Every pair of eyes were on me instead of the magnificent sight before us.
Where there had once been a barrier of sand creating a dune separating us from the wonders of Hefeta, the walls around us came down and we were entrenched in the Siren world kept invisible by strange magic.
Wards, Oren had called them, placed there by a rare mage who the Sirens of old had allowed inside their home in order to protect it and keep it hidden from those who wanted to invade and take their powers as their own.
Interspersed amongst rolling green hillsides decorated in plush grass and decadent, rich hues of wildflowers of every color imaginable were large looming mountains with homes chiseled out on the sides of them.
Sirens who hadn't been attending our apparent welcome ceremony had started running, abandoning baskets of lavender and silks and pales of water or handfuls of wood logs in order to see who the new arrivals were.
One look at me, however, and the whispering began, but I was too enraptured by the scenery in front of me to notice them.
The Elders, aside from one, Olesia, had leftâapparently done with the spectacle, but that didn't mean that the rest of the Sirens had followed suit.
Soraya and Yuni were nowhere to be found, either, and I was starting to wonder what the point had been of them traveling with us if they had been going the complete opposite direction in the first place, but then the sight before me distracted me to the point where I didn't wonder about it any longer.
I was too under the spell of the crystalline waters of deep fresh water ponds large enough to be considered lakes to notice Oren nudging me forward on unsteady feet.
I was too beguiled by the swaying trees with bark so twisted and gnarled that the trunk resembled a petrified body on the inside to be mindful of Inala grabbing my elbow in hers even as Oren tried to wrench away her hold on me, but she won that game by pulling me forcefully forward so that I almost stepped into the shallow bank of a nearby pond.
"I'm going to show her around with Olesia. Oren, you can go ahead and set up your bedroll on the men's side."
"But I don't need to stay over there if I'm immune to the Siren song. I also need to keep an eye on Josephineâ"
"You kidnapped me. How much more control over me do you need, exactly?"
A few of the Sirens nearby actively dropped the things in their hands and gasped audibly, shooting daggers at Oren with their eyes, and I realized that if this was truly a matriarchal society, then I supposed I was going to get on amazingly here.
There had to have been about ten Sirens lingering on the outskirts of our conversation, though Oren and Inala paid them no mind, as if they were insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
Oren stepped in front of me just as the crowd began to thicken, pushing the only Elder in our midst off to the side, but I didn't shy away from him or his large stature.
I held my ground, and Inala decided to give us a bit of space by backing up behind me.
"Josephine. There was a reason I brought you here, and it wasn't just to reconnect you with your homeland."
Oren's voice was low and calculating, like he didn't want the rest of the gathered Sirens to hear the words he was speaking.
"I know. You brought me here because you said they'd help you break the curse that turns you into a beast every night. Well, isn't the job done now? You brought me here."
Wariness and hesitation overcame his features, those amber eyes lighting with the drooping afternoon sun that accentuated the golden residue from the Gold Sea still lingering on his already bronzed skin.
If I didn't know any better, I'd have assumed he were the son of Inti, the God of the sun, or maybe even Adira, the Goddess of beauty.
"That wasn't exactly the entire deal. They need you, Josephine. You're not going to just be able to sit idly by and hide from the King of Valencia here like you might've wanted."
"I wanted to be left alone, to be able to stay with my sister and her husband, to be with my family and not ripped from my home like some kind of invalid that you could have absolute control of whenever you pleased. Now, you've dragged me to some unknown land with people who are supposedly mine, but still I had to abandon my sister, and my soon-to-be niece or nephew in her womb."
"You were going to leave them, anyway. Do you really believe she would've allowed you to be apart of that child's life after what you've done? What if the baby had been a boy? She would've tossed you out the moment she gave birth, just like your mother did to you."
My hand flew on a careening path toward his cheek, but just before it made contact, he caught my wrist and tugged my body directly into his.
"What, no more half-assed attempts at seduction to get me under control?"
His grip on my wrist was a branding iron of ache and intrigue, though I stamped down those forbidden feelings.
They couldn't have been mine, anyway.
Everything about Oren on the surface was a farce, something beautiful to ensnare his victims, and when you fell into his trap you became his meal.
Something strange stirred low in my stomach at the thought of being his meal, though.
Oren leaned in close, that damn tempting scent cocooning us in some kind of impenetrable shield that inquiring eyes could not see through.
