Submerged: The Mer Chronicles

Meet the Sireneans

A dark coral reef spread out before me. I dove towards the sea floor, the voices of the Sireneans growing louder. Squeezing my body through a crevice in the reef, I followed their calls. The opening in the reef was the entryway that led to their underwater grotto. Rough, dark stone surrounded me creating canals to swim through. Stalactites and stalagmites jutted from all over as I made my way through the tunnel that led to the Saatchi and Nikko’s home.

 Yellow, pink, and orange fluorescent paint helped illuminate the way, creating areas of brilliant light and shadow as I propelled myself through the winding rocks. The paint was made from different combinations of fish scales, octopus ink, and gold shavings. The Sireneans used the paint for everything, to write their books, to color their homes, to light underwater streets, and to mark the way for a human girl to find her way back to their underwater world.

 The route was familiar, but it was still my first time not being led directly to Saatchi and Nikko’s home by Gramps. A sense of pride filled me when I saw the familiar stone archway, carved to look like crashing waves that led inside their home. I was finally home.

 Saatchi waited for me just a few feet inside the archway. She was every bit as beautiful as I last remembered. Torso of a human, but her fishtail curled and looked like that of a sea horse. Her flaming red hair fanned out in the water, bright green eyes eager to see me. She held out her arms to me as I rushed to her, greeting her like a mother. Sure, she might not have been my actual mother, but she was the closest thing I ever had. Her arms were warm around me, as I fell into her familiar embrace.

 “Kova,” her voice filled my mind as she wrapped her bumpy red tail softly around my legs, like she did every year on my birthday. “There’s my pretty girl. All grown up now.” She paused and touched my face, looking melancholic. “I still remember when you were small and you’d ride around on my back.”

 I squirmed under her stare. “Saatch,” I said, using my childhood nickname for her. “It’s still me. Just another year older.”

 “I know. I’m being silly, getting all teared up. Time just flies above the water. Come inside, you must be exhausted from your journey.”

 Following her in, I felt my muscles relax as we made our way into the main room. This place was as much my home as Gramps’ house and I hated that I was locked out for the majority of the year. The entire inner grotto was vast and covered in small pieces of bright sea glass, creating a mosaic effect all over the walls. Glass jars of every shape and size littered the floors and ran along the walls on shelves carved from rock. Inside the jars was every type of gold imaginable. There were shipwrecked coins in one corner, some dating back to the Spanish Empire, while other jars were filled with watches, necklaces, rings, buttons, and brooches.

 All of the gold made the room glimmer, reflecting light off of the sea glass mosaic walls. I kept close to Saatchi, glancing in the one corner that always sent a shiver up my spine. Tiny flecks of gold, bent and twisted, filled ten or fifteen jars. I knew what those flecks were and it made me feel sick to think of how they got them. They were teeth fillings, and in another jar, fake golden teeth all piled together.

 “Remember this, Kova?” Saatchi asked, swimming over with a white tile in her hands and breaking my gaze. She turned the tile over and showed me a picture I had painted for her on one of my birthdays. “You made this when you turned seven.”

 I nodded and reached for the tile.

 It was a self-portrait; a smiling girl with long dark hair and blue eyes, but with a sea horse tail like Saatchi. I had always wanted to be like her, and looking at her now, an ageless beauty, dripping with golden bangles and rings, I couldn’t help but be a little envious. What would it be like to spend my life underwater instead of up on land? The thought made my insides do flip-flops, it was exhilarating to think of it. The idea also made me curious. The same question that always ran around in my mind while underwater, popped up again. What was I? I never felt quite human or Sirenean.