuffed M&M bag back at Sanctuary. She couldn’t have suspected the Siren, and must have done it to keep in touch with the school. Talk about an amazing sister.

  “Honey,” Mom said, “I’m sure they’ll mail it. As soon as we get home, I’ll call them.”

  Molly shook her head and cried harder. “First, you made Blaize go away. Now this.”

  Normally, I would have cringed: that was a low blow. But I had to get back to Sanctuary and decided to jump in. Clasping my hands, I begged, “We can’t go back, Mom. Please. Leaving was bad enough.”

  If any constants existed in the world, they were: One, Molly was super spoiled. With me gone, she was an only child who got what she wanted. Two, until I was cured of my “gay,” Mom and Dad did the opposite of what I wanted.

  I used that to my advantage and knew it would work.

  We were going back to Sanctuary.

  For a stuffed toy.

  Five minutes later, Dad yanked the wheel, gunned it, and made a U-Turn. Molly’s fake tears had reduced to a whimper, and she leaned her head on my shoulder again. I absently patted her head, while my mind went crazy. Part of me expected to find the school gone when we arrived. Maybe it had sank into a giant pit. Or a volcano—spawned by the Siren—had erupted and buried Sanctuary under tons of lava.

  Despite my ever-worsening scenarios, the wrought-iron gate still stood an hour-and-a-half later when we approached the campus.

  That didn’t stop me from frantically scanning for catastrophe. Knowing my dad had been under control—my dad! —my entire foundation was shaken. Never in a million years did I think that would happen. On top of that, everything I’d learned this year suddenly felt like a lie. Nothing made sense.

  However, all the buildings were still standing as we passed the gate. Then, as soon as we started around the road lasso, I heard a bell sound. The warning system was still in place, which was a good sign. As we approached the Classroom Center, I saw students shuffling around. More good news.

  Then my heart stopped. About a dozen girls walking across campus glowed purple. I flew to the window. Where were they going?

  That didn’t matter. What mattered was this: now that she thought I was out of the way, the Siren was striking again.

  Without warning, I threw open the door and leapt out. We weren’t going very fast, and I rolled once, hopped to my feet, and took off running.

  “Blaize!”

  I ignored my mom’s shouts and sprinted as fast as I could toward the younger dorm. Roze and Cassie could have been anywhere, but my feet instinctively led me to my room. For a split second, I worried I might not be able to get into the building. Sanctuary had taken my access card, after all. Miraculously, a guy was coming out of the dorm as I arrived.

  The second he opened the door, I shoved him aside and barreled in. He shouted something. I yelled an apology and ran to my room. The door was shut, and I began pounding. I heard footsteps on the other side and pumped my fists as Cassie opened the door.

  “Blaize!”

  I grabbed her and pulled her into a hug.

  “Thank god.” I led her into the room and shut the door.

  Staring back at the wall, as if I could see through it, I said, “Something is going on. Something bad. Tons of girls are under control!”

  I turned back around. Cassie’s suitcase sat on her bed. It was almost full.

  “Oh no,” I said. “Is your dad here to get you?”

  Suddenly, something moved on my bunk bed. I looked up and saw Roze.

  She was glowing purple.

  I stepped backward until my back hit the door.

  Covering my mouth, I whispered, “Roze is under control!”

  Terrified, I went to pull Cassie outside, when I noticed her expression wasn’t at all surprised.

  I gripped the doorknob behind me. “You know she’s under control?”

  Cassie looked at the ground.

  “What’s going on?” I said.

  Cassie evaded my gaze, turned, and closed her suitcase.

  “Where’s Mrs. Cooke?”

  Cassie ignored me. Her movements were calm.

  I whispered, “Did you know those girls outside were under control?”

  Her silence was as good as confirmation.

  My legs gave out, and I slide to the floor as I realized what was happening. Mrs. Cooke told Cassie she was attacking, and Cassie was leaving beforehand. Mrs. Cooke had gotten to Cassie, after all. Somehow, she had dug her claws into her adoptive daughter’s brain.

  Pushing myself up, I rushed to Cassie, grabbed her shoulders, and turned her to face me. “I see what’s going on. But you can’t turn your back on Sanctuary. Doing nothing is as bad as helping the Siren. You’re better than that. Don’t run away. Help me, and we’ll deal with Mrs. Cooke after.”

  I stood back. Cassie looked at me for several seconds. Her eyes teared up, but her voice remained calm as she said, “What made you come back?”

  I didn’t know what her question had to do with anything, but I said, “Molly took a picture of Dad this morning. He was under control. How did Mrs. Cooke do it?”

  Cassie remained silent as a tear escaped and slid down her cheek.

  I grabbed her shoulders again. “Stop! What’s happening on campus is more important than you. Or me. Get a hold of yourself and let’s go. I need you.”

