Chained (The Siren Series #2)

by L. A. Griffiths

  “Ha, so you do like him then?” she said with a giggle.

  “Yeah, he’s ok, but I don’t think its right, I mean look at what we are dealing with?”

  Behind us Marcus gave a little snore and Sophia and I started giggling like two school girls.

  “That’s why you’re much stronger then I am, Ellie.”

  “No, not really, I’m just trying to deal like everyone else. We all have our ways of coping with things.” I said.

  “Yeah, I’m just hoping that the council will help us.” Sophia brought her knees up to her chest and hugged herself.

  “I am nervous about it, do you know what they are like?” I asked.

  “Everyone has their own view on them, I haven’t had any dealings with them and hope not to either.” Sophia regretted her words as soon as they left her pink lips.

  “I’m sorry, it just-.” She tried to apologies.

  “No, it’s ok.” I replied.

  I felt a chill come over me and I shuffled myself closer to the fire.

  There was another odd silence between us.

  “Ellie, what happened to your mother?” Her words took me aback. “Rhea has told me a few things but nothing else. I hope I’m not being nosey.”

  I didn’t really know how to answer her question, no one had ever really asked before. Not even I know what happened to my mother, I was too young at the time but my Dad had said that she had died of an illness. I didn’t ask questions at the time nor did I want to, we just never talked about it. It was a sore subject and nether one of us wanted to upset the other. I took a deep breath and answered her.

  “She died when I was very young, I don’t even remember what she looked like since there are not many pictures in the house. I think my Dad just couldn’t bear seeing pictures of her, It was really hard for him.” My stomach tightly knotted itself and I felt sick. Guilt flooded in like a burst dam. I tried to hold back the tears.

  “Don’t worry, Ellie. You’ll see your Dad again.” Sophia could see how upset I was.

  “Yeah, I hope.” I whispered. “I just miss him so much, but what I’m doing is good for him, otherwise I would be putting him in danger.” Those words I spoke over and over again gave little comfort. Was I doing the right thing?

  “So what do you think of Naaz then?” Sophia quickly threw the question at me.

  “Well, I know that you hate her.” I said.

  “With good reason!” Sophia replied “look at what she did to you.”

  “I know, but there’s something about her, but I cannot put my finger on it.”

  “That she’s evil, that’s what.”

  “Well there is that, but it’s something about her that just feels wrong.”

  “I think we should stay away from her.” Sophia said.

  “You don’t like it, because she an old friend of Rhea’s.” I said.

  “That’s not it.” She quickly said.

  I just stared at her with two raised eyebrows.

  “Fine. But there is something about her though.” Sophia said.

  “Agreed, but for now we are under her roof and I don’t want to do anything that could upset her right now.” I looked at the room around me, I could hardly call this a stable living area but for now it would do. It was better than living in a dark pit for two weeks.

  “I think we should call it a night, we’ve got a big day tomorrow.” Sophia stood up and brushed herself down.

  “Night.” I whispered.

  I curled up on the battered brown sofa that had a chunk of stuffing pulled from it. I closed my eyes and hoped sleep would claim me.

  Chapter Twelve

  I was pulled from my comfy sofa into a crowd of the sewer creatures. I could feel my body being pulled either side by the disgusting leaches. They wanted revenge, and by ripping me apart that’s how they would be appeased. I tried to pull against the horde but they had strength in numbers and I was just one little girl, scared and alone, fighting against the horde.

  “Let go!” I screamed at them.

  Tighter they gripped their black talon nails around my arms until scarlet drops trickled down my skin. I was forced down onto my knees, waiting to face their judgment. The floor then pounded as someone strong approached my vision. It was Barbus, his long matted dark hair hung around him like rats tails. He almost smelled as bad as the leaches. They threw me at him and Barbus caught me around the waist and pulled me closer until it hurt.

  “I told you I would find you.” His voice rang through my ears. “Do you think she can protect you? You are mine!” his voice vibrated throughout my body.

