The salty wind pulled the water while the moon blocked out by the blazing sun pushed the waves back making the harsh waters unsafe for any ordinary swimmer.  The sea blue water splashed against the passing pirate and naval ships without compromising their voyage, only rocking the crew. Below the clear sky and murky waters, the ocean held many secrets that man could only dream of discovering one day.  This including the last siren unknown to man.

Venus has been alive for more millennia than she cared to count.  For her time spent in the water has made her wary of her early years when she'd swim alongside her family and friends.  For the last two decades, she's been looking for any trace of another siren since mysteriously waking up one day with no other siren around her.  She soon came to find out that it seemed like she was the last left.

She'd spent the coming years from that day on swimming across every river, ocean, and sea to find just one other creature remotely like her.  As she searched, the human world above her kept adding more and more ships on the water while children swam in the shallow waters for the first time in a while.  Venus always wondered why they'd only started swimming now but didn't dwell on it too much.  In her search, she sent out calls and sang throughout the empty water so that if there were other sirens, they'd hear her. But after all this time, no one answered but the sailors jumping from their ships down to their watery graves.

After all these years, Venus has finally resurfaced thinking he was alone.  Spitting the last of the salt from under her lip, she spat out in her native tongue, "I forgot how much I hated the smell of air!  This is why Posi and I never surfaced all these years, this shit reeks."  Looking around, she moved just in time for a boat to just miss ramming into her.  "Watch where you're going!"  She shook her partly blue and green scaley arm in the air at the big boat but paused at the sight in front of her.

Her jaw dropped back into the water when she saw the wooden statue of a siren that matched her features in a flattering way.  The carbon-copy of herself bewitched her long enough to be spotted by a couple of crew members.

"Cap'n! There's a broad that's gone overboard!"  The men on the boat bustled getting a rescue boat together for Venus, while she paid no mind to hem knowing she could escape in no time at all. When the small boat hit the water, she was already on the stern below the waves.  She listened to their muffled voices panicking when they couldn't find her.

Rising above the sea foam, she made a disgusted face as she sucked in the air around her.  She looked up to see the boat being pulled back up with the men getting off and being yelled at by who she believed was the captain, "you say there was a woman out there but then get down there to no longer see her?"

"Yes, Cap'n! It's like she vanished into thin air."  Venus moved around to try and get a better look at the men but realized she'd have to climb up the side of the boat to see them, so she settled for the safer position.

"And what did this 'broad' look like?"  The captain's voice slithered down the poor boy's neck and choked him as he tried his best to make his claim soundly.

He took a few deep breathes while swallowing his ego and cracked, "well..."

"Stand up straight and answer me clearly Scotty," the captain bellowed.

The boy named Scotty jumped at the demand but did as he was told, "her hair was drenched but I could clearly tell it was a light brown!"

His captain motioned for him to keep going, "yes and?"

"She had lavender eyes that bounced off of the water, which was how I spotted her!"

One of the other crew members bellowed, "did she have a bluish, greenish golden tail too, mate? How about her hair? Did it change colors whenever she pleased?"  The other sailors cackled with each of them adding on to the propaganda.

"I bet she sang him an alluring song too!"

"Why do you think he jumped into a boat before Cap'n could say anything?"  Venus listened to the men as they spouted things she never knew they knew about her kind.

She whispered in her lost siren language, "it seems these humans knew more than I thought they would..."  She was about the grab the ladder to climb up and hear more about the sirens until the deck's chaos split.

The sound of heavy boots slowly walking across the creaky boards was all that could be heard over the crashing of the waves and the chirping seagulls perched atop the flagpole.

"Are you trying to tell me you saw a woman that looks exactly like our figurehead on The Anastasia?" The captain question with malice with a hint of hope, like a child wanting to know more while still being upset about who knows what.

The crewmate lowered his head and mumbled, "I know it sounds ludicrous but she really looked like her, Cap'n."

Venus went back under the water having heard enough of the foolish squabble.  She was most intrigued by the siren perched on the front of the boat they called The Anastasia.  Swimming to the front, she came back up to gaze up at the wooden girl that could've been her younger sister or even twin a that.  The muffled voices of the pirates got closer to her but she paid no mind.  Her concentration was on the figure above her as she thought of things she should do next with this newfound proof that there could very well be more sirens out there just like her.

