49- Unique way of sign

Mía rehearsed some scenes with Mathias, who played Lucencio, the most intrepid of Blanca's suitors. But when they reached a scene that seemed a bit complicated for Faizul to follow, Tom authorized Mía and Melyluz to leave the stage to focus on helping Faizul.

They sat in the middle of the theater, in the plush red velvet seats. In theory, they were supposed to review their scripts together, but in reality, they were just watching the werewolves grappling with their lines on stage while Faizul, Mathias, and another actor kept stumbling over what they were supposed to say.

"This is the third time I've done Taming of the Shrew," Melyluz said. "But I’m almost always Blanca. Antonieta played Catalina once, but she didn’t enjoy it much. She prefers to be revered, not dominated."

"I believe it," Mía said. "So you've acted in many plays?"

"Hundreds. Probably thousands." She leaned back in her seat. "With this, I’m revealing my age... Television and radio are recent inventions. In the several millennia before them, the only way we had to entertain ourselves was through plays and stories."

"I once did opera, but it caused certain problems." Melyluz pointed to her throat. "This whole siren song thing can turn the audience into a crazed, obsessed mob."

"That doesn't sound too good."

"No, the truth is that it’s dreadful," Melyluz said. "I'm glad they didn't think of doing a musical. You don't know how much I needed something to pull me out of the house, but I’m never going to sing in front of crowds again."

Tom seemed agitated by something Mathias said, and he shouted at him. He wasn't exactly scolding him, but Mía thought he was a little harsher than necessary given the situation.

"He's taking this really seriously," Melyluz commented as they watched Tom give very strict stage directions. "And it's strange, considering it’s a production for such a small town."

"This is sort of a big event," Mía explained. "He's the closest thing to a real director we have. It's not like he's worked on Broadway, but he has directed some bigger productions than this. He’s not from here."

"I guess the British accent gives him away," Melyluz said. "But in what way is this a big event? Is this town fascinated with Shakespeare or something?"

"This play is part of the big end-of-summer festival of A Island Where the Syrens Lived," Mía explained. "It starts on August 27th and runs throughout the week until Labor Day."

"How strange." Melyluz wrinkled her nose. "It seems like you have a huge amount of festivals, carnivals, and events."

"Because it's summer and we're a tourist town. We have to make the most of it, and then when the tourists go home, the town closes down. The festivals stop."

"You can’t tell Negani that," Melyluz said. "She would freak out."

Mía bit her lip and then turned to Melyluz.

"How many lives and reincarnations do you think you’ll stay here?"

"I couldn't say." Melyluz looked down.

"You’re starting to get anxious," Mía said. She paused, but Melyluz didn’t bother to argue. "You haven't discovered anything supernatural or useful about Ignacio or Daniel, have you?"

"Actually, I never believed that Ignacio loving you was something supernatural," Melyluz said. Just hearing it reopened a wound in Mía’s heart that still hadn’t healed. She tried to maintain a neutral expression as Melyluz continued. "I have a theory that Ignacio was already in love with you before you became a siren. That's why he was able to break the curse."

"Have you told that to Antonieta?" Mía asked.

"No," Melyluz said. "I thought it was necessary to reevaluate the curse, that maybe we had been denying things that were true. I wanted to convince Antonieta that we should stay here to find out."

"And what have you discovered?" Mía asked, but she already thought she knew the answer. If they had made any discovery or obtained any information that could change their lives, Melyluz wouldn’t be sitting in the theater rehearsing a play.

"Nothing." Melyluz's hoarse voice sounded soft and sad. "I don’t know where else to look. And Antonieta has lost interest." She paused and corrected herself. "Well, she’s lost interest in Ignacio, at least."

Mía felt relieved, but that only confirmed her suspicions. She hadn’t spoken to Ignacio since they broke up, but thanks to Melyluz, she learned that the sirens had been talking to him. It didn’t seem terrible, especially since Antonieta considered Ignacio silly and boring.

Antonieta had her eyes totally set on someone else, and Mía redirected her attention to him. In the back, beyond where Tom was giving directions to Faizul and Mathias, working silently so as not to disturb them, Daniel was hunched over with the plans for the sets spread out on stage.

He had the sleeves of his flannel shirt rolled up enough to reveal the black lines of his tattoo. With a distracted gesture, he ran a hand through his dirty blonde hair. His jaw was clenched tightly, focused on his thoughts, and the dark line of stubble on his jaw was like a shadow crossing his face.

While Antonieta's interest in Daniel had become more evident, neither Mía