Voices of Doom: Chapter 7

Josh's P.O.V
I believed what Ariel had said about we're being alright, for now. What I am really concerned about is our deadline, that is just about a few weeks time, and then the Sirens would had arrived at Greece, and cause havoc at Greece, and making the Olympian Gods under their spell. But fortunately for us, the Sirens would want to have some fun on adjacent cities after they made a city into a ghost town.
I then lied down on the king sized bed and Ariel also did the same. I scooted over towards Ariel and hugged her.
Ariel hugged me back. "Josh, there's nothing to worry about. If you're worried, I can stay with you for a while."
I was relieved when Ariel said that. She always said that when we were at our base, she would always stay beside me, and we almost never separate. Now, separating just a few meters felt like Ariel is so very distant, and I got the feeling that I should hug Ariel all over again. I'm sure that Ariel will be feeling the same thing.
Ariel is somewhat calm, since this is a journey through the ocean. Ariel looked out the window as if the sight of the open ocean made her homesick. Ariel held out her trident out the window, and as I watched, water began to swirl up in a vortexlike motion. The sea created a small vortex that made the water go to Ariel's trident and as I watched, the trident began to absorb the water and the trident glowed even brighter.
I held my light staff out to the window, mimicking Ariel's movement. The staff began to attach itself to the window and a photovoltaic cell began to pop and stretch for 30 meters in length. The light staff seemed to be collecting light energy that I can use later.
After about 10 minutes, I pressed the yellow button behind the staff, and it quickly retracts since the captain is about to give out an announcement.
"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome aboard to Princess Althea. This is Captain Jasmine Nelson speaking...." Then she began to give out basic orientations about the safety precedures. I got to admit that this Jasmine girl is very experienced with sea travelling, because she mentioned all about the waters and how dangerous some places in the ocean can be.
But the fun thing is that the Captain also provides some time to have fun while swimming in the ocean. I could tell that Ariel is very excited about this, because she is already jumping up and down in her bed.
Then, a horn is heard from the boat, and off we go to Iceland.
We are literally enjoying ourselves in our rooms, and we relaxed as we left the country of New Brunswick.
I decided to go outside, and headed into the dining room. It's full with food, and yet there's no one there. I guess it's just the preparation for the upcoming dinner that is about to happen in about 2-3 hours. I quickly went back to our room, which is room 843. Ariel and Vince are already relaxing on their beds. I quickly went to Ariel's bed and hugged her.
The bed was very comfy. This is the first time that I realized that it was made of 100% pure cotton. I poked it with my index finger, and I realized that I could not punch a hole through, even though my right hand accidentally fired a laser. The cotton just returned to its original shape. Wow, this isn't just any cotton. This cotton is carbon nanotube reinforced cotton! This could be stretched, mould, compressed and twisted with minimal stretch marks, which makes it last a very long time.
I clenched and unclenched my hands, rubbing the bed. I really wished that we could have one of these back at our base.
But wait... didn't we have one of these already back at our base? Isn't it reinforced with perfect shaped carbon nanotubes that make the cotton more soft and powerful?
Well, there's only one way to find out. I never had the chance to test out the tensile strength of the pillows in our living room, and after this quest, might be the only chance I could feel the soft and cozy feeling.
"I'll be sleeping." I told my friends.
Vince and Ariel nodded.
Then, I passed out almost instantly.
Dreams found me, and I dreamed about the Sirens. Apparently, the Sirens are having a break from their havoc in plaguing cities. I took a closer look at the Sirens, and I realized why.
One of the Sirens instrument (Violin) is broken, and they are fixing it. However, it is impossible so the Sirens would have to buy a new string.
"When will this be finished?" Asked one.
"It should be ready in a couple of minutes, and then we will take this boat down." Answered another.
Wait... did she just said boat? Which boat is it, and where?
My vision zoomed out, and it zoomed into the boat that we're riding, Princess Althea.
My heart pounded hard. We have walked straight into a trap! This is horrible. We would be drowned all together by the Sirens!
I woke up to screaming.
Ariel immediately held me by my shoulders. "Josh, what's wrong?"
"It's..." I was speechless in panic. "Sirens... boat... in...down..."
"Whoa..." Ariel shook me. "Calm down. What are you trying to say?"
"It's the Sirens." I told her. "They are in this passenger ship and they are going to kill everyone in this ship!"
Vince, who was about to sleep, snapped awake and said. "What??" Then Vince immediately went to listen to me.
"It is the Sirens," I repeated. "They're here, hiding somewhere, and they're going to cast a spell to everyone in this ship!"
Hearing that, Vince immediately curl up into a ball and started to wail. "NO! Not here! Not here!.."
Ariel and me immediately went to him to calm him down. "Vince, it will be okay. We just have to cover our ears..."
"No, we can't." Ariel told him.
Vince stared back at her. "Why not?"
"Remember our purpose on our quest? To obtain the Crystal Reflector Ore to cancel out the vibrations made by the Sirens so we wouldn't hear a thing, no matter how powerful their spells are."
