A Symphony of Sirens (Spellsinger Book 2) Read online

  “Is there anything else you can tell us, Elaria Tanager?” Odin's thick shoulders flexed as his fists clenched. “Anything to help us find your mother. Kalliope is well-loved and considered to be a coven ally. I would dearly love to get my hands upon this traitor.”

  “I searched our home with magic, just moments ago,” I reported to all the leaders, “and all I found were traces of my family and our friends.”

  “And you are certain that your magic saw everything?” Vivian asked gently, one delicate hand pushing back the shimmering fall of her blonde hair.

  “I am certain.” I gave her a crisp nod. “I was able to see every distinct trace of the people who have visited our home; as far back as several years. No unknown residue was found.”

  “And so we must come to a difficult, but probable, conclusion; one of those friends has betrayed you, Robert,” Glinda Goodweather stated.

  Her name is just a coincidence, don't even go there. She hates that. Once, back when I was learning to control my magic, I sang “The Lollipop Guild” to her as a joke, and she knocked me on my ass. Then she rained lollipops down on me. To this day, I can't stand the sight of a lollipop.

  “I've compiled a list.” I handed my hastily scribbled list to the witch leader. “Those are all the traces I saw which seemed recent.”

  “Seemed recent?” Glinda asked as she perused the paper. The other leaders gathered closer around her. “How can you tell the age of the trail?”

  “Some glowed brighter than others,” I explained. “They felt stronger, newer, to me.”

  “We shouldn't rule anyone out by strength of trace,” Odin said. “Can you still remember the others?”

  “If she can't, I can,” my father said. “I know exactly who has visited our island and when.”

  “Excellent.” Glinda nodded. “Robert, Elaria, the two of you follow us. Let's discuss this in private.”

  “Yes, Lady Glinda,” my father said respectfully.

  “The rest of you remain on this island,” Odin pointed at the crowd of witches. “If any of you leave, we'll take it as a confession of guilt, and we will hunt you down. Do I make myself clear? You cannot hide from the Coven!”

  The witches all murmured their agreement to remain on the island.

  My father, Torin, Declan, Cerberus, and I started following the witch leaders out of the room. Odin stopped and looked back in annoyance.

  “No, Cerberus, I'm sorry, you cannot attend,” Odin said gently, then transferred his hard gaze to Torin and Declan. “Nor can either of you. This is a private meeting for witches only.”

  “Elaria isn't a witch,” Cerberus grumbled.

  “She is half-witch,” Vivian said sweetly, “and that half proved itself when she wielded the witch relic. That is more than witch enough for us.”

  “Yeah, okay,” Cerberus mumbled and hung back with Torin and Declan.

  “Thank you,” I whispered sincerely to Vivian as we left the hall. “It's nice to hear that I'm considered a part of the Coven.”

  “I state only the truth, Elaria.” Vivian lightly touched my shoulder. Something passed between us, some flare of energy, and she gasped, her light blue eyes watering for a second before they cleared. “Spellsinger, you have evolved.”

  “The relic left its mark on me,” I admitted.

  “My daughter has gained a little power from her time wielding the relic,” my father said proudly.

  “It's far more than that, Robert,” Vivian kept her eyes on me. “Far more, and perhaps it will even be enough.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “What's happened? What did I miss? What can I do to help?”

  “Aunt Addy!” I rushed over to the woman launching questions at my father.

  “Oh, Elaria, my darling,” Addy wrapped me into a hug.

  Adelaid Tanager, daughter of my Grandmother Teles (one of the original four sirens), and my favorite spellsinger, was technically my great-aunt. She was the very first spellsinger, born in 740 BC. She keeps herself young and mentally fresh by getting involved with human politics, and is particularly proud of her work in Rome (the burning part) and in Germany (the Hitler suicide part). As I'm sure you can deduce from these two examples, her beliefs and perspectives shift quite easily. But she always has a reason for doing what she does. I loved that about her.

