The Siren's Call

Chapter 5

For the rest of that day, Ashlynn and Arthur had worked on song ideas. Arthur had pulled a notebook from the book bag slung around his shoulder to jot down what they discussed. When it got late, Arthur had promised to show up again the next day so that they could work on it some more, and Ashlynn nodded in response, before bidding him farewell and diving back underwater. As much as she didn't want to, she had to head back to her family's cave. Her mom would freak out if she stayed out any later than she had.

Her mother already had a tendency to pop off when she came home late, so she didn't want to think about what would happen had she not left. When she neared the cave, Ashlynn saw her mom swimming in circles around the entrance. She supposed that this would be the siren's version of pacing, as Arthur explained that humans do when they're tense. Ashlynn didn't waste anymore time in approaching her mother. She thought for a moment about turning back, not wanting to sit through yet another lecture, but decided against it. If she came back a whole day later she was sure it would be much worse than what she had to face now.

"Where in the world have you been? It's late Ashlynn!" Her mom scolded. Ashlynn flinched ever so slightly at her mother's outburst, but she quickly recovered.

"Mom, it's only sunset. I know I'm normally home by now, but the rule is no later than sunset, remember?" She tried to reason with her. She needed to buy a bit of time to think of an excuse, and she needed to calm her mother down a bit before she told her anything of the sort. "I was at the surface again, I lost track of time. The human this time talked a lot longer than I was expecting" she said. She tried as hard as she could not to lie without giving up everything about Arthur.

"You made sure to wipe their memory, didn't you?"

"Of course I did, Mom" she reassured her. Sadly, that was a lie that she couldn't avoid. At that, her mother let out a deep sigh. Ashlynn took a look at her face. It looked tired, worn out, with the creases and frown lines standing out prominently upon the pale flesh. It made her feel bad. She never meant to make her mother worry, she honestly just wanted to get away from the constant pressure from everyone around her.

"I'm sorry for worrying you. I was just trying to clear my head for a bit and vent. I've been stressed out, too, because of my birthday coming up." She explained. Her mother nodded her head solemnly. She had calmed down a bit, which Ashlynn was thankful for. She hugged her mom before the both of them retreated into the cave for the night. Her mother headed off to bed, while Ashlynn proceeded to have the dinner that her mom had prepared hours prior to her return. As she slowly ate, she dwelled over everything that had been happening for the past few days. She saw that the people she cared about were becoming increasingly more confused and worried. Ashlynn decided that she had to do something about it, and she had to do it soon. She didn't want the important people in her life to stress over her. She didn't like seeing them like this.