The Case of the Songless Sirens And The Wandering Stranger

by Needling Haystacks

Chapter 4: Bat Family

Sirens in Greek mythology sang on a rock in the middle of the ocean, Jim thought, going over his line of reasoning more closely as he rode his bike, Plus, those energy forms looked aquatic. The ocean is nowhere near here, but there are ponds. And at a field trip in elementary school, we saw one that had a small island in the middle of it.

It took a good fifteen or so minutes to get to the turn-off by bike. No paved roads led there, just a dirt one through a gate marked "Private." Jim stopped here and thought. On the one hand, a bike was more likely to get him noticed on the way in, and if he was wrong it would be hard to explain why he was there. On the other hand, if he left the bike here, someone could notice it left there and take action. Judging the latter to be the greater danger, Jim maneuvered his bike around the gate on foot and rode it the fairly short distance to the pond.

The Sirens were not out on the island, which was a good fifty yards or so out, but were by the shore. There was a small house near the dock. Adagio sat on the porch steps looking at the ground. Aria leaned against a tree and stared out over the lake. Sonata skipped a rock across the pond, but only managed two skips.

"Awww," Sonata said dejectedly, kicking at the ground. All three of them looked a bit dejected, come to it, although Aria was also angry.

"Must you?" Aria asked irritatedly, glancing at Sonata.

"No, but what else is there to do?" Sonata said, a touch brighter than she had sounded the previous day.

"Oh, leave her alone," Adagio said without looking up. Aria turned her glare on their leader.

"Why? We have nothing now! No magic, not even music! And it was YOUR stupid plan that got us here!" Aria said.

Adagio looked up at her. Her eyes were red and puffy. "Then go do what you want," she said. She looked back down. "It doesn't matter anyway."

Aria bit her lower lip. Sonata looked nervously between her sisters. It was then she noticed Jim getting off his bike.

"Hey, it's that Bat-guy! He-eey!" she called, waving at him.

Jim had not been able to hear the preceding conversation, but from the actions and expressions he had been able to see he got the general idea.

"Err, hey," he said, raising his hand weakly as he left his bike and walked over. The other two girls turned to look at him.

"What do you want?" Adagio asked resignedly, "Changed your mind and come to take us to jail or whatever?"

"Or did you just want to gloat?" Aria added.

"Neither," Jim said, coming to a stop roughly equidistant from all three, "Actually... well..."

"Don't tell me you're going to declare your love for us or something," Aria said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. She had gone back to leaning on the tree, arms crossed over her chest.

"Awww, that would be kinda sweet, though," Sonata said, though her usual cheer sounded forced.

Jim shifted awkwardly. "Not that either. Actually..." He paused and looked at the house. "Are you three living here?"

"Yeah, well, when our magic left, our landlord stopped being under our spell," Adagio said, "We went looking for some water because... Well, because we're Sirens. No one seems to be using this place, so..."

"Ah," Jim said. He looked between the three. "Well, I was looking for you because I was worried."

Aria snorted. Sonata tilted her head curiously. Adagio spoke. "Yeah, always gotta be the hero, don't you? Well don't worry, we'll figure something out. I mean, if we've lost our magic we've probably only got a few decades to live anyway." Sonata and Aria looked at her in surprise.

Jim furrowed his brow and thought about this. "So, you've been in this world for... decades? Centuries?"

"I don't know, it all looks the same after awhile," Sonata said with a shrug, "Either of you keep track?"

"Not really. Time feels different here compared to back home, if that makes sense," Adagio said, "But at least a hundred years."

Jim whistled softly. "So you didn't age? Kinda like Ras Al Ghul or Vandal Savage?"

"I don't know who those are?" Aria said with some bite, "But no, as long as we could steal energy, we didn't age. I guess we do now... I hadn't really thought about it."

"Yeah, but you've got the same problem they did. All that time and you never really did anything with it. You just... stopped moving," Jim said.

