Salem Falls

It was quiet outside, for a Friday night. At least that’s what Siren thought as she walked down the street. As usual, she parked her car far away from Niall’s. Though she thought that people would hardly pay attention to her car at his home, it still made her wary to park directly in front of his home. It was like asking a member of her coven to find her.

Ironic, how Evelyn and a human were allowed to know about Siren and Niall’s relationship. She felt that they were far more accepting than… others. Siren could never imagine telling Zayn or Harry. Or even Lucie. In fact, Siren had a distinct feeling that if Lucie were there with her, she’d tell her that she was stupid.

Licking her lips, Siren thought about her friend. Still no contact had been made from Lucie, and it made Siren worried. Sure, she liked to think herself beyond human emotion, but the fact was that Lucie was a friend. And she was still gone, as the days were growing darker.

Slipping into the back yard, the girl followed the cobblestone path around the house and to the steps that led up to the back porch. She always came through the back door in case Niall’s parents came home earlier than expected. They were still unaware that a member of the sixth circle was creeping in and out of their home.

Without knocking, Siren opened the door and let herself in. She had not warned Niall she was coming over, but she knew that his parents were out, and that he would know it was her the minute she stepped in the room. He had not called her all day, and some girly part of her was annoyed by it.

Shutting the door, she found all the lights in the house on, which made her brows knit together in confusion as she walked across the tiled kitchen floor and around the island centerpiece in the kitchen. Through the door was the living room, and as she crossed the threshold, she reeled.

“Am I hallucinating? Tell me I’m hallucinating,” she said, her eyes fixated into narrowed slits at the very surprised, jaw-slack Lucie, sitting next to Liam Payne, a prominent member of Lunar Circle. Which made sense, seeing as it was Niall’s house. But zero sense, because he put his hand on Lucie’s knee- protectively. “Ease up, Lunar boy. I’m not here to hurt anyone. That I know of.”

Liam made a face but it was Lucie who spoke, her voice clear and easy, as if she had never been gone. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh,” Niall said as he came down the stairs, seeing Siren standing in the threshold of the living room door. He gave her a grin and walked up to her like there was no electric tension in the room, kissing her temple. “Hi.”

“What?” Liam asked, looking between the two of them. Lucie was just as speechless, staring at Siren like she had two heads. Siren stared back. “You two?”

“I told you I might be able to convince some members of Sixth Circle,” Niall said, smiling brightly. Siren glared at him, her eyes sharp and edgy. Niall really was difficult to get down and out. Put a damper on his happiness was nigh on impossible, even when Liam, Lucie and Siren were staring at one another like they weren’t sure if they were friends or enemies. “This is what I meant. See Liam, you’re not the only one who fell in love with the other side.”

Siren blinked and snapped her head towards Niall. If he had never had a damper put on his happiness, he seemed to have realized what he had said and the color drained from his face momentarily as his eyes flicked over to Siren. “What?” she asked finally, giving him a look. “Not like you haven’t said it before.”

He grinned thankfully at her and then looked at the other couple, who looked absurdly lost. “Siren and I have been… dating.”

“And you?” Siren asked, ignoring Liam and looking at her best friend. Her best friend who had vanished, who she hadn’t heard from in forever. It was strange, that you could look at someone you knew your entire life and see a perfect stranger. That’s how Siren felt, like she didn’t even know Lucie. “Is that why you vanished? Without a note, a phone call? Because of him.”

Liam snorted. “She says it like it’s my fault.”

“Well it isn’t mine,” Siren snorted. Liam seemed irritated with her, but she was irritated with him too, though she wasn’t sure why. It was like Liam had done anything personally to Siren- except be her complete and opposite opposing for meant to be her destruction. Put dramatically, that was.

“We can talk about that later,” Lucie insisted, drawing Siren’s attention back to the present. Niall was still standing close to her; she could feel the remnants of electricity on him from his incident. “But what we need to talk about right now is the trouble that’s coming.”

Working her mouth, Siren seemed to consider it. “Start talking, then.”

*

Two hours later, Siren found herself following Lucie upstairs to the loft, where they could talk privately. The four mages had spent the two hours sharing their opinions on what was going on and discussing what should be done. Siren had told the three of them the strange behavior Naveed Malik was expressing, and then admit that she wasn’t sure if Sixth Circle would join Lunar Circle.

