A low, lonely note almost shouts above the rest. Yet, even at that volume, it maintains its song. The flesh on my arm burns, as though the markings upon it have turned into razor wire, digging into my muscle as I grip the railing tighter. But I hardly feel it. The wind and sea, shouts of my crew, ominous creaking of my ship, it all fades away.
Come to me. It’s a whisper, in a language I feel more than I know. The words shiver across me. Sink into me. Relaxing every knotted cord of muscle in my form. I breathe, as if inhaling the sound. His song comes to me like an old friend. Uninvited. But holding a key to the door anyway, letting himself in.
No. I blink, shaking the hold. For the first time…I had fallen prey to a siren’s song.
The song stops and the world rushes back into my senses. The rain suddenly feels like icy daggers driving into my too-hot skin. My forearm burns to the point that, were I not gripping the railing, I’d be tearing at my flesh with my nails.
The song picks up once more withouthisvoice. Pulsing. Thrumming. Frantic.
Calling for me.
No!I want to scream. But my throat is too dry to make even the faintest of sounds.I have six more months. Not yet.
The hymn of the passage has morphed into the song that’s haunted me every day. The song even the calmest winds whispered. The song that nearly drove me mad the first year of hearing it every night before sleep, or every time my mind was still.
Hissong.
The siren is coming for me. My debts have piled. The payment for my life’s choices is coming due.
But it’s too soon.Too soon!I have six months left.
I raise two flags at once, thrusting them forward. Full sails ahead. I return the flags and point, twice. The bell rings twice. It hardly shakes the song. I point again.Again!The song continues. Relentless.
Not now. Not now.
There are other voices joining in. Others are calling for me with their wispy, ghostly harmonies. The siren has brought friends to collect my debt. Land and sea, there’s nowhere safe for me, nowhere my dues are paid.
I turn, staring at the men and women who entrusted their lives to me. Jivre’s hands go slack on the wheel a moment. Her eyes widen. I’ve broken my cardinal rule of the passage. My crew has seen my fear. I press my mouth into a hard line. I am not about to let these monsters take me without a fight. And I swear to every forgotten old god that I amnotletting them have my crew.
We’re just over halfway.We will do this. Grabbing a flag, I point. The ship veers. Left. Then right. Left again. One more turn…
It’s a straight shot from here. Jivre knows the way as well as I do. She can do it.
There are shadows in the water, churning just beneath the foam. The song is so loud that it’s become hard to formulate thoughts. There’s no more time.
He’s here to collect me. I feel it in the way each note scrapes against the inside of my skull. Maybe I can buy them time. They shouldn’t pay for my choices.
My first mate’s fear turns to panic and confusion when I step away from the bow and face her.
“Look after Emily for me,” I say with my hands, mouthing the words for emphasis. “Please, pay my debt for me. Don’t let her go to a debtors’ prison. Don’t let my parents.Please.” I don’t know how she could prevent all that. It’s too much to ask or hope for, but I do so anyway. I’m out of choices.
Jivre goes to release the wheel to reply, but the second she does it begins to spin frantically. She grips it again, getting the vessel under control. All she can do is shake her head. Her eyes are shining, horror illuminated by strikes of lighting. She knows what’s going to happen, because she knows me.
“Straight from here. Don’t let them pull you away.” I tap my compass, still nestled in the railing, and point ahead. “Thank you. Thank all of them, for me.” I should have told my crew more, sooner. I should have found a way to ensure they knew my gratitude.
“Victoria!” she shouts my name, not knowing I can hear her frantic cry. Not knowing my muffs never did anything at all.
I go to the side of the vessel where the sirens’ song is at its loudest. The noise causes me to wince. Underneath the dark, frothy waters, shadows whorl closer and closer to the surface. Bracing myself, I put both trembling hands on the railing.
Jump.Jump, Victoria. It’s so simple. Yet terror holds me as I stare down at the churning seas.
The waves are getting worse. They’re rising in the distance. The shadows are condensing into long tendrils.
The song reaches a crescendo. A hundred voices rise at once. No longer singing. They are howling. Screaming. I brace on the railing, readying to throw myself overboard.
Then, silence. I still with horror.
Those shadows aren’t sirens!
