Page 12 of Rise of the Melody
“You’ve raised her to believe she’s human,” he chastised. “I’m gobsmacked, to be honest. A human life? And am I to understand you’ve allowed her to sing?”
Her eyes flitted guiltily to me, and I couldn’t help but stick up for her, even though part of me felt betrayed. “That was my choice,” I said.
Bryant MacCray scoffed loudly. “Yes, it’s your choice to entrance humans, but it comes at a price.” My gut sank like an iron anchor.
Aunt Lorna stood and glanced at the door where a line had formed of people wanting their gummies. “It’s time for you to go, then. I’ve got a shop to open.”
“I don’t think you understand.” Mr. MacCray stood and adjusted his jacket. “I wasn’t asking you to come, and this is not up for debate.”
“Wait,” I said. “If you’re some powerful druid, why don’tyoukill it?”
With a glare, he straightened his leg and yanked up the bottom of his pants to reveal a heavily bandaged calf and shin. A patch of blood could be seen through the bandaging. It looked bad.
“Our generation of druids and nix have never had to battle creatures or protect ourselves in any way. We attempted to find and subdue the kelpie, but that thing is….” His eyes faded for a second, remembering with a wince, before he let go of his trouser leg and sat up straighter. “Four of us went after it. I was able to blast it off me when it took hold of my leg, but then I watched it drag Ralph Morgan under the water where he stayed.” Aunt Lorna gasped. “It’s killed three humans and one druid. Colette is our only option unless we want the Synod coming to town and sticking their noses in everything.”
Aunt Lorna closed her eyes a long moment as Mr. MacCray went on.
“The two of you are coming to Shehan until this problem is solved. Honor your deal with me, Lorna, or the Synod will hear about her.”
“You can’t. Please.” Aunt Lorna’s face went paler than normal. “And my business here….”
“We will cover two months of your expenses.”
My aunt’s eyes began to water and panic filled me again. “We’re beingforcedto go? What’s The Synod?”
Mr. MacCray rubbed his face. “Unbelievable, Lorna.”
Her lip quivered but her eyes were fired up with anger. “You have no right to judge me.”
Ignoring her, he looked at me. “They’re the governing officials for fae here on Earth.”
“You keep saying fae,” I said. “As in faeries?”
He nodded. “There are mystics—those who can wield fae magic, and there are monsters—sirens and other creatures that came over from Faerie in the early days but evolved over time. Nix and Druids are mystics who began as humans and were gifted with fae magic as a way to help the fae, mostly keeping watch of portals….” He trailed off, probably at the look of utter astonishment on my face. Portals. Okay. Yeah, he said portals. And he lumped me in the category of monsters, which made me nauseated.
I pressed my eyes closed and shook my head, breathing through the sick feeling.
“The point is,” Mr. MacCray said. “The Synod are our true governing body. If they learn that you are a siren, they will come for you. It would be a shame to rid the Earth of its last siren.”
An icy chill zipped up my back as my eyes flew open and latched onto his. A deep desire rose inside of me to sing. The sudden urge scared me so badly that I stepped back, my hands flying up to cover my mouth. His head tilted, almost in a challenge. I felt CooShee step closer.
“How dare you threaten her,” Aunt Lorna said, her voice sharp. “She is a good girl, Bryant. We will go if we must, to honor our agreement, but just this once. I’ll teach her whatever I know, but you willnottry to frighten her. Do you understand? Letty would never hurt anyone. She is not a threat to people, and I won’t have her treated like some villain.”
“I’m merely stating the truth, Lorna. That is all.” He tugged down his shirt cuffs. “You have three days.”
“Wait, my high school graduation is next week!”
“You’ll have to miss it.” His lack of remorse made me want to scream as he looked at Aunt Lorna and went on. “And I meant what I said about the house. The renters are gone. And if all goes well your niece will be back in time to start human college in August.” He eyed me. “But not to sing.” Even sitting, I felt dizzy, like my world was imploding and being sucked into an abyss. Everything I thought I knew was false. What was real?
Aunt Lorna pressed her lips, refusing to respond.
He gave a shrug and nodded at me. “One last thing. I will make her a stronger cuff and once she gets to the island, nobody removes it but me. When you arrive, tell no one about why you’re there or what Letty is.”
“I know people in the town,” Aunt Lorna reminded him. “They’ll know who she is, that her father was druid. And thanks to that idiot—” She nodded toward the Stevens guy standing outside. “—there are people who are suspicious of Finella and will think the same of Letty.”
“Nobody knows for certain about Finella’s siren heritage except us. They’ll only know that Letty has Henry’s nix magic. Nobody took Stevens seriously back then. He was just a drunk rambling nonsense.” He eyed me. “This is not a vacation for you. I’m taking a huge risk allowing a siren back into my town. Keep your nose down and focus on your task. Understand?”
I gritted my teeth. “Yeah.”
