The fog is gone. You’d never know it blanketed this entire area just a few hours ago. Levon’s car is still parked in front. The stench of old French Fries waft from the open windows. I’m not sure where to go or what to do but I’ll call mom while I walk the driveway.

Gravel under my feet crunch and another voicemail left. I thought maybe she would answer and I would walk the entirety of the driveway with her voice in my ear but I’ve only walked a few feet from Levon’s car. I close my eyes and take a deep breath in.

The Siren,

there she is.

It’s faint.

Calming,

soothing,

melodic,

calling.

There she is,

the Siren.

It’s not off to my right like it was this morning. It’s to my left. A movement catches my eye in the grass. A bug flies away from a dandelion. That wasn’t it. The blades shift in the gentle breeze. Nope, not that. My shadow shudders along with the cloud above blocking the sun. That was it. The shadow movement. Anyway, let’s follow the siren and test out my theories: Levon is a lunatic and I am too for believing him a bit or this Otherworld is real.

I walk through the grass and towards the wood line. The Siren song stutters just as I pass the threshold of the woods. The temperature drops a few degrees but it’s welcomed. Another deep breath in. Earth and pine intermingle and fill my lungs. If I could just be a bat and echolocate right now, that’d be helpful. She’s straight ahead. I walk past a few towering pines and stop.

But a man steps from behind a tree. A man. Covered in bear skin. My age. The face of the bear-I can’t tell if it’s alive or dead. I take a step back and another and he steps towards me and then another.

All the thoughts you have when you’ve done something stupid run through my mind. Why did Levon leave me alone? Why did I even walk this way? A beautiful song deep in the woods? I sound like Levon. And mom. And dad. Oh no. I’m becoming peculiar.

The bear man takes another step. I’d run but where do I go? To the house. I mean, The Host? Where the basement door opens at night and the house is way too quiet and the tv turns off magically? I could run the length of the driveway and turn right and run a mile into town but I’m too out of shape for that. I’d be mauled before I make it back to the yard. I barely had the strength to run this morning from this thing. But my thoughts stop as soon as he speaks.

“Tula Lyla?” he says, deep and quiet.

Sure. Yes. That’s me. I don’t want to be me right now, though. I close my eyes and press my trembling lips together. Another breath in.

“Yes,” I say.

He takes another step closer and his voice nears to a whisper. “I am your Protector.”

I have to be dead. I have to be dreaming. But he grabs my arm and the warmth from his hand travels my entire arm and a momentary flash of images cross my mind. The images are jumbled and broken and are just colors, really, but it leaves me with a fleeting feeling and I know, I know for a fact.

“Charmy?” I say. “I mean, Talis Man?”

“Quiet your voice,” he looks over his shoulder. Then his deep brown eyes, they both burrow and nestle into my soul. I have no idea what that means but it’s most definitely something my mom would say. “The Siren, she is coming for you Tula Lyla.”

“Lyla.” I brush his hand off me. “I’m Lyla and how’d you know I heard a song?”

“For them, not I. I am your Protector.” He leans in so close, the smell of pine and earth mix together once more and this time, it intoxicates me for a moment. “But you must not tell your brother I’m here. You must keep me a secret because-”

“He knows,” I say.

Voices bounce off the trees near us. Levon uses his cool-guy voice where he talks deeper than he really does. A girl’s voice is sweet and charming and giggles every time Levon’s voice fades.

“Do not tell them of me. Tell Levon to keep me a secret. Siegrist must not know I’ve appeared. He must be killed and I cannot kill him unless I ambush him while he is preoccupied.”

“This is a lot to take in,” I say, nodding with wide eyes. “But I’ll tell Levon to keep you a secret.”

His eyes dart to the source of a third voice. “I’ll be near.”