Chapter IV

What can I say? I love Bijou. She was sweet even when she was forced to carry the world on her shoulders—my baby sister, who found me through a vision.

Of course, I didn't make her go back to L'Attente. She didn't want to, and I had more than enough room for her to spend the night. Unfortunately, it couldn't be permanent.

Adrielle loved to raise the kids. Most of the tidelanders at L'Attente was raised by Adrielle. It was the core of their loyalty to her. Vladimir Lenin once said: Give me just one generation of youth, and I'll transform the whole world.

I now found myself in bed with Thea, with Bijou and Gilles sleeping between us. Bijou was closest to me. She loves her bracelets that covered her small arms. Her long curly brown was even wilder in the night. She held the Golden hair boy, Gilles, as she slept. Being the source of pain for the ones you love never feels good. Bijou expressed those feelings by the way she clung to him.

Bijou was good at pretending. She had to, or the visions would swallow her whole. But I knew she was lying when she said she was fine. In the matter of a day, Bijou was kidnapped, and Gilles lost an eye in the place that was supposed to keep them safe from the horrors of the world of men.

I watched them sleep, and Thea watched me. "They'll be fine. I'll go back with them."

"Stay out of Violca's game. Adrielle is volatile. She took his eye because she is hiding something from all of you." I told her.

"What did he see?" Thea asked.

"A question you will never ask me again, and if I find out that you asked him. Don't blame for lashing out." Harsh is the only way to keep Thea in check. If she found out what Gilles saw and let it slip to Violca, her life would be forfeited. I couldn't let it happen.

"So, you were with Calliope last tonight. In the water. Is she a Tidelander? Wait, of course, she is. I couldn't imagine you being in love with a human for a second, let alone ten years. And Bijou says she brings the Sirens, so that clarifies everything."

"Are you mad?" I ask.

"No, Aiden. I am worried." Thea replied, "Adrielle, Violca, Gilles' eye, Bijou's vision, Augie's shadow enemy, Calliope's return in the middle of everything. It's like the storm of the century is brewing. What is happening to our home?"

"A great change is coming," I admitted. " Something else is in the water. Something old, it was watching us last night."

"Something with the sirens?" Thea asked, unnerved.

Not every Tidelander wished for the return of the mothers. To be abandoned by them was more than enough to understand their feelings. But nothing was ever that simple. Tidelanders like Thea wanted it to be simple because they feared the sirens in the stories.

"Maybe, or an enemy. I saw two sirens last night. I watched them watch us. Everything about that night makes me feel that the Sirens were waiting for Calliope to return. "

"You saw the Sirens?" Thea asked.

"Yes, as clear as I see you now."

"Okay. I'll take care of Bijou. But you need to figure this shit out. Idiots surround Augie. If someone is moving in, it isn't good for L'Attente either. Once the shit on land is handled, we can take care of whatever is in the water." Thea was nervous; she was telling me shit that I already knew.

"Okay, sounds like a plan," I tell her. "I have to go run some errands and then see Augie at the factory. Please do Jou's hair and make sure she gets rid of those drawings."

"Aiden," Thea called out. " Do I need to find a new boyfriend? I don't want to intrude."

"Just relax. One problem at a time, remember."

I would be lying if I said I trusted Calliope completely. But I trusted Thea with my life. She is a good soul that has never let me down—the love of my life and the love that was in my life. Relationship problems, it wasn't the time to deal with them.

Once I was dressed, I kissed Bijou's forehead, and she groaned as she turned over to sleep more. The little brat. I kiss Thea, then head out.

---------

On my way to the factory, I got a call from Crumberland.

"Eager to get your money back?" I ask.

"I found something." Crumberland was serious.

"Send me a photo. Why all the drama?"

"Because this one is special. This one is apart of a lore that goes back millennia. Just get here." Crumberland ends the call, and I turn the truck around towards the city.

-------

"Mr.Crumberland, what's so important?" I ask.

"Have a seat," he says.

I find my seat, and he shows me the picture on his special laptop of a clay-like shard with Sumerian Cuneiform etched into it.

"Read it," he says. It was no secret that I knew the language.

Looking over the shard, it seemed like bullshit until I saw an etching from an older form of Cuneiform. I was flabergasted,

"This. To summon the Goddess/Holy woman of the water. What is this apart of? A pot?" I ask.

"A horn. when put together is said to bring a great tidal wave of destruction along with it, Beautifully treacherous women. "

"Slender, Silver skinned women," I add.

"Yes," Crumberland replied.

"What the fuck is happening?" I muttered. "Crumberland. I don't want that shard. I want the tale of the shard."

