"You really want to go for work?" Max questioned out of concern as he raised a brow at Kevin adjusting his seat-belt over his peach coloured shirt, and scanned his face once again. His skin looked paler than usual, and his eyes... they looked different for some reason. Max couldn't lay his finger on it, but there was something that had changed about them. The shine they possessed had somehow disappeared. Kevin definitely didn't look well to him. "I think you should take a break today."

He silently cursed the situation for not allowing him to miss school to make sure Kevin stayed back. But he couldn't take the chance of avoiding school that day, who knew when a new otherworldly series of events would knock at their doors. He needed to know what was happening as soon as possible.

"Na, I don't think I can," Kevin mumbled before turning towards the mirror to make sure his hair was in proper shape, the way he had arranged it before leaving. "Perfect," he said rather proudly.

"But you don't look well."

This left Kevin off guard, and he looked quite offended. "At least it's still better than that thing you have over your head for hair." He rolled his eyes, and then once again looked at the mirror.

"Seriously Kev?" Max said, annoyed at what Kevin was trying to do there.

"Of course I'm serious, Maxie, just- just look at that thing." The roles swapped and it was Kevin's to look concerned. "Even I can't do anything about it!"

"I-"

Just when he was about to reply, something hit him. 'Don't you remember you did that just yesterday for the party?' That's when it came to him that Kevin hadn't spoken a thing about the previous night until then. The only thing that was on his mind was some song.

Max didn't think talking anything about what had happened was a good choice at the moment.

"I'm not talking about your hair, Kevin," he said heavily. "You look sick, and I'm worried about you."

"Yeah, I'm worried about me too," he mumbled under his breath. "But let's not do that. I guess it's probably nothing." Kevin smiled. He himself was not sure of what was bothering him so much.

Max didn't say anything, he didn't know what to.

"Would you stop zoning out and put on that damn seat-belt of yours so that we can leave? You were the one who said a while ago that you had to reach school early today."

Max pulled his cell phone out to check the time, and ended up letting out a small, frightened screech. "Oh crap! I had to get there before classes started."

Kevin shook his head, embarrassed at how Max could never realize that time didn't wait for him or anyone. "Don't worry, I got it," he said and without even wasting a second, he pulled the gear and raced the car straight on the open road.

But what started as a smooth ride soon started taking the shape of a nightmare. Max waited a little while for the wheels to get stable but that seemed like a distant vision. The car kept drifting from left to right, and then right to left winding like a snake at a great speed.

"Kevin, you don't have to go this fast-" Max stammered somehow amidst the wind gushing in from the windows that blew away his words even before they left his mouth properly.

The way Kevin drove was actually terrifying. The speedometer kept moving forward and forward to the point where it went past the highest number Max had ever seen him reach.

"Kevin," Max yelled out louder this time when they passed just an inch away from a child of about 5 who got free from his mother's hold and came close to the road. Max looked out of the window to see his mother running towards him, scared to death, while her child cried his eyes out.

He had never seen him drive like that before- his gaze fixed on the road ahead, his eyes didn't even blink. And the weirdest part- Kevin didn't even look scared, or even concerned about anyone's life including their own. Max knew his eyes, and they were nothing like what he was seeing at the moment- cold, dark, foreign. They had drifted into some other realm, far away from reality.

He grabbed him by his shoulder and screamed his name once again.

Kevin finally snapped out of the death rush that ran through him and stopped but still his grip on the steering wheel didn't loosen. He turned towards Max with a bewildered look, and his lips parted vaguely but nothing came out.

"What were you even thinking?" Max said, throwing his hands towards the front, as a cold drop of sweat dripped down his forehead slowly tracing its path to his jaw.

He still looked as distorted as before.

"I- I don't know," Kevin mumbled.

Max didn't seem pleased with the reply, his eyebrows pulled down together and eyes wide open.

"Alright, I won't hear a thing now. Park the car somewhere around here and then we walk to our destinations- and I don't think we are very far away-"

"Max?"

The sound of a familiar voice stopped him in between. He turned around to look straight into a pair of clear eyes and strands of blonde hair falling over it. It was Julie. She tugged those loose strands behind her ear and adjusted her bag pack over the black peplum top she was wearing. Her glance stopped at Kevin for a brief moment as she recalled that he was abducted last night but now sat right in front of her. She pushed those thoughts out of her head for the time being and happily waved at him.

Max shifted his gaze away from her and looked ahead only to realize that the car had stopped only about a metre away from his school gate.

