The Siren at the Museum (The Girl Who Sang #1)

Chapter 6

They dropped Amity's boots down the garbage chute just inside the STAFF ONLY door. "Adiós para siempre," Luz waved sadly, watching the traitorous footwear vanish into the museum depths. "With any luck, that goes straight to the incinerator." She looked down at Amity—down, further—and said, "Those were really cute boots, maybe I can get you another pair."

Emira leaned over and smirked, her hands folded behind her back, "Those cost eight thousand dollars."

Luz stumbled, turning to face the sisters, "Eight thou—" She swung frantic brown eyes to Amity, "I am so sorry!" Amity shrugged and patted her arm. "We'll see what we can dig up in Tía's office." She grabbed Amity's hand and began leading the other girls away from the Atrium. The quiet girl giggled as Luz continued to irritate her sister as she led them through the maze of employees-only corridors. She had tried and discarded several names of green-haired anime or comic characters before settling on 'Polaris'. Her sister had fumed throughout the exercise, bristling and snarling "I already have a name!", but even she had to grudgingly admit that Polaris was cool.

WHY? Amity tapped the page of the notebook.

"Why Polaris?" Luz asked, just to be sure. Amity nodded. "Ah, well, green hair, obviamente, and her dad is Magneto, who's cool with war crimes. He and your mom would probably hit it off pretty well, so—"

"Hey!" Emira hissed, "Not cool." Luz cackled as Amity gave her a thumbs-up. "I hate that that works so well," Emira groused.

"So, your brother," Luz glanced over at Amity, who raised an eyebrow, "He have green hair too?" Amity rolled her eyes. Thumbs-up. "Sooo... would you say he's smart, orr—" Immediate thumbs-down. "Ha, so quick to answer that. Awesome," Luz grinned, "I already have a name for him."

Emira laughed, leaning forward, "What is it?"

Luz shot, "I'm not telling you," over her shoulder as she peered around the next corner. "I don't want it spoiled before I can use it," she added as she waved the two sisters toward a door near the end of the hallway. She pulled her key ring off her belt and moved to push a teal-colored key into the door, but she stopped and turned to face the other two girls. "Please, por el amor de Dios, don't spill anything in here. Tía will kill me." The sisters glanced at each other before nodding to Luz, who then turned and unlocked the door. She stepped inside and flipped on the lights.

They walked into a long, open office. There were a series of windows set in the far stone wall looking out onto the Museum Yard, behind a large dark desk covered with papers, books, and specimen cases. The door had opened into the corner of the room, Luz standing beside the right-hand wall as Amity and Emira stepped inside. There was a clear walkway on the right side of the room, leading back to the desk, and the wall behind the brown-haired girl was covered with messy bookshelves. To their left was a small couch and armchair sitting area, with a set of worktables with tall, padded stools in the middle of the room, piled high with more papers and containers. The far-left corner held a walk-in storage closet and a functional wooden armoire. Emira sniffed and grimaced, "Is that... Chinese food?" Luz groaned and shut the door.

Amity stood in the middle of the room, turning about slowly as she examined the detritus of a distractible academic mind. She bobbed her head from side to side as she scrunched her bare toes in the thick pile rug, shuffling back and forth between the small couch and armchair and the closest L-shaped worktable. She bent at the waist to examine a small collection of copper coins sitting under an adjustable magnifier, her hands clasped behind her back. Emira had followed Luz to lean against the front of the large desk, and the green-haired girl leaned back to tap Luz gently on the shoulder, and pointed to her sister, whispering, "Look, she's singing to herself."