"There's only one copy in Australia, Another in the UK., both owned by men who are hardcore, mermaid fans like you."

"Crumberland, I said I need the tale. Not the whole fucking book. Get photocopies and get me a price. I want it today, or I'll find a new broker."

"Aiden, come on, man."

"Tonight, Mr.Crumberland."

-----

The drive back was a stuffy one. When I arrived at the factory. I saw just the woman to help me blow off steam.

"Violca Roux, get in." I say.

Violca looks at her car.

"It isn't a request. Thea said you wanted to talk, let's talk."

Violca walked over to the passenger side and hopped in. She was about to speak when I took the back of her head and shamed her face into the dash. The sheer forced caused the airbag to deploy, and it gave her another smack.

Violca cried as she held her bloodied face. She is beautiful, extremely sharp. But she is no warrior.

"Shut your fucking trap! Gilles lost an eye! You kidnapped Bijou and locked her up!"

"I didn't mean for it to happen. I didn't think he would get caught!" Violca snapped.

"You shouldn't have used him anyway! And if you ever touch Bijou again, I'll kill you, Violca. Then I'll kill every fucking Tidelander that comes to avenge you."

Violca was focused on catching her blood. "Violca Roux!" I roared.

Violca looked at me with anger, hate, remorse, and a few other emotions I could not pin.

"Do you understand me?"

Violca nods.

"Good, And leave Thea out of your schemes. " I add.

I then move her hands and use my power to stop the bleeding. "Why are you like this, Violca? Can't you see that as long as you sacrifice your people to get a step ahead, you are no better than her? When you replace Adrielle, you will replace her in her entirety, becoming the woman that you hate and your people fear."

I reach into the backseat and grab one of my shirts. I clean blood from her face, and of course, she looks at me with a confused expression.

"It's not your fault that your blood is week. The Tide has changed, and every Tidelander will be needed. " I explained

"For what?"

"I don't know, that's why I need you. But I need you to behave yourself, Violca. And that means don't start a civil war if you're not sure you're going to win. Now get out of my truck before I lose my temper again."

I wanted to take one of her eyes and lock her in one of the freezers. But I didn't. What I said about needing her was the truth.

When I was calm, I walked to the factory but was stopped at the door by Colton.

"What do you want, Col? I'm in a bad mood today."

"What did the Tidelander want?" he asks, and I didn't like his tone.

"She came all the way here to suck my cock. I told her about my shit day and took it out on her. She left here a changed woman. Any other questions?"

"Good." I push past and make my way to Augie's office. "Yo, Aug!" I shout.

"I don't want to hear it. The Tidelanders are our suppliers." Said Augie.

"What the fuck are you talking about? Of course, they are our suppliers. "

Aug stared at me then looked at the door. "What did Col want?" he asked.

"He asked about the fucking Tidelander. I told him she blew me." I laughed, and Augie chuckled.

"What's up with these guys? They act like the Tidelanders are the school bullies. They say they want a stable living. We have a stable living. Fucking the Tidelanders over won't stop what's happening in the water."

"Exactly, it's why I'm staying with the Tidelanders." Augie leaned back in his chair, anxiously.

"Good." I agree.

"But..." Augie cooed.

"But What, Aug?"

"Don't tell the guys, but there's probably some trouble in L'Attente."

I run my fingers through my hair and curse the little bitch, Violca. "Violca tried to flip you," I said.

Augie looked surprised.

"Yeah, I know what's happening. You need to stay out of it."

"I was thinking the same. So what's up?"

"It's about Zach Maney. I know you're loving Laura. She isn't some other chick. But we need to run through her house."

"No."

"Fuck that, Augie. This is the business we are in. The business you choose. For the safety of all of us, including you, who was fucking her while Zach was alive, we need to toss her place. We need Zach's phone. like yesterday."

When Zach's body was found, he didn't have his phone, nor was it on his boat or the beach. Without it, we will never know who he was talking to unless we found it.

Augie scratched his head. I could tell he was frustrated. But he knew I was right.

"Fine, but we do it tomorrow. We're getting another shipment tonight."

"So soon?" I asked

"It's what Dylan said. I'm not complaining. More business will keep the guys for bitching."

----------

Augie took Colton to the exchange while I was sighting at my table, sipping a glass of red wine and translating the manuscript I received from Crumberland when Colliope walked in.

She walked in like she owned the place. She kicked off her shoes and came to sit next to me. She even took my glass and emptied it as she asked what all the old shit on the table was.

I told her about the manuscript and my hobby of collecting all things mermaid or siren. I refrained from telling her about the horn connection.

