Serender: The Accidental Super Villain

Chapter 9

 When Serender opened her eyes, she felt like she was sitting in a sauna.  She had chills and felt feverish. She called out for her mom then her dad. She sat up and swung her legs out of bed. Before she could attempt to get up, Aiosha ran into her room. 

    Aiosha could see that she was not in a good way. She picked up a handkerchief from her night stand and dabbed her forehead.

"Mom, what day is it?"

"You have been sleeping for 2 days, honey. It's Thursday."

Serender started to whimper, "Why do I feel so sad? What's wrong with me ?" She sniffled then yelled, " It's SO HOT!!" while holding herself,shivering.

"Lay back down honey. Looks like you are getting sick."

"I don't want to lay back down. Can I sit at the kitchen table? Where's daddy?"

Aiosha sighed. She wasn't going to be able to talk Serender into going back to sleep. "He's at the kitchen table. Hold my hand." Serender took her mother's hand. She was guided to the kitchen table where her dad watched TV and ate breakfast.

When she saw Xander, she felt the strongest urge to hug him real tight and never let him go. She walked around the table and sat on Xander's knee and wrapped her arms around his neck. Not too long after did the tears start to fall. Xander held his beautiful child tight as she cried on his shoulder. 

    Aiosha held her hands over her mouth as if to muffle her crying sounds. She only wanted her daughter to be happy. After 10 minutes passed, Xander started to feel an intense heat coming off Serender.  He looked down at his daughter's wet face. Her cheeks were a rosy red. She looked back at him. He smiled then wiped the tears from her burning skin. 

"Are you sure you don't want to lay back down? You may have influenza." Xander said, concerned for his daughter's health. 

"Can we just stay like this a little longer?" Serender stuck her lips out and pouted,

"Okay Honey."

Serender played with the top of her dad's shirt. She felt ashamed for singing that song for some reason.

"Mom?" Serender started.

Aiosha took a seat across the table, "Yes honey?"

Without looking at her, Serender asked,"Was that song that I sung a bad song? It made me have really scary feelings."

Aiosha tried to steady herself before answering Serender. She took a deep breath then exhaled,"Yes. It is the song used to induce suicidal thoughts. Your sadness called upon it." She looked down at her hands and twiddled her fingers. "Its rare for a siren who is not descended from another siren, who owns that heart song, to feel the urge to sing it."

As soon as Aiosha stopped speaking, Serender jumped out of her dad's lap, "WAIT! Did you get my books?! I left MacBeth out there!" 

"By the time I went back out, everything had.......washed out to sea." 

Serender slammed her fist on the table and screamed, "WHAT?"" Her body spontaneously burst into flames. She grabbed the end of the table and flipped it over it. Aiosha stood up and cowered from the ball of flames that was her daughter. 

Xander wrapped his arms around Serender. 

This was another unexpected turn of events. She had not shown signs of inheriting her father's genetic mutation. "Calm down Honey." Xander whispered.

Serender looked down at her burning hands and body. "What...What's going on daddy?"

When she realized her father was holding her, she turned to push him away. "Daddy NO! Don't touch me. I don't want to hurt you again!"

"Serender hold on...watch this." Xander hadn't set himself ablaze in 10 years but it came naturally.

Serender stared at him as her fire started to burn itself out. "Daddy?" She couldn't believe what she was seeing. She touched his flames, she could feel the heat but it didn't burn her. Aiosha stayed in her corner of the dining area in complete shock and speechless. She hadn't even talked about the consequences of singing yet and now they would have to teach her how to control her flames. She collapsed to her knees. 

Everything. All of it was overwhelming.  Xander turned off his fire and then went to pick the table up. Aiosha watched him hobble to the table and lift it easily with one hand. 

Without turning to look at Serender, he said "You flip my table again and you will be sitting in your room making shadow puppets alone for a week. You understand me?"

Serender was still in awe as she nodded her head, mouth agape. "Close your mouth before a fly flies in it."

