The Lost Soul (16 page)

Jo and Carmelo both nodded. "Proving Calliope is not a mermaid," added Jo with a smile.

"How about a Banshee?" asked Sammy.

Almost everybody shook their heads, "Far too beautiful for a Banshee, I'm afraid, Sammy," smiled Carmelo.

"She could be an Encantado," said another voice.

Jo smiled and turned to the source of the question, "That did cross my mind a couple of days ago so I contacted a few of our friends in Brazil and was told, no, it's impossible. The Encantados never leave the Amazon Rainforest, plus, they can only be seen in human form at night."

"But what are they?" asked Moira who had never heard of the word.

"They are beautiful creatures resembling dolphins who come out of the water at night and steal humans. Of course, in human form, they are particularly striking and highly seductive, apparently. But there's no chance Calliope is an Encantado. She's too far from home and she's been seen during the day. It's just impossible. Sorry, keep thinking!"

"I just had a thought... what about a Succubus?" exclaimed Lilly who recalled watching a fictional TV series about them recently.

The room went quiet as everybody gave it some thought.

"They do have the power for mind control and are particularly attractive," said one of the Elders as the others nodded, "You might be on to something there."

"When I was still alive, well, the first time round," said Millicent who had been silent until then, "I met a Succubus and you're absolutely right, she could control the minds of anyone but... she had to physically touch them to do so. And as the girls have said, Calliope was nowhere near these men and students when they went a little mad. So, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but Calliope is not a Succubus."

"Why don't we just go and ask her?" said Zoltan who was, as ever, eager for a fight.

Some of the others laughed out loud and patted him hard on his shoulder.

"Not this time, Zoltan. It's just too dangerous when we don't know what she is. When we don't know what we're dealing with," said Gabriel with another chuckle.

"Ah've got it, Ah've got it," yelled Kieran, the half faery, half elf who, as he jumped up and down on the high stool, lost his balance and fell with a thud to the floor.

His miniature Wolf Hound, who had been snoring at the foot of the stool, immediately stood to attention and began licking his face.

"Ger off, Ger off," he shouted to his dog.

As the others rushed to his side and picked him up from the carpeted floor, he rubbed his elbow and his bottom at the same time.

"Ooooh me arse an me elbo..."

December and Lilly shared a secret grin and tried hard not to laugh out loud. No matter how hard they tried, it was always difficult not to laugh when someone fell over.

"Yer can laff, yer can laff... it wer actally a bit funny," he said, joining them to giggle at his unfortunate accident.

Soon the entire room was full of laughter as Kieran's giggle was totally contagious. He was soon helped up to a lower, safer seat though, on the sofa next to the two girls.

As the laughter died down and everybody wiped the tears from their eyes, bellies aching from laughing so hard, Kieran finally managed to say what he'd thought of.

"Ah shall try agin," he said. "Callupe.... praps she's a Saren?"

"What's a Saren?" asked Ruby.

"I think he means a Siren," corrected Moira.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Jack's eyes shot wide open after he felt oxygen flood his body. When he realised he was under water, he went rigid with panic. Looking upwards he soon discovered he couldn't tell top from bottom. The feel of a hand on his made him jump and he turned his head to face Dacius. She smiled before placing her mouth on his. She was breathing for him. Again, he felt another flood of oxygen in his lungs. When she pulled away from him, she pointed upwards, showing him the right way to swim to safety.

When she released her grip, he nodded slowly, and began to swim away from her. He looked down and watched, repeating the same thing with Zalea who immediately came out of her unconscious state and followed him upwards towards the surface.

As they broke free of the water's hold, both gasped for air while they looked around to find the best place to swim to the edge of the deep river.

But as soon as they pulled themselves out of the water, Jack realised Nick was nowhere to be seen.

"Nick," he gasped and turned to look back down into the dark water but he could see nothing, not even Dacius.

"Are you all right, Jack?" asked Zalea who coughed and spluttered at the side of the river, her wings shaking off the little droplets of water that had accumulated there.