"Head for the docks, men.  I want to hear no more talk of the lass you thought you saw Scotty.  Meet me in my quarters when we dock, I have a mission for you."  The man's voice drifted away with the sea.

As the ship slowly drifted closer to the docks, Venus realized there was only one real way for her to find more of her kind.  So, making sure no more men were to come from the ship, she grabbed the side of the dock and hoisted herself up letting her brown locks shine in the sun and slowly turn blonde.  Sitting on the side, she watched her iridescent tail separate into two beings and change into a porcelain skin to match her arms.  Stepping up, the rest of her tail floated down into a royal blue dress that stood out like a butterfly among moths.

Taking her first steps across the wooded path, she looked around with nonchalance and picked up a familiar voice that was ordering men around left and right.  She turned the other way to avoid coming in contact with anyone that saw her but instead she turned right into a firm chest blocking her way.  She looked up to see a man with scruffy sandy hair and a five o’clock shadow.  His brown eyes peered down into her lavender ones that quickly shifted to brown to match his.

At the sight, his eyebrows shot up and he asked her, “Is there something you’re looking for lass? My name is Captain Caspien P. Neptose, I can help you find your way.”  Looking down, he scratched his chin and asked, “looks like you’re not from around here, where’d ya sail in from?”

He thought to himself, ‘no one here has enough gold to have royal blue silk shipped into this town.  She has to be an envoy from another kingdom or even a noble of some sort to get her hands on this quality of fabric.  Not even that, there’s something strange about her.’ He patted her back and felt droplets of water and realized she was soaking wet.

“Baia,” Venus flung the word out into the air without realizing she’d translated from her native language to English for the first time.  She wasn’t too phased because she’s known for a while that sirens can adapt easily to speak in other languages after overhearing others speak around them.

Caspien’s cheeks flushed at her single word.  The soft breezy tone of her voice mixed with her languid scent of lavender and lotus wafted around her entangling the captain in her shifting eyes.  He stepped forward and reached out for her hand without having a clear state of mind to ask her name.

But Venus had no time for him, “who sculpted that siren on your ship?”

In an instant, Caspien came back and looked down at the young girl he yearned for.  Blinking one too many times he answered, “uhm, you mean the wooden mermaid?”

She nodded her head with an obvious annoyance in her eyes.

He coughed and scratched the back of his neck, “yeah well, it was a gift from my mother.  She had it carved from my memory.  Apparently I always talked about seeing a mermaid when I was younger on my father’s ship.”  Looking up at the wooden mermaid, he continued with a mischievous smile, “I remember my mother always getting upset with me throwing her jewelry overboard the ship to give to my imaginary friend. Isn’t that--”

Turning back to where Venus was standing silently, all that was left was a puddle of water.  He turned in every direction to find no trace of her still on the docks.  Raising his hand high into the air, the men that scurried around him all froze and faced him.  Captain Caspien echoed over the water and wind, “find her!” He pointed to the mermaid on the front of his ship and watched as his men didn’t question his orders like they did to Scotty’s words.  He looked off towards the sea and wondered if the two women he’d met could be the same then thought of his imagination getting the better of him, ‘she was a mermaid and that girl just now was just lost.  There’s no way they could be the same person.’ He stood there watching his men scramble to look for the mermaid while most seemed confused, others like Scotty knew exactly what he meant as they rushed into the town.

As they rushed around, Venus softly stepped across the deck without a care in the world for being seen or caught by any crew members.  According to her, they had all been called away to look for the siren on the front of the ship she was now snooping around.

Creaking across the old wood, Venus looked around the deck for any sign of life before swinging open a nearby door.  She came face to face with a grandeur painting of a father, mother and young son.  The boy looked eerily familiar to her but she didn’t care to think about it for another second after she spotted a shelf full of different and odd objects.   Some were rusting down to their roots while others shined as if they reflected with the sea.

Digging deeper, she found luxurious necklaces, rings, and bracelets.  She tilted her head then whispered, “I remember seeing mother wear things like this around her tail!”  She giggled to herself and went to slip a diamond-encrusted necklace onto her own tail but realized she was playing human.

Unclipping the necklace, she walked over the mirror hanging on the wall and held it above her head thinking, ‘maybe it’s some type of crown?’ She clipped it again and tried draping it over her honey-blonde locks only for it to slip straight down to around her neck.  The jewels dazzled in the sunlight making her smile radiantly as the necklace.  Looking at the other jewelry in the room, she picked it up and realized it looked familiar.

