Chapter 1

Melodia

T he stars twinkle overhead still as we reach the lagoon, the warmth of the water in it calming the pounding in my veins, and I can see it's the same for Celestia and Serenia as we make our way to the far side that is shallower. There are rocks that let us rest our tails and as the sun begins to rise in the sky, the pounding in my veins begins to grow again.

"Tell us about living inland," Celestia says with a glance towards Serenia, her eyes showing she's feeling the call just as much.

"I don't remember much but what I do remember were long fields full of flowers and forests where the trees were so thick that it felt like night until the leaves would shift in the wind, let sunlight filter through them just enough to remind you that it was still day. I remember this mountain and a lake that was so beautifully clear and despite the water filling it coming from the mountain, it was always warm. Anytime I need to forget things happening at home, it's what I think of, where the sky was so clear—day and night. At night, the stars shone brightly, making it feel like you could just reach up and touch them. And there were so many birds that sang you awake," Serenia adds with a smile and the pounding calms as we listen to her.

The calmness stays as the sun slips from high in the sky and down beneath the horizon once more, bringing out the stars. The calling is deepening though, dragging at each of us, until Celestia flicks her hand skyward, playing with the stars and creating spectacular light shows in it. As midnight closes in on us, the call slams into us hard, and I hold onto my friends, singing the song that's been in my heart my entire life. My mother hates when I sing it, but it's always made me feel calm and safe, and that's what I need most right now.

An odd sensation hits as I finish it, a warmth wrapping around me entirely and I glance at my friends hearing soft gasps from both of them. My eyes are drawn to the greenish water that's swirling with lights, wrapping around our tails, and I let out a gasp as well when below my waist feels a thousand times different.

Serenia's the first one to push up out of the water, showing off legs which makes her look so different. Her tail's completely gone, and her bottom half is as bare as our top halves usually are. It's only when we come out of the water, peak above it that we ever wear tops, unlike mortals. And even then, it's only done to try to lure men off of their boats and into the water with us.

"Umm…I think we're going to need to find some clothes before we go looking for a man," Celestia says, laughing as she lifts her leg out of the water to stare at it's paleness. "Pretty sure we'd get in trouble walking around like this."

"Definitely," Serenia agrees, moving her hair to shield her lower half and Celestia and I follow suit as we join her on the land, wobbling a bit unlike her.

"Whoa…how are you supposed to get anywhere on these things?" I ask looking down at my feet. The tips of them are pink like my nails, whereas Celestia's are the same bluish color as her hair, and Serenia's are a deeper turquoise.

"You have to move one at a time," she tells us, showing us as she easily moves around, skipping a bit to show off when Celestia and I finally start to get the hang of just walking. "You'll get used to it. I mean, it took me long enough to figure out how to swim and dive but I finally did."

"Yeah, but we only have seven days, and I'd say that started at midnight," Celestia warns, and I nod glancing around to figure out what to do next.

"So clothes might be a little tricky since we don't have any money," Serenia says as she leads us away from the lagoon.

"Oh wait," Celestia says, grinning as she takes a glance down towards the beach. "I know where some are," she adds and we follow her down to the beach, and my brows lift in surprise when she pushes aside some bushes and reaches down behind a large rockpile. Her hand comes back with a large bag and Serenia stares at her even harder when she begins to pull things out of it.

"How did you know this was here?" I ask when we see the pile of clothes that came out of it, as well as a stack of human money.

"Yeah, I mean, if someone hid it here they'll likely be mad to find it gone," Serenia adds and Celestia's face tightens.

"They won't be coming back for any of it," she says with a sigh. "I was out swimming one night about a month ago, and I saw a woman hide this here. I thought it was weird, but then I heard shouting and saw a man coming up the beach the other way. She looked scared and before I knew what was happening, he was attacking her. Honestly, it was the only time I was ever tempted to use my powers, but I was so shocked that I froze. I guess her screams alerted people up the beach and then the place was flooded with people, a few pulled him off her, and they tried CPR, but she was already gone."

"So no one will miss any of this?" I ask, understanding Celestia's temptation to use her powers against the man.

