Icy waves crashed violently against the large group of rocks that the seven mermaids were sunning themselves on. Melody was lying in the crevice of one particularly comfortable rock that she always claimed. Well, it would be comfortable, except that the cold spray of the water was felt with every ebb and flow, negating the warmth of the sun’s feeble rays. She didn’t want to complain, because she knew that her friends were trying to suppress their discomfort, too. Ever since their tribe moved far North several months prior, they had not been able to get used to the new climate. She missed the tropical seas that she had lived in since birth. Her mind was far away now, in waters that shone more blue even than the sky, where the warm embrace of the waves were a comfort that could not be replicated here. She thought about how, occasionally, she would take her sister to visit to one of the islands surrounding their home, where they would find a coconut that had fallen close enough to the shore, allowing her to reach out and grab it. They would whisk it away to a secluded area and work to open it, indulging in the sweetness of its flesh. Laughing and talking as they ate their treat was a treasured memory. She also thought about the lagoon- a place where all in her tribe could congregate to chat and sun themselves for the day. So many cherished places were now alive only in her memory. Now, they had to be content to hang out on this pile of rocks in the middle of ocean turmoil. She was drawn out of her daydream when she felt another mermaid, Marina, sit up from where she had been lying beside her. Marina’s long, flowing lavender hair was blowing in the breeze as she studied the horizon.
“What is it, Marina? You see something?” Rain raised her head from where it was resting on her starfish pillow and, brushing aside some thick blonde hair, she looked over at her friend. Marina continued to glare into the distance silently, blocking the sun with one of her hands, jellyfish-painted nails glittering with every movement.
“I thought I- nevermind.” Marina shook her head and Rain laid back down, resting once again on her starfish. Marina turned to Melody, who still had her eyes closed.
“Melody, are you going to offer Tidus the sacred coral at the next full moon? I’ve heard rumors that he fancies you. Well, more than only rumors- he makes it quite apparent that he wants for you to choose him.” Marina smiled, but there was pain behind her eyes. “I’m happy for you to have caught the eye of Tidus, but I can’t pretend that I didn’t wish it was me.” She fiddled with the seaweed that she was weaving into a new purse for her store. Melody opened her eyes and looked up at the blue sky. She thought about Tidus, and his strong arms. She tried to imagine them around her. It’s true, he was the most handsome merman in their tribe. She thought about the rumor that he was hoping for her to propose to him. Her stomach clenched. There was so much pressure on her recently to secure a marriage with one of the merfolk in her tribe, as the daughter of the chieftess she was obligated to join hands with another. Now that she was almost five years past the coming-of-age ceremony, her people were becoming even more impatient.
“I don’t know what to do… I don’t think about him in that way. I love him dearly, but as a friend or brother. I don’t know if I could… be with him like that.” Melody sighed. She leaned over to grab a piece of rough coral out of the supplies she had brought, and began filing her nails absently.
“How could you not be attracted to him, Melody? You’re crazy. He is the perfect specimen of a merman. I, too, would do anything to get his attention, if we’re being honest.” Rain had lifted herself onto her forearms now and was gently prodding a little sea anemone next to her that was sitting in a pool of water in a crevice on her rock. “I bet he wouldn’t be interested in you anyway if he knew your dirty little secret- that you’re a human sympathizer.” She threw a mischievous grin at Melody. Melody fumbled her coral and dropped it into the water below. “Don’t worry,” Rain turned over and laid back with her arms behind her head, “Your secret is safe with me, Melody.” She giggled.
The other mermaids all looked intently at Melody. She wiped beads of sweat from her brow. “Is that true, Melody?” Luna had stopped braiding her hair that was the color of the deepest ocean, and her hands were now frozen, holding the strands.
Melody swallowed. She felt annoyed, because she had confided in Rain, sharing her feelings, and now those feelings had been tossed out for everyone to see. “I’m not… a human sympathizer. I just,” her mouth started to feel dry, “I just don’t enjoy violence, okay?” She shrugged and picked up another piece of coral, trying to avoid all of the ocean-blue eyes that were on her. One pair of eyes strayed from staring at Melody. Marina was once again studying the horizon.
“I knew I saw something there.” Marina pointed. All of the mermaids turned to look where she was pointing. It took a few minutes for it to come into view for the others, but once they could see it, the object was unmistakable. A human ship was moving towards them. As it sailed closer, it became clearer to Marina that this ship was unlike any they had seen before. The sharp eyes of the mermaids were able to pick up details that would have been unseen by humans at a far distance, but Marina could see even leagues further than the typical mermaid due to her Siren gift of sight.
