Chapter 5: A Sister's Mistake

I stare at the figure in disbelief. It makes no sense. Why would she be here?

"Pia?"

There’s no doubt. It’s my sister, walking on two legs like a human. A gorgeous amulet with a crimson stone dangles from her neck, catching the light.

"Leia! "

Pia runs to me and wraps me into a hug.

"How is this possible?"

Pia wraps my arm around her neck and hoists me up. "I’ll explain later. We’ve got to go."

I lean on her as we make our way out of the room.

There is absolute chaos on deck. People are screaming, fighting and dodging the giant tentacles of a kraken.

Pia and I are almost at the railing, when Ludwig appears.

Pia glares at him.

He lowers his weapon. Doesn’t even take a single step closer.

He just looks at me, a desperate plea in his eyes.

"Please… don’t go…"

Have his eyes always been this blue? I open my mouth to speak, not even sure what I would say. But I have to say something, anything to soothe that look in his eyes.

But I don’t get the chance to do that. Because Pia rips the amulet from her neck, letting it crash onto the ship’s deck.

She pushes us both over the railing and transforms back into a mermaid.

As we fall, I see Ludwig dash to the railing. I see his face, his sad ocean blue eyes, as he watches us and the hope for his country disappear.

I’ve barely hit the water when Pia grips my wrist and tries to pull me deeper into the ocean. Towards home. Away from the ship.

But I stop.

I have to. His face haunts me. I can’t just turn away.

He needs me.

And I want to stay.

I want to see Bergthal.

Is it as beautiful as he claims? As the pictures made it seem?

I want to see fire, to feel its heat and hear it crackling like he said. I want to watch people dance and drink orange water. And I want to eat Germknödel. He did say that they were even better in the city. What else could I try? What else could I experience?

Then there’s a loud CRACK.

I see a piece of the ship break away.

And suddenly my musings seem insignificant.

Ludwig is in danger. His people are in danger. I have to help them.

"Stop him, Pia." I urge and turn to her. "You have to stop him!"

Pia doesn't answer me with words.

Instead, she begins to sing.

And the sea shimmers again. A swarm of silver fish circle us like falling petals. And the kraken, that giant being, begins to dance. Its tentacles strike the ship with each movement.

"No! " I scream and reach out with my hands. Now that I am back in the ocean, I can feel my connection to its waters. I bend the restless sea into strings that wrap themselves around the kraken, pulling it back from the ship. Back from the people. Back from Ludwig.

Pia turns to me, but I can’t afford to look at her. I have to concentrate. Besides, I already know what I will find on her face. Confusion. Anger. And betrayal.

Her voice grows louder. Demanding and raw. Even so, she sounds incredibly beautiful.

It’s like we’re playing tug of war. I can feel the kraken’s tentacles strain against my watery strings, and it lands another hit on the ship.

One hit. One hit that might have squished him.

I scream and a huge wave builds. Pia’s voice cracks. The wave engulfs the kraken and sweeps it away. I release my strings. The kraken swims away, into the endless depths, its body finally its own again.

Pia clutches her throat. There’s fear in her eyes. The same fear I saw in her eyes on that day. When I summoned the storm. When I got caught.

"No one can break a siren’s song," she says. "Not even another siren."

"I didn’t mean to! I mean I did but-"

I reach out but she pulls away.

"Why would you even want to stop me?" she hisses. "They are hunting us!"

"It’s not that simple…"

"Of course it is!"

"If they’re gone, new ones will arrive. And they are going to want revenge."

And I want to stay. I want to stay with them.

"You don’t know that! "

"Isn’t that why you want to sink their ship? Revenge?"

Pia glares at me. "That’s different. They came for us first!"

"Because they need us. Their land is dying."

I look back at the ship. I can see water streaming into it. They’re going to sink!

I swim towards it.

"Where are you going?" Pia asks.

"I have to help them."

"Are you insane?"

I focus on the water flowing around me. I breathe in and out. And the water begins breathing with me. Then I look back up at the ship. I guide the water around it and begin to swim, pulling it with me.

