creepy hollow 05.5 - scarlett (3 page)

The rocks hid a shallow pool that lapped upon the shores of a concealed beach. Beyond that, more rocks rose sharply, jutting out at odd angles and concealing the entrance to the sirens’ home. Evaline led Beth around the pool, beneath the archway carved into the stone, through a short tunnel, and then—

Beth was finally home. It was familiar and strange and beautiful all at once. Ahead of her was the vast oval-shaped garden she remembered playing in as a child. Fountains, pools, statues and hedges created the perfect setting for a game of hide-and-seek. An open corridor of white marble, held up by pillars carved with exquisite detail, encircled the oval space. On the outer edge of the corridor, archways of greenery led to individual gardens and homes.

It was toward one of these archways that Evaline was no doubt leading her. Whichever one was now her home. A young girl ran across their path, then stopped to lean against a pillar and stare at Beth. Beth looked away, feeling self-conscious in her oversized jacket and blood-smudged legs. She clasped her hands together and felt sand on her palms. Although, sand didn’t feel quite like that, did it? Surprise jolted through her as she looked down and found glitter falling between her fingers. She lifted one arm and watched the glitter trail through the air behind her.

“Bessie, dear, please try to control yourself,” Evaline said. “You’re radiating magic everywhere.”

“It’s Beth.”

Evaline stopped abruptly, causing Beth to almost walk into her. She looked over her shoulder. “Excuse me?”

Swallowing her unease, Beth said, “My name is Beth, not Bessie.”

Evaline’s gaze shifted to the silver pendant resting at the base of Beth’s neck. Her eyes, bright and dangerous and unforgiving, moved back up to meet Beth’s. “Beth,
dear
,” she repeated, “control yourself. You’re radiating magic everywhere.”

Everywhere …
Beth thought back to the light glowing within the rocks, the sand turning to crystals, and the galloping sea foam horses. Were those all products of the magic she had no control over?

“Bessie? Is that you?”

Beth slowed and threw a look over her shoulder. A girl with long, shimmering copper locks stood there watching her. A memory of two little girls running along the beach, their bare feet kicking sand into the air behind them, rose to the front of Beth’s mind. “Delphine?” she said.

“Hurry up, Beth,” Evaline said, her voice tugging Beth back to the present. “You’ll have time for old friends later.”

She continued along the corridor, Beth hurrying behind her, and turned beneath the archway at the far end of the oval. The archway that was larger and prettier than all the others. “Wait,” Beth said, her footsteps slowing. “Is this … Do you live here now?”

Evaline laughed. “No, I am not Ruler. I have advanced to Second, though, so who knows what might happen one day.”

“But—I—Should I not clean up before meeting with the Ruler?”

“I’m well aware that you’re not properly dressed, but newcomers are required to report to the Ruler’s residence immediately upon entering our community.” She tugged the jacket off Beth, then waved her hand near Beth’s legs and hands until the dirt and blood magically disappeared. “There. You look a little more acceptable now.” Evaline turned to face the Ruler’s residence, which was covered in leafy green vines. “Don’t dawdle, Beth. Our Ruler doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

* * *

Beth’s meeting with the Ruler, a woman named Lillian who was guarded by Amazon warrior-type women and who seemed vaguely familiar, was brief. Lillian walked around her as Evaline spoke. She sniffed at the air, touched Beth’s rain-dampened hair, and then congratulated Evaline on the return of her daughter. It was odd and creepy, and Beth hardly breathed until she was out of the house.

“She wasn’t the leader when I was a child,” Beth said when they reached the corridor.

“No. She was elected three years ago.” Other than that, Evaline offered no further explanation.

There were more women about now. Young and old, all of them beautiful, and all of them watching her. No men, of course. Siren men lived separately. They were necessary for continuing the siren race, but energy and power could not be drawn from them, which meant they were otherwise useless to siren women.

Evaline turned beneath another archway, and when they entered the small house, Evaline said, “Welcome home, my daughter.” She led Beth into the sitting room, which was just as white and bright as the marble outside. “I have only one bedroom, so you’ll need to sleep in here until we can convert my study into a room for you. Or add on a separate room.” She tapped her chin. “Yes, that would be better. Oh, don’t sit on that until you’ve had a bath,” she added quickly as Beth hovered near the spotless white chaise longue. “Come, the bathing pool is this way.”