Venus skipped over to the painting that hung in the dimly lit corner of the room and saw the same jewelry she held in her hands draped delicately on the mother in the painting.

Slipping on the rings and bracelets as the painting depicted, Venus twirled back to the mirror and gaped at the wonderful treasures she’d discovered.  “I never knew the dry land would have such dazzling trinkets.  I wonder why they’ve been collecting dust with the other rusty pieces.”  She looked back in the mirror and bowed deeply and jeered with a smile, “you most certainly may not have this dance, my captain!  I’m a proper lady, while you just yell at your crewmates all day for no reason at all!”  She laughed at the thought of what Captain Caysien would really say if he heard her speak that way.

Turning and prancing around the room, Venus danced with the sunlight being the free fish she was.  With the wind and dance knocked out of her, she finally calmed down enough to think it wise to put everything back to where she found it.  Her salty sweat dripped from her forehead to her nose.  Stepping over the small window, the creaked it open to smell the sea she longed for and to be refreshed from acting like something she wasn’t for longer than she anticipated.

With the sun and salt filtering through the room, Venus stepped over toward the shelf and began carefully taking off the jewelry she was dancing around with until she spotted some more peculiar objects upon the shelf. As the dust twinkled around her gaze, she picked up a small anchor-shaped stamp and pressed it hard against her hand, “curious...I wonder who would want to mark themselves with that?”  She put it back and scoffed thinking it weird to have a rusty old thing like that.  Blowing on the shelf, dust flew up into the air reminding her of the fresh salty breeze she felt when she first rose to the surface in her early years.  With the reminiscence dangling next to her ear, she tilted her head at the sight of a small silver cufflink that was broken and weathered.

Picking it up, a spark blew up in her head making a memory flash by of a young boy floating in the water.  His golden hair floated in the moonlit sea and the fire above the water raged on.  It was only for a moment but it was enough to make her drop the trinket making a small ‘tink.’ It rolled across the floor until it was stopped by a coal boot.

Bending down, Scotty picked up the cufflink and looked around the room to see nothing out of place but the dust floating through the sunlight.  He crept across the wood checking every corner for anything was askew in his captain’s room.  The squeak with every step made him less intimidating and more foolish, he himself had the same thought as he blushed thinking of an intruder watching him walk across the floor sounding a duckling.

He hid his face in the palm of his hands and grunted while his face was ablaze. He crouched on the floor embarrassed and mumbled, “pray to tell me no one is watching me as of now!”

From behind the thin folding doors, Venus held her mouth to keep from laughing at the boy- ahem I mean man in front of her dying of embarrassment over some squeaky boots.   She thought to herself, ‘if I really were to reveal myself now I know he’d be too upset to confront me!’  She reached her hand out to open the door when the entrance to the captain’s quarters swung open.

“What the hell are you doing here, Scotty? You’re supposed to be out there searching with the rest of the crew.” Stepping into the room completely with his white baggy shirt drifting with the wind, Captain Caysien cocked his head at his flushed crewmate, Scotty.  He walked over to his desk and plopped his heavy boots onto his desk to lean back languidly.

Scotty skimpered over to him and stuttered, “w-well I thought I saw someone walking across the deck, s-so I came up to check and then heard someone talking in here!  But I knew it wasn’t you because I just saw you on the docks Captain, so I wanted to make sure it wasn’t a Murili-”

“Stop right there!  You know you can’t say things like that while we’re here.”

“I just,” Scotty twiddled his fingers embarrassed and mumbled, “I just wanted to make sure no one was here to steal your trophies.”  He glanced at the dusty shelf with every piece of jewelry and knick-knack still ominously sitting in the same place as always.

Caspien slammed his boots on the floor and scoffed, “are you kidding me right now, Scott?” He stood up and brushed his fingers through his hair, “I thought you’ve known me long enough to know that these aren’t trophies, I’m not a lunatic!” He gave the boy a hearty laugh while ruffling his dark hair and told him, “I know you think I’m crazy when I tell you about my dreams and childhood but these are proof that it all happened.”

Scotty sat down on the stool in front of Caspien’s desk and patiently waited to hear a story from his one and only captain.  His ears pricked up as the clanking of two glasses echoed throughout the room as Caspien poured two cups of rum for himself and his oldest friend.