  “I am no ones, let me go.” I screamed.

  “You murdered their mother.” Barbus pointed to the group of leaches that lay in waiting. “They want their revenge and they will come for you and your friends.”

  “It wasn’t me, I didn’t kill her!” I yelled.

  His strong hands gripped my face until it hurt. “You stood by and did nothing! You are equally guilty!”

  “I tried to stop them.” I tried to explain myself but it was no use.

  Barbus laughed in my face and I felt hopeless. “I will let my leaches tear apart your friends as you watch.”

  “I won’t let you!” I yelled.

  “You don’t have a choice. I’ll be seeing you very soon.” Barbus laughed as searing hot pain drove through my chest.

  I threw myself off the sofa expecting to take on the leaches, but found myself in the living room with Marcus staring at me.

  “Bad dream.” I muttered.

  “Oh, I’ve had my share of them.” Marcus replied.

  I didn’t know whether or not to ask him about Barbus. Did he even know about him?

  “Uh, Marcus?”

  “Yeah?” he answered.

  “Do you know anyone called Barbus?” I waited for his reply.

  “Barbus, name does ring a bell but cannot think where I’ve heard it before.”

  “Oh, it’s ok, never min-.”

  “Got it!” Marcus blurted out “that’s where I know the name from. He’s wanted by the Protectors, nasty piece of work, he’s killed many of us. Why do you ask?”

  “He’s the one that captured me.” I replied.

  “Oh, I’m sorry.”

  “It’s ok, I’m slowly getting over it.”

  “Well, he’ll get what coming to him very soon.” he said.

  Marcus then dropped down to the floor and began his exercises.

  I tried to hide my embarrassment and it felt even weirder because of what Sophia had said last night. I tried to steal a glance at him while he did his routine stretches and exercises, his strong body began to tense and release as while puffing and pant while he counted.

  “Do you do that every day?” I asked him.

  “Yes, every day, got to keep my body in good shape.” He panted.

  “You look fine to me.” I blurted out and my face flushed with colour. Crap, crap.

  Marcus chuckled to himself.” Oh, you noticed did you?”

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare.” I quickly said.

  Marcus stopped and picked himself up from his pushups. He pulled his t-shirt off revealing his flat strong stomach.

  I quickly spun around. “Do you really have to do that?” I asked.

  “What?” he chuckled “I don’t want to get my shirt sweaty do I?”

  “Oh yeah, I guess you’re right.”

  “Sorry if I’m embarrassing you.” He said.

  I cleared my throat. “No, no you’re not.”

  I decided to leave the hot awkward room, but Marcus followed behind me. As soon as I opened the door, Sophia spun on the spot and greeted us with a shocked expression.

  “So what have you two been doing then?” Sophia asked.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Well, you come out of a room all hot and bothered, and Marcus follows with his top off and a sweaty body?” Sophia’s eyebrows went up and down suggestively.

  “Uh, no, you’ve got it all
wrong.” I tried to say but there was no point.

  “Yeah, yeah. I’ll keep your secret safe.” she winked.

  Marcus walked passed me and headed up the stairs. “Off for a shower.” He said.

  As he ascended the stairs I caught a glimpse of his strong sweaty back. It was covered with tattooed words that I could not make out. I tried to get a closer look but he quickly turned around and I had to drop my gaze.

  “There’s only cold water left.” Sophia reminded him.

  “That’s fine with me.” He said with a wink and disappeared off upstairs.

  Sophia turned back to me. “Now tell me all the details.”

  “There’s nothing to tell.” I mumbled.

  “Liar, I saw the two of you coming out of that room, and I’m sure I heard some huffing and puffing in there.”

  “No, there was nothing like that!” I blurted out.

  “Liar.” laughed Sophia.

  “Oh yeah did you see the writing on Marcus’s back?” I asked.

  “No not really, I wasn’t looking. Oh, and I thought you weren’t interested?”

