Page 13 of Rise of the Melody
He grimaced. “If you’ve got any of your father’s bullheadedness, I won’t put up with it.”
Aunt Lorna gave him a murderous look that sent a chill through me.
Mr. MacCray peered back and forth between the two of us, then shot one last mistrusting glance at CooShee. “Three days.”
I watched him limp out and then rushed to lock the door behind him, holding up one finger at the waiting customers. We had a whole line now.
“We’ll open in one hour,” I told them through the glass.
They looked at each other with annoyed expressions but nodded. “We’ll wait.”
Dang, they were hardcore.
When I got back to the table, Aunt Lorna was trembling in a chair, her chest rising and falling quickly. My own heart was hammering and my whole body vibrated.
“My lovely girl,” she whispered. “I owe you so many apologies.”
I wanted to fall apart, but I needed answers first. Aunt Lorna wiped her face roughly and sat up straight, pulling herself together. “I will make this right,” she promised.
“Just tell me everything,” I begged. “No more secrets. Because I’m fully freaking out right now.”
She reached out and we grasped hands, our knees touching.
“Everything,” she promised, the tears drying in her eyes, replaced by something more fortified, which I really needed to see.
“What deal did you make with that man?”
Aunt Lorna sighed. “When we realized what your mother was, only three of us knew. Me, Bryant MacCray, and Stevens. Bryant didn’t want a siren in his town, but he also didn’t want to turn you in because he wanted the option of your help someday, if needed. So, he would keep our secret if we would help when called upon.”
I turned the cold cup of tea in my hands. He could have turned me in. I could have been killed or sent into freaking faerie land at the age of four. But instead, he’d opted to have the option to use me someday. Nice.
“I never thought they would come. Honestly. I thought the knowledge of our world would be a wasted, unnecessary stress on you. The cuff has always worked but you’ve clearly gotten too strong. Oh, Gaia, I’m so very sorry.” Her grip on my hand tightened. “I should have told you. Just in case.”
“Aunt Lorna, I’m scared.” I sounded young. I felt young. Vulnerable. Not like the confident young woman I’d grown into. My heart seemed to hit my throat. “I did that to Mr. Goneley, didn’t I? I made him feel all weird and….”
She rubbed my hands, trying to steady her breathing. “He’s okay. I checked on him. Just a small entrancement. If you hadn’t had the cuff, it would have been so much worse.”
Realization hit me and I wanted to cry. “I can never sing again.”
I could hurt people by doing the one thing I felt good at. In that moment it felt as if something I’d loved had died. Grief bloomed up like an acrid, poisonous mushroom.
“This is why you didn’t want me to sing,” I whispered.
She squeezed my hands harder.
“It doesn’t make you bad, love. It’s a power instilled in you to protect yourself and your people. In ancient times, sirens stood on the cliffs and sang to make invading ships crash on the rocks. They were the first line of protection. Warriors.”
“Weapons,” I stated.
“All magic can be used for a weapon,” she said. “But sirens simply got a bad reputation due to fear and prejudice. Not to mention misogyny. Your kind are the only ones who can entrance and overpower druids. As you can imagine, that scared them. You’re the only one who can controlalltypes of fae, hence their need for your help with the kelpie.”
The kelpie. A full body shiver came over me at the thought of the murderous horse, but it was followed by a strange euphoria swirling at the idea of being able to control it, and other bad things. And then I remembered Mr. Goneley and my friends again. A vicious cycle of thoughts bombarded me.
“What if….” I bit my lip and avoided her eyes. “What if it felt kind of good? When I was singing?”
“Of course, it did,” she assured me, tilting my chin back up. “All magic feels good when we use it. It’s an integral part of us. But you…you must be very powerful to have nearly entranced a human with this cuff on. It’s a magic inhibitor.” She touched it and I felt a jolt of understanding. All this time I thought it had been a superstitious accessory, but it had actually been keeping my powers at bay. Even still, I’d broken through.
I thought of the scary guy last night and my entire mind lit up like an explosion. He had to be a druid! Oh, my gods, I’d been standing there with a druid, vulnerable and clueless, a thought that terrified me now and made him seem so much more sinister than an escaped psych patient. What all had he said to me, again? It had seemed like complete nonsense last night.
