Book of Fate: Siren Stone (Book 1)

Chapter 7

Before I decided to go home, I made a stop at Elixa’s healing hut.  She still had the siren stone with her.  I let out a sigh of relief.  She put the stone in a case next to the window.  I crept up to the window as quietly as I could.  Her hut is elevated so it was not as easy as I had hoped. Or as it looks.  I climbed up the tree next to the window. With Elixa’s back turned to the window, I grabbed it and ran back to my hut.

When I got back my mom was putting her hair up and my dad was finding a shirt to wear.  I went to my room and started getting ready too.  I let down my long hair and washed it, since I haven’t showered in the past four days.  I turned to my bed to find a nice party dress laid out for me and some shoes for the day.  The dress was made of pearl silk, one of the finest materials on the island.  It was a knee-length dress and very comfortable.  And it flowed with the breeze.

After I put some fresh clothes on for the festival, I put my hair up in a braided bun with a kresla in the middle.  The good thing about this dress is that there are pockets.  Placing the heavy stone in my pocket I walk out the door.  Eiress and Sirene were waiting outside for me.  We ran to the center of the village and there were tables filled with many dishes to last us the entire day and wine on the very ends of the table.  Everything looked ready to start. My friends started blushing as more boys started gathering in the center, and I didn’t pay attention.

The Chief blew the horn and everyone gathered.  After his speech, everyone started all sorts of activities.  For the boys, there were tattoo and piercing booths.  For the girls, there were weaving and jewelry making booths.  In this village, it is traditional for the teenagers to get tattoos or make the object from the trial a part of them.  All the girls were making their shells into necklaces, and I didn’t even know what I wanted to do with mine- since mine is a huge siren stone.  Liera and her group of friends kept on looking at me like I was a disease.

I sat next to Eiress and tapped her shoulder whispering,” I think Liera is upset at me.  Her friends keep on staring at me.”

Eiress slowly looked over her shoulders and passed on the message to Sirene.  Sirene looked at me and just smiled.  A smile that reassured me and silently told me to not mind them.  The lady who was in charge of the jewelry making booth, gave me the dirtiest look ever and walked off.  What the hell? Like everyone is pissed with me.  I don’t understand why people on this island are so judgmental for no freaking reason.  For one day of my life, can I just please take a break? I just rolled my eyes and continued to watch my friends weave their shells into necklaces.

“So what are you going to make your trial object into?” said a voice over my shoulder.  I looked up and saw the lady looking down at me with an annoyed expression.

“I don’t have a clue,” I replied.  I wasn’t trying to provoke her in any way.  I really don’t know what item to make it into.  I mean, it’s not like a person comes around with a huge stone everyday to turn it into some sort of little magic tool for everyday use.  “Got any suggestions?”

The lady groaned and went off somewhere.  My friends looked at me and the lady.  A moment later she came back with a few bracelet clasps.  She dumped the clasps and walked away.  I looked at my friends, and they had the same expression as me.  I  tried all the clasps and they didn’t work because they were too tight.  I even had to ask Eiress and Sirene to help get one off of me.  I went up to the lady while she was helping Liera.  When I tapped her on the shoulder, she immediately turned around with a frown on her face.  And just like earlier, she gave me the same dirty look.  Having enough of her shitty attitude I dropped the clasps on her feet.  She stifled her scream.  “Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to.  I just wanted to ask if you had any bigger sized clasps.”

She looked at me with pure rage and wobbled all the way to the back of the booth to find bigger sized clasps.  I tried so hard not to laugh when she wobbled away and back with the clasps in her hands.  “Thank you,” I said, and looked at her foot.  It was pretty red and swollen. ” Here let me heal your feet.”

She tried to get away, but she was too slow.  I reached out to her feet and quickly healed it.  I got up and took the clasps from her hands.  I didn’t want to look at her since I probably had a look that said you owe me, plus I didn’t want to look at Liera for a second.  As I walked away, I could still feel her gaze, burning holes into  my back.

I tried the clasps on once again, and this time they were actually a perfect fit.  After picking which clasp I wanted, a horn blew and we went to the next thing for our activities, picking accessories for the big dance that will be held tonight.  We were brought to a tent filled with antiques.  Some of the stuff was beaten up and seemed impossible to fix.  There was a man waiting for us and I recognized him immediately.  The man still had the bandages on from the other day on his legs.  His arms looked a lot better than before.  The cut was all healed, but a scar was left in its place.

He limped over to us and he was trying very hard to hide the huge scar on his arm and the bandages on his leg with his ragged garments.  The girls saw him coming and tried to stand absolutely still.  As if that would do anything.  They looked at him as if he was some dangerous animal that no one has ever seen before.  I honestly felt bad for the man, having to be looked at the way he is now makes him very pitiful.  Though, I still have my suspicions on how he got those injuries in the first place.  He looked at me and gave me a smile and I returned it with a warm smile.  He stopped right in front of Liera and her group of friends as they inhaled a huge breath and held it.

“Please, pick two items for the dance tonight,” he said gently.  “If you like the items very much, you may keep them.”

Liera and her group of friends exchanged glances and forced a smile onto their faces as they passed him and went into the tent.  Slowly, the rest of the group followed them. The tent had handmade jewelry displayed in cases.  Hairpins, necklaces, and rings, and bracelets.  Everything needed for the dance tonight was here.  They sparkled in the display lights, making it almost impossible to look away.  All the girls began to look around.  Eiress and Sirene went to go check out the hair clips while I went to check out the bracelets and necklaces.

They were beautifully designed.  The diamonds were cut and the pearls were shined to perfection.  The man came up behind me and touched my shoulder to get my attention.  I turned around and he had a nice smile on his face.  I smiled back and continued to look around.  “Do you see something that interests you?”

I looked back and he began to follow me,” Not really.  They don’t seem to suit me very well.”

“What do you mean?” he asked. I looked into his eyes and they were like the midnight sky.

“I mean that none of these colors suit me very well. Pink doesn’t really compliment my skin.”

“Well, what colors do you think suits you best?”

“Um, maybe a pearly white or oceanic blue?”

The man walked away and returned with something in his hands.  He set the objects on the counter and they were very pretty.  He brought out two ribbons, one made out of pearl silk with a tint of lavender and the other with a tint of oceanic blue.  The white ribbon almost looked like it was carved out of the moon. And there was a little bit of gold glitter on it.

“I saw the flower in your hair.  I thought instead of picking shiny things, how about attaching ribbons to the flowers and you can even braid the ribbon into your hair,” explained the man.

“That’s actually a really good idea.  Thank you so much!” I said.  He gave me a little pouch and put the ribbons inside it for me.  He quickly nodded and walked away to help other girls choose. While everyone was looking at the twisted hair clips, I snuck out of the tent, and stayed there.

It was only midday, and I felt exhausted.  The breeze felt nice and the smell of delicious food filled the air.  I could smell barbecued pork, grilled salmon, and fried chicken.  I didn’t realize how hungry I was until I smelled it.  Letting out a sigh, I decided to wait there until everyone was done with picking little accessories for the dance. And it took 2 freaking hours. Finally, a horn sounded and we went back to our houses to get ready for the ceremony tonight.