"No, no one will miss it."

"Alright, let's see what we have and figure out what to do now. We probably need to get a bit away from the water here," I muse, and my friends fully agree with that. We divvy out the clothes there based on what we like best. I take the brighter colored items, while Serenia goes directly for the greens and blues and Celestia takes the whites, blacks and gray pieces.

There were two other smaller canvas bags folded up with the clothing items but they're big enough to hold what we each grab, and we split the money knowing enough about humans to know we'll need to, but I have no idea how much we really have. There are about thirty bills that have a hundred on them, another thirty that have fifty on them, and then more that have twenty, ten, five and one on them.

"Now what?" Serenia asks once we have clothes on and the rest of the stuff is in the bags.

"No clue," I admit with a glance at Celestia.

"We go to find the rest of the humans?" she suggests with a shrug which makes all of us laugh, but we follow her away from the water and reach a rough path.

"Shoes," Serenia states drawing our attention towards her curiously. "They're things for your feet so you don't cut them," she explains pointing towards a bottle that's next to a trash can broken in half. "I'm pretty sure you have to have shoes to go into places."

"So then how do we get some? I mean, if you have to go into a store to buy them but you can't go in unless you have some…" Celestia trailed off as Serenia dug into the side pocket of the bag she held.

"These," Serenia says with a grin taking out several pieces of what I'd call rubber. "They're beach shoes, but they'll work."

"How?" I ask with another glance at the flat piece of rubber.

"You put this between your toes, like this," Serenia says slipping them on, her brows furling a bit as they made her toes stick out the side weirdly. "Wait…that's better," she laughs after moving them to the opposite foot. "They're a little big but they should fit all of us," she states taking out another pair of the things, and Celestia and I both slip them on. One fits like Serenia's but the other makes it look like her first attempt at them did, and even when we switch feet, they still do to one foot.

"You take this one," Celestia says taking off the one that doesn't fit her foot right, and points towards the one I'm wearing that doesn't, "and give me that one."

"Geez, this human clothes and shoes stuff is dumb," I grouse once we all have them one and our feet don't look weird any longer. The bottoms I'm wearing ride up a bit between the crack in my backside and I wiggle, trying to get it to go away, making the fabric of the top scratch against my skin. I'd love to just strip them all off and wear nothing once more. Or just the bikini top which we all have several of back home, given to us by our mothers from when we were supposed to go pull the latest target into the water.

"Would you rather be an ice-cold killer instead?" Serenia asks and I shake my head no before we head down the rough path.

We keep walking as the sky brightens and finally run into buildings that Serenia tells us are stores. There's one that smells amazing, and we slip inside, making my mouth water as my stomach rumbles. That's definitely something that's never happened before and I glance at Serenia when she grins.

"Wow, I forgot what being hungry really meant," Serenia says as a woman tells us to take a seat anywhere. "This is a restaurant, they make food for humans," she tells us in a whisper as we slip onto the bench at a rounded table. "Humans have to consume food to stay alive."

"So it's souls for humans," Celestia says, and I can't quite stop the grin that hits at the shock that appears on Serenia's face.

"Sort of, but I wouldn't quite say it that way," Serenia states, going quiet as the woman approaches, handing us each an item with writing on it. "Menus, they tell what they serve. Different things cost different amounts. We should have enough to cover whatever we want here."

It takes us a bit to figure out what to order, and when I take my first sip of the dark cup of coffee, I can't quite stop the disgust that slips onto my face at its taste. Celestia on the other hand sighs in bliss tasting it, and Serenia's nose wrinkles a bit before she reaches for a little pink packet from a container. She empties it into the cup, then adds a second, and tries it again, smiling this time, and I try doing the same, but it still tastes awful to me.

The waitress comes over with our plates and adds a little bowl next to the container with the pink packets telling us, "Sorry, I forgot to ask if any of you wanted creamer with your coffee. There's regular, hazelnut, and French vanilla. If you need more of one of them, just let me know."

"You might like this one," Serenia tells me, handing over a little cup from the bowl that says it's French vanilla.

