Call of the sea

by sunsetsjournal

Dangerous disease

Chapter 8:

Dangerous disease

Quite a lot of time had passed since the sirens had ended up into a completely different world; things had changed in their lives: their habits, their mood and especially their relationship.

After Aria and Adagio had come to an understanding to their last fight, they had began to visibly feel more comfortable around each other: sometimes they even had jokes together between their feeding sessions, speaking of which:

We haven’t talked about the first time the sirens used their magic to absorb negative energy,after being banished from Equestria, have we?

It happened not much time after Adagio and her sister had their argument, on that occasion the oldest of the sisters had visited a fast food restaurant just next to their new place and, on the exact instant she had sat at one of its tables and noticed how it was crawling with people, she understood that it would be the perfect target to try out how her singing magic worked in this new world.

---

“So...” Adagio said to her sisters, as soon as thy had arrived in front of the entrance to Canterlot Pan: “...is everything ready? Have you tried singing on your own, while I was scavenging around?”

“Hicks!” Aria exclaimed, closing her nose with two fingers: “Are you sure we’re in the right place, Adagio? Cause to me it looks like we’re heading right into a landfill site!”

“Yeah!” Sonata agreed, struggling not to vomit on the ground at the very moment she opened her mouth: “It stinks of rats!”

“Unfortunately we do not have much of a choice...” their sister replied, while playing with a curl of her hair, hanging over her forehead: “...and although the smell from the kitchen may not be pleasant, I absolutely assure you that this is the right to place to start absorbing the energy of chaos from this world. Pretty soon you’ll see I’m right”

“Wait a minute...” Aria intervened right before Adagio opened the entrance door: “Did you just say...kitchen?”

“Well...” the second girl answered: “...yes, that’s exactly what I said.”

“Jeez...what do they cook here?!”

“Burgers”

“Ah?” Aria questioned, staring at her sister, confused :

“You’ll understand what they are soon enough”

“So, what you’re telling me is that the inhabitants of this world eat stuff that smells this bad?!”

“I suppose so, yes”

“Great, just great. If people here have these kind of tastes, there’s no wonder why our new place is such a luxury”.

Hearing those words, the oldest of the sirens rolled her eyes annoyed and opened the door before her sister could complain on something else.

As soon as they entered, Aria and Sonata were immediately shocked by the enormous crowd, lining up in front of the counter, where a rather corpulent blonde boy was sweating, trying to keep up with the costumers’ orders, but eventually his tiredness got the best of him and the boy collapsed on the floor, fainting.

At that unexpected sight, the two young sirens swallowed their own saliva and looked at each other worried and confused, as all sorts of terrifying thoughts came to their minds in a flash, till Adagio woke them up from their daydreaming, beating her hand on a table:

“Why are you staring at the crowd?” she said, sounding more bothered by the minute:

“It’s just...you see that guy over there? He...” Aria replied or at least tried to, as she was suddenly interrupted by her sister:

“What happened to a random guy is not my interest and neither should be yours, now come sit here”. Intimidated by Adagio’s dangerously serious voice, the two young girls slowly neared the white table, their sister was already at, and sat on a pair of chairs.

“So...”Aria began to speak, having the impression Adagio had calmed down: “I think I might have gotten your point now”, hearing that the oldest of the sirens fixed her eyes on Aria, slightly scaring her: “I mean this place is filled with potential victims, plus we can blind in with the crowd and escape with ease if something goes wrong, but when exactly do we start singing?”

“After the waitress comes for the second time”

“Uh?”.

At the very same moment the siren had exclaimed those words, a young read haired woman, wearing a black dress and holding a block notes in her hand, approached them with a smile on her face: “Welcome to Canterlot Pan, where we offer only the best cuisine and the costumer is always right. What can I bring you this evening?”

“What’s the specialty of the day?” Adagio asked, signaling her sisters to remain quite:

“We have a special offer on the fried chicken”

“We'll take some of that, then”, after Adagio had made her order, the waitress wrote down some notes on her block and turned around, headed to the kitchen.

“I’m not exactly hungry” Sonata intervened, noticing her two sisters had stopped talking, creating an awkward silence: “especially after what we smelled earlier”

“Then do not touch the food” Adagio answered: “After all, we’re not here to try out the local cuisine”

“And after that awful smell, I’d rather have our usual meal of negative energy” Aria added, playing with a curl of her hair:

“Oh, c’mon!” Sonata replied loudly: “You two are taking all the fun out of this!”

