SIRENS

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Chapter 5

-x-

Darkness. Cold, wet, darkness. And the sensation of being dragged down, down, down. And the growing ache in his lungs as their craving for oxygen became desperate. If he still had his bow, he could... oh, wait... even if he had either bow, there would be little he'd be able to do to help in this situation. Not that having neither to hand didn't add to his general distress. Who had done that to Sheila? Where... Where was Sheila? She'd fallen in, and then she'd been nowhere to be seen. He brushed past something large and solid as he sank. Squinting through the stinging saltwater, he could just make out the shape of Bobby. The Barbarian was just hanging there in the water, helmetless and weaponless, neither swimming nor sinking. Just hanging, his back to him. Hank reached out a hand as he passed, catching the large Barbarian's naked shoulder. Bobby noticed him, and was able to turn a little, mouthing the Ranger's name in surprise. Hank reached out again, and tried to grab hold of Bobby to stop himself sinking through the water, but a pair of milk white hands suddenly snaked themselves around the Barbarian's muscular body, pulling the boys apart. A familiar face appeared from behind Bobby, her black ponytail floating crazily above her head.

Terri.

Only it wasn't Terri. Terri was a sweet girl, with a kind expression and laughing eyes. This Terri had a face twisted with cruelty, and her eyes... they were like glass. Like the eyes on a China Doll. Still, she wound herself around Bobby and kissed him, full on the lips. Hank watched as the other boy's chest swelled with air from the girl's mouth, and felt the terrible empty pang in his lungs again. Covering Bobby's mouth, Terri cast a glance down at Hank's ankles, irritably.

'Air, Ulse. You must remember their air!'

'Of course.'

The voice, beneath him, was warped by the water, but recognisable as the Thief's. He felt tiny, familiar hands begin to pull themselves up his body. He looked up again, to Bobby and Terri... no. No. Something was happening to the girl. It wasn't Terri at all. It wasn't even human. It was hard to make out her shape, like a fractured reflection in broken water, always shifting. Sheila's hands took his face and turned him. He found himself facing another broken image. It wasn't Sheila. He could see that now that she pulled his mouth to hers and kissed him. Sheila didn't have gills.

-x-

Janapurna reached down over the unlocked top half of the lower gate and deposited the Unpronounceable in her arms into the ocean beyond, as gently as possible. Aurore slipped gracefully from her grasp and slid into the water, waiting by the gate, gazing up at the Priestess.

Janapurna turned to the group of fifty-odd women, kitted out with air tanks, goggles, flippers and spears. She cleared her throat.

'Sisters. Thank you for volunteering. I can't say that I envy you on what will most likely prove to be a very dangerous task.' Janapurna smiled down at the Unpronounceable. 'However, I put you in the capable hands of my Aurore. Listen to her, because she knows the ocean well. Remember, if you find The Truth, don't look into it, and try not to touch it directly...'

'Wait!'

The cry came from the stairs above. The women turned to see Sheila running down the stairway, laden with breathing apparatus and goggles.

'Sheila,' gasped Janapurna, 'what...?'

'They took Bobby and Hank,' replied Sheila, strapping the air tank over her shoulders.

'The Sea Nymphs?' asked Janapurna.

Sheila nodded. 'If you're goin' after them, I'm goin', too. I don't know what they took from you, but they took my boys and I'm Damn well getting them back.'

'Sheila...' began Janapurna, cautiously, before stopping and sighing. 'Go. They're your men. Aurore will help you find them, but you understand that we have stolen treasure of our own to recover, and we need every woman that can swim...'

'Don't worry,' Sheila retorted. 'I can handle myself.'

'You don't have a spear,' noted the Priestess.

Sheila indicated to the knife in her belt and the mens' folded cutthroat razor tucked into her boot.

'You know how to use those?'

Sheila nodded.

Janapurna bit her lip. 'Have... have you killed?'

'Yes,' answered Sheila, flatly.

