Standing outside the gates, Max observed the Wilson house under the rosy hue casted upon it.

No matter how strongly he wanted to run past those iron barriers, to get back to the place he called his home after the chaotic night, something was restricting his steps.

Flashes of the events that took place within those boundaries just a few hours ago haunted him. He was scared of the ghastly sight that awaited him inside.

He turned around at the sound of the windshield lowering. Behind him stood Morgan's shining black car, immaculate and flawless- highlighting all curves and contours. On their ride back home, she mentioned that she liked to address her car by the name Fitheach and how it had been with her since the beginning.

Her words were far too mysterious to be conceived correctly at once.

"Won't you go in?" Morgan asked, poking her head out of the window.

Julie sat in the backseat, and looking at Max she very well understood what was going on in his mind, what conflict was going on within him. All along the ride, she kept holding Max's hand to comfort him, to comfort her own self. Even Max didn't mind that. He appreciated that gesture; in fact, he appreciated everything she had done for him. If only he could voice what he actually felt a little better, he would have let her know.

"It's fine, Max, go in," Morgan insisted.

Even though Morgan had assured them that everyone was safe in their houses, the lack of details in her side of the story was not convincing at all. 'I'll explain everything to you guys at school' was all that she had to cover up for the questions Max and Julie threw on her.

"So you seriously mean that Kevin's in there?" Max asked once again.

"For the gazillionth time, yes, he is sound asleep in his room right now with no memory of what happened a night before," she said graciously with a slow nod. "I'd love to meet the Wilsons, but a guest at this time would not be welcomed I guess." She let out a petite laughter. "And I need to drop Annabelle home too."

Max looked back at Julie rolling her eyes in annoyance. She did look frightening, and Morgan did not leave any opportunity to mock about it.

"See you at school." Morgan gave that last smile, and the car zoomed past him.

He stood there for a moment before turning towards those large, curb gates- clear six feet tall and made of twisted black rods. At the end some were curled in convoluted patterns, giving a chance to the opportunist spiders to settle in there.

He lifted the latch and then swung the gates which went sliding away with a creaking noise. But instead of moving towards the door, he promptly turned to the other side.

With a heavy heart, he walked into the same spot where his worst birthday party took place last night, the backyard. The sun was already up and in that reddish yellow light, he scanned the area around him.

His jaw dropped at what his eyes witnessed.

There was no one there, and to an even greater surprise, the decorations and every single arrangement Kevin had made for the party was gone. The barbeque, the tables, the music system- all gone, and left behind was just the backyard, undisturbed.

He quickly turned around to look for the blackened patch on the ground where that bolt of lightning fell on Agna, leaving her with a terrified scream and then that chilly, absolute silence. But now even that was gone.

He freakishly circled the area in vain, once, twice, thrice. All that the ground had now was perfectly shredded grass, just like May kept it.

It was as if nothing ever happened there, no party at all. It was exactly how the place usually was- silent and desolated. One could clearly hear the crickets singing their melody without any strain to the ears.

'How's this even possible?' Max scratched the back of his head in disbelief for a moment before realizing that this was not the first time he was asking this question to himself. He took a U-turn and marched towards the door with hurried steps.

He barged straight into those huge wooden doors only to find that it was locked from inside.

"What the-"

Max felt sparks in his brain, desperately trying to connect those dots instead of causing a short circuit.

Morgan had said that everyone was probably in their beds at this time, but it made no sense. After all that happened last night, he could not accept that Kevin and everyone else in the house would simply clean the backyard, go back inside and fall asleep in the comfort of their beds. And if they didn't do it, then who could have done all that?

But luckily, getting in was not a problem since Kevin and his sneak outs had already prepared him for a situation like this.

In the light of the virgin dawn, he went back into the backyard and exactly where he had expected, he found the wooden stairs that Kevin had hid, inclined to the corner wall outside the store room. The area enclosed was too narrow for anyone to enter or to be used in anyway, making it a perfect spot for hiding things.

He pulled out the large staircase from its resting spot and placed it right under the window of his room. As much as he remembered, he had left the window open.

Cautiously he started climbing up on it, one foot at a time, not taking any chance lest he wanted to fall down and break a bone or two in a critical time like that when he had so much to figure out.

He remembered how he almost survived falling once when his one leg slipped the exact moment it touched the topmost tier- and how he could have straight down if Kevin wouldn't have grabbed his hand just in time. However scary it was back then, now when he was reminiscing the moment... it brought a smile on his face.

