I was seated in front of a crackling fire holding a bowl of porridge while waiting for an Elder of the Siren community of Hefeta to either tell me that I only had months left to liveâor that I was the key to saving the world.
What I was not expecting was for Olesia, that very same Elder, to glance at me with motherly love swimming in her light green eyes.
I wasn't expecting for her to embrace me upon entering the home of Sabira, Inala's close friend and the best cook I'd come across in all my years traversing the lands on the run from the King of Valencia.
"It's good, right? I told you it was good."
Inala's words were ignored as I again took a few more bites of the warm, savory food in front of me and glanced once more to Olesia.
We had been waiting for Sabira to return with the two people she'd been planning on bringing into the conversation, Errina and Warrick, but so far all we'd done was consume our porridge and...stare at one another in abated silence.
Olesia finally broke the tangible silence by placing a weathered hand upon my knee.
Sat across from me in a worn chair, Olesia's thin hunched and frail frame barely took up the chair on its own, but it was her hair that commanded the attention of the room.
Deep red and almost a full, living flame, her hair twisted and curled in a coiffed braid that snaked around her head like a snake and ended in a corkscrew curl that landed by her hips.
It nearly blended completely into the intense red of her robes.
"Josephine, it's been so long. You must tell me what life's been like for you since you were...since you left the community."
I hadn't noticed before, but her voice had a small lilt to it, the barest touch of an accent that lengthened her vowels and punctuated her first and last words with a songbird kind of trilling.
"Well...it hasn't been great. I've been on the run most of my life. Actually, the only times I can remember not being on the run from the King of Valencia are the times from when my father was still alive."
"Oh, you poor thing. That was so long ago. And how did you survive, not being formally trained on how to keep your powers from hurting the innocent?"
"Trust me. I learned quickly to keep my mouth shut once I did kill innocents."
Darkness flared beneath Olesia's sweet and calm veneer, but she quickly masked it. It was almost like she didn't want me knowing that she judged me for the things I had done, but it was there.
That flash of horror and disgust at what I'd done.
I felt it every morning, noon and night when I sang. Saw it reflected back at me in the mirror when I dared a glance into the wretched thing.
"I can't imagine how hard it must've been for youâto be alone for so long out there with no one to help guide you to your powers. We would've sent someone to find you long ago had we known."
"Known what? Why did I leave Hefeta? Orâwhat did you say when we first arrived...that I was taken? What really happened all those years ago?"
Inala groaned out in annoyanceâlikely in the direction this conversation was taking, but I wasn't stopping until I got the answers I desperately craved.
Olesia removed her warm hand from my knee and clasped her two hands together on her lap before pointing sharp features on my face.
There was a slight cunningness on her face that reminded me of Inala and Soraya.
Even Sabira had worn that fierce, quiet slick look that resided somewhere in the women's eyes.
Maybe it was a singularly Siren trait.
Maybe I even wore it on my own face as well.
"Josephine, you and your sister were taken from the community by your mother and father. Your father wasn't immune to the Siren song, so he not only wasn't allowed to sleep in the same home as his family as you were young children because of the risk, but he couldn't complete the blood claim with your mother. It would be too much of a power imbalance between the two; he could tell her what to do and she would have to follow the rules with absolute obedience because he was not also a Siren.
"Your mother didn't agree with our ways and wanted to marry your father. Because your father died, and it was due to your Siren song, well, I'm afraid that any connection or emotion your mother had for you and your sister turned to hatred because the bond would've demanded she protect her husband from all harm, and she failed. Had she kept you two here in Hefeta until you were at least twelve years of age, maybe all of this could've been avoided, butâ"
Olesia cut herself off, but I finished her words in my head.
Maybe it could've all been avoided, but my mother was too selfish.
She put the love she had for her husband above all logic and reason, and abandoned the only home we'd ever known just for us to live together as a family.
Even if it only destroyed us all in the end.
The story had finally answered the questions burning up inside me all along.
The answers to who I was and why I was different could've been right in front of me all along, but it was my mother's fault.
I was just a child. I didn't know how to control my song voice.
I didn't know what I was doing.
It wasn't my fault.
But it had been my fault with Peter, and that was a death in which the after effects I would take to my grave one day.
"I'm afraid you're right, Josephine. Your mother didn't have enough experience training the youngest Sirens in controlling their powers. And so...well, here you are. But you're back, right where you've always belonged from the beginning."