Placing one cup in the hands of his mate while taking the other back to his desk, Caspien sat down and sighed, “lord knows how old I was when I first saw her.  I couldn’t even tell you the first time we met” he lied through his teeth.  “But I just remember her enchanting lavender eyes and the soft touch of her porcelain fingertips against my cheek as she told me, ‘there’s nothing for you to fear.  I’ll always be right here with you, my child.’ She was the light of my life while my parents talked about when they would get back to Arla next.”  He swirled the boos around in his cup and chuckled, “my mother didn’t notice I was gone until her jewelry started disappearing with me as well.”

Scotty laughed along with him and begged, “oh! Tell me about how the duchess scolded you after she found out.  That’s always my favorite part of these stories!”

“She didn’t always scold me!”

Scotty tilted his head, “so she didn’t?”

“No, she most certainly did.”  He scratched the scruff poking out of his chin and jeered, “at least she’s never yelled at me for crying during the welcoming ball!”  He slapped his knee and burst out laughing remembering when he was first introduced to Scotty.  They’d met at a ball welcoming home the country’s men from their 7-year long war against Murilia. They’d been friends for the last 2 decades while keeping their relationship under wraps from the rest of the crew.

Scotty pouted in his chair and mumbled, “at least I don’t dream about a mermaid I’ll never see again.” After saying what he did, Scotty covered his mouth and realized what he made his captain seem like.

‘A child…’ Venus thought to herself as she peered through the cracks in the door.  The two men kept bickering as she longed to leave the dark closet she holed herself up in to escape being caught.  She backed up to sit against the wall but felt something brittle behind her.

Turning around, she came face to face with a shriveled tail beaming in the sun that blazed through the cracks in the door.  Vomit came up her throat but was stopped by her hand as she gazed around her to see dozens of hanging, severed tails all around the room she thought to be a closet.  The ‘trophies’ hung from the ceiling and swayed from her touch making her dizzily petrified.  Only to realize that the man she’s encountered before is searching for,

“--Her tail.  You can’t tell me that if you saw a glamorous blue and gold tail flopping around in the water, you wouldn’t want to capture forever!  What a sight to see. I need to find her Scotty, whether that makes me a fool caught in the past or a child looking for our future; I don’t care.”

Venus clamored about the room trying to find another door or hidden window to escape but came up ended handed.  Curling up in the corner, Venus hid from the light and avoided the shriveled siren tails swinging with the afternoon tides.

The Anastasia rocked back and forth as the two men heckled each other about there past.  Caspien sighed while wiping a tear from his eye, “well old pal, it’s always great to laugh with you about the past but now it’s time to look towards the future of my crew!”  He slapped Scotty on the back and headed for the door, “I’ll be in the market collecting some grub for the trip back to Arla.  If you see anyone else on the boat it might be the loading team, so don’t worry too much!”  He chuckled while Scotty trailed behind feeling embarrassed.

“What do you want me to do Captain?”

Caspien swung open the door but paused while thinking of what he can do, “I’d say whatever everyone else in the crew is doing.”

“Well…”

  “If you really have to ask,” Caspien stopped as he saw Scotty’s head tilt down.  He sighed, “just find the girl I was talking to earlier.”

The two of them left the room while Scotty nervously asked, “what does she look like Cap?  I just want to make sure I’m looking for the right girl.”

Caspien stepped off of his ship and turned to look at the front of his ship at a familiar wooden maiden.  Without turning to his old friend he valiantly said, “well, when she walked up to me, her eyes shifted from the most brilliant lavender to a hazel color to match the wood of the ship.”

“Like yours, captain?”

“I suppose so.  But her hair, well, it reminded me of my mother.  Except, her’s was wavy like the ripples you’d see in a pond after tossing a stone. She had a way of being direct and to the point, while also wafting the languid scent of calming lavender around her.  I couldn’t try to describe her much better than that.”  Looking back at Scotty, he saw his best friend trying to stifle his laughter.  He stood tall above him and asked with his arms crossed, “and, what’s so funny?”

Scotty stood straight as a rod the second he saw his captain’s face, “absolutely nothing captain!”

As soon as the wooden door swung close and the two men’s voices faded from the ship, Venus burst through the door of the closet and booked it for the deck.  She looked around to make sure no one was watching her as she ran down the docks away from her own personal hell she’d never dreamed of seeing before.  With every step she took, her skin deepened to an olive color while her hair shrunk to her shoulders and darkened to match her newly found brown eye color.

