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Julie wakes up with a start. Her hair is stuck to her face with sweat and there is a loud crashing noise. The sheets beneath her feel rough against her skin. She shivers, when a breeze meets her naked skin. She must have left the window open when she went to bed last night. She opens her eyes. The room is dark around her, but the glow in the dark stars, she stuck on her ceiling when she was a kid, are shimmering brighter than ever before.
It takes her a second to understand that the reason for that is that she is no longer in her bed where she went to sleep. She is not looking at her ceiling, but at the night sky. The shimmering stars are not plastic, but real. She is laying on some rocks in the middle of the ocean and the noise is the waves beating against the cliff. Her hair she realizes with a start is not damp with sweat but salt water. Also, there is the small issue of her legs being gone. Instead she is staring down at a sparkly purple fish tail.
Julie closes her eyes, takes a deep breath and pinches herself before opening her eyes again. The tail is still there. Okay, it’s official. She has gone absolutely insane.
It’s when she looks at her surroundings, illuminated by the full moon, a little more that she realizes how much trouble she really is in. The rocks aren’t ones just shy of the beach but instead all she can see around herself is waves and more waves. Somewhere far in the distance on the horizon she can spot the twinkling lights of the city.
How on earth did she get here? She went to bed like every other night, what happened since then? Did she sleepwalk? Sleepswim? Did someone kidnap her and leave her here? And where the hell have her legs gone? She can feel her breathing getting faster and more shallow as the questions fly through her head, a sure fire sign of an anxiety attack coming closer. She hasn’t had those in a while. They’d be pretty bad after her mom had died, but recently it’s been better. Of course now would be the perfect moment for one to happen. She forcefully presses her nails against the heel of her hand, leaving behind white crescent moon shapes. The pain is something to focus on as she slows her breathing back down. If she passes out here, who knows if she’d survive it.
Once she feels back in control over her brain, she considers her options. There really aren’t many and all of them suck. She could just stay here on this rock and wait for someone to find her, but who knows how long that will be? Long enough for thirst to become an issue? Or the cold? She isn’t feeling it right now, but she is in the middle of the ocean, wet from head to nonexistent toes and wearing a tiny bralette, it can’t be long before she starts freezing. The other option is getting into the water and swimming to shore. Julie is a decent enough swimmer, but she can barely see the beach from here, so it seems unlikely she could make it. Then again, looking down at the tail, she wonders. Obviously this is some kind of mermaid situation, so she should be able to swim with that thing, shouldn’t she?
In the end the decision is made by a burst of wind that makes goose bumps appear all up her arms. Like she expected, the freezing started. She pushes herself up a little further, managing to maneuver the tail into the water. It’s not as cold as she expected, in fact it almost feels warm. She glides down the rocks, until she slides into the water.
Holding herself above water with her arms, carefully she attempts to move the tail. It feels a bit awkward like getting up after you’ve sat still for too long and your legs have gone numb but she has control over it. She stays in her spot right next to the rocks for a moment, ready to pull herself up again should it be necessary and figures out how to move the tail correctly. It gets easier with each passing second.
Finally she takes a deep breath, gathers all her courage and dives head first into the waves. If she’s going to die, she’d rather die trying to save herself than waiting for someone to rescue her like some damsel in distress. She moves her arms into a breaststroke, exactly the way she learned as a kid, and flaps the tail once. Almost effortlessly she glides through the water, her body instinctively adjusting to the rhythm of the waves. It feels like flying as she glides along inches underneath the surface.
She makes it to the shore way faster than she would have thought possible. It’s when she reaches knee deep water that she notices the problem. How is she supposed to get out of the water without legs? An attempt to stand on the tail results in her face-planting into the salt water which, she only realizes now doesn’t seem to burn her eyes anymore.
