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

Chapter 11

Luz woke to the scent of sizzling bacon. Not due to the delicious smell—which it was—but because King caught the scent and dashed out of her bedroom, trampling her legs and stomach in his mad scramble out the door. She lurched awake with a gasp and a choked, "Kiiiing, why," but the dog was gone, having left one casualty in his wake. She rolled off the bed and thumped to the floor in a blanket-shrouded ball, wishing for the sweet kiss of oblivion. An unhappy grumble drifted off her bed, and she slowly worked herself up onto her elbow and peeked over the edge of her mattress.

Amity glared at her from beneath a green-and-auburn bird's nest and Luz nearly flinched at the simmering hatred in her gaze. "It's freezing, Luz," the pale girl scowled, curling up into a ball, "you blanket thief."

Luz grinned and put her palm on the bed to rest her chin on her hand, "Good morning, hermosa," she smiled wide at the pink blush that broke out across the pale girl's face, "Are you cold?" The girl's golden eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms in a pout, and Luz chuckled while she pulled herself to her feet, "Easy tigresa, let me help warm you up." The brown-haired girl laughed when the pale girl flushed a darker red as she settled back onto the bed and spread the blanket out over them both, "Actually, do you even need the blanket anymore? You look awfully re—"

"It's too early," Amity interrupted, grabbing a fist full of Luz's sweatshirt as leverage to pull herself forward, "for you to be this cute." Luz opened her mouth with a snarky grin and the pale girl shut her down with a quick, "Uh-uh, hush."

Luz waited until the smaller girl had finished squirming close and grunted in contentment, and then she whispered, "You think I'm cute?"

"I think," Amity whispered into the taller girl's collar, "I said hush."

She tried. She really did. But eventually, the warmth in her chest bubbled over, "I think you're cute too."

The scowl in Amity's eyebrows was at odds with her giddy smile, and her voice turned petulant as she drummed her fingertips on the taller girl's face, "I don't know what I'll do to you if it's earlier than six o'clock, Luz."

The brown-haired girl craned her neck, trying to find her phone, "Yeah, sorry cariño, once I'm up—where is my—I have no idea what time—"

A horrid, ear-piercing shriek came from the kitchen HOOT-HOOT and Luz huffed a laugh while Amity groaned, "What is th—" HOOT-HOOT "—oh god that's awful!"

Luz laughed aloud as HOOT-HOOT she looked down at Amity, "That's Eda's cuckoo clock—" HOOT-HOOT "—in the kitchen, but she only—" HOOT-HOOT "—starts it running when—" she gasped in excitement HOOT-HOOT "Tía Lily must be here! The—" HOOT-HOOT "—clock drives her crazy, but she..." Both girls looked around, expecting another interruption, "...huh, must be seven. Anyway," Luz said as she slipped out of bed and stretched, "Lilith hates Hooty, so of course Mama starts him up." The brown-haired girl motioned for the lumpy blankets to follow her.

Amity sat up and frowned, "I hate it too." She grumbled under her breath as she crawled out of bed and stalked to the door. Luz held out her hand, and Amity took it without a second thought.

The girls walked into the kitchen and stopped to smell the scent of bacon and fried potatoes in the air, and they both laughed when their stomachs growled in hunger. A tall, pale woman with ravens-black hair—so black it had a bluish tint in the morning sunlight—sat at the table beside Eda. Both women had a strong family resemblance, but their personal styles differed wildly. Lilith Clawthorne wore round glasses, and a stylish pleated burgundy skirt with a crisply ironed wide-collared cream-shaded blouse. She sat straight in her chair, tea cup and saucer in her hands. Pinky finger held out, naturally. She had a slight crease in her brow and a flat expression on her face, which Luz figured was due to the clock. Eda, in contrast, slumped in her backwards chair over a laptop on the table, black ribbed tank top tucked into ripped black jeans also tucked into tall black boots. She had black smudges on her arms and forehead, and an oil-stained cloth hanging from her back pocket, which meant Lilith must have interrupted her in the shop. King was laying in a patch of sunlight against the far wall, snoring.