Speaker 1: Calarogu Shark Media.
Speaker 2: Welcome to Midnight Frequencies, a special Romance Weekly and Ghost
Speaker 2: Scary Stories crossover event. This is episode two Signal Interference.
Speaker 3: The all night diner on Canal Street smells like coffee
Speaker 3: and forgotten dreams. It's the kind of place where the
Speaker 3: fluorescent lights flicker just enough to make you question reality,
Speaker 3: where the waitress has seen everything and judges nothing, and
Speaker 3: where two people can sit in a corner booth at
Speaker 3: five am without anyone asking questions. I wrap my hands
Speaker 3: around a cup of tea that's gone cold while I
Speaker 3: try to process everything Kai has told me in the
Speaker 3: last hour. According to him, im siren, not the kind
Speaker 3: from Greek mythology that lured sailors to their deaths, but
Speaker 3: something more complex, something that's been hiding in plain sight
Speaker 3: for centuries. The bloodlines are ancient. Kai explains, his voice,
Speaker 3: low enough that it won't carry to the other late
Speaker 3: night refugees scattered around the diner. Most people think sirens
Speaker 3: were just stories, but the truth is more complicated. Your
Speaker 3: ancestors learned to blend in to use their gifts subtly,
Speaker 3: a voice that could inspire trust, compel honesty, influence decisions
Speaker 3: without anyone realizing what was happening. But what I did
Speaker 3: tonight wasn't subtle, I say, my British accent, making the
Speaker 3: words sound more controlled than I feel. People were confessing
Speaker 3: things that could destroy their lives, some of them. I
Speaker 3: can't finish the sentence. The image of those black SUVs.
Speaker 3: Kai's grim words about deaths cross Manhattan keeps playing in
Speaker 3: my mind. That's because your power is awakening without guidance,
Speaker 3: Kai says, think of it like puberty, but supernatural without training,
Speaker 3: without understanding what you are, your abilities are raw, uncontrolled.
Speaker 3: The more you use your voice, the stronger they become,
Speaker 3: but also the more dangerous. I take a sip of
Speaker 3: cold tea and immediately regret it. And you know all
Speaker 3: this because Kai hesitates, and I catch a flicker of
Speaker 3: something vulnerable in his dark eyes. Because I'm not entirely
Speaker 3: human either, The words hang between us like a challenge. Outside,
Speaker 3: the first hint of dawn is creeping across the city,
Speaker 3: turning the sky from black to deep purple. In a
Speaker 3: few hours, people will be waking up to discover the
Speaker 3: chaos that followed my broadcast, Families torn apart by sudden confessions, crimes, exposed,
Speaker 3: lives ruined.
Speaker 1: What are you, I ask?
Speaker 3: I'm what's called a listener, Kai says, part of an
Speaker 3: organization that's existed for centuries to monitor supernatural activity. My
Speaker 3: particular gift is that I can hear frequencies that others can't,
Speaker 3: supernatural voices, magical resonances, things that operate beyond normal human perception.
Speaker 3: So you've been spying on me, protecting you, He corrects,
Speaker 3: and there's an intensity in his voice that makes my
Speaker 3: chest titan. Do you know how rare true sirens are?
Speaker 3: Most of the bloodlines died out or went dormant generations ago.
Speaker 3: When I started picking up your broadcast eight months ago,
Speaker 3: I thought at first it was just someone with unusual charisma,
Speaker 3: But gradually I realized what I was hearing.
Speaker 1: Eight months.
Speaker 3: He's been listening to me for eight months, night after night,
Speaker 3: and I never knew The thought should be unsettling, But
Speaker 3: instead I feel something else, a strange sense of connection,
Speaker 3: like a frequency finally finding its match. The order I
Speaker 3: work for, Kai continues. They have very specific protocols for
Speaker 3: dealing with awakening sirens. Most of them involve elimination. Most
Speaker 3: of them, there are exceptions if a siren can learn control.
Speaker 3: If they can be guided properly, they can become valuable allies.
Speaker 3: But the process is complicated. I study his face, noting
Speaker 3: the way he avoids my eyes when he says complicated,
Speaker 3: and you volunteered to be my guide. I requested the assignment. Yes,
Speaker 3: why the question seems to catch him off guard. He
Speaker 3: runs a hand through his dark hair, and I notice
Speaker 3: his fingers are shaking slightly. Because eight months of listening
Speaker 3: to your voice every night will do things to a person.
Speaker 3: Because I couldn't bear the thought of my colleagues showing
Speaker 3: up at your studio with orders to eliminate the threat.
Speaker 3: Because he looks up, meeting my eyes directly, because I
Speaker 3: think I've been falling in love with your voice since
Speaker 3: the first night I heard it. The confession hits me
Speaker 3: like a wave of electricity. I feel my own supernatural
Speaker 3: frequency responding to his honesty, creating a resonance between us
Speaker 3: that makes the air in the diner seem to shimmer.