The full moon is dipping below the horizon and the first streaks of color are appearing in the sky, so she is going to have to find a way to get out of the water real quickly. It won’t take long for joggers to appear on the beach and she is quickly beginning to realize that this will be a problem. The numbness and shock she’d felt from the moment she had woken up are starting to fade, she is no longer in the immediate danger of dying in the middle of the ocean and the adrenalin that had been cursing through her veins starts to lose its effect. Instead it is replaced with all-encompassing panic starting to creep up on her.
What on earth has happened to her? How is she ever supposed to get back home, to live a normal life, to see the people she loves again? The thought alone of what her dad and Carlos, of what the guys would be going through if she just disappeared without a trace, without getting to say goodbye, makes her heart clench. She can’t do that to them, but what else is she supposed to do now? She can’t walk because of the tail. But she can’t spend the rest of her existence in the ocean either.
It’s then when she spots the little cave between the rocks lining the beach. She begins slowly pulling herself forward on her arms. It’s uncomfortable, the sand feels rough against her skin. And soon her arms feel the strain due to their unusual task.
It takes her several minutes to drag herself the distance that just spans a couple feet. If she could walk this would have been done within seconds. But she can’t, because her legs have been replaced by a tail.
By the time she has dragged herself into the little cave, her arms ache. The skin red and tender where she dragged them against the sand. A couple spots where the skin is especially thin, have started bleeding. It’s painful and she is exhausted. She is going to rest her eyes for just a minute and then she’ll find a way out of this situation.
She wakes up an unknown amount of time later to the sound of children screaming. She lifts her head from the rocks it has been resting on and sighs with relief when she spots her legs in her favorite pj shorts. For a moment she considers just staying there and having a cry, because it seems very necessary but she can’t ignore the little voice in the back of her mind telling her that she’s been gone for most of the night and her dad will be sick with worry. She crawls out the little cave, brushing the sand off herself when she reaches the sunlight.
Out there, with the sun beaming down on her, it almost seems like last night was just a dream. But she is standing on the beach barefoot, dressed in her pjs and the skin on her arms is still red and tender, some of the scratches only just now beginning to scab over. Then again what other explanation could there be for what has happened to her?
Julie crosses the threshold of her home, mind still stuck on the events of the night. She is incredibly thankful that her dad and Carlos have already left the house so she doesn’t have to explain why she is coming in, in the middle of the day, dressed in her pjs. Especially when she is not even sure how to explain to herself what has happened. She is just about to head up to her room to get dressed, when she spots the painting of a mermaid on rocks over the fireplace. Her mom used to love that picture and in all those years none of them had had the courage to take it down. Her mom, who used to read her and Carlos bedtime stories every night. Bedtime stories that used to feature mermaids more than any other creature now that she thinks about it.
Vaguely she can recall a thick volume, with a leather binding and some mermaids in a lagoon on the cover. She has no exact recollection of it, years have passed since her mom was last able to read her a story, but with what just happened to her, this seems like too much of a coincidence and she is pretty desperate. Sure, she could google what was happening to her, but that seems unlikely to bear results. And there had always been something magic about her mom, something a little more than other people, something Julie never could explain. So, maybe she could get lucky?
She hurries up the stairs to her room and pulls the heavy, old book from the shelf, where it has been stored for the past years, slowly collecting dust. She wipes the layer of dust from the top, flipping open the book. The spine creaks a little and the smell of old paper hits her nose.
On the very first page, right over the dedication someone has stuck down a folded piece of paper. A folded piece of paper bearing her name. And the handwriting is one she is incredibly familiar with. It was scattered all over the notes and post-its and music sheets that used to litter the house when her mom was still alive.
Carefully she peels the tape from the old pages so as to not rip them and drops the letter on her bed before sliding the book back on the shelves. She can’t help but wonder if her mom knew what was going to happen and left her a letter to find? Because once again this seems too fitting to be a coincidence. Why would her mom leave her a letter in a book about mermaids, if not for her to find when she needed information about that exact topic?
Julie sits down on her bed and, with shaking fingers, unfolds the letter. The paper has gone a bit yellow on the edges, but her mom’s swoopy handwriting is clear and unmistakable.