'Good,' replied Janapurna. 'The likelihood is that you will have to do so again tonight.'

Sheila pulled the goggles over her eyes. 'Let's just go.'

-x-

Presto felt the cold water around Sheila's body and stopped, panting for breath.

Three to the sea... two to the sky... and where am I? Where am I?

Where was he? Half way up the roof of the Inner Sanctum's tower, it appeared. And what was he doing there? He should go back. He should help out. But his head was so full of voices.

'None of us have ever got in the way of any one of the gang making their own decisions... or their own mistakes...'

'It helps you to turn around. You mustn't run from love, but towards it...'

They should be free to chase love, those friends of his. And wasn't that what they were all doing? They were all running blind into a Labyrinth but then that's love for you. Bob after Terri, Diana after Kosar, Eric after Diana, Hank after Sheila, and Sheila... Presto sighed. Sheila after her brother and Hank. Not him, nobody was even looking for him. It was always going to be Sheila after Hank. The one who gave her those lovely sad eyes, and didn't even appreciate it.

But what was Presto doing? Exactly the same. Chasing after the girl who made him so unhappy. It wasn't as if he and Varla had parted on the best of terms. But perhaps she had changed her mind. He always told himself, in the few months that had followed the last incident with the Illusionist, that he would forgive her if she ever changed her mind.

Even though she sold you all out, even though she tried to kill Sheila, even though this is obviously a trap?

It might be a trap. It might. But then again she might have changed her mind. And until he knew, he was just going to have to keep on following her.

-x-

Diana was swathed in silk. The cushions, the sheets, the dress she'd been given as a gift when she'd met him again at last, as if presents mattered in the least. She had no idea how long it had taken her to fly to him. Maybe it had been seconds, maybe it had been weeks. She remembered very little about her journey, just the overpowering need to follow where the beads pointed, and the endless climb. She remembered flying up, up, up all the time, like a freed soul climbing to Heaven. Yes. Yes, this was Heaven. The fact that it looked like Paradise was neither here nor there. She could have found in a mud hut in the middle of a snake infested swamp, and it would still be bliss as long as he was there with her. She sighed, and wrapped her arms around him, and kissed him again. He looked just the same as he had done all those years ago. Only... only now he had a certain glow about him. That was the only difference, really. She had been with him for about two hours, and they still hadn't made love. In fact, they had done nothing but kiss. And kiss. And kiss. She could happily kiss him for the next year. Finally, she had found the person that she had all the time in the world for.

He pulled out of the kiss to sit up and pour her another drink.

'Happy, my love?'

She beamed. 'Of course.'

'As am I.' He returned her smile, passing the goblet down to her. 'My only regret is that it took me so long to find you again.'

She put the cup down without drinking. 'There's plenty that happened in that time that I regret too, Kosar. But we're here now. That's what counts.'

'I would have come for you if I could, Diana.' Kosar sighed, propping himself up with an elbow. 'But the Starfall changed me. I can't exist on a Mortal plane any more. I found that out when I tried to go home. I have to live here, now. It's... it's part Realm, part somewhere else.'

Diana smiled up at the silken ceiling drapes. 'I can think of worse places to get stuck.'

'The Beads are from this Plane,' explained Kosar. 'I hoped that you would find them. It was the only way I could think of to show you where I am, and give you a way to get here.'

'They turn me into a swan,' she told him, stroking the necklace.

'No, my love.' He reached across and ran his fingers through her hair. 'No. They turn you into a Goddess.'

'...Goddess...' she echoed. She sighed, and buried her face in the crook of his neck.

'Something still bothers you?' Kosar asked.

Diana sighed again. 'I left my friends behind.'

'You were always going to leave them behind sooner or later.' He smiled softly at her troubled expression. 'You are special, Diana. I knew that the first time I laid eyes on you. You were always destined to soar, and leave the others on the ground. They knew that, too. They'll understand.'