  “Thank you for coming,” I said to her as she eased out of our hug.

  “Of course. I got on a plane as soon as I heard. You are all my family,” she said softly. “But I've only just found out about Kalli and your attempts to magically search the crime scene. I'm told that you've determined the abductor to be a male witch.”

  “It's a combination of evidence gathered by Cerberus, Freya, myself, and my boyfriend, Torin.”

  “Yes, I've met your Shining Ones.” Adelaid nodded in approval. “Two kings of Tír na nÓg to stand beside you; that's impressive, niece. Cerberus has always been a rock”–she reached out to give Cer a pat on the shoulder and he beamed at her (it's hard not to be pleased by Adelaid praise)–“but it's good for you to have other powerful men beside you during this horrible time.”

  “We'll find them, Addy,” my father declared. He waved a hand toward the witch leaders who had exited the meeting ahead of us. “The leaders have plotted a course of action. We will discover the traitor, and then we shall fight fire with fire. The motherfucker will pay!”

  “Robert”–Adelaid sighed–“when you fight fire with fire, your entire world burns; the good and the bad. Trust me, I know.”

  My father frowned, at a complete loss for words. Aunt Addy had that affect on people. She was gorgeous, with an intellect few could hope to match, and a pair of eyes that could bore right through you or make you weep, depending on whatever mood she was in. Poets had written sonnets to her, musicians had composed songs, and an emperor had once turned his back upon his empire for her. She was hard to resist and even harder to fool.

  “What actions have the leaders decided upon?” Torin came up beside me and claimed my hand.

  Declan walked up with Torin and took a spot beside Adelaid, who gave him a thorough inspection. She smiled slowly, obviously approving of all Declan had to offer. I was a little dismayed to find my heart racing in anger and jealousy when Declan gave Addy a little smile of acknowledgment. What the hell was wrong with me? If Declan and Addy wanted to hook up, that was their prerogative. He owed me nothing. Just because he had held me while we floated underwater, it didn't mean there was anything between us. I mean, obviously there wasn't because I was with Torin. So, if Declan wanted to –oh, gods, my stomach clenched at the thought of him and Aunt Addy together . . . which was entirely unfair and just plain stupid. There I was, in the middle of searching for my missing mother, and I was worried about who Declan hooked up with. I shook off the insanity and answered Torin's question.

  “They're investigating every witch on the list I've provided them with, including some names my father added.”

  “Excellent,” Torin noted. “Will these witches be detained for questioning and held until their innocence can be determined?”

  “I believe so.” My father frowned deeper as he cast a concerned look at Tom.

  “It's not an issue, Rob,” Tom said immediately. “If remaining in custody helps in even the smallest way, I'm happy to do so.”

  “No, that's just silly,” my father growled. “I'll see if Glinda can have you questioned and cleared first. I don't want you sitting in some cell while all this is going on. We need you with us, helping us find Kalli.”

  “Thank you. I'm sure Nigel would appreciate getting his questioning out of the way too.” Tom blinked as if something had just occurred to him, and then looked around the room. “Where is Nigel?”

  “He isn't here?” My father searched the crowd. “He must still be out looking for the sirens. He told me he would conduct his own investigation and get back to me as soon as he discovered anything.”

  “Must be still out there looking, then.” Tom shrugged.
“I'm sure he'll call you as soon as he finds anything, then he can come in and the leaders can rule him out. Unless he finds the sirens, that is. I never underestimate the abilities of Nigel Windthrope.”

  “Yeah,” Cerberus said, “that's a mistake many people have made . . . many dead people.”

  “Precisely why he's one of the few witches I like,” Adelaid smiled wickedly. “So prim on the outside and so devious beneath.”

  I frowned; the comment didn't sit right with me. It left me feeling . . . off.

  “I suppose there's nothing left for us to do but wait.” My father sighed.

  “How many people are on your list, Elaria?” Declan asked.

  “Ten from me and four more from my father,” I said.