  “I’m not, it just caught my eye.” I replied.

  We were soon interrupted by Rhea and Naaz entering from the kitchen with faces like stone.

  “Ellie, a moment.” Rhea called me over to her and I knew this was going to be bad news.

  “I want to speak to you about the council.” she said.

  “Is it bad?” I asked.

  “No, it’s just the do’s and don’ts. Don’t speak to them unless spoken to. You will probably want to voice your opinion, but don’t. Address them as either lord or lady if spoken to and just let others do the talking, ok?”

  I took a moment to think it over. I just had to remain quiet until they wanted me to speak. Just by thinking about the council made me very nervous. My stomach knotted tightly and I thought I was going to throw up. I took a few deep breaths and tried to steady my nerves.

  “Are you ok, Ellie?”

  “Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” I lied.

  Rhea gave me one last look and joined up with Sophia. I just stood there thinking of what the council could do to me. Torture, capture, or even just straight out kill me? I put the last suggestion to the back of my mind and hoped it would never come true.

  “Where’s Marcus? We don’t need to keep them waiting.” asked Naaz.

  “He’s uh, in the shower.” I said.

  “Well, we haven’t got all day to wait for him.” She said “Go get him.”

  “But he’s in the shower, he’ll be out when he’s ready.” I said nervously.

  Naaz stared at me and raised one curious eyebrow. “Good god girl, please tell me you’ve..”

  I quickly interrupted her. “No, I haven’t and if I go up there he’ll think I’m stalking him or something.”

  “Fine, I’ll go.” Naaz said and quickly walked up the stairs.

  Something inside me didn’t want Naaz going anywhere near Marcus, but I didn’t know why. Was I starting to fall for him, I didn’t have time for that right now.

  Naaz was at the top of the stairs but before she could enter, Marcus came out towel drying his hair. I breathed a sigh of relief and blushed just by thinking about him.

  Get a grip girl. We’ve got more important things to do then to fawn over some guy.

  “Right, now that everyone is here, we can get this over and done with.” Rhea said.

  Like many times before we stood in a circle and I grabbed onto Rhea’s hand, Marcus stood next to me and for once I would have like to have held his hand.

  Focus Ellie. I told myself again.

  We were pulled away from Naaz’s home and hurtling towards the unknown. I still couldn’t get use to teleporting, but at least I didn’t throw up anymore.

  We arrived at the front of what looked like a very large courthouse. Large stone walls covered around the building with large intimidating metal gate standing proudly at the front. A large brass knocker had attached itself to gate that took the shaped of a mocking grin. I turned to Rhea and she gave me an encouraging smile. The fear inside me built and I tried to hide it as best as I could.

  “Don’t worry, it will be ok.” Rhea said.

  Naaz walked up to the grinning knocker and pounded on it twice. A few seconds later, two large men who looked like protectors appeared in front of us. Naaz acknowledged the two and pointed at me when they spoke. I slowly back away from them hoping to run if I needed to. The two men looked me up and down then walked up to me.

  “Are you Ellie Laveau?” One of the men asked.

  I swallowed a lump in my throat and tried to answer without fear fumbling my words. “Yes, that’s me.”

  The men nodded at each other and without touching me they herded me through the gates and up towards the imitating building. The court house stood tall with slanted sun damaged roofs. The building’s colour was white but you could tell it had faded. It needed a new coat of paint badly. I was marched up the long pathway towards the building, ready for my fate to be determined.

  “Rhea?” I called out.

  “Don’t worry, everything is going to be ok.” she said.

  I took Rhea’s words to heart, but right now I needed more than just words.

  My so-called bodyguards ushered me into the building filled with people with grim faces, they looked like they were waiting for their own deaths, and I hoped to god that would never happen to me. I was rushed passed many doors leading off into the unknown. Decorated on the walls were grand paintings done by hand of famous people throughout history. I couldn’t quite put a name to their faces, but some of them were a few that even I was shocked to see depicted on the walls.