"What do you do with it?" I ask her and she grins, peeling back the edge before tipping it into my cup of coffee and stirring it again.

"Try it now," Serenia suggests and this time I can manage to swallow it without a grimace.

"It's bearable," I muse, before trying the food on the plate. The eggs are okay, the bacon better, but the pancakes with the runny syrup…those are heaven, and I seriously am never going to be able to give these up, which means finding a man so I can stay here forever.

"Too sweet," Celestia says after trying a bite when I tell them they're incredible.

"I like them, but I think you'd probably like something called French toast even more," Serenia tells me when we finish. We dig out a bill with a fifty on it when the piece of paper the waitress gives us shows $35.32 on the bottom of it.

"Let me get your change," the woman says when Serenia hands it to her, and we're a bit surprised when she comes back with coins and bills, handing them back before taking some of the empty plates. "Would any of you like a cup of coffee to go?"

"Ooohh, yes please," Celestia says, and I quickly shake my head no while Serenia tells her no thanks as well, her attention on another table as they get up.

"They're leaving an offering of money on the table," Serenia whispers to us once the waitress returns with Celestia's coffee in a little cup, telling us to have a good day.

"Is this enough?" I ask putting the bills down onto it, not wanting to part with the coins. They're shiny, which is something I definitely enjoy. Pearls are my favorite, especially the pink and white ones. I love finding them and it'll be the one thing I'll miss if I don't go back, but the rest I definitely won't.

"I think so," Serenia says, and we leave the bills behind as we head back outside, finding the sun higher than before and the warmth of it feels so good on my chilled skin.

"So, do we just wander around until we find some men we like?" Celestia asks a bit later as we're walking along the path that's next to one where giant things holding people zoom past us quickly. Serenia said they were cars, and they take people places on land like ships do on the water, but they seem to go much faster than ships.

"I've no idea. Do you think we're far enough away from the ocean to keep the others from interfering or should we keep walking further inland?" I ask in return.

"There isn't any way for them to get near us here. There aren't any waterways in town," Serenia says with a glance at the trees ahead of us. "As long as we don't go to the beach, they shouldn't be able to bother us."

"Alright, so what do you do you think, stick together at least for now?" Celestia says and I nod with a glance towards Serenia who also nods. "Then which way do you think we should go?"

"I'm thinking we go through those trees," Serenia answers and I lift a brow her way curiously at the certainty in her tone. "I don't know, I just feel drawn to head that way for some strange reason."

"Then let's see why you feel that way," I suggest, and as we come out from what I'd say is a park as the trees line paths through it and there are several wide open fields between them as well, a little giggle slips from me at the way Serenia stops short, staring at a man next to a huge car. It was strange looking compared to the others we'd seen. It had a long back to it that wasn't covered. There were dozens of trees and plants there instead.

"Are you okay?" Celestia asks Serenia as we move up next to her.

"I don't know. I feel…strange," she finishes glancing our way. "It's…it's like a memory. This feeling. Like I've felt it before but it's not possible to be something I felt at home."

"What about before that? When you were with your father?" I ask, bringing a little gasp to her lips as the man's attention turns towards us.

"Oh yes, yes," Serenia whispers as the man drops the tree that he was pulling out of the car down next to it, pulling something off his hands before he starts heading our way.

"What is it?" Celestia asks.

"What we're here for," Serenia states giving us a grin before she moves towards the man who seems to grow larger as he approaches.

The way he looks at her is something we've seen before, but usually when one of the others uses their powers. There's no way that Serenia did to draw him towards her. This has to be from Aphrodite's offer—the chance to find a different way.

Celestia and I watch as the man stops directly in front of Serenia, speaking softly to her so that neither Celestia nor I can hear them, but the way that Serenia moves closer to him, it's almost as though he's put her under a spell. His large hand slips around her waist, pulling her fully against him and the only thing that stops Celestia and I from interfering is the way Serenia's body leans even more into him

He says something to her, and she glances back at us with a little look, her eyes clearly needing to know we're not upset that she's leaving us here.

