"You're here," she whispered happily.
But her joy was short-lived. Instead of the familiar warmth that she was used to feeling from his body, she felt cold. If that wasn't enough of a clue that something wasn't right, then Sienna sealed the deal. The wyrm had turned into her large form and was hissing angrily at Alistair, her tail thrashing left and right.
Melina jumped back, and her heart clenched with fear as she captured the imposter with her magic, rendering them immobile.
"W-Who are you?!" Melina demanded.
"I-I was promised you would help!" The creature uttered in Alistair's voice.
"Drop the facade or I'll crush you on the spot!" Melina growled. "Where is Alistair? What happened to him?"
For emphasis, she tightened her magical hold on the monster, and it finally dropped its disguise. Melina realized that it was a siren. Was it the same siren that had fooled Alistair? Or a different one? If it were a different one, then they had a huge problem on their hands. Sirens waltzing into Sunglow would be a new kind of threat that the Guild would have to look out for. If it was the same siren that fooled Alistair, then how did it get all the way to Sunglow? And why?
Just as she was considering how she should force the information out of the siren, a bottle it was clutching in its hand, fell to the ground and shattered.
"R-Read the note," the siren muttered, pointing at a piece of paper among the broken glass.
Melina was skeptical. It felt like a trap. Sirens were clever creatures, exploiting the weaknesses of others. She'd had to deal with a fair share of them as an Archmage. Even now, those battle instincts were screaming at her to act, which was enforced by the fact that she still had no clue what had happened to Alistair.
But something in the creature's eyes convinced Melina to bend down and pick up the note. She unrolled it and saw Alistair's familiar handwriting.
Melina, I am fine. On my way to Fenrora. Please, help this siren back to the Monster Realm. –Alistair
"Did you write this?!" Melina roared in anger. It looked like Alistair's handwriting, although it was difficult to tell as it was written with soot.
"H-How would I do that? I can't read or write," the siren said, struggling against Melina's invisible bounds. "Your lover wrote this. Said that you would help me get back to the Monster Realm. That's all I ever wanted. I don't want to stay in the Human Realm, forced to risk my life attacking humans because there's not enough mana here. I honestly don't know how you humans can even survive here."
Melina looked at the note again, tracing the lines with her finger. Did Alistair really write this? She wanted to desperately believe it. To believe that he was fine and on his way to Fenrora.
"Why would he send a siren who tried to kill him here?" Melina asked. "I saw you taking my shape to fool him!"
"What else am I supposed to do? He fell into the sea during a storm. I dragged him to shore, in hopes of draining his lifeforce to stop myself from starving to death. Do you know how agonizing it is for us sirens here? It's as if we cannot breathe," it said, then added. "Not to mention how dry it is. If you're going to kill me, then do it quickly. I'm already parched here—no water, no mana."
Melina stared at the siren for a moment. She didn't trust it. Not one bit. But if Alistair really had written this note and wanted to help the siren, it wouldn't be right to kill it. Didn't she want to end the cycle of killing? To avoid that horrid path this time?
She cursed loudly and turned the mana holding the siren into water, dousing it from head to toe. It looked relieved as its skin regained the wet sheen.
"So you'll help me get back to the Monster Realm?" It asked cautiously.
"Not yet. Not until I am sure that Alistair is safe," Melina said.
"So you intend to starve me to death?" The siren asked, looking angry.
"No. I'll feed you," Melina said, pointing towards the bakery. "Follow me, and take a human shape."
Siren changed into Alistair, at which Melina snarled. "Anything but that!"
It flinched back and then hurriedly changed into a different man, a sailor by the look of his clothes. Melina pondered for a moment whether it was one of the men it'd killed to sustain itself. But she decided it was best not to think about it. Instead, she had to figure out what to do with it. How'd she explain it to others?
Just as she opened the door to enter the bakery, she ran into Gilbert, who was looking at her with concern in his eyes. "Is everything okay? I heard some noise outside and Sienna growling."
Sienna was staring at the siren with disapproval, still in her large form. Gilbert noticed the siren disguised as a sailor behind her and arched his eyebrow. "Who is that?"
The siren stammered nervously. "I-I'm—"
"That's the siren I told you about," Melina said. There was no need to hide anything from her Grandfather. She was mostly worried about how to hide from the kids. There was no need to traumatize them with this knowledge. Even if Adrien insists otherwise.
"What in the blue blazes is it doing here? Why are you inviting it inside?" He asked.
"It delivered this note from Alistair," Melina said, handing the note to Gilbert.
