The Siren's Call

by Candace Osmond

  We walked back to the waiting carriage in silence as the driver nodded in condolence and jumped down to open the door. I glanced back at the old farm once more and said one last goodbye to the man who selflessly saved my life and the family he loved so dearly. Hoping we did right by him. I prayed he was finally at rest and they were all happy somewhere. Together. Benjamin stood by and helped me step in and when he held a hand out for Lottie she accepted it with grace.

  ***

  The journey to Pleeman’s home up North had been long, so by the time we arrived back at The Siren’s Call, night had crept upon us. I was tired and hungry, and missed Henry with every fiber of my body. I itched to have him come back and I realized, on the long, quiet ride home, that he would likely return empty-handed. Benjamin was solid proof that my wishes were working. It just took the universe a while to work out the details. I had asked to find Maria before she killed my mother, and I was willing to bet everything I owned in this world that I was the one who was supposed to find her. Not Henry. Not anyone else. I’d made the wish for myself, and it would be my hands that would lay upon her and bring her to justice.

  “Where the Christ have you been?” exclaimed Wallace as she barged through the front door to meet us at the carriage. “Dianna, you’ve been missing the whole time Henry’s been gone! What did you expect me to say to him if he returned?”

  I was too defeated to deal with this woman. I stopped and looked her square in the face. “Has he returned?”

  “Well, no,” she said in a flutter.

  “Then we have nothing to worry about, do we?” I told her stonily. I motioned to Benjamin, towering over my shoulder. “This is a friend of mine. Benjamin Cook. Would you be so kind as to allow him to stay here with us? I can pay you if it’s any trouble.”

  Wallace shook her head in confusion, her face full of questions. But she bit her tongue and played nice. “Of course,” she told me and then sighed, eying Benjamin curiously. “Come, let’s get you all fed.”

  After filling our bellies, I let Wallace show Benjamin to his room and then said goodnight to Lottie. I was wiped. We all were. Drained of all emotions. I dragged my heavy feet across The Siren’s Call, down through the marble-paved hallways toward my room. Wishing I could fall into Henry’s arms and coast into a deep, comfortable sleep. But none of that mattered once I hit the bed. My eyes managed to stay open long enough for me to toe off my damp boots and haul a blanket up over my bone-weary body.

  Before long, I fell into a black void of sleep. Free of emotions or the still imagery of my life. I stood in a dark room, the only sound to be heard was the echoes of my breaths against the empty shell around me. Strangely, it felt good. Being alone. I had no one to worry about. No deaths to mourn. No ghosts to chase. With eyes contently closed, I inhaled the cold air that filled the void and breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, a voice sounded in the distance and reverberated through the space around me.

  “Diannaaa….”

  I spun around, turning every which way, unable to tell what was up or down. Trying to pinpoint the source of the familiar tone that touched the center of my heart. My mother’s voice.

  “Dianna, baby,” the voice called again. “Come here. I’m right herrreee.”

  “Where?!” I called out in desperation and began walking in the direction of its origin.

  It spoke, louder this time, “Right here. I’ve always been right here...”

  “Where? I can’t find you!” I cried. “Mom!”

  Then, two hands abruptly took me by the shoulders and shook my body, pulling me from my dream world. I gasped for air, as if I’d been holding my breath the whole time and blinked away the remnants of sleep from my eyes. My bedroom slowly coming into focus and the hands still tight on my upper arms.

  “Dianna,” Henry spoke. “Where are you going? What’s wrong?”

  Disoriented, I glanced around and realized I must have gotten out of bed and was bound for the door. I… was sleepwalking? Shakily, I let out a trembling exhale and looked to him. My pirate king. How I missed him so. He smelled like cold winter air mixed with the dewy sweat that stuck to his skin. His very presence calming me from the nightmare that still vibrated over the surface of my skin.

  “You’re back,” I noted and leaned against his chest. He winced. “Oh, sorry! I forgot. Here, you probably need new dressings. Sit down.” I rubbed at my sleepy eyes.