"Leia, stop. Leia… LEIA!"

Pia rushes after me.

An island… I just need to get them to…

Pia is singing again.

Silver fish descend on me like a hailstorm of needles. They slap against my face, my arms, my tail. But they are in the sea. And the sea answers to me. I guide the ship with one hand and use the other to fling the fish away. They return each time, but that doesn’t matter.

Almost there… I’m almost…

I can see the shoreline. And then I am hit in the head by a sea turtle’s shell.

My vision blurs as I watch the ship crash onto the island.

***

I’m a child again. Sitting in our anemone garden with my mother. She sings me a melody. It’s beautiful and soothing. I try to sing along. But I don’t hit the notes. The anemone hide away.

I lower my head in shame, but my mother lifts my chin. I smile and sing with her again.

Then I’m at my mother’s side as she lays in bed.

She looks so feeble but somehow still elegant. She sings. Her voice is as beautiful as ever. I sing with her. It sounds terrible but she smiles.

Mom. It’s like you said. I finally found someone. Someone else who wants to hear me sing.

***

Sailors cling to the railing. Someone coughs up water, another downs a bottle. A couple of sailors descend onto the land, drop to their knees and begin kissing the sand.

Ludwig is the only one who stares towards the sea, he clutches something in his hands.

Richard walks up to him.

"How did we survive this?"

A few crewmen begin chanting about the god of the sea.

Ludwig opens his hands to reveal the necklace Pia left behind.

He plays with it and sighs.

***

When I open my eyes, I see Pia’s face. She is wrapping some seaweed across my forehead.

"I’m sorry."

"The ship!" I say and frantically look around. But there is no sign of it or the island. Only the endless sea.

"They’re fine. I felt bad enough for knocking you out."

I relax.

"I still don’t understand why you care so much about them. When they took you… I thought… I thought I’d never see you again."

I glide next to her and take her hand. "I know. I’m sorry."

"You don’t have to apologize! They’re the ones who-"

I squeeze her hand, trying to calm her.

"I know."

She sighs.

I look at her and notice a red vein pulsing along her tail.

"Pia? " I say, alarmed. "That amulet… where did you get it from?"

Pia looks down, ashamed.

I stare at her in disbelief. "No…"

"I thought they were going to eat you! I couldn’t just stand by! I had to do something!"

"You could have gone to the council…"

"They wouldn’t have listened!"

"To dad…"

"There was no time."

"What about…"

"Listen to me!" Pia demands and I fall silent. "There was no other option."

"There’s always another option…"

"Well I didn’t think of another option, okay?"

"You should have thought of one! Should’ve thought at all!"

"Why? It’s not like you do that."

I open my mouth but fall silent.

She’s right. I know she’s right.

She caresses her tail. I see her eyes dart to the red vein.

I lay my hand on her shoulder. "How long do you have?"

"About a week. I think."

"You think? Pia, when you make a deal with him, you have to remember everything."

"I was nervous, ok? And scared. I didn’t want to lose you."

I pull her into a hug.

"I don’t want to lose you either."

She buries her face in my shoulder. Then she stiffens and looks up.

"Don’t even think about going to him!"

My expression hardens.

Pia is frantic with concern. "Don’t you understand Leia? It’s different for you! He won’t-"

I caress her hair, trying to calm her. It doesn’t work.

"Promise me, " she begs. "You have to promise me you won’t go to him."

I look at her with a smile.

And she begins to cry.

***

Ludwig is sitting at the desk of his damaged cabin. He is reading by candlelight, surrounded by a pile of books, most of them damaged by the seawater.

He taps a finger against the crimson stone of the amulet.

"Where have I seen you before?"

He flips through book after book. Some have drawings of sea monsters, various anemone or even the occasional mermaid. Others show only squiggly lines.

Then, he pulls out a particularly old and battered looking tomb. Flips through a couple of pages.

His eyes light up in recognition.

An ink drawing, centuries old, depict the amulet he now holds in his hands.

He tries to decipher the text above it. "Poseidon’s nightmare… but that would mean…"

He gasps, accidentally extinguishing his candle.