He read it and furrowed his eyebrows. "And you believe it?"
"No, of course not. But it is Alistair's handwriting. In case it is telling the truth, I'd like to honor his promise," she explained.
Gilbert narrowed his eyes at the siren skeptically. "You're just going to drain our lifeforce in our sleep."
"If you don't feed me, yes," the siren replied.
"You're not making a good case for yourself, monster," Gilbert growled.
"I'll just make it something with feyfruit. That should sate its appetite. Also, I will be bringing it back home with me, where it's just me, Sienna, and Mango. There's no way it'll get past those two sneaky beasts," she explained. The siren would likely want to be in the bathtub anyway. It was a miracle that it managed to get so far away from the shore on its own.
"You have feyfruit?!" The siren exclaimed.
"I'll give it to you only after you explain everything that happened with Alistair," Melina said sternly.
"I'll tell you everything! Every detail! Just please give it to me!" The siren begged.
"It seems you got things under control. Maybe you should bring Knight over to Alistair's house, too. Just in case. He's more vigilant at night," Gilbert suggested.
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"I wouldn't mind, but you know that he doesn't like me very much."
"I'm sure he won't mind for one night," Gilbert said. "I'll go convince him while you feed this… thing."
The siren didn't even look offended to be called a thing; instead, it just stared at Melina with a hungry gaze. She shook her head and motioned it inside.
She didn't really want to do anything nice for this creature who had tried to hurt Alistair and fool Melina into believing it was him. But leaving it starving was far more dangerous. So she made some pancake batter and filled it with small chunks of feyfruit. She also made feyfruit jam separately, just to be sure that the siren would be full.
It stared at the process the whole time, barely able to contain itself in its seat. Perhaps it would have tried to pry the feyfruit away from Melina, but Sienna was still watching it in her large form.
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She set the stack in front of the siren and offered the jam along with it. The siren didn't bother with table manners. It grabbed the jam, dousing it all over the pancakes, and then began shoving everything in its mouth. Less than two minutes gone, the plate was licked clean.
"T-That was so good. I finally feel like myself again," the siren's form shifted into a feminine one.
This Melina recognized the siren's true form. She had long pink hair, deep turquoise eyes, and her skin was neither human nor the scaly skin she had seen before. Instead, it was shimmering beautifully while her ears looked much like fish fins. She didn't have any clothing, but her more private parts were covered in thicker scales.
"You shouldn't walk around town looking like this?" Melina chastised.
"Yes, yes, I know. Let me enjoy the moment. It's been so long since I could take this form." The siren said, running her hands over her body. A moment later, her fishy parts disappeared, and instead, there sat a beautiful woman with the same pink hair and turquoise eyes. "Is this better?"
Melina didn't know what to say. It was technically better, but at the same time, it wasn't. The siren was far too beautiful. It would attract more attention like this than she would if she looked like a fish-person. She'd even conjured herself an elegant-looking dress. The convenience of being a shapeshifter.
"Let's get going before Roxie or Adrien notices you," Melina grumbled, motioning to follow.
"As you wish," the siren said obediently with a satisfied smile on its face.
"If I tell you to do something while we are walking, you do it without question. Got it?" Melina warned.
"Absolutely," the siren nodded, then muttered under its breath. "As long as I get to eat feyfruit again."
Melina wondered just how much of her feyfruit she would have to spend to keep the siren fed. But she couldn't kill it, and she couldn't let it go either until she was sure that Alistair was safe. So she would probably have to put up with the siren for a while.
Thankfully, not many people crossed Melina's path on their way home, and those they did meet focused their gaze on Sienna, still in her large form. At the end of the day, the wyrm was more impressive than just a pretty girl. Thanks to Sienna's efforts, they got back home without an issue, where Melina promptly shoved the siren in the bathroom.
It… She took her fish form and thoroughly enjoyed the large bath while Melina left her be. She was just too tired. Part of her still worried for Alistair, but that worry had lessened somewhat thanks to the note. She looked at it longingly, more and more convinced that it was indeed Alistair who wrote it.
"Sienna, Mango, you wake up if that siren does anything strange. Even if it's nothing," Melina said to her familiars.
Mango hadn't really registered the presence of the siren and promptly went to sleep on the couch. But Sienna nodded, placing herself in front of the bathroom door. That way, the siren wouldn't be able to wander around as it pleased.
Melina also threw a look out into the yard and saw Knight observing the house with its red eyes. The nightmare would deal with the siren if it or she tried to get out through the window. She could sleep soundly.