Speaker 3: That's not possible, I whisper, isn't it? Kai asks, You're
Speaker 3: a siren, Lyra. Your voice is designed to create connection,
Speaker 3: to inspire devotion. The question is whether what I feel
Speaker 3: is real or just a supernatural compulsion. Before I can answer,
Speaker 3: my phone buzzes a text from an unknown number. We
Speaker 3: know where you are, the diner on Canal Street. You
Speaker 3: have five minutes. Kai sees my expression and reaches for
Speaker 3: the phone. Reading the message, his face goes pale. We
Speaker 3: need to move now. How did they find us so quickly?
Speaker 3: The order has resources you can't imagine, Kai says, dropping
Speaker 3: money on the table and standing surveillance networks, tracking technology,
Speaker 3: people with gifts that make mine look like parlor tricks.
Speaker 3: We're already moving toward the back exit when the front
Speaker 3: door chimes and three people in dark clothing walk in.
Speaker 3: They look ordinary enough, a woman in a business suit,
Speaker 3: two men who could be accountants. But something about the
Speaker 3: way they move sets off every instinct I have. Don't
Speaker 3: look back, Chuy murmurs, guiding me through the kitchen toward
Speaker 3: the service exit, And whatever you do, don't speak unless
Speaker 3: I tell you to. Why not, because your voice right
Speaker 3: now is like a loaded weapon with the safety off.
Speaker 3: Every word you speak has the potential to compel anyone
Speaker 3: who hears it, and we don't know what commands you
Speaker 3: might accidentally give. We slip out into an alley that
Speaker 3: smells like grease and garbage, the November air sharp enough
Speaker 3: to make me gasp. Behind us, I can hear voices
Speaker 3: in the diner, calm, professional, asking the waitress questions she
Speaker 3: probably can't answer this way, Kai says, leading me through
Speaker 3: a maze of narrow streets that seem designed to confuse
Speaker 3: anyone who doesn't know Soho's layout. Intimately, there's a safe
Speaker 3: house not far from here, Somewhere we can reach group
Speaker 3: and I can start teaching you the basics of control.
Speaker 3: A safe house the Order maintains several in the city
Speaker 3: for situations like this. The irony is that I'm using
Speaker 3: their own resources to protect you from them. We walk
Speaker 3: in silence for several blocks, sticking to shadows and side streets.
Speaker 3: The city is starting to wake up around us, delivery
Speaker 3: trucks rumbling past, early commuters emerging from subway stations, the
Speaker 3: distant sound of morning news broadcasts drifting from apartment windows, Kai,
Speaker 3: I say, finally, unable to keep quiet any longer. Those
Speaker 3: people who called my show tonight, the ones who confessed,
Speaker 3: who hurt themselves because of what I made them do.
Speaker 3: Is there any way to help them? I don't know,
Speaker 3: he says, honestly, siren compulsion is powerful, but it's not
Speaker 3: permanent mind control. People will eventually realize that the urge
Speaker 3: to confess came from outside themselves. The question is whether
Speaker 3: they can live with the consequences of the truths they revealed.
Speaker 3: The guilt sits in my chest like a physical weight.
Speaker 3: All my life, I've used my voice to help people,
Speaker 3: to provide comfort to insomniacs, to create a sense of
Speaker 3: connection for the lonely, to offer a few hours of
Speaker 3: peace in a chaotic city. The idea that this same
Speaker 3: voice could be a weapon, could drive people to destroy
Speaker 3: their own lives is almost unbearable. I can see you
Speaker 3: blaming yourself, Kai says softly. Don't you didn't know what
Speaker 3: you were, and you certainly didn't intend any harm. The
Speaker 3: real responsibility lies with whoever should have been watching over you,
Speaker 3: teaching you, helping you understand your heritage. My grandmother, I
Speaker 3: realize she must have known the stories she told me
Speaker 3: about women with powerful voices. The way she always warned
Speaker 3: me to be careful with words, to think before I spoke.
Speaker 3: She was trying to prepare me, wasn't she Probably? But
Speaker 3: something happened to break that chain of knowledge. Maybe she
Speaker 3: died too soon. Maybe she thought your abilities would remain dormant.
