Wondrous Strange

“I know. Come on.” Sonny struggled stiffly to his feet and went to put on a fresh long-sleeved T-shirt. “We’d best get back out there. It’s getting late, and the others could probably use our help.”

“For all that you can barely stand,” Maddox muttered, and helped Sonny put his arm through his coat sleeve. He handed Sonny his messenger bag, but stopped him at the elevator. “Mark me, now: I’ve no burning desire to stitch you closed again tonight. So you keep your head down and in the game. And get that girl out of your mind!”

They made their way down Central Park West toward the Columbus Circle entrance to the park, past a trio of street musicians and a singer performing mellow jazz standards. They were good, Sonny noticed idly, despite the fact that the drummer was using an old hard-sided suitcase as his bass drum.

“Oh, sweet goddess,” Maddox murmured under his breath as they passed.

Sonny followed his gaze. Bathed in the light of a streetlamp, the willow-thin singer swayed gently to the music. She was dressed in a long, clingy sweater and ground-sweeping skirt; her hair swung like a pale curtain in front of her face, partly obscuring her features as she sang with closed eyes.

Still, Sonny knew her. All the Janus did.

She was a Siren named Chloe. One of the first of the Faerie to escape from the Otherworld after Auberon closed the Gates, she had crossed over to be with a mortal man, forsaking her deadly ways because of love. Unable to return after her lover’s eventual death, she lived on in the mortal realm. Her home, it was rumored, was in one of the underground water caves deep beneath the park, connected through tunnels to the Hudson and East Rivers and so, eventually, to the sea.

She still made a living off her voice, but at least she no longer used it to lure unsuspecting sailors to their doom.

That’s her story, Sonny thought. He didn’t trust her.

Sonny turned back to find Maddox gazing at her, a dreamy expression on his face.

“Maddox?”

The other Janus sighed, his head nodding in time to the song.

“Maddox!” Sonny’s voice turned sharp. “Snap out of it!”

“Hmm? Oh. I’m good…”

The music drifted over to where they stood, coiling through the late October night like a slow, lazy serpent. Beautiful, a little disturbing. Sonny closed his eyes for a brief second and shivered, opening them again before the sinewy melody had a chance to take a firm hold. When he looked over at Maddox, he saw that the other Janus’s eyes were completely closed. The planes of his face had relaxed, and a smile curled about his lips.

Sonny elbowed him sharply in the ribs. “Stop that!”

“What?” Maddox stood up straight. “I’m not doing anything.”

“You’re listening. That way madness lies.”

“It was only a second.”

“Madness.”

“Right. So you’re the only one allowed to go all moony over a girl, then?”

“Shut up,” Sonny muttered, glancing back at the temptress. From behind the silky veil of her hair, he thought he saw her wink at him. “And Chloe is not a ‘girl.’ Chloe is a Siren. She used to lure men to their deaths, you idiot.”

Maddox looked mulish. “I hear she’s changed.”

The song ended and there was a smattering of applause from the small, mostly male, audience that had gathered to listen to the band and its enchanting chanteuse. They dug into trouser pockets for bills and handfuls of change, grinning sloppily as Chloe sashayed coquettishly before them with a tip basket.

The band launched into another song. This one started off melancholy, hardly any percussion and only a few drifting strains from the double bass. Then with the slow, mournful fall of notes from the sax, Chloe began to sing. The melody was dark, compelling…familiar.

Sonny gasped.

He’d heard that song before.

It had the exact same tune as the “Philomel” lullaby from Kelley’s play.

“Where did you get the music for that song?” Sonny said, dragging Chloe off the moment the band finished. Maddox followed close behind.

Chloe smiled. “Same place as all the others. Plucked it from the memories of a drowning soul.”

Famous as Sirens were for the beautiful voices they possessed, they didn’t actually have any music of their own. Their music was stolen-pilfered sounds taken from the minds of drowning mortals.

“I thought you were out of that business,” Maddox said, a strong note of disappointment in his voice.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Chloe pouted. “I had nothing to do with it. Not as if I lured her into the water. Took the plunge all on her own.”

“Who? When?” Sonny leaned forward, despite his aversion to Sirens and their ilk.

“Pretty thing.” Chloe regarded him through sloe eyes. “On the first night of the Nine. I almost had to let her die.”

“Why?” Maddox frowned.

“She was helping a kelpie.” The Fae shrugged. “Kelpie bite. Naughty things-especially that one. I was wisely trying to keep my distance.”

“But you didn’t.” Sonny stared at her. “You saved the girl?”

Chloe nodded.

“Why did you change your mind?”

“Mmm…” The tip of the Siren’s pink tongue ran across the edges of her kitten-sharp teeth. “I heard her music. Pretty pretty music,” she mused, remembering. She hummed a bit of the tune.

Sonny felt a stab of longing and could almost see Kelley’s face in his mind.

“Wonderful. Strange and wondrous…” The temptress opened her eyes and glanced sideways at him. “Too pretty to let die.”

“What happened that night? With the girl.” Sonny grabbed her by the shoulders. “What did you do to her?”

“I saved her life!” she said indignantly. “Don’t I get points for that? Against my nature and at great risk of injury from kelpie teeth and hooves!”

“And then you took her song.”

“Only a tiny bit,” she said, unwilling to meet his stare. “Fair bargain, I thought, and it didn’t hurt her.”

“Didn’t it?” Sonny sneered. A Siren could steal all or part of the music from a person’s memories. Stealing only fragments wouldn’t necessarily cause death, but it would still hurt like hell.

“It didn’t hurt her because of what she is. She doesn’t know what she is.” Then Chloe did raise her gaze to meet his, her eyes glinting. “I do.”

“You do?” Sonny felt his heartbeat quicken.

Chloe must have heard it. She leaned toward him. “Oh, yes…I tasted it.”

Sonny released her. “What is she?” he asked.

Chloe’s eyes were golden, he noticed. She sidled toward him, suddenly dangerous. “I’ll bet you’ve got a few sweet tunes stored up in that pretty head of yours, Sonny Flannery. I’ll tell you what I know if you give me just a little taste…”

“Now just a minute, there!” Maddox spluttered.

“You’re not my type.” Sonny held his ground.

“Yeah, you’re not,” Maddox agreed feverishly. “You’re really, really not.”

She shrugged a thin shoulder and spun on her heel. “Then the girl’s story stays with me.” She moved swiftly up toward West Sixty-second Street.

“Damn,” Sonny swore softly.

He ran down the sidewalk after her.

Chloe slowed when she heard his footsteps, and turned.

From a distance, Sonny thought that he saw her eyes go red, hunger glowing in their depths. But by the time he reached her, they were just the flashing golden color they had been before.

“Just a taste,” she said in a low throaty voice.

Her arms wound around his neck like a strangling vine. Chloe fastened her lips on Sonny’s, and he felt the inside