Max could not sleep that night as he kept swaying on his bed from left to right, looking for the perfect position to sleep peacefully. But there was none to rest his mind. It kept going back to remind him of all that had been happening around him.

He rolled towards the extreme right of his bed and slid down to the floor where he sat with his back taking the support of the bed, and his legs huddled close to his chest as he grabbed them with his hand. His forehead lied on his knees, his eyes tightly shut.

'I don't care!' he screamed in his mind. 'It's all just a nightmare and I just have to wait for it to end soon.' He tried consoling himself but it wasn't that easy. He confidently barged out of the library that day saying that nothing could involve him in any of it if he didn't want to. But at the moment, he wasn't so sure.

Suddenly the thought of Agna came to his mind, 'Siren, was it?' He had this sudden urge to know more about the beasty creature he had seen. 'What if there is more of her type?'

He raised his head and looking out of the window towards the moon, he let out a frustrated sigh at his cluelessness. And for some strange reason, Morgan- who called herself a guide- was not ready to do some actual explanation. He imitated dramatically what she had said- "I'm here just as a guide to show you the path, but you'll have to walk on it yourself." It didn't even make sense to him.

"What path do I take now to find out about the Sirens?"

Julie had mentioned that they were creatures from Greek mythology, so maybe he could find something in the library? But then the thought seemed vague as they were all incomplete and broken into different versions. He needed a more reliable source, but where was he supposed to find one?

Just then, out of the blue, a thought came to his mind that brightened his eyes up. It was as if it had flown along with the wind right through that same window he was looking out of.

"Shane's library," he spoke out in a low whisper, "there must be something!" He had seen similar books there before, books on demons, mythical creatures, magic circles and whatnot. And Shane already seemed to know about the prophecy; he in fact seemed to be studying about it as some sort of preparation. Perhaps he could even help Max better.

But he wasn't going to return until the next day, and Max could not wait. He hopped up and walked out of the door towards Shane's library.

Tiptoeing most of his way to avoid waking anyone up, he strolled down the dark hallway judging his steps by the eyes of his memories. Even then, the wooden floor creaked below his legs in the silence of the night. While passing across Kevin's room, he noticed that the door was left wide open- highly unlikely of Kevin. He quietly entered to check on him, to make sure he was okay.

Kevin lay on his bed, lost into the world of his dreams- or at least that was what Max thought at first. In the silvery blue moonlight falling on his face from the window, he observed Kevin's face and realised that the dream was more of a nightmare. He kept breathing heavily, his eyes tightly shut, and there were some inaudible whispers coming out of his mouth. Max tried listening but it was useless.

The thought of what happened today once again washed down upon Max. He trembled at the thought of Kevin's problem being more inclined towards the paranormal side. Wishing it just to be a feverish nightmare and nothing more than that, Max silently pulled a soft quilt out of his drawer and gently laid it on him.

The turn Kevin made at the touch of something falling over him almost gave Max a heart attack. He quickly ducked behind the bed in case Kevin really woke up, but luckily he didn't. After a few incomprehensible rumbles he went back to the same stillness.

Phew. Max came out of his hiding spot and looked at Kevin for the last time before he moved out, closing the door after him. 'I don't care about myself, but lay a finger on my brother once more and this time I won't hesitate in killing whoever comes in front of me.' Max promised himself that. After all, what was Kevin's fault? Treating an orphan like his own brother?

Max pushed the bad thoughts out of his head and moved towards the end of the hallway before taking the right turn into an even narrower passage leading him straight into Shane's private study, the one he had entered just a few days ago. The same smell of hardwood and old pages welcomed him as he entered the dark and gloomy chambers governed by ancient texts and scrolls.

It was only after closing the door behind him that he could turn on the lights on the antique chandelier that hung from the fixture right at the centre of the ceiling. The brief moment between the two instances- closing of the door and hitting the switch, was of pure darkness for the library had no open windows from where moonlight could seep in. But soon the not-so-large-but-still-fancy chandelier was scattering its golden bliss to every corner, lightening up the entire room in a flaxen shade.

Max sauntered about the room looking through the different shelves, each one of them with a different kind of theme to it and having different coloured shelves was perhaps Shane's way of sorting.

He went past a black shelf with red detailing. The books it enclosed within it were mostly related to hell and monstrous creatures and higher ranked devils. That seemed tempting to read but then he remembered that Julie had mentioned something about sirens being mermaid like creatures from Greek mythology.

Those were his two clues- water and Greek- to find what he was looking for in that room filled with hundreds, maybe even thousands of books. Not very much aware about Greece though, he straight away moved towards the emerald bluish shelf with green patterns in hope finding something in it. It had a fanciful, ocean-like vibe to it so had a chance to hold some information about killer mermaids.