'It's... it's not just that.' She picked a little at the sleeve of her new dress. She had always wondered how she was going to break the news of her distinct lack of chastity to him if she were ever to meet him again. 'I thought we'd never see each other again, Kosar,' she muttered. 'And while I always thought about you... a girl gets lonesome, and...'

'There have been other men?' prompted Kosar, softly.

Diana nodded.

Kosar took her hand. 'Diana. It has been a long time, and you're young and beautiful. There was no need for you to be lonely. I'm no blushing virgin myself, you know.'

'Really?' Diana sat up. 'You're OK with it?'

'Not entirely,' grinned Kosar, 'but I thought if we got our pasts out in the open now we could forget about it in the future. Start with a clean slate.'

'I'd... I'd like that,' whispered Diana.

'Just make all those other boys... vanish.' Kosar caught Diana's eye and smiled. 'Not literally, of course. Not that I couldn't. Because I could. And not that I wouldn't be tempted to.'

'Don't...' blurted Diana.

'Anything you say,' replied Kosar, serenely. 'And I can't say that I blame any of them for wanting to be with you, Diana.'

Diana smiled shyly, and lay down to kiss him again.

'What's that song?' asked Kosar, suddenly.

Diana blinked. 'What song?'

'You've been humming since you got here,' Kosar said, 'always the same song.'

'Well, I guess I've got plenty to sing about...'

'Something about a Castle of Love,' added Kosar. 'It's very pretty. What is it?'

Diana bit her lip momentarily. She was singing that song? what was she singing that song for?

'It's... it's Stevie Wonder...' the stereo's just a loan, Rich Boy... 'It's an Earth song. One of my favourites.'

'I'd like to learn some Earth songs,' smiled Kosar, 'especially one of your favourites.'

Diana sat up again. 'Maybe another time.'

'Are you all right?'

She nodded. 'Um. I might go for a walk. Explore the grounds. You don't mind...?'

'You're not a caged bird any more, Diana,' replied Kosar. 'Take as long as you like. I'll get you something to eat in the meantime.'

He got up, and she allowed him to help her to her feet.

'Thanks, Kosar. Thank you so much for all of this.'

'I would do anything for you, Diana. I love you.'

Diana returned his smile. 'I love you, too.'

-x-

'I can't believe your piece of shit car ate my Queen!'

'It's only a chewed up cassette, Eric. I'll buy you a new one.'

'It's another half hour to the beach. What are we gonna listen to now?'

'Don't you dare sing.'

'What's wrong with my singing?'

'You don't know any good songs.'

Then they'd paused, and she'd felt him staring at the side of her face as she'd driven, and then he'd started singing.

'Over time...'

She'd laughed. 'That's off my tape, isn't it?'

'...I have built up my castle of love, just for two, 'though you never knew you were my reason...'

Diana brushed her hand over an exquisitely carved pillar, and leaned into it, watching the birds strut and flutter on the lawn. Everything was so beautiful. A Grand Palace, acres of grass and flowers beneath her feet, above her head a clear, bright, starry sky. It was the type of sky that her Father would pray for, and that her Mother would hate since it usually meant a night alone while her Dad stayed up at the observatory. Even on vacation, he would spend nights like this outside with a telescope. Once upon a time she'd been excited by it too, and had stayed up with him, learning about constellations and such. And then she'd come back from the funfair so tall and old and strange, and she'd grown quiet and reserved on clear nights, sitting alone in her room, gazing blankly out of her window. And then that, too, had stopped. She'd began to spend her nights training in gyms, or sitting in bars, or lying in strangers' beds, and she'd never looked up at the stars.

'Look! Look! A shooting star!'

'Uh-huh.' She hadn't looked. She had been the only one to miss it.

'Pretty... Oh, Hank, it's so pretty.' Sheila had pulled on her boyfriend's sleeve. 'Stop the car? Please?'

'Sure'.

