Prelude (The Rhapsody Quartet) (12 page)

Glenn sighed. “I hardly—”

Aldan interrupted him, “
Most
of his kind would take immediate action to destroy such a collection, return it to nature ideally. If that could not be achieved, the secondary duty is to avenge the trees.” He paused. “So you see, to let one into a library such as mine, a library that has been carefully cultivated through years of patience and fortitude, would be grave folly. Even with said
Álfar
taking elementary privilege of a sponsorship from a new pupil, such admittance would be imprudent on my part.”

I stared at him, bewildered. I understood about half of the words in the last sentence.

He sighed, “He is not welcome here. It doesn’t matter if you can— what’s the term?—
vouch
for him. I’d sooner exsanguinate than see my collection vanish.”

Glenn shook his head, “I have no desire to ruin your books. I
like
books. It’s one of the stranger things about me.”

Aldan’s eyes narrowed, “I don’t believe it, and even if I did, I’d never risk my library. Out you go.”

I gave Glenn an apologetic glance. “I suppose this is one of those instances where I need privacy.”

He sighed. His hand brushed against mine for an instant— as if he was considering making a run for it— but he pulled back. “Make a noise if you have any trouble. If you cannot speak, or scream, pound the floor. If I hear
anything
amiss, I will find you.” His eyes flickered to Aldan. “If anything ever
is
amiss, I will do more than wreck your library.” He turned on his heel, exiting into the blackness outside.

My new teacher’s posture changed as soon as Glenn had left, visibly relaxing.
The books must mean the world to him
, I thought. He impatiently waved at me to follow, hobbling back to his stool.

“You may stand, or sit upon the floor if it suits you, but take care not to injure my tomes,” he said gruffly.

I lowered myself awkwardly to the floor, careful to not brush against the shelves flanking me. I sat cross-legged, looking up at the little man on his stool.

“Sir,” I said, “I apologize if this is rude but… what exactly
is
a keeper?”

Aldan laughed, “So you are to give me a duplicitous study. A siren, nurtured under the assumption of humanity. Fascinating.” He pulled his glasses off, rubbing them furiously with a white rag. His eyes didn’t seem as black without the magnification of the lenses. He sighed, replacing the spectacles atop his nose. “A keeper, my dear, is one who keeps knowledge. It is my duty and nature to record and preserve the world around me in its entirety. Keepers pursue truth and hard facts, striving to extinguish secrets.”

I let that sink in. Personally, I saw the value in a few secrets. It was likely that eventually I’d be forced to reveal my greatest mistake, but I was grateful only Marin and her father currently knew about my foster parents’ demises. Some secrets save pain.

The little man’s eyes were hungry, studying me. Aldan seemed adamant in his thirst for knowledge.

“Why do you have a book chained to you?” I asked.

He smiled grimly. “It is as much a part of me as your arm is a part of you. It contains the greatest secrets I have discovered.”

I didn’t fully understand his answer, but I let the subject drop.

We sat in silence for about five minutes. I stared at Aldan awkwardly, and he continued to scrutinize my features greedily, taking in every detail.

The attention made me uncomfortable. Eventually, I plucked up my courage and cleared my throat.

He arched a brow quizzically, “Yes?”

“Excuse me, sir, but what am I supposed to be learning?”

He laughed, the question seemed to almost perplex him, “You are
supposed
to learn nothing. It is up to you to decide what you wish to learn. There is no limitation except for your own curiosity. What do you
want
to know?”

The answer was instant, “I’d like to know more about the sirens. Especially the full nature of their magic.”

Aldan nodded, “A wise pursuit, though it is unlikely I know anything enlightening on the subject. Your kind were notorious with their secrets. I can only hope that it was nurture, not nature, that made them so inclined to withhold.”

I felt my heart fall. If he couldn’t help me find what I needed, I’d have to look elsewhere. Still, I asked, “What
do
you know, sir?”

He chuckled, “Very little, but I do have a compendium on the species, if you would like to read it. It may be a good start. To find out more information on them…” He sighed wistfully, “It is why I agreed to tutor you.”

