Aria slinked back to them, tail tucked between her legs as tears trickled down her cheeks.
“Hush, you did so well,” purred Mercury, taking Aria into his arms. He stroked her back, grinning wildly at his sister. “We are very proud of you, and we’ve learnt quite a bit.”
Aria sagged forward, and Mercury carefully cradled her, maneuvering her towards her room. He placed her on the mattress, her body sinking into it like a brick in water. She felt exhausted, like she had just run a thousand miles without stopping. Her eyes stung with salt but she fell asleep quickly, dreams filled with green mist and crimson on her hands.
The next morning greeted her gently. She woke to soft murmurs, and sat up to find the twins staring at her.
“Good morning,” Venus said, smiling softly. “How are you feeling?”
Aria placed a hand on her throat. “Thirsty,” she croaked. “I don’t feel that great, actually.”
As Mercury went to get her some water, Venus helped her stand up. “That’s understandable,” the taller girl replied. “You used a lot of strong magic last night. Why, your friends here are still feeling the effects!”
Aria looked at the other mattress to find the three other members sleeping the pain away. Fissure’s nose was dark and crooked, Summer’s hair was parted strangely (probably to hide that bald spot..), and Dusky’s cheek was crusted with dried blood. Aria felt a pit grow in her stomach. She did that.
“You did do that,” Venus whispered, peering at Aria. “But don’t feel bad about it. You should be proud of your strength. When you show us again, we can help you control it.”
“I don’t want to do that again,” Aria said. “It felt awful.”
“Oh yeah? How are you going to feed then? How are you going to teach us?” Venus’s grip on her arm tightened. “Have you forgotten what you promised us?”
“S-stop,” Aria ordered, voice wavering. “That hurts.”
“Yeah, well we can hurt you even more,” Venus hissed viciously. “Welcome to our family, Aria, where we keep our promises.”
She dragged Aria out of the room and shoved her towards the couch, where Mercury was waiting with her glass of water.
Aria took the glass and sipped slowly, wondering what she had gotten herself into. “Okay..” Aria began. “So...now what?”
“Well, first, we want to document what happened yesterday,” Mercury said, bringing out paper and a pen. “Can you explain in full detail what you were feeling?”
Aria sat down and crossed her legs. “Well, you two were being real dickheads...and it made me really angry to hear you say those things. Like, I wanted to kill you.”
“Good, good. And how did you feel taking in that energy from the others?”
“At first, it felt good. Like all the other times I had taken negative energy. But then...it started to feel wrong.”
“Wrong?”
“Like, they were my friends. Like I was harming them, and I was, they were fighting and bleeding, and Fissure, her nose…”
“You weren’t wrong,” Mercury interrupted her. “You were just following your instincts. Don’t forget, you’re a Siren. Isn’t this what you’re made to do? Isn’t this the only way you can survive?”
“Y-yeah...you’re right about that. But...still...you know?”
“No, we don’t know,” Venus interjected. “We’re not weak like you. We don’t shy from our work.”
“I’m not weak,” Aria snapped. “It’s just getting harder for me to enjoy causing harm to people.”
Mercury stopped writing to stare at Aria. “Come now, you love this! You love feeling strong and powerful. You love feeling like Adagio, don’t you?”
Aria looked at him. “Excuse me?”
“You’re finally in the spotlight, Aria. It’s your voice that’s doing this, it’s all you. Not your sisters...you. For once, you are the sole Siren that we’re focused on. You’re the leader.”
“The...leader? Really?”
Mercury smiled, showing too much teeth. “Yes. You’re the main character in this study we’re doing. You’re the star! And we’re sorry that we have to be so mean to you, but it’s the only way, isn’t it?”
Aria’s lips curled slightly. “Yeah...yeah, it is...and I am the star! Adagio could never make humans fight like this! I’ve got a gift, haven’t I?
Venus sat down next to her. “You sure do,” she said, patting Aria’s knee. “And we want you to share it with everyone!”
***
It took almost all day to get Aria ready for her next feeding. She sat in Venus’s room, getting pampered by her. Aria’s hair felt soft on her back, freshly washed and brushed. She was wearing one of Venus’s outfits: a short, breezy black dress with sparkles dusting the bodice. Her face was painted expertly, and Venus was putting the finishing touches on her lips.
“Perfect,” Venus said. “You know, you really should have been the leader of the Dazzlings. Sure, Adagio is tall and curvy, but you’ve got that whole brooding, sexy goth thing going on.”
“Thanks,” Aria murmured, staring at herself in the mirror. She did look good.
“So,” Mercury called out as he opened the door, “I’ve compiled a list of places we’re hitting tonight...woah, Aria, you look amazing.”
Aria blushed at the compliment. “Shut up, I know,” she retorted playfully. “Where are we tonight?”
Mercury glanced at his list. “Okay, so yesterday’s feeding didn’t really go as we planned, so we’re gonna visit ‘Mesmerize’ again, then we’ve got a gig at ‘Blue Bottle’, great place, and then finally we’ve got a spot at ‘512’. Sound good?”
