Chapter 22
Prism
We swam a good while. The sirens petted the whales.
All seemed well. The ocean grew warmer, and I wondered if that was the whole point of their journey—to get their babies to warmer seas so they could grow.
Merose popped down from above me, her hair furling around her body wildly. She pointed down. “Have a look.”
When I glanced down, my heart jumped into my chest. Dozens upon dozens of flat-headed, angry-looking beasts weaved beneath us. “What—what are those?”
“Hammerhead sharks,” she answered. “They’re pretty mean. Not the meanest shark though, not even close.”
“Why haven’t they attacked?”
“Hammerheads are mostly scavengers—opportunists. They gather around where they believe there will be bloodshed.”
I swallowed a sinking feeling of impending doom. “That’s why they’re following us? They expect… blood?”
Merose nodded. “One way or another—there will be.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.”
“Could be worse.” She shrugged. “Could be the big white ones. Those have no problem attacking unprovoked. These sharks”—she gestured below us—“are here for whoever loses.”
Bathyal spun around and swam backwards, narrowing her slitted eyes. “Yes, and sirens never lose.”
“That’s right,” Knoll agreed.
Estuary called over her shoulder, “I see a shadow ahead… Slow your pace. I will swim to check it out. Ready yourselves, sisters.”
The blue siren darted off, faster than any fish I’d seen yet.
The sinking feeling returned to my gut, despite the other sirens’ confidence.
Grey, flat-headed sharks with pointed top fins wove through the water beneath us with unnerving steadiness.
As if they were waiting for the right moment to sink their teeth into my fin or to attack a baby whale.
The parent whales didn’t seem concerned.
Only swam along at their slow and steady pace.
I stopped by one of the larger mother whale’s eyes, her lid drooping in a sleepy, gentle way. “We’ll get your babies to safety,” I told her. “I promise.”
Just then, Estuary appeared in the distance, racing back. Her black eyes wide and teeth bared. “Two ships,” she said with an edge of worry. “Two big ships. They’ve nets and spears. These men have come for the whales, and they’re ready and waiting.”
“There’s no way to make them swim any lower?” I asked in panic. Then, I glanced down at the sharks. “No, I guess not.”
The sirens shook their heads. Estuary directed them. “Knoll, stay with the calves. Bathyal, Merose, and Prism, come sing with me.”
The sirens did as they were told, and I kicked my fin, swimming after the group I was assigned to. “Sing? What do you mean sing?”
“You’ll see,” Bathyal answered with a half smile.
“I-I don’t sing,” I replied frantically, and we neared the two big shadows above.
Merose giggled. “You will. Plus, you are very beautiful. The men will be especially taken with you. Just watch. They are really just very simple and stupid creatures with big sticks.”
We stopped under the shadows of the two boats. Commotion erupted on the surface as the sounds of men yelling orders muffled around us. Something brushed my tail and I yelped. “Sh-shark,” I stuttered. “They’re up here now.”
Just as I said it, a dozen flat-headed sharks circled us.
Bathyal held my shoulders. “The creature bumped you because it smelt your fear. Steady your fear and they will not be drawn to you. The sharks are here for scraps of the men or the whales, not for frightened new sirens.”
I nodded, somehow not feeling comforted by the promise of impending bloodshed. “What do I do?”
Merose hooked her arm in mine. “Put on your bedroom eyes, lovely girl.”
“What are bedroom eyes?”
Bathyal and Merose giggled. “Imagine your lover. Envision you are singing to the one whom your heart loves.”
Estuary appeared in front of us again from the depths. “Knoll and the whales approach. You three sing, I will grab as many men as I can before they notice and start causing a fuss.”
“Men are so dramatic. They can never control their emotions.” Merose rolled her slitted eyes. “We will use it to their demise. To the surface, siren sisters. May Mother Ocean bless us with proper meals this night.”
Bathyal looped her elbow with my other arm, and the two sirens guided me closer and closer to the shadowy boat.
My heart leapt as we broached the surface.
Orange light from torches on the grand, walnut-colored ship blazed, washing the black tides in stripes of copper.
A man with a telescope leaned over the side of the vessel, shouting coordinates.
Suddenly, he spotted me, and his face blanched white.
Two hands pushed at my back, thrusting me forward.
With a splash behind me, I turned, finding myself alone.
My chest tightened as I waded closer to the long-faced, bearded man.