Julie, my dear,
I am so incredibly sad that I have to write these words to you and will not be able to tell them to you face-to-face, but I can see my end coming closer and closer these days and I cannot take the chance of you never learning what I am about to tell you.
I am watching you right now, mija, you’re playing with your brother and I can’t tell you how much I love the two of you. Please never forget that.
I am writing this letter to you, because by now you have probably noticed that something about you is different to other people. I am guessing you woke up one morning in the middle of the ocean and now are incredibly confused about what happened.
You see, in our family, the women have always been a little special and not entirely human. We are what people used to call sirens when they still believed in magic. The magic is not dead, it continues to live in everyone to this day, but for us, it’s a little stronger than for most.
Because I can not be there with you on the day you turn, cannot join you in the waters and teach you everything you have to know, this letter will need to suffice.
There are important things you need to know.
Julie, my love, being a siren comes with certain powers that you should be aware of. You can swim and dive faster and deeper than any human. You don’t need air in the same way. You still need to breathe, but going several minutes underwater without it is easier than you’d think. Be careful when finding your limits though, you can still drown.
For now, the tail will appear almost instantly anytime you touch salt water, but the longer you are the siren the more you will be able to control it. I have reached the point where I can go several minutes before it appears. Train that skill, it’s incredibly useful not to instantly have a tail when someone splashes you at the beach and you can wipe yourself dry before anything happens.
Sirens have power over humans. Your voice is special, mija, it can make people fall in love with you and compel them to do your will. This skill is a huge responsibility, so be careful when using it. You are taking people’s free will away and that is a very dangerous thing.
Now, the most important advice I can give you. You need to keep this a secret. Your dad knows, of course he does, I could have never hidden so much of myself from him, but please be careful with whom you share this information. You need to understand that you are different from others and while that is not a bad thing, many people fear and hate what is different. Sirens are not invincible. Since the first siren swam in the great ocean we’ve had an enemy that followed us all over the world. No one knows what exactly they are, most likely some sort of supernatural hunter, but not entirely human either, because they need the hearts of sirens to survive. Make sure to keep your heart safe, my dear, and don’t let anyone rip it from your chest.
Hide your true nature, my love, from all but those you trust.
I love you, mija. Never forget that.
In love, Mom.
The sheet of paper slides from her shaking fingers onto the duvet and Julie cries. It’s days like these when the hole in her heart where her mom used to live is so very obvious. She misses her, so incredibly much and it’s just not fair that she was taken from her family so soon, so young.
The letter helps, tells her at least a little about what is happening to her, but she can’t help but be aware how much easier this would be for her if her mom was still around.
But she isn’t anymore. And Julie is going to have to solve her own problems.
For the most part, Julie had decided to ignore this new development. She’d hidden her mom’s letter in her dream box and decided that as long as she stayed away from the ocean, nothing ever had to change. But two days later, while she is on shift at the coffeeshop she learns, that this whole siren thing is going to be a much bigger problem than she thought.
She is wiping down the tables while absentmindedly singing along to the radio when suddenly Nick appears next to her.
“Have I ever told you how wonderful your voice is, Julie?” he asks.
“Er… Thank you?” she replies, a little confused by what brought this on.
“You see, I’ve been thinking. The two of us really should go out sometime. Are you free tonight?” He sends her a flirty wink and Julie stops short. Sure, they’d had a short flirty period a couple years back but recently they’ve been very firmly just friends.
“Nick- I- Aren’t you in a relationship with Carrie?” Nick never gets to answer because a dark haired boy she has never even seen in your life slides in between them.
“You have the most wonderful voice I have ever heard. Please date me.” What the hell?
A second boy, this one red-haired, shoves the first one aside and drops to his knees in front of her, presenting some flowers she is pretty certain belong to the big bouquet that decorates the counter. “I love you.”
It’s then that the words of her mom’s letter about her voice being more powerful and influential than she could ever imagine finally click. It seems her mom meant the thing about making people fall in love with her a lot more literal than she thought.
