The Fall (The Siren Series)

by Higginson, Rachel

  My shoulders slumped and I whispered a few more pleading words to my friends. I backed up toward the door and opened it slowly as tears ran down my cheeks.

  “Please,” I cried to them.

  Sloane shook her head and looked on me with pity. “Do not call us, Ivy. Do not talk to us again. You have our answer.”

  I glanced desperately at Exie but she shrugged despondently. This was their choice. This was their final decision.

  We’d planned this out our whole lives but when the opportunity finally arrived, they gave it up completely in the face of our first real hardship.

  But I wouldn’t give up on them. I wouldn’t leave without trying every chance I got, until the very last minute.

  Nix yanked me out of the office and glared down at me. “I told you not to let anyone else in there except me.”

  I shrugged. “I wanted to offer my condolences.”

  He glowered some more, but then people started pushing him from behind and his irritation switched directions.

  “We need to go,” he informed me tersely.

  He led me out to the town car and pushed me inside. He was right behind me. He slid as close as he could, so that his body pressed against mine. We waited with equal impatience, but for different reasons, before my mother joined us.

  When the driver finally took off, Nix gave instructions for home instead of the cemetery.

  “Why are we going home?” I asked gently.

  “Because, despite what you think, Ivy, I care about you.” He looked out his window and sighed. “It’s not safe for you yet. And I want to keep you safe.”

  I did not believe him for a second. But I did realize what my singing had done and how unsafe it truly was for me.

  I missed the final goodbye to Anaxandra and Evaleen, but it would have been for my selfish benefit anyway. Their souls were already gone from those empty shells. What was buried in the ground couldn’t hold them anymore.

  They were free.

  Truly free.

  And so I said my final goodbye in whispered thoughts and sincere prayers. I would see them again one day. One day we would be free together.

  Only time would tell how soon that day would come.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  First day of school.

  I really hoped to avoid today.

  I was supposed to be gone already. I was supposed to have escaped.

  Mallory’s meeting with Jared Arturo was supposed to happen three days ago and I had not heard from her once. I’d even risked texting Ryder a question mark from my phone because I couldn’t stand the silence anymore.

  He had never texted back, which I took to mean he hadn’t heard either.

  Or he would fill me in today.

  I had to admit, I felt a little shocked that Nix let me come to school this morning. He’d sent me with his driver and promised that the same car would pick me up directly after school, but he had let me leave the house.

  Finally.

  I had been trapped at home since the funeral. I hadn’t seen Exie or Sloane since then either. I actually hadn’t talked to anyone since the funeral, other than my mom and Nix.

  And it had been hell.

  Nix wasn’t always around. He did have actual businesses to run and then there was the black market human trafficking organization he had to keep tabs on. But he had moved in in every other way. And when he wasn’t with us, he stationed two Gigantes at the door in his place.

  My mother was allowed to come and go as she pleased.

  I was not.

  And while no one talked about it with me, I knew Nix planned to take me back to Greece soon. I overheard him on the phone making preparations or arguing with my mom about it. She was insistent that I finish school here, that he keep his part of their deal. He didn’t care what she thought.

  I had been shocked when Nix told me I would go to school today. I didn’t ask questions though. This might be my only chance. I didn’t know what Ryder had planned, but I could not go home. I would take his offer and leave with him today. We would hide out homeless if we had to.

  I could never go home again.

  I dressed this morning ready to run, but I didn’t want to draw attention to my outfit and or shoot myself in the foot by being obvious. So I chose a floor-length, black and white chevron-striped maxi skirt to hide my comfortable espadrilles and then a plain white fitted tee. I threw my hair in a bun on the top of my head and hoped I appeared like I was trying to look nice while also dressing as comfortable as I could get away with. I shoved my favorite secret-hoodie into my backpack and covered my tattoos out of habit.

  I had wanted to say goodbye to my mother before I left. I had deliberated over the words I would say to her all night. But this morning, I still didn’t really know what to say and I didn’t know if I could really trust her or not. I decided it was safer not to say anything, to act like this morning was no different than any other. But as I left her standing in the middle of the kitchen, I found that I was surprisingly sentimental. I ignored the choked tears at the back of my throat and waved casually at her. She gave me a small, sad smile and then went back to staring into her coffee cup.

  Maybe she hadn’t loved me. Maybe the story she told me about my dad was all lies. But when I looked back at my childhood and especially in recent years, I could see time after time when she had stepped between Nix and me. She had protected me when his rage flared out of control and when he tried to rape me the other night.

  In her own way, she had kept me safe.

  And that deserved some kind of thank you.

  But the opportunity hadn’t come and so I pushed those thoughts from my head.

  I would send her a letter or something once I was safe. I would figure out how to make it untraceable. Or maybe I would send it from an airport on our way.

  I would find a way to tell her that I was grateful for her sacrifices.

  Students loitered all over the front hill of Central High School. As I walked up the long, tedious staircase from the street to the front doors. I avoided eye contact with most of a student body who either wanted to murder me slowly or get in my pants. I felt especially vulnerable today. Maybe it was because I felt the bondage of my life holding me back, or because I planned to run today; maybe it was the secret that pressed against my heart and swirled around me with every thought and movement. I felt like they all knew, like they could see right through me and knew exactly what I was planning.

