36
Nick's eyes were wide as he looked from the road to me on occasion.
"Woah." he said. I nodded as I just looked ahead at the road.
"Yeah." I responded.
"Wow, so you're this big-time siren…goddess or something." he said in awe. I shook my head.
"No. I am just a siren with an ancient gift that grants me a vast amount of power." I said.
"Right, a goddess." he said. I winced.
"No. I can just do more than other sirens and am just really powerful." I muttered.
"A goddess." he enunciated more. I scoffed.
"That's not what's important right now." I said and he nodded in agreement.
"Right, right. So these renegade elves are trying to bring the dark lord back through you. How do we stop them?" he asked. I sighed some and shook my head.
"I don't know. Right now, Kandomere is at the elf district. You hear about the museum shooting?" I asked.
"Yeah. Was on my way there when you called. I figured it would probably be better for me anyway. Homeland Security is really bringing in the big guns on this one." he said. I frowned some at his words.
"Where was Homeland Security when innocent orcs were being shot and killed?" I asked. He sighed heavily and looked at me.
"Orcs are not their concern. They're left to the police who don't care about them either." he said with disappointment. I looked to the window, thinking back to my argument with Kandomere. The fact he didn't tell anyone an elf was responsible upset me and even more the orcs had to pay for it because no one bothered to set the record straight. Humans are very dangerous when they are afraid and lethal when given information that fuels their hatred. The elf district was heavily protected anyways from humans, none of them would be in danger. And look where we are now. Elves killing elves.
Shades of blue began to form into my vision and I looked up seeing the beach.
"Nick. Turn here. I need to get to the water." I said quickly.
"What?" he asked confused. I opened the door immediately and a gust of wind hit my face hard. "O! What are you doing!" I unhooked my seatbelt and just stepped out of the car, my body breaking down in water molecules and gliding through the air itself. As my aquatic form reached the sand, I reformed, my feet being devoured by the brown minerals. I just stared at the water as the waves crashed amongst each other. What is this feeling inside me, drawing me to the water? I felt at ease here.
"I'm home." I said.
"Odette!" I heard Nick call as he rushed over to me kicking up sand. "Are you crazy! You could have been hurt!" He's frantic and I smile at his worry and look at him.
"Nothing can hurt me, Nick." I replied soothingly and looked out at the water. The wind blew at our faces. I have never been deep in the water before, never have gone back to my roots of where my people came from. "I have to go." Nick looked at me confused.
"What?" he asked and I looked up at him.
"Call Kandomere. My phone is in your car. Get permission to see Dorghu. Ask him what he knows. He will tell you." I said gently and began to walk over to the water now.
"Wait O, what are you doing?" he asked taking hold of my arm. I looked up at him with kind eyes.
"I need to go down there. I need to know the homeland of my people. I have to…" I said slipping my fingers from his hand. "Go. Talk to Dorghu and get the information so we can stop the Inferni."
"Wha- wait are you coming back?" he asked utterly confused. I nodded and slowly began to walk to the water. The waves moved back and forth, back and forth and as the edges of the water touched my toes, the water began to shift forward around my toes as if welcoming me in. I moved further in the water, feeling more and more at peace with my spirit. I was waist deep now and in seconds I dove into the water. The cold water devoured me and a thin layer of skin formed around my eyes so I could see clearly. As I began to swim past the shallow water and toward the deep, I noticed my body began to feel different. My legs were kicking up and down before something was pulling them together. It felt like a strong current of water was pushing them together.
I wanted to fight this current, but I couldn't. My legs snapped together, and I turned and looked back to see my legs were sewing themselves together and my eyes widened as a long pale blue fin formed beneath me, my pants shredded and sinking into the darkness of the water. I was panicking, and I stopped moving to scream in fear only to release a shriek instead. I feel the sides of my neck cut open as if someone took a blade to either side of my flesh. I covered my neck and felt the air leaving my lungs, and my lungs felt like they were closing. I was holding my breath and panicking at the same time.