“Woman?” he asked, setting down his telescope, perplexed. “H-how did such a pretty girl find herself all the way out here?”
“Hello,” I replied, unsure of what to do next. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a flash of color. I heard the shrill, melodic harmony of women giggling, and a man’s murmur—before a splash landed from the ship, the man’s murmurs silenced forever.
My siren sisters were hunting.
I supposed that’s what I was meant to do, too.
Could I?
Rumor and Matri had always been the huntresses of the family. Though, their hunting grounds had been on land in Willowspire, armed with bows and daggers. Now, I’d have to hunt as well. If I were to guard the baby whales and assist my new friends, I’d have to be a bit ruthless, too.
Little Prism who could never kill a bunny, even if she were starving, would have to kill a man in order to save a creature of the deep. Armed with nothing but beauty, claws, and scales, I neared the bearded sailor. His eyes darted toward two more splashes.
Two more men overboard.
My brow furrowed, hoping they’d leave a few for me. What a strange, very unlike me thing to hope for. Maybe being a siren had gone to my head, but I wanted to rise to the occasion, too.
Somehow the idea of drowning a man was easier to accept than the thought of harming a fallope or a deer. What did that say about me? With no time to sort it out, I angled my head, lifting out of the water just enough to expose the top of my cleavage. “You… must be quite lonely out here, sailor?”
Despite a man’s quick, muffled scream, followed by a splash, the sailor turned his attention back to me.
His gaze dropped to my chest, and he stroked his long, wiry beard.
“Aye, we be lonely as all hell out in these waters. You know, there be stories about pretty women like you—ocean legends and such.”
“Are there?” I asked, inching closer, just needing him to lean in a tiny bit further… “I like hearing stories. Would you tell it to me?”
The bearded man tipped his hat, once again his glance drifting to my chest. Men really were painfully predictable. “I reckon when you swam up to me you didn’t know that I’m the captain of this here ship. Did you?”
Shaking my head slowly, I replied, “No, I didn’t know that.”
I swam closer…
The captain leaned forward.
The ship rocked.
I reached for the collar of his shirt.
All of a sudden, something snapped beneath me. A screech of a scream, with a voice that didn’t even sound like mine, erupted from my throat. Without thinking, I thrashed, fearing I’d been chomped on by the jagged mouth of one of the sharks below—but instead, something far worse had me in its maw.
The cranking of a loud crane sounded as the men hollered. Thick netting encircled me. Every thrash and wiggle my body employed only tightened by binds. With the cranking of gears and the firm jaws of the net holding me in place, the crane hoisted me into the air, moving me to dangle over the ship.
The men cheered and gathered around, gazing up at me. One man with an eye patch reached forward and touched my tail. An involuntary hiss fled my lips.
Frantically, my glance scanned the dark ocean. I believed I caught a glimpse of blue and panicked. Estuary. But she was gone, camouflaged by the waves so well she could have been a mirage.
The wiry-bearded captain sauntered forward, crossing his arms as he surveyed me. “The mermaid wanted to hear a story, fellas. Shall we tell her one?”
The men cheered, the sour smell of alcohol and body odor burning my nostrils, and my fingers wove through the netting, holding myself upright. Tails, it turns out, were about as useful on land as legs were in water. How unfortunate I was to never have either when I needed them.
“This legend,” the captain boomed, “is about how mermaid scales, hair, fins, hearts, and talons fetch a far higher price than whale meat. Don’t they, boys?”
The men laughed and clapped, eyeing me with opportunistic and lustful gazes. “You’ll be very disappointed then,” I answered, “when I turn back into a human soon.”
Well, not entirely human, I was an enchantress, after all, but they didn’t need to know that.
The captain’s eyebrows rose. “If that happens…” He looked me up and down. “I don’t reckon we’ll be that brokenhearted. Will we, boys?”
Boisterous laughter sounded around me. Vore would have slaughtered them all in an instant for that comment and those looks alone.
What would I do without him? Without the sirens?
They couldn’t aid me while I dangled in the air.
Suddenly, water shot from the sea and rained down around us.
Might tales flapped, one after the other, as the whales passed.
The sailors lifted their spears.
“No!” I called out. “You said it yourself, mermaids fetch a higher price. Let the sea creatures go.”
The sailors looked to their leader for his command.
With a wave of his hand, the captain silently ordered the men to put down their weapons.
