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Calarogu Shark Media.
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Welcome to Midnight Frequencies, a special Romance Weekly and Ghost
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Scary Stories crossover event. This is episode two Signal Interference.
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The all night diner on Canal Street smells like coffee
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and forgotten dreams. It's the kind of place where the
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fluorescent lights flicker just enough to make you question reality,
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where the waitress has seen everything and judges nothing, and
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where two people can sit in a corner booth at
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five am without anyone asking questions. I wrap my hands
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around a cup of tea that's gone cold while I
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try to process everything Kai has told me in the
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last hour. According to him, im siren, not the kind
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from Greek mythology that lured sailors to their deaths, but
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something more complex, something that's been hiding in plain sight
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for centuries. The bloodlines are ancient. Kai explains, his voice,
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low enough that it won't carry to the other late
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night refugees scattered around the diner. Most people think sirens
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were just stories, but the truth is more complicated. Your
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ancestors learned to blend in to use their gifts subtly,
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a voice that could inspire trust, compel honesty, influence decisions
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without anyone realizing what was happening. But what I did
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tonight wasn't subtle, I say, my British accent, making the
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words sound more controlled than I feel. People were confessing
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things that could destroy their lives, some of them. I
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can't finish the sentence. The image of those black SUVs.
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Kai's grim words about deaths cross Manhattan keeps playing in
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my mind. That's because your power is awakening without guidance,
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Kai says, think of it like puberty, but supernatural without training,
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without understanding what you are, your abilities are raw, uncontrolled.
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The more you use your voice, the stronger they become,
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but also the more dangerous. I take a sip of
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cold tea and immediately regret it. And you know all
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this because Kai hesitates, and I catch a flicker of
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something vulnerable in his dark eyes. Because I'm not entirely
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human either, The words hang between us like a challenge. Outside,
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the first hint of dawn is creeping across the city,
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turning the sky from black to deep purple. In a
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few hours, people will be waking up to discover the
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chaos that followed my broadcast, Families torn apart by sudden confessions, crimes, exposed,
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lives ruined.
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What are you, I ask?
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I'm what's called a listener, Kai says, part of an
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organization that's existed for centuries to monitor supernatural activity. My
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particular gift is that I can hear frequencies that others can't,
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supernatural voices, magical resonances, things that operate beyond normal human perception.
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So you've been spying on me, protecting you, He corrects,
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and there's an intensity in his voice that makes my
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chest titan. Do you know how rare true sirens are?
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Most of the bloodlines died out or went dormant generations ago.
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When I started picking up your broadcast eight months ago,
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I thought at first it was just someone with unusual charisma,
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But gradually I realized what I was hearing.
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Eight months.
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He's been listening to me for eight months, night after night,
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and I never knew The thought should be unsettling, But
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instead I feel something else, a strange sense of connection,
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like a frequency finally finding its match. The order I
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work for, Kai continues. They have very specific protocols for
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dealing with awakening sirens. Most of them involve elimination. Most
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of them, there are exceptions if a siren can learn control.
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If they can be guided properly, they can become valuable allies.
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But the process is complicated. I study his face, noting
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the way he avoids my eyes when he says complicated,
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and you volunteered to be my guide. I requested the assignment. Yes,
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why the question seems to catch him off guard. He
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runs a hand through his dark hair, and I notice
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his fingers are shaking slightly. Because eight months of listening
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to your voice every night will do things to a person.
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Because I couldn't bear the thought of my colleagues showing
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up at your studio with orders to eliminate the threat.
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Because he looks up, meeting my eyes directly, because I
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think I've been falling in love with your voice since
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the first night I heard it. The confession hits me
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like a wave of electricity. I feel my own supernatural
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frequency responding to his honesty, creating a resonance between us
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that makes the air in the diner seem to shimmer.
