Chained (The Siren Series #2) (15 page)

“
Don’t worry, it will be ok.” Rhea
said.

Naaz walked up to the grinning knocker and
pounded on it twice. A few seconds later, two large men who looked
like protectors appeared in front of us. Naaz acknowledged the two
and pointed at me when they spoke. I slowly back away from them
hoping to run if I needed to. The two men looked me up and down
then walked up to me.

“
Are you Ellie Laveau?” One of the men
asked.

I swallowed a lump in my throat and tried to
answer without fear fumbling my words. “Yes, that’s me.”

The men nodded at each other and without
touching me they herded me through the gates and up towards the
imitating building. The court house stood tall with slanted sun
damaged roofs. The building’s colour was white but you could tell
it had faded. It needed a new coat of paint badly. I was marched up
the long pathway towards the building, ready for my fate to be
determined.

“
Rhea?” I called out.

“
Don’t worry, everything is going to be
ok.” she said.

I took Rhea’s words to heart, but right now I
needed more than just words.

My so-called bodyguards ushered me into the
building filled with people with grim faces, they looked like they
were waiting for their own deaths, and I hoped to god that would
never happen to me. I was rushed passed many doors leading off into
the unknown. Decorated on the walls were grand paintings done by
hand of famous people throughout history. I couldn’t quite put a
name to their faces, but some of them were a few that even I was
shocked to see depicted on the walls.

We came to a stop at a normal looking door. I
looked around, the area was devoid of people. Was my time up? I
turned to both of the protectors.

“
Inside.” one of them said.

My gut instinct was telling me to run and
never to step into that room. I tried to slowly back away from
it.

“
What’s in there?” I asked.

“
Inside.” The protector’s voice grew
louder.

Well there’s nowhere else to
go.
I said to
myself.

I pushed open the door, expecting the worst.
I squeezed my eyes closed, hoping nothing bad would happen. The
protectors slammed the door shut, locking me in. I rushed back to
the door and started pounding on the sturdy wood.

“
Hey! Open the door!” I
yelled.

It was no use, I was stuck here until they
decided what to do with me. Now only realizing, sitting in the
middle of the room was a tall podium that dominated the tiny
looking room. Above me the floor boards warped around the weight of
whatever was upstairs. Within seconds many footsteps filled into
the room and there was chatter of voices of men and women. My palms
began to sweat and my stomach was in a tuff of knots. I slowly
breathed in and out and I tried to clear my busy mind. I needed to
get a grip on myself, if I didn’t play this right I would be in big
trouble. I just had to remember what Rhea told me. Speak only when
spoken to and address them as either lord or lady. Was all this
really necessary? A light on the wall pulsed red with the words
STAND ON PODUIM. I nervously took my place and waited for my
fate.

The wooden podium rose up into the room above
us, the crowd behind me gasped as if they had just witnessed a
terrible crime. I looked back behind and I saw sitting on the front
row was Rhea and the gang. She didn’t wave or smile, she just sat
there with such elegance. I turned to the front to be greeted by
four tall judge’s boxes. Each one filled with a person wearing a
dark purple cloak. They looked down at me, each supporting a
different mask. I felt like a tiny ant, ready to be squished by
their wrath.

“
This court has come to order.” said
the voice of a man, he wore a full mask embodied with many crystals
and jewels that reflected the light.

“
You are Ellie Laveau, is that correct?” a
screechy womanly voiced said. I looked up to face her mask. It was
white china with gold motif around the eyes and red ruby lips. It
looked so elegant.

Was this the time to
speak?
Oh crap, oh
crap.

“
Yes, my lady.” I said
formally.

“
The
Siren
everyone has been looking for?” another voice pierced the
room. My eye caught his mask, it wasn’t like the others this one
was creepy. The dark purple robbed figure wore a baby doll mask
with dark cracks around the eyes. I stared at it for a moment and I
could feel it’s dark eyes penetrate inside me.

“
Yes, that’s me, my lord.” I
said.

“
So, Miss Laveau. Why have you avoided us
all this time?” Another voice came into play. This man wore a dirty
white mask with a long protruding nose at the front. It had black
rimmed eyes that looked like he wore spectacles.

They all peered down at me waiting for me to
answer them. “I haven’t been avoiding you; this is still all new to
me. I didn’t even know about anything about this until recently.” I
said.

“
We have had sources saying that you
have been kept from us? Can you tell us more about that?” said the
ruby lipped woman.

“
I know nothing of these so-called
sources.” Deep down we knew it was Naaz who went running to the
council to blab everything and now we were all paying the price.
“And I have been in hiding for fear of my life.”

The peanut gallery behind burst into their
fake gasps and I tried to suppress an urge to roll my eyes.

“
Quiet, quiet!” ordered the scary baby
faced masked man.

“
Are these allegations true?” asked the
jeweled masked figure. “Have you been on the run for your
life?”

“
Yes, my lords. I have been attacked in
my own home by the leaches.” As soon as the words left my lips the
crowd behind began their gasps and their idle chatter. I guess the
leaches are a sore point around here then. The four judges tried to
get the court back into order.

“
Do you speak the truth?” asked the
longed nosed masked man.

“
Yes, and they are still coming for
me.” My voice trembled with a hint of fear.

The robe judges whispered amongst each other.
Now and then they would stare at me and then return to their
whispering. They finished their chatter and turned towards the
crowd.

“
We have no knowledge of
these
so-called attacks.” The jeweled
masked man said.

What! Are these idiots blind,
they sent us on that mission to kill Idina.