"Back in the land of the benevolent, sweet, honest Sirens, right Olesia?"
The Elder before me cut sharp, angry eyes at Inala for the first time in my presence and while I wanted to prod at that statement Inala had just made, Sabira suddenly returned with the people she'd gone to find...and with them came Oren, Yuni and Soraya as well.
"I found a few stragglers who might be important to the conversation," Sabira announced as they all filed into the smaller home which suddenly became far too cramped with Oren's presence filling it up.
It was like he took up too much space, stole everyone's air from their lungs, and didn't care that he did it, either.
His eyes met mine, still smoldering and full of a heat I wasn't quite sure was from anger, and I darted my eyes away to fall upon the newcomers.
The man was most likely the one Sabira had called Warrick, and just as his name suggested, his imposing stature brought him to a height taller than Oren, his muscular frame and scarring along his dark skin giving him away as a warrior or soldier from the community.
His face was rough and starkâa stoic and almost blank look upon his features, almost like he was simply standing at attention and awaiting orders.
Beside him stood a petite woman with braids similar to everyone else in Hefeta, although hers were more tightly pinned to the top of her head which kept her neck bare.
This must've been Erinna, her white and gold robes accentuating her midnight skin that was slightly glistening as if from over exertion.
In fact, most of them seemed to be breathing heavy, like they'd all run a mile in order to reach Sabira's home.
"Josephine, this is Warrick and Erinna, and I'm sure you know everyone else here, considering you all arrived together," Sabira began, and I nodded my head to Warrick before turning my attention to Erinna.
"Nice to meet you both," I said, watching as Erinna's soft features transformed into a beautiful smile that showcased pale as moonlight teeth and brightened her dark brown eyes.
Soraya stayed to the edge of the conversation by hovering closer to her brother, Yuni, who watched on in silent observation.
"Seems like a party in here. Where's the wine? Mead? You know, there's this grain that we distilled a few years ago and hid away somewhere for it to fermentâanyone know where I could find a glass of that?"
"You couldn't pay me enough gold pieces in order to try any of that foul concoction you brewed up under the hills," Warrick responded to Yuni, who only chuckled in response before moving over to the warrior and placing a hand on his right shoulder and clapping it against his skin twice.
"It's been a while, old friend."
"I just saw you six days ago."
"I know. That's five days too long."
Soraya rolled her eyes at her brother's antics, but a smile ticked up at the edge of her lips.
That is, until Inala came to stand beside me and placed a hand on my own shoulder as if trying to get the attention of the rest of the group to focus on the subject of discussion at hand: me.
As if that weren't intimidating and uncomfortable already, Oren began a slow perusal of my form almost mechanically, like he were some kind of machine instead of a man and he was making sure I hadn't sustained any injuries in my short trek to Sabira's house and eating porridge in front of the fire.
"Wait."
All side conversations ceased as I whipped my head to Yuni who had just been in the midst of making quite an inappropriate joke, especially in front of the Elder in our midst.
"Yes, Princess?"
"If you were only here five days ago, then why did we come across you in the caves? Why did you turn around from wherever you were headed and come right back with us?"
Yuni grew uncomfortable under the weight of my stare and glanced at Oren as if for help.
"Now that we're all here, maybe it's time to clue in our princess here on what's going on."
Yuni blew out a relieved sigh at having been saved from explaining whatever the Everworld was going on here.
Ignoring Inala's favorite nickname for me, all eyes turned sharply to where I sat in front of the hearth flickering with heat and warmth at my back.
Smoke and cinders floated into the air illuminating the small home and the deep sapphire of the rugs adorning dirt and stone walls at the backs of the large group of people gathered in the modest home.
"I suppose I can start. I am the Elder here, after all."
Warrick and Erinna took a seat on the floor in the middle of the room where he hauled her into his lap and she settled comfortably against his chest, making it well known that the two were together.
And then Yuni and Soraya were following suit, her brother helping her down onto the ground on the left side of the raging fire that was sending a trickle of sweat down the small of my back.
Shimmering flames flickered in the irises of the assembled blue, brown and amber eyes as Oren came to stand directly behind my seat, one hand coming down to rest on my shoulder.
I could've shoved him off.
I could've done anything other than stare blankly, idiotically, at that damned hand on my skin, but I did nothing.
Not even as Olesia began to tell her tale.
"Yuni and Soraya were sent to find you. And Oren, but we knew he would be with you. We weren't expecting you back so soon. Oren was sent to persuade you to come home."
