Chapter Six
Every note I’d ever locked away, every melody I’d buried in fear, poured out of me in waves, filling every room, every corner of the circus, the coven’s space, even the tiny kitchen of Jean-Baptiste’s trailer.
I hummed while making tea, trilled while walking through the yard, and hit high notes while doing paperwork or at least pretending to. The song was constant, relentless, and it felt like breathing.
Mike, bless him, was still around. Still willing. Still patient. Mostly. Lately, I’d caught him rolling his eyes at my little bursts of spontaneous arias, muttering under his breath, “You’re going to give me a headache.”
But I knew the truth: he’d been through enough of my song’s chaos to appreciate the controlled freedom now. And besides… his Anarchy mind-lock kept him from really suffering from it anymore.
JB, on the other hand, smiled every time I launched into another melody.
I didn’t understand it. The rest of his family reacted like my voice was a bandsaw, easing away from me every time I joined in with the radio.
Not Jean-Baptiste. He didn’t just tolerate my outbursts.
He encouraged them, inflicting me on his family with a degree of sadistic glee.
Only their sense of Southern hospitality kept them from kicking me out the moment I started tapping my foot to the beat.
And though Mike occasionally groaned and threatened to plug his ears, and JB smirked at every impromptu aria, it didn’t matter. I was happy. My voice was no longer a threat. It was no longer a plague. It was safe.
“Why do you put up with me?” I asked him one evening. “With all the singing? I know sirens sound like audio feedback to you, but you give me this big dopey grin every time I start belting out show tunes. What gives?”
Jean-Baptiste leaned back, crossing his arms. “Dopey? You’re calling me dopey, cher? That’s cold.”
I gave him a good-natured shove. “I call it like I see it.”
“Oh? And how do you see it?”
I smiled. “Just that you’re completely head over heels for me. It’s kind of sad to watch, really.”
His eyes sparkled. “Is that so, cher?”
I kissed him, leaning into the ache behind my breastbone. He was here, and he was close, and for the first time in forever, I could exist without hurting anyone. It made me feel like the future between us was actually possible.
When we finally broke apart, I rested my forehead against his. “You always know how to make me feel like I’m not broken.”
He smiled. “You were never broken, cher. Just holding your breath too long.”
My heart swelled. I wanted to kiss him again.
I wanted to tug him into the water and drown him in the feel of my hands and my mouth.
I felt the siren at my core, a thing that lured sailors to their doom.
It lived in me. The desire to hold someone too tightly.
To sink beneath the waves and never emerge.
But I wasn’t cursed. Not anymore.
For the first time in forever, the song didn’t rule me.
For the first time, I was free.
~~~~
The End