Something wasn’t right. Did they really have
no knowledge of the leaches?

“
We can neither confirm nor deny that
there leaches are roaming around un-checked and all we have is a
word of a Siren.” The white masked woman said.

While they talked amongst themselves again,
something inside me wanted to spill every detail that I had
witnessed. I wanted to hold my tongue but maybe some of the
information will be useful. I took a deep breath and hoped for the
best.

“
There seems to be a leader.” I raised
my voice.

The judges stopped and slowly turned towards
me, and I could feel their disapproval.

“
Excuse me?” said the baby faced masked
man “How dare you speak without authority.”

“
Calm yourself, the Siren wishes to
speak.” said the jeweled masked man. “Please continue.”

I took another deep breath. “Someone is
commanding the leaches, giving them orders. They abducted me, and
the person’s name is Barbus.”

More shocks and gasps came from behind me and
even the judges were taken aback.

“
Is this true?!” the longed nosed man’s
voice bellowed throughout the court room.

“
That so-called man has been wanted by
the council for many years and you say that he has taken command of
the leaches and abducted you.” asked the red lipped
lady.

“
This is quite the tale you are
spinning, young Siren.” added the long nosed man.

“
If she is to be believed, then we
could all be in danger.” The baby masked man said.

With the word danger now floating around, it
had finally tipped everyone over the edge. Loud shouts and yelling
filled the room while the four judges tried to get the room under
control. I bowed my head down hoping to avoid their rage. The
judges voices had their own say with each of their voices echoing.
Even the crowd was getting a bit rowdy. This was getting out of
hand, this was such a bad idea.

“
My lords and ladies!” A serene and
seductive voice called out from the chaos.

I turned on the spot to see Rhea slowly
making her way through the crowd and towards the judges. Oh crap,
what’s she doing!

She glided from her seat and made her way to
the center, and stood beside my podium.

“
Rhea, it’s been too long.” said one of
the men but I didn’t catch who it was.

Rhea gave a little bow. “Lords and ladies,
Ellie Laveau has been under my protection. She is a gifted creature
and she requires the highest protection, and what she says is true.
Barbus is the man who is pulling the strings, he abducted Ellie and
used the leaches for his own selfish ends.”

“
You speak with such conviction, Rhea.
We will talk about Barbus without prying eyes.” said the screechy
voiced woman.

“
But how can the leaches be controlled?
They are animals, they don’t take orders.” said the longed nosed
masked man.

“
That is unknown to me as well, but he
has created an army of them.” Rhea replied.

“
An army you say? Have you seen them
for yourself?” asked the jeweled man.

“
Yes, I have your lords and ladies. It
is truly a horrible site.”

The council members talked amongst themselves
with whispers.

“
Now that you’re here, we can question you,
Rhea. Do you deny that,
you
tried to hide a Siren from us? You know that they are
forbidden creatures and are not for personal use?” said the baby
faced man.

“
No I do not deny this. I saw that
Ellie was in danger and sought out to protect her from anything
that would harm her. And I still do that to this day.” Rhea
said.

“
But where were you when this poor
young girl got kidnapped?” asked the evil baby faced
mask.

I turned to Rhea and I saw a tiny glint of
that darkness she tries so hard to contain. Within seconds the
darkness faded and she was back to her normal self.

“
My lord, I’m surprised you have taken this
to heart, since you wouldn’t have known about it,
unless
it had to be presented to you.
You’re so wrapped up in your own little games that you cannot see
what is happening outside, in the
real
world.” said Rhea.

“
How dare you! Know your place, this is
our domain.” roared the baby faced man.

“
Domain or not, Ellie has come her
willingly to plead her case.” added Rhea.

“
That is enough!” said the jeweled
man.

The four judges turned in my direction. “Can
you confirm that Rhea has been protecting you?” the red rose lipped
lady said.

“
Yes, Rhea has been protecting me from
the many things out there that wish to harm me, and I trust her
judgment.”I said the words but did I actually believe them? I
didn’t know anymore.

“
Also, there has also been a massive
surge in magical power recently, do you know anything about this?”
The cracked baby faced man bypassed Rhea and asked me
directly.

I swallowed a lump in my throat and tried to
speak but my mouth was too dry. I didn’t even know what he was
talking about. I was about to speak but Rhea took the floor.

“
We know nothing of these power surges,
Ellie is new to her powers and they are still growing, she is too
young to do such things, and to even accuse this young girl of
wrong doing is going beyond even your station.”

My mind then flooded with the memory of
myself being possessed by the many spirits. I did cause that power
surge, but how did they know about that? At that moment I felt like
a guilty convict just waiting to be taken to jail and do my
time.

“
The question was asked to Ellie.” said
the longed nosed man.

I stared up at the four intimidating judges
who held my fate in their hands. “No, I know nothing of this, my
lord.” I held my voice as the best I could.

“
I did not want it to come to this but
I invoke the protection of the old gods, Ellie is now under my
protection.” said Rhea as she sat back down into her
seat.

Around me the court burst into cries of
anger. Even the judges went along with the gasps. The four robbed
judges tried to get the room under control by banging their gavels
onto the desk but it was heard on deaf ears.

“
Order, order!” cried the
judges.

What the hell just happened? I turned on the
spot to see Rhea smiling from ear to ear. She liked this way too
much. Even Sophia and Naaz looked at her with shocked
expressions.

Soon after many cries, the room was under
control. “We cannot let a Siren go out unchecked.” one judge
said.

“
She is under the old god’s protection,
there’s nothing we can do.” The red lipped woman said.