Chapter 3: The Nightmare

Noah

It was the same nightmare. It always was. I knew it wasn’t real, but that didn't make it feel any less real at the moment. I was shifted underwater, free. I felt the water glide over my body as I swam deeper. It was the freest I had felt in months. I chased the feeling. 

 Deeper. Deeper. Deeper. 

The light from the surface was gone. It was cold. Dark. The darkness didn’t scare me. It never did. What terrified me was the sound. A song so hauntingly beautiful; a siren song. It called for me.

 Follow me. Follow me. Follow me. 

I followed, knowing where it took me. I sensed something close to me, a shadow similar to my own. My brain teased me with the thought of other sirens, but I was the only one. Not even my dreams could change that. The shadow was closer, almost on top of me. I attempted to swim away, but the water became thicker and changed color. Red. I was surrounded by blood, breathing it in. There were claws around my throat. My heart started beating harder and faster in my chest. I could feel it pounding in my ears. 

You could have stopped this

 The song was getting louder and louder and louder. It was deafening to the point where I became disoriented. I opened my mouth to scream, but all I tasted was the metallic hint of blood. What was up? What was down? Was I going to die? What was I supposed to be stopping? Please tell me! I was desperate for this to end. No matter what I wanted, the nightmare would not end until the song was over.

You could have stopped this.

I awoke screaming, drenched in sweat, half shifted. Tears flowed down my face. I didn’t have the strength to stop them. Breathe Noah. Gasping for air, I wrapped my arms around myself to keep from floating away. My whole body was shaking, unable to move. Every time I blinked, I saw the water filled with blood. The phantom grip around my neck lingered. The siren song echoed through my empty, dark room; I reached up to cover my ears. “It’s not real,” I whispered to myself repeatedly. 

Climbing out of bed, I felt the sweat pooling on my body. My sleep shorts clinging to my normally dry skin. I was lucky that I lived alone. After I graduated from high school, my aunt and uncle gifted me a boathouse. They knew that I craved solitude and freedom, so they provided that for me. The boathouse sat on a dock a short distance from the house Maya and I had grown up in, so that way, I would never be too far away. Being closer to the water helped me maintain my human form longer. Who would have thought that this solitary would come in handy when I woke up screaming from a recurring nightmare? Not me. 

My wobbling legs took me down the narrow hall toward the kitchen. The time on the microwave gave an eerie glow to the area. It was almost 4 a.m. I returned home from the cove close to midnight, so I managed to sleep for a while. Small wins. I poured myself a glass of cold water then wobbled back to bed to relax. 

I contemplated sitting in the shower and allowing myself to shift, but I wasn’t in the mood to get up from the bed again. Desperate for a distraction, I thought of the interesting, yet bizarre, night I had. I lost track of time in the locker room and meeting the unknown Underwood. Rain. That was his name. Who would name their child Rain? Rich people, I assumed. 

Honestly, I didn’t know much about the Underwoods. Their family trade was pharmaceuticals. They owned a research building and the local pharmacies in town. I assumed there were only three siblings. Raven, the oldest, was way older than me, so I never attended the same school as her. She seemed like the overachieving type the few times I saw her around town. Then there was Robyn, the pretty boy. All the girls in high school would line up just to look at him. The boys did too. Me included. He was your typical rich party boy until he got some girl pregnant a year ago, so he was all family now. On social media, he was frequently posting about loyalty and determination. Then the youngest, Romaris. He was younger than me and had a reputation for being unbelievably kind. I remembered when the news spread around town about his death. There was a boating accident off one of the many islands near the cove. They never found the body; a tragedy. 

People believed that was the beginning of our town curse. A few months after the youngest Underwood died, there was a rise in shark attacks near the cove. Coincidentally, that was when my nightmares started. 

You could have stopped this.

The siren song was still ringing in my damn head. I gulped down the cold water and forced myself to feel the sensation. Get it together, Noah. My nightmares have nothing to do with the town curse. I didn't want to think about the siren song anymore, so I rolled over and picked up my phone. I realized that I have a message notification on my social media account. From Rain. That guy was persistent. I was interested so I opened the message:

Sorry about the boardwalk. I feel like I interrupted something private. Sorry.

This Underwood was interesting. How did he know I worked at the pool? No one other than my family and the kids I taught knew that. This Rain guy came out of nowhere knowing too much about me, and I didn’t know he existed. He had to be older than Romaris but younger than Robyn. He and Robyn looked very similar, so they must be close in age. Maybe around 22 or 23 years old. Why have I never seen him before?

I decided to review his social media account. If he can stalk me, I can do the same to him. Scrolling through his feed, I got a sense of his personality. Everything was very aesthetic. He took photos in bookstores and cafes wearing expensive clothes. Photos of some of his classmates, also people I have never seen before. He must have gone to a school outside Harmonia Cove. Of course he was attractive, all the Underwoods were. Just looking at his feed, I could tell he grew up in a well-off family. I also didn’t miss the many, many photos of him and his younger brother Romaris. They seemed close. The last photo he uploaded was a headstone, Romaris’ headstone. Suddenly I was filled with sadness. I could not imagine what it would be like to lose a sibling. If I lost Maya, I wouldn’t know how to live. 

