The Sound of a Siren's Call

1.) Drowning in the Waves

I like the way the sea smells. That's probably the expected opinion for the daughter of a pirate and a siren, but it doesn't make it any less true. I love the way it blows my hair back when I stand on the bow of a ship.

My dad tapped my shoulder. I smiled over at him.

"Are you going to go back with your mother tonight?" He signed.

I nodded. He just pursed his lips and stared forwards.

"Are you coming?"

He thought for a while.

"No."

He turned and yelled at his crew, at least he yelled at the ones who'd managed to retain their hearing. The rest responded to his curt taps and rapid hands shooting out commands as fast as his flapping mouth.

The ship seemed to come alive, the rigging getting pulled, sails breathing, and people scuttling all over the whole business.

I kept staring ahead, my hands on the wood railing separating everyone on the deck from the waves below. I sat down, seeming to be completely separate from the clatter that was always hung over the ship, seeming as though it'd seeped into the floorboards.

The sun was falling into the sea, giving me my cue to fall with it. I stood up abruptly and found my father. I hugged him and let a few signs flurry between us before I went to the side of the boat.

I climbed the railing like I had so many nights before. I stood on top it and dove off until I hit the cold of the sea with the kind of perfection that only came with practice. I let myself sink as I always did until the cold stopped bitting. Then I opened my eyes which I knew gleamed eerily under the water.

My mother was there, watching me. The purple of her tail flicked lazily as the air bubbles made by my falling stopped rushing up.

Her top half looked just like me. At least that's what my father said. Her skin was the same olive shade and her hair curled just the same. I liked to think our similarities stopped there. She looked downright malicious. She was always scowling or giving the world an overly sweet smile. She seemed bitter in every movement, but she was my mother. I could hardly swear to never see her again.

If you took her from the waist up, ignoring the part of her that was indistinguishable from a fish, she'd be hard-pressed not to win a beauty pageant.

I breathed in the cold water, ignoring the sensation I always got that I felt like I was drowning. I swished my own brilliant green tail to remind myself I wasn't drowning. I was fine. My mother was already signing, ignoring my obvious awkwardness.

I blinked. She was telling me that there was government ship somewhere that she'd had to leave to come to fetch me. She impatiently spread her arms to keep her in place as the water drifted by us.

"Where are we going?" I asked, my hands made slow by my disorientation.

"Follow me." She beckoned.

I barely had time to straighten myself to follow my mother as she shot across the ocean. I followed, pushing myself to go as fast as I could. Water rushed up to my nostrils and air bubbles still floated up from my nose.

We surfaced out of sight of any land. The only distinguishing feature being the cluster of sirens that bobbed in clumps. I know from the tranquility of them all together that none of them had started singing yet that night. They'd waited to include me.

My mother looked at me.

"I don't sing," I desperately gesticulated, but she ignored me, grabbing my hand.

I had no choice but to follow her, ending up in the middle of all the sirens. She smiled and started volunteering us both for the destruction of some ship I'd never heard of before.

"I don't want to." I tried to tell everyone around me, but no one listened.

My mother's fingers dug into my wrist.

"Mom," I protested, but she was facing away from me.

I used my tail to struggle in the opposite direction than my mother.

"Arriana," one of the women's hands spelled, trying to coax me.

"I don't want to," I repeated.

My mother jerked me so I was in front of her. "Arianna," she signed, using my name sign with a look of disgust on her face. "We sing."

I shook my head. I pulled out of her grasp but stayed within a couple of feet of her. I didn't know where I was. I'd been so panicked I was going to get left behind that I didn't even know which direction home was. I needed my mother.

"Are you coming?" She asked, her eyebrows knit together mockingly.

I nodded sullenly. My mother accepted that and waited for me before she and group shot off to end some poor boat's voyage across the waves.

I followed, my stomach jumping into my throat as the bottom of the boat came into sight. We all made a huge circle around it, everyone but me swimming up in sync. My mother grabbed my arm and forced me up so my head broke through the water with everyone else's. Her mouth opened wide and she looked up as they all started their song.

I didn't hear it. I was glad I couldn't.

I closed my eyes, not wanting to watch. I opened my eyes again as my mother jerked me out of the way of someone plummeting to their death.

The white water surrounded me and I dove down.

It was all men drowning. It normally was. The one I tried to force to the surface was older. He had white whiskers poking out of his chin and he looked weak, but that didn't stop him from trying to shove me away.

I didn't try to soothe him. My hands were occupied anyway. He kicked and scratched at me, fighting every second. Eventually, still several feet from the air that would keep him alive, he died in my hands. The only thing I could do was let him drift down where the sand would billow around him.

The other sirens were still all having fun. The ship was starting to sink so some abandoned the feeble life that was draining away from their sport to ravage the cargo for their next amusement.

I joined them.