Siren's Call

Chapter 9 - Practice Makes Perfect

9 - Practice Makes Perfect

A lingering heartache followed Danae into her dreams. Broken images shifted hazily through her fitful sleep, each one of them hurting even more than the previous, each carrying a piercing agony that sliced through her beating heart: the way Vincent looked at her when they had said their last goodbyes; the image of Erelieva's lifeless body laying upon the altar; the memory of her parents and Darien with her at the lake her brother had found.

And the one memory that had hurt her the most: the one of the prior night. 

And it was on that memory that her thoughts dwelled when she awoke the next morning. Tears had found their way into her eyes as she had slept; now, as she opened her eyes to the blinding sunlight, they spilled from her lashes. Thoughtlessly, her hand lifted to Darien's heart-shaped pendant that still hung around her neck, and her tight grasp upon the precious stone kept the agony and pain from pulling her under. She pulled her knees to her chest and leaned back against the soft cloth of her tent as her heart jerked and twisted on itself.

"Danae?" Lucas' voice drifted to her ears and she straightened hurriedly, brushing her tears from her eyes just as he pushed apart her tent flap marginally. 

"Yes?" she breathed, and she was hardly able to keep the tears from flowing once more as she looked at the face of the man she loved. 

His expression was cool, collected, just a little less hollow than it had been the previous night. His gaze caught his, and she saw the distance in them, a distance she knew she had no hope of closing.

"You ready to practice?" he asked, and she nodded. Suddenly, she yearned for nothing more than to be alone, and to be away from Lucas. She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm the swollen emotions, saying, "I'll meet you at the Big Top."

She doubted he heard her fully, but certainly, he heard the request to be on her own. He vanished from her sight as the parting fell across his silhouette, and she watched his shadow disappear in the direction of the Big Top. 

Why did I agree to this, she wondered. Then she remembered. For the circus, for Vincent, and most of all, for Lucas. But the last of the reasons meant little to her now, and it was on the first two reasons that she concentrated on as she did a hurried washup and shambled to the tent, her thoughts lingering on things she did not want to remember.

But all those memories were pushed from her mind when she entered the Big Top, and saw, once again, the giant tank that stood arrogantly in the center, and this time, it seemed even more magical that it had when she had first seen it. The water glistened in the light, and the gentle splashing of the water soothed her wrecked nerves as she focused on the sound.

But both she and Lucas knew that there was something missing from the colors — a siren.

Standing beside the tank, gazing into it, was Lucas, lost in his thoughts of the girl he loved. So certain was Danae that she stumbled when she felt the pain tear at her heart, and as she did, Lucas turned to look at her. His gaze collided into hers as the amber eyes met blue, and time seemed to still as she watched the hurt reflected in his irises. But that moment lasted for less than a second. Lucas broke away first.

"You ready?" he asked, his usually musical voice now devoid of emotion.

She nodded in reply, unable to trust her own voice not to betray her feelings, and she walked forward to stand next to him, but even the small distance between them felt endless to her. She shoved the thought from her mind, forcing herself to listen to Lucas.