As Beth soaked in a pool of steaming water, her mother sat on the stool beside the tall mirror in the corner of the room and brushed her lustrous hair. “We have much to do,” she said. “You’ll need to learn more about control, and there are plenty of other lessons to catch up on. History and politics and the like. And, of course, we should have a celebration. A party to welcome you home.”

To someone like Beth who’d never been comfortable as the center of attention, that sounded like an awful idea. “Uh, okay,” she said as she moved to the edge of the pool. “Does it take long to learn control?”

“It can take several months for a child, but since you’re much older, I hope you find control easier to grasp. Then again—” she lowered her brush “—nothing about your magical development has been normal, so I can’t say how long it will take you to achieve control.”

Beth nodded, trying not to feel daunted by everything she still had to learn. “It felt as though my magic appeared out of nowhere, but now that I think about, I remember strange things happening sometimes when I was younger.” She took a breath before continuing, telling herself that this was her mother and that she shouldn’t be afraid to speak more than a few words to her. “I fought with Dad once. I was angrier than I’d ever been, and even though I was scared of shouting at him, I couldn’t help it. I screamed all my anger out and then ran upstairs. When I got to my bedroom, I found that all my books and papers had blown off my desk and scattered onto the floor. The window was open, and I told myself it must have been a particularly strong gust of wind, but I remember thinking how strange it was because it hadn’t been windy at all that day.”

“Mm hmm,” Evaline murmured. She was once again brushing her hair, and Beth couldn’t tell if she was listening or not. She decided to continue anyway.

“Another time at school, a friend passed me a joke on a piece of paper. It was so funny, but I wasn’t supposed to laugh because we were in the middle of a lesson, so I did my absolute best to hold my giggles in. That’s when the tap in the basin at the back of the classroom popped off and sprayed water everywhere. The teacher thought it was a plumbing issue, but maybe it was me. There were other strange things that happened, but I never put them all together and thought of myself as the cause of any of them. Not until … now.”

“I see,” Evaline said, sounding almost bored.

Beth climbed out of the pool and reached for the white robe Evaline had hung behind the door for her. She pulled it on and asked, “Do you think all those incidents were caused by my magic trying to get out?”

“Possibly.” Evaline stood and examined her appearance in the mirror. “Interesting that your father didn’t notice any of this.”

“Yeah,” Beth said quietly, but she knew why. Her father didn’t notice much when it came to her. Well, except for last night when she’d come downstairs in the red dress. He’d taken notice then. And now, as she caught a glimpse of both her mother and herself in the mirror’s reflection, she suddenly understood why. Her father had looked at her and seen Evaline—and he’d hated her for it.

CHAPTER FOUR

It was intimidating as hell standing before a crowd of stunningly beautiful women. Beth knew their intense beauty was only part of their siren magic, yet the thought did nothing to ease her insecurity. She wondered if her sudden awakening of magic had affected her own appearance. Once she’d cleaned up, her mother had commented on how enchantingly lovely she looked—possibly the nicest thing Evaline had ever said to her—but when Beth looked in the mirror, she couldn’t see any difference. The difference, if there was one, must be a kind of glamour, visible only to others and not to herself.

She reminded herself that she belonged here now as her tentative steps took her out from beneath the stone archway and onto the sand near the shimmering pool of water. She’d chosen a dress far less revealing than the one she’d worn to her disastrous date with Jack. The blue skirt was long and flowing, tickling her bare feet and skimming the sand behind her. The sleeves were a modest length, ending just above her elbows, but the neckline plunged a little more than she was comfortable with. It was one thing to bare her cleavage to the guy she loved, and quite another to put it on display before a group of women with assets far more enticing than her own. Feeling utterly naked, she wrapped her arms around herself and waited.

