Siren's Call

Chapter 3 - Fear

"I don't know, Lucas," Ferran said. Anger and confusion shadowed his voice. "The lights have not been seen in ages. Years. Decades. And yet, when we return to this cursed place for the first night, they are seen."

"Cursed? Ferran, it is not this place that is cursed! It is the girl. You know what the lights mean. It means that a siren has appeared. A siren, ringmaster. They have not appeared for more than a thousand years," Lucas said urgently.

A siren? Danae wondered. She did not pretend to know what the men were speaking of; clearly she was no mermaid, but she gathered that the sirens Lucas and Ferran were talking about were not the ones from mythology. 

"I know, but what can we do?" Frustration colored his tone. 

"We leave, Ferran," Lucas replied. "That is the best thing we can do." 

"No, that will not help. A siren's fate and the fate of her victim is joined. She will follow, one way or another."

"Can we find out who her victim is?"

"Yes. When he or she dies," Ferran snapped bitterly.

A string of profanities streamed from Lucas' mouth as he cursed furtively. "The girl. What can we do about her?"

Danae's heart beat faster, louder, as she realized the meaning behind his words. They were debating her fate. Her hands formed fists as her sides as her ears strained to listen, her breathing shallow and quick. A feeling of heaviness, one she was well familiar with, settled on her shoulders like she had been buried alive. 

"What do you want me to do, Lucas?"

"Anything. Everything. You are the ringmaster, Ferran. Please, I speak to you now not as a subordinate, but as a friend. Each and everyone here is important, the show cannot happen with anyone gone." Pleading had entered his voice. 

Ferran's voice lowered. "You think that I want this to happen? Lucas, you are my closest friend. You, above all others, should know more than anyone that the circus is my home, the performers my family. I cannot lose them. I cannot lose anyone." 

Silence fell between the two, and guilt consumed Danae. It was her presence that had caused them the trouble, but fear overwhelmed the feeling entirely. Swollen emotions swirled within her. According to the men she was a siren of some sort. She would cause someone's death, and what's more, cause the death of someone she did not know. She should leave, quickly, and never return. Yes, that would be best.

Gentle footfalls caught Danae's attention, a noise so subtle that she nearly missed it. Her head turned towards the sound as her own footsteps faltered. A dark silhouette had materialized at the edge of one of the nearby tents, and was now making its way towards the tent where the men were speaking, and outside which Danae was hiding. 

Danae's feet moved instinctively, and she backed up, her back against the soft fabric, until she was on the opposite end of the tent. Her warm breath formed clouds in front of her as she clamped a hand over her mouth in a failed attempt to calm herself. She peered round the edge, just in time to see a young girl disappear into the tent. 

The discussion Lucas and Ferran shared stopped abruptly when the girl entered, but the silence was short-lived. "Aoife," Ferran murmured by way of greeting. 

"Ferran," the girl called Aoife replied, her tone respectful. "Lucas."

"What brings you here, Aoife?" Lucas said. Danae caught the deliberance in the way he spoke, like he had chosen his words very carefully. 

"I saw the lights. Do not pretend that the rest of us have not noticed them, my friends. Have you decided on what should be done?" Aoife asked.

"No," Lucas replied. "We were discussing when you came in."