  At that, I started pulling Cassie toward the door. My grip must have been too tight, because she let out a whimper. Suddenly, Roze leapt down off my bed and shoved me. Hard. I crashed into the floor. Horrified, I looked back at Roze, who stood in front of Cassie like a bodyguard.

  “Don’t hurt her again,” Roze said.

  I stared at Cassie, desperate for . . . something. Once again, Cassie avoided my gaze. Furious, I pushed myself up and screamed, “CASSIE!”
as loud as I could. I didn’t know what the point was. Maybe I hoped to snap her out of her funk, to break the spell Mrs. Cooke cast on her.

  Cassie simply said, “You weren’t supposed to come back.”

  I gaped at her. “What do you mean? I had to!” I clasped my hands in prayer again. “Look, I know it’s hard to hurt your family—”

  I’d struck a nerve. Cassie pointed at me. “You know nothing about my family. Or my life. Nothing.”

  “I know they’re horrible. And they hurt you.”

  She shook her head. “It’s more than that.”

  I ignored her. “I also know how blood can seem so much thicker than water. And that sometimes you’re led to do things you don’t believe in.” I sighed. “You can’t sacrifice the school for Mrs. Cooke. She’s not worth it. Don’t let her win. Please.”

  Suddenly, Debate Cassie appeared. She grabbed a chair, turned it to face me, and sat. “They killed my real mom.”

  I covered my mouth. “Mr. And Mrs. Cooke?”

  She shook her head. “No. The government.”

  “Huh?”

  Anger flashed in her eyes. “They forced my mother to live in a cell. For years. They took everything from her. And then they killed her.”

  I stared at her, trying to comprehend what she was saying.

  “They robbed her of everything.” Cassie’s eyes glistened again. “And they robbed me of a mother. All because she had a gift. And they were going to do the same to me.”

  I scooted backward, reeling, as random dots began connecting themselves in my brain. Without realizing what I was doing, I stood. “Give me your phone.”

  I expected Cassie to refuse, but she reached to the desk and grabbed her phone. She handed it over and studied me. I immediately went in and opened her pictures. It’s like an invisible person in my head was telling me what to do.

  I scrolled back through her pictures until I found it: the image of Jimmy’s file. It looked the same as when Cassie showed us over Halloween. I swiped to the next picture. Another page of Jimmy’s file appeared. I kept scrolling; the file wasn’t one page long, like Cassie had told us. There was a ton of information.

  I dropped the phone. It clattered to the ground, and I heard the screen crack. My chin sank to my chest, and I felt as if my life were draining out of me.

  “You’re the Siren.”

  My voice was completely dead, as my mind tried to process what I’d just said. Cassie’s real mother was a Siren, and Cassie had watched her imprisoned. As a child, Cassie wouldn’t have understood why. Instead, she would have seen her mother’s life ripped away.

  I looked up at Cassie. Her hands were folded across her lap. She looked as tiny and as mousy as ever. And just as upset as she’d been for months. She studied me just like she’d always done. This time, it pissed me off.

  “Don’t look at me like that.”

  She flinched.

  I straightened. “You never get to look at me like that again!”

  “You weren’t supposed to be here,” she said.

  “Why? So you could get away with whatever it is you’re doing?”

  She shook her head.

  “Then what? I don’t understand any of this.” That was the truest thing I’d said yet. Cassie was my best friend. She’d done everything for me. She’d tried to stop the Siren. Or so I thought.

  “I didn’t want you to get hurt,” she said.

  It wasn’t a mean statement, but it made me even more furious. I snatched her phone off the floor and flung it. It hit the wall and smashed. Pieces went flying everywhere. One hit Roze in the face, but she remained next to Cassie as if nothing had happened. I realized she’d barely spoken. She was simply a bodyguard.

  Just like I was Jimmy’s bodyguard last year in Little Rock.

  I shook my head as the realization crashed into me like a tank. Cassie killed Jimmy. Cassie, my best friend, had murdered wonderful, amazing Jimmy. And she was only a kid.

  “Why wouldn’t you want to hurt me?” I started crying. “You had no problem hurting Jimmy.”

  Cassie simply shrugged, but a tear ran down her face.

  Her reaction set me off. “How could you. HOW COULD YOU!” I grabbed my chest, aching. “Jimmy was innocent and he—” My voice broke, but I managed to whisper, “He didn’t deserve that.”

  To my surprise, Cassie started crying harder, and she said, “I didn’t want to.”

  I grabbed a chunk of her already broken phone and started wringing it, trying to destroy it even more. “THEN WHY!?”

  Cassie wiped her face. It wasn’t mousy, anymore. Although she looked the same, my mind twisted her into something ugly. Debate Cassie appeared, and she became even uglier. “One life isn’t worth thousands.”