He took a deep breath and dived into the books it had to offer. There were about fifteen rows and each one of them contained more than twenty books. For about an hour or two, he kept pulling out books, flipping through the pages and keeping it back to its place. Just then, when he was about to give up, his eyes caught some sketch in the thick brown book he was leafing.

The sketch was a rough figurine of what looked like a mermaid with magnificently dense and flowing hair, a beautiful face and upper body holding a skull close to the breast, along with the lower half as a scaly fishtail. Max turned the page to see 'The Sirens' written at the centre of the yellowish page in a fancy, wavy font. He took down the brewing anxiety in a gulp, and moved forward to read what he had found.

𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔠𝔬𝔪𝔭𝔩𝔢𝔱𝔢 𝔰𝔱𝔬𝔯𝔶 𝔞𝔟𝔬𝔲𝔱 𝔖𝔦𝔯𝔢𝔫𝔰 𝔯𝔢𝔪𝔞𝔦𝔫𝔰 𝔞 𝔱𝔞𝔩𝔢 𝔬𝔣 𝔠𝔬𝔫𝔱𝔯𝔞𝔡𝔦𝔠𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫𝔰 𝔢𝔳𝔢𝔫 𝔴𝔦𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔫 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔪𝔬𝔰𝔱 𝔱𝔯𝔲𝔰𝔱𝔢𝔡 𝔠𝔩𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔦𝔠𝔰 𝔬𝔣 𝔊𝔯𝔢𝔢𝔨 𝔐𝔶𝔱𝔥𝔬𝔩𝔬𝔤𝔶. 𝔄𝔠𝔠𝔬𝔯𝔡𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔬 𝔒𝔳𝔦𝔡'𝔰 𝔪𝔢𝔱𝔞𝔪𝔬𝔯𝔭𝔥𝔬𝔰𝔢𝔰, 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔶 𝔴𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔠𝔬𝔪𝔭𝔞𝔫𝔦𝔬𝔫𝔰 𝔬𝔣 𝔶𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔤 𝔓𝔢𝔯𝔰𝔢𝔭𝔥𝔬𝔫𝔢, 𝔡𝔞𝔲𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔬𝔣 𝔇𝔢𝔪𝔢𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔞𝔫𝔡 ℨ𝔢𝔲𝔰. 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔖𝔦𝔯𝔢𝔫𝔰 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔪𝔰𝔢𝔩𝔳𝔢𝔰 𝔥𝔞𝔳𝔢 𝔟𝔢𝔢𝔫 𝔡𝔢𝔭𝔦𝔠𝔱𝔢𝔡 𝔞𝔰 𝔡𝔞𝔲𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔰 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔯𝔦𝔳𝔢𝔯 𝔤𝔬𝔡 𝔄𝔠𝔥𝔢𝔩𝔬𝔲𝔰, 𝔴𝔦𝔱𝔥 𝔬𝔫𝔢 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔐𝔲𝔰𝔢𝔰 𝔗𝔢𝔯𝔭𝔰𝔦𝔠𝔥𝔬𝔯𝔢, 𝔐𝔢𝔩𝔭𝔬𝔪𝔢𝔫𝔢, 𝔬𝔯 ℭ𝔞𝔩𝔩𝔦𝔬𝔭𝔢- 𝔢𝔵𝔭𝔩𝔞𝔦𝔫𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔦𝔯 𝔤𝔦𝔣𝔱𝔢𝔡 𝔳𝔬𝔦𝔠𝔢. 𝔇𝔦𝔣𝔣𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔫𝔱 𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔰𝔦𝔬𝔫𝔰 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔩𝔦𝔫𝔢𝔞𝔤𝔢 𝔞𝔩𝔰𝔬 𝔢𝔵𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔰 𝔞𝔰 𝔡𝔢𝔰𝔠𝔯𝔦𝔟𝔢𝔡 𝔟𝔶...

Max skimmed past the family history and moved forward to the things that could be of greater concern.

𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔫𝔲𝔪𝔟𝔢𝔯 𝔬𝔣 𝔰𝔦𝔯𝔢𝔫𝔰 𝔦𝔰 𝔰𝔞𝔦𝔡 𝔱𝔬 𝔟𝔢 𝔬𝔫𝔩𝔶 𝔱𝔴𝔬 𝔦𝔫 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔒𝔡𝔶𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔶. ℌ𝔶𝔤𝔦𝔫𝔲𝔰 𝔤𝔦𝔳𝔢𝔰 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔫𝔲𝔪𝔟𝔢𝔯 𝔬𝔣 𝔰𝔦𝔯𝔢𝔫𝔰 𝔞𝔰 𝔣𝔬𝔲𝔯, 𝔴𝔥𝔦𝔩𝔢 𝔩𝔞𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔴𝔯𝔦𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔰 𝔥𝔞𝔳𝔢 𝔠𝔩𝔞𝔦𝔪𝔢𝔡 𝔳𝔞𝔯𝔦𝔬𝔲𝔰𝔩𝔶 𝔞𝔰 𝔣𝔯𝔬𝔪 𝔱𝔴𝔬 𝔱𝔬 𝔢𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱, 𝔴𝔥𝔦𝔩𝔢 𝔭𝔯𝔬𝔳𝔦𝔡𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔫𝔞𝔪𝔢𝔰 𝔞𝔰 𝔴𝔢𝔩𝔩. 𝔗𝔥𝔦𝔰 𝔤𝔦𝔳𝔢𝔰 𝔞 𝔭𝔬𝔰𝔰𝔦𝔟𝔦𝔩𝔦𝔱𝔶 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔪𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱 𝔟𝔢 𝔢𝔳𝔢𝔫 𝔪𝔬𝔯𝔢. 𝔗𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔩𝔡 𝔟𝔢 𝔞𝔫 𝔢𝔫𝔱𝔦𝔯𝔢 𝔨𝔦𝔫𝔤𝔡𝔬𝔪 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔦𝔯𝔢𝔫𝔰 𝔩𝔦𝔳𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔠𝔬𝔪𝔣𝔬𝔯𝔱𝔞𝔟𝔩𝔶 𝔰𝔬𝔪𝔢𝔴𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢, 𝔩𝔲𝔯𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔰𝔞𝔦𝔩𝔬𝔯𝔰 𝔱𝔬𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔡𝔰 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔦𝔯 𝔡𝔬𝔬𝔪. 𝔅𝔲𝔱 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔴𝔦𝔩𝔩 𝔯𝔢𝔪𝔞𝔦𝔫 𝔞 𝔪𝔶𝔰𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔶 𝔲𝔫𝔱𝔦𝔩 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔶 𝔡𝔢𝔠𝔦𝔡𝔢 𝔱𝔬 𝔠𝔬𝔪𝔢 𝔱𝔬 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔲𝔯𝔣𝔞𝔠𝔢 𝔬𝔫𝔠𝔢 𝔞𝔤𝔞𝔦𝔫.

𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔞𝔭𝔭𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔞𝔫𝔠𝔢, 𝔞𝔰 𝔞𝔫𝔶 𝔬𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔱𝔬𝔭𝔦𝔠, 𝔦𝔰 𝔰𝔲𝔟𝔧𝔢𝔠𝔱 𝔱𝔬 𝔡𝔢𝔟𝔞𝔱𝔢𝔰 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔡𝔦𝔰𝔠𝔲𝔰𝔰𝔦𝔬𝔫𝔰. 𝔖𝔬𝔪𝔢 𝔡𝔢𝔰𝔠𝔯𝔦𝔟𝔢 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔪 𝔞𝔰 𝔟𝔢𝔞𝔲𝔱𝔦𝔣𝔲𝔩 𝔪𝔢𝔯𝔪𝔞𝔦𝔡𝔰, 𝔴𝔥𝔦𝔩𝔢 𝔰𝔬𝔪𝔢 𝔞𝔰 𝔪𝔬𝔫𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔬𝔲𝔰 𝔟𝔦𝔯𝔡𝔰 𝔴𝔦𝔱𝔥 𝔣𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔰 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔥𝔲𝔤𝔢 𝔴𝔦𝔫𝔤𝔰, 𝔡𝔢𝔳𝔬𝔲𝔯𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔬𝔫 𝔥𝔲𝔪𝔞𝔫 𝔪𝔞𝔩𝔢𝔰 𝔱𝔬 𝔪𝔞𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔞𝔦𝔫 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔦𝔯 𝔟𝔢auty. 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔠𝔬𝔫𝔣𝔩𝔦𝔠𝔱 𝔦𝔰 𝔭𝔢𝔯𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔰 𝔟𝔢𝔠𝔞𝔲𝔰𝔢 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔶 𝔞𝔯𝔢 𝔠𝔞𝔭𝔞𝔟𝔩𝔢 𝔬𝔣 𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔦𝔯 𝔣𝔬𝔯𝔪.

Max agreed for it all made sense now, and yet somehow it didn't. Agna first appeared as a beautiful lady and then turned into the same kind of bird monster as described in the book he was reading. But all that was mythology and none of it should have been real.

