Son of Perseus ✓

Sixteen

Virgil and the other kids slowly faded back into consciousness.

"What happened?" Avalon asked, rubbing her head.

"I- I don't know," Virgil responded, nervously, pulling himself into a sitting position.

Khloya looked confused.

"What?" Wren began to ask her.

"Where am I?" Khloya questioned.

Magnus looked around. "A cell of some kind."

Khloya sighed at the younger boy's comment, "Yeah, I get that, it's just...how did I get here?"

"Maybe we were all at some-" Virgil trailed off. He didn't even know what he was trying to say. The truth was, he wasn't sure how he got here either.

Oktaviya sighed. "Wow, seeing you guys try to figure this out and then watching you stumble to wrong conclusions is... not as entertaining as I thought it would be."

"If you know where we are then do enlighten us!" Wren said, sounding frustrated about the whole situation.

"I wanna go home," Blaze whimpered, moving closer to Avalon.

"I miss my mom," Parker cried.

Oktaviya sighed once again. "Look, you probably don't remember finding out about this, but the paranormal is real."

"Like the monsters under my bed?" Tommy asked, frightened.

"Or in the basement?" Toby added onto his brother's statement.

Oktaviya nodded. "Precisely." She paused before continuing, "You guys were taken--alongside me--to Hell."

Khloya gasped at the word 'Hell'.

"Wait, wait, wait," Virgil began, interjecting. "If this is all true, why don't we remember any of this?"

"You guys barely knew of the paranormal, so therefore, you weren't really adjusted to it," Oktaviya explained. "So when the guard clapped to make us fall unconscious, you guys lost your memories while I got to keep mine."

"And why is that?" Wren raised an eyebrow.

"Well," Oktaviya swallowed. "You guys most likely have a human parent, or at least a monster in hiding. I, on the other hand, was raised in an orphanage for monsters."

"Oh," Wren responded.

"You're saying we could be related to these monsters?" Magnus asked.

"Not just saying you could be," Oktaviya began to tell him. "I'm saying you are. We're all siblings--whether it be half or whole. We're all the children of the archangel, Perseus."

"Archangel? What would that make us then?" Avalon inquired.

"Well, I'm personally an Akrixan. But there's no way that's what you are. I'd assume you're low-class demons. Or, potentially low-class archangels," Oktaviya told her. "Well unless..." She drifted off.

"Unless what?" Wren asked.

A guard approached by stopped dead in his tracks, to listen in on the conversation the kids were having.

"Unless your other parent was a..." She lowered her voice, "...siren. Then you'd be one yourself."

Blaze then said, "I have no idea what that is."

The guard stepped into view. "Oh? You haven't heard? They've got huge black wings! They've got mostly red, pink, or white demonic eyes. They have razor sharp fangs for killing their prey. They have telekinetic and telepathic powers. They're strong too--they could rip you apart easily. They've got a monsterous appetite. They drink blood of the innocent. They even... eat children!"

Parker, Toby, Tommy, and Blaze all screamed while Virgil, Avalon, Khloya, Magnus, and Wren tensed.

The guard continued, "They're lead by the evil siren queen, Zephyria Xenakis! She said to be the child of Hades himself."

Virgil's golden eyes widened.

"Not even sleeping with one eye open will help you. You can't resist them, they'll use their powers on you--ail you and bewitch you into doing their every command. After doing that, your brain will be so fucked up, it'll be vegetable soup. Don't even think about running away from a siren. They're fast. They'll catch you." The guard stopped before slowly approaching the cell, a step at a time. Then he slammed against the bars of the cell saying, "You'll never see them coming!"

Some of the kids screamed in horror, while others frowned or shuttered.

"Have fun," the guard smiled and cackled before leaving the kids behind and continuing down the corridor.

"Y-you think sirens can really do all that?" Magnus asked, nervously bitting his lip.

"We can," a voice said. "But that doesn't mean we will."

The kids then all exchanged a glance before looking to the cell across the hallway.

There was a girl, probably about five or six years old.

"What do you mean?" Avalon asked.

The girl sighed. "Creatures demonize us. It's really harmful. All this hatred ending up leading to the past Great Siren Purges. My- my parents were killed in the most recent one. They take what they call 'a Dash of Xuviphas' and mix it with the salty waters of the Aegean, then boom! You can kill a siren." The girl sniffled.

"I'm sorry for what people say about your kind," Magnus said, apologizing.

The girl slowly looked up at the other kids in the cell across from hers.

Magnus smiled. "I'm Magnus Lind." He gestured to the others. "These are my half-siblings--Virgil Walker, Wren Devlin, Oktaviya Sklairova, Khloya Morozova, Avalon Lakatos, Toby and Tommy Acciai, Blaze Kralj, and Parker Beck."

"Is that really all that's needed to kill a siren?" Wren questioned.

"Well," the girl began to say. "Sirens have adapted since the Purge. We've had to. So, that may not work anymore..."

"What's your name?" Oktaviya asked the young siren.

She responded with, "Hadley Bjelovuk."

"We're gonna figure out a way to get out of here, Hadley," Avalon promised. "We're gonna have to make the world see that sirens are good. You have our word, Hadley."

Hadley smiled faintly. Then she said, tears in her eyes, "Thank you."