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As a meeting point to create a more detailed plan with the others, we chose one of the university pubs. It was still frequented by people, but it wasn’t so loud in it anymore that you had to yell at each other while speaking.
Alex and I were there first and reserved a table in a corner. Cathy arrived after us and strode toward us without hesitation as soon as she entered the pub.
“Anything new?” she addressed Alex and set her purse on the table.
They spoke about tubes and catalyzers, but the only thing I understood was that no merger had been strong enough so far. Obviously, I couldn’t be of any help. I had a question, nevertheless.
“You said you used cells from Luke and Cathy, but if everything on us is dead, what can you use?”
“Our spit, just as we do in normal transformations.” Cathy lowered her voice on the last word. “But it’s not enough because the blends with our spit dissolve again. The ones where we placed both genes inside a human gene are still intact but haven’t changed in any way yet.”
“Ah.” I thought I understood. At that moment, Luke and Melissa arrived. Luke already had a tortured tension in his face. I waved at them and they joined our table.
“We have to be quick,” Melissa said. “Luke can’t stand this for long.”
We nodded.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t think about that,” Alex said apologetically.
Luke waved his apology away. “I’ll manage. Has anything happened, or what is this about?”
“We have to look for others like Luke on this planet,” I said. “We need to hear their stories.”
“Yes, but it’s hard because they don’t want others to know that they exist,” Cathy remarked.
“One of them we should be able to reach because we actually met him once at a Christmas party,” Luke said in a strained voice. “I think he lives somewhere in Canada.”
“Ah, good that you mention that now,” Cathy said enraged.
“You should go find him. Make contact and talk to him,” I suggested. I placed a small world map on the table. “Where could the others be?”
Everybody leaned their heads in to look at the map, but then the waitress arrived to ask if we wanted to order something.
“Yes, um, three Cokes and two small beers of the month,” I said.
“Anything to eat?” the waitress asked while writing on her notepad. We all looked at Alex and he shook his head.
“No, thanks,” I said. “If this continues like it has, we should emigrate to New Zealand,” I said a little louder for the waitress to hear.
“Our best bet is to start with remote places,” Cathy said.
“Like islands, mountains, deserts, and jungles,” Melissa added.
We studied the map. “That doesn’t narrow it down,” Alex stated.
“The Orbiters have to know,” I said. “If they really want us to get ahead, they’d better tell us now.”
Luke groaned slightly and tightened his grip on Melissa’s knee. “Yes, sooner rather than later.”
The waitress brought the drinks and placed them in front of everyone. Seeing the surface of the Coke sloping around in the glass triggered a memory of how I once received a puddle from the Orbiters in a drink. That brought an idea to my mind – if puddles were their favorite method of communicating with us, I had to try to reach them through that channel. Once the waitress was gone, I “accidentally” tipped my glass of Coke over so that the brown liquid spilled across the table and over the world map.
“Ugh, Nathalie, seriously, what are you doing?” Cathy snatched her purse from the table and rummaged in it for a tissue. I stared intently at the bubbles that were disappearing, leaving only a golden-brown liquid on the table. “So, Orbiters, where are the male Sirens? We’re stuck, and if you would be so kind and point this out, we might get ahead much faster.”
Cathy raised an eyebrow, but now everyone was looking at the brown puddle. Except Alex, who was trying to stop the Coke from running over the brim of the table with his hands. Then, Melissa gasped as small red circles started appearing on the spilled Coke over places on the drenched map.
“What is it?” Alex asked as we all stared at the map, spellbound.
“Brazil, in the Amazon,” Cathy stated, and leaned closer to the map. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to decipher the exact town. “Carauari,” she pronounced slowly.
I tilted my head to read the name of another place with a red circle. “Flores. It’s an island of the Azores. Alex, take out your phone and write this down,” I ordered. He didn’t question me and quickly wiped off his sticky hands on his dark pants.
“Flores and Amazon,” he repeated. “Cara-what?”
“Carauari,” Cathy replied.
