“We veered off a bridge and crashed into the river below. The car sank so fast and my ex…he got out. He left me. Just swam to the river bank. I couldn't get my seatbelt undone and I panicked. The air was running out and it was so, so dark.” Tears ran down her cheeks and my heart strummed with sympathy. “I couldn't feel my fingers through the cold. And when the water went over my head I just thought that was it. I was going to die stuck in that shitty car while my even shittier boyfriend sat on the riverbank and didn't try to help me.” She swallowed deeply and my own tears fell free as my heart squeezed tightly. “Luckily a farmer had seen us swerve off of the road. He swam out and cut the belt. He saved me. But since then I just can't go in deep water. It frightens the hell out of me.” She shivered and Max soothed her, rubbing her arm.
He turned to me and I felt his power sinking deep into my bones, sucking out everything he wanted. “And you? What's your worst fear Darcy?” His voice was a deadly purr and my deepest fear rose in me the second he requested it.
“Every foster family we ever had got rid of us. We were barely in one home for more than a year. We caused trouble. Sometimes I regret some of the things I did so much. If I'd treated those families better, maybe they would have wanted me. That was almost bearable. I knew I was difficult to love but I didn’t think I was entirely unlovable not until…” I fought against his power, my heart squeezing with the memory that had ended with my hair blue and my trust in humanity gone forever. It was mine and I didn’t want to share it. I didn’t even want to relive it in my own head.
“Go on,” Max whispered, a hunger in his voice as his power wrapped around my tongue and pulled the words from my rebelling lips.
“This guy started pursuing me in school last year. I never really spent much time making friends with people but he was nice and it felt good to talk to someone who cared. We dated for around three months and I thought for one idiotic second I was actually falling for him.” I shook my head at myself, sucking in a breath as I went on. “I lost my virginity to him at a party and afterwards he was so cold with me. He would barely look at me and I knew something was terribly wrong. The way the air changes just before a storm, that was how it felt. He’d gotten what he wanted and he just left me there after feeding me some bullshit excuse about how he wasn’t ready for a relationship.”
“Darcy,” Tory whispered, as if trying to rouse herself from Max’s power to stop me, but it was too late. He had this memory in his grasp and he was going to reel it in like a fish on a hook.
“He dumped me five seconds after he’d gotten what he wanted. I got out of there as fast as I could. And on my way home, I was crying and couldn’t see properly. I tripped over on the sidewalk and bashed my right knee like the clumsy idiot I am. That night I sat in bed just staring at that bruise, wondering how a physical wound could look so bright and angry but emotional wounds stayed entirely invisible. I wanted my hurt branded on me, to remind me never to trust anyone again. So I dyed my hair the colour of that bruise. Black and blue. My own personal wound.” My heart twisted and knotted as tears collected in my eyes. I turned away, a flow of shame running through my blood. I'd never voiced that part of the story to my sister, let alone Max who was feeding on every word of if. But my tongue kept moving, giving him everything he wanted. “My deepest fear is being cast aside, my heart crushed by trusting blindly again. So I’ll never let anyone in again.”
Silence descended and I could feel the tug of Max's power, draining me emotionally and magically. The tears had dried on my cheeks and the contact between us suddenly felt colder.
Max stood, leaving us on the ground as he stepped away. “Thanks for the meal Vegas. See ya.” He dove into the lake and my thoughts slammed back into realignment. His friends laughed heartily as they jumped in after him with hollers of excitement.
Neither Tory or I looked at each other for a long time. We stared across the lake. And I decided Sirens were my least favourite Order of them all.
I was still feeling magically drained by the time Tory and I arrived at lunch in The Orb and I wondered how I was going to refuel the power the Sirens had taken. We'd barely acknowledged what Max had done to us and I felt sure she didn't want to talk about her fear as much I didn't want to talk about mine.
I spotted Diego and Sofia in a corner of the room and we headed towards them. I was quietly glad Geraldine wasn't here to lay out a table at the heart of the lounge for once, though I immediately felt guilty for it. The Nymph attack had apparently left her unable to heal as quickly as usual and her power was only just starting to restore.
The four Heirs were sitting on their usual couch and a hard wall built up in my chest as I surveyed them. Seth caught my eye and raised a hand to wave. I turned away, not trusting him one bit especially after one of his best friends had sucked my inner secrets out of me earlier. He’d probably heard all about what I’d told Max by now and the thought made me sick.
“Fuck them,” Tory hissed as we headed over to join our friends.
We sat side by side and I relaxed a little, glad when Sofia took over the conversation and started telling us about her own Order class. Diego had spent his class with the Harpies and it sounded like he'd had more fun than we had, riding around on their backs through the sky.
“You didn't just ignore me did you, babe?” Seth dropped into the seat beside mine, wrapping his arm around my waist and sending a bolt of electricity through my heart.
“Go away,” I said, scooting down the seat to try and escape him.
“What's up?” he asked as Diego and Sofia stared at him like the Loch Ness Monster had just joined our table.
“As if you don't know,” Tory said dryly. “And can you stop pretending to like Darcy? No one's falling for it.”
My heart stung at her words even though I knew she hadn't mean it the way I'd taken it. But after revealing my inner fear to Max, that old wound felt thoroughly picked open right then.
“I didn't mean that,” she said quickly and Seth pulled me against his hip, leaning around me to glare at my sister.
“Well what did you mean, Tor?” he asked.
“Don't try that bullshit. We're twins, nothing gets between us,” she snapped at him and I shoved him away again, shuffling back up to Tory's side in a show of unity.
Seth frowned, playing with something in his hand. He glanced around at the icy stares he was receiving from everyone at the table then stood up with a snort of irritation.
Before he left he leant over my shoulder, his mouth brushing my ear. “Read it when you're on your own.” I felt him slip something into my pocket and he turned, marching back to his friends who were watching us with unconcealed scowls.
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, still looking over my shoulder at Seth as he rejoined his friends.
Diego snapped his fingers by my ear. “Earth to Darcy, please tell me you're not interested in that perro?”
I didn't answer. Partly because I didn't know what perro meant, but also because I didn't know what the answer was. The note Seth had put in my pocket seemed to be burning a hole there, begging me to run away somewhere and read it.
“You can't!” Marguerite's voice suddenly filled the entire Orb and everyone fell silent.