  “Fourteen witches to interrogate,” Adelaid mused. “It shouldn't take them very long. But I'm not a sit-around-and-twiddle-my-thumbs kind of woman. I've got other avenues to explore. Call me if these nincompoops manage to find the son of a bitch who took our family. Until then, I'll be on the prowl for him myself.”

  She turned and strode out of the hall.

  “Damn, I hope she doesn't get to him first,” Cerberus growled. “If she does, there won't be anything left for us to torture.”

  “Aunt Addy doesn't think too highly of witches,” I whispered to Torin. “My father and Nigel are the only exceptions. She doesn't even like Tom.”

  “But she's a spellsinger, isn't she?” Torin asked. “That would mean that her father is a witch.”

  “Yep”–I nodded–“which is the main reason why she doesn't think too highly of them.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  It took two days to question the witches. Two nerve-wracking days. Torin and Declan had to leave to check on their kingdoms, but Cerberus and I stayed to pace the halls together. I needed to see this through. I was certain it was one of the men the Coven was interrogating, and I'd be damned if I wasn't there when they discovered which one it was.

  It was taking longer than expected because the witch leaders refused to use harmful, invasive, interrogation techniques to determine who was the guilty witch. There were fourteen witches under suspicion, which meant thirteen of them were innocent. As much as witches get a bad rap, they weren't as evil as the human entertainment industry portrayed them to be. Torture was not done unless absolutely necessary, especially not on one of their own. So they had to resort to the old-fashioned questioning and answer verification system.

  But after two days, they still hadn't found the traitor. This meant one of two things: either one of the thirteen witches questioned had managed to elude the discerning intellect of some of the wisest witches ever born, or Nigel Windthrope was the traitor. He still hadn't checked in, he wasn't answering his phone, and he also happened to be an air witch –making him completely capable of manifesting a cooling breeze. Nigel was MIA at the worst time ever, and he was beginning to look guilty as hell. My father and I refused to believe it, but the coven leaders weren't swayed by sentiment. A warrant was issued for Nigel's arrest, and the other thirteen witches were released.

  I hate to admit it, but I began to have second thoughts about Nigel. Adelaid's words came back to haunt me; how he was devious on the inside. Could Nigel have done this? Could he have taken his best friend's wife and several of her family members? But why would he? It made no sense.

  My father was not okay with the Coven letting the questioned witches free, and neither was Thomas. They both wholeheartedly believed in Nigel's innocence. The three of them had been best friends for over six centuries, and you don't form those kind of lasting relationships easily when you're an immortal. So when you do, it means something. In Tom and Dad's minds, Nigel's guilt was an impossibility. The world would stop spinning before Nigel Windthrope betrayed his friends.

  Which meant that the Coven was letting the true culprit leave.

  “I'm having each of them followed,” Cerberus whispered to me as we stood on the outskirts of my father and Thomas's shared rant over the ineptitude of the Coven. “Don't you worry, El, the bastard won't get away, whoever he is.”

  “Thanks, Cer.” I gave his huge hand a squeeze. “Hopefully Freya's cats will find some proof for us too.”

  “You know, there's one more route we haven't taken yet.” Cerberus's jaw clenched and his soft, brown eyes went hard.

  “We don't have to do that.”

  “I think we do.”

  “It's too difficult for you,” I protested. “I can go alone.”

  “The hell you will,” Cerberus growled.

  This was a particularly appropriate sentiment since hell was exactly where we were heading.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  I'm sure you've heard of the story of Persephone and Hades. What you may not have heard is that when Persephone went missing, her mother, Demeter, charged her daughter's four best friends with the task of finding Persephone. Demeter gave the ladies wings to better conduct their search, and the women scoured the entire world for their friend. But, of course, Persephone wasn't in the world; she was under it. Well, technically the Greek Underworld, AKA Hades, is in another realm entirely, not beneath ours. But you get the idea. It was impossible for the sirens to find their friend.

