Secret Siren

The water was calm and the air was crisp, he took a deep breath. Nothing felt right anymore, nothing fit properly, his head felt full. His quick walk to clear his thoughts had turned into midnight escapade and he was quick to recognize that it probably wasn't a good idea to stay out so late but he didn't want to go home.

She actually left.

He kicked a rock out from a loose spot in the cobbled road. Keefe let out a sigh that turned into a bitter laugh. As much as he had wished for one of his parents to leave so they would stop fighting, for some reason he hadn't thought it would be his mom to do it. His dad seemed much more likely, he was rich and self-involved. Keefe could see his dad living happily by himself for the rest of his life. His mom on the other hand...

He knew she wasn't a good parent but he had always thought she was the one keeping his dad home, not the other way around. She had always seemed to like Keefe, he never thought that she would be the one to leave. To turn around and not even say goodbye.

The world seemed too calm to reflect his mood, he wanted it to rain. For the clouds to block the light of the moon and the storm to chill him to the bone. He wanted to run down the wet one-lane streets and scream into the thunder. Instead, he made his way down the winding stone paths and towards the moonlit beach. The buildings along the road were all white with brown accents, all uniform. All perfect. He looked at the stars and wondered how their beauty was able to bless a world so full of wrongs. Nothing felt right, but maybe the calm of the night was what he needed to comfort him. His thoughts didn't seem as heavy as when he had first run out of the house, his shoulders didn't feel as tight. What had happened well, happened. There was nothing he could do, nothing he could say to make anything change.

The water was calm and the air was crisp.

The beach seemed weird empty. Growing up in a beach town made him used to tourists crowding the area at all times of the day. He was often joined by his friends during the down season to enjoy a quieter swim but he almost never came alone. At least, he had never come alone when the beach had been empty before. He would never admit it to Fitz but, the ocean freaked him out sometimes. Another deep breath. The night brought a sense of magic to the salty air. Carefully he pulled off his shoes and socks and placed them under the steps that led down to the main beach entrance.

Closing his eyes he stepped onto the sand and felt the cool sensation that followed. He felt tension leave his shoulders. He looked back at his town, few lights were on but he noticed that not one came from a house, only street lights. Everyone was asleep, he was truly and utterly alone. No one was coming and no one could witness his much-needed decompression.

What made a parent leave? Even when you know the exact reason it was still completely surprising to him that there was a part of them that was okay leaving a child behind. Their child. She spent nine months carrying him and brought him into the world only to find she could live without him in it. He didn't want it to hurt as badly as it did either. He had a bad relationship with his mom and he'd always wished she would come to understand how much their family's derision hurt. He couldn't take the screaming matches, the lack of privacy, the high expectations, the unconscious belittling. It was just the fact that she could leave that broke a part of him he didn't know he still had. A part of him that still wanted to be loved by his mother. A part of him that was now unfixably shattered. Even if she did eventually come back, even if she came back right now. He would always know that at some point he hadn't been enough.

A soft sound brought him out of his reverie and he looked around to see the source of what sounded like a young woman's singing. He wandered further down the beach towards the dock that lay near the rocky cliff walls that cut the beach off from the rest of the ocean. It was a sad song, filled with vibrato in a minor key, but he couldn't quite catch the words that explained the singer's pain. He now stood at the edge of the dock and looked around to find no one around, just as it had been when he'd arrived.

Where was that sound coming from?

Something pulled him towards the reflection of the moon in the water and the song, although louder now, started to fade from his focus. The closer he was the more he realized that it wasn't the moon he saw but the glow of something beneath the water. His hand almost touched the water when he was grabbed by a pair of hands.

Quickly the world around him vanished as he was pulled deeper and deeper underwater. Dark and cold water kept him from being able to see his captor but soon it became harder and harder to struggle against them. His lungs burned and what little he could see of the surface light started to spot in his vision and his muscles started to limp as he gave in and stopped struggling, the arms holding tight around his abdomen.

His head started to clear as he felt cool lips touch his and breathe life back into his lungs. Suddenly, his body started to twist painfully as his legs went numb and his skin prickled. His yells of agony were lost in swirling water until finally, the pain started to subside. Keefe blinked hazily as he put his hands to his head, that's when he realized he was able to breathe. Underwater. He was breathing underwater. He started to panic but a pair of hands clamped down on his to hold him still. His eyes focused on a shape in front of him and he found the sight of his captor.

