“But I’m still clocked in,” Matt complained.He walked over to Blake on his knees, embracing Blake’s calves to his chest.Marin bristled.“And B just had a near-death experience, I can’t leave him alone.”
“I’m hanging up,” Fahren scowled into the camera, but not before they took a moment to glare daggers at Blake.“You better text me what you want, DeLuca.And thatis a threat.”With a menacing gleam in their eyes, they revved their tattoo pen at him before the FaceTime ended.
After checking on Blake once more, Alex excused himself to go clock out, patting his hip so that Sadie would trail behind him.
Meanwhile, Blake struggled, trying to peel himself out of Matt’s grasp as he was aggressively coddled.
“It’s not like I got stabbed, Matt,” he sighed, patting his friend’s arm.“And I won’t be alone.Marin is here.”
“Okay,” Matt relented, giving his legs a little squeeze before standing up.
He waved as he trotted out of the room with the intention of clocking out after Alex.Blake took another sip of his fruit punch, cringing at the offensively sweet flavor.He glanced towards Marin who was watching him with an even expression.
“Okay, what did you do?”Blake asked.
“I have no idea what you mean,” Marin replied, but the tiny smile creeping up the corner of his mouth betrayed him.
10
To Blake’s relief, Jace had given him the okay to get back to work after he ate lunch.To Blake’s distress,however, he hadn’t managed to get any more information out of Marin about the effects of his singing.
Before resuming work, Blake had wasted no time updating Celeste about the events of the day, sure to fill them in about both Noel’s bizarre indifference and the singing incident.By the time he’d finished up his shift and picked his phone up from where he and the other lifeguards stored them in the first-aid booth, they’d managed to text back.
Celeste:I have no idea what to tell you about the security guard dude.Maybe he’s also a sensitive and he’s used to this sort of stuff?
But if Marin’s singing put you to sleep, maybe it’s like a siren thing?Because it’s not the pygmalion thing.
Blake:I thought he was a mermaid, not a siren?
Celeste:MerMAN, remember?
(Included with this message was a GIF of Derek Zoolander).
Blake:Hahah real funny.But how would a merman be able to do siren things?
Celeste:So since pygmalions are brought back as the creature they’re carved as, maybe the rules of what they’re capable of doing come from mythology?Sirens and merpeople are pretty similar after all.
It would track, given what you said happened.According to those legends, hearing a siren’s singing voice will put you into a sort of trance-like sleep.It’s supposed to give you visions of your deepest desires.
Which begs the question
What did YOU see, Blake?>:3
Blake:NOTHING.
Celeste:Hm, that was a suspiciously quick response.
Methinks the gentleman doth protest too much.
Blake:Look, right now I’m more concerned about Noel than the singing.
Even if he was a sensitive, there’s got to be a reason that he just… didn’t really react?
Celeste:You’re right.
I’m not sure if confronting him about it would make it worse or not, though.
Ugh, sorry Blake.That particular ball’s in your court.I’m too autistic for that level of social interaction.
