“It would appear the rules don’t apply to me,” she shrugged and flashed a devilish grin. She was wearing the same blue dress, but any trace of blood and gore had been erased. Her shy, timid persona had been replaced with a confident, aggressive imposter, but the clearness of her voice was evidence that Nadia was not influencing her.
“You were always the favorite,” crowed another voice. We spun around to see none other than Priscilla standing to the other side of us.
“Priscilla!” Carmen cheered joyfully, “Look guys, she’s not really dead!”
“Carmen, be quiet!” Phoebe hissed. I shifted my baffled gaze back to Bianca; struggling to comprehend what was happening.
“You know each other?” I asked Bianca incredulously.
“Don’t you see the resemblance?” she cross-examined; matching my incredulous tone. I looked over my shoulder at Priscilla and then back at Bianca. How could I have been so blind?
“Cissy,” I muttered in disbelief. Bianca was a Siren…just like Priscilla. Bianca had died twenty years ago. If she were alive, she would be about Priscilla’s age. A thick cloud of dread hovered above me as understanding hit hard. Priscilla was Bianca’s twin sister.
“You didn’t really think I hadn’t stayed in contact with my own twin sister, did you?” she mocked me as she pouted with feigned compassion. “Oh…you did.”
“You lied to me,” I accused her, still in shock. Her betrayal cut deep.
“You made it so easy! You wanted to believe I was scared of Nadia. You wanted to believe I was lost. You wanted to believe I was your friend.”
“Quite presumptuous, if you ask me,” Priscilla cackled.
To my surprise, Phoebe spun on her heel and snarled at her, “Nobody asked you.”
“I am only loyal to Nadia.” Bianca looked past me and winked at Priscilla, “And my sister.”
“The monster who stole your soul?” I questioned her faulty logic.
“There’s a monster?” Carmen whimpered in a child-like voice, before Phoebe silenced her with a harsh look.
“She didn’t steal it,” Bianca glowered at me. “She saved it. She takes care of me.”
I turned my questioning gaze onto Priscilla; still wondering how they couldn’t see Nadia for what she truly was. “And what about you? Did Nadia ‘save’ your soul as well?”
“Not all of us can be as amazing as my sister. I strove to be what Nadia expected of me while I was alive, but she believed I would be more useful in my soul form. And she was right,” she beamed; proud of herself. ‘Delusional’ apparently ran in the family.
Keeping her green, calculating eyes on me, Bianca meandered out of the vines and drifted closer to Phoebe and Carmen. I noticed Priscilla advancing on me; strategically trapping us in the middle. I kept the conversation going as I tried to figure out what to do. I had no idea what type of weapon would work against body-less souls. If they were already dead, how could I kill them? But if Nadia simply stole their souls, did that mean they were actually dead? Too bad there wasn’t an instruction manual to go along with the Underworld. Then, another thought came to me as I narrowed my eyes at Priscilla.
“What about the Sirens? Are you not loyal to Keto anymore?”
“Of course!” Priscilla hissed at me. “Who do you think brought Nadia to Lorelei in the first place? Keto chose me to help Nadia!”
“Of course she did,” I muttered; my tone heavy with sarcasm. Inside, my blood had reached its boiling point. Keto wasn’t as noble as she had led me to believe. She wasn’t going to wait until I was immortal to challenge me. Instead, she had brought in reinforcements; Nadia being the supreme choice.
Priscilla moved even closer, “They will both be quite pleased when I tell them we’ve gotten rid of not only you, but two other annoying Tydes as well!” At this, I stepped towards her.
“Leave them alone!” I demanded through gritted teeth. Priscilla nodded at Bianca, who immediately closed her eyes, opened her mouth, and began to sing. Although I had heard a Siren’s song before, Bianca’s was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. The seductive notes were impossible to ignore, as they wrapped around me like a vice grip and filled my mind to capacity. I instinctively centered my energy and pushed the song out of my mind and away from my body. Unfortunately, I knew Phoebe and Carmen were still completely vulnerable. As her notes reached several octaves higher, Carmen collapsed in pain. Phoebe quickly followed; clutching her ears and writhing in agony.
“Stop it!” I screamed at Bianca, at the same time that Priscilla wrapped her arms around me.
I was able to free my left arm, and I punched her as hard as I could in the stomach; causing her to loosen her grip just enough. I pushed her off of me and ran at Bianca. Her deep green eyes opened with the speed of light; shining with vengeance and welcoming my attack. Her image blurred as she continued to sing and I was knocked down by a pulsing shockwave that exploded though my mind and scorched my eyes. Thrashing on the ground, I squeezed my head in an attempt to rid myself of the painful spasms. Smaller shockwaves now pinpointed the front of my brain; severing all activity and paralyzing me. Fighting past the insufferable sharp pangs, I was able to crack open my eyes and shuffle onto my hands and knees. I began to crawl towards Bianca at an agonizingly slow pace, as the screams of Carmen and Phoebe became more desperate.
The air was suddenly knocked out of me as Priscilla’s foot connected with my stomach; sending me crashing over on my side and gasping for breath. As Priscilla pushed my shoulder down and prepared to hit me, I bent down and wrapped my shaking fingers around the handle of my dagger.
My trace quickly warmed at its proximity, but the aquamarines and diamonds felt cool in my palm as I unsheathed it from my boot. Waves of energy and calm determination shot up my arm and into my heart; helping me to push out Bianca’s unrelenting shockwaves as well as to throw Priscilla off of me.
I scrambled to my feet as she tried again to grab me from behind. I spun around on her and sunk the dagger into Priscilla’s shoulder with a quickness that surprised even me. She screamed and released me; crumbling to the ground.
Bianca suddenly stopped singing as she saw Priscilla on the ground, gripping her shoulder in anguish. Her deep green eyes became inflamed and a fierce anger took over her features. I noticed a light layer of smoke tendrils lifting from her transparent skin. Evil; just like Nadia. As I watched Bianca advance on me, I spotted Carmen and Phoebe lying motionless on the ground in my peripheral vision. As Bianca reached me the anger in her eyes changed to a burning hatred, and I noticed that the smoky tendrils were growing in height. Before I could move, she tackled me to the ground and slammed my skull against it; muting my senses and sending a black cloud of numbness around the edges of my vision. Pulling power from the stones of the dagger’s handle, another surge of white hot energy coursed through my veins and I successfully pushed the darkness back. She slammed my head into the ground a second time, and then produced a smaller knife from her dress pocket.
I caught her wrist as she swung it down towards my chest with fury. I struggled to shove the dagger away from me, and inadvertently met her frenzied gaze. Her lips lifted into a vengeful smile and out of nowhere, an idea hit me. As I held her gaze, I concentrated on centering my energy and reached out to her mind. Just as I’d hoped, her smug expression morphed to shock as a litany of images flashed before my eyes. A tall woman with flowing blonde hair. A young boy smiling and laughing happily. Her own body covered in blood. Nadia’s face. A younger Priscilla running alongside her. Nadia lashing her with some kind of glowing whip. My own face, confused and terrified.
“Get out!” she yelled, as she snapped her eyes shut and recoiled in an attempt to rid her mind of my spying eye. I took the opportunity to rip her off of me and roll on top of her. The dagger in my hand warmed as I held it above her, prepared to plunge it into her chest. I was met with the frightened eyes of a young girl; vulnerable and defenseless.