Prelude (The Rhapsody Quartet) (20 page)

I shrugged, “Will’s a decent guy, and I like him.”

Glenn ground his teeth together but didn’t say anything. He leaned back in the chair, and Mr McGregor stalked to the front of the class to give his lecture.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After school, I walked with Glenn back to Marin’s house. The day hadn’t ended up being half as terrible as I thought it’d be— it seemed that Will went out of his way to inform everyone that nothing had happened, that I was just a little sick during the party. I wondered if he really was that chivalrous, or if he just didn’t want people to think I was his girlfriend.

It was a nice day out, the sun brilliant and shining with only a few fluffy clouds in the sky. It was even hovering in the high seventies, the sort of rare autumn day that reminded me of summer.

“It’s beautiful today,” I said, stretching.

Glenn smiled, “A shame to be indoors, then.”

I nodded, agreeing, “I don’t have any homework. We could do something.”

He raised a brow, “We?”

I shrugged, “We’re friends, right? We can do things besides sit in a room quietly.”

He laughed, “Okay. Well…” He looked thoughtful, “Honestly, I’ve been itching to train. With all that’s transpired, I need to be in practice.”

“That sounds reasonable,” I said. “Besides, I’d probably enjoy watching you.”

“Fair enough,” he agreed.

When we got home, we headed to the northwest patio of Marin’s house, and I carelessly dropped my book bag onto the table. Glenn gestured, rounding the corner until we were on a flat section of beach that had a few straw dummies and targets set up.

“I didn’t know this was here,” I said, impressed.

Glenn shrugged. “I asked for it, that’s all. I haven’t had opportunity to use it, though,” he said regretfully. “Until today, that is.”

I sat on the edge of the patio, kicking my shoes off and digging my feet into the sand.

Glenn took a deep breath, and pulled his bow off his shoulders. He drew the string back slowly, carefully bringing it to a neutral position again, nodding as he did so. He retrieved an arrow from his quiver, taking aim.

Thwack! The arrow embedded itself into the head of one of the dummies, right between its painted eyes.

I smiled, impressed. “Nice.”

He shook his head. “A test shot, that’s all. Making sure the draw doesn’t need to be adjusted. Sometimes it gets off.” He pulled out a second arrow, then a third, ripping a bit of fletching from the end of one. Glenn notched both at once and held them with four fingers. He drew the string back to his cheek, “I wish you’d tell Will no,” he said.

Flit! Flit! One arrow after the other. They grazed along the face of the dummy, first the left, then the right, forming an x shape and tearing the burlap fabric. Sand began to pour out, leaving the head deflated, held up only by the arrow sticking in the pole through its forehead.

I frowned, curling my toes. A breeze kicked up, blowing my hair into my eyes, and I squinted towards Glenn. “Is it that he’s human, or is it that he’s him?”

Glenn strode toward the dummy, collecting the arrows that had embedded behind it in the sand. “It’s just…” He shook his head, “Why does it have to be
that guy
?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

He flicked the arrows, brushing sand from the fletching. He strode back to continue his practice. “I’ve met Will before. I’ve met a
hundred
Wills before. They’re all the same. Arrogant. Thinks the sun shines out of their—” Noticing my disapproving look, he changed course with his words. “He’s the kind of guy who’s had everything handed to him, his whole life. And to see him just get
you
, so easily…” he shook his head.

“He’s not
getting
me,” I protested.

Glenn raised a brow, “Isn’t he? It took him barely over a week to convince you— to change your mind from
absolutely
not to
why
not.”

“But he’s human,” I pointed out. “He can’t
make
me do anything.” I felt a slight heat on my cheeks as I said it, thinking about the party. Conner was also human, but he almost took advantage of me.

Glenn gestured, “There’s a bin over there. It’s got some clay pigeons in it. Will you throw some for me?”

I sighed, standing up and striding over to the bucket. It was full of thin flat disks. They were surprisingly light, and I picked up a handful. I was holding around eight. “How many do you want?”

“As many as you have.”

I shrugged, grabbing a second handful and tossing them both, letting them fly up and over my head. The wind caught them, whipping them away.