  When their failure became glaringly obvious, Demeter cursed the women. They were given the most beautiful voices, to eternally call to their mistress and lure her home. Except these voices sang the most sorrowful of songs; music which Persephone –as a goddess– was ironically immune to. Outside of the race of gods, only a few witches have proved themselves able to resist the call of a siren. Everyone else succumbs to their song and dies . . . usually through suicide. Thus, the only people who have managed to have children with sirens have been gods and witches; rare on the later account.

  What I'm getting at is the siren connection to Persephone. The Greek goddess took off with her boyfriend and left my family twisting in the breeze. Persephone had made her apologies to the original four sirens, and they had made their peace with her, but everyone knew that Persephone owed them; she owed them big time. I headed to Hades in the hopes that Persephone would be willing to repay a little of that debt.

  Cerberus and I had to pass through the Veil to get into the Realm of the Greek Underworld. Since it was in another realm, we were able to use our Shining One traveling stones to jump right over to it, without having to go into Tír na nÓg first. I had thought we'd be able to go straight to Hades's Palace, but the stones took us to one of the Gates instead. Since Cerberus was no longer at his post, I'd expected the Greek Underworld to be unguarded. How silly of me.

  There was more than one way to get into Hades. Now that Cerberus wasn't guarding his gate, it had been shut off entirely, forcing us to use another entrance. Our stones deposited us directly in front of a gate I'd never seen before; an imposing structure of black stone columns and ironwork. The spikes atop the iron gates were adorned with body parts, not all of them human. Before this gory display was a monster. Perhaps you've heard of it; the Hydra.

  Hydra has several heads, though not as many as you might think. That whole thing about cutting one off and two sprouting in its place is absolutely true. The thing with that is, once someone discovered Hydra's head trick, no one else wanted to test their luck. So there were eight, massive snake heads swaying above ours on their reptilian necks. Hydra's body was covered in scales but not very snaky. It was more like a dinosaur crossed with an elephant; a wide body tapering down to a long tail, with thick, trunk-like legs beneath it. All eight heads focused on us as soon as we appeared, their snake eyes glowing in excitement. I was about to let out a creative curse when Cerberus shouted in joy.

  “Heidi!” Cerberus rushed forward with open arms. “Sister, I've missed you.”

  Hydra's form shimmered and shrunk until a sleek woman stood before us. Her skin had the faintest opal shimmer to it, and her body had the long lines of a dancer. Long, white hair trailed down to her calves, and a graceful hand pulled thick hanks of it forward, to cover her nudity b
efore she rushed into Cerberus's arms. Her glowing, golden eyes closed briefly in pleasure as she hugged him.

  Cerberus,” her voice was melodic. “My sweet brother. You look well.”

  “What are you doing here?” Cerberus asked. “Isn't this your season off?”

  “I've had to take double shifts ever since someone”–she paused to look pointedly at Cerberus–“pissed off the boss, and got himself fired.”

  Cerberus made a guilty face. “Sorry, Sis. I didn't know you'd have to pick up the slack.”

  “It's alright, darling.” Hydra, AKA Heidi, ran her palm gently over Cer's cheek. “I don't mind. You know I love my job.”

  “Oh!” Cer turned to me and motioned me forward. “This is my best friend, Elaria Tanager. El, this is my sister, Heidi.”

  “I'm both shocked and offended that we haven't met before now,” I said as I shook her hand. “But it's a pleasure to meet you, Heidi.”

  “I'm not at all surprised that we haven't met. Our family is practically married to our work.” Heidi smiled. “We don't get to see each other very often, and that's probably for the best. Our parents, especially, are violent beings.”

  “Oh?” I lifted a brow.

  “Never mind Mom and Dad.” Cer gave Heidi a look, and she winked at me. “We need to get in to see the boss and his wife.”

  “Oh?” Heidi cocked her head. “What's going on? Is it tragic?” She asked hopefully.

  “Elaria's mother and several other sirens have been abducted,” Cerberus explained. “We need to ask Persephone for help with finding them.”