A sigh of relief left my lungs. Maybe I’d be butchered for gold coins, but the baby whales would cross to warmer waters.
The baby whales would grow to be as magnificent as their mothers.
That was enough. I could die knowing that I helped accomplish that.
“Well, men,” the captain announced. “Reckon we should spear the mermaid now or leave her alive?”
The men huddled around to discuss my fate as I swung helplessly in my net. What would a second death be like? Would it hurt?
My glance caught something on the side of the ship. Long claws hooked over the banister, and black eyes appeared. Estuary looked positively wicked in the firelight. “Sing,” she mouthed.
“I can’t sing,” I argued, feeling a lump in my throat. “I’ve never been able to.”
“You can.” She nodded. “Remember, sing for your lover. You can do it, sweet siren girl. With your sea witch soul and the blessings of Mother Ocean to guide you. Remember the love you have within you. Call upon it. Your heart knows the tune, Prism.”
The Underworld felt like a waking dream.
I closed my eyes tight, still smelling the tang of beer mixed with the salt of the ocean.
The cool breeze chilled my scales, and the wire of the net cut into my skin as waves tossed around me.
It was all a melody in itself, I suppose.
Set to the music of despair and a love lost too soon.
When I opened my mouth, a song gently wove through the atmosphere.
Through the forest,
Soft and fair.
A maiden befalls,
A monster’s snare.
For a wither here,
A lover there.
A woman born,
Of an enchantress’ care.
Oh, through time and stone,
And doorways hollow,
To chase a white rabbit,
I run, I follow.
To find my love,
My monster claim,
In the Underworld’s grasp,
My heart, my pain.
Hear my song,
Sea trenches deep,
An open door.
Bring him back to me.
My claimed, my heart,
My love, my song,
My monster, Vore.
Hear my song,
Sea trenches deep,
An open door.
Bring him back to me.
My claimed, my heart,
My love, my song,
My monster, Vore.
The song played through my lips until tears streamed down my face. Sunlight cracked over the horizon, warming behind my eyelids. When I opened my eyes, expecting to see two dozen men staring back at me—there was nothing.
Only wet floorboards and toppled over barrels of beer. A seagull cried in the distance as the ship bobbed atop the waves. I struggled against my binds—feeling my ankle poke through a hole in the net.
My ankle?
I wiggled my knees, finding that my legs had returned. Sinking lower, I tore at the rip in the netting and shimmied my way through the hole. Fumbling onto my feet, I wobbled over to the edge of the boat and looked over. One by one, the siren’s smiling faces appeared from the surface.
Estuary put two hands over her heart. “You sing an enchanting siren’s song.”
“What happened?” I asked. “Where did all the sailors go?”
Merose nodded and twirled. “Your song sent them to their watery graves. Aren’t you proud? They jumped straight into our loving arms.”
“And claws.” Knoll smiled sinisterly. “And teeth.”
Bathyal lifted her hand from the water, holding something horrible looking. “Would you like the captain’s heart? It’s tradition that we give the captain’s heart to the siren whose lullaby compels them to the sea.”
Feeling faint, I held on tighter to the banister and shook my head. “No—no, thank you. You keep it.”
“Suit yourself.” She shrugged, licking her lips with a long, serpentine tongue. “Looks like you’ve lost your fins?”
“Yes,” I answered. “I appear to be stuck on a ship I don’t know how to sail. But how are the whales?”
Estuary smiled. “The whales are safe and the sirens and sharks are well fed, thanks to you, Prism.”
“Good!” I giggled. “I’m happy for that.”
A burst of water shot from the ocean again, raining down droplets. Surprise fluttered through me. “One of the whales didn’t go?”
Merose shook her head. “No, this whale stayed. She says she will follow us and guide your ship to shore for you. The mother whale says thank you for saving her calves.”
Emotion choked my throat again as a big eye of the whale appeared next to the ship. “You’re very welcome.”
With a jolt, the ship moved forward, propelled against the nudge of the whale.
We sailed towards shore. I could feel Vore then—somehow.
There was no way of explaining it. The way the sunlight danced across my skin, the joy in my heart from assisting the sea creatures…
I felt my monster’s smile of pride. The confidence and support of our home, Nisse, radiated within me.
Soon, I told myself, feeling more hopeful now.
Soon, I would see him. I would find him.
The ship surged toward the horizon. One step closer to finding my claimed again.