He says it so simply. Turning the complexities of this weird adventure into the most elegant terms.
“You’re the best person I know,” I tell him.
He looks at me and smiles. “Even if my brain gets a bit weird, too? A bit panicky?”
I’m surprised to hear him voice it. I know he gets anxious. I can see it and I never know how to help him. “Yes. Because of that.”
I’m often too stupid to be scared. Marley is smart enough to know the cost of everything and he makes himself be brave anyway. That makes him the most courageous person I know.
We don’t need to say anything else, so we shuffle into the kitchen. Everyone is gathered around the small table and Mum is using her craft to light candles.
Freddy sings for us. His voice is astounding, the true gift of a Siren. He doesn’t order or compel a single person to do his bidding, he just shares the magnificence of his voice. Everyone is calmer. Everyone can breathe.
He sings ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ for us all and I finally feel at peace.
Epilogue
Edinburgh in March
“There he is, I can see him coming out.”
Mum, Opal, Leanna, Marley, and I are all waiting outside of Freddy’s posh school in Edinburgh. Marely and I have just been picked up from our own and now we’re meeting my Siren friend. He lives with Leanna and Marley these days and even my cousin has to admit that he’s starting to like the Siren.
Freddy saunters over and the adults move away, giving us some privacy. It’s been months since Portia’s demise, and I know they worry about Freddy. Not about his influence, but about how he is coping. Some days are good for him, and others are not.
Marley and I try to be good enough friends to him, so that we can take some of that burden away.
“Lord, your school is posh,” I mutter, looking him up and down.
He laughs. “Thanks. I’m surprised they let the likes of you near the gate.”
“I’ll put a stop to places like this when I run the world, never you fear.”
He laughs again and then glances down at his shoes. “So, listen. At this rather posh school, they want us to, like, socialise, and stuff. There’s a spring ball thing they’re throwing, and we’re allowed to bring a friend. I was wondering, if you weren’t busy a week on Friday, if you wanted to come?”
Marley stifles a snort and turns away. I glare at my cousin and then find that I am now staring at my own shoes. “With you?”
“Well, yeah.”
“As a date?”
“Yeah.”
I look over and see a group of girls staring at us. One gives me a slow perusal but another smiles encouragingly. It all seems too normal and nice and like what we’re supposed to be doing.
I suppose it’s funny that getting asked to a dance
is scarier to me right now than Dragons, Kelpies
and Vampires.
“You wouldn’t rather go with one of them?” I ask, nodding towards the girls.
He follows my glance. “Nah. They’d probably be nice to me. Where’s the fun in that?”
“Ramya? Rams!”
I close my eyes in mortification at the sound of Mum and my two aunts hollering at us from ten feet away.
“Put the boy out of his misery!” Opal calls, while her sisters cackle like the witches they are.
“We can go dress shopping, or you can wear one of mine!” Mum adds.
“Oh, vintage,” Leanna pipes up.
They all guffaw and I can feel myself turning crimson. I grab Freddy by the elbow and move him as far away from my humiliating family as I can.
“This isn’t a joke?” I mutter.
“Of course not.”
“If it is, I’ll kill you.”
“It’s not.”
I scuff my shoe and shrug. “Okay, then. Fine. I’ll go with you. But if the music sucks, I’m leaving. Dyspraxics can dance, but only if the music is decent.”
I am so embarrassed; I can’t look at him for long. I do notice that he’s beaming but I turn and rush back towards Marley. I have something else I need to do this week and now is the perfect time, because I can’t take the teasing that I know they’ll deliver. Marley walks in step beside me as I storm away.