She was beautiful in every sense of the word. She had long blond hair that was pulled back in a way that made you focus on how bright and warm her golden-brown eyes were. Her lips were pursed, eyebrows scrunched together, in concern as she continued her hold to steady him. She looked strong and he knew that if he tried to free himself of her grip he would lose terribly. But the most startling thing, probably what he should have recognized first when he looks back on it, was her long scaled fin that replaced where her legs should have been.

"You're-you're..." he stuttered out, "a mermaid?!" His words didn't affect her as she kept her hands around his wrists.

"As are you," she replied. Her eyes flickered down his body and he followed her to see his own legs had been replaced with the fishy tail. His thoughts were scattered as he tried to understand what was happening. He was breathing underwater and he had a tail. He was a mermaid- merman?

"Wait is it called a merman if you're a boy?" he asked and finally registered some surprise in her face at his comment.

She smiled, "Well technically we aren't mermaids, we're sirens. Siren's are a little different". Keefe tried moving his tail back and forth, watching as the dark blue scales reflected the light. He remembered how dark it had been when she first dragged him down and wondered if this meant sirens had night vision.

"Why did you take me here? Why did you transform me? What are sirens?" he asked softly, not quite meeting her eyes. She let go of his wrists and he felt himself suspended unaided in the water.

Her eyes looked sad and she chewed on her lip. "Sirens were the creation of greek god Achelous and one of the muses. One type of siren was created for each god: celestial for Zeus, generative for Posiden, and cathartic for Hades. It was said that Sirens were originally half-human and half-bird, Demeter herself used Sirens to track her missing daughter Persephone when she had disappeared. It was only after Hera challenged the Sirens to a singing challenge against the muses and the muses won that the sirens lost their wings. In their victory, the muses plucked their feathers and made them into crowns. Sirens then fell into the ocean, unable to go back to Olympus, and Posiden gave them pity by replacing their wings with tails so they would never have to face the muses again", she paused and made sure he was able to follow her. When he nodded for her to keep going she spoke again.

"Each type of siren has different talents blessed by the gods, there are the celestial sirens that more commonly fit in with the description of what humans believe mermaids to be. Celestial sirens are protectors of humans in the sea, making sure ships are able to pass through rough waters safely with protective powers granted by Zeus. Then there are the cathartic sirens that comfort the dead at sea to bring them out of Posiden's realm and into Hades. Lastly, there are the generative sirens, they have the ability to read the emotions of humans. Sometimes when a human is sad, so sad they would be willing to throw their life away into the sea, they have the ability to give them a second chance as a Siren. This is gifted by Posiden to bring new life to the ocean".

"That...actually makes a lot of sense. But, I still don't understand what I'm doing here," Keefe told her. He knew his mother's absence was upsetting him but he didn't think it was to the point that he didn't want to live.

"As you probably guessed, I'm a generative siren. Yes, I read that you were upset when you came to the beach, but that is not the reason I called out to you. Some sirens are gifted with the power of sight. When I read your emotions it gave me a vision and from what it told me, if I hadn't turned you into a siren you would have...well...", she gave him a wary look. "You would have been killed by someone you trusted dearly."

He tried to wrap his thoughts around what she was telling him, killed? As in, murdered? Sirens?

"Keefe," she said noticing that he was getting upset. "I need you to take a deep breath and think about it for a minute. I couldn't turn you if you didn't want to, the process wouldn't have worked. So tell me this before you work yourself up, why didn't you want to stay human?"

He looked at her and scrunched his eyebrows together. He took a few deep breaths and thought about it. Maybe it was because he didn't want to feel the pain in his heart. Maybe he didn't want to watch his life keep falling apart. Maybe he knew in his heart that his mom was never coming back, maybe he knew his dad didn't want him either.

"I think I knew that I didn't want to exist where people didn't want me," he sighed reluctantly. She gave him a sympathetic smile and as he started to accept the situation he noticed he didn't know her name.

"By the way," he started. "What's your name?"

"Oh! Right, of course," she held out her hand to him. "My name's Sophie Foster, nice to meet you"