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That's not possible, I whisper, isn't it? Kai asks, You're
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a siren, Lyra. Your voice is designed to create connection,
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to inspire devotion. The question is whether what I feel
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is real or just a supernatural compulsion. Before I can answer,
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my phone buzzes a text from an unknown number. We
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know where you are, the diner on Canal Street. You
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have five minutes. Kai sees my expression and reaches for
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the phone. Reading the message, his face goes pale. We
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need to move now. How did they find us so quickly?
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The order has resources you can't imagine, Kai says, dropping
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money on the table and standing surveillance networks, tracking technology,
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people with gifts that make mine look like parlor tricks.
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We're already moving toward the back exit when the front
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door chimes and three people in dark clothing walk in.
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They look ordinary enough, a woman in a business suit,
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two men who could be accountants. But something about the
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way they move sets off every instinct I have. Don't
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look back, Chuy murmurs, guiding me through the kitchen toward
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the service exit, And whatever you do, don't speak unless
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I tell you to. Why not, because your voice right
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now is like a loaded weapon with the safety off.
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Every word you speak has the potential to compel anyone
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who hears it, and we don't know what commands you
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might accidentally give. We slip out into an alley that
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smells like grease and garbage, the November air sharp enough
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to make me gasp. Behind us, I can hear voices
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in the diner, calm, professional, asking the waitress questions she
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probably can't answer this way, Kai says, leading me through
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a maze of narrow streets that seem designed to confuse
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anyone who doesn't know Soho's layout. Intimately, there's a safe
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house not far from here, Somewhere we can reach group
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and I can start teaching you the basics of control.
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A safe house the Order maintains several in the city
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for situations like this. The irony is that I'm using
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their own resources to protect you from them. We walk
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in silence for several blocks, sticking to shadows and side streets.
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The city is starting to wake up around us, delivery
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trucks rumbling past, early commuters emerging from subway stations, the
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distant sound of morning news broadcasts drifting from apartment windows, Kai,
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I say, finally, unable to keep quiet any longer. Those
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people who called my show tonight, the ones who confessed,
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who hurt themselves because of what I made them do.
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Is there any way to help them? I don't know,
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he says, honestly, siren compulsion is powerful, but it's not
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permanent mind control. People will eventually realize that the urge
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to confess came from outside themselves. The question is whether
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they can live with the consequences of the truths they revealed.
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The guilt sits in my chest like a physical weight.
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All my life, I've used my voice to help people,
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to provide comfort to insomniacs, to create a sense of
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connection for the lonely, to offer a few hours of
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peace in a chaotic city. The idea that this same
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voice could be a weapon, could drive people to destroy
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their own lives is almost unbearable. I can see you
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blaming yourself, Kai says softly. Don't you didn't know what
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you were, and you certainly didn't intend any harm. The
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real responsibility lies with whoever should have been watching over you,
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teaching you, helping you understand your heritage. My grandmother, I
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realize she must have known the stories she told me
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about women with powerful voices. The way she always warned
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me to be careful with words, to think before I spoke.
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She was trying to prepare me, wasn't she Probably? But
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something happened to break that chain of knowledge. Maybe she
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died too soon. Maybe she thought your abilities would remain dormant.
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It's more common than you'd think for supernatural bloodlines to
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skip generations. We turned down a narrow street lined with
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converted warehouses, and Kai stops in front of a building
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that looks abandoned. He produces a key from somewhere in
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his coat and unlocks a door that's painted to look rusted,
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but clearly isn't welcome to your crash course in being
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a siren, he says, holding the door open, the space
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yond is nothing like I expected. Instead of the sparse,
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functional safe house i'd imagined, it's warm and lived in,
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comfortable furniture, bookshelves lining the walls, a kitchen that looks
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actually used. Soft lighting comes from lamps rather than harsh
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overhead fixtures, and there's music playing quietly from hidden speakers,
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something classical and soothing. You live here, I say, and
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it's not a question. Sometimes when I'm working in the city.
