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After my talk with Sam, I went to my shift in The Wild Rover, with a plan to ask for a break. With spying on Dr. Palmer and keeping an eye on what they were doing in the lab, work was the least of my concerns. On that day, I could count the customers in the pub on one hand. Paula and I played tic-tac-toe behind the bar while waiting for them to finish their drinks. Two waitresses were definitely too many when people were scared to leave their houses.
Suddenly, a piercing noise filled the air, drowned out the pub music and hurt our ears.
“What is that?” I yelled at Paula, who was pressing her hands to her ears with her face contorted in pain, like my own.
“Oh, my God, it’s the war sirens. This means the police detected a bomb in the area.” She looked around frantically. “What are we supposed to do?” Her eyes were filled with fear. Some customers had also realized what was going on and headed to the window. Our cook, Josh, emerged through the kitchen door, wiping his hands on a dishtowel. “Come on, we have to shut the blinds and head into the cellar.” He ran to the door and pulled down a thin blind to cover the glass. I did the same thing with the closest window, but before I completely covered it, I tried to see whether there was anything unusual outside – anything where my Siren speed would be able to help. But the street was empty as if we were in a ghost town.
“Hurry up, Nat,” Paula yelled, then clapped her hands to get people’s attention. “Okay, I know this is not how we imagined tonight going, but it’s safer in our cellar, so let’s relocate down there. Follow me.” She turned on the basement light and I watched them all disappear down the stairs. I frantically racked my brain for something better to do. Down there, we’d all be trapped like rats if a bomb went off.
“What are you waiting for, Nathalie?” Josh appeared again, out of breath.
“If that bomb goes off, we’ll be buried under the house. We can’t escape by running through walls.” I was paralyzed with fear. It was one thing to hear about bombs on TV or even when a friend of a friend had been in an attack. Even though there was an alarm every other day on the East Coast now, I never mentally prepared myself to be within the danger zone when it happened.
“That’s the emergency protocol for this building.” Josh tugged me by the arm, awakening me from my petrification. As he pulled me downstairs, I started sweating. What if that bomb was because of me? What if the underground organization had figured out that I wasn’t human? I almost stumbled down the steps as my legs weakened.
Paula shot me a worried look when I entered the cellar. I slumped against the wall and sank to the cold ground like the others. I closed my eyes and concentrated on my breathing. I, with my superpowers, had to be the strong one. The leader. Not the one who needed to be saved. I wandered across the others with my gaze. Never would I panic in such a moment ever again, I swore to myself.
Josh turned off the light and switched on a flashlight, as described in the emergency protocol, and moved the beam across a white sheet of paper. My eyes needed a moment to get used to the otherwise dark room. It was cold down here, and much quieter than upstairs had been, with the music and the people talking. Now I only heard the subdued noise of sirens and the fast-beating hearts of the humans in the cellar with me.
“Oh, my God, I don’t want to die,” Paula breathed.
“We won’t die. This might be a test,” I said.
“There wasn’t supposed to be a test,” another guy said. “Somebody must have found an explosive charge in the area and now the bomb experts are disarming it.”
“Well, we did everything exactly like this protocol states,” Josh said. “We are as safe as we can be.”
“I bet we’re all thinking we should have gone home directly after work today,” another one said. And then everybody went quiet and the only sound was from the sirens. My mind wandered to Alex and I swallowed, hoping that he was fine, wherever he was. Images of my family appeared in front of my eyes and I kept busy swallowing my tears. How could I have been so reckless, thinking that Switzerland must be fine, after my last visit to Europe? The situation could change so quickly. I had to bring the magical whistles to my parents and my sister, Isa, before anything happened. I gulped again and decided that I would escape to Switzerland as soon as I was out of this bunker. It was time to finally tell the truth to my mom, dad, and Isa. I had three magical whistles with which they’d be able to protect themselves. There was no use for those whistles if I kept them in my pocket. I leaned against the cold wall. My body more relaxed now that I had made up my mind.
After a while, I felt Paula stir next to me. We were all sitting on the cold ground, leaning against crates filled with beverages, Josh still playing with the flashlight. None of the men who usually were so fond of tippling asked for a drink, though.
“How long do you think we have to stay like this? My ass is starting to freeze,” Paula said.
“I don’t know,” Josh said, “and I’ve lost track of time. I couldn’t say if we’ve been in here for twenty minutes or an hour.”
“It’s only been a little over ten minutes,” one of the guys said.
“Damn, this will be a long day, then,” Paula said.
Another ten minutes later, the sirens finally died down.
“Phew,” somebody breathed.
“Can we go back up now?” Paula asked.
“I guess so,” one of the men answered, and we all got up slowly. I shook my arms and legs to get rid of the cold and stiffness.
Back upstairs, we opened the blinds and again peered through the colored glass. This time a few other people paced nervously around the entrances.
