The symbol Epsilon (ε) is given to a Hunter that successfully kills a Siren while it is in an animal form. This mark gives the Hunter a heightened sense of smell, much like that of an animal.
***
Astrid examined herself in the mirror with an emotionless face. She never usually put any thought into how she looked, but she knew Rose would complain if she didn't make an effort to look nice.
She pulled out a long-sleeved, bottle green shirt which Rose had given her for her birthday and slipped it on. She opted for her favourite pair of black jeans and her combat boots, one of the two pairs of shoes she owned.
She looked over at her weapons belt longingly but knew she could never wear it to a party. She couldn't bring herself to go completely defenceless, however, so she decided to hide two small throwing knives in her boots.
She felt a familiar knot form in her stomach at the thought of the party she agreed to attend. She wondered how Rose would act, now that she was single again. She recalled the days before Rose had started dating David and a visible shiver racked through her.
Rose had a history of hooking up with random guys, knowing perfectly well how much it used to upset her and Sam. She wished Rose would treat herself better.
All she could do was hope that the night would pass by quickly. She didn't relish the idea of being abandoned along with Sam, who would most likely be just as miserable as her.
She wondered why Sam wanted to go at all.
Giving herself one last glance in the mirror, she set her posture right and took a deep breath, "Neil, I'm ready!" she called out, leaving her room and heading for the front door.
"Give me a minute! I'm just finishing this email!" he replied, his voice floating through from his room.
He had been putting a lot more time into his work lately. Astrid decided to sit in the car and wait for him to come when he was ready. She didn't want to add to his stress if she could help it.
***
When Neil pulled into the busy driveway of Connor's house, Astrid swallowed hard as she looked at all of the people emerging from every direction.
"Be careful, kiddo," Neil said, smiling weakly at Astrid.
She felt a pang in her stomach as she gave her brother a pleading look. Usually, he worried a lot about her safety, but for some reason, he never seemed to be bothered by parties.
She wished he would just tell her she wasn't allowed to go after all. At least then she'd have a reason not to go.
"Yeah, whatever," she grumbled, before stepping out of the car and pulling down her top.
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" he called out from his window as she started walking to the front door.
"So I can do anything?" she asked teasingly, recalling Neil's party days. He used to come home drunk almost every night. She guessed it had been his way of coping with his grief.
Neil shook his head but smiled nonetheless. She was relieved he didn't live that lifestyle anymore. She waved as he pulled away and when he had rounded the corner of the street and disappeared from her sight, she took in her surroundings.
There was a small group of people smoking and chatting idly underneath a Jacaranda tree nearby.
She decided to go through the front door, which was standing open and was immediately greeted by the pungent scent of alcohol and smoke. Her sensitive nose made it difficult for her to enjoy herself a lot of the time, but this was on another level of disgusting.
In the corner of her eye, she saw the host of the party, Conner Felton, who was making his way to her with a beer in hand and a goofy smile on his face.
"Hey Astrid. Glad you could make it. I don't see you here often," he smirked, taking a sip of his beer, "Actually I've never seen you here before."
Astrid rolled her eyes, immediately picking up on the overwhelming smell of weed emanating from him. She suppressed the desire to cover her nose.
"Hi Conner. I just came for Rose. Where is she?" she asked, holding her breath as she spoke, hoping to breathe in as little of the toxic air as possible.
He turned around and pointed to a mess of blonde curls which bounced around the makeshift dance floor in the lounge area. Astrid immediately nodded in thanks and began to push through the crowded room, making her way to Rose.
"Rose!" she called out above the booming music.
Rose turned around and smiled brightly at Astrid.
"Hey Astrid! I can't believe you actually came!" she yelled over the music, a huge grin plastered on her face.
"Where's Sam?" Astrid asked, knowing that she had probably already forgotten about him.
"Oh! He's in the kitchen, I think!" she yelled while twitching her head in the direction of the kitchen.
"I'll go find him," Astrid said before walking in the general direction of what she assumed was the kitchen.
Relief washed over her when she entered the kitchen, which seemed to be more secluded. The blaring music seemed far away now and she could finally hear herself think again.
Sam sat on the counter with a glass in his hand which seemed to be filled with some sort of spirits and stared ahead, seemingly shrouded in a familiar cloud of gloom.
"Hi Sam," Astrid said exasperatedly, taking in the sight of him.
He looked up at her sluggishly, "You came," he smiled weakly, getting up to give her a grateful hug.
