Siren's Storm

“Oh, Jesus,” Gretchen breathed. “It’s that crazy kid.”

A branch shook, and Will spotted Kirk clinging to the trunk with one arm and gesturing wildly with the other. “We’re all born angels!” Kirk cried as they stepped forward. “But we lose the wings. We lose the wings, and how can we fly when we don’t know our own depths?” Suddenly his eyes lit on Gretchen. “Did you get the picture? Did you see it?”

Will looked at Gretchen, who was standing stock-still.

“Did you see the truth in it? You can hear them, too. I know you’re one who can hear them as well as I can.” Kirk’s eyes were wild, and for a moment Will feared that he might leap out of the tree, like an animal. He put a protective arm around Gretchen, and Kirk let out a scream. “Don’t touch her!”

A siren wailed as Will steered Gretchen away from the scene. A police car pulled up, casting red and blue shadows across faces. A uniformed officer stepped out of the car, along with Kirk’s sister, Adelaide. She was a stern-faced young woman with the perfectly coiffed hair of a professional stylist. Adelaide looked like she wanted to apologize to everyone personally and then go home and quietly die of shame. Will cast a sympathetic look over his shoulder. Kirk was shouting something else about angels now, and his voice had reached a fevered pitch. Will felt as if something had crawled into his stomach and was hastily constructing a nest there. He felt sick and shaky. What’s happening to that kid?

Will could feel Gretchen trembling beneath his arm. “What was he talking about?” Will asked.

“I have no idea,” Gretchen said. She had always been the world’s worst liar, but Will didn’t press her. “I’m going in here,” she announced suddenly as they neared a candy store. “I need some chocolate.” She took the top step and looked back over her shoulder, long blond hair flying. “You coming?”

“I’ll wait out here,” Will said.

Gretchen disappeared inside, and Will leaned against the glass. He folded his arms across his chest and settled in for a long wait. Gretchen could be a bit of a candy freak, and she liked to get one each of many different kinds. She always took her time selecting things, and it drove Will crazy. Besides, candy on an empty stomach would make him sick. He was already feeling pretty borderline.

And that was when he spotted her. Asia was across the street, watching Adelaide coax Kirk down from the tree. He stepped forward to say her name, but she noticed him then. She turned and began walking away.

“Hey,” Will called as he jogged after her. “Hey!”

Asia stopped, but she didn’t turn around. Will caught up to her. He looked deeply into her eyes for a long moment. She cocked her head.

“What are you looking for?” Asia asked.

“What are you?”

She scoffed. “What do you think I am?” Her voice was a challenge.

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”

Asia pushed past him. He hesitated. That conversation hadn’t gone according to plan. He knew that he wasn’t handling this situation properly, but he had no idea how he was supposed to be handling it. He wasn’t even sure what the situation was. “Asia, wait.” Will reached out and grabbed her arm, and it sent a shock wave up his arm. He cried out in pain.

Asia stood stock-still as Will gaped at her.

“I’m sorry,” she said at last. She reached out for him, but he drew back from her touch. “It won’t hurt,” she promised, and she gave his arm a brisk massage. Slowly it came back to life.

“What the hell was that?”

“It’s just something I can do… when I feel threatened. I don’t always do it on purpose.”

“Like an electric eel or something?”

Asia sighed. “Will, I have a great deal to explain to you,” she said.

“Um, yeah,” Will agreed. “Look, I know you’re a mermaid… seekrieger… thing, so why don’t you just tell me what’s going on? All I want is a little clarity.”

She laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing’s funny,” she said at last. “Nothing.”

Will waited as she stared at the stars overhead.

“I have a story to tell you,” Asia said at last. Her voice was like a thin vapor, a fine mist dissolving on the air. “It’s a long story.”

“Will it clear anything up? Or will it just leave my head feeling like it’s going to explode?”

“Both, maybe,” Asia admitted.

Will touched her hair, brushing it away from her face. It trailed over his fingers like black ink.

“Just tell me.”

“Yes, but not here,” she said. “Then where?”

“Meet me at the library tomorrow morning.”

“I can’t. I have to go to work.”

“Then meet me there tomorrow evening. Six?”

“Okay, but you’ll be there, right? I don’t want you ditching me.”

Laughter sparkled in her eyes. “You haven’t figured it out yet?”

“What?”

“I’m not like you humans, Will. I can’t lie. That’s why I don’t talk very much.” She stood and brushed the sand from her long maroon dress. “You’ll hear the truth, but I can’t promise that you’ll like it.”

The next morning, Will and his father ate breakfast in their usual tense silence. When Mr. Archer was finished, he took his plate to the sink and headed toward the door. He nearly ran into Angus, who was on his way up the steps. “Hey, Mr. Archer.”

Will’s father nodded at him and kept walking.

“Wow, your dad’s cheery this morning,” Angus said as he scrambled inside and stuffed his long legs under the table in the seat next to Will’s. “Dude, are you going to finish that?” He pointed to Will’s scone.

“Yes.”

Unfazed, Angus plucked the remnants of Will’s father’s toast from his plate and started smearing pear jam on it. “Your mom makes the best stuff.”

“Why are you here?”

“What’s wrong with everyone this morning?” Angus demanded. “What happened to ‘Hey, Angus, great to see you’?”

“Great to see you. Why are you here?”

“Something freaky happened. I kind of wanted to tell Gretchen, but I’m not sure how.”

“What?”

“You remember Jason Detenber?”

“That asshole,” Will said.

“Don’t say that too loud,” Angus advised.

“Why not?”

“He’s dead.”

“What?” Will felt sick. His throat constricted, making it hard to breathe.

“Well, he’s disappeared,” Angus admitted. “My guess is he’s fish food.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Remember that white jacket he had? I saw it at the police station. Only it wasn’t too white anymore, if you know what I mean.” He lifted his eyebrows meaningfully at Will. “It was in an evidence bag. But nobody was saying anything. Not anything. I mean, guys who can’t help talking were suddenly like clams. They didn’t even want to say hi to me. I think my uncle scared them silent. But Jason’s family is rich. The truth is going to have to come out, sooner or later.”

The image of Jason and Asia on the bridge flashed into Will’s mind. The way he had moved toward her threateningly. The way she’d twisted backward and flipped into the water. Jason’s horror. Asia’s watchful face, her eyes upturned from the water. Had she marked Jason for death at that very moment? Had he sealed his own fate, like the sailors in the journal?

But Will didn’t say any of this to Angus.