Glenn was lightning fast, pulling arrows out and sending them into the targets with precision. Above me, it rained clouds of dust as the thin clay shattered. I shook it out of my hair, and Glenn smiled sheepishly, “Sorry, Sarah.”

I sighed, stalking back to my seat on the edge of the patio.

“The thing is,” Glenn said softly, “if he’s human, you shouldn’t be around him, anyway. You know that.”

I leaned back. It was true, at least in an ethical sense. For some reason, though, it was hard to avoid Will. There was something about him that made me curious, that made me want to get to know him. I wondered if it was even possible to know a human when I was a siren. He certainly couldn’t get to know
me
, not really.

I bit into my lip and stared at the rolling tide. It was nice not having to deal with homework for once, human or extra. I scratched at the bandage on my arm.

Glenn turned his head to me, concerned. “Do you want me to mix you up a salve, or maybe a poultice, or perhaps a—”

I shook my head adamantly, “No. They’ll probably only take a few more days, honestly, before they’re more or less big scratches. I won’t even need bandages then.”

“You’re so fragile,” he remarked. “Not what I’d have expected from a council race. Most of them are more resilient than this.”

I wasn’t sure what to say, so I rapped my fingertips along the patio’s edge. I couldn’t tell him why sirens were on the council in the first place. Aldan’s book implied that it was an honor to be included, but that was all I knew.

“I still want to see him tomorrow,” I said softly. “He makes me feel… normal. More normal than I’ve felt since turning.” Maybe even more normal than I’d felt in my whole life. Being with Will, at least while we were alone, had felt surprisingly right. I wanted that feeling back again— that’s what I was chasing.

It could’ve been wishful thinking, the effects of drugs in my system.

“I don’t like it,” Glenn said again. “But I can’t stop you. It’s your choice, your time, Sarah.” He frowned, collecting his arrows, “But I’ll be nearby.”

“Privacy?” I said, citing our second ground rule.

He shrugged, “You said I could veto if needed. Well… it’s needed.”

“
Needed
?” I asked dubiously.

“He’s
that guy
,” Glenn said. “Trust me. It’s needed.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The Rules

After school the next day, I returned Aldan’s thin volume on sirens and the thicker one on council law. I hadn’t learned anything useful from either book.

Aldan snatched them up, staring at me with scrutiny. “Well? What did you think?”

I sighed, sitting on the floor in front of his desk. “They were interesting, at least,” I said with a shrug, “but I didn’t really learn much. You don’t know of any way to translate that siren writing, do you?” I asked him.

He snorted as if it was a completely ridiculous question, “And what, pray tell, will you be requesting of me next? The Chalice of Hecate? Perhaps the whereabouts of Atlantis?” He guffawed loudly at his own joke, “No, I do
not
have a way of translating siren writing. If I did, it would serve that I should know more about your species.”

I gnawed on my lower lip. “Then do you have any idea which races were combative towards the sirens before they disappeared?”

He shook his head, scratching out new words in his huge book. “No, not specifically. Most races do not advertise when they commit hate crimes, young lady.”

I folded my hands in my lap, staring at the stacks of books around me. “Can’t you just figure it out through magic?” I said crossly. It seemed like it would be so easy to do— a quick spell to make things less confusing, or to simplify it, or…

“Magic does not function in that manner,” he said with a growl. His eyes narrowed as he peered at me over his spectacles. He sighed, looking at my baffled expression. “I can see now that what you need to study is this,” he said, handing me a thin but wide book. “Flip to the fifth page, please.”

I opened it up, curious. The cover had no writing on it at all, but the first couple pages were illustrated with lots of symbols and marks. On the fifth page, there was a list labeled:
The Universal Restrictions and Laws of Magic
. I followed it down with my finger, reading. There were five rules listed:

1. Time Travel is Impossible

2. Love Cannot be Created, Only Infatuation

3. Every Spell has a Counter

4. Death is Permanent

5. All Magic Requires Form and Function

*All Rules are Fixed, Unless at the Source

“Those are the
basics
,” Aldan said. “The five simple rules of magic. As you can see, it is more limiting than you are suggesting. In this case, it is principle number
three
that is of our concern. If I were to attempt to utilize magic to decipher other magic, it follows that the sirens— unless they were complete imbeciles…” His eyes narrowed, and he muttered the next phrase under his breath, “Which I am beginning to assume might be the case— would place counter spells to combat such infiltration. So, no. I cannot simply use magic to ascertain the meaning of their text.”