Aria smiled. “Great. We’re done here. Let’s paint the town Aria.”
Venus chuckled and gave Aria’s dress one last tug. “All set.”
The trio walked towards their first club of the night. They had been going out for ‘feedings’ for three days now, and Aria was loving this new routine. They would go to some clubs, they’d get her drunk, dish out some awful words, and then she’d sing, causing chaos everywhere she went. The patrons never remembered what happened of course, so they were never blamed for this. Aria loved hopping from place to place, leaving her mark in every club, even though they wouldn’t remember her in the morning. Plus, it was helping Mercury and Venus with their own work. While Aria sang, they would fiddle with old books and strange objects, muttering under their breath, staring at glowing balls or whatever. As long as Aria was able to drink, dance, and sing, she was happy.
The night passed quickly, in the usual jade haze that surrounded her. She felt herself getting stronger, her emotions fizzling thanks to the alcohol in her blood.
“I’m so ready for this,” she slurred, swaying back and forth on her heels. “Hit me with your best shot!”
“Adagio was right to keep you on backing vocals,” sneered Venus. “When even stupid Sonata gets more lines than you, you know you’re an untalented, unwanted pile of shit.”
“Why do you think Adagio never listens to your plans?” asked Mercury. “Probably because they’re bound to be failures, just like you.”
“You don’t know me at all!” seethed Aria, memory clouded with drink. She was getting angry, and she did not like it. “I’m just as good as fucking Adagio!” She staggered onto the stage and pulled on the microphone, unleashing a torrent of notes that left her last audience shaking and rioting.
She stepped off and immediately fell into Mercury’s arms.
“That was amazing,” he said, smiling widely. “The way you just...made everyone fight. I think someone deserves a treat.”
“More drinks?” Aria asked, clapping her hands. “I’m down for that!”
They headed out, looking for a bar that didn’t have blood on the floor. Aria ordered something fruity, and gulped it down eagerly. A young woman sat next to her, lilac skin covered in brightly colored tattoos.
“Nice skin,” Aria blurted out.
The girl looked at Aria and giggled. “My ink? Thanks. Worked hard for these babies.” She flexed her bicep, making the pin-up on the muscle move to the beat of the music. “Pretty cool, eh?”
“I want one,” Aria demanded. “Venus, Mercs, whaddya say? Let’s all get matching tattoos!”
“Oh, we require virgin skin for most of our rituals,” Venus said. “But maybe you can get one, if you really want.”
“Yeah! Yeah!” Aria let out a loud whoop and spun off the bar stool, hitting the ground hard. “Ink me!”
When they finally found a tattoo shop that would work on a drunk girl, Aria hesitated. “What should I get?”
Venus pondered for a second. “What about a Siren?”
“Like...a police siren?” asked the artist.
“No, you fucking idiot,” Aria chirped. “Like...a sea monster. With boobs. And hair. And...hooves. Sea woman with horse wings.”
“So...like a mermaid?”
“Yeah, yeah, that. Loud noise. It’s...is this gonna hurt? Um...ow. Ow. Ow! Ow!”
***
Aria hissed as she spread the cream on her healing tattoo. It was stinging and itching like crazy, which made it harder to put the soothing gel on it. At least the pain helped her get angrier. She stared at the misshapen tail and face. Oh well. That’s what she gets for being an idiot.
They were taking a break from feeding today. Mercury and Venus left to do some shopping, while the other three members stayed as far away from Aria as they could. She wandered around the house, whistling tunelessly to herself. She nibbled on some cold nuggets they got from a nearby fast food place, practiced her pouts and poses in the bathroom, brushed her hair for a few minutes…
She walked into the twins’ room with the intent on applying some makeup on herself. Their room was honestly so much nicer than the shit she had to sleep in. The bed was an actual bed, with a headboard and legs and everything. The walls were fresh, it didn’t smell like piss, and at least the bones were set up nicely. In the closet, behind the rows of clothes, was a small secret area that Aria had seen the twins come in and out every so often.
“Wonder what’s in there,” she said to herself.
So, like the smart girl she was, she decided to have a look. She pushed gently on the closet wall, feeling it give way and reveal the secret room. It was windowless and stuffy, with candle smoke lingering in the air. Cabinets lined the walls, and a desk piled with papers stood in the center. She walked closer, peering at the pictures on the wall. They looked familiar...a girl with orange hair, a blue girl with a dopey grin, a purple girl with a scowl on her face…
Wait a minute.
She looked down at the desk, and gasped.
Each page was filled with elaborate observations of Adagio Dazzle, Sonata Dusk, and Aria Blaze. She rifled through them, reading about her past life. Here was a page about that time they all went to the mall, and there’s a page about their first day at Canterlot High. Page after page, each going into excruciating detail about every aspect of their day. There was even a few pages about the Battle of the Bands. More and more pictures surfaced, with strange words scribbled on their faces. There were more pictures of Aria, though, as if they were particularly interested in her. A picture of Adagio at a club, smiling smugly at the camera, her pendant glowing bright red.