  We came to a stop at a normal looking door. I looked around, the area was devoid of people. Was my time up? I turned to both of the protectors.

  “Inside.” one of them said.

  My gut instinct was telling me to run and never to step into that room. I tried to slowly back away from it.

  “What’s in there?” I asked.

  “Inside.” The protector’s voice grew louder.

  Well there’s nowhere else to go. I said to myself.

  I pushed open the door, expecting the worst. I squeezed my eyes closed, hoping nothing bad would happen. The protectors slammed the door shut, locking me in. I rushed back to the door and started pounding on the sturdy wood.

  “Hey! Open the door!” I yelled.

  It was no use, I was stuck here until they decided what to do with me. Now only realizing, sitting in the middle of the room was a tall podium that dominated the tiny looking room. Above me the floor boards warped around the weight of whatever was upstairs. Within seconds many footsteps filled into the room and there was chatter of voices of men and women. My palms began to sweat and my stomach was in a tuff of knots. I slowly breathed in and out and I tried to clear my busy mind. I needed to get a grip on myself, if I didn’t play this right I would be in big trouble. I just had to remember what Rhea told me. Speak only when spoken to and address them as either lord or lady. Was all this really necessary? A light on the wall pulsed red with the words STAND ON PODUIM. I nervously took my place and waited for my fate.

  The wooden podium rose up into the room above us, the crowd behind me gasped as if they had just witnessed a terrible crime. I looked back behind and I saw sitting on the front row was Rhea and the gang. She didn’t wave or smile, she just sat there with such elegance. I turned to the front to be greeted by four tall judge’s boxes. Each one filled with a person wearing a dark purple cloak. They looked down at me, each supporting a different mask. I felt like a tiny ant, ready to be squished by their wrath.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “This court has come to order.” said the voice of a man, he wore a full mask embodied with many crystals and jewels that reflected the light.

  “You are Ellie Laveau, is that correct?” a screechy womanly voiced said. I looked up to face her mask. It was white china with gold motif around the eyes and red ruby lips.
It looked so elegant.

  Was this the time to speak? Oh crap, oh crap.

  “Yes, my lady.” I said formally.

  “The Siren everyone has been looking for?” another voice pierced the room. My eye caught his mask, it wasn’t like the others this one was creepy. The dark purple robbed figure wore a baby doll mask with dark cracks around the eyes. I stared at it for a moment and I could feel it’s dark eyes penetrate inside me.

  “Yes, that’s me, my lord.” I said.

  “So, Miss Laveau. Why have you avoided us all this time?” Another voice came into play. This man wore a dirty white mask with a long protruding nose at the front. It had black rimmed eyes that looked like he wore spectacles.

  They all peered down at me waiting for me to answer them. “I haven’t been avoiding you; this is still all new to me. I didn’t even know about anything about this until recently.” I said.

  “We have had sources saying that you have been kept from us? Can you tell us more about that?” said the ruby lipped woman.

  “I know nothing of these so-called sources.” Deep down we knew it was Naaz who went running to the council to blab everything and now we were all paying the price. “And I have been in hiding for fear of my life.”

  The peanut gallery behind burst into their fake gasps and I tried to suppress an urge to roll my eyes.

  “Quiet, quiet!” ordered the scary baby faced masked man.

  “Are these allegations true?” asked the jeweled masked figure. “Have you been on the run for your life?”

  “Yes, my lords. I have been attacked in my own home by the leaches.” As soon as the words left my lips the crowd behind began their gasps and their idle chatter. I guess the leaches are a sore point around here then. The four judges tried to get the court back into order.

  “Do you speak the truth?” asked the longed nosed masked man.

  “Yes, and they are still coming for me.” My voice trembled with a hint of fear.

  The robe judges whispered amongst each other. Now and then they would stare at me and then return to their whispering. They finished their chatter and turned towards the crowd.

  “We have no knowledge of these so-called attacks.” The jeweled masked man said.