They'd pulled over, and stopped. It had been so dark, and so quiet, save the rustle of Sheila's gown as the couple had got out of the front seats of the car and raised their heads to the Heavens, hand in hand. In the back seat, she had tried to ignore everything - the beautiful stars, the happy pair smooching in the starlight, her own 'date', sulking next to her,

'Shoulda got a cab to take us back...'

'I wanted to go for a drive with my friends,' she'd snapped back.

'Yeah, but we're not goin' anywhere.' He'd leaned over to the dashboard and honked the horn at the couple, who had begun to dance with one another. 'Hey! Brad and Janet! Get a room!'

She remembered Hank grinning back as he lifted Sheila and span her, her long, pink skirt billowing in the starlight as she twirled.

'Get a girlfriend!'

He'd just sat back and sighed. 'What a sickening display.'

She'd smiled a little to herself. 'Anyone would think they were in love.'

'No need for them to be all Maria Von Trapp about it.'

'What would you know?'

There had been a long, awkward pause then. The insult that he didn't retort to was always the insult too far, and she'd wished that she could have taken it back. But she couldn't, so they had just sat there.

'I'm a pretty crummy date, aren't I?' he'd said, eventually.

'No...' she'd conceded, pulling at her neckline for the hundredth time, 'at least you didn't turn up looking like a ten buck Hooker.'

He had looked down at his Armani tux. 'Man... but that was the look I was going for...' he'd grinned up at her. 'Oh, you were talking about your outfit, huh?'

They'd both laughed, and he'd pulled a small flask out of his coat pocket, unscrewed it and taken a slug.

'What is that?'

'Scotch. Stole it from the Old Man. Hardly enough to get wasted, but it's a cold night, y'know?'

'It's the middle of summer!'

He'd offered the flask to her. 'I bet you're cold anyway.'

'Are you kidding?' She'd taken the flask from him. 'I'm practically naked in this dress.'

'You look beautiful,' he'd told her matter-of-factly as she'd drank.

'Slutty,' she'd corrected him.

'But beautiful. Like a big, beautiful slut.'

And then they'd carried on drinking, and watching the couple dance, and there would have been no sound at all, had he not been humming.

She wondered whether the suns would reach high enough to bring a dawn to this place. She didn't know for sure. It wasn't entirely the Realm any more, after all. In a way, she hoped that morning wouldn't come. With the sky like this, it seemed as though they were up amongst the stars, at one with them.

'...and 'though you don't believe that they do, they do come true...'

She bit her lip, silencing herself. She was singing it again! Why that song? She finally had the one man back that she had been waiting for all her life, and now all she could think about was the other guy. The perfect one, the idol of her life, the one that she had dreamed about seeing again and who was still as lovely as ever had lifted her up, brought her to paradise, wrapped her in silk and starlight. And here she was, remembering the boy who got gum in her hair. The guy who had coughed and sneezed and bled on her, who wheezed in his sleep and chewed too loud and never noticed the food stuck between his teeth or the sleep lodged in the corner of his eye until hours after she had. The guy who had spent the last eight years in her pocket, so that she knew every one of his flaws, both great and small, inside out.

She walked from the pillar slowly, out onto the lawn, amongst the exotic birds that flocked and frolicked there.

Kosar, she had noticed, didn't smell of anything. She could smell silk and roses when he was with her, but that was probably his clothes, and the drink that he had been pouring her. Eric always smelled of something. In the Realm it was usually either sweat or the crappy soap that they used to wash themselves whenever they could. When he had been burned, he had smelled of Hospital - of bandages and disinfectant. She recalled the years between then and their return to the Realm. Left to his own devices on Earth he smelled... good. Really good. The headrest of her car's passenger seat would always smell fantastic for hours after she ever gave him a lift anywhere. But that was all fake. Nothing but expensive shampoos and aftershaves in his bathroom. And by the time she left him that night he'd smelled of sweat and Realm soap again. Although that wasn't true... that night he'd smelled of Sex. Their Sex.