  Before I could pull away, Henry hooked his fingers in mine and yanked me back, taking my face in his hand and covering my mouth with his. I melted into the kiss, warm and engulfing. Like coming home. When he finally broke free, Henry’s dark eyes searched mine with concern.

  “I missed you,” he spoke.

  I smiled. “I missed you, too. So much. I never should have let you go off.”

  Henry sighed, ready to tell me what I already knew, and sat down on the edge of the bed where he removed his shirt. I struck a match and lit the candle next to our bed.

  “Yes, and I’m afraid I have bad news,” he said solemnly.

  I blew the match out and laid it on a plate. “You didn’t find her.”

  “How did you know?”

  I shook my head and opened my satchel of goodies, pulling out new bandages and clean cloths to wash his wounds. “I think I must have known all along, just didn’t realize it. My wish, it was specific to me. I asked for me to find Maria. Not you. Not anyone else.”

  “Yes, but we still aren’t sure your wishes even worked, Dianna.” Then he quickly added, “I’m sorry to say. But it’s true.”

  “Well,” I replied and soaked a cloth in the basin of room temperature water. It was cool, but it’d have to do. “I have proof that my first wish worked.”

  “Oh?” he quirked an eyebrow. “How so?”

  “Benjamin showed up.”

  Henry didn’t reply, only tried to mask the stunned expression his face held. I went on to tell him everything, from the beginning. About Charlie and his family. And then how Benjamin found me, that we slept aboard The Queen, and how we took Lottie up to Pleeman’s farm to bring his ashes home. All the while, I cleaned his healing wounds and dressed new bandages as Henry nodded and listened intently. Seemingly deciding how to feel about Benjamin suddenly being in our lives.

  “He’s got no one in this world, Henry,” I said in the end. “And he’s my friend. I want him aboard the ship.”

  Henry let out a huff of hot air and grabbed hold of my thighs, bringing my body close to his face where it peered up at me from the bed with a fiery intensity. “I’ll do whatever you wish, Dianna. Happily. But let it be known that you are mine.”

  I raked my fingers through his long blonde hair, pressing my bosom against his neck as I slid my knees along either side of him. I straddled Henry’s waist and could feel his passion for me growing beneath my center. My mouth lowered onto his and placed a single kiss before grinning against it.

  “I am yours and you are mine.” My tongue flicked out and traced a gentle line across Henry’s upper lip.

  He growled and dug his fingers deep into my bottom, crushing me against his hips. “God, I want you so bad I can hardly form a thought.” The soft bristles of his facial hair rubbed against my neck. “You could command me to do anything and I’d happily be your fateful servant, Dianna.”

  I threw my head back, letting his mouth devour my bosom as his fingers clawed at the drawstring of my shift. I managed in a breathless reply, “Then take me, Henry. I’m yours.”

  The man hungrily ripped the thin shift from my body and took me in his consuming embrace where I happily fell into a void of space and time where only the two of us existed.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Dreams are a funny thing. They have the ability to wrap you in a world of unreal wonder and then spit you back out into reality, sometimes taking away all recollection of the otherworldly adventure you’d just had.

  But sometimes dreams bleed into reality and carry with you. All day. Every day. They’re so real that it becomes hard to t
ell the difference between them and the real world. I often wonder if it’s our way of hiding from the harsh realities we face and the stressful lives we live.

  All around, meadows of fresh lupins blew in the wind, just like they did by my home in Rocky Harbour, as I stared up a towering stone side. I stood at the bottom of a never-ending staircase that led to the thick clouds above. From them, I could hear her voice again. Calling to me.

  “Diannaaa…”

  One foot in front of the other, I raced up the stairs, willing myself to go faster but the threads of the dream wouldn’t allow it. It felt like forever before I managed to make it past a dozen steps. But her voice beckoned me, and my limbs took on a mind of their own. Reaching for my long-lost mother.

  “Mom!” I called to the top. “Wait for me! I’m coming!”

  Faster and faster I ran, falling and stumbling as I went. But, still, I persisted.

