Sirens (Theo Raeken) [1]

Sonata

I shove the entire file in my bag and slip out of the room again. I try to make sure everything else is as it was as I leave, walking back quickly to the front desk. I take one look at the closed door behind the desk and drop the keys onto the desk quickly but carefully so as not to cause a racket.

"Arden?" a voice asks from behind me.

I swivel around to face Theo. "I need you to come with me to Eichen," I say. "I have the file."

He bites his lip. "That sounds like a freaking terrible idea," he says. "Let's go." As we walk towards the door, Theo asks under his breath, "How did you manage getting the file?"

I press my lips together in a firm line. "Let's just say that my mom's lawyer isn't very lawful at all."

"So now we're in a law drama as well," he says, amused. "Man, I love conflict."

I open up the door to the passenger side and slump back into the seat. As Theo starts up the car, I pull out the file and take the time to study it more carefully. "What does it say?" Theo asks, side-eyeing me.

I trace my finger under the lines of words. " 'Ian Caraway was killed by his mistress, Lena Klein. Klein had initially thought that Caraway was single, but on the second of May, two days before the discovery of Caraway's body, she found out that he had a wife, Alexandra Demitri.

"Caraway's daughter, Arden Caraway, four, reported that Klein had come over earlier that evening while her mother was at work. It was the first time she'd seen her and it was also when Klein slipped poison into Ian's meal.' " My voice is quiet by the end of it. "My mother made me lie," I say quietly. "She knew I was a siren so she made me lie using her own powers."

"Arden," Theo says matter-of-factly. "She was doing it for you. She couldn't leave you to grow up with no parents. She wanted you to have a normal life."

I swallow hard. "But I'd never be able to have a normal life," I murmur. "Not as long I was a siren."

Theo exhales, long and heavy. "You don't have to have a normal life, Arden," he says. "Take advantage of it. You can make people bend to your will just like that. You can kill someone with one word." The corners of his mouth stretch into a small smile. "You're a slaughterer," he says.

"You were made to be a killer, Arden."

The last time I visited Eichen House, I got my wrist broken by the Dread Doctors and got rescued by someone who I probably never should've trusted. To put it lightly, I'm not looking forward to going back there.

I look up at the wrought iron gates, focusing my eyes on the buzzer and pressing. As we wait, Theo turns to me. "What do we do if we can't get through?" he says under his breath.

"We kill them," I say. "We kill anyone who gets in our way."

The door makes a buzzing sound, and when I test it, it's unlocked. I push it open and it lets out an eerie squeak as I step through. The path is ominous, black and has an oily sort of quality to it that makes it look it could swallow you up whole if you walk too forcefully on it.

There are only a few working lamps on the sides of the pathway that emit a dim, sinister glow. I suck in a breath, grateful for the few knives sheathed at my belt. The whole place had that sort of unnerving feeling that chilled you to the marrow of your bones. It had the type of aura that made me think that if anyone stayed here long enough, they'd be driven insane regardless of their previous mental state.

I could only think what has gone on in these walls. Not just in terms of supernaturally, but also the murderers, the psychopaths and the criminals. Sure, the supernatural world had monsters, but the human one was so tainted by evil that I also had to pity them.