Of Sirens and Beasts (Top 10~OnceUponNow) Being Published October 11th

Of Sirens and Beasts-Part 5 #OnceUponNow

HELP ME PUBLISH THIS BY VOTING TUESDAY THROUGH TUESDAY

This story is entered in the #OnceUponNow contest hosted by Target. Voting for the contest starts on Monday (June 13) at 8:01 pm Est time and ends Tuesday (June 21) at 3:59 pm Est. By voting for the FIRST chapter during this time frame, you can help it win a chance to be published! The top 25 voted stories go on to the next round. I will be so grateful if you vote.

Lunch rolls around and Rose hasn't spoken to me since I dropped her off at her house yesterday. When I said hi this morning, she ducked her head and darted into the girls' room.

Rose and her eleven sisters sit at the end of one cafeteria table. I head over to them, not having yet gotten in line. Rose swings her legs around the bench and runs off, murmuring, "Bathroom."

"Am I still supposed to come over?" I ask. Rose's behavior is causing me to think I'm not welcome.

One of her sisters sets down her glass. "Of course you are." She glances at the door Rose exited through. "She's just being shy."

"We think she likes you," Amaryllis says with a smirk.

Something akin to pride swells through me and maybe a little bit of excitement. "Why are you telling me this? Aren't you supposed to keep these things a secret?"

The sister who spoke first winks at me. "It's our joy to embarrass each other."

"Right, well I'm going to grab food."

As I get in line I wonder what I'm supposed to do with this information her sisters gave me. I pick up a slice of pizza. Do I go for it?

******

When I show up at their house, my car is the only one in the driveway. No cars are parked in the street either. I knock on the door, and Rose answers it, looking like a smile was painted on her face five days ago and hasn't been touched up since.

"How's your wrist?" Rose asks.

"Bearable."

Calla stands beside her. "Why don't you two go ahead out back?"

Rose sends her a glare but silently leads me outside. I shut the backdoor behind us.

"Is everything all right?" I ask.

"Perfect." She sinks into a pool chair, the lights from the pool casting blue light on only one half of her.

I'm here the same time I come every other night, no sooner, no later, so where is everyone? I swear there was more than just me at the start of all this. I don't know how many there were, but Coach wouldn't have me do this alone. He may be tough and hardheaded, but he's not this cruel. "What's taking the other's so long?"

"They'll be out shortly." She twirls her thumbs.

I sit down on the seat across from her. "I mean my team."

She inhales deeply. "They're sick." I'm not the only one coming to these things then. I've really got to get my memory checked.

"What was up with you at school?" I ask.

She looks up at me. "You're full of questions tonight, aren't you? I wasn't feeling well and thought I caught something at the clinic. I didn't want to get anyone sick if I was contagious."

"You're feeling better now?"

"Yeah." She stares out at the ocean. "I'm sorry for anything that I'll do in the future."

I squint at her. "That's morbid."

She shrugs, still gazing out at the water.

I hear a door open and look to my right to see her sisters coming outside but lingering by the door.

Sighing, she stands up ever so meticulously. "You ready?"

"Just us?"

With a quick, weak smile, she holds out her hand. "Yes." She pulls me to my feet and stares at me, her eyes and body not moving. I expect her to move us away from between the chairs, but she doesn't. She starts to hum, the sound drawing me in. She steps closer and wraps her arms around my neck.

The wind blows lightly, and she sways us with the wind.

"Are you sure this is ballet?"

She caresses her hand down the side of my face, her hand like ice. "Sure it is." Her fingers brush under my chin and down my neck. "In the morning no witnesses remained—but there never were any," she sings. I barely notice a tear slip down her eye or the pain in my wrist. Her feet step back and mine step forward, mirroring her movements. Faintly, I'm aware that we're moving away from the chairs.

"When people came to find those once loved, they were met with a pure white shore, untouched by human feet." She's the only one singing. Her hands remain at my neck, and mine, I find, are on her waist. "Twelve sailors sinking to the depths were spared at the unknown cost of twelve of us. If the debt is not paid, twelve more lives go for the ones wrongfully snatched."

My shoes and her bare feet crunch the grass. All I see are her bright blue eyes. They're...they're hypnotizing.

"Yet as for the truth, only we know. And we will take it to the depths with us..."

Water spreads over my shoes and ankles, rising higher and higher.

"...until the return of the saffron colored moon."

The water is up to my shoulders.

Rose places her hand on my neck. "I'm sorry," she says before leaning toward me. Her teeth scratch my neck.

******

I roam around the halls at school with a headache far more intense than any I've experienced in the past few days or ever really. This pain has lasted since I woke up almost seven hours ago. I can't remember anything from yesterday evening, and I'm not really sure if I remember anything from yesterday at all for that matter. I haven't seen Rose or her sisters all day.

Before I head out, I open my locker and freeze. On the inside of my locker door are written eleven names in black marker.

Reed Williams

Marvin Monroe

Breck Eisenhower

Eli Davis

Carter Lun

Brendon Cecil

Ryann Ledbetter

Brian O'Connor

Nathan Mallot

Mark Noyes

Wes Jacobs

Everything starts to come back as I read the names. There were twelve of us and now there's only one...me. They were killed by the sisters. Somehow they bewitched us all. Every single one of us. What kind of human...what kind of creature could so such a thing? A witch? No. Rather twelve beautiful sirens lulling us in with their song.

At the front of my locker is a white square of paper with a red rose lying on top of it. Is this all from Rose? I pick up the note.

You were a beauty, and I was a beast.

Thank you for reading this, and I hope you'll come back and vote for it during the voting period!