I stared at the list. Some of it was a little surprising. The third one gave me hope, despite acting as a barrier to discovering more about the sirens.
Every Spell has a Counter
… that meant that perhaps someday I’d find a cure for my foster parents.

I looked over the list again.
Love Cannot be Created
. Who would want to create love artificially?
Death is Permanent
… I could see where someone would want to bring someone they loved back, though.

The notation at the bottom caught my eye, “What’s the Source?” I asked.

Aldan chuckled, “A place I’d wager you’ll never see, and neither will I, or damn near anyone dwelling within Overworld or Realm.”

He’d lost me. I raised a brow, “Sir?”

He shook his head, taking his glasses off and rubbing at them furiously, “The Source of Magic, girl! The Source of Magic!” he snapped impatiently. “It’s sealed up tightly and requires massive cooperation or force to breach. A failsafe. Much too volatile, much too powerful.”

I pushed myself up, handing him back his book. He shook his head, refusing to take it. “No, no, no! Keep that book with you, siren, that one alone, and
study
it. It contains the most simplistic theory and a basic foundation on magic. Goodness knows you need it. I want it memorized before I see you again.”

I stared at it dubiously. It wasn’t huge, true, but it was probably at least forty pages.

“I don’t know if I can
memorize
—” I started to say.

Aldan shook his head, dismissing me with a wave. “Get out, get out! You’re wasting my time, and I have precious little for nonsense.”

I sighed, gripping the wide book in my hands. I wandered back into the darkness. When I emerged into the black, I closed my eyes, counting to sixty before I opened them again. My vision had successfully adjusted, but the world around me was still dim. At least everything had color, shape, and outline now.

Glenn was propped casually against the boulder, his arms crossed in front of his chest. “You got a new book,” he said, nodding.

I sighed, “Yeah. I did.” I handed it to him.

He flipped through it, crinkling his nose. “Why did he give you
this
?”

“What do you mean?” I asked, confused. Glenn was reacting like the book was offensive.

“You could ask me, or Princess Marin, or
any
other extra about the contents of this book. Anyone would be able to tell you the material more succinctly than some pretentious children’s volume on beginner magic…” He snorted, “That keeper is wasting your time.”

I furrowed my brows, “I don’t think the council would have sent me to him if it was a waste.”

Glenn’s jaw tensed slightly. He shook his head, handing the book back to me. “Yeah. Maybe not. Go ahead and read it. Maybe… maybe I or the Princess would forget some of the details.”

I shoved it in my book bag. It barely fit. The book was almost too wide.

“What are you doing on your date tonight?” Glenn asked, staring directly forward, his mouth a tight frown.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Whatever Will wants to do, I guess.” We walked back towards Marin’s house so I could drop off my school bag. The weather wasn’t as nice today. It was still warm, but the clouds had rolled in. Without the sunshine, the wind felt hard and brisk. “What are you going to do?” I asked.

“I told you. I’ll be close by, wherever it is. Shouldn’t be a problem. He’s human. You could tell him I’m invisible, and he’ll believe you,” he pointed out.

Well… yeah, I could. But so far, I’d done my best to avoid manipulating Will any further than my natural attention grabbing. And I couldn’t help that. I looked at Glenn. His face was determined, set. He was not going to get into an argument over it, and he was not going to take no for an answer.

I wrenched the door of Marin’s house open, hiking the stairs. I dropped my bag on the bed and sat.

“I don’t… I don’t want to,” I said quietly, “I don’t want to use my magic on him, I don’t want—”

Glenn shook his head. “It just simplifies things, doesn’t it? How about this?” he asked. “As soon as you tell him he can’t see me, I’ll drop back fifty paces and let you be. You get privacy, but I can still keep watch.”