  The statement sounded familiar. I looked at her, knowing she’d said it before. Then it hit me. The line was from one of her debates with Roze. Cassie had talked about how she condoned one death if it saved two people. Even if those two people weren’t necessarily going to die.

  Other debates started running through my head. “Last year, you said a dictatorship could work.”

  Cassie didn’t respond. I didn’t expect her to; it was a rhetorical statement. My mind was processing the things she’d talked about. At the time, I thought Cassie was taking the road less traveled, purely for the sake of argument. Now, as things sank in, I realized those must have been her true beliefs. Seeing her mom supposedly used and killed had fostered a deep-seeded hatred for the government. Additionally, her power made her feel superior. Cassie felt better equipped to be in charge. Or maybe she just wanted revenge.

  Either way, this girl standing in front of me was not the person I’d thought she was. And if I’d just read between the lines, I would have realized she’d given us all the evidence in the world.

  I found myself becoming as calm as Cassie. Or maybe I was just exhausted to the point of not caring. “Why did you send me home? You could have just killed me.”

  A pleading look appeared in her eyes for just a second. “I told you. I didn’t want to hurt you.”

  “Why?”

  “I cared too much. For you.”

  I pointed at her, careful not to advance, for fear of setting off Roze. “What about Sanctuary? What about Roze!?”

  “Everyone will be better off when I’m in charge.”

  “Don’t give me that debate crap. The students here are the ones who need help.”

  “I’m talking about the larger majority. Sacrifices have to be made along the way.”

  “Shut up!”

  “You wouldn’t understand.”

  “Then enlighten me!” I screamed, spreading my arms.

  She didn’t respond, so I said, “And what makes you so qualified to decide what’s best for this so-called majority?”

  Again, she didn’t respond, and I said, “And who is this majority anyway?”

  Cassie eye’s steeled over. “Everyone.”

  I shook my head, trying to understand. “Everyone as in everyone? Like the entire country? The world?”

  Instead of answering, she got up and went to her suitcase. “I have to go.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “To make things right.”

  “Right by who? Yourself?”

  She looked at me, her tiny face bathed in shadows. “You’ll see.”

  “And what is that supposed to mean?”

  “Things will be better.”

  “How?”

  Again, she didn’t answer me.

  I went to her and wrenched the suitcase out of her hands. “You’re not leaving.”

  Cassie glanced at Roze, who took a step forward.

  “What?” I said to Cassie. “Are you going to sick Roze on me? I can take her. And she’ll understand.” I stepped between Cassie and her suitcase. “You’re not leaving this room.”

  Cassie dropped her head. “Then you leave me no choice.”

  She took a deep breath and began to sing. What came out was woman’s
voice, with an edge of something different, something . . . angelic. Her voice seemed to float around the room, encompassing everything in it. And it was a voice I’d heard once before, in Pamata, almost two years ago.

  The song seemed to last for hours, although Cassie only sang thirteen words:

  Roze, if Blaize tries to stop me from leaving, jump out the window.

  “As you wish,” Roze said, taking a few steps toward the window.

  I jerked myself away from Cassie’s suitcase which caused Roze to stop. Tears flooded my eyes again. “How can you do this? To Roze?”

  Cassie leaned forward and grabbed her suitcase.

  “SHE DID EVERYTHING FOR YOU!” I screamed.

  Cassie took a few steps toward the door. Without thinking, I lunged at her.

  The second I did, Roze ran to the window, grabbed the sill, and stuck a leg out.

  “NO!” I shouted. “I’m stopping! I’m stopping!”

  I froze in place. When I did, Roze stopped. Her leg was still hanging out the window, but she didn’t jump.

  I felt utterly destroyed. Everything we’d accomplished was wasted. More than that, everything I’d built the last two years was hollow and empty.

  Turning my head, I saw Cassie reach the door. She turned the handle and opened it. Then she faced me. Her cheeks were wet again. “I didn’t mean it to happen like this. If you only knew.”

  “Knew what?”

  She shook her head. I didn’t think she was going to speak again, but she said, “Give me the locket.”

  I almost touched my pocket but forced my hands to my sides. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Cassie must have known I was lying, because she looked at Roze. I understood: If I didn’t comply, Cassie was going to order Roze to jump. For a split second, I wondered if I could lunge at Cassie before she could sing. But that would count as trying to stop her, which would send Roze out the window.

  Defeated, I dragged the locket out of my pocket and held it out. Cassie took it, and hung it around her neck. Then, without another word, she left.

  Twenty-Six

  A.E.R.O.

  The next hour was the longest and worst of my life. My best friend had destroyed me, and I was powerless to stop her. I wasn’t even sure I could if I’d tried. She’d been everything to me. Cassie was the person I talked to when I needed someone the most. She was the person I could talk to about anything. My entire life felt like a lie.