In theory. In practice, Melina went down to check on the siren every few hours, worried she might have done something. But every time she went to check, she found her blissfully sleeping in the tub with a large, satisfied smile on her face.
In the morning, Melina forced the siren up early, earning lots of angry mutterings. But Melina needed to prepare pastries for the day, and she didn't trust leaving the siren alone. So by process of elimination, she was forced to drag it along. However, she didn't intend to babysit the monster the whole day. Instead, she sent Sienna to get Elowen and Etrian.
"It's too dry in here," the siren complained while Melina and Roxie were preparing the first batches of bread dough. They already had breakfast together, where Melina had fed the siren waffles with a large heap of feyfruit jam. The girl had given the siren odd looks but was too polite to question her presence.
"Deal with it," Melina muttered in response.
"Can I have some water at least?" she continued to whine.
"Yes," Melina conceded and gave the siren a glass. The siren, disguised as the beautiful pink-haired woman, drank it greedily.
"May I ask who she is?" Roxie whispered to Melina when the siren was out of earshot.
"A distant relative. She came yesterday without warning," she replied, not bothering to hide her distaste.
Roxie nodded in understanding. "We have an uncle like that. Always comes whenever the bakery is busiest."
Thankfully, it didn't take long for Elowen to arrive, and Etrian came soon after. Melina left the pastry making to Roxie for a moment while the three of them went to the living room.
"It's always a pleasure to meet with you, Miss Melina, but I do have to wonder what warrants such an early morning call?" Etrian asked sleepily, while scratching Sienna's underchin.
"It better be important," Elowen said groggily and glanced at the siren. "Who is she?"
"Show them," Melina commanded.
The siren changed her appearance without a protest, displaying her true form. Elowen's eyes instantly shot open in surprise, and even the usually calm drow seemed a bit shaken.
"My, what an unusual guest you have," Etrian said.
"Why are you here?" Elowen addressed the siren suspiciously.
"I merely wish to return home to the Monster Realm. I'd expect an elf to be more understanding of its brethren," the siren cooed, batting her eyelashes at her. No doubt she was hoping that her beautiful appearance might sway him, but the elf was unfazed.
"You're no brethren. We've lost many of our brothers and sisters to your kind, preying upon them like some savage beasts," Elowen retorted.
Melina didn't blame his anger. After all, if given the choice, sirens would always prefer to prey on elves since they had more lifeforce than humans.
"I don't understand how she ended up in your humble bakery," Etrian mused.
"Long story short. Alistair was caught in a storm and fell into the sea. This siren technically saved him, but at the same time, she also tried to prey upon his life force. Alistair left a note saying that he's gone to Fenrora and that he wishes me to help, but—"
"But you're skeptical whether you can trust such a tall tale," Etrian concluded.
"Exactly," Melina nodded.
"Never trust a siren," Elowen said sternly, earning a frown from the siren.
"I wouldn't, but I saw the visions myself, and this is definitely Alistair's handwriting," Melina said, producing the crude note.
"She could have manipulated him," Elowen pointed out.
"I don't have enough mana for something like that," the siren objected.
"Yet you are sitting here in your true form, something that should be possible only in Monster Realm," Etrian noted.
"It's because she fed me feyfruit. I've regained my mana through it," the siren objected.
"That is true," Melina confirmed. "But I still don't trust her. I can't keep her in the bakery while I'm working."
"So you want one of us to watch her?" Elowen concluded.
"If possible. Of course I'd repay—"
"Repayment is unnecessary. You've already done enough for me," Elowen said. "I can watch her while not on patrol."
"I don't mind either. I hear sirens have a great sense of style. We can find out if that is true," Etrian agreed.
Melina let out a sigh of relief. With this, the siren would be taken care of. She could return to work.
"I'll take her with me now and then bring her to your shop in the afternoon," Elowen said briskly and motioned a siren to follow.
"Just don't make me go to dry places," she whined.
Etrian nodded and watched the two leave. However, he made no move to leave himself.
"Is something the matter?" Melina asked.
The drow until they left, and only then did he speak again. "You must prepare Sunglow."
"Prepare Sunglow?" Melina asked quizzically.
"Protective wards, Archmage. The Church will arrive soon, and let me assure you—they are not here to negotiate," the drow said.
Melina gasped. Not only because of the Church's arrival. She had been expecting that to happen soon anyway and had already laid some wards around the bakery and Alistair's home. But how did Etrian know that she was an Archmage?