“Many of these other beings were immortal—or at least appeared that way to humans,” Lydia went on. “In fact, your average human began naming these more powerful beings, and oftentimes those names included terms like ‘gods’ or ‘goddesses. ’”
Lydia waved her hands. “Anyway, humans had a way of annoying these so-called deities. So the gods and goddesses would do things like trick them or curse them. But in order to make a curse real and take effect, the terms of the curse have to be written down. ”
“The terms of a curse?” Gemma asked.
“Yeah, kinda like when you lease a car or click the box ‘yes’ to agree to the terms of service on iTunes,” Lydia explained. “In order for it to be valid, there has to be a contract. ”
“So you’re saying that somewhere, the specifics of the siren curse are written?” Gemma asked.
“Right, it would have everything spelled out,” Lydia said. “Like what a siren can and can’t do, how to kill a siren, and how to break the curse. You know what? I’ll show you one. ”
Lydia slid in between Gemma and Harper and went farther down the aisle. In lieu of a ladder, Lydia apparently preferred to climb up the bookcase, using the shelves as rungs.
“Do you need help?” Harper offered, since she was at least half a foot taller than Lydia.
“Don’t worry,” Lydia replied cheerfully. “I got it. ”
Lydia grabbed something from the top shelf, then dropped to the floor. She held up a thin, battered book. The cover had completely fallen off, and it was held together by a rubber band wrapped around it.
“This is the one for Dracul, and it lays out the vampire curse,” Lydia said as she took off the rubber band and opened it.
Harper leaned over to get a look. The pages were falling out, and the lettering had faded so much it was all but illegible. It was written in a cursive that Harper didn’t understand but there were a few pictures alongside it, showing a stake through the heart.
“I can’t read it,” Gemma said.
“Of course you can’t. It’s in Romanian,” Lydia said. “But vampires aren’t your problem, are they?”
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“No,” Gemma said, sounding somewhat dejected.
“Good. Then you don’t need to read it,” Lydia said and flipped through the book.
“Who wrote this?” Harper asked and pointed to the faded pages.
“This exact one here, I don’t know. ” Lydia shook her head. “But the original curse was crafted by Horace, I think, because this Vlad dude really pissed him off, apparently. ”
“So this tells you how to break the curse?” Harper asked.
“Well, no. ” Lydia closed the book and turned around to face Harper, Gemma, and Marcy. “There is no way to break the vampire’s curse, except by killing them. ”
“Wait, wait. But you said in order for the curse to work, it has to be written down somewhere?” Harper asked.
Lydia nodded. “Right. ”
“Then why don’t vampires just destroy this book?” Harper asked. “There would be no more curse. ”
“Okay, first of all, every vampire over about a hundred years old would turn to dust if the curse was suddenly lifted,” Lydia explained. “The curse extended their natural life, and without the curse, they should all be dead many years over.
“And second, if you destroy this book, it won’t matter, because there’s at least a dozen more books out there just like it,” she finished.
Harper considered this, then asked, “What if you destroyed all the books?”
“You can’t,” Lydia said. “You could probably destroy most of them, but the original one, the one that Horace wrote the curse on, he would put it on something indestructible, because he wouldn’t want his curse to go away that easily. ”
“Something indestructible?” Gemma asked. “Like what? A stone tablet?”
“No. Stone can still be shattered, crushed up into powder,” Lydia said. “It would be anything that he’s given indestructible properties. ”
“So … magic paper?” Harper asked.
Lydia shot her a look. “If you want to oversimplify, then yes, magic paper. ”
“Why isn’t that written on magic paper?” Gemma pointed to the vampire book Lydia was holding.
“It doesn’t need to be, because the original is kept somewhere safe,” Lydia said. “When you look at more common curses, like vampires and zombies, or like really common, more basic spells, like turning someone into a toad—”
“Okay, yeah, we’ll say everyone knows that,” Harper muttered.
“It’s in about a thousand grimoires,” Lydia said. “Somewhere there is a master grimoire, and all the spells and curses are written down on ‘magic paper. ’ But the more specific the curse, the fewer copies there are. ”
“So when talking about something like a siren, how many copies do you think there are?” Harper asked.
