Whispering waves

"Don't disappear"

I talked with Ianthe for a long time, not caring that the sky had turned pitch black.
I hoped no one had noticed I was missing; the last thing I needed was my parents thinking I had ran away.
I kept asking Ianthe questions, but she mostly gave me vague answers.
"I can't tell you too much. If they even find out I've been talking to a human... They won't take it too well. They say you're all evil, but no human has ever done any harm to me."
"How many humans have you met exactly?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Ianthe must have met very few humans to think they (we?) were not evil at all.
"I do not know... but a lot of sailors."
I was silent for a while. I had never actually met any sailors, just seen them from afar.
I stared at the sea. It was dark, but the stars reflected onto the waves; it looked as if they were stitched onto the bottom of the sea and their light was so bright it reached the surface too.
"What is it like there? In the sea."
Ianthe looked at me curiously, her purple eyes glowing in the night.
"It is quite beautiful. There are lots of ships and human objects that have sunk with them. Lots of animals live in there now... From under the sea we can also reach caves. Some are full of stones, and they shine when the light from above hits them. Those are my favourite places. There are also caves made of rocks so dark that it's impossible to see, but they are not scary places." I listened, full of wonder, trying to imagine the beautiful places Ianthe was describing.
"There are so many animals! Not only fish, like the ones I saw humans take from the waves. There are a lot more... sometimes we play with small animals, but mostly we look for the clever ones, which are bigger. You know which ones I'm talking about?"
I shook my head. 
"Some animals aren't smart at all, but some... Phoibe says they're almost as clever as us."
"And what do those animals look like?" I interrupted her.
She thought for a bit, then said: "They're shiny. And smooth. They have little pointy teeth, and they're this big-" She opened her arms as wide as she could to demonstrate.
"They stay close to the surface, so you might have seen them! They have a fin on their back and one for each side. Their tails are quite short, but they look like this-" She pointed to the end of her tail- her tail, Holy Hera! I still couldn't believe it-
I honestly didn't know what animals she was describing, but I pretended to understand.
"Who's Phoibe?" I asked after a pause.
Ianthe slapped her hand on her mouth, which I interpreted as: "Oh oh- I shouldn't have said that"
"Can't you tell me?" I pouted, fully knowing how childish I looked.
"She's... what's the word... a teacher? For us younger sirens. She's like a guardian. She teaches us how to hunt, what to do, what not to do..."
"I have one too. She teaches me how to sew, how to 'behave'... things like that." I pause to think what else I had learned. "And I know how to read! Doris taught me." "Doris?" "She's... my servant. But I hate calling her that. She's like a sister to me. She's the only woman I know who can read".
Ianthe nodded.
Just then, I heard a noise coming from the trees behind the beach. It was fairly loud, as if an animal had tripped over some rocks. I turned around quickly, but I couldn't see anything.
"You better go, Hebe." I turned again to look at Ianthe. She had a serious expression, and it was the first time I had seen it on her face.
"I guess I should." I hesitated. "Will I see you again? Please don't disappear." I did not know how, but we had become friends so quickly, I didn't want to loose her.
She was part of an entirely different world, one that I desperately wanted to discover.
I didn't like the look she had in her eyes. "Hebe... I do not know." She saw my hurt expression, and she must have regretted her words. She rushed to add: "If I don't get caught this time, I'll come back."
She smiled then, and took my hand. "I promise". Was my loneliness so noticeable that even a creature who had never met humans could see it? "Don't get caught then." I smiled back and slowly got up. She let go of my hand and as soon as I had turned around, she dove into the water.
I looked behind me: there were no signs she had ever been there. The dark waves hid her as she swam away.
I shook my head and made my way back, careful not to slip onto the rocks.
I ran past the beach, with my sandals in my hands and my cloak draped over my shoulders.
I remembered the strange noise from earlier, so I started running as fast as I could through the woods, my heart hammering in my chest.