Hey Gang, sorry about the delay with the updates. work, school and learning a new language are really time consuming. As usual, I own nothing Twilight. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I promise to try and update again sometime this week. Also thanks for the great reviews. :)
Siren's Call
Alice:
"That was amazing!" I said after surfacing from the cliff dive. I have to admit, it was a rush!
"You can say that." Bella answered. She looked less than thrilled, dare I say terrified.
"Don't tell me you were scared." I replied. It's clear that adventure needs to be very high on Bella's training program.
"Let me put it to you this way, I found out I can still pee in my mermaid form." Bella answered.
"Ew, and let that be the end of the conversation." Rosalie said, from behind us. We had no idea she Rosalie had even surfaced.
"This is part of your training. You may have to make a fast getaway, and swan diving, no pun intended, off a cliff may be something you have to do." Rosalie explained.
"I thought that height would've killed us." Bella said.
"Nope! Mermaids may look delicate, but we're a rather sturdy bunch." I said, grinning like a fool. I just loved being in the water.
"I guess we better get going, we've practiced quite a few dives." Bella said.
"Before we go, we need for you to do a water manipulation." Rosalie said to Bella. Bella looked crestfallen.
"You really have to practice, Bella." Rosalie insisted.
"Here, make a ball of water, like this." I said, scooping up some water, and forming a slightly jiggly ball. I perfected it until the ball looked like a steady, constant swirling sphere. Bella looked impressed and Rosalie just smirked.
"Give it a try." I said. So Bella scooped up some water, and managed to accomplish a jiggly ball for several minutes, before it broke apart.
"That wasn't bad, but I suggest you log some serious time in the bathtub and practice your water manipulation. Come on, let's swim for the shore." Rosalie said, right before diving underwater to swim towards the shore. Bella and I were just about to join Rosalie, when we heard her. I stopped instantly, Bella had a look of confusion on her face, and Rosalie instantly surfaced. We heard an absolutely amazing singing voice. Very melodic, haunting even, as if the owner were from Whales or Ireland, yet at the same time ethereal and other worldly. Rosalie and I were instantly on alert, but Bella however replied to the voice with her own melodic, haunting, other worldly singing. We swirled around and stared at her, speechless in shock. Rosalie was the first to regain speaking ability and respond.
"Why the hell didn't you tell us you're a siren?" Bella stared at Rosalie stunned.
"I don't understand, you can't understand her?" Bella asked in confusion. I gaped at Bella in surprised.
"Bella, sirens have the reputation for being rather wily and vicious type of mermaid. They sing in four languages only. Gaelic, Welsh, Latin and Ancient Greek, which means you understand those languages naturally. Which is she singing in now?" I asked. It was Bella's turn to stare at me in shock.
"How can I understand a language naturally, let alone four? And why do you two look like you've seen a ghost?" Bella had entirely too many questions, when we could be in danger.
"Bella, sirens are the most alluring and that most cruel of our kind. With one song, they can make a man fall to his knees, they lure ships into unsafe shallow waters, and they can seduce people, usually men into doing anything they want. Rarely are sirens good natured." Rosalie answered.
"Well this one is, because she's warning us not to come to shore near Jacob's house, and I think she's singing in Gaelic. I'm not sure." Bella replied. I just stared, Rosalie shook her head in disbelief.
"Ask her why we can't come to shore near Jacob's place." Rosalie said. Bella lifted her voice in a brief song, and shortly there was another alluring and haunting reply. We looked at Bella expectedly.
"She says, because they're looking for us." Bella replied.
"It can't be Jacob, or anyone on the rez, most of the Quileute tribe knows about us." I said.
"Maybe it's the mysterious three." Rosalie offered, looking at me for confirmation.
"No, they've been quiet for a while. Maybe it's the boys." I supplied. They looked doubtful.
"Think about it, we're pretty sure they know, and they're the only ones other than Angela and Charlie that knew we were coming here today." I said.
"Ok, so that brings me back here. Why is the siren warning us? Do you two know anything about another family of mermaids living in Forks?" Bella asked.
"No, nothing. Mom never mentioned anyone before." Rosalie answered.
"Mom never said anything to me either. Then again, most land mermaids never really advertise who they are." I replied. Rosalie nodded and Bella looked thoughtful.
"So what do we do now?" Bella asked.
"We find another way home." I replied. We got on shore a few miles away from Jacob's house, dried off and called Charlie to pick us up at a designated spot. Bella had sent a text message to Jacob, explaining that we wouldn't be returning to have dinner with him and his father. I felt sort of sad really, because Jacob really helped us relieve a lot of stress. Being around someone that knows our secret is relaxing, we don't have to spend so much time hiding. Now we had another dilemma. There were other mermaids, specifically a siren, and they knew about us. I knew there were more than one, because we rarely lived alone. We shuffled along to the parking lot where we asked Charlie to pick us up. About twenty minutes later, he was there in the SUV cruiser.
