A Siren's Choice (Book One in A Siren's Series)

Chapter Three: The Party

One month later

I tape up my hands as I stand in front of a punching bag in our island's state of the art training facility.

Since the day I got my midnight black wings, I and every other Siren after their first transformation began their training. The training is added as a part of our school studies.

The first few training lessons had been stretching out my new wings and getting use to the feel of moving muscles I had never used before. I still remember how much the muscles in my back would be aching by the end of the day from the strain of carrying and manoeuvring my heavy wings.

From there, the lessons escalated from 'basic flying 101' to eventually 'expert flying manoeuvres'.

Till this day I still remember how it had felt flying properly for the first time, the euphoria, the feeling of the being one with the wind and sky. Even now, nine years later, it still feels that way and I hope it always does.

We had continued perfecting our flying skills as well as also learning about other supernaturals, their strengths and weaknesses.

When I finally had turned eighteen and gotten my Siren's song, I was then taught how to control and use it properly. With our Siren's Song, we can easily control any human and even some other supernaturals, but it does not work on our own kind or their mates; for it is forbidden to hurt or control our own kind and their mates by our Goddess.

Anyway, shortly after I had mastered that power, I had also finished my school studies as well.

I, like everyone else, was then given the opportunity to learn how to fight and protect themselves. Most had said yes but some did said no.

I had chosen to learn.

For the next few years, I had come into this very facility to learn many fighting techniques, in both offence and defence, with or without various types of weapons from a wide variety of fighting styles.

It helps that our kind also possess strength, speed and agility but just not as much as some other supernaturals like vampires or werewolves. These abilities, although slight, do come in handy in a fight.

For the past year as it has been getting closer to my twenty-first birthday, I have been coming here more frequently after training hours, to practice my moves or to hit the bag, to try and distract myself.

This afternoon is definitely one of those days.

I finish taping up my hands and flex them, making sure I still have some movement. I clench my hands into fists and put them up in front of me as I start bouncing on the balls of my feet. 

I start off light, hitting the bag with a quick jab with my left then my right before I bounce back again, with the song 'My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark', by Fall Out Boy blaring into my ears from my headphones. I repeat the move again but this time I also duck and side step, like I'm fighting an opponent that only I can see.

I keep repeating the manoeuvres, adding a kick here and there, getting more into a rhythm as my muscles begin to loosen up, but even with the distraction, my mind still starts to wander.

I think about how fast the past month has gone by, each day bringing my twenty-first closer and closer. How in the past week, I've had to sit with my mother and plan a party I don't want. How I had to stand for hours, while a dressmaker created my Greek style ceremonial dress for my Rite.

Left, right, left, duck and side step.

How the whole time I was screaming on the inside that I didn't want any of this, while on the outside I was smiling and nodding along to whatever was being said or done.