Lucie had agreed to this particular piece. The two girls both knew well enough that it was going to be hard enough to convince Lunar Circle to join forces with Sixth Circle. But asking the dark mages? The chances were slim to none. Siren knew because she herself was having trouble deciding what to do.

All her life she had grown up believing one thing. She had always believed in power and darkness, especially when darkness fed power. Lunar Circle didn’t have the means or the dark energy to battle the storm that was coming. They weren’t strong enough in that sense.

And Siren didn’t want to die for nothing.

Walking into the small room, Lucie began pacing back and forth. She did not look like the same Lucie that Siren had seen last. She looked tired, and wary and she looked like she just wanted to rest for a while. In fact, she looked everything that Siren was feeling on the inside.

“You’ve got to understand,” Lucie said slowly, turning to face Siren, “That I never in a million years would have thought my life would turn out this way. Hating my parents, lying to my best friends, my coven- you. I never would have… everything just got so crazy.”

Siren leaned against the wall as Lucie sat. She felt extremely inclined to listen, as the girl ran her hands through her hair, sighing and trying to come up with a place to start. “I love Liam. I love him so much that I would die for him, Siren. He has saved me more than anyone ever could and I would do anything and kill anyone who hurt him.”

“Even if it’s me.” Lucie cocked her head to the side and Siren smile ruefully, bowing her head. “That’s what you were implying, yes? That you don’t want this to be difficult, but if I tried to hurt him, you’d stop me.”

“I would do anything for him.”

Siren chewed her lip, looking up at Lucie. “You never thought to tell me any of this? About you and Liam, about your and your mother?”

The girl laughed without an ounce of humor. Siren hoped that she wasn’t showing that she was hurt on her face, but she was. “How could I ever? Siren you know yourself- would you have told yourself if you were in my place?”

“I guess not. I just wish you would have.”

“You would have never understood. You still would not understand, if you didn’t have Niall now. Siren, you’ve been one of the most loyal followers to Sixth Circle, especially in our generation of children. You always were. No one has ever doubted you, in our coven. You know that?”

“No one doubted you either,” Siren retorted, crossing her arms over her chest. A slight sourness had crept into her tone, and she was trying to swallow it. “Why do you think you were the one they picked to marry Zayn?”

Confusion flashed on Lucie. “Zayn? What, did you want to marry Zayn?”

“What? No! But you’ve always belonged more than I did, even when you didn’t want to. They always loved you, there. The other members have always trusted you. Everyone has always looked down their noses at me because I’m wild and because of my mother. Even Liam accepts you more than he will ever accept me. I belong… I don’t know where.”

“I think you belong where you want to belong. Do you know where you want to belong?” Siren gave Lucie a very long look. It was clear that she was indecisive about where she stood on the entire ‘sides’ thing. Lucie knew Siren well enough to know she liked to be on the winning side. “Well, Siren. I think its about time you’ve figured out which side you belong on.”

“Funny,” Siren murmured. “Best friends threatening one another, falling in love with the wrong side, having to fight off something that we haven’t even identified yet. When the hell did everything become so hard?”

Lucie smiled sadly. “The moment their became a light and a dark.”

Siren had no response. Instead she nodded, shoving her hands in the pockets of her jeans and walking out of the door and downstairs, where Niall sat on the couch with Liam. Niall stood instantly when Siren entered the room, coming over to her and nodding his head towards the kitchen to talk. She followed.

The kitchen was uncharacteristically cold. Usually a kitchen was a place of warmth and comfort, where you could solve all problems through food and cooking. Siren found herself, hugging her body, warming herself with her affinity for fire.

Niall scratched the back of his neck, looking nervous. “What?” Siren asked him. She hated when Niall looked nervous. “Spit it out.”

“Stay here tonight,” Niall said suddenly. He had literally spat it out, saying it so quickly that it took a minute for her to process the words to form a coherent sentence. “Really, I want you to.”

“Your parents-"

“Won’t mind. They trust my judgment. And you’re a Chevaux.” Niall hesitated and shook his head, looking crestfallen. “Unless you don’t want to, of course which is fine, I mean-"

Siren cut him off by hurrying across the kitchen and pressing her lips to his, holding his face in her hands and kissing him hard. No one had ever asked her to stay before. Even if they had, it wouldn’t have mattered. Because she didn’t want to stay anywhere else. “I’ll stay.”