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Ki locks the door behind us and activates what looks
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like a very sophisticated security system. The order thinks this
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is just another safe house. They don't know I've made
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it into something more personal. I walk to one of
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the bookshelves, noting titles on folklore, mythology, supernatural anthropology. Mixed
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in with the academic texts are novels, poetry, even some
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romance paperbacks that look well read eclectic taste. I observe
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eight months of listening to a late night radio DJ
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will broaden your horizons, Kai says, with what might be
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the first genuine smile I've seen from him. You talk
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about books sometimes between songs. I started reading them. The
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admission creates another one of those electric moments between us,
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a recognition that this connection we're feeling has been building
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for months without either of us fully realizing it.
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So what now, I ask? How do I learn to
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control something I didn't even know I had?
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We start with the basics, Kai says, moving to a
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table where several old books are stacked, understanding what you are,
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how your abilities work, and most importantly, how to shield
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other people from accidental compulsion. He opens one of the books,
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revealing page is covered in what looks like ancient text
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mixed with modern annotations. This is a guide to siren abilities,
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compiled over centuries by various members of the order. Some
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of it is probably folklore, but some of it contains
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real techniques that can help you. I lean over his
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shoulder to look at the pages, and immediately I'm overwhelmed
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by his scent, that cedar and rain smell I noticed
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on the fire escape, with undertones of something electric. This close,
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I can see the tension in his shoulders, the way
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his breathing changes when I'm near. The first thing you
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need to understand, Kai says, his voice slightly rough, is
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that siren abilities are tied to emotion and intention. When
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you're calm and centered, you can speak normally without affecting anyone.
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But when you're emotional, angry, frightened, passionate, your voice carries
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that energy and amplifies it. That's why tonight was so intense.
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I realize I was excited about the show, enjoying the
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connection with callers, feeling powerful for the first time in
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my life exactly, and that excitement translated into compulsion. Your
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listeners felt what you were feeling and responded accordingly. I
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look down at the open book, trying to focus on
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the words, but all I can think about is how
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close Kai is standing, how his presence seems to create
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its own frequency. That harmonizes with whatever's awakening inside me.
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There's something else, I say quietly. When I speak to you,
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I don't feel the same charged that I felt with
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the callers tonight. It's like you're somehow immune to the compulsion.
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Kai very still, that's because of what I am. Listeners
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have natural resistance to supernatural vocal influences. It's part of
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what makes us effective at monitoring and containing threats. Is
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that what I am to you a threat to be contained.
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He turns to face me fully, and I can see
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conflict written across his features. You were supposed to be.
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My orders were to assess your abilities and either recruit
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you or eliminate you, depending on the level of danger
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you posed, and which am I dangerous? Kai says, without hesitation,
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more dangerous than anything the Order has dealt with in decades.
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Your power is raw, unformed, but incredibly strong. In the
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wrong hands or without proper training, you could influence thousands
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of people with a single broadcast. But you're also extraordinary,
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and I don't think I could eliminate you, even if
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my life depended on it. The confession hangs between us,
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charged with possibility and danger. I take a step closer
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close enough that I can see the flex of silver
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in his dark eyes, the way his pulse beats at
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his throat. What happens if the Order finds us here?
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I ask, If they think I've been compromised by your influence,
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they'll eliminate both of us, Kai says, which is why
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we need to get your abilities under control as quickly
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as possible. You need to be able to demonstrate that
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you can be trusted, that you won't use your voice
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to manipulate or harm innocent people. And if I can't
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learn control, Kai's expression grows grim, then I'll have to
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make a choice between my duty to the order, and
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he pauses, seeming to struggle with the words you're what
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my feelings for you, which may or may not be real,
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but feel more genuine than anything I've experienced in decades
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of service. The admission creates a resonance between us so
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strong that I can actually feel it, like a tuning
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fork struck in my chest, vibrating through my bones and
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into the air around us. For a moment, the space
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between us shimmers with visible energy. Did you see that,
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I whisper, I've felt it, Kai says, that's what happens
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when two supernatural frequencies aligne it's he swallows hard. It's
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not something I've experienced before. Before I can respond, alarms
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start blaring throughout the building, red lights flash from hidden panels,