There were so many memories he had with Kevin, with the house.

Just as he had expected, the window was open. He jumped right into his room and closed the window after him.

Within those four walls he sensed calmness, serenity, a feeling of optimism. It was like letting every shade of it sink straight into his soul.

The bed on the left was calling him to succumb to the call of sleep.

He reverently rubbed his fingers along the silken mattress and then pulled it off abruptly. Leaving behind the cool, velvet pillows and the comforter, irresistibly soft like a billowing cloud, he jolted out of his room to confirm what Morgan had said. He couldn't be at peace without making sure that everyone was alright.

Instinctively, his first step was towards Kevin's room.

The sunlight sneaked in through the windows dimly lighting up the dark hallway.

He slowly pushed the door knob only to find that it was locked from inside, which was completely normal if Kevin was sleeping in there. He took a deep breath, convincing himself that Kevin was fine, and moved forward to inspect other rooms as well.

The scenario remained the same for every other room as well, except for May's room. Her door was never locked. After all, she had dedicated her whole life to take care of members of this household, leaving no time for herself. Perhaps she really had no control over her own choices, and every decision relied heavily on the family she cared so much for. The woman was built of love and innocence, the steady core on which the house stood.

Once he was done making sure that everyone was really in their rooms, he got back to his own and locking himself in, he straight away went inside the washroom and without even wasting any time in taking off his clothes, he stood under the shower and turned it on.

He kept standing there for a while as the water came down to him like drops of rain, as cold as it could be. He closed his eyes and let his muscles go loose under the chilly downpour that was slowly washing away all the anxiety and stress, along with the dirt that lingered.

After what seemed like an hour long shower, he dropped his tattered attire in one corner of the washroom and moved out to put on a loose, grey t-shirt and comfy looking black shorts so that he could apply something on his bruised knee. Although the pain had gone by that time, he assumed that getting some ointment on it won't hurt. He did so, and then fell straight on his bed, gazing blankly at the ceiling.

He wanted to sleep, even if for a short while, but it didn't come to him. Moreover, it was already 6:48 am and taking a nap then would not be a smart choice.

While he was there, dangling between his thoughts about all that had been happening; he heard a very gentle knock on his door. He sprinted right up wondering who it was. And it wasn't even an obvious knock- Max would never have heard it if he was asleep.

Peeking out of the door, he saw Kevin walking back towards his room with an anxious look on his face. Something was disturbing him.

"Kev?" Max called from behind. Seeing Kevin right in front of him, he just wanted to run to him and give him a tight hug, letting him know how worried he had been all this while. But he was still in his senses to see that it would be very random and odd for Kevin, and there was no way Max could explain anything to him at the moment without knowing it all from Morgan.

"I assumed you were asleep," he said and walked closer to him.

Max could make out the difference in his voice, the shrouded heaviness behind his tone. Something was definitely bothering him. Even his eye bags looked swollen and pink.

"You okay?" he asked with a gulp down his throat. He had no idea what he was supposed to expect. He surely didn't look so.

"I- I don't-" Kevin rubbed his temples with his fingers, his eyes closed and his lips twitched.

"Alright," said Max, loud enough to snap Kevin out of it. "Let's talk inside."

Kevin stood there motionless for a moment and then followed Max in. He made Kevin get seated on the bed while he dragged the chair to sit right in front of him carefully observing him once more. His skin looked paler than before, muscles tensed while his legs jittered.

"What is it Kevin?" Max felt his heart racing fast. No matter how hard he was trying to sit still, his hands were trembling at the thought of how or what he was supposed to say when he himself was as clueless as he was. And Kevin was supposed to be sleeping, so why did he look as if he hadn't slept at all.

Kevin didn't say anything for a little while, and just kept staring blankly at his feet. Even Max didn't try to force him again and left him to take his time.

"I- I don't feel good," he mumbled, followed by vigorous rubbing of temples once again. "There's this- this melody that I cannot get out of my head. I don't know how to explain this."

Seeing Kevin get tensed, Max tried to calm him down. "What melody? And relax it's probably just some-"

"No it isn't some random song I heard somewhere," he yelled as jolted off the bed. He sounded frustrated, but more than that, he sounded hurt, astray. "I don't know how or why it's in my head now, but it surely doesn't feel any good."

He took a deep breath and calmed down, as he realised that he sounded way too harsh over something so pointless.

