SIREN- The Calling.

3- Unearthed

"Daria!" Aleena's voice echoed from the distance.

I looked up with a smile from the rock I was brooding on. Aleena swam towards me, her fins fluttering in excitement.

Aleena was a Puren. That is, she was born a siren.

Like all the other sirens, she was beautiful. With big round eyes, a pointy nose and full lips. Her tail was a deep green and her hair was black, like Sereia's- she was one of her nieces.

But that's where their similarities ended. Aleena always had a huge grin on her face and could never stop talking. The tiniest of things excited her. A school of Silver sprats, underwater rivers, Sea Angels, submerged caves and on the unfortunate (for me) occasion- Sea horses giving birth.

Aleena had a look on her face that I knew all too well. I wondered what she had found this time.

"YOU'LL NEVER GUESS-" She began.

I held my head in protest. This was the disadvantage with our means of communication. Loud voices (or thoughts in our case) could really make your head pound. The whole coven would hear her.

"You'll never guess what I found" She whispered barely containing her excitement.

"Tell me!" I grinned.

"A shipwreck! Hah!" She let out a delighted cackle and did a 360^ double flip head over tail.

I felt my throat tighten. I don't know why but my heart began pounding and suddenly I was nervous.

Aleena grabbed my hand and I let her lead me to the ship in a daze.

I looked at my hand, the familiar smattering of scales glittered a pale green on my light tan skin. My tail was a deep teal. Uncommon amongst Sirens, but not unheard of as I was not a Puren.

The last Apuren, that is, a converted Siren was alive about 900 years ago. I told you Apurens weren't that common, didn't i?   

Humans were vile cruel creatures that hunt our kind because of our beauty. They are weak and are no match for our strength but their strength lies in numbers. There are millions of them while we are mere thousands. This is what we have been taught.

But why do I not entirely believe it? Is it because I was human once?

It's a world I have no recollection of, but why did the thought of seeing a shipwreck- a place where humans once walked around- make my heart skip a beat?

We were almost at the wreck by now. I could see a vague outline of the ship.

"Wow" Aleena and I breathed out in unison.

It was huge. The water all around was very still, as though time had stopped. Not even the Cherub fish made a sound (they are very annoying).

There was something so beautiful yet heart-wrenching about the shipwreck. It was a site where many lives had been lost. The ocean was sombre.. almost as if it knew.

I suppose the ship was beautiful once, but now it was all caked with mud and seaweed.

On its prow was a figurehead of an alluring bronze siren, her back arched and tail curved behind her. Her hands gripped the prow and she held her head high as though proudly bracing for the strongest winds. This surprised me.

"I thought they hated us.. or looked at us as something to be killed.." Said Aleena echoing my thoughts.

The railings were rusted and completely absent in places so I swam forward not knowing what to expect. Aleena followed in silent wonder.

There was a narrow entrance through which we could see objects floating around.

"Do they like living in small enclosures?" I thought out loud.

Aleena shrugged and pulled on a handle attached to a large wooden box that was almost as long as us.

It didn't budge. She yanked on it with force this time and the whole front door came away. Sirens are much stronger than we look.

The door fell with a thud and a cloud of sand came up making us cough and back away.

"Thanks for that" I retorted.

Aleena suddenly screamed.

I looked towards what her eyes were transfixed on and gasped.

It was a human skeleton.