The Voice
Someone could knock me over with a feather. Another siren. If they realized I was in here, maybe they would help us. Or they might hinder us. Great-great-grammy Inktus was no saint, and I can’t assume I know the character of whoever is out there in the water.
Ji-hwan has walked up to the bristles at the front of Thomas’s mouth.
“Beautiful. I know I shouldn’t, but I want to go out there,” he says.
“We all do,” Exos calls. “The siren is trying to lure us.”
My nails lengthen, and my teeth sharpen. It’s possible we’re buffered from the full impact of the song by Thomas’s bulk, but I have no idea how long the whale can hold out.
“Thomas! Thomas! I need you to let me out!”
Nothing, as expected. Starla gives the whale another shock. There’s a vibrating sound in response, and I can feel us rise just a bit.
I hate that she’s zapping him with full force, but he’s so large that it’s probably no more annoying than a bee sting.
“Again!” I shout.
Starla repeats the action.
“Leena!” Jackal yells and I see Ji-hwan scrabbling at the baleens, trying to force his way out. “He’ll drown us!”
I leap for the Were, wrapping my arms around him to help the hyena haul him backward.
I hear the rushing of water outside the whale’s mouth.
“I think we’ve reached the surface! I’m going out to meet the siren,” I say.
“Please be careful, Leena,” Jackal says.
I want to ask them to come with me, but I’m afraid the full force of a siren song would be too much.
“Cover your ears, now!”
I slide between a few of Thomas’s bristles and then scramble out from the whale’s mouth. I’m granted a bit of relief when I see that I was right about us being on the surface, and I haven’t sent water crashing onto my friends. But now I can hear what he’s fighting against.
Not just one voice, but several.
“Swim to us, shifter.”
“Tell us what you’re hiding. We can feel the magic.”
“Show us what calls to us.”
I’m shocked he’s held out against the demands of so many.
I reach for the shell at my throat and find it’s warm to the touch. The scales on my arms shimmer as I leap from the whale and swim toward the voices. I round the side of Thomas’s massive whale form and come face to face with five individuals in the water. Three naiads, and two mermaids.
For a moment, the singing stops as we blink at each other.
It would be impossible to see them if not for my own glowing green eyes. It’s dark out here. When I swim at Carolina Beach, I see the lights of the boardwalk in the distance when I surface. But we’re in the middle of the ocean, with only the stars.
It would be eerie if I didn’t feel so at home in even these frigid waters.
With no evidence as to their character or their motives, I decide to try to be polite first. If that fails, I’ll fight fire with fire.
The chaos that accompanies my magic could be dangerous, but I can’t imagine it would be worse than Thomas following these supernaturals deep under the waves and opening his mouth with everyone else inside.
Visions of such a scenario pound in my head.
“Please stop trying to control my guide. He is simply helping me. We’re looking for a specific island.”
One of the mermaids, with her light green eyes glowing in the deep, scoffs.
“Why do you seek this location?”
“And who gave you that?” One of the naiads—with hair as dark as my own but straighter, and glowing hazel eyes—points to me.
I look down and see the shell is glowing. The mood shifts as all five of them tighten their formation, swimming closer to me.
If I lie, it’s not going to get the answers I seek. If they don’t like the truth, I’ll be in no more trouble than I probably already am.
“This necklace was left to me by my great-great-grandmother. A siren from these waters, named Inktus.”
There’s murmuring from the group. I take it as a sign of recognition, although it’s hard to tell their opinion of my troublesome ancestor.
“You’ve heard of her, then? She was cursed by a witch, and that curse has lingered in my family for generations, coming alive again with my own siren song.”
“Everyone in these waters has heard of Inktus,” says the second mermaid, her short-cropped auburn hair lifted by the water.
“The most powerful siren to ever swim. Legend says she could command several individuals at once with her voice,” adds a naiad with eyes such a light shade of blue they remind me of ice.
For a moment, I stop treading water. Several people? I’ve done more than that with my voice still cursed. I’d assumed all sirens could do such things.
“Her bones are buried on our island. It’s said her song still echoes through the waters here.
It also was said that, one day, a descendant of hers would come and reclaim their song.
The strongest siren power in the ocean. But they never came.
” The last naiad says the most, her brown eyes locked on the shell.
“That’s me. When I use my voice, it invokes chaos. I’m here to break the curse.”
I omit Starla’s presence or her role in the entire ordeal.
The naiad with the hazel eyes swims even closer, placing herself directly in front of me.
“My own family was close to hers, once upon a time. She was a big believer in what we still hold dear. Supernaturals like us, thriving and surviving primarily in the wild. Not spending our time on human sidewalks, human roads, human lands. Having to come into contact with beings like vampires who claim they can compel people the same way we sing, or witches like the one who cursed Inktus.”
I tense, trying not to react outwardly at the mention of witches, even though they’ll be seeing Starla eventually if things go to plan.