“Sir?”

His eyes softened, “I told you I do not value secrets. I am tutoring you so I may observe you, to take in as much new information on sirens as I can. For that reason, our relationship is reciprocal, mutually beneficial. I will ask you questions, and you will ask me questions, and if we are both honest, we will learn. Can I trust you, siren?”

I paused, considering it. The truth was, I needed the help. I could flounder through this and try to figure things out on my own— and surely Glenn and Marin would help me— but Aldan had a wealth of knowledge that neither of my new acquaintances did. I nodded, “Yes.” I smiled, “And my name is Sarah.”

“It is
not
,” Aldan said, returning my grin. He looked less gruff with the smile on his face, though it made his wrinkles etch together like a web. “But it will do for now.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

On Sirens

I emerged from the library ten minutes later, entrusted with two of Aldan’s books— a slim volume on sirens and a thicker one on the basic council laws. Now that my eyes had adjusted, the darkness outside felt overwhelming— like someone had switched off the light in the world. I stumbled forward, books folded carefully in my arms and nearly fell. Glenn caught me gently by the shoulders and propped me up. I felt a pang of guilt that he was forced to remain outside, but the rule was Aldan’s, not mine.

“You need to wait for a few minutes. Let your eyes readjust to the outside. You find what you needed?” he asked. He was trying to be friendly.

“I’m not sure. Maybe,” I said softly. “If nothing else, I’ll be more educated.”

“Well then. We should head back home.”

“Glenn?” I asked as we walked the short distance back to Marin’s.

“Yeah?”

“Are you going to be at school tomorrow?”

“As I’m your guardian, yes.”

I let that sink in. I still disliked the idea of a bodyguard following me around. But Glenn was okay. Even though I didn’t know much about him, I already liked him.

I’d never had friends before. A few acquaintances, but never anyone close. When I was younger, I’d tried to make friends more often but after a while decided it wasn’t worth the effort. I always moved away too quickly. By the time I landed in Whitecrest, I was decidedly awkward at forming companionships. I focused instead on getting through school as unscathed as possible.

“Don’t you miss your friends?” I asked.

He stared forward, his face expressionless. Finally, he said, “Is this one of your three questions?”

I sighed. I wanted to be able to be friendly with him, and the questions were supposed to help with that. But if he wanted to just spout off three random facts about himself and be done with it, we weren’t really going to learn anything about each other. I shook my head, “No, it’s not. I was just curious… so if you wanted to answer and be friendly, you can, but you don’t have to.”

He laughed a little, “Fair enough. It’s not often I have the luxury of such choices.”

We were silent for a bit longer, and finally he made a grunt in the back of his throat, clearing it.

He tilted his head to me. “The answer is no, I don’t. I don’t really have friends.”

“Neither do I,” I admitted.

“You?” he said, his brow raising. “Really?”

I smiled. “I wasn’t always a siren,” I said, “and I’m not suited to popularity, anyway.” I shifted the weight of the books in my arms. “When I was a kid, I was shuttled around a lot. I guess I had a few friends, but it’s hard to hang onto them when you move so much. By the time I was here, in Whitecrest…” I shrugged, “I don’t know. I guess I just didn’t know how to make them anymore. Maybe I just didn’t try.”

“But you could have as many friends as you wanted now,” he pointed out.

I shook my head, “There’s a vast difference between friends and groupies, Glenn.” I sighed, kicking at the ground, “What about you? Why the lack of buds?”

His mouth formed a lopsided grin. “Hmm… I guess I just haven’t found any in the Amaranth Guard.”

“You’ve got me as a friend, for what it’s worth,” I offered.

Glenn stared off in the distance, “Hmm. Yeah.” He sounded uncomfortable about it. Maybe there was a rule about having friends when you were part of an elite private army.