“Considering there can never be more than four sirens in existence at any given time?” Lydia asked. “I’d guess there’s only one copy. ”
Gemma sighed. “And you wouldn’t happen to have it, would you?”
“No, I don’t. But I can make a guess who does. ” Lydia smiled brightly. “Them. ”
“You think the sirens have it?” Harper asked.
“Of course. My understanding is that the sirens are relatively hard to kill. They wouldn’t want the instructions on how to destroy them just floating around. I’m sure the head siren has it. ”
“But they’re partially aquatic,” Gemma pointed out. “They move through the water. How could they carry paper with them without it being destroyed?”
“It’s ‘magic paper,’ remember?” Lydia said. “It’s been granted properties that make it indestructible—meaning it can’t be destroyed, not by water or fire or nuclear holocaust. ”
“Have you seen Penn with any kind of book?” Harper asked Gemma.
“No, I don’t think so. ” Gemma furrowed her brow. “When I moved with them before, Lexi carried a large bag with her, but I never saw what was inside it. ”
“It’s probably not a book,” Lydia said. “I mean, the sirens are from Greece? Talking the second or third century? I’m thinking you’re looking for a scroll, probably made from papyrus. ”
“So what you’re saying is that we need to find a scroll made of magic papyrus, written in ancient Greek, that may or may not be in the possession of a bloodthirsty siren that does not want us to find it?” Harper asked dryly.
“I never said bloodthirsty. Are they bloodthirsty?” This seemed to excite Lydia, for some reason. “Wow. That’s crazy. I always thought sirens would be nice. ”
“They’re not,” Harper said.
“Even if we do find it, there might not be a way to break the curse,” Gemma pointed out. “Like the vampire curse, there’s no way out except death. ”
“That’s true. That is a possibility,” Lydia said.
“What if we destroyed the scroll? Would that undo the curse?” Harper asked.
“Theoretically, yes,” Lydia said cautiously. “But you won’t be able to. ”
“I can try,” Harper insisted.
“Yes, you can try,” Lydia agreed with some reluctance. “But many people have tried over the last … well, since the beginning of time. And almost nobody ever has. ”
“Almost nobody,” Harper said. “So somebody has?”
“There’re always exceptions to the rule,” Lydia said. “But I have no idea how they did it, or how you can destroy this one. ”
“Is there anything more you can tell us about the sirens?” Gemma asked.
“Not offhand, no. But I’ll keep my eyes open for anything,” Lydia said.
“Thanks, Lydia,” Marcy said. “You’ve been a big help. ”
“Yes, thank you very much. ” Harper smiled gratefully at her. “We really appreciate it. ”
“No problem. ” She smiled. ?
??Stop by anytime. Any of you. ”
“Thanks,” Gemma said, but she sounded much more deflated than she had before they arrived.
“Oh, hey, Marcy,” Lydia said as she walked them to the door. “If your uncle gets any more pictures of the Loch Ness Monster, be sure to send them my way. ”
“I will,” Marcy promised, and then they stepped outside.
After the darkness of the shop, the sunlight felt almost too bright. The heat was also a bit shocking. Harper hadn’t realized how cold it had been inside the bookstore until she felt the warmth outside.
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“How do you know Lydia?” Harper asked Marcy.
Marcy shrugged. “I just know people. ”
Once they were in the car, Harper let out a long breath. She wasn’t exactly sure how she felt after that visit, but at least they had a course of action. They were looking for something specific. They could find it. They could solve the curse. Ending this whole siren business felt like a real possibility for the first time in a while.
“That went pretty good, I think,” Harper said.
“I guess,” Gemma said from the backseat, but she sounded awfully sullen.
“Is something the matter?” Harper turned around to look at her.
“No, everything’s fine. The watersong is getting to me, I think,” Gemma said, but she just stared vacantly out the window.
ELEVEN
1741, Marseilles
In the mansion in the south of France, Thea lay in bed long after her handmaidens had come in and opened her curtains. Sunlight spilled in through the large windows of her bedroom, but she lay curled among the blankets.