“What is it that you want, then?”.

Right before the youngest of the sirens could utter a word the waitress approached at her table once more, this time holding a plate in her left hand; Adagio signaled her sisters not to talk: “Here’s what you ordered, ladies, enjoy your meal”.

The girl placed on the table a large dish with a fried chicken at the very center; its skin was golden and soaked in cheap oil: “Shall I cut it in half?” the waitress asked kindly, while Aria was doing her best no to vomit from the revolting smell of the food, keeping her mouth shut with her hand:

“Oh, no thank you, we can do that on our own” Adagio replied, forcing a smile on her face: “Thanks for everything”.

Once the waitress had left, Aria turned around and choked a few times, giving the impression she was truly feeling sick: “Is everything alright?” Her older sister asked quickly:

“No, nothing’s alright” the second girl answered, struggling to maintain her composure: “This thing smells disgusting, let’s get rid of it this instant!”.

At that point Aria took the plate where the food was in order to throw it out of the nearest window, yet Adagio immediately grabbed her arm: “Don’t” she said calmly:

“But”

“Put it back on the table”

“But I”

“If you throw it away, they’ll understand that we’re here for something different from the food”;

hearing those words, the young girl quickly realized her sister was right: they could not let themselves be caught or even draw the littlest attention, so, despite the terrible nausea it caused her, Aria placed the chicken back on the table.

“Wise decision” Adagio commented satisfied:

“Oh please, let’s just do what we’re here for!” Aria exclaimed, not knowing how much more of that loud place she could handle:

“Pardon?”

“Let’s get this over with, I can’t stand staying here any longer!”

“Yeah” Sonata suddenly added, having stayed quite for a while: “This place is the worst”

“You always say that!” Aria intervened, while Adagio rolled her eyes:

“I know but this place really is the worst of the worst. Have you guys seen the décor? The food on the other hoof...I mean hand...”

“Okay, okay!” Adagio exclaimed, interrupting her: “Aria is right, the sooner we put an end to this farce, the better!”

“Glad you see it my way” her sister said, eager to leave that fast food restaurant as soon as possible:

“Get ready, put on your hoods on and wait for my signal”.

After they had obeyed, the oldest of the sisters looked quickly around to make sure nobody was too close or too far from them and nodded with her head. The three sirens closed their eyes and lowered their heads, covered by dark clothed hoods that made it impossible for anyone to see their faces; soon the girls began to sing their magical song and the gems they bored around their necks started to shine more intensely than ever.

As their charm began to work, a greenish smoke appeared out of nowhere and slowly arose from the floor and the corners of the room: its color was bright, even brighter than the sirens remembered and sparkled bright as the night stars.

As soon as the sirens’ song reached the costumers’ s ears, all the people who were previously slowly enjoying their food, joking and chatting with each other, started fighting like wild animals.

Some of them were only insulting the people next to their seat, while to others the magic was strong enough to make them engage a physical fight: a girl used her food as snow balls to throw at the nearest costumers, two brothers began to kick and punch anybody they came across in the room, while another boy was beating the waiter, who had previously fainted, with a chair, causing his nose to bleed and several other injuries.

While this was happening, the green magical smoke, having finally been filled with negative energy, slowly began to enter the sisters’ gems. At that very moment the three girls felt a strong emotion, a new kind of power flowing through their veins, making them fill younger, lighter and, most importantly, incredibly stronger. Adagio, Aria and Sonata, gazed at each other, grinning with satisfaction and quickly left the restaurant, where the fight between the costumers was rapidly getting worse and worse.

---

“Well...”Aria said, as she and her sisters were walking back home: “...That wasn’t too bad”.

“Are you kidding?!” Sonata intervened exited: “We totally rocked!”.

At the same time the young siren spoke these words, a smirk of satisfaction appeared on Adagio’ s face: “Our magic has gotten stronger” Aria went on saying, giggling:

“I agree and at this rate we’ll be able to restore our full power sooner that we thought” her older sister said, interrupting her:

“And what are we supposed to do with all that power?” Sonata questioned curios:

“For now we’ll do exactly the same thing we used to when we lived back in Equestria”

“You mean submit as many people as we can?”

