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A Song to Save You
Katrina
The wave spat us out just next to a mangled nest of islands and cliffs jutting from the water in a part of the sea I didn’t quite recognize.
“Well where is it?” Bellamy asked, standing on the deck with Serena.
Serena chuckled and took his hand in hers as she gestured out to the ocean. “Below,” she said softly, her voice like smooth velvet.
“Then let’s go.” I was already taking my shoes off in preparation to dive in. “Every second that passes here is like another day for Milo.”
Bellamy secured our anchor, and I scurried to the side of the boat, dropping into the water where I wriggled out of my clothes and awaited my transformation, though I kept them tucked under my arm in case I needed to not be a topless siren at some point. Once my tail appeared, I glanced upward to see Bellamy and Serena enter the water in a barrage of bubbles. As long as Bellamy stayed with Serena, he could breathe under here just as easily as we could. I followed Serena as she led us to the base of one of the cliffs. Towering up from the sand, there was a small opening that even I would have overlooked blindingly if I hadn’t known it was there.
Serena swam in, effortlessly whisking between the tiny entrance in the dark rock. Bellamy gestured for me to go in next, and he trailed behind me. It was a dark canal, almost pitch black, but Serena’s subtle aura shone more prevalent down here and helped guide the way.
After a few minutes, we emerged, somehow breaking through the water to a dry cavern. A trickling waterfall and glimmering pool of water filled the farthest corner. I lifted myself out of the water and willed my skin and scales to dry quickly, changing back into my clothing as fast as possible. I glanced at Serena, who stepped out of the water with the grace of stepping out of a silk robe.
“Do you ever have a tail? If…if you wanted, I mean?” I couldn’t help but ask. She’d always had legs when we were underwater. But it was only natural that the mother of sirens could become a siren herself if she so pleased. At least, that’s what I would expect.
Serena’s eyes crinkled with a giggle as she nodded. “Yes, little siren. I can be any form I wish. But my tail is a bit different than yours. It’s quite dramatic, so I tend to save it only for special occasions.” She winked at me. I wondered what exactly that was supposed to mean, but right now learning about Serena’s mermaid anatomy was not my biggest priority. Milo was.
“Okay, how do we use this thing to pull Milo from the past?” Bellamy asked, dipping a finger into the ethereal silver pool. It rippled, but not like liquid. It rolled with the texture more like that of melted metal. “I’m guessing this fountain isn’t for drinking?” I looked at the water trickling from the rock, thinking back to the Fountain of Youth tourist attraction back in St. Augustine where people would pay to get a paper cup and sip from some stale old water fountain. This certainly was no attraction. This was the real deal.
“No,” Serena said, kneeling and touching the water with her fingertips. “This is the doorway to eternity. And your Milo has already entered, like so many souls before him. He’s been trapped there a while.”
“A while?” I rushed forward. “How do we guide him out?”
“Use your voice. Your siren song. If he’s truly bound to your heart, he’ll hear you even across time.”
A weight dropped in my chest like a hammer. I fidgeted with the siren scale I wore on my wrist. “My song…” I choked. “I gave it to Bastian in a deal.”
Serena’s brows creased and her lips tightened. “You what? A siren’s song is the most precious thing she possesses. How could you think that was a good idea?”
“I know, I know,” I looked down, the scale on my wrist glowing ever so faintly. “That’s strange. It only does that when I use my song.” I paused as the last word left my lips. Perhaps I’d regained my voice somehow since we didn’t fulfill the deal.
I didn’t wait to ask. A hopeful hum rose in my throat. I was going to try.
The scale on my bracelet glowed brighter, and my song became stronger. It was clear to me now that, for whatever reason, my song had returned. I didn’t know why. I didn’t understand how. But I didn’t care.
I stood before the portal of water. With a silent prayer pleading this would work, I began to sing, my haunting melody reaching out like an outstretched hand. I sang the second verse of the song that had tethered us together since the beginning. The one that seemed the most fitting.
"Lost out at sea
Do you dream of me?
By the call of the waves
I hear you and seek you
Till again the roaming sea
Brings you back to me.”
When nothing happened, I looked at Serena, who urged me to keep going with an encouraging gesture and nod of her head. I sang again, my aria filling the empty cavern. And when that didn’t work, I sang again, losing hope but trying to remember Milo would be fighting his way through eternity. I had no idea how long that could take. So I’d sing forever if I had to, because if I stopped too soon I’d lose him to the abyss.
When minutes turned to an hour, I felt myself tiring, and worry shrouded my thoughts. I couldn’t lose him. Not after all this. I rushed forward, slid to my knees and leaned into the portal. I heard Serena and Bellamy gasp as they grabbed my arms to hold me back, but they couldn’t stop me entirely. I pushed my shoulders through the water portal, singing with every bit of strength left in me. In here, it was a chamber of nothingness. Nothingness made of something like starlight. There was no end and no beginning, and the longer I spent looking at it, the sicker I felt. But I closed my eyes and sang, with Bellamy and Serena holding me back to keep me from falling in entirely.
I sang and sang, for however long—I couldn’t tell anymore. Even with a magic song, my lungs felt like they would give out. My vocal cords ached with each note that left my lips. But I kept singing. And then, I finally heard a voice echoing somewhere in the distance faintly. And the voice was desperately calling my name.