Nodding, he looked at her sadly, "but Nick?"

She shook her head.

There was also no sign of Oprah.

"What happened?" he asked as the two just sat side by side for a moment.

"I honestly don't know, Jack. I don't remember anything."

"Me neither. Are you all right to get up and walk for a while?" he asked her and she nodded.

Standing, he pulled her up and looked around. They appeared to have been dragged much further downriver, to somewhere unfamiliar. Their belongings were nowhere to be seen.

"Jeese... I don't believe this. What the hell happened?" he said to himself as Zalea began to sob.

"Don't cry, Zalea. We'll be okay. We'll figure it out. Shhh," he said, holding her hand and patting her shoulder.

Suddenly, the smooth surface of the water broke, bubbling slightly. After a few seconds, the face of a beautiful woman appeared. Dacius.

"Dacius!" yelled Jack, "Thank you for saving us... again. We are so grateful to you. But we have no idea what happened. Can you tell us?" he asked.

The mermaid swam to the edge of the river and pulled herself half out, so she sat on the riverside, her long tail swishing backwards and forwards in the water.

"It was the air you were breathing. It made you unconscious. You would have died had the beasts not dragged you away and pushed you into the water. They were the ones that saved you," she replied seriously.

"But what beasts? We have no memory of any beasts or any strange deadly air," sniffed Zalea.

"You have been travelling with one of them," added Dacius.

"Oprah?" Jack queried.

"The strange beast with the wings... there were two more. They pulled you away and pushed you into the river."

"B...but...where are they now? And where is Nick?" he asked.

"Nick?" asked Dacius, "That is the name of the other human?" while Jack nodded in response.

"Nick... my sister took him but fear not, she will not harm him. He is the one she has been searching for. She is finally happy...." she sang and dropped herself back into the water, swimming beneath the surface before they had a chance to say another word.

"What do we do?" asked Jack.

"There is nothing we can do. Dacius said her sister would not harm him. We must accept that and hope he'll be all right. And us? We must continue our journey without him. I hope Oprah is all right. She must have gone with her own kind," she said, turning away and beginning to walk some distance from the river.

"I'm sorry, Nick," whispered Jack as he too turned and walked beside her, continuing their journey towards the mountains to the Nephilim.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

The following morning school had been cancelled.

December, Crystal and Millicent all sat on the bed in Lilly's bedroom while Lilly hunched over the computer at her desk, "It says that in Greek mythology, a Siren was 'o
ne of a group of sea nymphs who by their sweet singing lured mariners to destruction on the rocks surrounding their island'. Or simply put, it says a Siren is a 'woman regarded as seductive and beautiful'," she said, turning to face them.

"It sounds about right... although Calliope isn't quite dragging the men to their deaths on the rocks," said December.

"No, but she's certainly luring them away from their lives... some of them to their deaths," she replied, almost choking on the final word.

"Oliver and Ben are okay... at least we know that much," said Crystal who had managed to briefly speak to Ben on the phone, just to make sure they were still alive and well.

"For now anyway," added Millicent. "If she's a Siren, goodness only knows what she's planning for them all."

"Well, Gabriel and Carmelo have told us not to worry. That's why they're all here; to sort out the problem."

"I can't stand this. I feel like I need to do something. I'm just so, so helpless. Not only with Calliope but my dad too. It just feels like it's been dragging on for so long, you know?"

The girls looked at each other sadly and nodded.

"We know honey. We'll get to the bottom of it soon enough," said Crystal as she stood up and pushed her hand through her short blonde hair. Walking over to the mirror, she pulled out a lip gloss and deftly brushed a little on to her full lips just as a prism of light glinted across her dark skin in the sunlight.

"This is pretty," she said, looking at the little crystal angels hanging either side of her window.

"They were a gift from Oliver when I first arrived here," she said, gulping back her tears.

"Oh, I'm sorry. We can't seem to say anything right... but I know how you feel, Lilly. She's got Ben too."