“Yes, but on the other hand I suppose we could also try to...” at that point a heavy sight escaped from the siren’s mouth, then the girl looked down at the ground beneath her feet.

Having noticed her sister’s sudden change of mood, Sonata moved forward to ask what was bothering her, but was immediately stopped by Aria who suggested she should not do such thing, for she knew very well what Adagio was thinking.

---

That night the sky was clear, not even a cloud in sight, it was so blue as the ocean and the full moon shined bright as ever, obscuring the surrounding stars. The weather certainly helped Adagio to regain her usual calm mood: the least she wanted was another storm like the one that had kept her from having a good night sleep just a few weeks before.

That night was Adagio’s turn to sleep in the bed; in fact, since they had just one in the house, she and her sisters had decided that every night one of them would get to sleep in there, while the others would rest on the sofa in the leaving room.

The oldest of the sirens did not really like the idea, as the bedroom was a lot dustier and darker than the lounge and had the impression the bed mattress was infested with bugs, but after all rules were rules.

Having closed the door behind her, the siren prepared to go to bed, having gotten rid of her clothing, she wore a gray night gown she had come across, while searching a wardrobe. It was rather comfortable, yet at same time old and perhaps slightly smelly, yet the girl had gotten used to it and preferred wearing it to the idea of keeping her only cloths on even in bed.

Adagio wrapped herself up in the white blanket of the bed and closed her eyes, prepared to finally have a peaceful night, even if that meant waking up with icky hair.

---

When the siren opened her eyes again, the sun had yet to rise and the clock on the wall indicated it was only three am. Rubbing her still tired face, Adagio was spooked by an unexpected noise, resembling a deep lament, followed by a strong cry.

Fearing the worst had happened to her sisters, the girl got up, leaving the bed, and run through the corridor that separated her room from the lounge.

When she arrived, Adagio found Sonata, lying on the sofa at the center of the room, all wrapped up in a blanket, trembling from cold; Aria on the other hand was sitting on her knees by her sister, holding her right hand.

“What’s happening?!” Adagio questioned worried, approaching her sisters:

“Sonata got sick during the night” Aria explained, staring at her, concerned: “And judging by how she’s feeling it might be serious”

“How serious?” her sister questioned, while her heart was pounding faster and faster:

“Very”

“Oh...let me check.”

It did not take a doctor to tell the youngest of the sirens was not feeling well: her azure skin had become pail, the girl kept trembling from cold as if she had been completed naked under a blanket of snow and the sentences, coming out of her mouth, as she tried to speak, tumbled out incoherently. Her eyes, which she only opened occasionally, were red as fire; seeing them, an expression of horror and fear appeared on Adagio’s face.

“It’s even worse than I though” the siren exclaimed, getting down on her knees next to Aria and Sonata: “When did she start to show signs of her bad conditions?”

“About fifteen minutes ago” her younger sister answered: “She did move a lot under the blanket, while we were sleeping; eventually I woke up and tuned to her to complain and found her like this. I thought of waking you up and warning immediately, but I did not want to leave her alone in this state”.

Having heard these things, Adagio placed her right hand on Sonata’s forehead only to remove it a few seconds afterwards: “Her body temperature is high” she said, turning to Aria:

“it must have raised since when I last checked a few minutes ago” her younger sister replied: “I think she’s getting worse. But you are the healing expert: can’t you tell what’s going on with her?”

“Didn’t I teach you all I know about medicine?”

“It seems I might have been distracted during the lesson, because I haven’t got a clue”

“Okay, fine, let me check”.

The girl slowly neared her ear to Sonata’s head to see if her breathing was regular, at the same time she placed her left hand on the youngster’s stomach and felt it was rumbling terribly. Being curios, Adagio placed her ear on her sister’s belly and felt its rumbling even more: “Don’t tell me...” the siren thought, as she neared her nose to Sonata’s mouth.

“She’s got an intestinal infection, a terrible one to be honest”

“What?!” Aria exclaimed shocked by what she had just heard: “But how?!”

“Smell her breath and you’ll be able to tell yourself”.

“Hicks!” Aria shouted, as soon as she had obeyed: “Her breath stinks of...I don’t even know what to compare it to”

“I think the food they gave us at the restaurant was rotten” Adagio added:

“You mean she...”