"Go," I whisper and Celestia nods, giving her a grin in return, and before we know it, they're at his car where he lifts the tree into the back after putting Serenia inside, before he moves around to the other side and joins her. He leans towards her for a moment then they take off, driving past other cars that are standing still with no one in them.

"Guess it's just us now," Celestia states as we continue down the path through the park and out onto a busier one where lots of cars are zooming past us.

"Yeah, hopefully we both find what Serenia just did though," I muse, and she nods again as we make our way through groups of people moving quickly into buildings. Neither of us have been this deep into human lands before and without Serenia's basic knowledge of them, we have no clue what we're doing.

"Mmm, something smells amazing," Celestia sighs a bit later, but my nose scrunches the same as it did earlier when I tasted the coffee. It was far too bitter for my liking.

"I don't know about that," I state as she turns us down a new path instead of crossing the one ahead of us with the other people.

"No, it's like heaven," she argues, her feet moving faster before she turns into a smaller path between two buildings and then pushes open a door making me hiss at her.

"What are you doing? This doesn't look like…" I stop when a deeper voice from inside calls out to us.

"We're not open to the public back here."

"Sorry," Celestia says, drinking in a deep breath while all I want to do is get far from the heavy smells in the place. "Something just smelled so good."

"That's the newest coffee roast we're making," the man says coming out from behind a wall, his feet stopping when his gaze lands on Celestia and a little gasp slips from her mouth. "Would you like to try some?"

"If we're not supposed to be here," I begin, and the man's eyes slip to me for a second before they go straight back to Celestia.

"I own the place so I can make an exception," he says to her, and a smile slips onto her face that pulls a deep sound from him.

"You make coffee?" Celestia asks him and he nods. "I would love to try it."

"It's this way," the man offers, holding out his arm to point through the space.

"I'm not a coffee fan, sorry, but you should stay," I tell Celestia with a grin as she glances from me to the man whose eyes haven't left her again. "I'm just going to check out the rest of town."

"Are you sure?" Celestia asks and I nod, backing back out the door leaving them alone.

"Well, that's two down," I mutter to myself, my feet leading me back down the paths and across the one with another group of people when the image of a person appears on a sign across it. We quickly learned earlier that you don't move forward unless that sign is lit—at least on paths that have them. Some of them even have little buttons to push so they'll eventually light up, but most of them do it on a set schedule it seems.

I move around the town as the day progresses, getting a little more anxious and a little more jealous with every minute that passes. As quickly as Serenia and Celestia seemed to have found someone, I'd hoped I would too. But what if they get Aphrodite's gift and I don't? I'd rather die than have to go back to the depths of the ocean and lose the warmth that flows through me. To spend eternity watching others kill—or eventually giving in and joining them.

I've never known a siren to die. When one kills a man and consumes their soul, it strengthens all of us, even more so if it's our blood that's done the killing. I have nearly a hundred and fifteen generations in my lineage. The same with Serenia and Celestia. Each siren gives birth to one daughter to bring new powers to us, grow our numbers. Our families live in the same Lycophron nearest to North America, while other Lycophrons live around the world, but we all have one place that holds our history. It's located at the deepest point of the Mediterranean Sea, so while the on the surface it might be warmer, it's cold as ice where the sirens dwell.

The thought of going back to our home, especially without Serenia and Celestia hurts me deep inside. I'll never survive if that happens, which means, I need to find a man and make him fall in love with me. Maybe it won't be a man that puts me under a spell like it seems Serenia and Celestia have been, but it'll be better than returning, especially if our family knows I'm the one that learnt of the loophole in the first place.

I continue walking around the town as the sun begins to move across the sky and when it dips along the horizon, my feet hurt, my stomach rumbles, and my heart is sad. I need something like the pancakes to perk me up and my nose twitches smelling something while not sweet, seems to still be delicious ahead of me.

There's a sign that says ‘Open' on the door and I move into the building, my mouth watering as a hundred new scents hits. There's something so savory about them that I don't even mind that it's not as sweet as the syrup's scent, and when a girl asks if it's just one tonight, I nod, hoping soon I won't be able to say that.