Book of Fate: Siren Stone (Book 1)

Chapter 4

When I woke up, I was back in Elixa’s hut with a wet towel on my forehead and a few bandages on my right shoulder.  I blinked a few times and realized where I was.  I sat up quickly, too quickly, and felt a splitting headache immediately. Elixa, came in and helped me lay back down on the bed.  I looked out the window and it was night time.  “Please, do not sit up too fast.  You are still recovering from a fever.”

    “Ugh, what happened?  When did I get sick?” I asked, moaning.

    “During the trial, everyone came back before sunset.  Everyone except you.  We sent a search party to look for you, and found you barely breathing on the beach burning up with a high fever.  Your parents got worried and hurriedly carried you here.”

    “Did I pass?” I asked groggily.

    “I don’t know how the passing or failing of the trial works. Can you remember what happened?”

    I tried to remember what happened, but thinking made my headache worse.  “No, everything still seems kind of fuzzy. How long have I been out?” 

    “You have been out for almost three days.  The chief wants you all healed before having a talk with him.”

    “The Chief?” was all I could say.  She didn’t reply and changed the cloth on my forehead and the bandages. Outside of the house, I could hear the whispers of many people and my friends worrying about me and being suspicious about my trial.  “Why does he want to see me?” I asked nervously.

    “I don’t know,” she replied,” something about stealing a certain object during the trial.”  Suddenly, I remember everything.  The siren, the burning and freezing sensations, and the stone.  I looked around for the stone, but I couldn’t find it.  I cautiously asked,” Did you happen to find the object I was holding when I was knocked out?”

    “Did you remember the object?”

    “It was white, it looked like a little moon.”

    “Did you mean this?” she held out the stone. “You were holding onto it for dear life.  Liera and Chief Xander tried to pry it out of your hands, but you managed to unconsciously hold on to it.”

    I nodded, reaching out for it, but she took her hand back as my fingers brushed the surface of the stone.  “Where did you get this?” she asked, examining the stone.

    “I found it during the trial,” I replied.  I mean it’s the truth

    “Where?” Elixa asked with an edge in her voice.

    “Near the place where you find me,” I replied, reaching for it again.  And just like the last time, I almost had it.

    “Okay. At least you remembered that much. And where did the siren go?”

    I looked at her with an incredulous look.  She seemed to be able to read my faked confusion. “The bite on your arm can only be from something big.  When we found you, you were in the same exact spot where the siren laid dead.  You had this stone in your hand, the bite marks on your shoulder, and the siren was gone.”

    I honestly don’t know how to answer the question.  I mean how am I going to explain to my mentor the siren called to me and I had no control over my own body.   There is no way anyone is going to believe me.  “The siren is gone?”

    “What happened when you found this stone?”

    “I don’t remember that part, it’s still fuzzy,” I lied and faked a little head ache by bringing my hand up to my forehead.  Honestly, making up lies takes up a lot more energy than telling the truth, especially when you just woke up from a three day sleep.

    She expressed concern and helped me lay back down,” Alright, enough.  You need to rest and when you’re fully recovered, you will see the Chief. And hopefully you will remember what happened.”

    She quickly packed the bandages.  She quietly set the stone down on the counter across the bed and left. I stared at the ceiling for the longest time.  The thought of the chief wanting to talk to me makes me nervous.  I am hoping that he won't say anything about the siren’s body disappearing without a trace, how am I going to explain that to him.  While staring at the ceiling, my eyelids become heavy and I dozed off back to sleep.

    In my dream, I was back on the beach and the siren was waiting for me by the shore.  It looked into my eyes again and started sending images to my head.  It showed me the Chief talking to me and holding a stone, that I got from the siren, to the moon.  Another image popped in my head showing me being angry at the chief for saying something.  My parents looked angry too and the Chief looked frightful.  I couldn’t understand the images at all.  I screamed and I was pushed out of the room full of images.  I looked at the siren and it just scoffed at me and swam back into the deep.

When I woke up again, it was almost dawn and the fever was gone.  I slowly sat up and removed the bandages, preparing to change them.  To my surprise, there were no bite marks at all.  After taking the bandages off, I looked for the siren stone.  Once I found it, I reached for the siren stone and began stroking the surface of it.  It was like holding a tiny moon, or a giant pearl. It was so smooth and cold, I found it a lot more comforting when I am holding it.

Quite honestly, I am still in disbelief I actually found a siren stone.  I mean, other than the descendants of the Chief, no one has ever found one.  Other than increasing my power, I wonder what else would happen after the results have been decided. What if the Chief asks for the stone back?  Is that what that dream was about? I got angry at the Chief for wanting the stone back?

Dropping the thought entirely, I looked outside my window and the moon was full.  After being cooped up in my room for four days, I decided to go for a walk. I walked around the village while thinking about the events that happened the other day. I wandered around for so long that I almost forgot where I was, until I saw a sign showing I was in the village center.  At the center of the village there was a figure standing there.  I immediately recognized the figure, it was the chief.  I quickly hid behind one of the totem poles.

He was staring at the moon.  I saw his mouth move, as if he was doing an incantation and he took a stone from his pocket.  The stone he held in his hand looked very similar to mine.  The stone in my hand began glowing like a second moon.  I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.  I wanted to so badly step out and continue observing what the heck he was doing.  The stone glowed brighter and brighter, and a soft tune, similar to the siren’s, played in my ears.  I heard the chief stop chanting and heard his footsteps coming towards the pole I was hiding behind.  Then it stopped and looked like a regular old stone.  I heard him curse under his breath and walked away.

The tune sounded very much like the siren’s song and it actually glowed.  I don’t know why it glowed like this, but for some reason I had this feeling I have to protect this stone from the Chief.