“Marina, what do you see? We need details.” Hydra barked at her.
Marina threw a dirty look at Hydra, then said “The ship is very long, and curled up on either end. One end is taller than the other, and has what appears to be the head of a sea serpent carved into it. There is a large sail that is spread across the middle of the ship. About thirty oars, fifteen on either side, rhythmically move in and out of the water, propelling the ship forward. The oars are being maneuvered by humans- mostly men, with a few women sprinkled amongst them. Undoubtedly, this is the largest ship we’ve ever encountered.” The group continued to gaze at the ship after Marina’s words broke off.
“Oooh, fresh meat,” the silence was broken by Hydra’s voice as she licked her lips, maniacal smile widening. She pinned back her ruby red locks with a clip made from the claws of a crab.
“Hold on a minute,” Melody said nervously. “You remember what the Chieftess said when we moved to these waters. We’re supposed to all lie low for now, and not draw any attention to ourselves until we learn more about this area and the nearby humans.” She was afraid that her pleas were falling on deaf ears as the buzz of excitement spread around the group of friends, everyone except for two turning to one another, planning their attack. The mermaid on the far end of the rocks, Echo, jumped into the water and swam over to where Melody was sitting. She hoisted herself onto Melody’s rock, and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“We must listen to Melody, she is right!” She cried, and all of the others fell silent because her voice was so deafening that they could feel the sound down to their bones. “Don’t forget, as the leader of the Chorus it is our duty to follow her orders- no matter what your bloodlust tells you. We can’t attack this ship, we can’t risk it. What if this group of humans are tied to some kind of warrior clan? We don’t know anything about them. We can’t put our tribe in jeopardy.”
“What can humans do against us?” Marina scoffed. “We’ve never feared humans before.”
“That’s true, but our tribe lived in the tropical waters for decades. We knew how things worked down there. This will be the first time we’ve even seen humans since we left our home waters.” Melody said evenly as she stared into the eyes all of the other mermaids in turn. “We need to gather more information on them before we get the clearance from Chieftess Laguna to start any attacks.”
The ship was getting closer every minute, and Melody could feel the palpable bloodthirst amongst her Chorus. She breathed through her own urges and tried to keep her thoughts in order. She was grateful that she at least had Echo on her side. She knew that one other, Wave, also felt the same way. She glanced over at her shy friend, who nodded in agreement but stayed silent. Melody couldn’t blame her, because she had always been picked on by the other merfolk, especially the Sirens, and now she was just trying to focus on fitting in as best she could.
Melody looked at the ship that, she was thankful to see, had turned and was moving in another direction now. She was now able to see the men on board, who were the largest men she had ever laid eyes on. She wondered if they were giants. Most of them had long hair that was braided intricately, and were shades of brown, red, blonde, or grey. They had some facial hair and their eyes were hard and expressions serious. The women, too, were large and had braided hair. These people looked like warriors to her. Her thoughts were interrupted by a sound that caused her to feel a wave of panic. A sound that she hadn’t heard in months, not since they moved away from their homeland. She hated the violence, hated her own power. She began to shake with fear of what was to come. Why was I gifted with the Siren’s song? The same thoughts that always came at these times paralyzed her as she wished to be anywhere but here.
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The song started with Rain, who had one of the most beautiful voices amongst them. She began to project her ethereal soprano tone louder and louder. Hydra, Marina, and Luna joined in, and they closed their eyes as they synced with one another. They seamlessly filled in the parts that were supposed to include Melody, Wave and Echo, who remained silent. Melody had buried her head in her hands as soon as she heard the song start. She looked up and was relieved to see that the ship was still heading in the same direction away from them.
“Melody! Stop holding out on us!” Rain suddenly stopped singing and yelled angrily. The other three singers stopped their song, too, and silence fell over the group as Melody and Rain stared at each other intently. The tension between them felt like the calm before a storm. Rain was speaking through gritted teeth as she said, “We’re too far away to lure them without you. We need you. The Goddess didn’t gift you so that it could go to waste.”
Melody shook her head and looked down. “I won’t do it. Not only is it against the Chieftess’ orders, but I’m sick of the chase, sick of all of this. I wish the Goddess had never chosen me to lead you into the hunt.”
