The Siren Song - Book 2 of the Legends of Henge Series

Chapter 42

Lark Tanning

"Hey, Lark, wait up!" I turned and watched Arielle bound to catch up to me. I almost broke my promise right then. "Can we talk?" She glanced at Megan and Ed.

"You guys can go," I told them. "I'll be fine."

As they walked away, I felt Arielle's hand wrap around my wrist. "Let's go to Oakhaven," I suggested. Oakhaven was where the annual bonfire took place, though that wouldn't be for a few months more.

At other points of the year it was rarely used unless it was a holiday. So, it was empty when we reached the top. Sitting down on a bench, Arielle immediately started to sob. "You were right," she cried. "Bailey was never our friend."

Arielle wiped at her eyes and I felt a sinking feeling in my gut. I wasn't right. I wanted to scream. I couldn't even tell her how wrong I had been. "No, Ari..." I faded away. I couldn't give away Bailey's secret. "It doesn't matter Ari... we have each other."

I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and let her cry. I wanted to cry too but I bit the inside of my cheek and kept my cool until she had finished drenching my shoulder. "I'm sorry we haven't been talking," Arielle sniffled.

"Stop, that was my fault," I interrupted. "I was a supreme bitch."

Arielle snickered. "Yeah, you kind of were."

"Okay, let's make a deal, yeah?" I suggested and Arielle nodded. "I'll stop being a jerk and you give Megan a chance. And neither of us should give up on Bailey."

Arielle frowned but shook my hand nonetheless.

***

Weeks later, if I suggested that Arielle had originally hated Megan, anyone else would just laugh at the absurdity. They got along so well that it was scary. In a way, Megan reminded me of Bailey and if we couldn't have her back from Crevan yet, at least we had someone like her.

I didn't know if we'd ever have Bailey back but I knew that if we did, Megan and her would either get along scarily well or they'd hate each other's guts. Considering how much Bailey had hated her in our first year, I was going to go with the latter.

Turns out, it was Hero's Quest to find Bailey and Nadia. They failed miserably but just scraped by with enough points to pass the year and continue into their fourth year of school. My team technically fulfilled the Quest before doing our little vigilante act so we had no deductions.

It took a month for another team to come back from a Quest. The most boring thing in the world is waiting around for all the teams to get back so we could do a stupid bonfire and then go home for the summer.

One day, I found myself knocking on Professor Orion's office door. I hadn't spoken much to her in the last two years but I owed her a lot, since she was the reason I was brought here. When she called to allow me access, I opened the door to see her packing.

"Are you going somewhere?" I asked.

"Lark," she greeted. "Yes, I'm leaving. I'm becoming a permanent scout."

"Oh," was all I could muster. I wasn't even sure why I'd come today but it seemed like the place to be.

"What can I do for you?" Orion smiled warmly at me.

"I'm not actually sure," I admitted. "I haven't talked to you in a long time."

"I know," she told me. "You were a good student Lark. You're going places."

"Thanks," I said awkwardly. "Who's going to replace you?" It was a bit insensitive for me to ask but I wasn't sure if it mattered anymore.

"I don't know," she laughed. "I've put in some suggestions of course but I'm sure for now they'll just cover until they can replace me. The only issue is how many they'll have to cover."