"Where's your truck, Bella?" Charlie asked, once we got in.
"It's at Jacob's, could you please pick it up? I know its not regulation to let us drive your cruiser, but something has come up and we need to make ourselves scarce." Bella explained, with a pleading look. Charlie looked at all three of us questioningly, before giving a quiet nod. He drove towards the Black house, and he let us out a little ways away, then handed Rose the keys.
"Do I need to review how getting the cruiser back to the house in one piece is so vitally important to your futures?" Charlie asked. He was serious. We all gulped and nodded, Bella and I climbed into the cruiser and Rosalie got behind the wheel and drove out of sight, before speeding away.
"Rose, be careful, Charlie will die if he finds out we were speeding in the cruiser." Bella said in a slightly panicked voice. Rose complied and slowed down. We were silent on the way back home, each of us deep in our own thoughts.
Rosalie:
I slowly pulled into the drive way and before I could stop, Bell and Alice hustled out of the car. I pulled the cruiser up a little ways before parking it. I sat there, gripping the steering wheel, letting everything that happened this afternoon soak in. Emmett and his brothers know. I know it. The biologist were out there, and we're waiting for their first move. Bella needs more training and it turns out she's a siren. How the hell are we going to handle that training? Alice was dreading the impending visit from her father and I still needed to gain control over my ability with fire. And now… we know about the other mermaids. The other mermaids. I let that thought sink in. Chances are that the biologist may not be looking for the Swans specifically, but any mermaids would do. I or, we needed answers. I don't think we could handle anymore news… but I also realized that bad news doesn't rain down casually like a warm, dewy happy spring sprinkle. Bad news thundered down like a random hail storm, that could stop and start at any moment. At this time, the hail storm had started, and it didn't look likely to stop anytime soon. I got out of the cruiser and ambled into the house. I didn't see any sign of Bella or Alice. Not surprising, we needed time to think. I plopped down on the sofa to think about everything that happened this afternoon. Just when I was relaxing and getting comfortable, my cell phone called out with my song selection for Emmett Cullen, "Object of My Desire". I shut my phone off. Yeah, I know, corny and all around bad idea for a ring tone, but it's true. Besides, Emmett was the furthest thing from my mind. Everything was happening so fast, and that's when it hit me. I had to call my mother.
"Hello?"
"Mom."
"Rose! Its about time."
"Mom, not now. Stop. Why didn't you tell me about the other mermaids?" I asked, wanting to head any questions off at the pass. However, mom wasn't quick to reply.
"Mom?"
"Who told you about the sirens?" My mother replied softly.
"You know they're sirens?" I was out done. Unbelievable. My mother sent me out here completely unprepared, and Uncle Charlie hadn't said a word. That ended today.
"Yes mom, we know about the sirens. Who are the other mermaid families and which family are made up of sirens?" I asked, getting pissed. I needed to control my anger, because the spontaneous combustion hair-on-fire incident wasn't going to happen again. As much as I hated that bitch Lauren, I didn't want to start the habit of setting random people and things on fire.
"Rosalie, honey, we have to have a long conversation about the other families, but there's only one family that you need to be worried about. The sirens. They are the…" Mom was on the verge of telling me when I heard Charlie come in. He took one look at me and then,
"Bella, Alice. Living Room!" Charlie bellowed out.
"Mom, gotta go." I said and ended my call, more than a little frustrated. I would have to have a very serious talk with my mother later. Bella and Alice were downstairs in a few seconds. Charlie was pacing back and forth, he seemed agitated.
"What happened out at First Beach?" He asked.
"We made it to Jacob's and then he took us to the cliffs to practice diving, when we finished up, we practiced water manipulation with Bella, then we decided to head to shore. That's when we heard the siren and we discovered Bella is a siren." I blurted out. Honestly, it was becoming too much. My cousins just stared at me and Charlie, well I could tell Charlie was trying to decide on what to talk about first.
"Siren. Did you say siren?" Charlie asked, his eyebrows high on his forehead, as he turned to take a good long look at his daughter. Bella blushed furiously.
"Yes." I replied, slightly irritated with myself for my sudden case of logorrhea.
"Interesting. There hasn't been a siren in the family for over three hundred years." Charlie stated, with slight awe in his voice. I could understand, because I was the first mermaid in our family in about five hundred years to be able to produce and manipulate fire.
"Charlie, do you know about any sirens in Forks?" Alice asked.
"No, but in Port Angeles, maybe. There were several families that lived there that we really didn't know about. We heard of them, but we didn't really get the opportunity to meet any of them. So I really can't tell you if they were sirens on not." Charlie replied. I was even more surprised by this news, and it didn't quite match with my mother's story. I didn't think my uncle was lying, on the contrary, Charlie has always been private and a loner, so it wouldn't surprise me if Mom and Amaryllis were familiar with other merrpeople and not Charlie. Plus mermen, by nature, were shy of people, both mer and completely human. I think Charlie was really the only merman I've known
"Charlie, do you have a tail or do you keep your legs in water?" I blurted out the question before I could stop myself. Charlie was completely taken by surprise, and once again, I felt ridiculous.