Rain spat at her with disgust. “The Chieftess would never forgive us for letting such a huge ship get away- no matter what she had ordered us to do. She would want for us to attack! What would the Chieftess of our tribe, your own mother, do if she knew of your treachery- that you would dare to put our tribe in danger? By refusing to take part in a sacrificial offering to the Goddess, you would doom us all. Do the lives of these filthy humans really mean more to you than your own clan?”
Melody’s face felt hot as shame engulfed her. Her tribe was everything to her, but these acts of violence and sacrificial offerings to the Goddess had been weighing on her mind for a long time. Her mother had been so proud when she was chosen by the Goddess to become a Siren, and not only a Siren but the leader of all of the other six, the one blessed with the strongest voice. She was following in her mother’s footsteps after all, and everyone expected for her to become the Chieftess when the time came for her mother to reunite with the sea. Five years had passed since the coming-of-age ceremony, but she could still remember the look on her mother’s face when she was chosen to take up this most important mantle in their tribe. The full moon had shone on her mother’s beautiful face as her eyes brimmed with tears.
Melody looked into the distance and could only just barely make out the speck of the ship sailing away from them. She sighed and choked back tears as her voice filled the air. Her soprano voice that could control thousands of men at one time. That could summon ships even several leagues away, ships that even Marina could not have seen.
A mix of alto, contralto, and mezzo-soprano voices joined Melody’s soprano voice one at a time until all seven of the Sirens were all singing in unison. The addition of their voices caused the large ship to make a circle, turning towards them. As their voices grew louder, it accelerated the advent of the ship. It was getting closer and closer with every note.
While she sang, Melody was internally debating whether to swim back home once her part was done, to avoid watching the horrific show that was about to commence, but when she looked up once again at the people on the ship that was now moving rhythmically and trance-like towards them, she made eye contact with someone on board. He was tall and broad, like the rest of his men, but his eyes betrayed a softness behind them. He was wearing armor and fur, and he looked scared. He was the most beautiful man she’d ever seen. She watched him turn to the others on the ship and yell at them in a foreign tongue. They seemed to ignore him as they rowed harder and harder, eyes glazed over, towards the beefy rock upon which the Sirens were perched.
“Dive!” Rain shouted. The mermaids dove into the crisp ocean and backed away from the rocks as the ship grew closer. They never stopped their enchanting song, which grew in complexity as they continued to weave a score that would undoubtedly draw their victims into their trap.
Melody watched in horror as the ship crashed into the large rock formation at full-force, pulled by the Siren’s song that rang from herself and her Chorus at either side of her. Wave was grabbing her hand, holding it, tears flowing down her face. Echo stopped singing, cursed everyone loudly, and dove into the depths of the ocean to return to their tribe. The other six Sirens stopped singing also, watching the shipwreck as it unfolded. The hull was now driven up onto the rocks, where it had splintered apart, causing ocean water to flood into the rest of the boat. Wave started to turn back, pulling Melody’s hand with her. Melody started to follow, her head dunking below the water’s surface, but a couple of meters down, she let go of Wave’s hand. Wave turned around to face her friend.
“What are you doing? We promised each other we wouldn’t get involved in the violence anymore.” Wave pleaded. Melody floated there quietly for a minute, mind racing. She saw that man’s face in her mind, the look of fear that she had seen on his face as he realized that his crew was mindlessly propelling themselves towards their doom.
“I’m going back. Please go home, Wave. Don’t worry about me. I won’t be far behind.” She turned and quickly swam back to the scene.
Her head broke the surface, and she saw that the massive ship had now turned on its side, emptying its contents into the ocean. There were people flailing all around, trying to grab onto anything that could keep them afloat. Rain was the only one singing now, her head thrown back and hands held open towards the sky. Wind was whipping around them, blowing the men off of the rocks and jagged pieces of wood from their ship. A few had been using ropes to desperately try to heave their ship back into the proper position, but they were blown apart by the huge gusts. Water drawn from the sea and falling from the sky was spinning around them. The humans were yelling at each other, but their voices were drowned by the storm. A few people had made it back onto the rocks despite the weather, and were breathing heavily, soaked from head to toe. Marina flipped acrobatically over the rocks, and she grabbed one of the men, as she went, trying to wrestle him back into the water. However, he caught her mid-air and Melody watched as they struggled. The man was huge and powerful. He was using his hands to choke Marina on the rocks. Sharp spikes broke free from the skin on her forearms, and she slashed across his face with them, drawing blood. He cried out, but continued choking her. She was laughing now, barely audible as he was constricting her throat. More spikes emerged, now from the tip of her fin. With a swift movement, the spikes were airborne and dug easily into his eyes. He let go of her with a yell as he clawed at his face. She grabbed him and sunk her teeth into his neck. Her eyes rolled back in ecstasy at her first taste of human blood in months. The man went limp, and she remained latched on as she dove under the waves with him.