Aria dropped the papers, and took a step back. Were these people stalking her and her sisters? That would explain why they could hit deep with the personal insults...because they knew exactly what she was going through. After all, they wrote it all down.
Her curiosity got the better of her and she continued to look through the papers. She grabbed one and began to read:
“14/7/2014
Dazzlings meeting at coffee shop down from Canterlot High. Wearing dark hoodies and jeans, hoods down low. Aria arguing about meals. Not getting enough energy. Fight ensues. Adagio insults. Aria retaliates, gets caught up with Sonata. Adagio notices strange magic in the air, goes outside. Sisters follow.”
She stopped reading, and took a deep breath. They’ve been watching her from the very beginning, haven’t they? There were more journal entries just like this, and by skimming them, she realized that they had been everywhere. How did they even get into the school? How were they able to follow her so closely?
To the side of the entries were books. Dark, thick books with bleeding eyes and mouths on the covers. She raised a trembling hand and opened the closest book to what seemed to be a dog-eared page.
“Hair of fire,
Eyes of thorn,
Blood of scorned
Child middle-born
To control the mind of the person you seek,
a ritual performed with the one whom you speak,
When liquid life merge with the essence of death,
Only then do you hold control over their breath.”
Mind control? Did they want to hypnotize and control her? She slowly backed away, clutching her chest. Her heart was beating fast — she had to get out of here. She turned and ran out, banging her shoulder on the way, sending shocks of pain on her sensitive skin.
“Aria? What are you doing in here?” she heard as soon as she closed the closet door.
“O-oh, Venus, I was just...looking at your clothes. You have such n-nice ones…” Aria stammered, heart beating wildly. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit!
“Oh, okay.” Venus walked closer. “You know, Aria, I’d appreciate it if you kept the closet diving when I’m with you. Don’t you unveiling any skeletons in the closet, you get me?”
Aria swallowed. “I...didn’t see any skeletons in there.”
“I think you did see something in there, Aria,” Venus said, her voice growing darker. “You’re just not telling me. Well, congratulations on finding out. You must be real proud of yourself.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“Please, Aria...guess we can’t hide it anymore. It’s time.”
“Time for what?”
“Time to die.”
Aria froze. “Y-you’re not serious,” she whispered, her voice hoarse and weak. “N-no, please…”
Venus stalked towards her, and opened the closet. She stood on her toes and pulled out a box from the upper shelf.
“Our hair is naturally pink. Not that sinister, eh?” Venus chuckled as she pulled out a bottle of hair dye. “That’s why we went out. To buy some more hair dye. My roots were showing and this bottle only has enough for a small retouch. Well, see you in a bit.”
Aria slumped against the closet door and sighed. Okay, so she was safe...for now.
***
She sat on the couch, the events of today boiling in her mind. She had to leave, and soon. These people were crazy, right? Stalking someone with the intent of using them in a freaking dark magic ritual wasn’t cool, right? She twisted her fingers together, breathing deeply. Maybe she could go back to Ms Feather’s...they’d accept her, right? No, not after what she did to Dew Drop. She could go back to her family...no, they didn’t want her. One of the clubs? She needed to start writing down the names, formulate a plan, get out, get out of here before they —
“Hey, Aria.”
“Oh, h-hey, Mercury. What’s up?”
He sat down next to her, knee bumping against hers. “Heard you discovered our secret.”
Aria giggled nervously. “Oh yeah, the dye? Sorry about that. I won’t tell anyone.”
“I’m not worried about that,” he murmured, leaning in closer. “In fact, that’s not really the secret I was talking about.”
“O-oh? There’s another?”
“I have...let’s say, a hunch about what you got up to this afternoon while we were gone. You say you were in our room looking at clothes, eh? You didn’t happen to...wander into any private areas of the house, did you?”
There was an audible gulp. “N-no…” Aria said. “I would never. I know the rules.”
Mercury leaned in closer, reaching into his pocket to pull out a slim blade. “Are you sure about that? What if I told you some very important papers were shuffled out of place? As if someone who didn’t know my organizing method was messing around in my office?” He ran the cold blade down Aria’s neck, feather light, careful not to break the skin. “And someone left my book open to a very important page?”
“It could have been Venus,” Aria whispered, sweat beading on her forehead. “O-or maybe Fissure, she loves to explore, doesn’t she?”
“Maybe.” He flashed her a smile. “You’ve got lovely skin. You look flushed though, like you’ve got too much blood in your body. Should we let some of it out?”
Aria felt her blush leave her cheeks, turning from dark to pale in a few seconds.
“Ah, all gone.” Mercury chuckled, and stood up. “Good night, Aria. Sleep well. Don’t let anything bite you.”
Aria stayed on the couch, wringing her hands together. She was scared.
Very, very scared.