She takes several steps back, the rag she had used to wipe the tables falls from between her fingers, until her back hits the door to the staff room. She slams the door shut behind herself. Nick knocks against the wood of the door, begging her to come out again. Caleb yells after her that her shift is not done for another two hours.
Julie sinks to the floor, her head in her hands. Something bangs against the door. There is angry yelling, calling for her to come out. The sound of breaking glass. Someone yells in pain.
What has she done? She has forced those poor guys to have those feelings, she has compelled them, forced herself onto them. She used to think she was a good person, would never harm anyone, but now she is not so sure anymore. Sure, she didn’t compel these guys on purpose, but still what she did to them is unforgivable.
So she sits there on the floor, her back against the door and cries. Cries for those poor boys, cries for herself and cries for the most important thing in her life, because there is no way she can continue being in the band if this is what happens when she sings.
She tells her band that night, once the coffee shop has closed. Caleb has already left and she has just finished wiping down the counters in the back. The band is supposed to rehearse for their standing gig every Friday and Saturday night, and her boys are already warming up on their respective instruments.
Luke grins excitedly when he spots her coming out. As always there is a flutter in her stomach and warm feeling in her heart when he looks at her with those big green eyes and that perfect smile. He nudges his head over in the direction of her keyboard, a clear offer for her to join him. She wants to follow the invitation. There is nothing she loves more in the world than playing music with him.
But she is here for a reason and her heart sinks when she thinks of what she is about to do. The band is the most important thing to all of them, but especially Luke, and she is about to destroy it. She hates herself for knowing she is about to ruin everything he cares about, but what else can she even do? Stealing the free will of every person in the vicinity whenever they perform is hardly an option.
“Guys, I- I have to tell you something,” she mutters once she’s reached them, her fingers automatically going to play with the bracelet on her wrist, the same bracelet the three guys in front of her wear as well.
Luke instantly stops playing, his head snapping up from his guitar to look at her. “What is it?” It hurts to look at his eyes. Usually she can hardly get enough of looking at him, of staring into his eyes and getting lost in them. But right now she averts her gaze and looks at a point just over his shoulders. Maybe this will be easier if she doesn’t have to see his reaction.
“I’m quitting the band.” She forces the words out. They hurt. She knew they would, but it’s even worse than she imagined and when her eyes almost automatically snap back to Luke. His face falls, confusion all over his features. She feels sick to her stomach.
“What do you mean, quitting the band?” he asks very quietly, confusion evident on his face. He has stopped moving all together as he watches her with wide eyes. It’s never a good sign when he stands still and Julie hates that she knows that, because it means she knows exactly how much she is hurting him with this.
“It means I will no longer be performing with you guys.” She tries to keep her voice even and calm. It’s best to just get this over with and not get overly emotional, even though she just wants to break down and cry. She’s not sure she succeeds. Luke presses his lips together and breathes in loudly through his nose.
“But- why?” Her gaze snaps to Reggie at his words, his eyes are shimmering with tears. “Don’t you like us anymore?” She has to bite down on her lip to stop the sobs threatening to break out. Alex reaches over and grabs the bassist’s hand tightly. She can see the disbelief on his face.
“Just don’t feel like it anymore. Sorry guys.” She presses out between clenched teeth and turns to leave the coffee shop as fast as possible. No point in hurting any of them any more than this. And if she starts crying now, they will know something is wrong.
“Are you fucking shitting me?” Luke steps in front of her. Gone is the confusion from before, replaced with pain, so obvious she can almost feel it.
Technically speaking he really isn’t all that tall, but right now it feels like he towers over her as he steps closer and closer. He seems to loom over her, his features that are so familiar to her twisting in anger. Almost automatically she shrinks back. She knows he’d never hurt her, never harm a hair on her head, but right now his intensity scares her. “You’re just going to drop this on us and leave? After everything we’ve been through, you’re just going to throw it right back in our faces?” His voice keeps getting louder as he talks and it breaks on the last word. Julie feels like someone punched her in the stomach. “Without even a fucking explanation?”