Speaking of Crystal Reflector Ores, I forgot to mention one very important thing about that ore. It is a special magical ore that could not only emit sound cancelling waves, but they can amplify magic up to 1000 times and are superconductors, and hence they are really useful for electrical wires. However, there are no way to mold them to wires since they are really sturdy, and able to withstand 1500 degrees celsius without melting.
I really wished that my days of going on a quest are over. I just wanted to have a nice quiet time back at our home. But instead, I and Ariel were thrown a quest that could save or destroy millions of people, or even, the world. I had never wanted the world to be a very bleak place to live, and so that is the reason why we have to go to quests.
Ariel pulled out an earmuff, and placed it on her ears. She then began to listen to music, which is a very good strategy, considering that we're going to be fried by that Sirens song any minute.
I decided to take another walk outside, and I turned right and saw the music stage. Over there, three birdlike ladies polished their instrument and they are about to sing.
Oh no! The Sirens! They're going to play their magical voices. I immediately bolted towards my room, but it was too late because The Sirens sang as soon as I got to the door.
When The Sirens sang, my heart melted. They were singing about how my mom is accepting me, sending visions of what I really deeply desire. I turned around, and saw my mom in the middle of the stage, saying: "Come here, Joshy! I miss you so much!"
I cried. My eyes are brimming with tears as I ran joyfully towards my mom.
"Let's go, Joshy! There's nothing to worry about. Everything is going to be okay!"
Mom... I thought. Is that... really.... you? I slowed down, but apparently my mom kept continuing to call me.
"I have a present for you!" My mom said.
Then, she pointed towards a treasure chest, and when she opened it, there came a sweet toy car, the toy car that I have been wanting for my whole life, which is the Bugatti Veyron.
"Thanks, mom!" I cried. I was about to cry when someone grabbed my back.
"LET ME GO!!!" I yelled to the person who turns out to be Ariel, still on her earmuff.
"NO!!! MOM!!!" I yelled towards mom as Ariel continued to drag me towards our dorm.
"JOSHY!!!" My mom's face faded as Ariel dragged me towards our dorm.
"ARIEL!!! PLEASE! She's my mom!!" I continued to yell, but she kept ignoring me.
I waved a sad goodbye to my mom, but her appearance changed to an ugly bird that looked like The Sirens. No... this can't be... This is all a trick...
As soon as I reached the dorm, I proceeded to collapse on the bed and buried my face in the pillow and started sobbing uncontrollably. I just can't believe that it wasn't my mother that were on stage. It was all a trick... It was...
"It was a trick, Joshy." Ariel told me. "That wasn't really your mother."
"I know." I sniffed, and went back to crying.
Vince's P.O.V
I could hear the Sirens singing, but they sang faintly so I can't hear them. Usually, they sang quite loudly so everyone can hear. But I have the feeling that the song is targeted to a particular person, and that person is Josh McLean.
How do I know? Joshy had been crying on his bed after he faced the Sirens. He told me that he wanted to kill himself because he claimed that he had seen his mom. I approached him.
"Joshy... it is fake. The vision that you just saw, it is fake. The Sirens are just sending visions that are tantalizingly true." Vince told me. "I'm sure that you know that."
"Oh, I wished it was true." Josh said, as he grabbed a knife from his pocket. I watched with my eyes wide as he raised it above him since I know he was about to kill himself.
Fortunately, Ariel directly intervened. Ariel knocked the knife out of his hand and she held Josh on the bed. Josh was thrashing around like crazy. "JOSH!!! Are you out of your mind?? Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
"LET ME GO!!!" Josh screamed. "I WANT TO MEET MY MOM. She had given me my best gift yet!"
"A gift to get you killed?" Ariel reasoned. "A gift that would make you want to kill yourself? Is that what a mother wants?"
Josh's P.O.V
I tried to think clearly, to put aside what I just saw, but they are worming their way into my thoughts like millions of worms. Millions of possibilities are occuring inside my head. Could my mother is longing for me to go home? Does my mother actually care for me? Is the gift true? I want to say no, but after hearing The Sirens spell, my mind is slowly being convinced that my mother is actually on this ship, and is longing to accept me.
Ariel held my wrists tightly on the bed. "Look Josh, It is a trick. Your mother can't possible be the Sirens."
"But it is true!" I complained. "I saw my mother! As real as life! And she brought me presents!"
"What present?" Ariel asked. "The only present that I can see is seeing you die."
I was more heartbroken. Ariel released my wrists and I went back to sobbing.
Ariel's P.O.V
The spell of the Sirens had been growing, I can feel that much, because of what the Sirens did to Josh. The Sirens now had a spell powerful enough to make people feel depressed for some time. I finally let him go, and he went back to crying. Fortunately, I stripped him of his light staff, so he couldn't do suicide. I knew the Sirens had made Josh change personality, but at least for the time being, because I am going to get the cure, and the only cure is to make Josh asleep, and make him forget about the sirens, which is hard to do.
I closed into Josh and hugged him. "Josh, why don't you just sleep?" I told him. "I will wake you up once we got to Iceland.
Josh nodded, and he went back to sleep. As soon as Josh is asleep, I decided to go outside to enjoy the fresh air outside the ship.