Though Calliope did want to see my collection, so I showed her. I closed the manuscript and led her under the NAIAD. I had gotten a glass bottom to see into the sea. On the walls were the displayed artifacts that I collected.

I loved the mystical feel of the room, the way the blue light from the sea cascade through the room. Setting the perfect ambiance for the treasures of the deep.

"Water from Mermaid's pool, one drop will heal a mortal wound. The sculpture's made of precious material from the times which they were created. Scrolls from the water caves, the pendent of Amphitrite. The lock of hair from a siren who was captured by a monk in 1230AD. "

"How do you know if all of it is real. This here can be any woman's hair." Said Cal.

"The monk said after a week out of the water. The hair lost its radiance. But the hair is so old and brittle now that researchers were afraid to test it. So it became an occult artifact and exchanged hands of the years."

I walk to a bowl of water and will a droplet to rise. When the droplet hoovered over the lock of hair, I released it. As it splashed into the ancient hair, Calliope watched as the old hair came to life with glorious shimmering radiance.

"As a Tidelander, we resonate with the power of our mothers. We can not be conned."

The lock of hair lit the room.

"What about the healing water?"

"Only works on Tidelanders," I tell her.

Calliope went on to ask about all of the artifacts that she found interesting. We talked for a few hours about the mysteries of the deep. When the conversation seemed to have no end, Calliope changed the subject to something a little more focused.

Calliope pulled out an old photo of the McTeer family. Behind them was an unaged Adrielle. She wanted to know more about being a Tidelander. But I could only tell her so much as I was never raised as a Tidelander of L'Attente.

Calliope was visibly disappointed. I had to coax her feelings from her. Her feelings of being misplaced. Her lack of identity as Tidelander when being human was all she had ever known. Her father had told her never to fall off the boat, and I was telling her to jump off of it.

So, I gave her the best advice I could. I told her to face her demons. "There is no shame in rediscovering yourself, and there is no reason that the journey has to be a mournful one," I said.

"You aren't losing anything, Cal, but gaining everything. Like I said last night, you will always be a McTeer, and if Pat was here, you know he would tell you the same."

"I want to go to L'Attente." she decided.

"I can't go in, but I can take you to the gate. But you can't tell Adrielle or anyone about our relationship." I told her. I didn't want my history to spoil her experience.

I couldn't tell what Calliope was thinking. She looked at me, and her body language told many stories. That is until her lips quiver and eyes drifted from my eyes to my lips.

I don't know why she was hesitant, but I moved it along by meeting her halfway.

"Enough talking about Sirens and Tidelanders. Tonight, we make up for the lost time," she spoke in a sultry voice. She couldn't control it, but I enjoyed it. The voice of the siren brought its own form of stimulation.

As we engaged in a night of sweet love, less primal and oddly more sensual than our time in the water. We conjured a new meaning to burning passion throughout the night as the NAIAD became a hot box created from our body heat. It made our bodies sensitive, and our cells became bursting with life, causing us to emit a low hum. The waters twisted and twirled with our movements, rocking the boat and stirring the sea.

-------

"That..."

"was amazing. It's never felt like that before." I admit.

"I must be a sexual savant." Cal joked, and we shared a short laugh.

"You just might. Whatever it is, I only feel it with you."

We rested a while until Cal had to use the bathroom. She took her time, and then she throws out a burgundy lingerie set.

"Is that what you like, Aiden?" she asked.

"Yes, it's why she bought it," I replied.

Cal pursed her lips and did an overdramatic nod. "So she was here last night. Thea or Zara? I'm sure both."

"Thea was here. I told her to stay before I met you yesterday." I explained.

"I wasn't enough, yesterday? You fucked her, didn't you?" Calliope stood there and questioned me. Each question like a mento being dropped in a bottle of cola.

"Have I fucked her since we've been together? No, I haven't. But she has been coming in and out of this place for three years. It won't change overnight, especially not now. Things are complicated, Cal."

"I'm sure they are."

Cal began to move through the room and dress.

"What are you doing?"

"I am leaving. That shouldn't bother you. Women have been coming in and out here for years." She was pissed. And she damn sure didn't believe that Thea and I stayed in the same room without fucking last night.

"Thea and Zara are great, But they're not you, Cal." she mocked my words I spoke to her on the boat.

I leaped from the bed to stop here. She looked up at me with her head tilted and eyes that said 'fight me.'

"Look, I won't force it, and I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable. How our relationship is will be set by the rules we establish together. If you say 'only me,' then that's how it will be. I love you, Cal. But Thea is one person I can't kick aside. Stop fucking, yes, but I can't push her out of my life. And she was staying here overnights long before we started up. That's what I meant when I said she's becoming in and out of her for years."

