Sitting in my room with an old book in my lap, I carefully read each and every single word, only this time with far more openness and acceptance than I did the first time around. "Transformative capabilities…underwater breathing…immunity to cold and deep sea pressure…" I murmured, following the words with my finger as the words flickered and jumped. "Hypnotic compulsion through voice commands…sonar…wait. I can use sonar?" Reading the paragraph closely, the entry explained how sirens could use their voice like a scream underwater which would relay images back to us like echolocation in dolphins. That's pretty awesome.
Not only that, but it was actually true that the water could heal me of almost anything, even diseases. All I had to do was be in contact with water and sing the song that my ancestor Melusine had notated and it would respond to my voice. I'll have to see if it will work on other people too, that could be useful. Are there any offensive skills at all? I continued to read, completely drawn in by everything that I was learning about my newfound skills. Thank god my ancestors had the good sense to write all this down. They had even written down things like rituals for taming the oceans or summoning tempests, something that could definitely come in handy later. There was just so much and I was eager to learn, though it took me some time to read it. So engrossed in the reading, I didn't realise that someone had knocked on my door until it opened, revealing both my parents.
"Sweetheart? Can we talk?" I quickly snapped the book shut.
"Mom, dad. Is everything okay?" I asked and quickly gestured to my work station I'd built up of all my classes. "I am studying I promise, I just got distracted by great-great-great-great grandma Melusin's diary." I excused, putting it on the bed so that they could see. Things were okay between us again and I didn't want to regress back to the way things were when they were angry with me, but seeing that I was trying to reassure them I was working, my dad lifted a hand.
"It's alright honey, we just came to talk." I don't like the sound of this. They both came in and sat down on the bed either side of me, making me a little stiff and nervous. They seem so serious, had I done something wrong that I'd forgotten about and they'd found out about it? I hope it's not about the time I snuck out to see a boy last night. "Listen, I know it's not any of our business…" My dad began, making me all the more worried.
"But we had a look at some of your notes yesterday whilst you were at school." My mom continued, smiling at me gently and starting to brush through my hair. "We just couldn't understand why you were still struggling so much despite the fact you've been working so hard, and we'd had some concerns voiced to us by your tutor so we did some snooping."
"You guys snooped in my room?"
"Details. The point is, we've come to realise you've been hiding something from us." Oh god, they haven't found out about all the siren stuff have they? I mean, I know it started out as just a school history project, but I never actually gave the books and diaries back to my mom but kept them in my room so I could continue working on them. Had they found out and were going to tell me I was too obsessive over the siren stuff and it was becoming ridiculous?
"We talked to your tutor as well as some of your teachers at school and they all told us the same thing." Dad said to me, placing his hand on my shoulder. "They said that the work itself is not bad, albeit lacking in some understanding, but the main problem why your grades are down is because your writing, spelling and grammar are not at the level they should be for you age." Oh god, this was worse, this was so much worse. They've found me out. "Honey, why didn't you tell us you struggle to read?"
"I…I…I didn't want to admit it." Lowering my head I rubbed my face with an ashamed flush, unable to even look at them. "You're both so smart and respected professors, I didn't want to admit that there was something wrong with my learning so I just…I don't know…I decided that since I wasn't ever going to be as clever as you guys I might as well make a show of being dumb so then I at least had an excuse." Both my parents stared at me, horrified that I felt that way.
"Oh sweetheart, you should have told us you were having problems." Mom hugged me, pulling me against her as my dad rubbed my back.
"It's going to be okay. We're going to get you the help that you need to make things easier. We promise." It sucked that my secret was out, but in some ways I did feel better about having it off my chest. My parents apologised for being so hard on me, promising to make it up to me before telling me that I could take the time to just enjoy spring break without having to worry about study. I could go back to school with a clean slate properly rested, so I seized the opportunity of freedom and called up Lydia to go shopping ready for her birthday. It felt so good to not have to worry about the mountain of books waiting for me at home, so I spoiled myself a little and bought a brand new dress for Lydia's birthday party, wanting to look my very best.
It was a black mini with sheer cut outs at the back and front, exposing the smooth tone of my stomach and a little of my cleavage. Feeling fabulous, I spent the entire day soaking up the sense of freedom with Lydia, who had returned to her normal self as we discussed and planned her party. I missed this. Being normal. Doing ordinary things like shopping. Looking at Lydia as she went through numerous dresses trying to find the perfect one, I was relieved to see her smiling again. With Jackson currently flitting in and out of killer reptile mode, I had been on edge all week when he'd shown up at school.
We didn't find all that we were looking for today, so we decided to go shopping again and surprise Allison with a selection of dresses for her to also choose from. With the rest of the week dedicated to preparations, I was glad when the day finally arrived because there was nothing better than primping hours in front of a mirror and to leave it looking like an eleven out of ten. My dress was Material Girl, rather apt if you ask me since I enjoy material things. At first I was a little nervous going to the Argent's house, knowing exactly what they were but I plastered on a smile as Mr Argent opened the door, all sweetness and sugar like I usually was.
"Hi Mr Argent. You're looking rather sharp today, the cut of that shirt suits you." I told him before lifting up my shopping bags. "Allison home?"