“Thea?” Aggie asked, and without waiting for a response, she threw open the large bedroom doors, causing them to slam against the wall.
Thea ignored her sister and pulled the covers over her head, burying herself.
“Thea, you’ve been in bed all day, and you stayed in bed all day the day before that, and the day before that,” Aggie said.
The bed moved as Aggie climbed into it, crawling over to where Thea lay in the center, and she pulled back the covers. Aggie stared down at her, her warm chestnut eyes filled with concern, and she sighed loudly.
Aggie was fully dressed in a luscious pink gown adorned with lace and fabric shaped into flowers. Despite her attire, she hadn’t put on a wig, so her long brown waves cascaded down to her shoulders.
“Are you sick?” Aggie asked.
“Of course I’m not sick,” Thea said with a voice like silk. She rolled onto her back so she could stare up at the ceiling instead of at her sister. “We’re incapable of falling ill. ”
“Then why are you lying in bed all day?” Aggie asked. “There must be something the matter with you. ”
Thea didn’t have a very good answer for that. For the past five weeks they’d been living with a duke in the south of France. Everyone assumed that Thea and the other three sirens were his courtesans, and they let them think that. It was easier than explaining what they really were.
Since they’d come here, Thea had slowly begun to lose interest in all the things she used to love doing. Even swimming with her sisters was losing its appeal. The only thing she really wanted to do anymore was lie in her bed.
“It doesn’t really matter what’s going on with you,” Aggie decided and scooted back on the bed so she could get up. “Penn and Gia went to town today, and they’ve brought a guest over for dinner. You need to get dressed and come down to eat with us. ”
“I’m not hungry,” Thea said.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re hungry or not. ” Aggie walked over to Thea’s wardrobe and looked through it. “Penn made it perfectly clear that this wasn’t a question. She wants to impress him. ”
“Since when does she try to impress men?” Thea asked as she grudgingly sat up. “And don’t we already have enough men here to entertain her?”
The duke shared the house with his two brothers, and that alone should’ve been enough for Penn. That didn’t include all the servants and friends of the duke who were constantly visiting his home on the edge of the Mediterranean.
“No, it’s not a mortal,” Aggie said as she pulled a gown from the wardrobe. “He goes by Bastian now, I believe, but he used to be called Orpheus. ”
Thea grimaced. “Orpheus? The musician? Isn’t he supposed to be our nemesis? That’s what Homer wrote, wasn’t it?”
“Perhaps. Homer wrote many things that weren’t true. ” Aggie carried the dress and laid it out on the bed. “Now come. You need to hurry. Penn will be angry if you keep them waiting. ”
“Why does she even care about this man?” Thea asked, but she did as she was told, slowly sliding to the edge of the bed so she could stand.
“She thought he might know where Father is,” Aggie explained.
“Nobody’s ever going to tell us where Father is,” Thea mumbled as she pulled her nightgown over her head. “And how does she even know who this Orpheus person is if he’s going by the name Bastian?”
Aggie held the dress open for her, and Thea stepped inside of it. She pulled it up, slipping her arms through the sleeves. Once it was on, she turned around and held her red hair out of the way so Aggie could begin lacing it up.
“She recognized him,” Aggie said. “We’ve met him before. It was many years ago, back when we still lived in Greece. ”
“So it was many, many years ago,” Thea said.
It had to have been at least a thousand years since they’d last lived in Greece. Immortals such as themselves had lived somewhat happily there for a while, but eventually they’d come to feel unwelcome, and they had dispersed all over the world.
“You must remember meeting him. ” Aggie tightened the waist, causing Thea to exhale roughly. “We went to a performance of his where he played the harp and sang the most beautiful song. ”
Thea shook her head. “I can’t remember. Most of our lives have become a blur of random men, and it’s hard to isolate one. ”
Aggie had finished, and she took Thea by the shoulders, forcing her to turn around and face her.
“What is going on with you?” Aggie asked.