  I didn’t take another breath until I reached the top of the staircase. Ryder and Phoenix were waiting for me. It was a little strange without Chase, but he was off to college now. He was free from me. He was free to live out his life to the fullest.

  I walked straight over to Ryder’s open arms and let myself fall into him. He crushed me against his chest and buried his face in the curve of my neck. We held each other, uncaring when the bell rang or people started to push by us to get into the school building.

  “Are you guys breaking up?” Phoenix asked with all the tones of awkwardness and invasiveness that should be present with a question like that.

  Ryder finally pulled back and laughed a little lighter. “This is kind of the opposite of breaking up, Man.”

  “Er,” Phoenix blushed tomato red and avoided looking directly at us.

  “Not that opposite!” I assured him.

  “For real, are you guys alright?” Phoenix asked seriously.

  “We’re fine,” I promised. “Never better actually.”

  I looked at Phoenix as he fidgeted in front of us. He had been a good friend over the past year. Actually… he had been a really good friend. He’d never been obsessed with me. He’d never been anything but a friend. And I genuinely liked him.

  I was really going to miss him.

  I left Ryder and wrapped my arms around Phoenix’s middle. He was so tall and skinny that I felt like an ogre with my arms wrapped so tightly around his narrow waist. He patted me on the head but then eventually gave in and hugged me back
.

  “Ivy, what’s going on?” he pleaded gently. “You’re acting weird.”

  I blinked back tears and looked up at him. “I just thought you were jealous of the hug I gave Ryder. I didn’t want you to feel left out. I love you, too, Phoenix.”

  He melted a little. “Aw, and I love you, my little Ginga Ninja.”

  I let go of him and took Ryder’s hand. We walked into the school and I felt like a weight lifted from my shoulders. I smiled genuinely at the familiar halls that had felt like such a prison last year. This wasn’t purgatory; this was the first step to freedom.

  Ryder squeezed my hand in his and I felt this huge surge of affection for him. I turned to him in the dim light just inside the doors. “Today.”

  “Today?” His forehead creased with worry lines. “Have you heard from…?”

  I shook my head. “But like you said, we can make it no matter what. I have an opportunity today; I’m going to take it.”

  He grinned at me, a true, selfless, happy smile that stretched all the way across his face. “That sounds like a good plan to me.”

  “You’re still in this with me?” I asked on a whisper.

  “Always. Till the very end.”

  Tears misted my eyes but I kept them at bay. I turned to Phoenix before he disappeared down the hallway. “Hey, Phoenix, have you heard from Exie lately?”

  His usually happy demeanor dampened with intense sadness. “No, not since…”

  “Not since her sister?” I supplied the answer for him. He nodded. My heart broke for him and for Exie as she went through all this pain by herself. “She’ll come around. She’s just… going through something.”

  He nodded and tugged on his backpack straps. “Yeah, I get that.”

  He turned to walk away but I grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop. “Hey, don’t give up on her okay? She needs you. She just… she just can’t see that she needs you right now.”

  A ghost of a smile played on his full mouth. “Alright, Ivy. Thanks. I’ll see you two cats at lunch.”

  “Yeah, sure.” Ryder stuck out his hand for Phoenix to shake. Phoenix looked down at it curiously but eventually took it. “You’re a good man, Phoenix Bates. I look forward to seeing you again… at lunch.”

  “You guys are acting super weird today,” Phoenix chuckled. “But sure, I look forward to seeing you later, too. Later!” And then he disappeared in the sea of students.

  “You won’t get to say goodbye to your family,” I whispered into Ryder’s ear when he dropped me off at my locker.

  “Red, I’ve known this day was coming for a while now. I’ve been saying goodbye to them for weeks.” He brushed the back of his knuckles down the line of my jaw. “I chose you a long time ago. And when I chose you, I knew this day would come. I’m ready. I’ve been ready.”

  I threw my arms around him again and just fell in love with him all over. How could he be so perfect for me? How could he feel this way about me when I was so ruined?

  When I was so broken?

  Except I wasn’t those things when he was around. I wasn’t damaged and soulless and black-hearted.

  He saved me.

  In every way, he saved me.

  A throat cleared from behind us, and then a nasally voice interrupted our moment. “Ms. Pierce, the second bell hasn’t even rung and you’ve been summoned to the principal’s office. I have to applaud you for your effort. This is a new record for you.”

  “That’s so very kind of you, Mrs. Tanner!” I gushed at the seething secretary, deciding to give her one more day of hell. She hated me, always had; but I knew she hated seeing Ryder and me together more. Last year, he was the office aid and I knew she had a soft spot for him. She knew better than anyone how destructive I was for his life. And as Ryder and I prepared to run away from school today, I knew she had every right to feel the way she did. That didn’t mean I was going to make this easy on her. I had to live up to my reputation one last time. “I cannot wait to see Antonio. I’ve missed him so much!”

  She glared at me. “Principal Costas is waiting for you.”

