"How the training coming along. Are you able to compel any of the prisoners to sleep yet?" The Captain questions.
It has been almost a week since he sent me down there on that assignment and I am not any closer to getting them to sleep than I was on day one. Everyday I go to the brig and spend half the time singing improvised lullabies and the other half of the time talking to Finlay. I don't mind it though, Finlay is so kind and easy to talk to. Unlike the Captain over there. He only speaks to me during these meetings. At night all he does is tie up my hands and make incoherent grunts towards my direction. It is super irritating.
"It is going good. I feel like I am this close to a breakthrough." I demonstrate by pinching my fingers really close together.
"That's good. That's good. The sooner that can be accomplished the better." The Captain says.
Usually this is where our daily meetings end. So, I get up to return to my singing.
"Wait. Hold up. I have some further things to discuss with you" The captain interjects. He motions for me to sit back down in the chair.
"Just to make sure you are actually making progress. I am coming down with you in two days . I expect to see some sort of results by then." The Captain states sternly.
Shoot. I am going to make sure I work extra hard these next two days to make sure that something happens. Maybe I'll consult with Arianna later. I mean this song it is probably a form of magic. She is the magic expert on this ship. I make a mental note to go see her.
"Now that we finished with our daily check in. I have a surprise for you." The captain says. A surprise. For me? What sort of thing would the captain get me? Maybe he got something to mark me as his concubine. To keep up appearances.
"What is it?" I ask. I take a glance over his desk, but I do not see anything that would resemble a gift.
"Follow me and I'll show you." He says. He holds the door open for me to exit his office. After I leave, he takes me to the opposite end of the ship which is near the sick bay. He stops in front of a door.
"I had this installed where there is not too many people roaming around." He says and then holds open the door for me. "It is a bathhouse just for you."
I look inside and there is a huge wooden bath in the back of the room. It goes wall to wall. It is slightly longer than I would be laying down.
"The faucet fills the bath with water directly from the ocean." He points out.
"What is all of this for?" I ask
"Well, you were rather unfortunate looking when we first saw you. Don't want you to shrivel back up again. Especially now that we are calling you my concubine."
"I guess we wouldn't want that." Even so, he did not have to go through all the trouble of having this bath installed for me. He could have just dipped me in the ocean every once in a while.
"Thank you." I say to him sincerely. We both stand there awkwardly in silence for a minute.
"Well. I guess I will take a soak now. Make use of this new bath." I say then I give a small awkward laugh. He gives me a nod and then heads off closing the door behind him. I walk up to the door and lock it.
I strip out of my cloths and walk up to the edge of the bath. I feel sick to my stomach at the sight of the water. I feel my hands shaking. It probably will hurt again. It hurt so bad last time, I am hesitant to go through that again.
I squat down and curl myself into a ball. Come on Lucia. You can do this. Maybe it won't hurt so badly this time. If it hurt this bad every time then there would be no sirens in the sea. I uncurl myself out of the ball and face my opponent again: The bath full of seawater.
Being able to enter the water could be beneficial in escaping. I am trapped here if I am afraid of entering the water. I'll do it one more time. One more time and then I never have to do this again. Before I have the time to doubt myself anymore, I hop into the bath. I feel a slight pressure from all of little objects exiting my skin and there is a tingling where my legs used to be. But, that is it. No extra pain. What a relief. There is no way I could go through that every time I grew a tail.
Now that I do not have to worry about drowning I take a closer examination at my siren form. The scales completely cover my tail, and they continue to go up the side of my abdomen and they go up just high enough to cover my breasts. The center of my stomach around my navel does not have any scales. My arms also have small patches of scales on them. But, it is mostly just skin.
My breathing is kinda weird in the siren form. It is as though there is a current of wind passing by my neck as I take a breath. I feel my neck where the weird sensation is. There is something behind my ears. It is like there is two paper cuts that are a few inches long. They don't cause any pain when I touch it, so I am sure it it just a normal part of the siren form.
I wiggle my tail back and forth. That is another thing I eventually have to do. Learn to swim. I can't just let myself sink to the bottom when I am stuck in the ocean.
How did I end up this way? Maybe instead of cursing me the old witch from the story turned me into a siren instead. Yes! That would make sense. That way grandmother would just be mistaken. But, wait a minute. She told me that the curse is the reason that my parents died. What sort of sick person makes that up. I angrily slash the water towards to wall. There is no telling what else that she lied about. Are they even actually dead? I don't remember ever seeing them dead. The funeral was closed casket. But was it just an elaborate ruse to trick me? Ah! The whole situation is so frustration. I dip my head underwater and close my eyes. I rest my head against the side of the tub. I sit there is silence for a few moments. Thinking about nothing. Worrying about nothing. Just a quick mental break.
Once I emerge from the water, it is with a sense of purpose. All right, I guess it is time to get things done. I prop myself up onto the side of the bath. I drag my tail out of the water and wait a minute until it turns back into legs.
First thing I am going to do: head to Arianna's room.
YOU ARE READING
A Pirate Melody
RomanceGrowing up Lucia had two rules: 1. Never speak a word to another individual 2. Never set forth in the ocean She was told that she was cursed as a baby and if she did either one of those things, terrible misfortune would befall both her and those...