"Well, I mostly keep my legs." Charlie replied mysteriously. I glanced at Alice and Bella, and they looked as dumbfounded as I felt. I wasn't ready to know anything else at the moment.
"Back to Bella being a siren, how long have you known about this Bella?" Charlie asked, turning his attention back to his daughter. I felt like an idiot.
"I've always been able to sing, Dad. I didn't think it had anything to do with being a mermaid. Well, not anything special. I remember Rosalie mentioning that mermaids have the talent for singing." Bella replied.
"That's true, mermaids have beautiful singing voices, but sirens are a bit different. There are specifics to how a siren sings. We have a book about sirens in the library, perhaps you should check it out." Charlie answered, looking a Bella.
"Charlie, where did we get all these books?" Alice asked.
"Each family writes out their own history and then writes out the history of the merrpeople. Now let's talk about cliff diving. Who's idea was that?"
"Um, it was mine. I thought it was a good idea." I explained. Charlie gave me an incredulous look.
"I just thought it may come in handy for a fast getaway." I explained. Charlie twitched his moustache.
"Ok. We'll talk more about all this later. I asked about First Beach, because when I went by Billy's house, the Cullen boys were there, and they seemed to be expecting you." Charlie explained.
"Well, we sort of, maybe, suspect that they know what we are." Alice replied. Charlie was silent for a while, before sniffing and asking,
"How sure are you?"
"Ninety-nine point nine percent." Bella answered.
"Hm." was Charlie's only comment.
"Dad, should we tell them?" Bella asked, she looked as nervous as I felt.
"Well, you should see if you can trust them before telling anyone. Besides, Bella, Rose, you two have to work on your training. Oh, and Alice, your father called. He says he's coming to visit you in two weeks. He says he's been trying to call you, but you haven't returned any of his calls." Charlie delivered this message completely devoid of emotion. I was sure of it. So why did I get the feeling he was completely accusatory. Alice had the grace to blush.
"I'll call him tonight." Alice was resigned.
Alice:
Charlie is remarkable. I don't understand how he could make me feel so guilty, but he did. I just didn't know how I was going to talk to my dad. The thought of what he put my mother through, and what he's put me through recently, made me sick to my stomach. I promised myself I would call him sometime this week. However, in all honesty, Dad could wait. My current situation was spinning out of control, and fast. What started out as a small flame, was quickly becoming a raging fire, with more logs being thrown in the fire.
I really thought coming here would give me a new prospective, and it has. Now with the threat of being discovered by total strangers, things just seemed to be cropping up. I needed to figure out how I was going to tell Jasper about my gills, while helping Bella sharpen her skills. And now those skills, included siren training. Great. This just meant Bella could potentially turn out to be more temperamental, than even Rose. This new development was very worrisome, and one that needed immediate attention. I glanced over at Bella, and she looked thoroughly overwhelmed. I sighed, because I couldn't really blame her.
"Bella, let's go have a talk outside." Charlie said to her, steering her towards the backdoor and out into the backyard. I was mildly surprised, because obviously, Charlie knew that he had to do certain things first hand with Bella, now that it has been discovered what she is.
"Alice, I can't believe you've been avoiding your dad all this time." Rosalie said once Charlie and Bella were gone.
"You have no idea what's been going on with the family. Besides, he wants me to accept my brother." I replied. I was just mildly upset.
"Accept your brother? You say that like you don't want to, besides you can't get angry now, something could happen with your powers." Rose answered looking earnest.
"Look, just because you set Lauren on fire, doesn't mean I don't have control of my powers!" I said, in a slightly loud voice. Just then, Charlie and Bella came running into the house. They were drenched.
"Which one of you turned on the sprinkler system?" Bella asked, shivering, wet and then… flop. She was a mermaid.
"Shit! My favorite jeans are ruined." Bella sounded bummed.
"Bella, you have to exercise more control, concentrate." Charlie sighed.
"Sorry Bella, Uncle Charlie. I lost my temper." I confessed, glancing at Rose in mortification. She looked a little smug.
"Bella dry off, then meet me in the shed." Charlie said heading upstairs to dry off. I studied Charlie and then noticed Rose and Bella. Nothing out of the ordinary, not even one scale. We looked at each other, and I just shrugged.
"Maybe we can ask him once everything has blown over." Rosalie suggested. I sighed and went up to my room. We clearly had a lot going on. I settled in to try and start my homework, but it was half hearted. None the less, it had to be done. Just when I was hitting my stride, my phone sounded. I didn't bother to even look at the caller id, I just answered, prepared to have it out with my father. I took a deep breath.
"Hello?" I answered.
"Alice? Thank goodness you're alright. I saw you this afternoon. Please, no more cliff diving. I can't handle it." the voice on the other end said. I gasped in shock.
"Jasper?"