The Song of the Sirens

Chapter 1

      Dwyn gazed toward the terragog pleasure ship with curiosity, the sharp attention in her eyes piercing the horizon.
       "As observers of today's ceremony, you are to obey every rule strictly." Dwyn's teacher's voice penetrated her serenity, grounding her in the present. She turned in the water, facing her teacher.
      "Above all, you must be silent. Any noise at all could interfere with the song, and destroy our existence!" The eight heads of Dwyn's classmates bobbed in response to Miss Estra's commands. Another siren joined the group of children.
      "The singing will begin shortly," said the middle aged siren. "Please move out of the danger zone." Everyone swam off to the designated 'safe zone' and started bobbing up and down in anticipation. They were about to observe the siren's most ancient ritual, something they themselves may one day join. Hundreds of siren heads emerged from the water. On the spire of rock protruding from the sea, Queen Nerida arose, her shimmering silver tail transforming into a long gown of the same qualities. Her ebony hair tumbled down her back in loose ringlets interspersed with seashells and pearls. Atop her head, a platinum diadem sat, framing a large, perfect sapphire, the symbol of a queen. She turned, surveying the gathering of singers. Her eyes paused on the school group, zeroing in on Dwyn in particular. A shiver ran down her spine, right to the tip of her fin. The queen turned back to face the terragog ship.
      "My sisters!" she called. "Let the ceremony begin!" upon those words, the sapphire in her diadem lit up with a brilliant blue light. Her beautiful voice flowed over the sea, creating misty hippocamps that galoped out from her feet. As the beautiful beasts reached the singers, their own voices flowed out of them. Some of the more powerful voices even created their own misty creatures, dolphins, whales, and fish, but none had the presence of the queen's hippocamps. The melody created by the hundreds of voices was sweet, enticing. Just the right tune to draw in the sailors like a summer breeze.
      As the magical animals reached the boat, they dissolved, and for a moment, nothing happened. Then, as if on que, the ship breeched to starboard, careening through the waves, desperate to find the source of the voices. As the ship drew nearer and nearer, Dwyn began to grow nervous. At this rate, the vessel would crash straight through the horde of sirens and continue, never once stopping. But then the song changed. The light qualities of the song turned dark, violent. The sweet, enticing voices deepened to near chanting. The warm summer sky gave way to boiling clouds of pure darkness. The waves rose, tossing the craft in all directions. Suddenly, a crack of pure heat exploded from the clouds. The lightning crashed into the deck at terminal velocity. Fire burned. Terragog passengers ran, screaming in all directions. Some were knocked off the boat by the churning of the sea, others buffeted with walls of water washing them into the ocean. Finally, one more flash of lightning hit an engine, and the entire ship exploded. Balls of fire and flaming bits of ship went every where.
      With that grand finale, the siren song slowly resonated back to a light sonance. The clouds evaporated, the water calmed. The only evidence that there was ever a ship in the first place was a few pieces of driftwood.
      "Come children." Miss Estra beckoned. The stunned posse of school sirens sank into the water. Once beneath the surface, they saw what had become of the ship. Busy looking sirens were rushing back, and forth, carrying terragogs to a large net, where all of their bodies were being collected.
"Terragog tradition proclaims that, when they die, each are buried in the earth. We respect this tradition, and bury the gogs in the ground near the volcano. That is why no young mearls such as yourselves are allowed onto that ground. As a sign of respect to their lives." The group moved on, and were suddenly stopped on their fins at an amazing sight. Every remaining piece of the ship was being dragged through the water in a giant net at incredible speed. Hippocamps had been attached to the net using more rope and harnesses.
      "Where are they taking all of that?" breathed Luminia. She was a slim siren with phosphorescent hair, eyes, and tail, that glowed when she was excited or nervous. They were glowing now.
"We sirens harvest the remains of the gog vessels we sink, repurposing them for all sorts of things, which brings me to today's assignment. When you go home, I want all of you to make me a list of everything you can find in your house that has likely been made using parts of gog vessels. You should be able to find at least ten." The class groaned as Miss Estra blew into her conch horn. A few minutes later, two manta rays approached, towing an extended chariot behind them.
      "Please everyone take their seats!" called Miss Estra as she seated herself at the head of the chariot. The school sirens all swam to their respective seats in the chariot. Dwyn took one of the benches at the very back.
      "Dwyn should have no trouble at all with this assignment!" screeched a voice Dwyn was all too familiar with. It was Agrona, a larger, more stout siren with shoulder length hair the color of kelp and a tail to match.
      "After all, with her mother's job, she must have tonnes of gog junk laying around the place!" Dwyn just rolled her eyes and turned her head to watch the view rush by. Various colored fish and jellyfish swam past. Dwyn looked down. A coral forest was passing underneath, reds and purples blending together in a beautiful spectacle for the duration of the ride back to school.

Special thanks to my betas, my sister Tara and my bestie Vanessa. Check her out at Booknrd187.
Thanks for reading!