“I- I just can’t.” She looks up at him, right at those stormy green eyes, that she loves so much. It hurts, but she can’t tell him the truth. Can’t tell him what she is, because they would never look at her the same way again. Maybe, if she just quits the band, there is a chance they will still talk to her once a little time has passed. Maybe she will get to keep their friends. But there is no way of that happening if she tells them what she is. No way anyone wants to be friends with a monster. They could never trust her, never feel entirely safe in her presence anymore. How could they, when they know she can influence their thoughts and feelings just like that? And while she hopes they know she is a good person and would never do that to them, how would they ever know for sure that what they felt was real? And really Julie couldn’t blame them for it, after all, she wouldn’t trust herself either.
But Luke and the guys at least deserve an apology for her letting them down so much. “I’m so sorry,” she whispers. “So incredibly sorry.” She can see the anger leave his body all at once, the tension in his muscles dropping as he steps even closer and reaches out for her.
“Jules, are you okay? Did something happen?” Of course, she breaks his heart and ruins his dreams and he worries if she’s doing okay. His hand wraps around her wrist, the thumb stroking over her pulse point.
“I’m good. Just, not feeling music anymore.” It’s a blatant lie. There’s an incredible itch in her fingers to reach for the keyboard, but it’s too dangerous, the second she opens her mouth she’d be violating her friends’ free will.
Luke cocks his head to the side and frowns. “We last saw you at your birthday party two days ago, right? Did something… happen to you after we left?”
The alarm bells in her head go off with a shocking intensity. Why on earth would he ask about her birthday? That can’t be a coincidence right? She can’t help but wonder, could those supernatural hunters her mom warned her about be closer than she thought? Is it possible Luke could be one of them? Could he be so evil? She rips her wrist from his grip.
Her heart says no, the Luke she knows, is a wonderful, kind and loving person. They’ve spent so much time together, written so many songs, is there really a way he is the monster that is trying to kill her? She doesn’t want to believe it, but then again she is hiding the fact that she is a monster from him as well. And if she thinks about it, so could he. They don’t spend every minute of the day together, there could be a whole part of his life he is hiding from her. She can’t help but wonder. Her mom had warned her about the hunter, but could it really be Luke?
She turns on her heels and storms towards the door. “Just leave me alone, I’m fine.” She yells the words over her shoulder as she crosses the threshold.
“Julie!” Luke calls after her, but Julie keeps going. Should her suspicions be right, she is currently saving her own life by quitting the band If only it didn’t hurt so much, if only she didn’t have such a crush on him.
Hopefully all those novels and movies and songs are right when they talk about time and space healing all wounds.
“It’s a good thing then, that you won’t be spending time with him anymore,” a tiny voice in the back of her mind whispers.
She hates that she kind of agrees.
Julie manages another twenty four hours before the itch in her fingers pulls her into the garage and onto the piano bench. She plays through a couple songs but it’s not enough and so she finally opens her mouth and sings again.
It feels freeing, like it’s what she is meant to do. And on her third run through of “Wake Up” she feels it. There is a vibration to her voice that did not used to be there. She can feel the siren part over her normal singing voice. And if she can feel it, maybe she can control it. Maybe she can get parts of her life back. She almost doesn’t dare to hope, but she has to try. If there is any chance to go back to making music with Luke, she is going to take it.
So, she starts “Wake Up” over again, this time focusing on the feeling in her voice. Once she can pinpoint it accurately, she tries to manipulate it, tries to make it stronger, or lighter.
She is just about to go through the song once more, this time she is going to try to sing as emotionally detached as possible, when she spots Luke leaning against the door jamb. He is looking at her with stars twinkling in his eyes, looking at her like she is something precious. It takes her breath away for a moment. She wants nothing more than for him to always look at her like that. And then it hits her: he’s heard her sing.
“How long have you been standing there?” she asks. Maybe she got lucky, maybe he only just came in when she stopped singing. Maybe the universe can be kind to her just once.
