Tails of the Deep [Major Editing]

Prologue

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"Never look at a siren in the eye" -Jupiter Hail

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I'VE heard many tales passed down from my father and fellow crewmen about the creatures of the deep. Creatures that knew magic – the reason why we have whirlpools. It's because of them – sirens, the cause of the many shipwrecks at sea.

These creatures, they are half- fish and half-human. They have tails at where their legs ought to be. They come in different shades of blue to blend into the ocean. Their gills lie on their upper torso and they have hair that matched their tail colour, and their skin, a tiny pinch of blue. Their fingers were long and slightly webbed. Their eyes were large and a little rounder than normal. And even so, these light blue eyes catch the sunlight and gleam with enough sparkle to draw you in.

The ability to swim at top speed is not the only way they catch their prey. Their diet consists of other creatures in the ocean and us, humans as well. Their ever so alluring eyes would take you into the water where they will drown you and feed on your flesh.

'Never look at a siren in the eye.' I remember those last words my father said to me before he left on a voyage and never returned. He was very knowledgeable about sirens and often told me of the several sightings of those beasts while on sea. On his last voyage, sirens attacked his ship and the surviving crewmen said that they took him away. I was only twelve then.

Every night I would sit by the window and look out to the sea, hoping there would be a slight chance that my father would come back alive. I remember going to the port every day after school, checking on the returning ships, watching its passengers make their way down the ramp, hoping one of them would be my father. However, as the years go by, that hope waned.

Every so often, you would hear of an unfortunate sailor being taken by sirens. "He should never have looked at them in the eye," they would say. I would sit there on the crates and listen to their tales as how Father used to tell them to me. I just needed to stay out, I needed to stay away from home.

To me, home was a stronger reminder of my loss than the port. Mother would be seen staring blankly into space as she wipes the window panes. She had loved him so, so much.

When she heard the news of Father's death, she tried so hard to be strong in front of me. But I heard her. I heard her in the dead of night, crying and whispering as though Father was there. "You said you would come back. For Will's sake and mine, please... come back."

My heart has never hurt more seeing herin that state and since that day, I vowed to take my father's place andeliminate all sirens.