“Nothing. ” Thea smiled thinly at her. “Everything is wonderful. ”
“You’re lying. And we will talk about it later, but for now, you need to pretend that everything really is wonderful,” Aggie said. “For whatever reason, Penn wants to impress this Bastian, and you need to be at your best. ”
“I will do everything I can,” Thea assured her.
Aggie led the way down to the parlor room. As they walked through the halls, servants scattered. All of them lived in fear of the sirens, and that was as it should be. Only the duke and his friends seemed oblivious to their true nature, but that was as Penn wanted it. She kept her siren song focused on them, so they would give freely to her.
Before they even reached the parlor, Thea could hear Penn laughing. It wasn’t the seductive laugh she used to get what she wanted, which seemed to be the only laugh she was capable of around men. This was her actual laugh.
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Gia, the fair-haired Ligeia, sat on a chair, watching Penn and Bastian with bemused interest. Penn stood nearby, her hand to her chest as she smiled and stared up at him. Her eyes seemed to sparkle, and there was a lightness in them that Thea had never seen before.
When she came into the room, Bastian had his back to her. She was surprised to see that he wasn’t wearing a wig. The sirens themselves rarely wore the powdered wigs, finding them itchy and unnecessary, but most other people of standing insisted upon them.
“And the farmer kept insisting that I pay for the chicken,” Bastian was saying, and Penn laughed again. “But after all that, there wasn’t a chance that I would pay a single denier for it. ”
Gia giggled but without the same fervor as Penn, who was apparently so interested in Bastian’s story that she didn’t notice her
sisters entering the room. In fact, she didn’t see them until they had walked over and were almost standing directly behind Bastian.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Bastian, my sisters have arrived,” Penn said as she pulled her eyes from him and motioned to Aggie and Thea. “You recall Aggie and Thea, don’t you? Though they went by Aglaope and Thelxiepeia back then. ”
He turned around, finally looked back at them. The second she saw him, it all came back to Thea.
Hundreds of years ago, she’d seen him perform. It had been in a great stadium, and Thea had been seated near the back with her sisters. Penn had seemed bored, too busy flirting with the gentleman in front of her to pay attention to the man onstage.
But Thea had been unable to take her eyes off him. The songs he played were the most beautiful she’d ever heard, and she spent most of her days listening to Gia sing—Gia, whose voice and song were so lovely and powerful she could enchant any living creature into doing her bidding.
After his performance, it had been Thea who insisted they speak to him. She’d dragged her sisters through the crowds until they finally found him. They spoke only a few words, mostly because Thea was too tongue-tied to find the right words, and then he’d walked away, leaving with his wife.
That memory had almost escaped her until she met his blue eyes, and then it all came flooding back. Somehow, he seemed even more handsome than she remembered him. Dark black hair, broad shoulders, and a smile so amazing, it took all the air from her lungs.
While Bastian greeted Aggie, Thea did her best to keep her composure. She smiled politely to keep her mouth from hanging agape.
“Thea,” Bastian said when he turned to her. He took her hand, and she desperately hoped that he couldn’t tell she was trembling. He bent down, kissing her hand as she did a small curtsy, and she had to remind herself to breathe.
“I believe I do recall you,” Bastian said, once he’d let go of her and stood back up. He smiled crookedly, creating a small dimple in his smooth skin. “You enjoyed my performance. ”
“Bastian, everybody enjoyed your performance,” Penn said with a light laugh.
“That is true,” he admitted and turned back to her.
“I’m sure dinner is ready by now,” Penn said. “Shall we go down?” She wrapped her arm around his, so he’d escort her to the dining hall.
Thea lagged a few moments behind, preferring to walk with Aggie and Gia. She didn’t know exactly what was going on, but one thing she knew for certain—she had a very big problem.
TWELVE
Bonds
After rehearsal, they’d had their first rough fittings. The play was set during the Italian Renaissance, so the costumes were elegant and elaborate, especially since the director, Tom, required perfection and authenticity.
Gemma had gone down into the dressing rooms, where the costume maker had her try on a muslin gown for fit and structure. Once she’d had it on and measurements had been double-checked, she’d been allowed to change back into her street clothes and go home, but she lingered behind.