Read Online Sound of Sirens: (Tales of Skylge #1) by Jen Minkman - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jen Minkman
Ads: Link
hot at the thought of Royce wanting to hang out with me despite the age gap. The allure of the forbidden makes me feel desired.
“Sure,” I grumble, not meaning it. “If you think that’s best...”
Sytse unexpectedly pulls me into a hug and holds me tight. “How did you grow up so fast?” he muses a bit forlornly.
“It just happened. While you were at sea.” I add a bit venomously: “While you decided to become some sort of spy for the Skelta.”
He scoffs. “Don’t be ridiculous.” Rubbing his face, he continues: “I just want to help my own people. And if that involves breaking the rules and stirring up a shit-storm of trouble, I don’t care. Who made those rules anyway?”
Right at that moment, I hear voices outside Sytse’s window. My dad is sitting in the front garden smoking his pipe and talking to someone, so I guess Dani’s here.
“Enna!” he bellows. “You have a visitor.”
“Coming,” I call back. Quickly, I get up and bump into Dani in the kitchen. She’s just putting her bag on the table to take out the old book.
“Hey, Enna,” she says, her breath hitching when Sytse enters the room after me. “Oh, uhm – let’s go to your room, shall we?”
“Whatever you need to discuss can be discussed here,” my brother states calmly.
Dani blinks up at him in surprise.
“He knows about the book,” I clarify.
“Oh.” My friend shoots me a bewildered look. “Okay. But why ?”
I don’t reply. Instead, Sytse gestures at the comfortable couch in the corner, inviting us both to sit down. He takes a seat across from us in my dad’s lazy chair. Gingerly, Dani puts the old leather tome on the table, as though she’s still not sure Sytse is allowed to see it.
“A few years ago,” Sytse starts out, “I befriended the Skelta’s son, Omme. He was part of the same debate team in high school. When I told him of my plans to become a sailor and merchant, he told me that his father was looking for trustworthy people sympathetic to the Skylger cause who could be liaisons between him and important people on the mainland. Fryslan, mostly, but other countries too. People who were fed up with being the Currents’ doormats.”
“But the Currents have protected us for centuries,” Dani interrupts him. “I don’t like being a second-class citizen any more than you do, but the ruling class isn’t just at the top of the hierarchy because they are bullies. They actually help us.”
“The Skelta thinks their claims are exaggerated.” Sytse points to the book on the table. “If the two of you have taken the time to look at the illustrations in that book, you will have learned by now that the Brandaris Tower was never built by the Current invaders. It is our tower.”
We both nod silently.
“I have learned something else,” Dani says, almost inaudibly. “There’s an old legend about Dead Men’s Casket Lake – and it flies in the face of everything we’ve been taught about the place.”
I turn around to face her. “What have you found out?”
Dani bites her lip. “The Current legend states that some of the Nixen’s victims washed up on our beach a long time ago, after the sea decided to give back the bodies to the grieving Skylger and Current families. And the deceased were placed in coffins to be buried at the bottom of the lake, to honor the earth and the water at the same time. Hence the name Dead Men’s Caskets. But the older, Skylger legend in this book says that the Nixen brought those bodies to us willingly, after a violent storm had destroyed one of our sailing ships and killed scores of sailors. It was an act of friendship.” Her voice turns rough. “The story claims that we weren’t enemies once.”
“But...” I am lost for words. My eyes search Sytse, who is nodding solemnly.
“There are quite some legends in that book that tell a different story from today’s generally-accepted history,” he says. “Everything in it was painstakingly collected by a
“Sure,” I grumble, not meaning it. “If you think that’s best...”
Sytse unexpectedly pulls me into a hug and holds me tight. “How did you grow up so fast?” he muses a bit forlornly.
“It just happened. While you were at sea.” I add a bit venomously: “While you decided to become some sort of spy for the Skelta.”
He scoffs. “Don’t be ridiculous.” Rubbing his face, he continues: “I just want to help my own people. And if that involves breaking the rules and stirring up a shit-storm of trouble, I don’t care. Who made those rules anyway?”
Right at that moment, I hear voices outside Sytse’s window. My dad is sitting in the front garden smoking his pipe and talking to someone, so I guess Dani’s here.
“Enna!” he bellows. “You have a visitor.”
“Coming,” I call back. Quickly, I get up and bump into Dani in the kitchen. She’s just putting her bag on the table to take out the old book.
“Hey, Enna,” she says, her breath hitching when Sytse enters the room after me. “Oh, uhm – let’s go to your room, shall we?”
“Whatever you need to discuss can be discussed here,” my brother states calmly.
Dani blinks up at him in surprise.
“He knows about the book,” I clarify.
“Oh.” My friend shoots me a bewildered look. “Okay. But why ?”
I don’t reply. Instead, Sytse gestures at the comfortable couch in the corner, inviting us both to sit down. He takes a seat across from us in my dad’s lazy chair. Gingerly, Dani puts the old leather tome on the table, as though she’s still not sure Sytse is allowed to see it.
“A few years ago,” Sytse starts out, “I befriended the Skelta’s son, Omme. He was part of the same debate team in high school. When I told him of my plans to become a sailor and merchant, he told me that his father was looking for trustworthy people sympathetic to the Skylger cause who could be liaisons between him and important people on the mainland. Fryslan, mostly, but other countries too. People who were fed up with being the Currents’ doormats.”
“But the Currents have protected us for centuries,” Dani interrupts him. “I don’t like being a second-class citizen any more than you do, but the ruling class isn’t just at the top of the hierarchy because they are bullies. They actually help us.”
“The Skelta thinks their claims are exaggerated.” Sytse points to the book on the table. “If the two of you have taken the time to look at the illustrations in that book, you will have learned by now that the Brandaris Tower was never built by the Current invaders. It is our tower.”
We both nod silently.
“I have learned something else,” Dani says, almost inaudibly. “There’s an old legend about Dead Men’s Casket Lake – and it flies in the face of everything we’ve been taught about the place.”
I turn around to face her. “What have you found out?”
Dani bites her lip. “The Current legend states that some of the Nixen’s victims washed up on our beach a long time ago, after the sea decided to give back the bodies to the grieving Skylger and Current families. And the deceased were placed in coffins to be buried at the bottom of the lake, to honor the earth and the water at the same time. Hence the name Dead Men’s Caskets. But the older, Skylger legend in this book says that the Nixen brought those bodies to us willingly, after a violent storm had destroyed one of our sailing ships and killed scores of sailors. It was an act of friendship.” Her voice turns rough. “The story claims that we weren’t enemies once.”
“But...” I am lost for words. My eyes search Sytse, who is nodding solemnly.
“There are quite some legends in that book that tell a different story from today’s generally-accepted history,” he says. “Everything in it was painstakingly collected by a
Similar Books