"This is crazy, we are a house full of amazing and strong supernatural creatures. Surely we can sort out one stupid Siren," said December who suddenly stood up and stretched her arms and legs. "I say we go back and see if we can figure out just how powerful (or not) this Calliope really is."

All standing, the girls grabbed their coats and went to open the door.

"Wait," said Lilly, "the others aren't going to just let us go over there."

"They're not going to know, are they?" said Crystal with a glint in her eye.

"Some of them are vampires, they've got super human hearing. They probably heard everything we just said."

But Crystal shook her head, "They went out earlier when you were still asleep. They have no idea."

Giggling, the girls opened the door and walked right out of the house, stopping to tell only Sammy and Tiffani they were just going for a walk.

"Not so fast girls," said a voice by the front door.

They turned to find Zoltan and Tabitha smiling at them.

"We know you too well... and we know when something's going on. Come on, out with it," he growled with a cheeky grin.

"Okay, if you must know, we're going to check Calliope out. Find out how strong she really is," said Lilly matter of factly.

"Awesome... action at last!" he said as Tabitha grinned and they followed the girls out into the driveway.

"Come on, we can all squeeze into my car," Tabitha said as she unlocked her battered old red Chevy and they all climbed in.

"I'll drive," exclaimed Zoltan as his girlfriend headed towards the driver's door.

"Oh come on...you always drive."

"You expect me to get into this car full of girls and be driven by another one," he laughed shaking his head, "Give me the keys, Tab. I'm drivin'."

Tabitha threw her head back in laughter, "God, you are so predictable," as she tossed him her keys.

"And you love me for it," he added, catching the keys with one hand as they climbed in.

"Action... here we come," he growled as he put his foot on the accelerator and wheel spun out of the driveway.

Driving through Powell River, it seemed like a ghost town. There were 'closed' signs across shops, cafés and even the large supermarket where most people did they grocery shopping.

"So this is what happens when all the men disappear, is it?" asked Crystal quietly.

"It's insane, it's almost like the world couldn't go on without man," added Millicent.

"Rubbish, absolute rubbish," said Tabitha, "of course we could survive without men. The women in town are just dealing with shock, that's all. The men have just suddenly upped and left. All they need is a bit of time to come to terms with what's happened and it'll be business as usual."

Zoltan laughed, "You're saying you wouldn't be bothered if Calliope had an effect on me too?"

"That's not what I said... but I could cope, of course I could. I'm a strong, independent woman."

"Yeah, sure you are babe," he laughed.

"What on earth is that?" asked Lilly as they drove over the brow of the hill and saw what used to be Ben's Veterinary Practice in the distance.

"Oh. My. God," said Tabitha, "What the heck has she done to it?"

As they approached, Zoltan pulled the car over to the side of the road and they all climbed out, mouths wide open in disbelief at what they saw before them.

The simple square brick building was no longer there. In its place stood a massive orange pyramid-like structure that spread over hundreds of square metres. On its pinnacle sat a large golden eagle. Not a real one, but one sculpted literally out of gold, glittering in the sunlight.

"I can't believe Ben would have agreed to this... it's just so....so....." uttered Crystal.

"Flashy?" suggested December and Crystal nodded, her eyebrows almost stuck together as she shook her head.

"It's like something out of an alien movie or something. It's insane. Totally insane," whispered Tabitha.

The group stood staring at the huge structure that was surrounded by hundreds of cars. Cars that hadn't been parked as such, just left where they'd stopped. Fortunately the clinic was located at the end of a lane. Had it been on a main road, the cars would've completely blocked it up.

"Come on, let's get closer," said Zoltan, turning and taking Tabitha's hand in his. The others followed behind.

As they approached, the soothing sounds of gentle singing could be heard.
"What is that?" asked Millicent.

"Someone's singing, I think," answered Lilly, "But it's not like any singing I've ever heard."

As they stood at the back of the building, December put her hand on the structure to feel what it was made of.

"What is it?" asked Tabitha.