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This is going to be a LONG one!

PART 18: STELLA'S POV

My eyes flashed to the pretend nurse standing closely beside me. Now? Really? I thought to myself. "I need to speak to Miss Winters alone if that's ok." She announced in an alluring voice. Nearly everyone in the room stared. David was the first one to snap back to reality. "Right. Come on guys." I watched them trail out the door, looking over their shoulders as they went. Before anyone could make me leave I shut the door and went to sit at the end of Claire's bed. She looked weary, and uncertain. "I suppose your wondering why i'm here." I glanced at Claire and laughed when we rolled our eyes at the same time. "Actually, we're kinda used to it by now." I said, hoping she was going to tell us about the agony Claire just went through. "Your legs, how do they feel?" She asked Claire. "Umm, they feel...numb. I can't feel them at all really. But a couple minutes ago...it was hell. Do you know what happened!?" She asked in a panicky voice. The Siren tried to hide her frown. It was almost wrong, for the beautiful woman to be anything but happy. "I'm afraid so. Your legs are badly injured, to where they can't morph into a tail. You must've touched water for them to try to change." I couldn't believe what I was hearing! "So your saying that every time I touch water, instead of a tail, i'm going to get pain!?" She was on the edge of histeria just thinking about it. Poor Claire. "Of course not, child. No need for worrying, your legs are healing themselves as we speak." She said, cheerfully. "How is that possible?" I asked, more confused than ever. "It's all in the magic of being a mermaid." I liked the sound of that. But as I stared at her face, I could still see there was more she needed to tell us. She continued before I could ask. "I came here to tell you of something you don't know about being a mermaid. I've realized how blind I left you, and I feel terrible about it. You must know what you can do besides swim and heal yourself." I looked over at Claire, who was just as curious as i was. "Like what?" She asked. The Siren sat down in one of the folding chairs and pulled it next to the bedside. Then she began to tell us all about being mermaids. "The first thing you must know is the effect you have over mortals. Mostly men." We nodded, listening intently. "The way people look at me, how I drew you in with my singing voice, is all a part of the siren effect. Each of you have it." Claire cut her off by saying, "How does it work?!" The woman tapped her foot inpatiently. "I was getting to that part. It's a very natural instinct you have. When you sing to someone, they will be awe-struck. It also has to do with how you look to others. They see you as something different." She frowned. "It has it's perks, but you must know that you can be easily fooled by a man. To tell if they love you, and are not just under allure, you must ask them if they love you. If they cannot answer, they were under your accidental spell and not actually in love with you." This troubled me deeply. Did Will love me like he said he did? Claire must've been thinking the same thing. "Wait, what!? I don't get it. Say I ask someone. You said they wouldn't be able to answer. Does that mean they're physically incapable?" I couldn't even speak, I was so bewildered. "They won't be able to say the word yes." None of what she said made any sense to me. I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that Will might not love me. "And the healing part, how do we do it?" Claire wondered out loud. "Ah yes, I was wondering when you would ask that. Allow me to demonstrate." She rose from the chair and went to the little white cabinets in the far corner of the room. She fished out something sharp and metal. I watched with horror-filled eyes as she plunged it into her arm, holding back the shreik. Claire gasped and her hands fluttered uselessly to help. "Just watch." She panted. And then she lifted her hand and ran it over the cut in her arm. When she moved it away, there was only a think pink scar that shouldn't have been there for at least 3 weeks later. She stood up straight and pushed the chair back into place in the corner of the rooms. "You can heal others the same way. The only other thing I needed to teach you was how to control water. But you've already figure that out, am I wrong?" We shook our heads no. "Alright, well i've got to get back before sundown, so get to work on healing and mesmerize the doctor, along with your family. It'll make them do as you say, just tell them to forget you had any serious injuries. Got it?" "Got it." We said in unison. "I'll see you around, then." Just as she opened the door to leave, Claire sat upright. "WAIT! Before you go...what's your name?" The woman smiled and touched her hand to her golden locket. "Celestia." And then she was out the door and everyone was piling in. Claire looked at me worriedly. I sighed. "Let's do this." I said, turning to face Wll, David, Macy, and Mrs. Winters. I stared inton each of their eyes intently, feeling their shock. I smiled, showing all my teeth and alowly I could feel the allure creeping up on them. It was...strange. "Claire is fine. She will be released today, with only a few bruises. The semi barely nudged her, remember?" I asked in my most alluring voice. "Yes." They all said in unison...except for David. I could hear Claire seducing her family and Ethan. He didn't seem to be responding either. ...Strange. As soon as i looked away from my group, they all began talking normally about the things they now believed. "What are you guys talking about?" David asked, confused. It didn't work on him. I grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the room underneath Will's jealous glare. "What just happened?" He asked. "Why do all those people think it didn't happen?" He seemed sorta angry. "It's a mermaid thing. Claire's healing herself, don't ask, and we discovered we could seduce people into not asking questions about why she got better so fast." Now he REALLY looked confused. "Oh. Wait...why didn't it work on me?" I tried to come up with an explanation, unsuccessfully. "I...I dunno. Maybe your immune somehow? Obviously Ethan is too.."

...TO BE CONTINUED...


(Part 19 will be written right after this, so the article won't be too long.)