Kevin was the impulsive one, but not around Max. There he was just the perfect big brother that could ever exist- calm, polite, supportive, fun, and whatnot. But the Kevin that stood in front of Max at the moment seemed different to him, very different. And he wasn't the one to be blamed. Although he didn't remember, but still he was the one who got abducted last night and Max had no clue where or how he had been all that while.

"I'm sorry," he muttered under his breath and straight away barged out of the door. "I shouldn't have..." His words got lost mid air even before they could reach Max.

"Kevin, listen-" Max tried to stop, even went after him, but Kevin was no more in the mood to talk. With hurried steps, he walked right into his own room and locked himself in. He knocked the door, pleading for him to open, but it all went in vain as no response came back.

'What melody are you talking about? What happened to you, Kev?'

┈┈┈┈┈․° ☣ °․┈┈┈┈┈

In the dark emerald lighting, stood a large throne made of what looked like long, thick bones with sharp edges at the top. Some even had maroon spots on them, as if the blood of the creature it once belonged to was not ready to completely part ways with his old friend and would prefer clinging to it till the end of times.

The area around looked moist and large boulders covered with algae could be seen everywhere. A small stream running at the centre of the wide pathway leading up to the grim throne glowed silvery white with the liquid flowing in it.

A lean figure of a woman came running towards the throne, and amidst the gasping she started speaking, "My lady, Aglaope has-" but wasn't allowed to finish as another lady, the one who sat on the throne, intervened in between.

"Perished?" she snarled, her voice colder than ice, yet sweeter than honey. Her ivory black eyes, smeared around with even darker mascara, twitched in disappointment at the messenger that had just entered to disturb her solitude. "Did I forget to mention that she was supposed to be just a sacrifice to stir the process?" She mocked rather proudly. "Say Raidne, don't you feel the difference in the air? I can taste how delicious the coming days are going to be." Her voice sounded more seductive as some horrendously creepy desires slipped into her mind.

"Yes-" The messenger's voice stammered. "Yes, my queen."

The lady immediately caught up to that and curled her finger to call her near.

Hesitation was clear, but the order couldn't be left unanswered. The thin lady walked up close to the throne, filled with fear... for the queen did whatever she felt like, no thinking, no compassion, nothing; just pure madness flowing through her veins in the form of vicious, bottle green blood that had engulfed many.

"How many times do I have to tell you that you need not be afraid of me?" she questioned, gently running the tip of her sharp nail against Raidne's malnourished cheek. "How many?" Her voice suddenly turned from all soft and sweet to maliciously evil and angry, her real self, as she stood up from the throne, overshadowing the lean figurine in front of her.

Raidne could hear her bones cracking under her skin, and though she did not face her directly because that would have been heinous, she observed her shadow growing, rapidly approaching her own. Despite being scared to death, Raidne didn't run or even twitch... for one doesn't run from death that can't be avoided in any possible way, they succumb to it, letting themselves fall at hands of Lady Fate to decide whether survival is even an option or not.

But Fate seemed to be at her side for the day.

The transformation started going back to normal as she observed the shadows. The jaw protruding out with sharp canine, sunk back to its proper, pretty shape- one that was probably more dangerous for mortals than those fangs.

"Don't you believe me, Raidne?" She whispered in her ears, making her tremble at the chills.

"I do, my lady," she stuttered. "I do."

Although the woman didn't seem very pleased with that, she still decided to move on.

"Where's the mortal that she dumped here? The pretty one," she asked, returning back to her seductive tone, her mouth watering up.

"He's missing," Raidne spoke out in an incomprehensible manner.

"What?" A cry of frustration shook the stone walls of the chamber. "Listened to a siren's song and escaped? That's not-" she stopped abruptly, racking her brain over something that just hit her. "Those celestials," she said groaning in annoyance, "how did I forget about their deceits and their habit of meddling with our affairs?"

"But Aglaope is already dead," she said as low as she could. "So what difference does it make?"

"It doesn't affect a siren's life, but it does affect the pride of all sirens. If the mortal still manages to survive the song by next full moon, I'd be the one to slit his chest and devour his heart."

~~~~~~~

This is the longest I've taken to update, and it's fine if no one remembers this story by now.
After all it's been frekkin' 8 months!!
But I have to finish this story no matter what.

I'm even thinking of getting this into Wattpad India Awards. Dunno if I can finish it by October, amidst the exam scenario and everything, because it still has a long way to go... but I'll try.
( '◡‿ゝ◡')

And pardon my tardiness, but I don't have enough energy left to proofread this right now. Feel free to point out any kind of mistakes you see. Thank you!

-Shubham

~~~~~~~