The Song of the Sirens

Chapter 2

      Dwyn arrived home an hour later. She stopped just outside the seaweed fence and surveyed her home. It was a two story abode made of seastone blocks. Little seashells and barnacles sparsely populated the outer walls. Dwyn parted the seaweed with her hands and swam up the path of shell and rock. When she reached the metal door, she paused. The door, she was told, had been taken from the side of a fishing ship several years ago.
      "Put that on the list." she muttered to herself before pushing the door open and entering her house. The front door opened right into the living room, a round space with a faded, woven kelp rug on the floor, a few baggy chairs, and a stone table. A shelf in one corner housed books, games, and some souvenirs from her mother's job. Two windows that looked out onto the yard were covered with seaweed curtains. Dwyn pulled them back, flooding the room with light. Satisfied, she made her way to the kitchen. From there, two passageways lead in seperate directions. One went left, to her aunt's room, and one lead up, to Dwyn's room and her mother's.
      Dwyn went straight to her room. It was small, with a bed shoved against one wall under a high skylight window. A desk and bookshelf were on the other side of the room. Finally, Dwyn's walls were plastered with hundreds of pictures. Some showed Dwyn with her mother or aunt at various places around town, but most of the images showcased the gog world.
      Dwyn's mother held one of the most obscure jobs in all of siren history. Upon special request from the queen, her mother, Iona, traveled the terragog world. Gathering information about their culture, advancements, and history. And one day, Dwyn secretly hoped, she would join her mother.
      Dwyn desperately wanted to know everything about the gogs. Every time her mother left for an assignment, she begged her to bring back souvenirs, photos, and above all, stories. But she couldn't think about that now. Dwyn threw down her bag, and began her homework assignment. True to Agrona's word, she could have told the class all about the musical boxes, plaster figurines, and strange technology that came from the gog world, but instead she pushed herself to find more mundane objects, like the door to the house. She also wrote about the sailcloth uses as bedsheets, the wood and bolts to make shelves, and the glass in a few of the windows. By the time she had finished, Dwyn's aunt had arrived home. Aunt Iaira lived in the same house as Dwyn and her mother, mostly because Dwyn's mother was gone for large amounts of time.                  
      Aunt Iaira checked over Dwyn's list and gave her approval. Then, they sat down together to eat a dinner of clams and kelp salad.
      Later that night, Dwyn was settled in her bed, thinking about the events of the day. She knew siren tradition commanded that every siren participate in at least one song ceremony before they were allowed to pursue any other career. However, Sirens were not allowed to sing until they passed the vocal test. If a song was out of harmony, then the gogs would not be entranced in the magic, which would be extremely dangerous. Every siren took a test when they reached the end of their standard schooling. Dwyn and her other classmates were scheduled to take the exam in one week, right along with the career aptitude test. Dwyn rolled over. She couldn't let her mind worry about those things now, so instead, she let her mind drift away to the gog world, and eventually, into sleep.

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