Astrid wasn't surprised to find that he smelled strongly of tequila and what she could only describe as 'something minty'.
"Let's go outside," she said gently, taking his hand in hers.
They both desperately needed some fresh air and a quiet place to talk. Sam nodded slowly and let her lead him outside through the glass sliding door in the kitchen which led to the back yard. He stumbled a few times as they weaved through the crowd of people.
Finally, they found themselves in a secluded corner of the backyard. There was a little bench and a birdbath stationed next to it.
Taking a seat on the bench and letting Sam flop down beside her, she absent-mindedly ran her fingertips down the smooth, green bark of the fever tree which stood behind the bench. There was a long silence.
"Is something wrong?" she eventually asked, giving Sam a tender look.
Sam shook his head, knowing full well how obvious it was that he was lying.
"Is it about Rose?" she asked gently.
Sam had been crushing on Rose since the very beginning of their friendship. Astrid had known from the start, although Sam had never confessed this to her directly. They had an unspoken understanding of one another and chose to just be there for each other without asking questions when the need arose.
"She's never going to want me. There will always be some other guy," he blurted out, his voice straining slightly.
Astrid felt panic rising in her chest. She had no idea how to comfort people in situations like these.
"I'm sorry, Sam," she said unsurely, patting him softly on the shoulder.
"Don't apologise, you had nothing to do with this. It's just that I care about her so much and it hurts that she's never going to acknowledge all the times I've been there for her," he continued, his tone shifting to one of frustration.
"Well, maybe it's for the best," Astrid shrugged, "I mean, maybe Rose doesn't deserve you. At least now you can be free to move on from her."
She was totally winging it at this point. She just hoped she was convincing. Truly, she didn't have any good answers for Sam. Sometimes, people just didn't feel the same way. That was one of the painful truths many people struggled to accept.
"I guess," he shrugged, staring at the ground, "I still love her, but maybe one day I won't anymore."
"That's the spirit," she responded awkwardly.
She couldn't understand why this discussion made her feel so uncomfortable. It was strange to hear Sam be so open about how he felt. They used to talk about things indirectly. It was just the way things were. This was... new.
Her train of thought was interrupted by a disturbance in her peripherals. As she moved her gaze towards the direction the movement was coming from, she noticed a couple making out in the shadows around the side of the house.
As she edged closer, her eyes widened in horror as she recognised Rose's petit frame and blonde hair. She was kissing Connor, the host of the party.
Astrid looked back helplessly at Sam, who clearly recognised the couple too. He shook his head and stood up abruptly, before storming off. Instinctively, Astrid grabbed his arm, trying desperately to calm him down.
He shrugged her hand off of him and kept walking, his shoulders tense and his jaw tightened.
"Sam!" she called after him.
"I'm going home," he grumbled, quickening his pace.
Astrid drew in her breath and felt her skin scream with anxiety as she watched him stumble quickly through the kitchen door and disappear into the house. After processing what had just happened, she looked at the couple, who were blissfully unaware of the damage which they had just caused.
Before she knew what she was doing, she had stormed towards them before yanking Conner away from Rose by his collar and shoving him aside. She then grabbed Rose by the forearm and led her back around the corner, ignoring Conner's swearing.
"You are unbelievable," Astrid said sternly, staring relentlessly into Rose's startled, blue eyes.
"What? Am I not allowed to have any fun?" she slurred, causing Astrid's breath to quicken as she felt rage come over her, her skin on fire.
She should have known that Rose would be drunk. Sometimes she felt like a parent to Rose and Sam. She was always having to run after them and make sure that they were okay.
"Usually I couldn't care less if you decided to hook up with random people, but you just did that in front of Sam. You brought him to this party, ditched him like you always do and made out with someone in front of him, knowing full well the way he feels about you!" Astrid said angrily, unable to control her emotions anymore.
Astrid had never shouted as Rose before. She was suddenly overcome with guilt and gave Astrid a distressed look.
"I'm so sorry," she said shakily, covering her mouth with her hands.
"Save it. You can apologise to Sam. This isn't my problem anymore," Astrid replied coldly, before quickly backing away and storming off.
As she headed back to the back door, she bumped into Conner, who had obviously been eavesdropping on her argument with Rose.
"I didn't know," he said quickly as he lifted his hands up in surrender.
"I don't care," she replied sharply, continuing to walk away and purposefully smashing my shoulder into his.
As she pushed her way through the crowd of people who were congregated in the living room, replaying the image of Sam walking out in her head. What the hell was Rose thinking? She was so shocked by her behaviour. She had always known that Rose was a little bit wild, but she didn't expect her to go this far.