Twenty minutes distance, traced in five!

Max turned back to Kevin. "I don't care, just take a taxi or something because you're not driving alone," he said as he walked out of the car expecting him to do the same. "What are you waiting for now?"

Kevin sighed, "I'm not drunk, Max."

Max entered half his body and said once again, loud and clear, "I don't care. You acted worse than that just now. Now would you please get off the car and take a cab so that I can go to school with a calm mind?" He immediately realized that who was he trying to fool? There was no way for his mind to be calm at the moment. "I'll wait for you near the car."

There was no denying that. Kevin came out of the car whining like a child from whom his favourite toy had been snatched, while Julie just stood there not at all understanding what was happening.

"Isn't it too early to be drunk though?" she whispered to Kevin as he walked out of the car after parking it at the side and stood beside them.

"But I'm not!" he cried again.

"Alright that's enough now," Max said and then moved forward to stop a cab. Luckily, a cab arrived just then without much wait. He opened its door and indicated Kevin to get in without even saying a word.

"Fine mommy," Kevin teased and quickly jumped into the cab, not even giving him time to react.

"Wha-"

He didn't even wait for Max to scold him once again and asked the driver to move towards his workplace.

Julie who was watching all this couldn't help letting out a chuckle. "Aren't you both the cutest?"

Max just returned to her with a fake smile covering up the worries behind it. "Let's get going," he said quickly, looking away before any hint of hesitation could drop out of those eyes and started walking. "We don't know how long the explanation session would go on for."

Julie gave a slight nod to herself and tagged along.

"How were things at your home?" she asked, somewhat already knowing the answer that was about to come. She observed Max kicking a pebble uneasily, his hands tugged in his jeans' pocket. She knew a lot was going on his mind and he didn't very well know how to hide it, but he wasn't the one to be blamed for any of it.

"Normal," Max muttered out, "as if nothing happened last night. I don't think anyone even remembers anything about yesterday." He stopped playing with the pebble and started walking straight once again.

Julie sighed at the reply. "Same. Granna didn't ask a thing about the party or when I had returned, which is highly unlikely of her. Even in her mid eighties she has a gifted memory."

While on the topic, Max had a strong urge to talk about how he thought Kevin was not okay- the only thing that wasn't as it should have been. Max's eyes pointed straight ahead, but it was if his mind obstructed the view by running a different movie in between.

"Max," Julie called out his name softly as she stopped.

He turned around to see a look of embarrassment on her face. Her lips stretched in an awkward fashion, slightly parted to let her front teeth show off. Max didn't understand the meaning of it and waited for her to explain.

"Um, we have come quite ahead of the gate," she said with a sheepish smile covering her face.

He turned around to find out that it was true. They had walked a little ahead of the main gate, he could see the scattered residential area starting right ahead, and if Julie hadn't pointed that out then who knew how far they'd have gone, lost in their own thoughts.

Max let out a displeased sigh, for they had to cover the same path once again.

Soon they walked into the school premises, with the smell of flowers from the garden, mixed perfumes, leather bags, and the overused glue behind the posters filling their noses, and made their way straight towards the teachers' cabinets. Still about fifteen minutes ahead of the classes, Max was surprised at the number of students that had shown up this early. The hallways were mostly packed with students that stood clumsily in front of their lockers talking, laughing, flirting, and living their normal school lives.

Some even waved at Julie, and then looking Max by her side made their faces look like a surprised Chihuahua. They let the strange sight seep into their minds for a new, exaggerated high school gossip.

Julie didn't seem bothered at all with all that, perhaps she didn't even notice. It was Max who caught it all- those stares, weird expressions, the whispers- each of it succeeding at stirring the insecurity and social anxiety packed up inside him. He preferred to be that one person who no one knew or talked about, leaving him just to himself at one corner of the class.

The changing circumstance was slowly taking that away from him... and he didn't exactly feel good about it. That was the change he would have never wished for.

Suddenly principal Hans walked out of the door in his regular, classic vest to excite the murmuring, yet stagnant groups.

"Get to your classes everyone, now," he yelled amidst those loud claps he did to get everyone's attention. "I said now."

If this wasn't dictatorship then what was? There was still time for classes but still the dressed up man started driving the ants back to their respective nests.

Max and Julie thought of hiding in the crowd as they walked in the opposite direction.

But the man had the eyes of a hawk! He immediately noticed the two figures walking away from their classes. "Where are you both heading?" He called out, "Have you forgotten where your class is?"