“She must have eaten some, while we were distracted”

“But I didn’t saw her touch the food; she didn’t even like it”

“She might have said that, but who knows? Maybe she thought it looked good or was keen on trying the food in this world more than us and took a bite, while we were already headed outside.”

A moment of silence interrupted their conversation; Aria placed her hand on Sonata’s forehead and felt just how high her body temperature was: “What do we do now? Is there any of your natural remedies that could help her, some of the ones I do not remember.”

“There is one” Adagio answered immediately: “Go in my room, get my purse from behind the door; there are things I keep in there just for cases like this”

“Purse behind the door: got it!” Aria exclaimed right before disappearing in the dark corridor that led to Adagio’s room:

“And now I’ll tend to you” the oldest of the sirens whispered, getting up from the floor.

Having reached the bathroom, Adagio took a large blue washing up bowl from under the sink and placed it inside the shower:

“It seems you’ll be useful after all” she said before shooting the freezing water of the shower inside the bowl.

Once it was full, the girl picked it up from the shower floor, then turned around and took three or four dishcloths, which had been left by the sink, and brought everything back to the leaving room.

---

In the meantime Aria had gone through the corridor that led to the bedroom and got Adagio’s purple purse from behind the door.

When she got back to the living room, she found her older sister, placing wet dishcloths on Sonata’s pulses and forehead; in the meantime the poor thing was trembling and shaking even more at the touch of the cold water in which the dishcloths were soaked:

“What have come up with?” Aria questioned, getting down on her knees next to Adagio:

“It’s something I though of at the last minute, I’m using this wet dishcloths to lower down her body temperature: it will do her good, even if I guess she doesn’t like it”.

After two minutes Adagio removed the dishcloths from Sonata’s body to immerse them in the cold water of the bowl, since they had quickly gotten dry. As she felt that unbearable sensation of cold on her pulses and forehead again, the youngest of the sirens uttered a short phrase: “No more...please”

“Trust me” Adagio quickly replied: “It’s for your own good”, then grabbed her sister’s hand and held it as tight as she could.

“Give me the purse” Adagio said to Aria, after having taken a long breath:

“Here”.

Having opened her small purse, the siren took a small glass bottle containing orange and brown powder: “Take this” she said to her sister: “ It contains a mix of cinnamon and turmeric, brew an infusion: it’ll help Sonata’s intestine get back to normal”.

Hearing these things, Aria nodded and, having grabbed the bottle her sister was handing her, went quickly to the kitchen to put the water boiler on.

Once the water had reached the right temperature, Aria poured it into a teapot and mixed it with the spices she had with her; the water quickly turned bright brown: “I just hope this is what Sonata needs”. The girl thought, while bringing the infusion back to Adagio.

“C’mon Sonata” Aria whispered into her younger sister’s ear: “drink it all up”.

Once the youngest of the sirens had swallowed the liquid in the teapot, an expression of disgust appeared on her face: the infusion Aria had prepared must have had a terrible taste.

“What now?” the youngster asked Adagio, worried: “Now I take care of everything” her older sister replied briefly:

“What?!” Aria exclaimed, shocked: “But I wanna help, Sonata is my sister, too, you know?!”

“I do, but you helped quite a lot already and there’s nothing left for you to do”

“But...”

“Just trust me this once, little sis’, I’ll get her back to health by down, I promise” having heard those words, Aria did not utter a single word.

---

Both of the sirens stayed up all night; Adagio kept cooling Sonata off with her wet dishcloths, while Aria remained next to her in case she got tired and wanted to switch turns, but the only thing her older sister said to her during that tremendous night was: “Stay here and keep me company: I’ll need it”.

When the clock on the wall finally stroke six am, Adagio placed her right hand on Sonata’s forehead once more only to say: “The fever is gone”

“And the intestine infection, too” Aria added, placing her ear on her younger sister’s belly and noticing is was not rumbling any more: “It seems like your infusion really did the trick!”

“Now she only needs rest” Adagio murmured, seeing Sonata smiling and relaxed:

“As well as we do”Aria snored , right before collapsing on the ground.

At that point the other siren went to her room to take the blanket from the bed before getting back to the lounge. “Sweet dreams, little sis, I’ll watch over you’” Adagio whispered, wrapping Aria in the white blanket of her bed and kissing her forehead: “I’ll watch over you...”