She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she barely noticed the presence of someone following her as she marched down the driveway and away from Conner's house, wanting to get as far away as possible before she called Neil to come and fetch her.
As she continued walking, she felt the person's presence as they trailed her and realised that they would be right behind her sooner or later.
Instinctively, she spun around into a crouch and threw her leg out as she pulled her body into a spin, hooking her leg around the person's ankles and sending them flying onto their back. Standing up quickly, she stomped her foot onto his chest, keeping him pinned to the ground in the darkness.
"Why are you following me?" she asked furiously.
"I'm sorry, Astrid, I just wanted to see if you were okay. Jeez!" a familiar voice nervously piped out.
"Chris?"
"Yes, it's me. Now can you please let me get up?" he asked in an alarmed voice.
"Oh, sorry," she said quickly before removing her foot from his chest and watching him as he got up and dusted himself off.
"Where did you learn to do that, anyway?" Chris asked, his eyes still wide in shock as he rubbed his shoulder.
Astrid shrugged.
"Why did you want to see if I was okay?" she deflected.
"I saw what happened with Rose. Why did you avoid my question?" he shot back.
"Because it's none of your damn business. Why were you even at the party?" she huffed.
"I was hoping David was there. He hasn't replied to my texts for two weeks now. I'm starting to worry. I went to his apartment but he didn't seem to be home," he said.
"Oh. Do you think it's because of the breakup?" she asked.
"What breakup?" he asked confusedly.
Astrid stared up at Chris with a raised eyebrow.
"Didn't David tell you?" she asked.
"Apparently not," he said, furrowing his brows.
They began to walk along the road together in silence.
"Would you mind giving me a lift home?" Astrid eventually broke the eerie silence.
"Sure," he shrugged.
***
Chris stared ahead at the road, still deep in thought. Astrid picked at her nails as she thought about what she was going to tell Neil, trying desperately to push the thoughts of Rose and Sam out of her mind.
"Something's not right about all this stuff with David and Rose," Chris said suddenly.
"I guess," she shrugged.
Chris lifted one of his dark eyebrows and glanced at Astrid in the dim light of the street lamps which passed by.
"Don't you agree? I mean, they've been together for three years and now suddenly they end it over a 'disagreement' or something. David is missing. Does none of this sound strange to you?" he asked seriously.
"It is suspicious," she said with a clenched jaw, suddenly feeling the desperate urge to get out of the car.
***
Astrid stood in her driveway and watched Chris as he drove off, giving him a weak wave goodbye. It had been a long and uncomfortable night for her. All she wanted to do was climb into bed and fall into a dreamless sleep. Finding her keys, she unlocked the front door to find Neil sitting on the couch with a beer in his hand.
"Home so early?" he asked, looking up from the TV.
"I don't want to talk about it," she grumbled, flopping down onto the couch next to him.
"Who was the guy?" he asked with a mischievous smirk.
"Were you eavesdropping again?" she asked irritably, sitting up and looking at him with a raised eyebrow.
"No, actually. I assumed it was a guy because you got a lift home early... from a party. It certainly wasn't Rose or Sam, since they would have come inside to say hi and then slept over without an invitation. Therefore it could only have been a guy... which you just admitted to," he said proudly, holding a finger in the air, as if he were a detective.
"Very well deduced, my dear Watson," she replied, giving her best British accent.
"I am not Watson," he said with his lips slightly parted and a hand rested on his chest.
"Mmmhmm. I'll be in my room," Astrid replied, a small smile on her lips.
Neil scoffed as she walked away and closed the door behind her.
As she lay down on her bed, she contemplated everything Chris had said. It really was suspicious, the whole situation with Rose and David. Maybe he was onto something.
Suddenly she thought about Sam's heartbroken face when he had seen Rose. She wondered where he was now and if he was okay. She knew she probably should have texted him, but she felt so angry and confused by the whole night, she wasn't sure that she would be that helpful.
She then thought about the big research task she had due in a week's time. Letting out a small grunt of frustration, she got up and sat at her desk. All these issues and she still had schoolwork to deal with.
Taking her laptop out, she began to do some research, which took an hour, since she had to find enough sources for the huge paper she had to write.
Determined to finish the paper that night, she stayed up until three in the morning, not feeling tired, what with so many thoughts swirling around in her busy mind.
When she finally flopped down onto her bed for the second time that night, she fell asleep almost instantly.