After setting the table back up, he sat back in his chair and signaled for Serender to sit back on his knee.  Over the past 7 years, Serender had been submerged in her books and her studies that they had overlooked telling her the basics. The things that would affect her the most in life. They were just happy watching her and helping her be happy which they still failed at.

    Xander started to tell Serender the tale of how he met her mother. Aiosha listened to him and smiled, ear to ear. He talked to her about the abilities that their mutation came with. Then he stopped speaking and looked at Aiosha then nodded, "Serender you will need to understand your "heart " first. Our flames are controlled by our emotions and the siren's songs that you inherited are the epitome of emotion."

"I understand. After mom talks about the siren's songs, can you teach me how to use my flames?" Serender asked while shaking with excitement.

"I will do more than that. I will teach you how to protect yourself. I can't show you physically but I can help you understand the books that I learned from."

Serender's face lit up. This was the happiest they had seen her in years. Things were starting to change. Aiosha could only hoped they were for the better.

Once Xander finished his story, Aiosha picked up with her story. The story of their ancestry. It was full of pain and suffering but that was to be expected. Sirens were mischievous. They coveted the adoration of humans. They used their songs to steal their "will" and treasures, give them false hopes, and pray on their need for instant s****l gratification..

Serender listened but Aiosha could tell she was only humoring her. She was being patient so that she could learn more about her fire. 

"Once a siren turns 14, they assist with managing the magical force field that covers the island. This force field keeps the outside world from finding us, also keeps us safe from tsunamis, and rising waters. It’s used to protect us from hurricanes and violent storms but that requires a lot more than 1 siren. I started by understanding the size and dimensions of the island. After that all I have  to do is picture the island and then mentally embrace it. I've been holding the island, mentally, so long that it's as natural as breathing." 

Aiosha looked into Serender's eyes searching for cues that she was paying attention. "Any questions?"

She waited. Serender moved her head left to right. "Okay. My heart song is one of yearning. Meaning if I was to sing without the force field I could lure anyone that hears to the island. Since I am 1 of 2 sirens, if I sung loud enough I could reach half the people of the planet." 

Serender mouthed, "Wow".Then said, "Why is that?"

"Because we are a collection of our ancestor's songs. You and I are filled with 1000's of versions of 5 types of songs. Our voice is strengthened by the souls of our ancestors. So when I pass away, you will have a voice strong enough to reach everyone on the planet. That's why you can't sing because it feels good. You have to fight that urge. Do you understand me?"

"I understand. What are the 5 types?"

"I will tell you the types and then you can go outside with your dad. The 1st, we talked about, called the walking dead. Then there is Yearning, Illusions of grandeur, Cupid's Arrow, and Destruction."

"Each type has a specific purpose. The end result is really dependent on the person hearing the song."

"I didn't know that." Xander interrupted. Aiosha looked at him and smiled.

"This lesson is not for you." Aiosha said then started to giggle.

Serender laughed along with her. While she was excited about hanging out with her dad, what Aiosha was telling her turned out to be more interesting than she expected.

"Can you guess what these types are about at a high level?" Aiosha asked Serender.

"Let's see.....{starts thinking}...Cupid's Arrow has something to do with making someone fall in love with you?"

"Yes. This is a song used to usually make the wealthiest men fall in love with the siren and then slowly spend and collect his money."

"Wow...uhm ok...Illusions of grandeur..Why would you want to create that type of illusion."

"That is a feeding song. That song and Destruction have somewhat of the same purpose. Illusions are projected by sirens who don't leave the island. They create a vision of treasures and of wealth. When the person comes to the island to claim their prize. Boom. Eaten. Now 'destruction' is also a 'luring' song but it's based on hypnosis and it doesn't have to be around the island. It's used to lure boats, planes, and people into places where they will crash or fall to their deaths. Boom. Eaten."

"I'm glad we don't eat people anymore."

"Well....To each its own." Aiosha shrugged and the 3 burst into laughter. Aiosha looked at her husband and daughter's smiling face and nodded in satisfaction and thought. "This can be our chance to make things right."