Running was useless. They turned around to see Hans walking straight towards them, repelling everyone out of his way for there was no one who'd like to bump into that man. But there were even some characters that had very different fantasies.

"I think you missed my question," he said and then looked at Max, perhaps wondering how come all of a sudden he had become so active.

While Max struggled with his choice of words, Julie came forward to handle the situation with confidence. "We had to meet Miss Owens before class," she answered with a smile to please the devil.

Max questioned his loss of words. That was a fairly safe and even true answer that could easily free them. He let out a sigh of disappointment in himself.

Max caught the sudden rise of interest on Hans' face at the mention of the new teacher's name. 'Ah, that's why,' he realized rather proudly as he came on a conclusion to stand for his dumb silence.

"Miss Morgan? And may I know what for?" But the real question was more like, 'Is there a way for me to escort you there, or perhaps even joining the conversation?'

It was now Julie's turn to be at loss of a reason. After all, why would they want to meet their new teacher who joined just a day before, and they didn't even have a proper class yet.

"Um," Julie started stammering, but then help came just in time, the perfect one.

"I called them," said Morgan who came strolling towards them. Her super pointed heels made tapping sounds as she walked down the now empty hallway. "I hope we aren't bothering you, principal Hans," she said smoothly, and then gracefully flicked the brunette hair behind her shoulder.

Hans was already trapped in the net of elegance and beauty that Morgan had thrown.

"Your work could never bother me," he said and shifted his attention towards her. "And just call me Hans please, can you?" The change in his expression was drastic. Just with Morgan's arrival, he went from the annoyed and crazy Hans to the smooth and flirty Hans.

"I'll surely take care of that from now."

Max and Julie just stood there as the obvious flirting went on and on. With every passing moment, Hans was forgetting that his students stood right there while he kept decreasing the proximity.

Scared of what they might have to observe if that went on, Max started coughing to remind him of their presence. Julie looked at him, very well understanding what he was trying to do there. She rolled her eyes at the drama brewing up for she knew Hans would not take that interruption very well.

Max's cough brought Hans back to reality, but he looked quite displeased about that. His eyebrows pulled together in annoyance as he gave Max an angry glare for spoiling his moment and not leaving.

'I guess he didn't like that much,' Max thought and cursed himself for pissing off the principal who he knew would take that small thing personally and ridicule him till his last day at school.

The little pause gave Morgan a moment to scurry away from Hans and stand by Max and Julie whom she held by their shoulders. "If you don't mind now, we'd have to go. It's sort of important."

Hans once again gave that cold look to Max, full of loathing and discontent, for coming in between.

"Geez, what a clingy man," Morgan whispered as she pushed them out of Hans' sight leading straight towards the now empty passage, with the chessboard floor below and inspiration quotes hung on the walls running at their sides, leading to the school library. Max looked sideways and noticed what pure annoyance looked like- she was cringing at how cheesy Hans was getting, and who knows how far the man was ready to take that. Even the thought of witnessing that made Max shudder a little.

"I thought that was mutual," Julie mustered heavily as her voice cracked, still being pushed straight ahead.

Max's face twitched in discomfort, regretting the question as soon as it was asked. He didn't want to know what was going on between them. Any kind of explanation on this, if Morgan decided to give one, would make things even weirder- after all why was it important for them to know about the personal life of their teachers?

"What?" Julie mouthed to him seeing the obvious change of expression on his face.

He didn't say anything to her and just sighed, gulping the embarrassment down his throat.

"Mutual?" Morgan asked, slowing down for a moment, and then burst out laughing. "What made you think that?" But that wasn't a question she wanted to be answered as she continued cracking up over the word and moved on, her hands still holding them by their shoulders.

Max tried slowly to wiggle out of her hold, for he was very much capable of walking to the library by himself without any support, but Morgan's grip on them never loosened and kept holding them as if they were some long lost acquaintances of her.

They passed the threshold of the large wooden passage that led them into the second largest library in Moonvale, coming right after the Great Central Library, with all sorts of books- novels, encyclopedias, research papers, biographies, mythological stuff, and whatnot. Kevin had once told him that there were reports of playboys being hidden somewhere in there. But Max couldn't believe that- even the thought of those being in the school library was weird enough for he knew how teenage hormones worked.

Beyond the threshold, it was a different world. The chessboard flooring was replaced by classic hardwood ones, beautiful pastel colours to divide the large place into different zones, namely- Hear from the Wise and Successful, Dive into the World of Imagination, From Times Untold, Find out Yourself, and 'Fascinating Future'.