Calliope shook free of my grasp and continued to walk for the door. But she surprised me when she stopped and sat at the table.

"Tell me about her. How did you two meet? How'd you start fucking around? I want to know what makes her special." Said Calliope.

I told her everything. She wouldn't understand if she didn't get the whole story. I told her how Thea and I met and the bond we shared exploring the sea. How we did documentaries together, and she helped me get started in the fish trade. We partied, talked, laughed, cried. She was the only friend that was like me.

I then told Calliope that most of the crying was caused by Adrielle and L'Attente. The rulership is maintained by heads and blood, as Violca calls it. Thea wanted to change, and she wanted to live my lifestyle. Then the story of my clash at L'Attente, the secrets Thea keeps for me, and the loyalty she has towards me despite being ruled by a queen that would rip her heat out. And I refrained from telling her about the things Thea did for Bijou in my sted.

"Look, Thea said she would step back. She doesn't want to intrude. I never hid my feelings for you from her. But I won't abandon her. It might make you feel uncomfortable for me to be friends with a woman I was intimate with. But if this relationship is just between us, then I will respect that. And I'll tell her to take her lingerie with her next time."

The explanation brought some light to the matter. But of course, Calliope was still wary. Right now, her life felt like a lie. She wasn't in the most trusting state. But we agreed on baby steps.

-----

The next day, Calliope and I were set to drive to L'Attente. Calliope said that Adrielle was just one Tidelander out of the whole commune. She still wanted to meet them and learn more. I couldn't change her mind, and I had already promised to take her.

But before we got to L'Attente, Cal wanted to speak to Rosa, her adoptive mother. If only in title. Calliope wanted to face her demon.

I sat in the truck to give her space. Thirty minutes later, Calliope was kicking the door open, seething with anger. Rosa followed her out with an indifferent face. Whatever they talked about didn't go well.

I later found out that Rosa literally told Calliope that she hated her. She was jealous of the love that Pat had for Calliope. Love that Rosa felt was stolen from her and oddly Augie.

When Augie suddenly pulled up to the house. Calliope was ready to flip shit, and open pandoras box in the driveway. It was the first time, I'm sure, that Rosa looked worried.

She was begging Calliope not to tell him the truth. When I stepped out of the truck. Augie looked at me, and I just shrugged my shoulders. Augie looked between his mom and sister and asked what the hell was going on.

"Mom wanted to pay me off and send me away. Though she says, I'm worth less than what she was giving me."

Calliope was visibly hurt as she repeated the words. Her voice even cracked, and Augie looked at his mother like, what the fuck. Honestly, Colton and I both looked at Rosa like, what the fuck.

Calliope cleared her throat, and she held in her pain. " Well fuck it. I tried. I really did. Aiden, let's go." she said.

"Where are you going now?" Aug asked.

"L'Attente," she replied as she walked to my truck.

"Okay, but afterward. I need your help right now. You too, Aiden." said Augie.

"Fine, I'll ride with Aiden. " She called out as she climbed into the truck.

Augie stared at me, and I just waved him off. It obviously wasn't the time, and Calliope was reeling. On the road, her phone rang. She put it on speakerphone.

Augie told us that Adrielle pulled one over on us.

"I'm starting to hate this bitch." Calliope muttered.

Augie explained that Adrielle had wanted double for nothing. Meaning that the same amount of drugs that we usually got was now double the price. Augie was more afraid of Adrielle than our supplier, China Tom. That's why Calliope and I were invited to the sale. We were the extra shooters. If China Tom wasn't willing to pay the new price, then we had to make him.

---

Once we arrived in the city, we pulled in to the usual warehouse where the meet was always set. We were simple smugglers with a small business. Things like changing locations and hands off-exchanges weren't applied to us.

In the warehouse, we watched as China Tom's man scooped out a small taste from a pack of ice. What he was doing was testing the drugs. Our smuggling method was simple. Everything we received from the tidelanders' was essentially boiled down into a translucent liquid. That liquid was pumped into ice bags and then frozen.

So when we smuggled the dugs to our buyer, China Tom. The drugs appeared as mere packs of ice keeping the fish could, just in case we ever ran into problems. It was genius, really. But everything was going well until China Tom began to talk more than usual.

"Great to get another shipment in so soon.' Tom spoke with an accent.

"Yeah. This lot cost me more." Said Augie.

"Your supplier upped the price?" Tom asked. "These things happen, right?"

I felt uncomfortable. Tom was acting funny. I discreetly reached behind my back and gripped my pistol.

