Ocean's Call

Chapter Two

Many people don't believe in us anymore. They think we've disappeared, gone from the world without a trace. They are supposed to think that. If they fear us, they don't come to the water. If they knew a song could lure them to their death, they wouldn't come even if it were their children screaming for help. Humans are simple like that.

It's why we travel. We disappear from one place for a few decades while we haunt others. We never stay at one place longer than six moons. If we stay longer, the fear and suspicion rises and stories start spreading. Sometimes we stay shorter. It all depends.

Tonight, we move. The mermaids will follow shortly, when the day has ended. They have a final day to complete here, different from ours. Where we drown people, they drive people mad. They go back dazed and excited, only to hear from their fellow villagers that there's no such thing as mermaids. A game between mermaid and mortal, one that I never quite understood. Khahish has tried explaining it to me several times, telling me it has to do with 'falling in love' but I'm never sure what that means. Either way, the mortals go completely bonkers because the mermaids convince them they are absolutely real, while their families and friends think they've lost their mind. Sometimes they become so desperate they end up killing themselves, often by throwing dramatically off some cliff to be with their beloved mermaids. Water spirits don't work that way, though. Not that they know.

Esha has always been jealous of the mermaids. She'd rather be one of them than a siren. Innocent, she calls them. They have never killed someone. When I tell her they drive mortals so mad they do the job themselves, she says it doesn't count. She tried once to join them, despite several warnings that sirens can't handle direct sunlight. It didn't take long before she returned, crying with horrible sunburns on her arms. Our skin is too thin to survive the intense light that the sun sends out. It's why we move to the depths of the ocean when the sun comes out to play, to protect ourselves. I suppose I can understand where she's coming from. The darkness can get awfully boring sometimes, even though we're not always so deep there's no sunlight at all. Just... less. Much less.

But I've never been jealous of the mermaids. I don't see why I should be. All they do all day is sit on a rock and be pretty until some stupid mortal comes by and 'falls in love with them'. Whatever that may mean. At least we get to do something fun.

Khahish has never seemed to mind it though. But then again, he was born a mermaid and I was born a siren. We are born to like and do different things.

"Lai, we're leaving." Esha waves a hand in front of my face. "Are you ready to go?"

"Ready as ever."

"I still don't understand how you have no belongings at all." She huffs, positioning the messenger bag that hangs around her shoulder. It's made from old fishing nets that she weaved together and one of her prized possessions. "Is there nothing of value you've ever wanted to keep?"

"Absolutely nothing." I promise her.

Her spikey teeth shine at me when she starts to grin. "Except that." She points at the line of fishing thread that's wrapped around my upper arm. Several small shelves are threaded on it and if I hit a right stream, they tinkle together. My heart sinks a little.

"Except that." I agree.

"I've never understood why, of all things, you keep that."

"And I'd like to keep it that way. Come on, let's go. I like to swim ahead."

Today, we leave with a large group. About forty sirens all together. We didn't all target the same village - there's a rather big city nearby that drafted a lot of us. I went to take a look once - they were absolutely everywhere. No body of salt water was safe anymore. Terrorizing cities is fun. You do more than just sing - you lay low in the city's streams and let the moonlight hit your eyes, tricking habitants into thinking there's jewelry on the bottom. Especially the mortals in a city are so hypnotised by riches.

I hope we end up in a city now, it has been a while.

While we travel, the group will get smaller. We are drawn by intuition on what's the right place to go next, we never know where we'll end up when we leave. There's small groups that always stick together, like me and Esha. Usually we split off in groups of five or sixs, unless the draw is strong - like a city. Then we are with more. I've seen so many sirens come and go; Esha is the only one who ever stuck with me. Or maybe I stuck with her, I'm not sure. I'm just glad to have her with me.

For some reason, Khahish is always drawn to the same places we are. For the last zeven travels, he's been with us - be it in a different part of the day. There's always a moment between sun and moon where we find time to meet, my favourite time of day.

It's not long before the first sirens split off - seven of them swim west, where the rest of us keeps heading north. There's no goodbyes, no hugs or 'what if I'll never see you again'. The ones closest with each other often stick together, and even if you don't, there's nothing you can do about it. If you go somewhere you weren't drawn to, your songs don't work. No one will come for you, until you go to the place the moon wants you to be. And sometimes that means leaving behind friends. I wonder if that will ever happen to me and Esha, and if I'll find new friends. We chatter with other sirens at our bay, but no one understands and talks to be like Esha; and vise versa. Many other sirens judge her for her jealousy of the mermaids. She isn't a mermaid, but a siren. She was ridiculed after that time she tried to join them, by every siren in the area. Except for me. I just felt bad for her. I wrapped her damaged arms in kelp until the worst of the blisters had closed, and then smacked her hands whenever she went to pick at the scabs so they wouldn't scar too much. Of course they stilled scarred anyway.

Since that day Esha is very aware of what others think of her. She tries to do what's normal. Not that there is a normal in a world of mythical sea creatures. I'm pretty sure we're not even supposed to group together like we do. It just happens that way, when we're drawn to the same place. Friendships form, but we all could live perfectly well in solitude. We just don't.

Esha frantically smacks my arm. "Lai!" she whispers excited. "Look!" I follow the direction she's pointing at. My heart skips a beat. A glorious, giant tuna is floating there, his grey-blue scales shimmering in the underwater light. None of the other sirens seems to have noticed him yet. I haven't eaten since we left our bay, which we did not long after sunrise. Judging by the light the sun is nearly setting now.

"Come on!" Esha urges. Before I have even a chance to protest, she grabs my wrist and with one mighty swish of her tail swoops me away towards the tuna. Of course we immediately draw the attention of the others siren, but we have a head start. A rubble behind me, but I'm now only focused on that fish. Tuna isn't my favourite, but it's definitely not bad either. Esha reaches the thing a few seconds before I do - I hear a snarl and the water around her face turns a deep red as her teeth sink into its flesh. My stomach lurches, I reach out, saliva floods my mouth.

I don't remember the next few minutes. My tribal instinct take over when I'm feeding. I don't really think, just eat. Usually after my stomach is filled, I come back to my senses. The draw is suddenly stronger - a tugging feeling at the bottom of my stomach, pulling me in a direction. Currently we are in open water and there's nothing but blue around us. But the direction is so clear to me I almost forget to check for Esha.

Small slivers of bloody water still trail her as she swims up to me, a wide grin on her face. Behind her, a group of maybe six sirens is fighting over the remains of the tuna.

"We totally got the best parts of him!" She picks between her teeth with a fish bone. "I love tuna. I was so over all those small fish we got at the bay!"

"I feel like I could go for days." I agree, realising how revitalised I feel. "Ready?"

She nods, and thankfully she swims in the same direction I'm drawn to. We could live solitary, if we needed to. But I don't want to. I like Esha. I like the company. How boring would life be if all I did was kill people and swim to the next place with no one to share the experience with?