  “Dianna….” her voice danced through the wind, seeming to move further away with every step I took.

  I began to panic. “No! Mom, don’t go!”

  I could see the top, could catch a glimpse of the tall grass that hung down from the cliffside. My feet finally touched the ground and I bent over in a huff, gasping for the air that suddenly escaped my burning lungs. When I stood and glanced around, I found that I was alone. The meadow bare.

  “Mom!” I called desperately. “Where are you?”

  “Right here,” cackled a different voice.

  Harsh fingers dug into my shoulders and spun me around. Bringing me face to face with Maria. Her mouth twisted into an evil grin, revealing a few blackened teeth and blood seeping from the corners of her eyes.

  “I’ve always been right here… sister.”

  Her hands, still on me, gripped my upper arms and gave one mighty shove, sending my body flying over the cliff I’d just worked so hard to climb. A guttural scream rang from my chest as I fell endlessly to my death. Just as the ground rushed upwards and my face smacked painlessly against the dirt, I awoke from the dream with a startling cry. Cold sweat covering my skin.

  But Maria was still there.

  I laid, bound and tied at the wrists, pushed to the floor by my own dead weight. Drool stuck to the side of my face and stuck to the cold floor underneath. Where was I? The room seemed unfamiliar and it felt like hours had passed by since I was last awake. Frozen, my mind struggled to accept the woman laying on floor next to me. Her eyes, full of unhinged rage, bore into mine, just inches away.

  I wanted to move. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. I opened my mouth to speak, to call for help, but something sharp pressed against my stomach. I glanced down and spotted the tip of a dagger, pinned to the growing mass and my panicked eyes shot back to my sister’s face. Her finger, soiled and already bloody, lifted and pressed against her puckered lips.

  “Shhh,” she hissed. “Don’t want to wake Mommy.”

  I lifted my head and followed her gaze across the room where a still body laid haphazard on a bed. Seemingly lifeless and just thrown there like an old blanket. Long black curls infused with streaks of grey lay in a nest over the person’s face. Could it be?

  Could it be… my mother?

  Maria clicked her tongue, drawing my attention back to her. “You’re so difficult,” she scolded mockingly. “I’ve been luring you in for days.” Her face flipped to sudden anger and her grimy fingers grabbed hold of my face, forcing me to look her in the eyes even though I already was. “Why are you so stubborn, little sister?”

  “M-Maria,” I say in a whisper. “You don’t have to do this.”

  “Do what?” she asked, feigning innocence. “Take what is owed to me?”

  I shook my head, confused. “What–”

  The tip of her dagger pricked the skin of my belly, reminding me it was there.

  “This child inside your body.” She paused and ran her free hand over my stomach, making my skin crawl. “It will be mine. I’m owed a child for the one she wrongfully took from me.”

  I grit my teeth. “You can’t have my baby, Maria.”

  She shot up and jumped to her feet, flipping the dagger over in her fingers with ninja-like agility before sheathing it at her side. I watched from the floor, unable to sit up with hands bound behind my back, as she paced the room around me. I quickly took stock of my surroundings; dark wood paneling, a small fire burning near the back, a grand canopy bed with thick wooden posts. The floor beneath me some sort of stone, cold and pale. Familiar.

  Maria strolled over to the fire and stoked it with a metal rod. “You know, I often wondered what made you so special,” she said. “Why mother favored you so. Why I was never good enough.”

  I stole a glance back to the bed, to the body that still laid there unmoving. I willed the person to move, to reveal their face, to give me that confirmation that Maria wasn’t fooling me. But I knew, deep down, she wouldn’t. This was it. My wish. It finally came full circle and now played out in front of me. I found Maria before she killed my mother. With only moments to spare.

  I heard her leather boots clomp against the floor as she came back and let out a loud moan as my body suddenly pulled upright from the floor by my tethered hands, the force pulling at the sensitive skin there. Straining the joints of my shoulders. She pushed me up against a bedpost and yanked my arms up high above my head.

