I’ll do my best.
Chapter Four
For a long moment, I stare at the closed door. There’s a sheen of magic covering it, and I know that means occupants can’t use magic. It doesn’t stop me from attempting to communicate with Lucas again.
But I can’t. It’s as if beyond the door is a void. No matter. I can leave in the morning, once my night shift is over, and I can try to locate his family. I doubt there will be any reports of the crime in the papers. The supernatural community is excellent at keeping things under wrap.
Portia clears her throat. “Mirella, I do believe there is one matter I forgot to tell you earlier. You are not allowed to leave the ground for the entire week that you are to serve as a guard here.”
“But what about sleeping? And showering?”
“Surely you can sleep and shower at locations other than your home,” the angel says dryly.
I scowl. “Yes, of course I can,” I mumble.
“Once your shift is over, Regale will show you to your room.”
“It’s not a cell, is it?” I ask, but Portia is already marching away.
For the rest of my shift, I just wander the floors, humming a tune. It’s only as I enter my room that I realize the tune I’m humming is When the Saints Go Marching In.
How ironic.
By the way, my room is essentially a cell without the bars. I should be exhausted after the hours of walking, but I’m too anxious and worried for Lucas’ sake. How can I help him if I can’t leave? I can’t even talk to him!
Not that he even knew what crime he had committed.
Had he committed it, though? Was it his voice that compelled those teenagers to kill himself? If so, how can he be innocent?
If someone else compelled him to do it…
But why? If the unknown party, the one truly responsible, could have made the teenagers kill themselves, why bother to involve Lucas?
A vendetta against Lucas. Someone who hates sirens. An enemy of his parents. There is any number of reasons why someone might want to pin the murders on Lucas because the teenagers hadn't committed suicide. They might have done the deed themselves, but it hadn't been by choice.
At the orphanage, we weren’t given a lot of access to pop culture, but I still know about the fairy tales. I read all of the classics to the younger orphans. Out of all of them, Sleeping Beauty had always been the one to stick out at me the most. Maleficent, I always thought, was the most evil out of all of the villains. Why? Because she took away Aurora’s ability to make choices, to live her life. Maleficent controlled her by putting her under that cursed sleep.
If there’s one thing I cannot abide, it’s being confined and limited. I need my freedom. I need to fail, make mistakes, try again, and possibly, eventually succeed.
And I won’t let Lucas bear the consequences of another. He’s innocent, and I will figure out a way to help him.
But a day passes and another, and I’m no closer to figuring out how to prove Lucas’ innocence. It’s clear that he won’t be released from solitary during the length of my time here, and my week is rapidly evaporating.
The next night, I pace, unable to sleep. I can’t sleep, won’t sleep, not until I determine a plan of action more than asking a few of the inmates about Lucas.
My feet keep stepping even though I’m not concentrating on pacing. I’m almost in a trance—
A trance. That’s it!
I blame the lack of candles in the prison for my failure to think of this earlier, but I don’t need candles to enter a trance.
Without hesitating, I sit on the cold, hard ground of the room and close my eyes. My mind clears, and I even out my breathing. I focus my thoughts on Lucas the siren, on the crime he's been charged with, and on the two teenagers murdered by the unknown entity I desperately need my magic to reveal to me.
Eventually, I see a black that isn’t from my shut eyelids. Within the darkness, a shape forms. A man stands before me. The darkness seems to recede within him, as if he’s a black hole, but no. A black hole sucks in light, not darkness.
The more I watch, the more I can see the man more clearly, and I think I’m beginning to understand. He’s darkness himself.
His complexion isn't like any I've ever seen before. Considering all kinds of paranormal creatures went to Magical Hunters Academy with me, I've seen most everything. Not this, though. He has a slight reddish tint to his skin. His teeth are long, revealed by his terrible smile, and his eyes are so cruel that I can't see their color.
A demon. He’s a demon.
My trance ends, and I rub my arms briskly. Although the prison isn’t too hot or too cold, I’m covered in goosebumps.
A demon makes perfect sense. The true villain has to be an evil paranormal creature, a powerful one at that to be able to either “borrow” a siren’s voice or else force one to use his voice without the siren’s knowledge. Can demons entrance another? That wouldn’t surprise me.
So, I’m looking for a demon. Isn’t that just wonderful? And how am I going to find this particular one?
Well, I’m in a prison, after all. There has to be at least one demon here. I’ll just have to talk to him or her. Do demons run in tight circles, or do they always act alone? I’m hoping against hope that I can discover who this particular demon is.
Lucas, hang in there. I’m doing the best I can, and honestly, if it’s necessary, I’ll keep searching for the villain even after I’m out of here. No one deserves to be locked up for a crime they didn’t commit. Don’t give up hope yet. Never give up