  “Oh, right!” I laughed at myself. “I forgot that he asked me to call him that when we’re in school.” She turned on her heel and marched away from me. I actually really did like Principal Costas, but he was a small sacrifice to make in the eternal war I waged with Tanner. I turned back to Ryder, “Meet me in the practice rooms before lunch.”

  “Okay, be safe. Don’t leave without me.”

  I smiled at him. “Like I would ever!”

  I gave him a quick kiss goodbye and then trotted down the hall after Mrs. Tanner. She didn’t even acknowledge me again after I walked through the glass door. Costas was already waiting in his doorway for me.

  “Good to see you again, Ivy. Please come in.” He sounded so grave that I hurried in after him. Nerves ratcheted through me at supersonic speed until I saw Mallory Hunter sitting in one of his wing-backed chairs.

  “Hi, Ivy,” she greeted me slowly.

  “I’ll give you two a moment,” Costas told us. We both smiled gratefully at him.

  As soon as the door clicked shut she gestured to the chair next to her. I sat down but kept my bum right on the edge. She was pulling out my fight or flight instinct for some reason and I wanted to be ready to run.

  “Did you have your meeting with Arturo?” I asked softly. I had been ready to run without the money, but now that it could be a possibility, fragile hope bloomed inside me.

  “I did,” she replied. “I’ve had several meetings with him actually. He… he was difficult at first. He didn’t want to listen to me. But by last night, I had persuaded him to do what was right. We met this morning to go over the final documents. I planned to bring them here so you could finalize them with your signature and then we could transfer the funds.”

  My heart jumped into my throat and my head started to pound. “What happened?”

  “The money transferred this morning. Without my consent or approval and obviously without your signature. Arturo showed up with some guy claiming to be your guardian. The paperwork had been signed off by a judge and completely finalized. All the money is gone, Ivy. All of it.”

  I reeled as the room spun wildly in front of me. “Nix,” I whispered. “Was his name Nix?”

  She nodded her head and put a hand on my back. “There was nothing else I could do.”

  I stood up, realizing that I had run out of time.

  “Do you know where the money was transferred to? What bank or what country?”

  “Greece,” she confirmed. “It was transferred to a tiny island off the main coast.”

  A message from Nix. He had uncovered my entire plan and by transferring the money to Greece, he had shown me his plan. Maybe that was why he let me come to school today. Maybe he wanted for me to find out from Mallory that I could not outsmart him.

  I turned back to her, “Thank you, Mallory.”

  She looked beyond frustrated when she said, “I didn’t do anything, Ivy. I promised to get you that money and I failed.”

  “But you believed me. When you shouldn’t have and when you very easily didn’t have to… you believed me.”

  She looked like she wanted to say more so I waved goodbye and left. There wasn’t anything else left to say. And now I found myself in a very big hurry to get out of here.

  Back in the main lobby, I tripped over a file-folder box and sent it flying. “Sorry!”

  “Ivy?” Kenna Lee stood up from where she had three other boxes littering the office floor.

  “Oh, hey, Kenna,” I slowed down to try and act normal around her. Although, I spent a lot of time around her last year, even after she and Ryder broke up, it felt awkward now. Ryder and I were officially together and I felt weird about it with Kenna. Especially since she had been a very ordinary girlfriend and I was asking him to run away with me today… for forever. She was normal. I was dangerous.

  She smiled genuinely me. “I haven’t seen you in a while. Did you have
a good summer?”

  “Um, it was very eventful.” There was an awkward pause before I asked, “Did you?”

  She relaxed into her usual sweet self and started telling me about her vacation to the Ozarks. I listened patiently for a minute before I had to stop her.

  “I’m so sorry, Kenna, I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m in a really big hurry.”

  “Oh, right! I forget that other people have class.” She gestured around the empty office. “I took over Ryder’s job. Anyway, do you want a pass?” She started writing me one before I could tell her no. She handed over the yellow slip of paper and smiled at me again. “You can just write in your first-hour teacher’s name.”

  “Thanks, Kenna.”

  She gathered up an armful of files and plopped them on the counter. I walked over to the door but hesitated near the can that was still set out for Sam’s recovery fund. I fingered the plastic top and remembered meeting his mom and how genuine she had seemed that day.

  “I heard about you and Ryder,” Kenna called before I could escape. I braced myself for her reaction, but what came next completely surprised me. “I’m happy for you guys. You seem good for each other.”

  “Do you really think so?” I couldn’t help but ask. I didn’t feel good for Ryder. I felt like a slow poison.

  I felt like a death sentence.

  She shrugged but smiled at me. “You just seem so different… so happy. I hope you get to keep that.”

  I took a step back at those words. She had no idea… “Me, too.”

  I left the office with more hope than I’d felt in my whole life. I didn’t have my trust, the money that I’d been counting on my entire life. But I had Ryder. There was nothing better than that.

  We could get away.

  We could keep the happiness just like Kenna said.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  I met Ryder in the practice room I loved to use. It was perfect whenever I needed to be alone, and the upright piano along the back wall was the added bonus.

  I was early to our meeting, but apparently he was earlier, because he sat on the bench with his elbows resting on the keys behind him and his long legs stretched out in front of him.