  “No!” I cried and attempted to pull away when I realized she was tying them to the canopy.

  Maria punched me square in the jaw, sending my head spinning as blood pooled in my mouth. Maria’s face twisted with a sick smile as she delighted in the crimson that dripped from my lips.

  “What do you think it is?” she asked me, and when I didn’t answer, continued, “What makes you so much better? We share the same blood. Do we not?” Her dagger scraped the skin of my face as she dragged it downward, stinging as it trailed across my neck and chest. “Maybe…you taste different.”

  Her eyes lit up with devilish delight as her tongue lapped the blood from my chin in one big, disgusting lick. She stared at me as the blood swished around in her mouth and I flinched nervously when she spat it all back in my face.

  “Taste the same to me.” She gave me a shove as she back away, heading back toward the fireplace and grabbing hold of the metal rod. Its tip glowing with a fiery orange.

  My eyes widened in horror. “Maria! No, please, I'll give you anything else. Just please don’t hurt us!”

  Her head tilted to one side. “Oh, I have a whole lot more than a bit of hurt in mind for the likes of you, little sister.” She came across the room, a hot poker in hand and held its flaming tip in front of my face, grinning at my discomfort. “But you’ll come later. For now, I want to play with mother.”

  I craned my neck and twist around to see her sweep the hair from the unconscious woman’s face, revealing the familiar features of a person I’d once known. A person I’d once loved. Still loved.

  “M-Mom! Wake up!” I called. But she didn’t stir. Tears began to stream down my face, mixing with the blood there.

  Maria let out a quiet cackle of laughter as she slowly pressed the hot poker to our mother’s face. The smell of burning flesh quickly filling the air between us. The pain rose her from her unconscious state, and she shot up with a piercing scream.

  “What… what’s going on?” She reached up to touch the burnt skin of her cheek and winced. “Where am I?” my mother cried as she looked around, disoriented and in pain. Shakily, she assessed the fresh wound just burned into her skin and let out a silent cry as her eyes scanned the room and then landed on me. A sense of recognition in her gaze. “Dianna?”

  I nodded, barely holding the tears at bay.

  She lit up, despite the serious pain she must have been suffering, and reached for me. “Dianna!”

  But before her hand could touch me, Maria’s red-hot poker jabbed into Mom’s arm. Another scream filled the room and she fell back onto the bed in a fit of painful cries. It killed me to watch her hurt, to see the inflicti
ons Maria forced upon her, unable to do anything about it.

  “Mom!” I strained against my ties.

  “The heartfelt reunion will have to wait,” Maria said angrily. “I’ve got plans for you both.”

  “Maria, please!” Mom begged. “Let Dianna go, and I’ll tell you whatever you want. I’ll do whatever you ask.”

  “You’ve been denying me long enough, Mother! I’ve been plaguing you for days. You will tell me whatever I wish to know, and you’ll do it now. In front of her,” Maria replied and pointed the hot poker in my face. “I want my sister to hear you say the words. Why you hated me so.”

  “I didn’t hate you, Maria, you know that!”

  “Lies! You tried to have me killed!”

  “I tried to have you stopped,” Mom corrected, her eyes, just like mine, full of pleading tears. “You’re my child. I could never hurt you. But you were a danger to so many. You did so much wrong. It was my responsibility to put a stop to it. If I had known…”

  Maria guffawed. “Yet, you couldn’t even do it yourself. You got the bloody witch and a pirate to do your dirty work and then stole my child!”

  “I gave your son the life he deserves. With a family who will raise him with love.”

  As my mother spoke, each word filled my ears and wrapped around my heart. I stared at her in awe, unable to believe she was there. Alive. Just a few feet away. I could reach out and touch her, if I had my hands free. It killed me to not fall into her embrace and, as I caught her glistening stare, I knew she felt the same. She ached to grab hold of me, and we exchanged a silent I love you.

  “A better life with those God damn witches? How are they any better than me?”

  Mom spoke as calmly as she could. “Maria, you know the answer to that.”