Marie pressed her head back into her seat and sighed. 揑抦 already bored.?
揗aybe we should try to focus on what we抣l do once we land,?Persephone suggested. 揥e抣l have to charter a ship to reach Aeaea, but we have to locate the Great Eye in order to find out which way to sail. We抮e going to Abana first.?
I sat forward. 揘ot tryna be rude but do we know how to work a boat??
揑抣l drive the boat,?Marie said, grinning.
揑 would rather swim,?Persephone said. 揑 literally can抰 die, and I would still not get in a boat you were steering.?
Marie sank down in her seat. 揥ell, damn.?
揟he boat is actually the least of our worries,?Circe said. She propped her arm under her head and stared up at the ceiling. 揑f we can get to the Great Eye, figure out how it works so we can locate Aeaea, there are still the sirens. And if they exist as they do in mythology, we抣l have to take precautions.?
I settled into my seat as the engines rumbled loudly and the plane began to maneuver into position for takeoff.
揌ow did people get past them in the stories? Does it say??I asked.
揝ome sailors plugged their ears with wax,?Circe said. 揂nd there抯 the story of Orpheus playing his lyre so loudly that it drowned out the sirens?calls.?
Persephone nodded. 揃ut since we don抰 have either of those things, our best bet is going to be noise-canceling headphones or something similar.?
揥hat happens if you hear their calls??I asked. 揅an抰 you just ?not go into the water??
揑 don抰 think it抯 a question of willpower,?Circe said. 揈very single reference to them in the texts makes it clear that the sound they emit is impossible to resist. It could be some kind of hypnosis, or maybe the sound incapacitates you completely. I really don抰 know.?
The engine noise rose until it drowned out our conversation. The lights flickered, and then we were tearing down the runway. The plane lifted off, and the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach reminded me of the way I felt as I clung to the griffin抯 back. I shut my eyes until we leveled out and my ears adjusted to the quiet, constant hum in the cabin.
The door to the cockpit slid open, and a man with a shiny bald head and round face peered out. 揥e抳e reached our cruising altitude. Feel free to get up and stretch. This抣l be a long flight.?
揂ppreciate it, George,?Marie said.
The man抯 eyes grew wide, and then he slid the door shut and I thought I heard the soft click of a lock.
I turned to Marie. 揌e looked shook. What抎 you do to him??
Marie shrugged. 揘othing. I chartered this flight.?
I tilted my head to the side. 揂nd??
揂nd I had to make sure he understood that I needed him to use discretion.?
揥hen are you going to learn that you can抰 just threaten people all the time??Persephone chimed in.
揑 have to use this power for something,?Marie said. 揙therwise what do I get? I get made into a monster and can抰 act monstrous every once in a while??Marie was confident in almost everything I抎 seen her do up to that point. She was so sure of herself, but in that moment I heard something like sadness in her tone.
揑 understand,?Persephone said.
揑 know you do,?Marie said. 揑 can see it in your face.?
Something silent passed between them, and I tried to think of what it must be like to live forever. To have to watch everyone around you die. My stomach twisted into a knot. I didn抰 need to be some immortal to understand that part of it, but something else Marie said bothered me.
揧ou抮e not a monster,?I said. 揧ou really feel like that??
揝ometimes.?Marie looked into her lap. 揑抳e just been like this for so long. It抯 strange. In the beginning I was in awe of this power. Nothing could touch me. I had all this strength and didn抰 know what to do with it. Astraea tried to help me, but she could do only so much.?
In a lot of ways, Marie was like most of the other seventeen-year-olds I knew. Impulsive, a little mouthy, push-and-pull relationships with the people closest to her. She was eternally seventeen, but the reality was that she had a three-hundred-and-seventy-six-year history behind her. The mention of Astraea抯 name stoked a curious feeling in me. I wanted to know more, and since we were stuck on a plane for the next twelve hours, I figured it was as good a time as any to ask.
揅an you tell me about your life back then??I asked. 揥ith Astraea? It doesn抰 sound like she thought you were a monster.?
揧ou probably have to start with the Colchis family抯 history first.?Marie glanced at Persephone, who gave her a little nod.
揑 accompanied Astraea抯 mother, Ariadne, and her three sisters, across the ocean in the company of Dutch merchants in 1630,?Persephone began. 揘ew York was still called New Amsterdam at that time. Only thirty land grants were given to Black people between 1643 and 1716. We were granted two in 1643 and that is the land we are now the caretakers of. The same spot where the apothecary now sits. We were one of the few free Black families in a land drenched in the blood of the enslaved.?