Aria opened her mouth as if to say something, probably something sarcastic, but stopped and closed it again. After a moment she answered. "You may have a point."

"Yeah and everything before fast food came along was pretty boring anyway," Sonata said.

"Without magic you need to be careful not to eat too much of it," Jim said. Then he shook his head. "But that's not the point. I also came with a suggestion. If you don't have a place to stay, you could come stay at my Aunt and Uncle's. Errr, as long as you don't mind sharing a room." He paused for a second before adding, "I mean, the three of you sharing a room. I'd be in a different room, in case that needed saying."

Sonata and Aria looked shocked. Adagio sneered. "Yeah, I'm sure you'd like that. Pretty girls under your roof and keeping your enemies close all at once."

"Oh come on, don't be like that," Sonata said.

"Hey, it's not like that!" Jim protested, "It's just... well, Batman needs a Robin, right?"

"Or three!" Sonata said with a giggle.

"There have actually been five Robins," Jim said, "Six if you count 'The Dark Knight Returns.'"

Aria rolled her eyes. "You are such a nerd."

Adagio glared at Aria, then at Jim. "Why should we? What's in it for us?"

"Not sleeping in an abandoned house with no power or running water, duh," Sonata said.

"I hate to admit it, but she's right," Aria said grudingly. "Besides," she added, "YOU said we could do whatever we wanted."

Adagio threw up her hands. "Fine! If that's what you two want, I guess we'll go live with this Aunt whoever."

Aria rolled her eyes. "Don't do us any favors," she said.

"Or do, that would be a nice change," Sonata said.

"It's an expression!" Aria snapped. Adagio sighed and looked at Jim.

"You see what I put up with?" she said, "I hope you know what you're getting yourself into."

Jim's hand went to his chest, where the blue ring was concealed under his shirt.

"Not a clue," he said with a grin, "Oh, and it's Aunt Cassie and Uncle Todd."

Adagio finally stood up. "Right, guess we'll have to learn that."

"Errr, yeah and actually... I haven't talked to them about this yet," Jim said.

"WHAT?!" Aria and Adagio exclaimed together.

"Yeah I kinda just decided this on the way over... but I think I can convince them," he said, "They're really nice."

"And if nothing else we can just sing to them," Sonata said. "Oh, wait..." Her expression fell as her sisters glared at her.

"Sonata, you do the best sob story," Adagio said, "So you go with Bat-nerd here while Aria and I try and get our stuff from the last place we stayed."

"Yeah we DID kind of leave in a hurry," Aria said.

"Huh, I guess you would have a few things after all this time," Jim said, "I mean, even if you could hypnotize people for everything, it would be inconvenient."

Aria rolled her eyes. Sonata giggled.

"So come on, let's go!" she said, grabbing Jim's wrist and starting to drag him along, despite the fact that she had no clue where they were going.

"Wait, wait," he said, "Before all that, I might have some good news."

Sonata stopped at looked back at him. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," he said with a nod and a grin. "I did some research and found out that the inability to hear music is rare in this world but occurs enough to have a name. It's called amusia, and while it's not usually caused by magic... well, as far as I know..."

"So there's a cure?" Adagio said, sounding genuinely hopeful. Up until now the best she had managed had been annoyance or bossiness. Aria and Sonata also perked up.

"Errr, no, not exactly," Jim said. The Sirens visibly deflated. "Errr, but there are treatments that are being tried," he said, "And it's nothing too expensive so maybe...?"

Aria sighed. "Great."

"Well," Jim said., "If nothing else, it's something to hope for." He grinned at his joke, though it was probably not one they would get.

"Yep!" Sonata said bright, still gripping Jim's wrist, "Now let's go!"

As Sonata dragged Jim away again, Jim fingered the blue ring through his shirt with his free hand. If it ever did work, he thought, which of the three would make the best candidate for the next Lantern in the chain?

Comments

[jaroslav]

Adagio glared at Adagio, then at Jim. "Why should we? What's in it for us?"

There are two Adagios. :D