Speaker 3: It's more common than you'd think for supernatural bloodlines to
Speaker 3: skip generations. We turned down a narrow street lined with
Speaker 3: converted warehouses, and Kai stops in front of a building
Speaker 3: that looks abandoned. He produces a key from somewhere in
Speaker 3: his coat and unlocks a door that's painted to look rusted,
Speaker 3: but clearly isn't welcome to your crash course in being
Speaker 3: a siren, he says, holding the door open, the space
Speaker 3: yond is nothing like I expected. Instead of the sparse,
Speaker 3: functional safe house i'd imagined, it's warm and lived in,
Speaker 3: comfortable furniture, bookshelves lining the walls, a kitchen that looks
Speaker 3: actually used. Soft lighting comes from lamps rather than harsh
Speaker 3: overhead fixtures, and there's music playing quietly from hidden speakers,
Speaker 3: something classical and soothing. You live here, I say, and
Speaker 3: it's not a question. Sometimes when I'm working in the city.
Speaker 3: Ki locks the door behind us and activates what looks
Speaker 3: like a very sophisticated security system. The order thinks this
Speaker 3: is just another safe house. They don't know I've made
Speaker 3: it into something more personal. I walk to one of
Speaker 3: the bookshelves, noting titles on folklore, mythology, supernatural anthropology. Mixed
Speaker 3: in with the academic texts are novels, poetry, even some
Speaker 3: romance paperbacks that look well read eclectic taste. I observe
Speaker 3: eight months of listening to a late night radio DJ
Speaker 3: will broaden your horizons, Kai says, with what might be
Speaker 3: the first genuine smile I've seen from him. You talk
Speaker 3: about books sometimes between songs. I started reading them. The
Speaker 3: admission creates another one of those electric moments between us,
Speaker 3: a recognition that this connection we're feeling has been building
Speaker 3: for months without either of us fully realizing it.
Speaker 1: So what now, I ask? How do I learn to
Speaker 1: control something I didn't even know I had?
Speaker 3: We start with the basics, Kai says, moving to a
Speaker 3: table where several old books are stacked, understanding what you are,
Speaker 3: how your abilities work, and most importantly, how to shield
Speaker 3: other people from accidental compulsion. He opens one of the books,
Speaker 3: revealing page is covered in what looks like ancient text
Speaker 3: mixed with modern annotations. This is a guide to siren abilities,
Speaker 3: compiled over centuries by various members of the order. Some
Speaker 3: of it is probably folklore, but some of it contains
Speaker 3: real techniques that can help you. I lean over his
Speaker 3: shoulder to look at the pages, and immediately I'm overwhelmed
Speaker 3: by his scent, that cedar and rain smell I noticed
Speaker 3: on the fire escape, with undertones of something electric. This close,
Speaker 3: I can see the tension in his shoulders, the way
Speaker 3: his breathing changes when I'm near. The first thing you
Speaker 3: need to understand, Kai says, his voice slightly rough, is
Speaker 3: that siren abilities are tied to emotion and intention. When
Speaker 3: you're calm and centered, you can speak normally without affecting anyone.
Speaker 3: But when you're emotional, angry, frightened, passionate, your voice carries
Speaker 3: that energy and amplifies it. That's why tonight was so intense.
Speaker 3: I realize I was excited about the show, enjoying the
Speaker 3: connection with callers, feeling powerful for the first time in
Speaker 3: my life exactly, and that excitement translated into compulsion. Your
Speaker 3: listeners felt what you were feeling and responded accordingly. I
Speaker 3: look down at the open book, trying to focus on
Speaker 3: the words, but all I can think about is how
Speaker 3: close Kai is standing, how his presence seems to create
Speaker 3: its own frequency. That harmonizes with whatever's awakening inside me.
Speaker 3: There's something else, I say quietly. When I speak to you,
Speaker 3: I don't feel the same charged that I felt with
Speaker 3: the callers tonight. It's like you're somehow immune to the compulsion.
Speaker 3: Kai very still, that's because of what I am. Listeners
Speaker 3: have natural resistance to supernatural vocal influences. It's part of
Speaker 3: what makes us effective at monitoring and containing threats. Is
Speaker 3: that what I am to you a threat to be contained.
Speaker 3: He turns to face me fully, and I can see
Speaker 3: conflict written across his features. You were supposed to be.
Speaker 3: My orders were to assess your abilities and either recruit
Speaker 3: you or eliminate you, depending on the level of danger
Speaker 3: you posed, and which am I dangerous? Kai says, without hesitation,
Speaker 3: more dangerous than anything the Order has dealt with in decades.
Speaker 3: Your power is raw, unformed, but incredibly strong. In the
Speaker 3: wrong hands or without proper training, you could influence thousands
Speaker 3: of people with a single broadcast. But you're also extraordinary,
Speaker 3: and I don't think I could eliminate you, even if
Speaker 3: my life depended on it. The confession hangs between us,
Speaker 3: charged with possibility and danger. I take a step closer
Speaker 3: close enough that I can see the flex of silver
Speaker 3: in his dark eyes, the way his pulse beats at
Speaker 3: his throat. What happens if the Order finds us here?