"We have to keep our suppliers happy," Tom added. "So, you will be upping the price?"

"Yeah. It's double." Augie replied.

Colton was beginning to get fidgety. And Tom made a facial expression that made me want to shoot him before he shot me.

Tom scoffs. "Oh." he says, "Okay. you know, I don't pry, but who is, uh... your supplier?"

Augie straightened up a bit and said, "You know I don't talk about that."

"Oh, come on, Augie." Tom tried to coax it from him.

The room becomes tense, and I notice the workers began to become stagnant. Calliope even started to look between Augie and Tom as the tension rose.

"We've been in business so long, and, uh, you ask so much. I think you owe me," said Tom.

"I don't talk about that, Tom." Augie became agitated. "We can talk about the product. We can talk about money."

"Come on, for peace of mind. You can tell me. I won't tell anyone."

That's when Calliope's instinct swirled, and she used her siren's voice to ask, "Why do you want to know?"

I heard the question echo at a lower frequency. I watched as China Tom fell victim to her song.

"It's a setup," Tom admitted.

"What?" Augie looked confused.

Then Tom's head was blown open by a bullet. Gunfire then rained in the warehouse.

I jump back and pull out my pistol and start hitting Tom's men and a few men that came in with assault rifles.

Body shots, headshots. I wasn't going to die in a fucking fish warehouse. Then I heard Augie say, let her go.

I turn to see Calliope kicking some old man's ass. She then pinned him to the wall by his throat.

"Cal," Augie called out.

A man with a foreign accent, wearing a brown leather jacket, pointed a gun at Cal and said, "Let him go."

Pah! I dropped them a man wearing a sweatsuit next to him. I then put the pistol to another man's head and said. "Drop your fucking gun!"

Calliope squeezed the old man's throat tighter. My gun was to someone's head, and the man in the brown leather jacket still had his gun pointed at Calliope. We were in a standoff. But I'll be damn if I stood by while Calliope was at gunpoint.

Augie put down his weapon and called to Cal, repeatedly. Her siren blood was taking over as she fought the urge to kill the man.

"Let him go!" the man in the brown leather jacket repeated himself.

Calliope pushed the old man against the wall, and he fell to the floor.

"Put your guns down, please." The man in the leather jacket issued his request.

Augie was moving to do just then when I stopped him.

"Fuck that! Babe, pick your gun up and put it to the old man's head. Augie, aim at the douche in the leather jacket. Colton! Stop fucking hiding and draw on these fucken' pussies."

When everyone was holding steel, the man wearing the brown leather jacket, realized that we were all even now.

Suddenly another old man with a clean-shaven head and a pedo-mustache walked out from the back.

"I hate this. I truly do," he said. "This side of the business."

The man walked freely through the standoff as he spun a rosary in his hand, speaking directly to Augie. "I didn't think he'd get you talking. Was worth a try, though."

"Who the fuck are you?" Augie asked.

"Rude." the man replied. " A little."

The man got closer and closer to Augie as he kept spinning that fucking rosary in the most arrogant way possible. Once he was in Augie's face, he said, "But I will tell you the name that I go by. Stolin. Gregori Stolin."

"Fuck." I cursed.

Gregori looked around and said, "Good, you know it."

" I know it," Augie replied. " What I don't know is why the fuck you're here."

Augie then lowered his gun and gestured for me to ease up.

Gregori was chuckling. "Come on, you're smarter than that, Augustino McTeer."

Yeah, we were fucked. Gregori did his research. That meant only one thing.

"We're men standing in blood. Do we need to lie? You know exactly why I'm here, and you know why you're still alive. I want to do business." Said Gregori.

There it was, the worst possible fucking thing for everyone in Orphelin Bay, a takeover.

Augie then stated facts as he replied, "You don't do business. You're a fucking locust plague in a suit."

Gregori seemed insulted as he stepped closer to Augie. "I'll tell you what I do. I keep secrets." Gregori made the cut-throat gesture. "And I make people afraid." he chuckles.

"Just like you." he pointed at a not so amused Augie. "We're a perfect fit. That's why we will do business. This where a stupid man says, 'over my dead body.'"

We were so fucked. I knew who Zach Maney was talking to, who was trying to push in, Gregori fucking Stolin. The man that owned Sydney and Melbourne, a real fucking Drug Lord.

We got out alive because Gregori didn't want a shoot out. I'm sure he had more men lying in wait. But now we had no money for the Tidelanders, no buyer, and Stolin wanted in.

To make matters worse. I had tens of missed calls from Thea and Violca. Messages that said a Tidelander had died in the water. Killed by the sea itself.