Bursting through the doors of a nearby tavern with her luscious royal blue dress swaying to a stop, Venus caught her breath and steadily sat by the bar.  The prying eyes around her didn’t impact her thoughts of what she just encountered, ‘those were definitely severed siren tails,’ she thought to herself. ‘At least I’ll never have to be in contact with that man again.  At best, I’ll see the underside of his boat.’ She laughed uneasily to herself as a heavyset groggy man flopped next to her and slumped on her shoulder.  She shrugged him off but he just slung his arm over her shoulder.

Opening his mouth and slurring his drunken words, the man hiccupped, “you got a sweet getup sweetie.  Ya need help gettin’ out of it tonight?” He tugged at her straps making her roll her eyes and slap his hands away.  Whimpering in her ear he slurred, “ah come on.  Just walk me back to my room and I’ll make it worth your while.”  He gave her a sly smile while she swatted him away again.  The drunkard scoffed and grabbed onto Venus’ wrist pulling her from the stool.  They both stumbled as he cackled, “don’t worry I’ll take care of you, sweetheart.  There’s no reason to be shy.” She rolled her eyes as he dragged her out of the tavern and down the street to the motel he was staying in.

Swinging open the door, he flopped on the bed and started to unbuckle his pants.  Venus looks out of his window towards the sea and asks him sweetly, “may I sing you a song for inviting me to your home?”

Drunk as a sailor matching his friends’ drinks, the man pulled Venus by the waist and slobbered over her neck while slurring, “you can sing all you want, sweetie.  A little early if you ask me.”  He slipped his hands to the back of her dress looking for buttons that weren’t there.

Without a care for the stumbling man that had captured her waist in his sweaty hands, Venus took a deep breath before letting her tantalizing voice swarm the room as she sang:

Hear my voice beneath the sea

Sleeping now so peacefully

At the bottom of the sea

Sleep for all eternity

With the first verse, the roots of her dark hair began to glow as if the sunlight were growing from her scalp.  With one blink, her once hazel eyes burned red with a rage she’d never shown to another human being before.  They glowed with every word she said making the drunkard fall deeper and deeper into her voice.

Sailors live so restlessly

Come with me, sleep peacefully

Listen to this siren's song

Worry not for nothing's wrong

Let my voice lead you this way

I will not lead you astray

Trust me as we reach the side

Jumping out where men have died

Hear my voice beneath the sea

Sleeping now so peacefully

At the bottom of the sea

Sleep for all eternity

He stood up from the bed while his limbs fell from her hips now numb to his own control.  Walking towards the single window he faced the sea as if he was longing to be free from the land, as did she.

Let the ocean fill your lungs

Struggle not, soon peace will come

Taking in your final breath

Sink down to the ocean's depths

"I wish I could always be

In the ocean's arms, you see"

He who'd wanted nothing more

Sleeps now at the ocean floor

Ocean was your lover's name

You had loved her all the same

Now you'll always be together

Sirens are so very clever

Hear my voice beneath the sea

Sleeping now so peacefully

At the bottom of the sea,

Without being able to restrain himself, the man grabbed ahold of the window sill and hoisted himself up to stand on the ledge.  Swaying back and forth with the breeze gently caressing his blushed cheeks, he obediently awaited Venus’ last words.  His hazed over eyes began to melt away to bring back color while pulling him back into his own consciousness.

Sleep for all eternity

With her final words to him, the man snapped out of his trance as his body fell forward and splat on the ground below.

Walking toward the window, Venus blinked the fiery red from her eyes and leaned on the sill watching as the surrounding townspeople gasped at the drunken man’s suicide.  While women gasped and children hid in fear, Venus alone stood slouched against the window with a smirk dripping down her lips.  She jumped up on the sill and down to the dirt next to the pool of blood gathering next to the man she’d entranced head.  She skipped in each step she took while the people around her scattered to find someone to report the situation to.  Before getting too far, she began to hear people whisper about a navy scattering around the area.  Thinking it best to leave while she still could, she turned towards the water to rid herself of the town forever but ran into someone else instead.  Looking up, she was about to ask what the man needed before he cupped his hand over her mouth and dragged her to the edge of the town.  With no one paying attention to her. Venus was taken from the scene before anyone was there to remember her face or even her shifting eyes.