Speaker 3: I ask, If they think I've been compromised by your influence,
Speaker 3: they'll eliminate both of us, Kai says, which is why
Speaker 3: we need to get your abilities under control as quickly
Speaker 3: as possible. You need to be able to demonstrate that
Speaker 3: you can be trusted, that you won't use your voice
Speaker 3: to manipulate or harm innocent people. And if I can't
Speaker 3: learn control, Kai's expression grows grim, then I'll have to
Speaker 3: make a choice between my duty to the order, and
Speaker 3: he pauses, seeming to struggle with the words you're what
Speaker 3: my feelings for you, which may or may not be real,
Speaker 3: but feel more genuine than anything I've experienced in decades
Speaker 3: of service. The admission creates a resonance between us so
Speaker 3: strong that I can actually feel it, like a tuning
Speaker 3: fork struck in my chest, vibrating through my bones and
Speaker 3: into the air around us. For a moment, the space
Speaker 3: between us shimmers with visible energy. Did you see that,
Speaker 3: I whisper, I've felt it, Kai says, that's what happens
Speaker 3: when two supernatural frequencies aligne it's he swallows hard. It's
Speaker 3: not something I've experienced before. Before I can respond, alarms
Speaker 3: start blaring throughout the building, red lights flash from hidden panels,
Speaker 3: and Kai's expression shifts immediately into something cold and professional.
Speaker 3: They've found us, he says, moving to what I thought
Speaker 3: was a decorative mirror, but as apparently some kind of
Speaker 3: surveillance monitor. Three teams surrounding the building. We have maybe
Speaker 3: two minutes before they breach the entrance. How is that possible?
Speaker 3: I thought this place was secret. It was, which means
Speaker 3: either they've been tracking us more closely than I realized,
Speaker 3: or Kai's face goes pale, or someone in the order
Speaker 3: knows about my feelings for you and set this up.
Speaker 1: As a test, a test of what.
Speaker 3: To see if I'll choose duty, or he looks at
Speaker 3: me with something that might be desperation. Lyra, I need
Speaker 3: you to listen very carefully. In about ninety seconds, armed
Speaker 3: agents are going to come through that door with orders
Speaker 3: to either capture or kill you. The only way you
Speaker 3: survive this is if you use your voice. But you
Speaker 3: said I couldn't control it, said you couldn't control it.
Speaker 1: Safely.
Speaker 3: But right now, safety isn't an option. Ky pull's weapons
Speaker 3: from hidden compartments, guns, but also things that look like
Speaker 3: they belong in a science fiction movie. I'm going to
Speaker 3: teach you the most dangerous technique in the Sien Arsenal.
Speaker 3: It's called a command voice, and it can compel absolute
Speaker 3: obedience from anyone who hears it. I can't, You can,
Speaker 3: and you will because it's the only way we both
Speaker 3: live through the next five minutes. Kai's voice is urgent
Speaker 3: but calm, and I can hear his listener abilities in
Speaker 3: the way he speaks, every word chosen for maximum impact.
Speaker 3: When I tell you, you're going to speak in the deepest,
Speaker 3: most authoritative tone.
Speaker 1: You can manage.
Speaker 3: You're going to put every ounce of intention and in
Speaker 3: into your voice, and you're going to command them to stop,
Speaker 3: to drop their weapons, to forget they ever saw us.
Speaker 3: What if I make them hurt themselves? What if I
Speaker 3: accidentally then we deal with the consequences later, Kai says firmly,
Speaker 3: right now, the alternative is that we both die, and
Speaker 3: your voice dies with us. At least this way you
Speaker 3: have a chance to learn proper control. The sound of
Speaker 3: footsteps echoes in the stairwell outside, heavy boots, multiple sets,
Speaker 3: moving with military precision. Lyra Kai says, and there's something
Speaker 3: in his voice that I've never heard before, not just urgency,
Speaker 3: but genuine fear. Whatever happens in the next few minutes,
Speaker 3: I need you to know that what I feel for
Speaker 3: you isn't just supernatural compulsion.
Speaker 1: It's real.
Speaker 3: You're real, and I would rather die protecting you than
Speaker 3: live knowing I let the order to destroy you before
Speaker 3: I can respond. The door explodes inward in a shower
Speaker 3: of splinters and smoke. Dark figures pour through the opening,
Speaker 3: weapons raised, faces hidden behind tactical gear, and somewhere in
Speaker 3: the chaos, I find my voice. It comes from deeper
Speaker 3: in my chest than I've ever spoken before, carrying power
Speaker 3: that makes the air itself seem to vibrate. When I speak,
Speaker 3: every person in the room stops moving, their attention focused
Speaker 3: entirely on me with an intensity that's almost terrifying. But
Speaker 3: what I say and what happens next will either save
Speaker 3: us both or damn us forever.