I had to breathe, I felt I would pass out if I did. I opened my mouth and felt water filled the side of my neck. My eyes widened as I noticed my breathing felt, fine, normal, except it came from the side of my neck. I looked at my hands finally my eyes widened as I realized layers of flesh had formed between my fingers with long black claws. Scales painted my wrists and arms and I just looked down at my chest to see this long tail of mine just formed into my body. My entire body was a beautiful soft blue. My shirt and bra covered my body easily and I merely pulled the fabric apart and they ripped so easily and disappeared into the deep. My body was covered in scales and my breasts were still here but smooth and soft. I looked up, my hair clouding my vision of the sun above.
I inhaled some and finally looked around for a second and saw a large shadow swimming toward me. I remained floating in the water watching as the shadow finally revealing itself as large school of fish. They swam around me swiftly and I flinched as they began to swim around me creating a vortex. Everything was blue around. I could smell things I have never smelled before on land. This was our world before we became polluted and grew legs. I needed to see more. I needed to go deeper. I moved from the vortex of fish and my body reacted easily to my new tail. I moved about the water observing the sea turtles and crabs and fish that swam around me.
Normal POV
Nick was at a complete and total loss. Even worse he had to call Kandomere and tell him what happened.
"You lost her!" the elf snapped. Nick was back on the sand looking around for his friend.
"I didn't lose her! She just said she needed to be in the water and it's not like I can stop a siren with her power. Yeah, I know everything. She wants me to go to the elf district and speak to Dorghu about what he knows." he explained.
"No one other than elves are allowed in the district our places is on total lock down. You will stay there and wait for Odette to come back." he said.
"Look elf, humans are dead, orcs are dead, elves are dead. We need to find out everything we can before they issue another attack. If we have another attack an all-out riot and massacre is going to start between all the species and that means the sirens will get involved and you don't want to go war with the sirens." Nick stated seriously. Kandomere thought of his options. Fifteen elves were killed, and artifacts had been stolen from their museum. It was a blood bad. Kandomere remembered showing Mathias the ancient siren texts. He stated that there were some stones that belonged to the sirens that had been stolen by elves during war times and had the power to meld two spirits together. These stones were precious to the elves, even though they had no ability to use it. But they were beautiful and looked like diamonds and the elves had placed a few of them in their museum.
Obviously the Inferni took the stones to use to in preparation of bringing back the dark lord.
"Fine. Meet me at the district border. We are talking to Dorghu together." he said before hanging up the phone. Kandomere was in the lobby of the museum, the glass doors showing everyone outside the blood. There were reporters and crowds who were being detained. Monte approached him.
"This is getting out of hand boss. We need to figure out the Inferni's next move before they make it." he said.
"I know that." he stated bluntly.
"How's O doing?" he asked.
"I don't know and that's what worries me." Kandomere replied. Monte was stunned by his boss's words. Usually, Kandomere was the most level headed of the two. He was never worried and if anything, always in control.
"I got a call from the higher ups. They want us to make a public statement about this from the downtown shooting to this now." he said. Kandomere didn't have time for that. The quicker he could get answers, the quicker he could go find O. He needed to be sure her powers were kept a secret before the rest of the government find out about her. He knew all too well what would happen if the discovered her. They'd declare her a threat, try and capture her or use her family to lure her out. Hell they could see the entire siren race as a threat with their power if they chose to.
"Handle the statement. I'm going back to headquarters to get some answers. Only one orc, one, is allowed to be in this city and that's… Nick Jakoby." he said with hesitance before walking to one of the exits. He could hear camera's clicking and he noticed some of the police photographers taking pictures of a wall coated in blood. He paused in his walking and slowly changed courses walking over to the room. He had seen it before but didn't really notice the way the blood was sprayed on the wall.
It took a shape of a large red creature with what looked like wings coming from its back. It was similar to the blue bird, O formed with the water on top of the hospital building. Kandomere observed the bloody picture remembering his conversation with Mathias on the meaning of the blue bird he saw at the hospital.
"The creature is a water dragon. An extinct monster that was the most dangerous being in the water. Sirens worshiped it and in return it protected us. A painted blue dragon with its wings out symbolizes the birth of a new life. But when someone creates the water dragon painted in red, it means one thing to the sirens: war."
Kandomere knew he needed to act fast and get as much information out of the gang leader as he could. He turned and walked with great speed from the room. This was the Inferni's doing. It was a sign, a sign they were getting closer to achieving their goal. But they need one key to complete their plan and that key was O.