“Churchill, Canada,” Melissa read. “That must be Jeffry.”
Nothing more happened, or maybe it would have, but the waitress came and dropped a tablecloth onto the Coke lake and all the red circles disappeared.
“Thanks.” I tried not frown.
“No problem. You should have called me. Do you want a refill?”
“No, it’s okay,” I said as I wiped the table. I tried to spare the map, but there was no need, because the circles had disappeared.
“That was incredible,” Melissa said when the waitress was gone. “They sent you a sign after you asked for it.” She nodded in satisfaction. “The Orbiters listen to you.”
I snorted. “It was about time.”
“We saw that there are three others. Do you think there are more?” Luke asked pensively.
“Well, we can’t know that now because the puddle was destroyed in the middle of it all,” Cathy grumbled.
“Can anybody explain to me what you saw?” Alex asked.
“You didn’t see the red circles appearing like radiations around the epicenter of an earthquake?” Luke asked.
“No, nothing.” Alex pressed his lips together. “So, your gods actually reply to your prayers.”
“They are not our gods,” Cathy said. “More like the Supreme Court, but you can’t usually present your own case to them. They only contact you if they think it necessary.” She wet her lips with her tongue. “Now that we have some kind of indication, who will go look for who?”
“Maybe Luke should talk to all of them because it might be easier from guy to guy?” Melissa’s clear green eyes swept across our faces.
“I want to be able to contribute something,” I said. “Let me try to talk to the one in Flores. I have the interview in London in a few days, anyway.”
“I’m not a huge fan of crossing oceans,” Luke said. “Therefore, I’d even be thankful if you could take him.”
“Perhaps we’d be more efficient if I went to Carauari at the same time as you go to Flores and you to Churchill since you already know Jeffry.” Cathy looked at Luke. “If either of us is unsuccessful, you can still have a second try.”
“Sounds good. So, I’ll go to Churchill,” Luke said and took a deep breath. “I don’t want to be rude, but for everyone’s sake, goodbye.” Luke got up and half-sprinted out of the pub.
“Um, one more question,” I said, feeling a bit foolish because I seemed to be the only one who didn’t know how to approach this matter. “How do I look for a Siren? I surely can’t count on my luck that they would show up in front of me on the street, like the group of Vampires did.” Perhaps I had been a bit hasty in thinking that I could find this male Siren alone – I, who had been a Siren for barely a year.
“The only thing you can do is walk around and listen for heartbeats. Wherever you don’t hear one is your best bet,” Cathy replied and moved her chair back. “I guess we’ll meet again when we have more news.”
We nodded, and she disappeared.
I hoped that I wouldn’t disappoint myself and them.
After paying, Melissa, Alex, and I walked outside.
“Too bad Roisin is missing all this,” I said with a frown. “I hope she’s all right and can find the Minotaurs.”
“Yes, I hope so, too,” Melissa said, and added, “Have you found something you can use as a professional radio recorder for the interview?”
“Yes. The first time going to school proved to be helpful,” I replied. “Orleans High has a school radio team, and I can borrow their interview microphone with the recorder.”
“Good, and you can use these. Luke created them for you.” She handed me two paper ID cards that could be pinned to a shirt. They had the official logo of the Irish radio station on them, and one showed a picture of Claire, the other one a picture of myself. Claire’s name was ‘Brigitta’, and my card said ‘Pansy’.
“Great, thanks. I already thought about buying a fan jacket and hat of the station, but these cards seem more official.”
“Good luck.” Melissa looked at me gravely and then glanced from Alex to me. “Now I’d better see how my husband is doing.” She gave Alex and me each a quick hug. “Bye.”
“Which leaves the two of us again,” Alex breathed. “Meeting your family is always so entertaining. My head is still spinning. Should I take it personally that you’re traveling to Europe without me?” he teased.
“Believe me, I would love to have a vacation with you on an exotic island, but this is work, and I’m afraid I’ll be much quicker without you.”
“So sure of herself, my girlfriend.” He sighed and earned a punch from me, and we both laughed.