"If I wanted to seduce you, Josephine, I wouldn't use my gifts on you. You'd be dripping wet within half a second if I really wanted to have my way with you."
His breath coated my face with heat and stirred the tangles of loose hair hanging limply by my cheeks.
Eyes of pure molten, silky gold had trapped me in their gaze, and Oren was their owner.
I couldn't stop the thick swallow that bobbed my throat up and down, and he didn't miss the effect he had on me, even as my blood dared me to push him away from me, to shove him to the ground and dance on his broken body.
"Then why haven't you?"
I cursed the traitorous words the moment they came out of my mouth, but just as the sounds left my mouth, a force of wind knocked into Oren's body, shoving him back until he stumbled.
The wind was curiously scented, a niggling memory prodding at the forefront of my mind.
Crisp apple exploded across my tongue.
Sweet honeysuckle tickled the inside of my nose. Rich soil, the tangy bark of the Briar trees in Avanth.
It was the very same force of wind that had saved me from drowning in the Gold Sea. And it had just attacked Oren to keep him away from me.
"Well, now that that spectacle is overâJosephine, why don't I show you around?"
Oren pinned me with a suspicious glare, wiping a string of blood from his nose where his 'fall' had smashed his head into the ground with surprising force.
I didn't waste time looking at him anymore.
Wrapping my hand around Inala's, we strode off together through the crowd of onlookers who gave us a wide berth as if we carried some kind of disease they didn't want to catch.
Olesia, the only Elder who had stayed to watch our altercation, took one more lingering glance at Oren and then turned her attention to me, her face a curious mixture of suspicion and intrigue as we met eyes over my shoulder.
She threw me a secretive wink before turning and striding off into the distance toward the cluster of larger homes cut from the largest mountain face of the community.
"First things firstâfood, then bathing, then new clothing. We'll head over to Sabira's. She's got the best porridge I've ever tasted, and she's always got a fresh batch cooking."
I glanced to Inalaâred hair mussed from the water, wind and sand spectacle we'd all just endured, but still she exuded confidence and beauty with that wildfire red hair and ethereal features that cut her face in sharp lines and angles.
"You're not going to ask what happened back there?"
"Not even a little bit."
"Why not?"
"That is not my business, Princess. Although I thought I told you not to let your heart get involved?"
"That was not my heart. That was something...else."
She loosed a braying cackle that sent a few birds nearby flocking to the wind at the volume of it.
"You know, men aren't the only ones with a mind between their legs. You'd be well to remember to rein that one in, as well."
"I do not have aâ"
"I don't want to hear it, Jo. Can I call you Jo? It's a bit of a mouthful calling you Josephine all the time."
"What? Sure. Why not."
"Listen, Jo. I've lived quite a few more years than you, so let me give you some advice."
I snorted as we skirted around a wooden structure in the middle of a clearing that smelled of freshly smoked meats with hardly a soul around.
"I'd love to hear this advice."
"Good, because here it is."
She stopped dead in her tracks, facing me with a serious look on her features that I hadn't yet glimpsed in the short time of knowing her.
"Men are untrustworthy creatures, the lot of them. But the ones immune to our powers? They are the most deadly. Those are the ones we let into our hearts and souls. Those are the ones that are able to betray us at our most vulnerable. Keep your guard up with Oren."
"Trust me, you have nothing to worry about with me and men. I've learned my lesson ten times over. This world isn't necessarily kind to women with our gifts."
She sighed and glanced out at a smaller mountain face closest to us with a roof jutting out over the edge and a chimney branch protruding from the top.
"Just promise me."
"Fine, Inala. I promise."
"Good. Now let's go eat. I'm starved, and I don't feel like taking another bite out of you. You taste like saltwater and fire."
"Thank you?"
"That wasn't a compliment."
I trudged along after her, and underfoot the verdant grass transfixed me.
I could've laid down and rolled around in that grass for hours and never grown tired.
I could've taken Marlisa on a wildflower hunt; could've gone swimming in the ponds and made friends with the fellow Sirens around us.
Could've played 'chase' and 'tag' with her.
I could've learned to control my gift. I could've learned to harness the power inside me that made me a combination of death and destruction.
Maybe if things had been different...I could've actually been happy.
"Come on, Princes. You coming?"
I followed after Inala's raspy voice and entered the home carved from the nearest mountain face.