Luke doesn’t reply to her question and instead walks in, sitting down next to her on the piano bench. His thigh presses against hers, all warm and solid. “I knew there was no way you were no longer interested in music.” He smiles softly. “I- I respect your choice to not be a part of the band anymore and if you don’t want to see me anymore after this, I understand as well. But-” He pauses, takes a deep breath before continuing. “I felt the need to tell you something before we go our separate ways.”
She frowns. Maybe he actually hasn’t heard her sing. At least he hasn’t fallen to his knees like the guys in the coffee shop yet. She dares to hope that maybe she hasn’t forced him under her compulsion.
He clutches her hands with his, looking up at her with wide and earnest eyes. She loves the feeling of his hands on hers. “Jules, I- I need you to know that I’m in love with you.” Her heart jumps with joy and the butterflies that live in her stomach whenever he looks at her flutter happily. For a moment she feels happy. Only for the feeling to instantly be replaced with what she imagines suffocation feels like. All air seems to have left the room. There is a ringing sound in her ears. She gasps for breath.
He had heard her sing. He fucking heard her sing.
That last glimmer of hope she had been kindling inside her heart extinguishes. That last little bit of hope she’d had at maybe keeping her friends safe from what she could do to them, it is gone. She can’t kid herself any longer, can’t lie to herself anymore.
Julie rips her hands out of his and jumps up, almost tripping over the piano bench in the process.
She wishes he had said those words in a different situation, in literally any other situation.
Her view goes blurry. Her hands shake and her breathing falters.
She turns around and runs.
It doesn’t take him long to find her, with her fingers flying over the keyboard at the coffee shop, tears streaming down her cheeks. Of course it doesn’t. Admittedly it’s not the greatest hiding place in the first place, but it’s also proof of how well he knows her. Knows that her first instinct would be to find a piano.
He pulls a chair up and sits down next to her, placing his hands on top of hers, to stop her playing.
“Jules.” His voice is quiet. If it weren’t for the silence in the room, she wouldn’t have heard him. “Why did you run? I get it if you don’t feel the same way, but-” He pauses for a second. “I thought our friendship was strong enough that you could at least say that to my face.” She hates how defeated and sad he sounds, hates how her traitorous heart jumps at the reminder that he thinks he’s in love with her.
One of his hands settles on her cheek, his thumb wiping the tears there away. His eyes are wide and so incredibly green. They remind her of the ocean on a stormy day. She could lose herself in them, just drown and never surface again. “I love you,” he whispers. “So much, it hurts.”
“No.” Julie closes her eyes, more tears rolling down her face as she pulls back from his touch. “You don’t.” Each word feels like a clap of thunder as they echo in the silent room.
“Why won’t you believe me?” His voice is almost desperate, his face scrunched up in pain.
“Fuck Luke, I’ve been into you for years and I wanted nothing more than for you to tell me you feel the same... but not now. Not like this. Not after you’ve heard me sing and it’s this stupid compulsion talking.” Her voice is higher in pitch than normal, bordering on hysteric.
“Jules, I promise I am in love with you. This isn’t new. I’ve been for years. You didn’t compel me to do or feel anything.” She hates how stupidly earnest he sounds, so earnest she almost wants to believe him. Too bad she knows better.
“You can’t know that.” She shakes her head.
“Julie- “ He reaches for her again, hand sliding into her hair at the back of her neck. He is so close, close enough she could count every single lash, close enough she can see the specks of gold and blue in his eyes, close enough she could map the freckles on his nose. And then he leans in and presses his lips to her and for a moment Julie feels happy. She had imagined kissing Luke so many times, had dreamed of it and hoped for it and now it was finally happening. And then the butterflies in her stomach settle down and she realizes why he is kissing her.
She jumps back, hastily pushing away from him. She hates that she has to do this, had hoped to avoid this, had hoped to avoid flat out lying to him. “Luke,” she forces out. “I am not interested, okay?” His face falls, her heart cracks. “Get out. Now.” She presses the words through her teeth, each one like a slap to her own face when she sees all fight leave his body. He slides off the chair and stands up.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers and leaves.
