He's not a Merman

Chapter 16 Mermaid's Song

Chapter 16 

Mermaids? I thought that they were just legends.

When I heard Myrr and Zen talking about mermaids, I thought that I was hearing them wrong. But looking at Myrr, my doubts disappeared, and instead, I felt excitement. How can I not when the books in the palace library describe them as beautiful and alluring creatures? Wouldn't you just want to look at them out of curiosity? Just what kind of unparalleled beauty is enough for fishermen to abandon their boats?

I don't know about you guys but I am curious.

Myrr and Zen seem to have different opinions with me because they look anxiously out in the sea.

"Where are the mermaids?" I ask. My excitement was clearly laced in my voice. I run to the front of the boat, or at least I plan to, when Zen pulls me back by the collar of my shirt.

"Hey! Watch where you grab me!" I struggled to fight Zen's grasp because I was desperate to see a mermaid.

"Would ya rather I pull ya by the hair like how ya do to me?" Zen raises a brow. "Get back. Mermaids are dangerous."

"But I want to see them!"

"Princess, don't ya have any sense of danger in yer bones? They're dangerous! Why do ya even want to see 'em?"

"I heard that they're pretty."

"That's it?" Zen sounds suspicious.
"I want to see who is prettier, me or them." I answer with a straight face.

Shock was clearly plastered on the red haired pirate when he heard my reason. "...Yer somethin' else. And I don't mean that in a positive way."

I start to pick up some singing in the background and immediately feel Zen's hand loosening his hold on my collar. Then he starts to stagger, so it is my turn to hold him just to keep him stable.

"Are you drunk?"

"No—urgh!" Looking at Zen, his focus seems to be drifting in and out of focus. The same goes for Myrr, who is withering on the ground and trying to keep himself focused. His tentacles coil in and out like they all have a mind of their own.

"A–Arie, get inside..." Myrr struggled to speak. One of his tentacles points to the cabin. "Quickly...before their songs could control you."

Control me? Do their songs do that?

"But I feel fine." I look at my hands, flexing them and trying to feel if there's any sort of resistance. None. Na-da.

"How's that possible!?" Zen wonders loudly, almost yelling as the singing starts to become more audible.

"How should I know? Maybe it's because I am a girl?"

"Their songs are made to lure everyone! There ain't no exceptions...mm..." Zen was yelling at me so loudly that I was almost tempted to throw him off the boat again. When I looked at the guys again, they both appeared to be in a daze.

"Hello?" I wave my hands in front of their faces, but neither Zen nor Myrr were paying any attention to me. Their eyes are open but they seem to be sleeping.

Weird. Is this what being controlled by a mermaid is like? It's almost similar to the look that I saw my father have, but the only difference here is that Zen and Myrr both look alive. They almost look like they are anticipating something.

Should I try hitting them?

The song that rang in my ears got louder so I followed the source out of curiosity. It was coming to the port side of the boat. Leaning on the rail, I squint my eyes to fight off the fog. Something shimmers in the water, drawing my attention to it. I thought that it might be the reflection of the sunlight, but it was cloudy right now.