𝔅𝔲𝔱 𝔴𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔦𝔰 𝔣𝔞𝔯 𝔪𝔬𝔯𝔢 𝔡𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯𝔬𝔲𝔰 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔫 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔦𝔯 𝔠𝔩𝔞𝔴𝔰 𝔦𝔰 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔦𝔯 𝔳𝔬𝔦𝔠𝔢, 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔦𝔯 𝔰𝔬𝔫𝔤. 𝔖𝔦𝔯𝔢𝔫𝔰 𝔥𝔞𝔳𝔢 𝔟𝔢𝔢𝔫 𝔨𝔫𝔬𝔴𝔫 𝔱𝔬 𝔠𝔬𝔪𝔢 𝔬𝔫 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔞𝔰 𝔟𝔢𝔞𝔲𝔱𝔦𝔣𝔲𝔩 𝔪𝔞𝔦𝔡𝔢𝔫𝔰 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔩𝔲𝔯𝔢 𝔪𝔢𝔫 by 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔦𝔯 𝔳𝔬𝔦𝔠𝔢 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔫 𝔡𝔢𝔳𝔬𝔲𝔯𝔢𝔡 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔪, 𝔯𝔦𝔭𝔭𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔦𝔯 𝔟𝔬𝔡𝔶 𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔬 𝔭𝔦𝔢𝔠𝔢𝔰. 𝔖𝔴𝔦𝔪𝔪𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔣𝔢𝔢𝔡𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔬𝔫 𝔪𝔬𝔯𝔱𝔞𝔩 𝔣𝔩𝔢𝔰𝔥 𝔨𝔢𝔢𝔭𝔰 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔪 𝔞𝔩𝔦𝔳𝔢. ℑ𝔱 𝔦𝔰 𝔞𝔩𝔰𝔬 𝔰𝔞𝔦𝔡 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔶 𝔞𝔯𝔢 𝔣𝔞𝔱𝔢𝔡 𝔱𝔬 𝔡𝔦𝔢 𝔦𝔣 𝔞 𝔪𝔞𝔫, 𝔴𝔥𝔬 𝔥𝔞𝔰 𝔥𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔡 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔦𝔯 𝔰𝔬𝔫𝔤, 𝔰𝔲𝔯𝔳𝔦𝔳𝔢𝔰. 𝔄 𝔰𝔦𝔪𝔦𝔩𝔞𝔯 𝔱𝔞𝔩𝔢 𝔠𝔞𝔫 𝔟𝔢 𝔥𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔡 𝔬𝔣 Odysseus 𝔴𝔥𝔬 𝔥𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔡 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔦𝔯𝔢𝔫 𝔰𝔬𝔫𝔤 𝔬𝔣 𝔓𝔞𝔢𝔰𝔱𝔲𝔪 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔰𝔲𝔯𝔳𝔦𝔳𝔢𝔡, 𝔪𝔞𝔨𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔦𝔯𝔢𝔫𝔰 𝔭𝔢𝔯𝔦𝔰𝔥- 𝔟𝔲𝔱 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔥𝔞𝔰 𝔟𝔢𝔢𝔫 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔬𝔫𝔩𝔶 𝔠𝔞𝔰𝔢 𝔬𝔣 𝔰𝔲𝔯𝔳𝔦𝔳𝔞𝔩.

Suddenly he realised what this was all about. The song Kevin had been talking about was the Siren's song. 'But this book never mentioned how long its effect would last,' he thought as he leafed through the remaining pages, about different stories related to them, upsetting the Gods.

He connected the pieces of what he had learned and came to the hazy conclusion. Kevin had heard Agna's song and survived. Agna was killed. 'So where does this end now? Why is the song still bothering him?'

"Maybe it's too soon. I should probably wait and observe Kevin for some time. Maybe the song's effect would gradually fade away."

He was sure of his decision to stay away from everything related to the prophecy and being the chosen one when he had said that in front of Morgan, and was still adamant enough. Hardly had he had any idea that he would have again get into it so soon. But he couldn't have a choice if it was about Kevin- his safety would always be his first priority at any situation.

~~~~~~~

Max is taking a chance of waiting for some time so that the effect of the song fades away by itself. Would this wait turn out to be fatal for Kevin? Or will things go as Max expects? If not, he might have to get back to the same threshold where he swore to never go again.

(For anyone who finds it difficult to read the text written in that fancy font- Ill comment the entire passage right beside it. And let me know if that's a lot difficult to read)

Yay! Another update on time! This chapter was done even before I published the previous one- but I wanted to publish this only after I finished writing the next one. But nah, we'll see later about the next chapter. I felt like posting this one today so I did.

Anyways, thanks for reading. :)

-Shubham