The second he closes the front door behind him, a sob escapes Julie. The crack in her heart widens. Her whole fucking life, destroyed in a couple days by that stupid fish tail. She left the band, pissed off Alex and Reggie for sure, broke Luke’s heart and her own while she was at it.
Up until now she had wondered if maybe her suspicions about Luke being the hunter could have been wrong, but now sitting here with the bloody shards of her heart in front of her, all doubt has vanished.
When she’d read the words about the hunter ripping her heart out, she had thought it was a lot more literal. But then again, it’s not like Luke’s at fault here. She is the one who compelled him and then pushed him away when he came after her. She is to blame for hurting both of them.
Julie is busy spiraling in her self-loathing, when a loud thud from the patio of the coffee shop makes her pause. Someone is out there. There is another noise and Julie dashes over behind the counter and into the kitchen, where she grabs one of the rolling pins. It’s not the best weapon, but at least it’s sturdy and somewhat good to hold. She inches towards the door, rolling pin gripped tightly in her hand.
She presses down the door handle slowly, pushing open the door the tiniest bit to peep out. When she doesn’t see anybody, she pushes the door further open and slides out. It has gotten dark and the lights on the patio have long since been turned off, so the only light comes from the almost full moon in the sky. She can hear the waves crashing against the shoreline several yards away and the sound of the wind rustling in the trees that line the patio. It would be a perfectly normal summer night, were it not for that feeling in the depth of her stomach, telling her something is wrong.
Suddenly there is some mumbling coming from around the corner, where most of the patio seats are. From what she can make out, it’s not English. She grips the rolling pin tighter and inches forward. The building corner comes closer and she can spot the soles of a pair of shoes, shoes that she knows very well because Luke refuses to wear anything else. The mumbling voice grows louder the closer she gets and it confuses her to no end. This can’t be a normal burglar can it? Not with the weird chanting that is happening.
Finally she reaches the corner. Julie presses her body against the wall and slowly sticks her head out so she can see what’s happening.
The first thing she spots is Luke’s body on the floor. He is unconscious, or at least she hopes he is, and there is a large bloody cut on his temple. And right besides his chest, Caleb is kneeling and chanting, a fancy-looking ritualistic dagger in his hand.
Okay, so obviously she misinterpreted something, because what she is looking at right now does hardly suggest Luke is the hunter. In fact it suddenly seems a lot more likely that Caleb is who she should be scared of, which she honestly had not seen coming. But chanting over someone’s unconscious body is after all not a very normal thing to do. And considering what she is looking at Caleb does not seem to be a particularly competent hunter.
This however does not distract from the fact that Julie continues to ruin Luke’s life. The list of horrible things she has done to him, continues to grow longer.
She ruined his band, she broke his heart, she lied to him and now he has a psycho trying to rip his heart out and it’s all because of her. The tears that briefly stopped are suddenly back in full force and she has to suppress a sob as to not give herself away. She is in love with his boy and everything bad happening to him is her fault. Julie clutches the rolling pin a little tighter, by now her knuckles have gone white, and steps around the corner.
“Get off him.” She forces all her anger and pain, all her self-loathing, the fierce need to protect Luke and all her love for him into her voice, because for the first time, she wants to force her will onto somebody. For the first time she does not care about taking away someone’s choice. Caleb tried to hurt Luke. He deserves no choice.
And to her complete surprise it works, she feels the vibrations not only in her voice this time, but in the air around her. Feels the power spread out, like a pressure wave that originates from her. Caleb freezes in his movements, the tip of the dagger barely an inch from Luke’s skin. She can see him struggle, a vein throbbing against his temple, but after a moment that seems to last an eternity, he shuffles back.
