The Accidental Siren by Jake Vander Ark Page A

to my gut.
His girth outweighed mine and his barreling momentum carried me
into the trunk of another tree. My stomach lurched and my lungs
popped and when Trent pulled away, I fell to the ground with tears
in my eyes.
    “Sit there, faggot,” he said and pointed the
sword at my neck, “and don’t mess with a football player
again.”
    I heaved for air. I could only see the back
of Mara’s shoulder behind the trunk to which she was pinned... and
Danny’s lupine eyes.
    “Age,” Danny said. “Who. Is. She?”
    A.J. meandered toward Mara, but his eyes were
locked on mine (he remembered that night as well as I did). The can
of cooking spray tilted back and forth in his hand; the marble
inside ticked like a methodical time bomb. He snapped his head to
Mara and hissed, “Sssing.”
    Mara squirmed but Danny tightened his grip.
“A.J., if you don’t tell me what the hell is going on–”
    “Sing for them, Maaaraaa. ”
    “Cut it out, Age!” I shouted and T’s sword
pressed deeper into my neck.
    “If you sing for us...” A.J. dropped the
spray, reached into the neck of his shirt, and pulled out a gold
chain. “I’ll give you back your necklace.” He dangled the
charm in front of her face.
    Mara tilted her head to study the jewelry and
I could see her profile. “Where’d you get that...” she asked. Her
eyes were wet.
    A.J. slipped the chain back in his shirt. “We
figured out you moved,” he said. “Three nights ago. One of dem boys
brought a ladder.”
    Trent lowered his mouth to my ear. “I’m
gonna eat your girlfriend,” he said. The threat barely
registered in my brain; I was too focused on A.J.’s story.
    “I was number five up the ladder,” he said.
“The first boys already got to yer bedroom and closet, but I’m a
quick thinker so I went straight to yer bathroom. Found some
headbands in a drawer and a green washrag in the shower. I keep it
under my bed at night and sniff it.” His lips thinned and curled.
“Got yer necklace too,” he tapped his chest, “but that ain’t my
biggest find.” A.J. cupped his hand around her ear and whispered a
secret.
    Mara slouched. She pressed her cheek into the
bark and found my eyes with a melancholy gaze.
    T spoke more to himself than to me, but I
could still smell the rot on his breath and the peroxide on his
chin. “I’m gonna start with her toes,” he said. “I’m
gonna suck ‘em one at a time. Then I’m gonna eat ‘em.”
    Danny ran his fingertips across Mara’s cheek.
“Think she’s hotter than Roslyn?” He looked at me. “What do you
think, Fatty? Sexier than Ros?”
    “ I’m gonna eat her legs,” T whispered. All that pretty skin–I’m gonna gobble it right up...”
    Danny looked at A.J. “Why didn’t you tell me
about this? I’m you’re fricken leader.” (Age didn’t tell Danny
about Mara for the same reason I was avoiding Whit.)
    A.J. ignored the question. “Make ‘er sing,
Dan.”
    “Why?”
    “Just do it. You’ll see.”
    “ I’m gonna cut off her hair and I’m gonna
smell her breath, then I’m gonna eat her face, piece by
piece.”
    Again–slowly–Danny ran his fingers down
Mara’s cheek. His eyes burned with new intensity as the dark magic
took hold of his thoughts. “Sing,” he said.
     
    * * *
     
    My anger reached its peak and my veins were
primed with adrenaline–
    “What the hells goin’ on up here?” The man
was skinnier than a sapling with a pickaxe in one hand and
sweat-rag in the other.
    Trent hid the sword behind his back and A.J.
slipped behind a tree.
    Danny released Mara to the ground and said,
“None of your beeswax, Hank.”
    The man took ten strides with legs like a
spider. He clenched the back of Danny’s neck and held the boy’s
face to his. “You know that man’s payin’ me a hundred bucks to help
dig his trench? I brought you here to help, boy, not to play with
yer friends. And you call me Uncle Hank, you hear me?” He
let go of Danny’s neck and smacked the back of his