Sound of Sirens

Chapter 8

"How was school, sweetheart?" my dad inquires in his ever-gentle voice. "You need help with anything?"

"It was fine," I reply. "I'm going to prepare for history class with Dani in my room, okay? But I'd really like it if you could help me with math homework after dinner."

"Of course." A pleased smile spreads across his face. My dad longs to feel useful around me and Sytse every day, and helping me with mathematics and calculus is one of the ways he can still feel like he matters.

"Great!" I look around. "What's for dinner tonight?"

"Oh, Sytse is bringing home some fresh herring from the market," Dad replies. "And he asked you to get some large potatoes and white bread from the grocery store in Baydunen. He left money on the counter."

"Will do." I quickly pour us three mugs of tea and put two on a tray to bring with me to my bedroom. I suddenly can't wait to take a closer look at the ancient Skylgian book, and I'm happy I decided to share it with Dani. Two sets of eyes see more than one.

When I kick the door closed, Dani is already sitting on my bed and pulling out the heavy tome with eager hands. "Let's see what this is all about," she muses, opening the book and scanning the first page. "Wow, those ink drawings are quite something."

I plop down beside her and we put the book on my lap. I've put the mugs of tea on the small table next to my bed. No way am I going to allow hot liquids anywhere near this volume.

"1623," I mumble softly, my eyes lingering on the date underneath the biggest drawing. "Unbelievable. Is this a book from before St. Brandan landed on our shores?"

Everybody on the island knows he came here in 1666. The fleet brought the Holy Fire and the Baeles-Weards built the Brandaris Tower to safeguard Brandan's Light, our only protection against the Nixen.

"Maybe it's a reproduction?" Dani suggests. "The date on the title page says 1715. See?" She flips back and shows me.

"So it might be an anthology of old island lore." I go back to the illustration dating back to 1623 and stare at the depicted scene. A violent storm rages over the island. The churning waves have capsized a schooner, and sailors are spilling out of the wreckage. It sends a chill down my spine when I spot a few Nixen in the waves, their tails glistening in the eerie light of – what? My eyes flash to the harbor in the background and widen. St. Brandan's Tower is there, shining in the darkness. Except it can't be Brandan's Fire up there, because the Anglians weren't even here yet, in 1623. How is it that the tower is already there?

"Enna," Dani says with a tremor in her voice. "Do you see that?"

"You mean the tower?"

"No." She points to the merfolk swimming around the drowning men in the sea. "Those mermaids – I don't think they're pulling them under."

"What?" My voice shoots up an octave in disbelief. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it looks like..." Dani's voice trails off uncertainly. "It's almost as if they're trying to save them."

"That's impossible." I yank the book toward me and almost touch the page with my nose in an attempt to take a closer look. Under my scrutiny, the small, ink-drawn Sirens sadly don't become any clearer. Dani could be right – but she could also be wrong. It's very hard to tell. "Why would they save those men? You know the Nixen kill us. They tempt us out to sea and then they steal our souls and eat our flesh." My voice cracks on the last word. I don't want to think about what they did to my mother, but I can't help it.