What was Rain looking for near the islands? How did he know I had a scuba certification? I only decided to get a scuba license, so people wouldn’t ask questions when I spend too much time underwater. Was there some Harmonia Cove hidden treasure buried by a great great great Underwood or something? I wouldn’t mind a little gold. Maybe I should just ask what he needed to find, so I messaged him:

Before I help you, what exactly are you looking for underwater?

After I sent the message, I realized it was 4 in the morning. “Not weird at all,” I lied to myself. Oh well, it was too late to take it back. With no possibility of sleeping, I decided to take a lengthy shower and allowed myself to shift 100%. 

________________________

When I saw a full sunrise, I slowly shifted back to a human. When my toes were no longer numb, I stood up then stepped out of the bathroom, ignoring the pain in my legs. There was knocking at my front door. I knew it must be Maya. She was the only person that would visit me this early in the morning. I hadn’t seen her since last night at the diner when I almost shifted. I opened the door to my boathouse and looked down at my older cousin. She always looked well put together. Even this early in the morning, she looked like she was going to a photo shoot. 

She was a witch. My whole family were witches, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she used magic to help her look put together all the time. We have matching dark skin tones, which made her pink hair stand out against it. She dyed her hair so people wouldn’t ask about my natural color. 

I tried smiling at her, but she was less than pleased. I didn’t blame her. I told her nothing about what happened at the pool even though I said I would. I moved out of the way so she could enter my small home. She walked past the tiny kitchen and sat on the couch, then invited me to sit beside her. Relaxing beside her, I took a deep breath. “I had the same nightmare again,” I began.

She looked over at me with more concern than usual. She hesitated before she spoke.

“I don’t want to freak you out or anything,” she paused, trying to find the right words, “but there was another shark attack at the cove last night.”

I placed my head in my hands and slumped into the couch. I heard the echo of the siren song on loop in my mind. 

“Noah, there has to be some kind of link. If you would let me and the coven try scrying—”

“No. It’s bad enough that I relived the nightmare. I will not let you live it too.” 

“I just want to help,” She pouted. 

“I know you do, but you know what happens when humans hear the siren song. They become obsessed, consumed by it, hypnotized. They will stop at nothing until they find what the song tells them to find. It’s too dangerous.” I placed my hand on hers so she would know I was serious. I will not endanger her sanity because I couldn’t manage mine. 

She sighed of defeat, but I know she will ask again when I have another nightmare. 

“Are you feeling better?” She asked softly. “You looked rough as shit last night.” 

“Last night was pretty rough,” I said with a quiet laugh, “but I’ll be okay. I think.” 

“Speaking of last night,” she said this in a way where I knew she was going to ask about my personal life, “I saw Aiden posting sad lyrics. What happened?” 

I forgot all about Aiden. I had not processed what happened between us last night. 

“That guy is in love with you, you know that right?” Maya laughed. 

If only I had known that earlier I wouldn’t have kept sleeping with him. I fucked with his feelings. “He wanted a relationship. Like an actual relationship. And I basically turned him down.” I said.

“How unfortunate.” 

“For Aiden or me?”

“Both.”

“How is that unfortunate for me?” I said, pretending to be offended.

“Because Aiden is a nice guy. Kind. He would have done anything for you. You can let one bad breakup affect your entire love life.”

She only thought Aiden was kind because she didn’t know him as I did. The guy was a little self-centered.  He found any way possible to make the conversation about himself. She was right about the part where he would do anything for me. That was the scariest part. Being put on a pedestal and then having to live up to it. And she was wrong about letting a bad breakup affect my love life. Heartbreak taught me a valuable lesson: Never show anyone who I really was. 

“Speaking of interesting,” I said, desperate to change the topic, “I talked to an Underwood last night.”

Maya grabbed my hands excitedly. “ Was it Raven? Please tell me it was Raven,” She squealed. 

“Um..No. Why would Raven be at a cove party? It was a guy.”

“Oh. A guy,” She said, sounding uninterested.

“It was an unknown Underwood. One I’ve never seen before,” I said, hoping to get her attention back. “His name was Rain.” 

Maya looked at me like I was dumb. “That’s not an unknown Underwood. Everyone that keeps up on social media knows that he’s an Underwood sibling.” 

I blinked, I thought I made a unique discovery. I might be dumb. “If everyone knows he’s an Underwood sibling how come I never seen him before?”

“He went to a different school. One for people with hearing loss.” 

“The hearing aids make sense now,” I whispered. 

“Actually what’s more interesting is that he talked to you. Rain only talks to his family.”

“Well, he talked to me,” I said with a smirk. “And he asked for my help.”

“With what?”

“Scuba diving. I’m waiting for him to message me back.”

“You two are messaging each other?” She said, raising her eyebrows. “Now I know why you turned down Aiden,” She laughed. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I scowled. 

She laughed without answering my question. “I have a nail appointment soon. You promised you would cover my shift at the diner this morning.” 

Another thing I forgot. For now, I ignored how Maya avoided my question and nodded my head. Maya quickly left the boathouse as if I was going to go back on my promise. Even though I wanted to, I wasn’t, so I started getting ready for work. 

Before I walked out the door, my phone notifications alert went off; a message from Rain. The words on the screen made me sick. My stomach twisted. 

What do you know about sirens? 

The song echoed louder in my head.