Free Sound of Sirens: (Tales of Skylge #1) by Jen Minkman

former Skelta, almost three hundred years ago, so people wouldn’t forget the truth. But the book fell into obscurity because it went missing. Our present Skelta found it in one of the museums. Knowledge about the book was passed down through many Skelta generations. He suspects the Currents got their hands on it at some point and misinterpreted it as a fairytale book written by our ancestors.”
    “Who’s to say it isn’t exactly that?” I object. “Maybe none of the stories in it are true.” Yesterday our discovery excited me, but today I realize that believing these stories has caused Sytse to walk a dangerous path, and I’m not sure I’m a big fan of his decisions.
    “Or maybe none of the stories the Current rulers have told us are true,” Sytse counters. “If I have a choice, I’d rather believe in our own fairytales than in their fabrications.”
    In the silence that follows, my father comes back inside now that the sun has set. “Does he know about your second job?” I sneer, motioning toward him. “About the risk you’re taking, meeting up with strange men in Stortum in the dead of night?”
    “Of course he does,” Sytse replies unflappably. “He was the first person I consulted when I got the offer to work for the Skelta.”
    I stare up at my father, half-expecting him to deny Sytse’s words, but he just stands there and nods quietly. His eyes are calm, my mind a storm by comparison. Something snaps inside of me like a brittle twig when I realize I am just a child to them. A child not worth confiding in.
    “But what do we really know?” I say, my voice faltering. “That history accounts might have been altered? Does it change anything about the fact that we’re still at war with the Nixen and the Currents are in possession of the only weapon against them?”
    “We might be able to fight back more effectively if we were allowed to use electricity,” Sytse replies.
    “It’s a Current privilege. That’s never going to happen,” Dani mutters.
    Sytse looks from her to me. And then he says: “What if it weren’t any longer?”

11.
    H is words punch me in the gut. “What?” I croak hoarsely.
    Sytse remains quiet for a while, clearly debating with himself how much he should tell us. When he finally opens his mouth, a calm resignation softens his features. “I guess there is no point pretending you’re too young to absorb this.” He leans forward in his chair. “Enna, the Anglians have had a monopoly on electric power for centuries. Nobody knows how they generate it – not the original Skylgers and not the Anglian colonists in the Hanze cities. But the indigenous inhabitants of Fryslan, Grins, and Nethersaxony have banded together to tweak Current devices and invent a power source of their own. With success, I might add.”
    My mouth falls open in complete, utter astonishment. Is Sytse saying that the Currents’ power is not some form of magic? Might we be able to build our own Grid?
    “How?” Dani gasps. “Without Brandan’s Fire, how could they possibly?”
    “I don’t know the specifics,” my brother confesses. “I’m not a scientist, after all. But I do know that Mr. Westhaus from Saxony and Mr. Tesla from Fryslan have developed a working system that could light the homes of hundreds of people if they had the means to solely devote themselves to research. And they’d be the homes of common people, not Anglians.” He lowers his voice. “What’s more, Tesla is willing to give it away for free. The Currents would lose their position of power if they’re no longer the sole supplier of electricity to the Anglians on the mainland. Some Anglians in coastal cities are even eager to work together with Tesla. They wouldn’t be dependent on Current headquarters in Brandaris any longer.”
    My head is spinning with all the new info. “So – that is why you travel to the mainland? To consult these Westhaus and Tesla guys?”
    “Among other things. But I talk to Tesla’s