“Drop the dagger.” The second time it’s even easier to push the power into her voice. Somewhere in the back of her mind she realizes that this probably means she has figured out how to control her powers, but right now her focus is on the man kneeling on the ground. A short moment passes and then the dagger clatters to the floor.
Julie steps forward until she is inches from him. She bends down to look Caleb straight in the eye. He has clenched his teeth and is looking at her in cold rage, an icy storm behind his eyes. “You will not ever lay a hand on this boy and if you do I will drag your body into the ocean and feed it to the sharks, are we clear?”
The vein on Caleb’s forehead throbs faster. He nods.
“Now leave and never come back here again.”
Caleb continues to glare at her, hands clenching at his sides, but stays firmly rooted in place.
“I told you to leave.” Julie pushes even more of her emotions into her voice. It seems to echo in the night air, each word like a thunder clap. She is going to make sure Luke is safe, that at least, she owes to him.
Slowly Caleb gets to his feet. His face has taken on a dark red color and he is obviously straining against each move his body makes. He takes a step back. His whole body is tense. Another step. She can see him fight against it, push back against her powers.
“Go.” Once more she concentrates on her feelings, on all her anger and pain and love, and this time it’s enough. Caleb’s resistance shatters in front of her eyes, the tension leaves his body at once, the clenched hands and jaw loosening as he stumbles over his own feet in an attempt to turn around as quickly as possible. With a couple steps he disappears into the darkness.
Julie lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and falls down to her knees next to Luke. His shirt has been cut apart, and there’s a thin trail of blood over his heart, where Caleb had made a shallow cut. The wound on his temple is still bleeding as well, so she takes off her cardigan and presses it against the laceration. Her fingers shake as she does so. Up close she can at least tell that he is unconscious and not dead. She can feel his pulse from where she has her second hand against his jaw.
A tear drips down her cheek and onto his chest. She has cried so much today already, how is there anything left in her? She is considering what to do next when suddenly his eyes flutter open. He lets out a soft groan, hand instantly going to his head.
“Jules?” he whispers. “What happened?”
“There was this burglar and he hit you over the head and-” she starts. And she hates herself as the words leave her mouth because even after he almost died because of her, she is lying to him. But how is she supposed to explain that Caleb is an insane supernatural hunter and almost killed him, because he fucked up and went for Luke instead of Julie.
“Jules, you want me to believe that Caleb knocked me out with a ceremonial dagger because he wanted to rob his own store and not because he was interested in my heart?” he rolls his eyes. “Also, I know how I ended up here. I meant how did you get rid of him?”
“I co- You know about that?” she asks in disbelief. How on earth could Luke know? He clearly was just proven to not be the hunter, so he should just be a normal human with no idea what is happening, right?
“You haven’t figured it out yet?” he asks with a soft smile. Her heart flutters. “Jules, he was trying to get my heart.” He sounds out the words slowly and carefully. She looks at him confused, unsure what he is trying to tell her.
“Yes, because he fucked up and went for you instead of me?” she replies.
“Jules… Caleb did not fuck up.” He wiggles his eyebrows at her.
“Are you- are you saying that you’re a- but you’re a guy?” she stutters out.
“Now, that’s just sexist.” He grins. “Who says men can’t be sirens?”
“But- I- I compelled you- I made you fall in love-”
“Julie,” His eyes shimmer as he looks up at her, his expression so very soft. “You did not compel me. Sirens can’t compel other sirens. You did however make me fall in love with you, but not earlier today when you sang. No, I’ve been in love with you since the first day we met.”
He pushes himself up until he is sitting on the ground next to her. “You played that piano piece at the school showcase, back when you couldn’t sing after your mother and- I looked at you, and- your eyes were closed and I could just see how much the music moved you, how much you felt for it and- you were the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. And then we got to talking and spent time together more and more and- how could I not fall in love with you?”
Luke reaches out, mirroring the way her hand is curled around his jaw. His thumb strokes over her cheekbone with a feather light touch. “If I kiss you again, promise me you won’t run this time?” He grins softly.
“I won’t.” She whispers.
He leans in.