Luna discarded the husk of a body that she had just drained, and was now moving onto another group of men that were still in their capsized ship, huddling against a wall that had not been completely flooded. She swam up to them as far as she could get, her eyes gleaming as they yelled at her, brandishing weapons. They tried to get to her with their swords, but she swam back a ways into the water and started to sing. One by one they dropped like flies, falling asleep at her words. She grabbed the sleeping men and cut their throats with their own swords, then hauled their bodies over the edge of the ship- her offering to the Goddess.
Melody began grabbing bodies of men and one woman that that were floating in the water, unscathed except for being unconscious, and hauled them onto the rocks with very little effort. After she had helped about five people out of the water, she shielded them from the storm by creating a bubble of water around them. She looked around for the man that she had seen earlier, and her heart skipped a beat. Hydra was wrapped around that very same man, the man with softness behind his eyes. Only the softness was gone now, replaced with ferocity. He was trying to fight back, but he clearly had the disadvantage in the water. They were surrounded by three sea serpents who were taking turns biting him. They were made of pure seawater, conjured by Hydra’s will. One of the serpents knocked his sword out of his hand, leaving him weaponless. Melody swam as quickly as she could to reach them, but even Melody’s super speed was no match for Hydra’s bloodlust. As she approached, Hydra’s fangs were visibly protruding out of her mouth, and in an instant they buried into the man’s neck. He went limp instantly as her paralyzing poison flooded his system and she began to feast. She was so preoccupied in her indulgence that she did not even feel movement in the water behind her. She did, however, feel the needling pain when a razor-sharp claw was pulled tight against her neck.
“Let him go,” Melody commanded. Hydra knew that voice.
“You little traitorous bitch.” She disengaged from her victim and hissed through clenched teeth, blood spewing out of her mouth. The man was still as limp as a ragdoll in her tight grip. The other three Sirens were too overcome with their own feasting to notice that one of their own had turned against them, as though they were starving men at a banquet. The storm was calmed as Rain had chosen her own victim, and thus her spell was no longer in place. Hydra’s eyes widened with rage at her predicament. “I thought you found violence abhorrent, or is it only when it’s against humans? You’re content with violence against your own kind?” She laughed sardonically. She tried to whip her tail out for an attack against her captor, but found that she was frozen in place. She swore under her breath, remembering Melody’s specific gifts from the Goddess. Her serpents, too, were as stiff as stone statues, unable to bite or snap as they had been.
“Hydra, I do not want to hurt you. But this man is mine, I had claimed him before his ship hit the rocks. Did you not feel my intention on him already?” She spoke with an even voice, praying to the Goddess that her lie was believed. She knew that all of the girls took seriously their system of claiming victims for their own use.
Hydra’s voice fell, “I’m sorry Melody, it was my mistake. I hope you don’t mind my sloppy seconds.” She laughed bitterly. “I’ll hand him over to you if you give me my mobility back.”
Melody did as she was asked, and Hydra’s sea serpents began to coil and hiss at her. She ignored them, and retracted her own talons so that they were no longer scraping across Hydra’s neck. Hydra began to double in size, growing larger and larger, creating huge waves that threw Melody back with force. Once she had landed in the water a few meters away and had regained her composure, Melody looked up at Hydra, who now towered over the entire scene of the wreckage. The few men that were conscious on the rock were yelling in their foreign tongue. She was sure that the word “monster” or worse was being uttered. The other Sirens paused their feast and were looking up at her with questioning expressions.
“Drama queen.” Melody muttered under her breath.
“You can have him if you can catch him.” Hydra’s voice boomed around them like thunder. She took the man and flung him into the distance, further than even Marina’s eyes could see. Melody dove under the water as Hydra’s laughter boomed around her, slowly quieting as she got further and further away. Melody was speeding through the frigid sea towards where she believed the man had dropped. Her heart felt heavy as she pushed past several dead bodies of the men that had been rowing just minutes before. Can I catch him before he drowns and becomes another sacrifice to Our Lady? Oh please, Lady, don’t claim him- we’ve given you enough payment today.
