Legendary: A Retelling of The Little Mermaid

Chapter 1

Even in the never-ending ocean, Cora felt hopelessly alone.

It wasn't the fact that she didn't have people who cared about her, she had plenty of those. Her sister, Adri always made sure to include her. Her mother treated the two girls as equals. Even the Sirens, who lived on a rock that jutted out of the blue seas, looked after her, giving her clothing they had reaped from ships.

Yet, Cora was left feeling divided. She was raised alongside other finned mermaids; she survived under the surface. But with legs. While the young mermaids flipped their tails to swim through the waters, Cora had to kick her tanned legs twice as hard to keep up.

The only true kinship within the sea was the sirens. Half human- half mermaid, the Sirens resided on Siren Rock, a jagged stone sticking out of the ocean. It held hidden caverns in which the sirens would emerge to lure their prey– pretty sailors– to their doom.

Most of the merfolk turned up their noses at the Sirens. Sirens were once mermaids, who had suffered a broken heart. They took out their anger on the humans they killed. But from the wrecked ships of their victims, they stole human clothes, which they were always willing to share with Cora.

But Cora wasn't a Siren, though Selene, the kindest of the bunch, had offered Cora a spot on the rock she could never kill.

So Cora spent her days following Adri. They swam through the markets, and the seaweed forests. Today they were swimming closer to the surface to watch the nearby passing ships– far from the risk of Siren Rock. Cora climbed up onto the slick rocks, grabbing fistfuls of greenish-brown algae to steady herself. She quickly pulled up Adri behind her. The sisters flopped onto their backs and soaked in the sun.

"I love how the sun's rays feel on my tail," Adri said, stretching her arms out wide. Her sister's wet golden hair brushed Cora's shoulder.

"It's comforting," Cora agreed. She stretched her tanned legs as she arched her back on the rock. Her face was dotted with freckles from all of their time spent lounging in the sun.

They listened to the ocean around them. Pelicans dove into the waves in search of fish. The waves crashed against the rock. Gulls flew overhead squawking at one another. Even the birds had a group. Splashes came near the rock's edge, a different pattern than the waves hitting the stone. Splashes from fins.

A silver scaly tail slithered past Cora's toes. A pale body with silvery drawings on the siren's skin caught the sunlight, shimmering. Her white hair lay wet on the siren's back. Her red lips curled into a smile. "Have you girls seen any ships around?" It asked.

"Selene, we would never tell you if there was," Adri said, rolling into her belly to face the siren.

Selene rolled her black eyes. She wrung out her hair and shook her tail. Her tail and torse glowed, and soon her scaly tail was replaced by long legs in a swaying skirt. Her white hair grew black before the sister's eyes.

"I'm not here for the hunt," Selene reassured and she swept her now dry black hair over to one shoulder. "Siren Rock was getting crowded. Jewel just converted this new siren and she's a pain. Never seen someone so new that wanted their first kill. She hasn't learned to control it as I have."

Cora sat up and sloppily tied her brown curls into a messy bun at the top of her head. Selene had had years to control her song and its ambition. She had been a Siren for as long as Cora could remember. If a ship passed by, Selene's black eyes would twinkle but she wouldn't immediately start singing her song. No, Selene was picky with her ships. While other Sirens would go for smaller boats, Selene only sang for the captains of the largest vessels. She lived for the hunt and reaped the rewards of the expensive ships.