Siren Sisters by Dana Langer

Author:Dana Langer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

The next morning, I wake up curled in Lara’s bed. I’m still wearing Lula’s dress, which is like a cold, wet skin, and my arms and legs are streaked with mud. For a while I just lie there, staring up at the headboard with its pattern of smooth metal bars. My sisters are all awake, and the smell of coffee and bacon and the sound of their voices, laughing and teasing, float up from the kitchen. But outside, below my window, there’re these strange banging and rustling sounds.

I peel off Lula’s dress and grab Jason’s Little League T-shirt from the back of a chair. I pull the shirt on over my head and go look outside. Two stories below, a figure stands hunched over the trash cans, pawing through bottles and newspapers, a dark, hulking shape in the foggy gray morning. At first I think it’s one of Dad’s mythical ghost bears. But then the figure straightens and pushes back his hood, and I recognize him. It’s Mr. Bergstrom. His hair is all messed up, and his eyes are wild, and he has a series of rust-colored stains sprayed across the sleeves of his jacket.

I’m just as afraid as when I thought it was a bear.

I back away from the window and hurry across the cold floorboards and down the stairs.

“Lara!”

“What is it?” She comes into the hall holding a wooden spoon, cheeks flushed from standing over the stove. “I was just coming to wake you. I made oatmeal.”

“I have to tell you something.”

“You’re shaking, Lolly. What’s wrong?” She comes closer and rubs my arms. “Bad dream?”

“Lara, I went to a dance last night.”

“A dance?”

“Yes. At school. I lied to you.”

She grins. “I think you can be forgiven for that.”

“But that’s not the worst part. I ran away because the power went out, because the Sea Witch was calling, and Mr. Bergstrom saw me. He saw me running away, and I think he knows something. About us. I told you he’s hunted sirens before, and that he said he knows how to spot them.”

“Okay, well, it’s good you told me. I’ll just—”

“No, but there’s more.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean he’s outside right now. By the garbage cans. He’s here. At our house.”

There’s a pounding on the door then, hard enough to shake the rusty dead bolt and rattle the pictures on the walls.

Lara grabs my elbow and pulls me to her side. “Lula! Come in here!”

The pounding gets louder, and Lula and Lily both come into the hallway in their pajamas and socks. Lula’s still holding a bowl of oatmeal. “What’s all that banging? What’s going on?”

“Erik Bergstrom is outside. I’m going to go talk to him. Just take them down to the basement in case— Well, Dad’s gun is there.”

“It doesn’t have any bullets!” Lily reminds everyone.

Lara puts her finger to her lips. Then she opens the front door and steps out onto the porch, and the three of us ignore her instructions and hide in the living room where we can see everything through the window.

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