Song of the Siren

I.                   The Rise of the Green Behemoth

“Welcome to the wonderful world of jealousy, he thought. For the price of admission, you get a splitting headache, a nearly irresistible urge to commit murder, and an inferiority complex. Yippee.”
― J.R. Ward, Dark Lover

            The house perched at the very corner of Wester Lane and Lavender Street, reflecting the sun off of newly polished windows. On each side of the bright red door, cheery yellow tulips and delicate white asters bloomed. Every shade in the house was drawn closed and the moving truck had been absent since last Saturday.

            Leonora had been standing in her living room, squinting at the house. She had not been home when the neighbors had arrived and was deathly curious if the family had children. The previous neighbors were best described as scowling prunes. They were constantly huddling outside the brick home to yell, jowls flapping, at her. Needless to say, she hoped her new neighbors were younger.

            She pursed her lips. If she stayed, she would be late for classes. This would not have been so bad if it wasn’t for her responsibility to wake her cousin, Chase, along the way. She didn’t mind the occasional tardy, but the boy would have a bird if she had caused him to be late again.

            “Bye Papi,” She yelled before grabbing her tattered backpack. It was once a bright blue, but after years of books and pencils, it had become a pale grey. “Bye Mama!”

            Before a reply could be heard, Leonora was halfway across her walkway.

            Her checkerboard sandals thwacked against the ground as she pondered over the neighbors. Ridgewell was a relatively large town; people moved there and moved away with the flow of Los Astros’s employment rate. However, no person had moved onto Lavender Street since her family, the Vasquez’s, had sixteen years ago. This fact made the new neighbors even more intriguing to the brown eyed girl.

            When she reached the other side of the street, Leonora thwacked her way to the Knight’s House and busted through the door.

            “Good morning Leonora,” her Aunt Pillar mumbled, sipping her lukewarm coffee in attempt to wake herself. Aunt Pillar was a very serious and very tired woman. She was high on the executive chain at a very important insurance agency in Los Astros and the position required working everywhere all of the time. Leonora had never seen the women in anything but a pencil skirt and a nice blazer. “Chase is already awake.”

            “Sorry I’m late,” she called back before heading up the stairs. When she got to the bumper sticker clad door, she knocked in an awkward beat. For extra annoyance, she sang her words completely off key. “Get UP! School TIME!”

            “Shut up Leo!” a groggy voice shouted before the door opened and Chase appeared. The boy, shuddered as he held his ears. “You make my cat sound like an opera singer.”

            “And you make my gunea pig sound like a man. You don’t see me complaining.” Leonora smirked and flicked his nose before turning back down the hall way. “Let’s go Chase! I have new classes this quarter!”

            People normally could not believe the two teens were cousins until someone pointed out their angular jaw and prominent noses. It was Leonora’s island tan that glowed around her curves and Chases alabaster skin that stretched over his bones that threw away the little resemblance they had.