But that world had a cranky lady in her mid fifties as its queen. She had been assigned a large desk and computer on it for keeping herself entertained by hitting the keys of the keyboard heartlessly. The table top was decorated with a few white porcelain flower pots of different shapes and some fancy looking hardcover books. No one knew what hid behind the screen and all that hyped up typing.

The librarian immediately got alert on seeing students walking in as if they were there for a bank robbery or something. That was because the place was only supposed to be used in the second half, after the main subjects were done in class. Max often wondered what she did there alone when she wasn't typing. Playboys?

"What-" She stopped speaking as soon as her glance fell on Morgan who walked in behind them. But her strong voice made even the single word that left her mouth echo in that silent library. It was shrill enough to keep anyone away from the place lest he or she wanted to get their ears bleed if the woman was in a bad mood by any chance.

She looked as if she wanted to ask why they were there, but then abandoned the plan for some reason. Gesturing with one hand to get in, she went back to hide her face behind the computer screen and continued what she was doing after adjusting her round, golden spectacles.

Morgan suggested going to the From Times Untold section at the other end of the room, far away from sight of the woman. "Let's leave her alone to her own pleasures," she said and moved on to get a seat.

Max and Julie hesitated for a moment, and then took the seat in front of her. It was a wide table with two equally long benches running by its opposite sides. The place was hidden behind a never ending line of book shelves that were coming in between the librarian and them so there was no way she could hear what they were talking.

"I need answers for a lot of questions, but I don't know where to start," Max's patience wore out, not able to hold it in any longer. "The first being- Who even are you?" He could feel his heartbeat racing faster than before as he waited for an explanation about things that he had already started understanding to some extent. Someone just had to tell him that and answer all why's and how's.

Morgan took a deep breath, preparing herself for the bombardment of questions that was coming.

"Just know that I'm here to help you," she said softly, sounding as calm as usual, "and getting into details about my identity would defy this conversation from going to the conclusion it should get."

"That didn't help very much I'd say." Julie confronted her negligence.

"Look, there are certain questions that I can't answer right now-"

"And why?" Max was not at all ready to leave with any doubts lingering within him.

"That's one." She sighed once again, as if regretting the whole purpose of the conversation. "It's better if a few things disclose as the time passes. Let's stay in the zone which your minds can process at least."

Max had half a mind of yelling back at her that it had already gone out of that zone- terrible weather, mysterious lady that turned into a giant bird monster, shining literate rocks, more mysterious lady who might turn into something they didn't even know. But he didn't do that for he wasn't there to argue.

"Alright, who was Agna then?" asked Julie.

"Now we are getting at something," Morgan finally took a breath of relief. "As you might have already understood, she wasn't a human. She was a siren."

Just as she heard the name, she drifted back to the times when her grandma used to tell her about creatures from ancient myths and folklore. She had heard stories that were too scary for the faint of heart- from lustful incubuses to sinister sirens, from horned demons to chained hell-hounds.

"You mean the siren from Greek mythology?"

Morgan shook her head in affirmative.

"What's a siren now?" Max had never heard of that before, but Julie had. "How do you know?"

"Grandma used to tell me stories from myths all around the world," she said, "but even if they're real, aren't they basically blood thirsty mermaids? I can assure you what we saw was much more than a beautiful mermaid."

"Stories, as passed from ear to ear, get twisted along the course, some lose parts of them and what remains is labelled as myth! This world is much more complicated to be comprehended by these tales."

"So what is the real truth about sirens?"

"Like I said, I'm here just as a guide to show you the path, but you'll have to walk on it yourself."

Max was once again disappointed. 'How are we supposed to figure things out ourselves when all she does is give us a few hints and move on?' He caught Morgan looking intently at him, and the stare made him feel as if she could read right through him, listen to his thoughts.

Morgan let out a little chuckle for some reason and then asked them to continue.

"How did I- how did I kill Agna?" The ghastly sight flashed again in front of his eyes, the scream echoed in his ears once loud... just as loud and shrill as it was then, just as painful.

"I'd be lying if I said those powers didn't belong to you."

'So it was me then,' Max thought. And he wasn't concerned about what he did to Agna, what bothered him was the fact that he could do something similar to someone else too. He could kill someone. Last time he didn't do that purposely, so what if he went berserk like that again?

Julie turned around to look into Max's eye, the doubts within them. The way his eyebrows knit together, she knew what he was thinking about- that what if he ever hurt someone innocent with the powers that he couldn't even control.

