The Siren's Silence

Chapter One

The sea below the pier in December was icy and aggressive. The currents that swirled around the posts were deadly and even if you escaped those, the freezing temperatures of the water were likely to take you. No one dared pier jump in December.

That's why it was so strange to see a boy – about seventeen years old – standing beyond the railings, looking down into the swirling water beyond the wooden beams. Behind him, a girl was perched on the rusting metal railings, smiling to herself and twirling a piece of her jet-black hair around her finger. The boy turned nervously to face her.

"Do I really have to do this?"

The girl laughed. "Of course you do. You've got no choice, Jeremy."

Is he stupid or what? I've told him this, like, ten times already.

Jeremy turned back to the water. "I can't."

"Do I have to make this decision for you as well?" The girl sighed, jumping down from the railings and walking to the edge of the pier herself. "Look, Jeremy, I had to use up a lot of my energy to get you here. The least you could do for me is just jump."

I'm so dead if I get sent out on my own today. Oh well, it'll be worth it.

"But-"

The girl tutted. "Fine. I guess I have to do all the work around here."

She moved closer to him, focusing a little too intently on his face for it to be comfortable. Jeremy's eyes glazed for a moment and her icy-blue eyes moved away from his forehead. He turned to the murky water and the girl stepped back, biting her lip in anticipation. Jeremy swung his arms twice and jumped off the slightly springy beam.

The girl heard Jeremy's scream as he fell and couldn't help but laugh. The loud splash that he made when he broke the water's surface came through the wooden beams of the pier, flicking at the girl's shoes.

"Talia!"

Dammit. Now I'm going to have to be told how dangerous my behaviour is for the third time this week.

"What do you want, Raven?" Talia grumbled, walking back to the railings.

"You have got to stop doing that!"

Talia exchanged an amused look with the boy who accompanied Raven but ignored the tall, dismayed girl completely. Raven flicked her short, dyed hair from her eyes as she waited impatiently for Talia's response.

"I was just having some fun."

"You forced a boy to jump into the ocean," the other girl stated, her auburn hair whipping about in the sharp wind. "He might've died!"

"Shut up, Marcia," Talia snapped as the boy laughed quietly. "It was just a bit of fun, and he's swimming back to the beach now."

Marcia doesn't half get on my nerves. She always takes things to such an extreme with me. I didn't leave a scratch on the kid!

"Look, Talia, just get over here. And Taran," Raven addressed the boy sharply, "Stop encouraging her. We've been given our quota for today."

"How many?" Talia questioned as she jumped over the railing, landing heavily. The thump echoed around the abandoned pier, the noise bouncing from the crumbling arcade building.

I'm surprised this place hasn't fallen into the sea yet. It's actually kind of gross – if I were in charge of this place, I'd have burnt the pier down by now.