We continued to Marin’s house silently. As much as I’d disliked the idea of going to Aldan’s this morning, I had to admit I was excited to rifle through the books he’d loaned me. Though the small book on sirens wasn’t much of a start in unraveling the mystery of my own kind, the larger book promised to be an interesting read.

When we arrived in my room, Marin was sitting on the bed, waiting for us. “Finally. I was getting bored.” She stuck her lower lip out. “So what did you end up learning?”

“Not a whole lot,” I admitted, “Aldan didn’t really know much about sirens.” I held the feeble volume up, “This was pretty much everything. He might have a bit more soon, though, he was writing in his book the entire time I was there.” It was true. Aldan answered my questions but spent the majority of the time watching my every movement, studying my features and manners, and scratching words out into his chained tome with a little red quill.

Marin grabbed my two books and eyed them. “Meh,” she said, tossing them onto the bed. “Nothing interesting here.”

“It’s interesting to
me
,” I said defensively.

She dismissively flapped a hand near my face, “That’s only because you don’t know any better. Well, I suppose I can get ready for my date tonight now. Have fun reading, I guess.”

She left the room before I had a chance to reply.

Another date? I knew that she played the field in school, but didn’t know just how much. I sighed, looking up. Glenn had settled into the chair in the corner. He was quietly reading
The Lord of the Rings
again.

I opened the tiny book on sirens and began to read.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the morning, a gentle alarm went off, though I didn’t remember setting one. It woke me about an hour and a half before school. I sat up slowly, checking the time and stretched in the bed. The book on council rules was still open, resting against my stomach. I’d fallen asleep reading.

I stood up. Glenn was in the corner, his eyes closed, but sitting straight. I wondered if that’s how he slept. It didn’t feel right to disturb him, so I grabbed another outfit and headed into the bathroom. As I brushed my teeth, I thought about what I’d learned so far about sirens. Not a whole lot. I stepped inside the hot shower and let the warm water envelop me, waking me up.

What I did know was the following:

Sirens made deals frequently with other magical races, but they were really good at making bargains and usually ended up getting the better end of the deal. There were four noted examples: the mermaids, of course, the harpies— who may or may not even be around anymore, the fey, and the dragons. The exact parameters of the bargains weren’t noted. Deals were private. The book mentioned that there were suspected deals with over fifty of the races, but who
knew
how high the actual number was.

Sirens were especially secretive about all their government practices and about their culture and society as a whole. This would make learning more about them difficult. They were notorious for clamming up when any other race came near and blending into human society seamlessly.

The only cultural information known on the species was based on personal anecdotes and interactions. A few phrases were known as formal, polite greetings, but the significance of the wording was unknown.

However, siren society was matriarchal. Women were definitively the authorities. They had final say. This was one of the few other cultural things that was noted frequently.

All sirens had eyes that continually shifted color, but no one knew what triggered the changes. Some speculated it didn’t mean anything. It was just all that power bouncing around inside of them. Siren magic didn’t fluctuate as much as other races because they compelled humans all the time.

Sirens spoke their own language, and only they could understand it. Their written language was unique as well. There were a few examples of it on the printed pages of the book, untranslated. The scrolling, picturesque designs on my dulcimer and music box were not just aesthetically pleasing— they were writing.

Before they died off, sirens were also long-lived, like many of the magical races. The notes on what long-lived meant in this case were vague— again, because of that secretive nature of theirs. Typically, a long-lived race had a defined lifespan of at least two hundred years, so long as they were not killed outside of natural aging. Despite their longevity, sirens were shockingly fragile for a magical race. They had no enhanced physical abilities other than their amazing voices.

Finally, I knew that sirens dealt with human beings less frequently than I’d expected. Though most of their power came from controlling humanity, they preferred solitude. As a result, sirens only spoke to other races when it was mutually beneficial.

I stepped out of the shower, dried my hair hastily with a towel, and pulled on my clothes. I didn’t bother to glance twice at the clothes or once at the mirror, I already knew I was going to look good.

Glenn was alert. His eyes were open when I came back.

“Did I wake you with the shower?” I asked apologetically.