She grinned. Amongst the flittering birds, one caught her eye. A giant peacock. It was standing stock still, a tranquil pool of bright blue amongst the flurry of moving feathers. It caught her eye, and watched her as she approached it slowly.

Their Sex. Their Sex. It smelled unique, the joining of those two particular bodies, their spit, their sweat, their genitals... it was basic. It was primal. That was all.

But she'd miss it.

No. That was ridiculous. She was doing it again! This shouldn't happen. She'd found her Meant To Be. She'd found her Happy Ever After now. When Snow White married Prince Charming, she didn't start wandering around the palace humming 'Hi-Ho' and pining after Dopey.

'I'm happy here,' she told herself, aloud. 'I've been rescued by my Prince Charming.'

As if in answer, the peacock fanned its glimmering tail at her. She laughed a little. If she didn't know better, she could have sworn that the giant, beautiful bird was giving her the Evil Eye.

'Well, hello, Mister Peacock. Aren't you a pretty thing?'

Still the creature scowled at her, ruffling its tail feathers. She pointed to the display.

'Hey. Aren't you only supposed to do that for Lady Peacocks? Hate to disappoint you, but I'm afraid I'm spoken for.'

The peacock hissed.

'No need to get mad at me about it,' she laughed, 'it's just my love life's complicated enough as it is without throwing a glorified lawn ornament into the confusion...'

Still the bird hissed furiously, standing its ground. Her eyes narrowed. There was something caught around the creature's throat.

'Hey,' she said, 'are you hurt?' She extended a hand gently out towards the red cloth tied around the peacock's slender neck. 'Who did that to you...?'

The bird lashed out, pecking her hard on the hand with its sharp beak, drawing blood.

'Ow!' She drew her hand back, cradling it in pain. 'Little bastard! What the Hell did you do that for?'

The peacock cried out at her, then turned and flew off, sending the other birds into a fluttering panic.

'Diana!' Kosar came sprinting over to her, and pressed her injured hand between both of his. 'My love, what happened? How were you hurt?'

'It's nothing,' she sighed. 'Your peacock bit me.'

'Peacock?' asked Kosar, blankly.

'Yeah, you know. Really pretty feathers, on the males at least...'

Diana searched Kosar's clueless expression.

'They might be different here. Earth ones don't usually grow as big as yours...'

Kosar shrugged. 'A lot of birds find their way up here. But not from your world.'

'You must have seen it before,' said Diana. 'It's much bigger than all these other birds. Bright coloured and loud and... and aggressive...' Diana trailed off, thoughtfully.

'What? What is it?'

Diana touched the necklace again. It didn't feel as full as it had the first time she'd found it. He wouldn't... He wouldn't dare...

'How do these beads work, Kosar?'

Kosar ran his fingers through her hair. 'I'm not sure. I just know that they do.'

'Do... do they have to be together to work?'

'They seem to be drawn together,' replied Kosar, 'a sort of magnetism. But they each exist as a separate object. Why?'

Diana shook her head. 'No reason. Um... I'm gonna get this cleaned up.' She pulled her bleeding hand to her chest and began to back away towards the palace. 'I'll find you when I'm done.'

'Tell me if you need a bandage,' called Kosar after her.

He watched her run back inside, and then turned out to the lawn, peering up into the sky.

'I had a feeling you'd follow her,' he announced, calmly. 'In fact, I hoped that you would. It's been brought to my attention that you're far more trouble than you're worth. Your wife failed quite miserably in the task she was set. Can you believe, she wanted to keep you? I wonder what your appeal is. I really do.' He reached down and plucked a wildflower from where it had been growing.

'Silly little mortal thing,' he muttered, 'so bright, so frail.'

The wildflower began to wilt in his hand. Its petals started to drop off, one by one.

'She loves me,' Kosar continued, 'she loves you not. She loves me, she loves you not. You need to understand that, Eric. I can help you with that. I can bring you that peace. And then you can just... wither away.'

With that, he dropped the dry, brown stalk, and ground it beneath his heel.