The Siren and The Sun

7) Siren in a Bottle

Hermes appeared in the throne room. Atlantis looked petrified, staring at the Olympians in silence. "Hermes!" Zeus snapped, his eyes flicking to the winged god. "Would you like to explain why this-" he glanced at Atlantis with utter disgust. "-creature is in here?"

"Um." Hermes looked from Atlantis to Zeus back Atlantis and then Zeus again. "It's not, um, what it looks like."

"Yeah, sure it isn't. I'll answer my own question: Atlantis is here to find her parents and restore order to the ocean or whatever. Because saving the world is everyone's dream."

Atlantis shrugged. "I'm just awesome world-saving material, I guess."

Apollo stood up from his throne. "Correction, I am the awesome one here. And Poseidon and Amphitrite are in the-"

Zeus glared daggers at the Sun god. Well, more accurately, he glared static electricity. Apollo winced as small tendrils of blue lightning curled around his body, shocking him. His long, blonde hair stuck straight out, but he quickly smoothed it down. "Ow." He said between gasps.

Hermes turned to Apollo and they locked eyes. "No!" Zeus shouted, throwing a lightning bolt at Hermes. He didn't move fast enough, and the room was soon filled with the scent of burning feathers.

"What was that for?" He moaned, gingerly touching his singed wing.

Zeus frowned. "You know exactly what that was for. You don't need to know what Apollo said and telepathically asking him is just as bad as if you said it out loud."

Hermes narrowed his eyes. "Reading other's thought is an invasion of privacy. It was an A-B conversation, and since when did you have telepathy?"

"I don't. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that when two gods are unblinkingly staring at each other and their eyes start dilating, they're having a silent, telepathic conversation. A 'knowing look' is like the human version of telepathy, but when gods do it, they're actually sending and receiving thoughts."

"Well, genius, I hope you realize you're talking to the god of communication. I freaking invented telepathy. And if you were so smart you would have noticed this whole conversation was just a big distraction." Hermes added with a trademark mischievous smile.

"What?" Zeus looked over and saw Apollo was talking with Atlantis, presumably about the whereabouts of her parents.

"Oh, Styx." The god whispered, taking her hand. But just before they left, Zeus caught Atlantis by the tail and pulled them away. Apollo vanished in a bright flash of light alone.

"Hermes, get out of here." Zeus commanded.

"But-"

"Out!"

With a defeated sighed, Hermes took himself and his injured wing to the edge of the ring of pillars. As he passed them, the god disappeared into the whiteness beyond.

"Where did he go?" Atlantis asked.

"No one knows, no one cares." Zeus said simply. "But just in case they try to come back and play hero-" He gestured rather lazily to the room. In between the pillars, horizontal bands of lightning appeared, each one several feet thick. "Olympus is officially sealed, at least, from anyone entering."

Zeus cleared his throat and addresed Atlantis. "So, you're a siren."

Atlantis nodded, even though this fact had been very well established multiple times over.

"Sirens are kind of like genies, right?"

"Uh, no. Not at all. Sirens are basically mermaids with enchanted voices that can also create illusions. And genies, well, I don't know much about them. But I know they are trapped inside bottles until someone rubs said bottle and then the genie has to grant them three wishes, within certain perimeters, of course. Once the wishes are granted, they go back into the bottle for probably for a few more centuries. They are also immortal, I think."

"Are sirens immortal?"

"Nope. But what is this?" Atlantis asked, looking around. "Twenty Questions?"

"No, but if it was, I would still have eighteen questions left. But I do have to disagree with you on one thing."

"And that is?"

"Sirens are­, in fact, similar to genies. And I'll show you how." Zeus snapped his fingers and a jar appeared in his hand. Inside, were yellow tendrils of electricity that sparked and popped against the glass. The god uncorked the jar and shook the lightning out. It crackled onto the marble floor and promptly exploded. "Oops, that was a little more dramatic than I thought it was going to be."

"No kidding." Atlantis said, looking at the black starburst the lightning had made.

Zeus tapped the now empty cup and it grew from the size of a beer can to almost 10 feet tall. Without warning, he grabbed Atlantis and shoved her and her screams into the glass. He put the cork back in and set it down. "See? It's a siren in a bottle like a genie!" He smiled.

"Hey!" Atlantis called, her voice slightly muffled in the bottle. "Why in Hades am I even in here?!"

"Because I put you in there, duh." Zeus said, rolling his eyes. "Oh! And we can't have you trying to escape, now can we?" He squeezed the top of the jar until it was much too small for her to fit through. It now resembled a beer bottle. The god filled it with formaldehyde and replaced the cork. "Now, when you die, you'll still be all precious and pretty to look at for all of eternity. Goodnight."

'Goodnight?' Atlantis thought. She opened her eyes briefly. The world was all fuzzy and out of focus, like when you go underwater in a chlorine pool, but she could tell it was night. To protect herself from the preservation liquid, which was like breathing in permanent markers, Atlantis, in a way, threw up. She, like all sirens, had an emergency store of pure water in her stomach. The siren held the water around her head like a helmet. Even this, would only last for barely over two hours.

Atlantis sunk to the bottom of the bottle. She was tired and hungry, and the formaldehyde made her skin and scales tingle. The siren sighed into the darkness. 'I just want to go home, and be with my parents.'