Intricate details cut out a front door from white limestone, smoothing the rock into a crude design of twisting swirls and songbirds in mid-flight.
Inside, the contents of the home were modest and comfortable.
The temperature in Hefeta was mild; I wouldn't need a cloak for a few more months until winter sank its fierce claws into the bleeding colors of a dying harvest season.
Velvet rugs of the brightest blues decorated the dirt floor of the home, and intricate golden designs wrapped around the fabric that continued to a tapestry hanging along each of the walls.
Directly in the middle of the home, a woman close to my age stood in front of a large, bubbling pot of food that made my mouth water.
"Inala Equilline. That can't be you. I know it's not. I must be dreaming."
"I had better be in your dreams, woman."
The Siren's face split into a near painful looking grin as the two ran to each other and embraced while I stood closer to the back taking in the decor of the modest home.
A flickering fire stirred in the hearth below the pot of food and a few crude drawings of portraits hung above it, likely drawn in charcoal on homemade parchment.
"Sabira, this is Josephine Raphelia."
My name sent a shockwave through the Siren.
Soft features decorated her heart shaped face with pink plush lips and bright blue eyes. Her white as snow hair was braided into a crown atop her head and she barely came up to Inala's chin.
"Josephine Raphelia? As in...the Joâ"
"Call her Jo for short. She loves it."
"Hello," I tried out timidly, moving forward on shaking legs. Why was I suddenly more nervous to meet one Siren than I had been to meet the three Elders of the entire community?
She didn't bother with exchanging introductions as I was soon swept up into her arms.
"It is so good to see you again."
"Again?"
"Oh, we have much to talk about, don't we? Why don't I put out a pot of porridge and we can discuss things. You two must be hungry."
Inala didn't hesitate before answering her.
"I'll take two bowls."
The two friends laughed like there had never been any time passed between the two of them.
"Yes, first we'll eat, and then we'll discuss where in the Everworld you've been for two years."
"You might be in for a long tale."
"That's fine. I'll go and fetch Erinna and Warrick to join us. That isâunless you can't control your gifts? I wouldn't want to invite a manâ"
"She's fine. Unleashed her powers well and true yesterday in the caves on some Yelbats we came across."
"Yelbats?"
Fear enriched Sabira's features before she schooled her expression.
"Yes. We have much to discuss."
"No, really?"
Inala's sarcasm forgotten, I soaked in the warmth from the comforting home and took in a deep breath, the lingering scents from the wind that had attacked Oren seemingly coaxing me to relax as the fragrances grew.
"We'll need this to tell her the plan, too."
Inala rummaged through one of Sabira's cabinets atop the hearth decorated in small drawings and produced a glass jar corked at the top filled with a liquid the color of Oren's eyes.
"What plan?"
"Oh, don't worry Princess. Why do you think I took you immediately here? You'll know everything by dawn; I didn't want Oren interfering. Sit back and relax, and keep an open mind."
"You're not going to sacrifice me or anything like that, are you?"
Sabira's cackle almost matched Inala's in intensity as she laughed outright at my question.
"What has Oren been filling her head with?"
"Lies and seduction that doesn't work on her."
"Really? That's intriguing. Please, Jo, sit. I'll get you a bowl and a drink."
"Thank you," I replied to Sabira, trying to keep my heart rate under control as I realized that finally, someone was going to explain what had happened all those years ago.
Maybe they would even know why I was unable to shift in the water like most Sirens.
Maybe this Sabira would know the answer as to why my gift allowed me to spew fire and flames of milky white fog in the peak of my song.
Maybe every Siren, no matter how much contempt or curiosity about me they held, could help me, could help make this place my homeâif that was what I really wanted.
A sharp knock came at the front door and Sabira startled, eyes wide as saucers as she raced to the door.
When Olesia turned out to be the person behind the door, her red hair as flaming as the deep scarlet strands of Inala's hair tangled and mussed, there was a warning in her gaze.
"They've given you a day to get acclimated before we start. It's my job to tell you what's going to happen now. I hope you're ready for everythingâit's all about to change."
***
Author's Note:
What did you think about this chapter?
What do you think will happen next?
Favorite part so far?
Anything you're looking forward to seeing?
How do we feel about Josephine and Oren so far?
Let me know what you think in the comments!
Until next time my lovely readers,
Kristen :)
***
The World of Irena: