Your Sweet Siren Song

Chapter 10: Ophie

  "Ophie, wake up," I heard a voice whisper into my ear. I opened my eyes to see Cerasus staring down at me. Today, they wore a long, dark cherry red coat. Their hair was half up, with a bandanna accompanying it.

  "What is it, Cerasus? You're never up this early."

  "You've gotta come see this sunrise," they explained. I groaned and slowly got out of bed, following them onto the deck.

  No one else seemed to be awake yet besides Aria, who I noticed was sitting on the bowsprit. Her silhouette glowed against the sun. All of the colors of the sunset seemed to surround her, as if she was the one making the sky so colorful.

  Cerasus noticed my staring and smirked. I looked at them. "What?" I asked. They shook their head. "Nothing. I'm gonna wake up the rest of the crew."

  With that they left, leaving me alone with Aria. I walked up and sat next to her. She turned to face me. Our faces came a little close together. I noticed light scars on the bridge of her nose.

  "Good morning, Ophie," she said. A calm smile spread across her face.

  "Morning," I said. We both started at the sunrise for a moment, taking it in.

  "I've always loved the sky," Aria said, reaching a hand towards it. The smile on her lips fell a little. "However, because I am a siren, I never get to see it. I am normally under the water. I didn't even know that I could take human form until recently."

  I gently grabbed her hand. "Maybe you could come visit the surface more." She looked at me for a moment, then a breath of a laugh escaped her mouth.

  "Where would I go?" she asked.

  "You'd come here, of course. You've already helped on the Medusa so much the past week, and you're helping me find Kai. The least I could do is always promise you a place on the Medusa."

  I felt myself rambling. I didn't even know why I was telling her she could stay. A couple of weeks ago I would have never offered such a thing to anyone, let alone someone like Aria. I was changing for the first time in years. I could feel myself slowly going softer. For once being soft didn't feel so wrong.

  Her smile faded and she looked back at the sunrise. "That'd be nice," she whispered.

  I was about to ask what was wrong, when I saw something dark out of the corner of my eye. I let go of Aria's hand and pulled my spyglass out of my pocket. I looked into the horizon.

  A small ship was headed our way, filled with pirates with brightly colored pinstripe pants. A horrifying realization dawned on me.

  "The Dealers," I cursed. I got up and started heading onto the deck. Aria followed, her brows knitted together in fear.

  "Everyone up here now, we're under attack!" I yelled. Everyone started running up, most still in their pajamas. Suddenly, a cannonball hit the mast of the ship.

  "Damnit!" I screamed. "Everyone, to your stations!"

  My crew immediately went where they were supposed to. Olive went to the wheel, while Josie, Anne, and Moa handled the canons. Cerasus ran to try to fix the mast while Arty and Mary ran below. Aria stood there, a confused look on her face.

  "You," I said, pointing at her. "Head below. We don't need them seeing you. Try to patch up any leaks we might get with Arty and Mary," I ordered. She nodded, running below.

  I immediately headed towards the edge of a railing, glaring at the ship heading towards us. It was getting closer and closer. I turned to Cerasus.

  "When it draws near, I'm going to jump onto it. Focus on trying to get the ship away and escape."