Their proposed way of life is a baffling concept in this day and age, but the ocean is vast. This is a remote location, and if they’re careful there’s no reason to spend time with humans if they don’t want to.
Although I can’t imagine going without my bed, and my coffee maker, and the Carolina Beach boardwalk.
“Humans aren’t all bad. Neither are witches,” I say, trying not to be too confrontational while still speaking my piece.
“You cannot be her. Inktus’s descendant would be a warrior. A master of her voice.”
“And how do you know I’m not?” I challenge, bolstered by the knowledge that the safety of my friends depends on me.
The mermaid with the short hair scoffs.
“We can tell who has lived in the ocean and who has not.”
“Prove it with your voice. Every siren’s voice is a different strength.
If you really do have a song worthy of Inktus’s lineage, use it.
Someone that strong would be able to overcome the five of us with ease.
It took all of us to sing the whale. Inktus would have been able to do that without effort. ”
Took all of them?
She’s right. Thomas and the others were able to resist them. I had thought it was because Thomas was blocking their voices, but maybe they have weak songs. It reminds me of Starla and her key, and sympathy rushes through me.
“I can’t use it. That’s the entire reason I’m here. If I use it, I could get hurt. People I love could get hurt.”
One mermaid sneers at the other, and the naiads smirk.
“Can’t use it? Convenient. A true descendant of Inktus could and would withstand whatever chaos the song unleashes if it meant the curse would be broken as a result. Inktus was fearless. Are you fearless?”
Not even close.
I worry about almost everything. I feel my shoulders longing to droop, to make myself smaller, but my friends need me. I will not let them down.
“I’m not going to risk them,” I snap.
The short-haired mermaid’s grin goes wider, the look in her eyes predatory.
“Them? Who did we miss?”
“No one. Nothing,” I say, too quickly.
A few of them swim away, circling Thomas’s massive form as he bobs at the surface.
“There’s no one else here,” the green-eyed mermaid reports back.
“No,” says the naiad with hazel eyes. “Not unless … don’t tell me there are more people in there?”
The short-haired mermaid looks gleeful.
“Oh, let’s invite them out to play. What do you say, ladies? We’ll find out how well they can swim, and whether they have anything worth taking for ourselves.”
“You can’t do that!” I swim directly at one of the mermaids, claws out.
Her tail flips at the last second, slamming into my ribs with enough force to bruise if not break a few.
Thomas bobs in the water, sending a wave toward us, but he doesn’t say anything. No doubt he’s trying to serve as a wall between the sirens and my friends.
I’m made for the water, but I’m not used to fighting in it, putting me at a disadvantage.
“Sing them out,” one of the mermaids yells at the others.
I move to swim after them, and she swats at me with her tail again. I manage to sink my claws in, and she screams but shakes me off.
The other four are already at Thomas’s face, directing their song at him, and my friends.
“Come see us.”
“Throw yourselves into the sea.”
“Come say hello.”
“Dive under the water and open your mouth wide so we can see our new guests.”
I shake off the mermaid and swim around to Thomas’s face. The baleens on the bottom half of his mouth are still sitting in the water, the top of his head above the surface. I see movement just behind his mouth, and I hear yelling.
What will they do if Jackal comes out? Or Pickles?
“Stop!” I yell, but I’m ignored as the short-haired mermaid joins her friends in song.
“Stop! Stop!”
Thomas begins to open his mouth wide.
“Stop!” Pain hits my head like a hammer, but rage dampens it. “You will stay away from my friends, and you will not harm us.”
All five of them have gone wide-eyed, their mouths open but no sound coming out.
My voice weaves through the water, and I can practically envision it wrapping around the naiads and mermaids. The necklace is hot against my chest as I use my siren abilities so close to where my curse could end.
Thomas closes his mouth tight.
I let the song fall away, but my stomach drops when I see a whirlpool of water rushing towards us like an underwater tornado.
The chaos I predicted.
“Dodge!” I yell.
The mermaids and naiads dart out of the way, but Thomas can’t maneuver so fast. The whirlpool strikes his tail, tugging him sideways and undoubtedly sending my friends careening inside his mouth.
The only good thing is that the water cyclone isn’t big enough to haul the whale away entirely, and he’s able to right himself once it dissipates.
My vision is blurry, and I feel as if I’m the one who’s been tossed about. There’s blood in the water, and I have no doubt I’m the source. As the five supernaturals swim back to face me, I prepare myself. If I have to, I’ll send Thomas swimming away to safety while I hold them off.
The five of them stop in front of me, and bow their heads.
“You are who you said you were,” the short-haired mermaid admits.
“We will take you to the place you seek,” adds the hazel-eyed naiad.
“This way,” adds the naiad with brown eyes.
They swim underneath me, and then north.
I look at Thomas, but can’t read a whale expression to save my life.
I turn and follow the supernaturals, with the massive whale following behind me.