Chapter 17

CLAUDIA. “Stop this,” Max suddenly says, pushing me away from John. “Get away from him. Now.” I open my mouth to say that I have done nothing wrong, but he doesn’t let me finish. He takes me by the arm and starts to drag me into the corner, away from John. Out of the corner of my eye, I see him sitting up, rubbing the side of his head in confusion as though he’s not aware of what happened just moments ago. This scares me even more. But Max makes this worse by holding me by the shoulders and shoving me into a corner. “What was that?” “I don’t know!” I say, my voice rising in agitation. “He talked bad about me, so I retaliated and that’s it. I don’t know what happened to him or what caused that.” He peers closer at me. I can tell he doesn’t believe me. “Right. And you mean to say that he just happened to obey your words?” “I told you, I don’t know.” My words come out through gritted teeth. “Like all of you want to point out, I’m just a maid. Do you think I hold some kind of power over anyone?” That question seems to hit home for him. He opens his mouth and closes it again, struggling to ask something. At last, he mutters, “Do you have witch blood?” “No!” I say vehemently. “My parents are both wolves. They’re locals here. You should know that, you stupid jerk!” With that, I walk away. Max is calling my name, and for a while, I can hear him trying to run after me. “Claudia! Come on, you know we can talk this through. I might be able to help you--” “Leave me alone!” I yell at him, causing some of the villagers to look our way. “I can help you, I swear!” Max insists. “I’m sorry!” I can tell that he means that. I can sense the sincerity and sheer panic in his tone. But I just walk faster and faster, unable to take anything from anyone in this village anymore. Tears are starting to brim my eyes but I just wipe at them furiously. My mind is a mess and I don’t know how to pick my thoughts apart and wrap my head around… that. Because what did happen? I keep asking myself this even as I go back to my room. I pace the floor, burying my hands into my hair as I search my thoughts. So John repeated everything I told him like he believed in them wholeheartedly. When I told him to stop, he just plopped on the floor like some sort of dead fish. The only time he came to his senses was when I was gone, and it’s almost like at that time, I was his master. I should be happy if this is indeed a new ability. But why do I feel scared? I pace my room for what feels like the entire day, tossing the thought in my mind over and over again. I don’t come anywhere near a conclusion. Do I have witch blood? I want to ask Ruth about it, but I’m also completely certain of the answer. But it did seem that Max would have been able to offer more information about it…. If I didn’t shut him down. And shut him down is what I did. I take a deep breath. Maybe I can still find a way to solve this. Maybe if I tell him that I do need his help, he will relent and tell me more about what I’m going through. Because I don’t think I can walk around in peace knowing that I can command people. Hell, it might just be a coincidence. Or something that’s not as heavy as that. Even though my stomach is in knots just with the thought of talking to Max, I get out of my room. I find a couple of young girls playing in the hallway, so I come up to them and ask, “Do you know where Max is?” “He’s with Nana,” the older girl says, pointing above. “She stays on the fourth floor, at the end of the main hallway.” “Thank you,” I say, taking the stairs and getting up to the fourth floor. I’m winded by the time I arrive, not from exhaustion but from sheer fear. I find a door at the end of the hallway like the girl said, and I can actually catch a faint smell of Max’s scent from here. I follow it to the room, but before I can knock, I hear something that catches my attention. “—telling you, Nana,” Max is saying, his voice full of urgency. “It’s not something you’d see every day. I definitely have not seen anything like it before. She just said some things about John, and he repeated it like he believes them, like he thinks it’s the truth now.” “Maybe it was just a game?” an older woman’s voice says. “What else did you see?” I walk closer to the door, my heart climbing up my throat. They’re talking about me. They’re talking about what happened…. “Well, Claudia said stop, and John just fell to the ground not doing anything,” he continues. I wait for the older woman to say that everything is just a weird trick of the mind or something, but she stays silent. Silent for so long that I’m getting the urge to ram down the door and ask her what she thinks. “I know her parents,” she says at last. “I know they are wolves, so your theory about her having witch blood can’t be true. Witches are long gone from this world. Claudia’s mother… she had the most wonderful voice I had ever heard. At that time I thought nothing of it, but now I think that she and her mother have a gift.” “What?” Max asks. “What gift?” “The Gift of Projection,” the old woman whispers, like the words themselves give her awe. “The Voice. I think Claudia is from a long line of old werewolves. The ones known as the Siren Wolves. From the old tales about Sirens.” “I know that,” he replies. “The women who have beautiful voices, the ones whose songs can enchant. That makes sense with the way Claudia made John obey.” Siren Wolves. I repeat it over and over in my head, desperate for it to make sense. In a way, her explanation sounds a lot better than I expected, and I’m starting to feel better about it even though I don’t completely know what it is. But the old woman ruins all of that with her next words. “The Sirens enchant, yes. But you forget that they can enslave with their voices too. Siren Wolves are just as capable. They are just as deadly, and we have a live one in our hands, ready to enslave us all.”