Conversation stilled and every eye turned to her. She forced herself to look away from the examining gazes, focusing instead on the glittering rocks, the tiny lights floating in the air, and the music emanating faintly from somewhere behind her. Evaline, who had walked out of the tunnel at Beth’s side, lifted her hand and laid it lightly on Beth’s lower back as she began speaking. In tones as mesmerizing as any master storyteller’s, she presented Beth to the siren community, spinning a heartwarming tale of homecoming and reunion. Beth noted that her previous lack of magic and forced exile from the community at an early age were never mentioned.

Evaline finished her story by encouraging everyone to make Beth feel welcome. The chattering started up once more, the music grew louder, and Beth felt her mother’s hand pressing against her back, urging her forward. She took a few hesitant steps, trying not to meet anyone’s gaze. She knew people were still looking at her. Still talking about her. Was she meant to approach someone and just begin a conversation? Or wait for someone to walk up to her?

This was awful. It was worse than the first day at a new school.

She was contemplating hiding behind a rock when she noticed someone coming toward her. Delphine, moving with gliding grace, her glorious copper curls tumbling over her shoulders. She greeted Beth with a grin. “I can’t believe you’re back.” She leaned in as if for a hug, but, perhaps noticing the way Beth’s arms tightened self-consciously around her chest, Delphine opted to rest her hand on Beth’s upper arm instead, squeezing lightly before letting go. “I’m so happy you turned out to be magical after all. I was completely devastated after your mother sent you away. I cried myself to sleep every night for weeks.”

Beth allowed herself to relax into a smile. “I’m willing to bet I cried a whole lot more than you did.”

“Oh no, it must have been terrible! I’ve never even been into the human realm. Is it as boring as they say it is?”

Beth shrugged. “It has its perks.” Like Jack …
Let him be okay
, she pleaded silently.

“Well, anyway.” Delphine swung her arms at her sides. “Isn’t it pretty out here tonight? We don’t often have gatherings that involve the entire community.”

“It is lovely,” Beth said, wanting to smack herself over the head for not being able to come up with anything more intelligent to say.

“Do you remember how we used to sneak out here and watch the older girls training?” Delphine said, nodding toward the rocks on the other side of the pool. “I always thought it was so silly we had to practice the traditional arts, singing from the rocks to call the sailors. Don’t we have better ways to draw men in these days?”

Beth chuckled. “Don’t let my mother hear you say that. I’ve been back little more than a day and I’ve already heard her practicing her singing.”

Delphine rolled her eyes. “
Your
mother? I shouldn’t let
my
mother hear me say things like that. She’d remind me how inappropriate it is for the Ruler’s niece to oppose The Way Things Are.”

“Oh, it’s your aunt who’s Ruler now,” Beth said as the connection clicked into place. “That’s why I thought she looked familiar.”

“Yes, the previous Ruler was killed just over three years ago. We still don’t know what happened. Aunt Lillian was voted in, but not everyone wanted her as Ruler. There was public disagreement and fighting. It was all a bit messy.” She sighed. “You really do have a lot to catch up on, don’t you.”

Beth rolled her eyes. “Don’t remind me. Here I am, sixteen years old, and I have to do control lessons like a five-year-old.”

“Well, don’t think about it now. Come, let’s dance.” Delphine grasped Beth’s hand and tugged her toward the pool, where several women were twirling and giggling and splashing. Perhaps it was Delphine’s willingness to include her that made Beth suddenly feel more confident than before. Whatever it was, she let Delphine lead her to the edge of the water. But then the copper-haired beauty slowed. She looked over her shoulder at Beth, an odd expression growing on her face. She frowned and raised her free hand to her forehead.

“Delphine? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know.” Delphine stood still, breathing slowly and purposefully, as if each breath caused her great effort. “I feel so … faint.”

Abruptly, something changed. Pure, raw power—delicious and head-rushing and addictive—shot through Beth’s body. Delphine’s breaths became gasps. Her hand slipped out of Beth’s, she stumbled a few steps backward, and then, amidst a rising chorus of screams, her limp body collapsed into the water.

* * *

“How dare you?” her mother hissed. “How
dare
you? Using energy-drawing magic against another siren? It shouldn’t even be
possible
.”

“Is she okay?” Beth asked, her shaking fingers pressed against her mouth. “Please tell me she’s okay.”