"Yeah she's up in her room. Come on in girls." He invited warmly and as I let Lydia go in first, I took a moment to use my siren powers to learn what I could. I cannot believe I just said siren powers. Never mind. Focusing, I received no indication of ill will towards me so I figured I was in the clear, smiling at him again before prancing towards the stairs enthusiastically.
"Oh my, looks like you girls have come prepared." Stopping at the bottom of the stairs when Allison's mom came out of the kitchen, I felt my body tense up when I felt a throbbing sensation in my shoulder. My head turned towards her, feeling her pain as it seemed to spread gradually across her entire body.
"You're in pain." I spoke without even realising it, making Mrs Argent stare at me as I quickly shook my head. "Sorry, that was rude of me. It's just…" I frantically tried to think of an explanation. Thankfully, Mrs Argent was rubbing her shoulder. "You were holding your shoulder like it hurt. Did you strain it or something?" I asked innocently, hoping that neither she nor Mr Argent picked up anything weird about the whole thing.
"Oh yes, it's nothing. I just pulled something when I was carrying some shopping. That's all." She excused, though somehow I think she was lying. I smiled at her as Mr Argent came and put his arm around her supportively.
"Well, I hope you feel better soon. Mr Argent, don't you know that a gentleman should always carry a lady's bag?" Tittering my tongue I then took off up the stairs after Lydia, entering Allison's room as she was standing up from her desk.
"Oh my god, how much did you guys buy?"
"Trust me, this is just the tip of the iceberg. You should have seen the amount of dresses we tried out. I'm pretty sure we cleared out the entire store." I grinned, putting the bags down on the bed before starting to pull out each one to lay them out.
"How many outfits do you plan on wearing tonight?"
"It's my birthday party. I'm thinking host dress, evening dress, then…hmm…after hours casual." Lydia informed us as she picked up her first choice dress to show it to Allison. I'll admit, this was quite a lot of clothing and even though I'd already chosen my outfit for the night, there were just so many other dresses calling my name and I couldn't bring myself to leave them behind.
"I noticed that you didn't send out any invites." Allison said as Lydia continued to pull out dresses from the bags and toss them out onto the bed.
"It's the biggest party of the year, Allison. Everyone knows."
"I was wondering if maybe this year things, you know, might be different." Pausing to look up I glanced over to Lydia who did not even flinch, continuing with her task and asking why things would be different. "Just because things have been off lately. Things and people. Like Jackson." That gave Lydia pause, slowly turning towards Allison with a thin lipped grimace.
"What do you care about Jackson?"
"Do you know if he's coming tonight?" Oh shoot, I hadn't though about that. If Jackson was going to show up at Lydia's party then that could be bad news. Seeing as his personality problem was so severe, we couldn't be sure if it was Jackson who was going to be there or the kanima. Seriously, two people in one head? That's just overcrowding.
"Everyone's coming." Shaking off Jackson's mention, Lydia picked up a cute little dusky orange dress. "This one's American Rag. I love it." She smiled, stroking the fabric before rolling her eyes with a click of her tongue. "For me, not you. This one's Material Girl. It's for you." Beginning to sort through the accessories as Lydia handed Allison a heart shaped neckline mini with little pink flowers on a black canvas, Mrs Argent appeared in the doorway to have a look. "Mrs Argent. What do you think of this one?" Picking up one of my favourite dresses of Lydia's selection, Mrs Argent gave a strained smile.
"Oh, it's lovely. Allison, can I grab you for a moment to talk? Just the two of us."
"Um, can we do it later?"
"Actually, to be honest, sooner would be better." Something didn't feel right about Mrs Argent. She seemed frail and kept on touching her left shoulder where I'd felt the reflection of pain on myself briefly. I hope she's alright. Even though she's part of a family of hunters who had made it their mission to hunt down all the werewolves in the area despite their age and innocence, Mrs Argent was a pretty cool lady. And she makes awesome cookies.
"Party's at ten." Lydia supplied helpfully before carrying on with the dress sorting.
"Um, will you be around before then?"
"I think so."
"You think so."
"I don't know." Seeing that Allison didn't want to talk, her mother backed away from her room, leaving us all to ourselves. Allison and Lydia were discussing slips for certain dresses, however I couldn't shake the feeling that it was important that Allison went to talk to her mom before tonight.
"Ali?" She looked up and smiled. "You need to go talk to your mom." Surprised that I would say that, she asked me why. "I don't know, just a feeling I have. Seems to me that she really wanted to talk to you about something."
"I'll talk to her later or tomorrow. It's fine." Still not convinced, I reached out and touched Allison's shoulder, looking her direct in the eye so that she knew I wasn't messing around as I felt a slight pull of focus, something that I had learned was a hypnotic ability that my eyes and voice possessed but was still having some trouble controlling.
"At least tell her you love her before you leave. You have to tell her, okay?"
"O…kay…I will." Satisfied, we returned to the dresses and enjoying our time about selecting everything. Once we'd chosen an outfit for Allison, accessories for me and the three dresses Lydia would change into throughout the night, we all went our separate ways to start the preparations. Lydia went to school to find Jackson at lacrosse practice to personally extend an invite even though I told her it was a bad idea, whilst I went to her house in order to start the preparations. Decorating for parties was a top hobby of mine, so within minutes I was fully focused and in the zone.
One super fantastic party coming right up.