"I believe my definition of 'persuasion' and his are a bit mixed up with my definition of the word 'kidnapping'."
Sabira snorted in laughter from her spot she'd taken beside the Elder and Inala's lips tilted up in a rueful smile.
"Yes, well, it got you here, didn't it? Maybe you shouldn't be so ungrateful."
My teeth ground down on each other at the sound of Soraya's snapping tone.
"And why did you all want me back here so badly? What about my sister? She's out there somewhere with her husband, pregnant. What if the child is a girl, a Siren? Unlike me, she didn't come into any powers of her own, but what if she passes the powers down to her child? The baby could kill her husband. You wanted me, but not her. Why?"
No one could meet my eyes amongst the large group gathered before me.
No one besides the soft, sweet Erinna who exuded a calm confidence that didn't shrink underneath the force of my questions.
"Josephine? I know we've only just met but...I still remember you as a child. We used to play together, in the meadows close to the Serenity Pools. Your sister...she didn't have the gift. When you left, our community started to become vulnerable. The Elders sent Oren after you because of who your mother was to us."
Erinna took a deep, shuddering breath before continuing on, the weight of every stare in the room directed at her small frame as Warrick smoothed soft circles onto her arm.
"She was very important to Hefeta. She was next in line to become one of the three Elders who lead us. The two other leaders weren't sisters, but it didn't matter because of their bond. But...the King of Valencia infiltrated Hefeta with his men. They were taken, and we can only assume they're dead now. Your mother was all we had left, and she left us, and took her heirs with her."
Warrick tightened his hold on Erinna, his dark, muscled arms flexing with the force of which he embraced her.
"It was before my time, Princess, but we've done everything we can to secure Hefeta for the Sirens living here. I'd lay down my life before another Elder is taken."
"Now now, Warrick, it's not that dire."
Olesia's words did little to quell the stress straining the once smooth expanse of clear skin on Warricks's rough hewn face, but still he nodded his clean shaven head and relinquished the conversation to everyone else.
Oren's hand was a scalding handprint against my shoulder still, but stoic he stood, unmoving, unspeaking, unrelenting.
"So, Oren came to take me back here, to Hefeta, and Soraya and Yuni were sent to see about his progress? And what about you, Inala?"
"What about me? I've been trapped in a soulless pit for two years."
Sabira's sharp intake of air at Inala's words echoed off the rug lined walls and settled down somewhere deep in my bones.
The imprint of that torture she'd endured would stick to her soul like an invisible glue, always keeping her trapped down in that pit, and the downturned lines of her mouth and the scars reflecting back at me in her blue eyes told me that it wouldn't ease with only a few days being free.
There was an ache inside of her that matched the one in my soul put there by my father's and Peter's deaths.
"Inala, why didn't you tellâ"
"Enough. This conversation isn't about me or where I've been. Josephine, they clearly needed you for something. My guess is for the very thing they thought they needed me for, too. Five years ago. But I could be wrongâI have been gone a while."
While Olesia had been calmly watching the conversation with eased attention, she suddenly sat straight up in her chair and what was once the slumped, elderly woman became replaced with that of a leader.
Her stature rose, her posture straightened.
Her eyes sharpened into that of the eerily intelligent Siren form that I'd encountered in Inala at the hot spring when she'd been more creature than person.
"Inala, I believe I can take it from here."
Oren's hand tightened almost imperceptibly on my shoulder.
His warm energy scented with spicy cinnamon and smoky bonfire invaded my senses, begging me to relax, to lean into his touch and to forget all my worries, even as Olesia went full Siren in front of me.
Her eyes retreated into scaly slits and turned a neon yellow that lit up in the dimness of the room.
"Five years ago, the Sirens of Hefeta attempted something only rumored about in the texts of old. Led by the three Elders, we descended down to the Temples of the Gods, and stood in front of the great Wolf of the North Wind. We sliced open our arms, we danced beneath the harvest moon, and we chanted the song of the mighty rulers of our world. We tried to summon Nicos, the God of north wind and ice. He did not comeâwe failed. But we failed because we were an incomplete community."
The room held onto Olesia's words with bated breath.
"We failed, Josephine, because we did not have you."
***
Author's Note:
What did you think of this chapter?
What kinds of plot twists do we think are in store for these characters?
Favorite new character so far?
Until next time my lovely readers,
Kristen :)
***
The World of Irena: