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c-rose2081 · 11 months

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Of Sirens Deep — [Chapter 5]

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Melody. The captain.

Delphine. The navigator.

Neva. The quartermaster and helmsman.

Caravel. The boatswain.

Morrigan. The cook and surgeon.

Reef, Marina, Trench, Meridian, Arrow, Swift, Selene, Isla, Rhodes, Moon, Desiree.

Me. The runt of the litter, as it were.

I sat on the forward deck, notched awkwardly between the starboard banister and a spare barrel. I'd never been more exhausted in my life. Neva wasn't the type of person—type of siren—to bluff, either. I'd worked all night and all day, hunched over the bucket and brush cleaning whatever I could reach. The skin of my hands was bright red, pulsing and bleeding from abuse. I suppose that's what I deserved, having soft hands in a place like this.

I should've expected it.

I wanted to sail like Pa did, yet I'd never actually considered what life was really like on the open sea. Pa was Captain of the Blonde Lady and probably lived more luxuriously than this, but he still returned home appearing twice his age and with a crick in his spine. I winced, rubbing the small of my back which radiated with a burning ache. Here, on a ship that apparently had no name, I was of little consequence to its crew. Even Melody, my supposed sister, hadn't come to check on my well-being since the day I arrived. She and Delphine were always cloistered away in the Captain's Quarters, bent over maps and charts. This left Neva—the Quartermaster—in charge of the deck, meaning life wasn't bound to get any easier.

Thunking my head against the side of the barrel, I exhaled deeply and tucked in as best as I could. My stomach growled hungrily and my lips were horribly dry, but Neva kept me working long after the crew took their meal. It didn't surprise me that I wasn't offered to eat—Neva didn't like me, though I wasn't entirely sure why. Being an outsider was obvious enough, but her downright maliciousness seemed far more personal. I ran a hand across the bottom of my jaw, feeling the cut mark Neva had made beginning to scab.

Delphine said I wasn't a prisoner: she lied.

Possible ways of escaping had crossed my mind, but I scratched all of them just as fast. We were in the middle of nowhere and my sense of direction was skewed. Even if did spirit myself off into the night on a lifeboat, I would sooner starve or go mad on the open sea. If I tried to simply take the wheel and turn the ship around myself, I probably would become a prisoner, or would just be slaughtered on the spot.

So what was a warmblooded outsider like me to do?

I stared up at the sky, finding Pa's necklace. Melody claimed the pendant had come to me when I called for it; that the moonglass no longer belonged to the sea. Yet there didn't seem to be anything special about it. At least...not that I knew. Besides the one incident, the amulet was as quiet and ordinary as the day I put it on. Running a thumb across the smooth surface, I did feel more at ease—like Pa was still alive somewhere, staring up at the same sky. But such relief was short lived as a chill breeze cut through me like a knife and I shivered.

Amazing how cold it got at night.

Dropping the necklace in favor of pulling my knees to my chest, I stared at nothing in particular, listening to the sounds of the ship. A few of the crew were singing a jolly shanty up on the mast, while clattering and laughing wafted up from below deck. There was the rush of wind and the flapping of canvas as the sails caught. The dark water lapped against the ship's hull. We were moving along at a steady clip, but to where? I hadn't the faintest idea.

I found myself dozing while still sitting up, jumping as someone poked the front of my leg with their shoe. Whacking my head against the barrel I grabbed my scalp with a hiss, only to feel suddenly cold at the thought of who was in my company. Blinking wild eye'd at the pair of boots which stood mere ticks from me, they were not the same steel-toed leather weapons the Quartermaster stomped around in.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you."

The stranger was Reef, someone Delphine pointed out on my first day. Not sure why she was here or what her intentions were, I avoided meeting her gaze, tucking back into my alcove and resting my chin on my knees. No one had bothered to talk to me in the two days I'd been on the ship—not even Caravel who was more than a little chatty when we'd first met. I didn't want to take the chance of this being some sort of cruel joke.

"I...um...I have some things that are yours? I thought you might want them."

I glanced over my bent elbow as Reef delicately laid my jacket and boots on the ground between us, backing off quickly as though I might bite. Her bright, unnaturally turquoise eyes were striking, settled into richly dark skin mottled with scales the color of sea glass. Her hair, which I originally saw as dark, was actually dark blue to match the rest of her fishy traits.

Glancing from her to my jacket, it looked a little beat up, but there were no tears or holds that I could see. Reaching out cautiously, I pulled the pile towards me, setting aside my boots to instead rifle around in the pockets of my coat.

I felt like crying when Oceans & Islands emerged, still exactly where I'd left it.

"I couldn't read it."

Forgetting who was in my company, I pulled the book closer to my chest as my eyes once again landed on Reef. She gave a tight smile, rocking on her heels. "Morrigan helped me dry it out, but she couldn't read it either."

'You can't read?' Was the first question on my tongue, but I stopped myself from broaching it. Of course she couldn't—at least, perhaps not in the way I did.

"It's a human book," I muttered quietly, noticing how Reef stared at me in confusion. Right—the term 'human' was a man-made definition, she probably had no idea what that meant. "It's a...er...a warmblooded way of writing."

"What's it about, if you don't mind my asking."

"It's the journal of a man who sailed around the world." I shrugged, glancing over my things and heaving a tired breath. "Thank you. I thought everything I had was gone."

"Neva wasn't going to give them back, but Captain Melody ordered her to." Reef admitted. "I uh...didn't see you at dinner? We don't bite, I promise."

"I was working."

"Oh." Reef made a face that I couldn't quite define, her blue eyes flickering under long, dark lashes. "Wait just a tick, I'll be right back."

The siren whisked herself away, stomping back down where she had come and vanishing from sight. I just assumed she wasn't actually coming back, choosing to shrug on my jacket which still smelled briny from its time in the water. For a while it was just me again, lightly dozing against the barrel. I startled awake when footsteps came back up the stairs.

The smell of food grabbed my attention like a riptide.

"There wasn't much left," Reef complained, plopping onto the floor across from me as to not drop her haul. "But Morrigan makes a great bone broth."

Reef offered a crude wooden cup to me; the soup inside was still steaming. Reaching for it, I had only just wrapped my fingers around the circumference when searing pain shocked through my fingertips. My hands released, a pained gasp escaping between my teeth. Reef was fast, prying my grip from around the cup and setting it on the floor as to not spill it. She set a foggy bottle beside it before taking hold of my wrists, causing another wince to flicker across my face. The webbing between the girls fingers felt...strange...as she pushed my hands apart to reveal two palms of bright red sores.

"Ouch. What happened?"

"I'm soft-handed." I whispered softly, repeating what Neva had been yelling at me all day long. Soft-handed. Princess. Warmblood. Outsider. Pathetic whelp. "It's fine."

"Looks like it hurts."

I couldn't really lie and claim that it didn't. But what else could I say? Of course it hurt, but whining and weeping over it wouldn't do me much good. If I so much as talked while Neva was around, she had her stupid sword pointed at my head in a second. And if I dared complain? Well...I'd figured out that it was best to just not speak at all—conditions be damned.

"You can talk to me, you know." Reef said. "Neva ordered we didn't—that you were just another warmblood? But she always has her scales in a twist over something. I decided to come up and meet you for myself."

Running my sore hands across my knees, I carefully took soup cup again. It stung but I managed not to drop it, relishing in a large gulp to satisfy the hole in my stomach. At this point I could've eaten just about anything, I was so hungry. "Is it true that you grew up around warmbloods?"

I nodded as Reef pursed her lips, leaning over her crossed legs intensely.

"I heard warmbloods are violent killers." She practically whispered. "My Ma used to tell me stories of how they skewered sirens on long metal spears and tangled them into nets, never to be seen again."

"I...wouldn't know." I frowned, setting the now empty soup cup aside and picking up the glass bottle. Uncorking it, I took a whiff and recoiled.

"It's some of Morrigan's best Grog," Reef explained as I took a hesitant sip. The taste wasn't the worst, surprisingly enough. It was a mix of briny-sweet and lemony. "But what they say about warmbloods—what Neva says. Is it true?"

"I suppose it is, in some ways." I admitted, swirling the Grog within its bottle as the liquid sloshed around. "Sirens were dangerous to our sailors, luring them into the water to be killed. So they were hunted down to make the sea safer. I didn't know they still existed; I'd never even seen one."

"Really? We don't sing for anyone but ourselves." Reef complained, "The stories said that we took the warmblooded men underwater because their ships were coming to destroy and pillage our coves."

"You don't eat them?" I wondered honestly as Reef made a guilty face.

"Well, we eat anything that can be hunted."

"So if a hu—a warmblood, is killed by a siren?"

"It would be a shame to let a meal go to waste." The girl shrugged as I stiffened, pushing back a bit into my hole. "Don't worry, we don't normally hunt warmbloods willingly," Reef continued, no doubt realizing her error. "We mostly hunt fish, sometimes a whale or shark if there's enough of us."

"So I'm not on the menu, then?"

"Of course not. Besides, you're a siren, just like us."

"I feel like some kind of monster." I shrugged, finishing off the Grog only to cough painfully at the alcoholic taste lingering at the bottom. "My body is changing. I don't recognize myself. And this life? I'm not really sure it's for someone as soft-handed as me. It's not what I thought it was."

"None of us really want this life either," Reef sighed honestly, reaching up to remove a bandana from her hair. Using her claws she began to shred the cloth into strips. "Sailing like warmbloods isn't in our nature. We had to learn how."

The girl nodded to my hands, giving me another watery smile. "Let me wrap those soft-hands for you."

"I just don't understand," I muttered, holding out a palm as Reef began to wrap the worst of the callouses. "I should be on Macatania, worrying about getting married and having kids. This life was just a fantasy...a childish dream of mine that made nights go by faster."

"Doesn't sound like you wanted whatever came before now," Reef commented mindlessly. "You didn't know you were a siren?"

"No. It just started happening one day and everything spiraled out of control. Now I'm here and I don't even know why or what I did to deserve this torture."

"Sailing may not be the easy choice, but it's not torture either," Reef chortled, waving for my other hand as I relinquished it. "You just need to carve yourself a place here with us, that's all. Stop thinking yourself as an outsider and eventually you won't be."

"Tell Neva that."

"Neva is sour-scaled and power hungry," Reef scoffed. "This ship isn't run by one siren alone, Aria. Make yourself apart of it and life gets easier."

"Sounds like you've had some experience?"

I tilted my head curiously as Reef finished her work, webbed hands lingering on mine before returning to her lap.

"This family found me, just like it found you." She sighed, rising from her feet and taking the empty soup cup and Grog bottle. "Get some rest. We're only a day out from White Sand; tomorrow will be busy. Neva is bound to be in a poor mood."

"White Sand?" I wondered, "Is that a place?"

"Mhm. Just a quick stop until Delphine and the Captain decide what our next true destination will be. Have a good night, Aria. I'll...well, see you tomorrow, at least."

Reef smiled and headed back down below deck, a place that had long since grown quiet as the night grew darker. Only a few crew remained awake, hanging amongst the ropes as lookouts. Sinking down to rest on my back, my body still ached in soreness as I stared up at the sky, one that was dark and speckled with stars. Once upon a time, Pa might’ve used this same sky to navigate vast curved horizons. With the rocking of the ship and the gentle splash of waves, I let my eyes fall shut, happy to rest if only for a short while.

— — —

The next day was blisteringly hot.

My skin was sticky with sweat as I swabbed the deck—again. Thankfully Neva had shoved a mop in my hands rather then the rickety old brush, but it still didn’t soothe my poor palms which were aching only a few hours in. All around me the crew ran this way and that, mostly moving sails and securing ropes to catch the gusty wind which had kicked up in the night.

Reef was working with Arrow and Swift, going down the banister to drop lifeboats from their overturned positions on the main deck. I could only assume it was for transport to White Sand, but I still wasn’t sure what exactly that meant. Was this mysterious place inhabited? Could I use it to slip away and escape? Lots of thoughts crossed my mind, but all of them were stalled when I lifted an arm to see large dry patches which were beginning to form. A faint pattern of scales was coming to the surface, dull and bronzy-gold, just like Melody’s. Who would take me back to Macatania when I looked so much like a monster?

“Get back to work, whelp! Stop daydreaming!” Neva barked from the helm, bringing me from my thoughts as I quickly dunked my mop and continued to clean, doing my best to stay out of everyone’s way. For a while it was the same old routine, the heat only getting worse with each passing hour.

“Oy! Moon! Careful with that rope!” Caravel shouted somewhere above my head, swinging like a monkey between the mast and supports. “It’s been finicky all week.”

“Aye, Caravel!”

Moon was a lithe, tiny creature even smaller than me. Like her name suggested she had skin the same shade as the moon and hair the color of obsidian. Her scales were the color of pounded silver, while her fins were spiky and sharp looking. Watching her figure as she began to work with a shackle and rope, I blinked as something tickled through me.

It was a horrible feeling.

Glancing down, a faint blue glow was emanating from under my shirt as I grappled Pa’s necklace. The moonglass.

“…get us all a drink while you’re down there, Reef!” Arrow said, causing my head to snap up in panic. Reef was crossing the main deck just as a loud SNAP broke the stale, hot air.

“Reef! Look out!”

My mop clattered to the floor as I ran towards the only friend I’d made so far. She looked up at me in confusion as I shoved her to one side, her figure rolling out of danger. I only had a split second before something heavy slammed into my chest, sending me to the ground with a horrible thud and a flash of pain. The end of a rope snapped across the side of my neck like a whip, my gills flaring as I grappled them with both hands. Something hot and wet gurgled up between my fingers as I struggled to find a breath, curling into myself with a squeak.

“Aria!”

I recognized Reef’s voice as she dropped to her knees beside me, webbed fingers grabbing at mine. “Hey, it’s ok. Let me see what happened.”

I whimpered as Reef’s hand pried mine off the wound, a shuttering gasp passing her lips.

“Someone get Morrigan!” She called, pressing the flat of her fingers against my gills as I struggled to breathe.

“What happened?”

Caravel’s footsteps came nearer as Reef made a strangled noise of discontent.

“I-I don’t know. Something must’ve snapped…I didn’t even see it….”

“Calm down, Reef.” Caravel ordered firmly. “Keep holding her gills.”

“What’s going on here?”

I couldn’t help it as my body stiffened, feeling ridged under Reef’s hand as heavy boots thunked nearer. Neva.

“An accident,” Caravel explained. “Hopefully Morrigan can stitch her up.”

“Don’t waste our supplies on a warmblood.” Neva snorted. “She was in the way, therefore she deals with the consequences.”

“Aria pushed me out of the way!” Reef barked angrily, hissing a bit past her own set of fangs. “Would you waste supplies on me if I were in her place?”

“That’s different….”

“No its not,” Reef snarled. “What’s your problem, anyway?”

“Outsiders don’t belong here.”

“Then I guess you don’t either, hey, Neva?” Caravel asked, her voice low as the Quartermaster hissed angrily, unsheathing her sword.

“How dare you.”

“Leave the pup alone,” Caravel warned, brandishing her own cutlass. “She’s done everything you ordered without a single complaint. The poor thing is exhausted and still found it in her to push Reef out of the way.”

“We all work equally on this ship….”

“Doesn’t seem very equal when Aria doesn’t take meals with us.” Arrow muttered nearby. “Reef’s been taking her leftovers.”

“She doesn’t sleep with us either,” Isla agreed, “hardly seems fair.”

“You’re outnumbered.” Caravel snarled. “How would the Captain react if I tell her you’ve worked her little sister to the point of exhaustion?”

There was a ripple of noise around the ship—mostly confusion and surprise. Had my ‘relation’ to the Captain not already been known? I had no idea it was a secret. Personally I thought it was a bit obvious what with how similar we looked, but then, I also wasn’t sure how siren families worked.

“Last chance before we get violent, Neva.” Caravel warned again, slamming her blade against the floor to kick up splinters. “Back off.”

“You’ll see soon enough that having a warmblood in our midst is a mistake,” Neva warned, putting her sword away as Caravel did the same. “We should’ve let her drown. She’s dangerous, just like the people who raised her.”

“Return to your post, Neva. Before I get the Captain involved.” Caravel ordered as the other woman huffed angrily, her boots thundering as she stomped away towards the helm. “The rest of you, back to work! I want all sails triple checked to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

There was a chorus of ‘aye!’ as a scramble of feet and bodies ensued, the crew returning to their various posts. “Morrigan, what took you so long?” Caravel asked as someone new approached, though I couldn’t see them clearly as my vision was still swimming.

“Oy, I have to do more than anyone else on this stupid raft,” Morrigan complained, though she sounded a touch tipsy. “What happened? Who’s this pup?”

“Aria.” Reef explained. “She got struck with a rope and clasp that broke loose.”

“Is this the one you’ve been feedin’ at night?”

“Aye. Neva doesn’t let her eat with us.”

“Hm. Move aside and let me look.”

There was a shuffle as Reef peeled her hand from my gills. I felt Morrigan’s fingers poke around the area, but there was no pain. I blinked my eyes clear, feeling a bit more like myself as there was a gruff snort next to my ear. “I see plenty o’ blood, but no wound.”

“What?” Reef and Caravel spoke at the same time as Morrigan shrugged. The woman looked older than Caravel by a few years, her skin dusty brown with scales a pale greenish color. A wide seaweed colored plait ran down the ridge of her head, while either side had been tattooed with various designs.

“Sit up lass, let’s have a look at ye.” Morrigan ordered, her hand guiding me up as I was hoisted into a proper sitting position. Despite feeling a little winded, the pain of being struck had all but vanished. “She looks right as rain to me.”

“But there was a gash,” Reef insisted, making a motion down her own gills, “I saw it.”

“Well it ain’t there now. What’s this you have on, lass?”

Morrigan pulled at the leather strap around my neck as Pa’s necklace was revealed, falling to sit atop my shirt. The blue disk was pulsing, though the light was quickly fading. “Ah. Now where’d you come across a trinket like that?”

“It belonged to my Pa,” I said, hurriedly tucking the amulet away again. “It’s nothing.”

“Hm. Funny thing, moonglass.” Morrigan drawled, wiping blood off her fingertips. “Stories say it’s made out of pure moonlight and was a gift from the sea to our most ancient ancestors. Legends claim the glass had mystical powers—powers we lost our ability to use after so many centuries.”

“What does that have to do with me?” I wondered honestly, pursing my lips as Morrigan leaned in close, her near black eyes reflecting my gaze back at me.

“Seems that the sea has called to you,” she whispered, “and for whatever reason, it has chosen to protect you.”

“Oh come off it, Morrigan,” Caravel grumbled. “Moonglass doesn’t have any practical use besides looking at maps. It doesn’t have magical powers.”

“Oy, it’s true and you know it.” Morrigan snarled, standing from my side as Reef returned, wrapping her arms around me.

“You didn’t have to do that,” she croaked. “I was so worried it was bad.”

“It…was the right thing to do.” I murmured, running a hand over my neck which was now covered in dried blood. There was no gash or scratch to be found. It was simply gone.

“Thanks for wastin’ my time,” Morrigan whined as Caravel rolled her eyes.

“Get back to the Galley, you old drunk.”

“Oy, I’m not a drunk!”

“You walk like a warmblood.”

“I do not!”

The bickering continued back and forth as Reef shook her head, grabbing my hand in hers and holding it tight. I stared at it, tracing how the sapphire webbing hooked to her inner fingers. Something warm burned inside my chest as I grabbed Pa’s necklace again, feeling it under my calloused palm.

I’d been bleeding…the gash was bad. Yet it had vanished. The moonglass healed me, of that I was sure.

But why…and for what reason?

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