Chapter 7

I'd sang, and sang, and no men emerged. The depths were calling me home when there was motion at the ship's captain's wheel. What little coward had stayed behind? Who was stupid enough to evade my song, my tumultuous allure? My throat squeezed, and I'd felt I'd been caught in a net when I first saw her.

Her?

She didn't smell like a male, no, decidedly female scent. Not male, decidedly female.

It had never crossed my mind that these humans had females. I know that sounds like nonsense. But I'd never considered it. They never brought them on boats, I'd assumed they were land animals, not made for water. Though men weren't either. My logic was weak. Edina would know more, would have the answers to human breeding practices. All I knew was she was… the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

Across all oceans of coral, all jewels and pearls, every shimmering fish scale and blue clear waters with schools of color. Against every sunset and sunrise unwitnessed by any eye but mine… she was the most stunning of them all.

And she did not hear my song.

I swam closer, not bothering to conceal myself, needing to see more of her. That hair the color the waves leave behind on the sand of the shore… it brushed against her bare, sun reddened shoulders that were covered in similar colored spots. Goddess, I needed to see the shade of her eyes, her lips. What was happening to me? No sailor had ever so much as tempted me back. But this… this female human…

Before I knew what was happening, a new song hummed from my throat. One I'd never before sung, but it was lovely, and ghostly. Perhaps being a siren leant itself to different ballads for different beings? Things I should have known but never had the occasion to care about. I wasn't like my sister Edina, who's thirst for knowledge kept her exploring, seeking, and learning. But now, as I watched the woman climb and her eyes finally met mine… all I wanted was to know her. I wanted to know everything about her.

The water warmed around me as she finally heard my song. Did she like it? Surprise shocked her features as she called out, waving her arm at me as she approached the side of the boat.

I understood her words. The goddess who blessed sirens with song also gave us the talent of understanding all tongues. It came in handy when following boats, listening to the male humans loudly shouting their routes, their plans, how many aboard. But the tone of this woman's greeting was light and airy as a salty breeze and not the crunchy rocks of men's voices. Oh, I wondered what her song would sound like if she sang? The thought had my center and hips tingling above my long fin. Could I coax her into singing for me?

She leaned over the side of the ship and said again. "Hello? How-how are you out here?"

Did she not see me for what I was? I looked down at my arms in the fading sunlight. My color had changed again, now mirroring her own pearl skin tone. Noting I could use this to my advantage to get closer to her, I pulled my hair, which remained black as the deepest sea, over my shoulders to hide my gills. Yes, I did look like a human woman from the waist up, like a harmless mermaid. Just a lonely human woman washed out to sea… yes, come closer, come talk to me sailor girl…

"Hello," I repeated, for lack of a more eloquent greeting as I swam closer, careful to keep my fin hidden. "Are you alone?" I asked.

The girl gave a perplexed expression before deciding something silently before replying. Her gaze caught on my breasts, and she swallowed. "There are no men aboard. You'll be safe with me," she answered, extending her hand, though it didn't reach me. A gesture of trust, of safety, that's what she offered a strange ocean woman. She offered me safety from men. Safety from men. Did their females fear them? All the better that I ate their innards if one ever struck fear into this lovely being or any like her.

What an odd creature this female was aboard a dead ship. The reason the octopus creature wouldn't, or couldn't, claim it, I presumed. The reason I was sent to kill her. And I could have right then. Her spotted arm extended, hair wavy with salt air, already lured close by a siren song made just for her… I could take her and see what female organs taste of. See what woman does for our bodies and spirits, it could be something divine and rare, giving us more strength and power than before.

But I felt a pull to her that I couldn't explain. Like a hook in my cheek, reeling me forward like a guppy on a hook. A lust and attraction I only ever received and never reciprocated. Was this how men felt for me before I drowned them? What an intense and fascinating sensation. Though I did want to taste her. Oh, so badly I wanted to taste her perfect, shell-pink little mouth. Was a human woman's sex in the same place as ours? How odd and horrifying it must feel to not have a tail. No fins, no claws, no fangs. This poor thing was here all alone…

"You poor thing," she said softly, repeating the words I just thought to myself. "How did you get out here all alone? Is another ship nearby?"

"What is your name?" I asked back, still making out the color of her eyes. Soft, lily pad green. Exquisite.

She shook her head slightly, still confused. "Please, let me pull you onto the boat."

"Why do you cover your breasts?" I asked, noticing the fabric draped down her form, hiding her body.

Her face flushed a crustacean shade of red. Could her skin change color like mine? Or just her cheeks?

"Excuse me, why are you exposing yours?"

"They're beautiful," I replied plainly. "Should any of the sea hide her artistry?"

She showed her teeth with a smile. They were flat and not pointed like mine. It made sense that humans had to catch fish with hooks; they had no other way. So defenseless, these creatures. Worry slithered into my chest. How would she survive? I'd taken down many boats with my sisters. I'd listened to years' worth of men's work as they toiled upon the ship's deck. It took many of them to control one of these contraptions and their massive, cloud-like tops.

The sun sank over the horizon, washing everything dark without the sun goddess's light. "I'll light a lantern. Stay here, okay?" The girl instructed before slowly backing away as if she were afraid of taking her eyes off me. At that moment, a thick fin brushed my tail, and I knew the hammerheads had arrived. They expected scraps of sailor bodies, but this night I would have nothing to feed them. Sparing my sailor girl one last look as she disappeared, I fell beneath the water's surface, petting the heads of the sharks as I did.

"Next time," I promised them.

I came to lure, to kill, to give the tentacled creature its due… I swam into deeper waters with no organs, no boat to give, and only an ache in my heart that I didn't want to leave her. She had to survive. There had to be a way to help her. Oh, how was I going to keep her alive in these sugared seas? The most treacherous of tides, storms, and worse yet, of beasts such as me. I had killed so many of her kind, I had no idea how to keep one alive. But I would find a way. I had to find a way.