He felt himself to be like some fatal human bomb that could burst without his own consent and dismantle everything around him, and not for good.

"But it was definitely influenced by some other force. At your current condition, you are not capable of summoning such great powers yourself... that'll take quite a lot of time to master."

That wasn't enough to make him feel better. He had never regretted being this soft before. Had he been tough and cold like a boy should have been according to the stereotypical norms of the society, all this would have been amusing to him... but sadly, he wasn't a bit like that. After all, who wouldn't like to have such powers that could strike fear in someone's heart, or even completely wipe out someone they didn't like? Good or bad, one could always stand out with it. But Max didn't want to stand out- he just wanted to lay back in his own comfort zone. He wasn't interested in taking part in some prophecy that just appeared out of nowhere to take part in any kind of battle for the good or anything.

Morgan's ivory eyes were fixed on him unflinchingly.

'That's what makes you different, Max.' She thought and smiled. 'Your thoughts and your needs are very different from any other person.'

"And I hope you've already figured out who the chosen one is," she said, raising a brow at him.

The way she asked sent shudders down him. By then, he had started coming in terms with everything that was happening, and he sort of knew who the damned one was. He could feel that in his bones. The flashes he had when he touched the cobblestone were speaking to him in their own language, and they felt unknowingly familiar to him.

Julie looked sideways. Even she understood where all that was leading. It was obvious to her that the 'he' they read about was Max, for it was all revolving around him from the very start.

"Why me though?" Max questioned. His voice shook at each word he spoke.

Morgan sighed once again. "I would call that a rhetorical question, for I'm not the one to choose here." She shook her hands off the question very easily.

"Does this even concern me or I was just pulled along because of my own stubbornness?" was Julie's question. And a very genuine one too. There was no specific reason for her to believe she had a part to play. What she did was her own choice, and not solely driven by any other factor. If she didn't decide to follow Max out of the party to the park, she must have been among the ones that had no memory of the event.

"You are present here only because you are meant to be." Morgan pointed out. "The previous prophecies used to mention about four other companions that would accompany the chosen one on the quest. The reason why this one doesn't say anything about them is yet to be clear." She said as she silently drifted away to appreciate how the prophecy always turned out to be beyond complete comprehension of even the one counted among the wisest to ever exist.

"Do I possess any powers as well?" Julie questioned out of curiosity. How cool would that be if she got to zap some asses down that interfered with the selection in the basketball team?

"None that I can see of at the moment," Morgan said as she inspected her with a judging look. "But they should show up soon. Your dedication, unreasonable to the extent where you didn't even care about your life, for being by Max's side to support him already makes me inclined to believe that you're one of them. So there's no way you are born without any gift."

Julie struggled for a moment to process what she had said.

Max kept quiet while the exchange took place. He wasn't even listening perhaps.

"What if I deny believing all this crap? What if I say all this is just some mistake?" He spoke what his mind had to offer although he knew there was no way not believing after all that had happened. But he wanted to assume that he was not the one everyone was thinking him to be, and even if he was... calling it all a mistake seemed much easier to him.

Morgan smiled, but it was more of the mocking type. She found that funny as she looked out of the windows and shook her head relentlessly.

Without even looking towards him, she replied in her odd, witty manner. "There's no running away from this Max. No matter how hard you try, you'll find yourself right at the mouth of where you started running."

"Alright then, try me," Max said as he stood up. "Rest assured, I'm quite experienced at it."

~~~~~~~

Oof- 

This turned out to be the longest chapter until now, and I don't know if I'm very proud of it. I mean, the starting part was okay-ish but the library scene didn't satisfy me very much. 

And while we are on that page, I might as well say that I read the few initial chapters and I cringed so fuckin' hard (idk if it's okay to say all this here, lol.) This book needs thorough editing and some scenes need to be redone from scratch. The chosen one trope is already a cliche, and as it seems... I've failed at executing it the correct way perhaps. Honestly speaking, I've far better ideas to work on right now. But the thing is- I cannot abandon this story after coming this far. I'd complete this story and then try to deal with its flaws before putting up anything new here. 

I have half a mind of adding a note in the blurb as "High cringe stuff ahead. Kindly wait till the story is complete and edited. Thank you." Sounds okay, I guess? Because it's a fact- my writing style, descriptions and narration in the initial chapters suck! (still not at all close enough where I want to be, but now I'm at least a bit better) 

Anyways, thank you for reading this far :) (and sorry for the rant)

-Shubham

~~~~~~~