The Little Lightning Girl

39-A Lonely Fish Tries to Keep Us as Her Pets

When I woke up, I saw not Adrian and Maya in front of me, but Rose and Kaley. They'd probably followed us and landed in the same trap we had. I glared at them enough that I figured my irritation was conveyed. They should have just stayed on the beach, but I suppose Maya and Adrian and I should have too. The second thing I noticed was that I was tied up with some sort of thick, rubbery, material. Some sort of extra-strength seaweed, it seemed. I wasn't gagged, but Rose and Kaley were. I couldn't see Adrian and Maya, but I could feel that I was tied against someone, two people. Based on the amount of squirming going on behind me, it could only be the Jackson siblings.

We were in some sort of cave, with a pool of ocean water in front of us. The opening we'd fallen through was high above our heads, high enough that I knew there was no hope of climbing out. And for some reason when I tried to float us upward, something was stopping me.

"Your powers won't work in here, demigod."

I whipped my head back towards the pool of water, only to find a woman there. No, not a woman, a siren. Her elbows were resting on the edge of the pool and her yellow eyes were almost catlike as she stared at me. I supposed I was the only one who was looking her in the eyes.

"What is your name, child?" Her voice was almost a hiss as it escaped her lips. Her long hair was wet, but it was a deep red color, and draped around her body like a sheet.

"What do you want from us?" Adrian asked firmly from behind me. He struggled against the bindings enough that I almost fell over.

"Silence, boy! I asked her."

I paused, "Why did you ask me?"

Her laugh was unnerving, whispery and low, "because you are different. I can feel the power in you, different from the others. They have power, but you have something else entirely."

I didn't feel like explaining anything to this creature, so I just said, "My name is Alana."

"Hmm," the siren shifted back and forth on the edge of the pool, "a good name, for a demiwitch."

I felt my eyes widen, "What?"

Her eyebrows raised as she smirked, "It's not a puzzle, girlie. You travel with two demigods and two witches. I can tell the difference. That's why those two are gagged, never trust a witch. I wasn't going to gag you before we had a chat."

I had no idea how this creature, this woman, knew anything about wizards and witches. Somehow, the siren had stumbled across wizards before and knew that some of us could do wandless magic. Even if she hadn't gagged Rose and Kaley, I doubted my friends would have been able to concentrate hard enough to cast a spell and get us all out of here. None of us were good enough at wandless spells yet. But I had more important matters to worry about.

"What do you want from us?"

She laughed again, "What do I want? I want... your secrets."

"Why?" Maya said, her tone demanding.

"Because a man locked me in this cave without my powers and I want to gossip like I used to."

A stupid answer, in my opinion, but seeing as me and my friends were at her mercy, it seemed very much more stupid for me to state my opinion. In any way, the siren spoke again before we had a chance to say anything in response.

"Show me something, something that no one has seen before. And make it good, make it... personal."

I shook my head and glared at her, "We have nothing to offer you, what could you possibly gain by keeping us here?"

She rested her arms on the flat rock in front of me and leaned forward, "Honey," I flinched at the name, "think about this situation from my point of view. I've been stuck here for over a thousand years, five young mortals fell in by accident. For the first time in a thousand years, I am not by myself. Would you let that go?"