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

Chapter 7

Luz snarled, "Let her go!" and the closest Suit stepped forward to grab her arm. "Hey, man, hands off," she spat while both Steve and Clifford raised their voices in alarm. The green-haired brother had started over, his expression worried, the last Suit trailing him.

"Quiet!" Odalia barked at Steve, pointing a finger at him, and Clifford flinched and half sat down in his chair. One Suit next to Steve grabbed his arm while the other stepped out of the security desk and walked to stand behind the woman restraining the cowering girl. She turned an imperious eye on Luz, "Who are you to tell me what to do?"

Luz scoffed, "Lady, who are you?" She looked at Steve and added, "Karens, am-i-right?" before growling up at the Suit holding her arm, "Let go of me, man."

"You— who am—" Odalia nearly choked on her outrage, "Is she an imbecile?" she glared at Amity. The green-haired woman shot another angry glance at Steve, who had started laughing.

Amity gave her mother a furious scowl and shook her head as Luz laughed, "Yeah, why?" while trying to jerk her arm free from the Suit's hand. "Last warning, cabrón," the brown-haired girl hissed, pointing up at his face.

"Mother, i-is this necessary?" The brother asked, holding out a cautious hand, and Odalia wheeled around to glare at him. He startled, but opened his mouth to speak again, and his mother ignored him.

"You and your sister!" Odalia sneered, "Always disrupting the family's business. Disgraceful." She turned a baleful eye on Amity, "You have an important performance tomorrow evening, we have been planning this for ages," she rubbed at her forehead in a show of weariness, "and you have been such a headache today. We are leaving, now." Amity shook her head and tried to pull away from her mother's iron grip, borrowed cowboy boots slipping on the tile, her mouth moving so quickly—snarling and spitting—but the collar kept her silenced. Odalia curled her lip in disgust, staring down at her daughter, "Really, Amity. Such behavior," she tsked and pulled the audio device out of her pocket, pressing at its controls. "This is not how I raised you," she added with a disappointed tone and a dismissive shake of her head.

Amity blanched and pulled away again, harder, frightened now, and Ed jumped forward to try and catch Odalia's wrist, but the Suit behind him grabbed him first. "No, don't!" Luz yelled, lunging toward Amity, "Leave her alone!" The Suit holding onto her arm pulled her back, and he wrapped both arms around her torso.

Odalia gave her a wicked smirk and pressed the button. A different tune began to play, and soon Amity stood tall and confident, her hands folded at her stomach with elegant poise, her eyes half closed and blank, her chin raised. Commanding. The green-haired woman pressed a different button on the device, and the collar made a small click. "There, darling, you're not completely mute," Odalia drawled in her saccharine voice as a low hummed note, a thrumming musical resonance began to fill the rotunda. "Why don't you tell your—" she sneered, "—friend to leave." Amity's mouth opened slightly, and Luz could hear the faintest vocalized tone, vibrating the hairs on the back of her neck, the singing softer than a whisper. Was she actually hearing it? Or was she just imagining the sound?

"No!" Luz yelled, and suddenly she wanted to leave. "I'll just come back!" She knew she would, but she'd go home first, definitely. "I'll never stop looking for her!" She pulled and twisted in the Suit's arms, stomping at his feet as he hissed in pain, but she knew her mamí was making the soup she'd asked for, so she should probably head there for dinner. "I'll keep digging until I find her again!" Luz promised as she strained against the Suit's grip, but she decided it was time to go. She stopped struggling with the Suit and he loosened his arms, turning to push her toward the door, away from the golden-eyed girl.