Apparently, when I was about to go outside, the ladder that led to the top deck isn't that long way away, so I climbed the ladder that led to the top deck.
As soon as I reached the top deck of the ship, I saw Vince relaxing under the sun, having his tea and popcorn beside him.
I sat down next to him.
"How's Josh?" Vince asked.
"He needs some time off, so I sent him to sleep. And don't worry. Josh is not going to remember a thing about his encounter with the Sirens when he wakes up."
"And you're sure about that?" Vince asked.
To be honest, I'm not sure. The sirens spell might be powerful, but from what I heard from survivors in my dreams, when they go to sleep, their memories are automatically erased by the mist.
"I guess so..." I told him. "Only one way to find out."
I told him to pack his things and head back to the lower deck to check on Josh. Sure enough, Josh is still sleeping, and I poked him in the back.
"Joooooosh..." I shook him gently, slowly waking him. Josh squirmed gently around the bed as he kept mumbling about the Sirens.
"Joooosh?" I poked him again in the back, but this time deeper.
"Uhhhhhhh." Josh squirmed in his sleep, half-awake.
"How are you feeling?" I asked him.
"Uhh... sleepy." Josh said. "And... I dreamed of the Sirens here."
"Did you remember anything before you sleep?" I asked him, just to be sure. Josh shook his head, and holding his head after.
Phew. It turns out that the only cure for the Sirens spell now is to fall asleep. Now we have living proof of how to cure a Siren's spell.
"See? My theory works! The Sirens spell only last for as long as you are awake!" I told Vince.
Josh is clutching his head. "The spell on what? The Sirens?"
I nodded. "Yeah. I guess you didn't remember."
It was a good thing that he didn't remember anything from the encounter by the Sirens, but what he told me before was more than enough. The Sirens had definitely improved their spell over the past few years, but their only drawbacks are the spell only worked for as long as you woke up.
"No. What happened?" Josh asked.
"You don't wanna know." I told him. I already saw what the Sirens did to him, and I don't want him to remember that again. It is better to keep it out of his memory since Josh can't handle it.
I glanced at the ceiling. I thought about what will we do once we got to Iceland. Fortunately, Vince already had an intel on Iceland, and it doesn't take him more than a couple of calls to arrange some kind of transport once we got to the seaport of Iceland.
I stayed at Josh's side most of the time. I know that his memory about the Sirens posing as his mom had been erased, but what I'm worried about is that when Josh tried to remember what the Sirens had showed him, and I stayed by his side just to make sure that nothing bad is happening to Josh.
Just then, our captain Jasmine Nelson made an announcement. "Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We are experiencing heavy storms in the next few kilometers. The gate to the top deck will be closed in 10 minutes. Stay inside, and stay safe."
Fortunately for us, we weren't at the top deck when the captain made the announcement, so we just stayed down here and braced for impact for the incoming heavy storms. I stayed with Josh, since I know that Josh would be scared when storms came.
A few years ago, a hurricane came to our very base in Mexico. We were outside our base this time, and is in the swamps in Mexico. When the powerful winds came, Josh immediately curled into a ball and cries. That just told me that Josh is afraid of powerful winds and rains.
As I expected, Josh is curling into a ball on the corner of his bed. I approached him.
"Josh, this isn't the same hurricane that came on a few weeks ago. This is a much more lesser version of the storm compared to the hurricane."
I then opened a window and showed him the incoming storm that we're going to face. This storm consists of dark, heavy clouds accompanied with lightning strikes all over the place. Then a thought occured to me. We don't have any countermeasures against lightning! We would be incinerated on the spot!
I really hoped that our captain would be aware of the danger of the lightning produced by the clouds in the skies. I could hear the sound of thunder echoing in the distance. They are about 40 kilometers away from what I could tell, but we will soon or later pass through the violent storm.
Josh's P.O.V
I was really nervous when I found out that our ship is on a course directly towards the storm. The storm is very violent, and lightning strikes are everywhere. I could see dead fishes and fried debris floating out of the ocean. This is bad, very bad.
Just then, the door opened. A female with a white hat with bright blue hair tied in a ponytail and dark blue eyes stared at us.
"Room inspection!" The girl said. I immediately knew that this girl is Jasmine Nelson, the captain. Jasmine is scanning the room quickly before closing the door, and started looking to other dorms. I assume that she is looking for something that might help people on the deck.
I looked out the window, and saw a bunch of long metal poles stretching from one end of the ship to another. I am surprised that the captain hasn't noticed that as that would make a very good lightning rod.
Anyways, I just hope that a miracle would come, and totally avert this disaster that is about to happen.
I sat in the bed, fiddling with my light powers to create an orb of light. I played with it as if it's a toy ball, and throws it up and down. The ball bounces really gracefully as it moves up and down. I caught it in my hand, and turned off the light. A heavy storm is approaching. 
I held my light staff, and I felt much stronger than usual. I immediately let go of the light staff and put it beside my bed.
Category:Josh-Son Of Hyperion
Category:Voices of Doom
Category:Stories