“I guess I’ll go home,” one of the guys mumbled, and the others joined him until only Paula, Josh, and I were left.
“I’ll call Jimmy to ask if we can close early. There’s no need to stay open today,” Paula said gloomily. She dialed his number and, after talking for about a minute, she hung up and her shoulders sank. “He’s coming here and told us to wait. I think he wants to close The Wild Rover for a while.”
“There’s no point in staying open, is there?” I said.
“But I need the money.”
“Not if you can’t spend it on anything because everything is closed.” I eyed her intensely. “Is there a bunker near your house?”
“Yes, I live close to the fire station.”
“Promise me that you’ll go there whenever the sirens go off, even if you think it’s a false alarm. Don’t take any chances. Or even better, go and stay in one of the long-term bunkers.”
“And the flu? There have been eighteen deaths in Canada as of three days ago. We shouldn’t sit on top of each other.”
Another thing one of us had to do was find out whether all those flu victims had been magical creatures, I thought to myself. Then, I put my hands on Paula’s shoulders to make her listen to me. “It’s much cleaner there, and the chances that the bacteria will get into the bunker are slim. Alex studies these kinds of things, and he says the bombings are much more fatal than the virus.”
“And if Alex says it, it has to be true.” She rolled her eyes.
“I’m serious – the bombings are way more dangerous than the virus. Just protect yourself, okay? I’ll do the same thing. You, too, Josh.”
“Oh, yes, I’d have liked to just stay in the cellar anyway, next to food and drinks,” Josh said.
Paula pursed her lips but mumbled affirmatively.
The door opened and our eyes all shifted to see whether it was another customer. It was Jimmy.
“I’m glad you’re all okay.” He looked around, narrowing his eyes. “Didn’t you turn on the radio? You’re supposed to do that when the sirens ring.”
“We couldn’t listen to the radio and hide down in the cellar at the same time,” Paula said.
“Hmm, true.” He walked to the basement door and looked down, then turned to us again. “There was a bomb in a car one block from here. I watched on TV how a special team in suits like astronauts disarmed it. The whole area was taped off.” He sighed.
“Has anybody said who did it and what was targeted?” My voice was shaky.
“Not yet. And since it didn’t go off, I doubt anybody will.” Jimmy looked at us gravely. “I can’t be responsible if anything happens to one of you because you were at work. Plus, only a third of the customers are here at the moment, anyway.” He walked to the bar and pressed his hands down on the even surface, then absentmindedly stared at it for a few seconds. He sighed and said, “I will close the pub until further notice.”
“I knew you’d do that,” Paula said bleakly.
Jim shrugged and shook his head because he couldn’t magically improve the situation.
“It’s okay, Boss,” Josh said. “I’m happy to take a vacation. I’m sure it will get better soon.”
“Yes. I’ll go out to the Cape,” I said. “It’s quieter there.”
“I’m sorry, Paula,” Jim said. “I will let you know as soon as we’re open again.”
“Yeah, I know.” She sighed. “I wish I could at least go on a road trip or fly somewhere now, but I’d feel like I was driving through Afghanistan, no matter where I went.”
“I wanted to bring my family to Ireland, but flight tickets cost over $6,000 apiece,” Jimmy said. “The airspace won’t be open much longer.”
“The whole world is going into lockdown,” Josh remarked. “It’s like a video game.”
“Except that it’s real,” I said.
“We should have a last drink together,” Paula said. “If we can start the new era next week, fine with me, but who knows how long this could go on?”
Jimmy and Josh nodded, and we all took a seat at the bar. To pretend I was drinking, I stuck a microfiber tablecloth up my sleeve and spat a sip of beer into it whenever I put the glass to my lips. They didn’t comment on it this time, though, that I hardly touched my drink. Everyone’s head hung low and there wasn’t much talk. Afterward, we cleaned up and put all the chairs on the table. We stacked everything into the freezer that could be saved, and the others packed the food that needed to be eaten into a few bags to take home.
“So weird to leave without knowing when we’ll come back,” Paula said as we stepped outside.
“Yeah, really,” I said. This pub had been a sanctuary for me from the beginning. I hugged Josh and Jimmy and walked to the Subway with Paula. Not many people were on the streets.
“Keep in touch,” I told her.
“Yes, you, too.” We hugged, as well.
“Hey, we’ve survived our first bomb,” she said. “My list of things I never thought I’d do in life is getting longer and longer.”
“Not something I wanted to add to my list,” I said and gave a crooked smile.
Since Alex was driving Rachel to Greenfield – because anything away from the city was safer – I knew he wasn’t home. Therefore, I could start with the evacuation plan for my family right away. Dr. Palmer’s network was growing faster than anything we had done so far. It was high time I took action, but I could only do that when I was sure that my family was safe.