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“You’re making me wonder just how much of your siren side stayed behind,” I joked.
“Don’t worry, I’m all me,” she touched the hollow of her chest. “But knowing what I am and how to use the power I have could be our biggest shot at understanding how to stop Cordelia.”
I nodded. She wasn’t wrong. But it was such a daunting task and there was barely enough time to do it. “It’s nearly 2 AM,” I said, tilting my head back to glimpse the night sky. “The harbor will be quiet. But there’s always someone around somewhere.”
“Something about you and me together always ends with us sneaking onto ships.”
“You make a fine pirate, lass,” I smirked, “But in all seriousness, if we’re going to do it, we have to go now. We don’t have much time.”
“Then lead the way, Captain,” She gestured with an open hand toward the road ahead.
I guided her back through the rat-ridden streets, where the sounds and commotions had quieted, only to be replaced with the snores and grunts of passed out drunks. By the time we reached the port, we’d lost another fifteen minutes. With uneasy eyes, I set my gaze on the Siren’s Scorn bobbing in the tide, secured at the nearest dock. Katrina stepped forward, glancing around nervously.
“Wait,” I said. “Valdez never left his ship unattended with mermaids on board. We’ll have to stay hidden.” I flipped the hood of my cloak over my head. “What good this’ll do now that I’ve got a bounty on my head.”
Katrina nodded, and I offered her a leg up onto the ship. Every nerve within me warned me this was a bad idea, but I couldn’t deny Katrina the only chance she may ever have to learn about her nature. It also crossed my mind that perhaps, with some luck on our side, we could set the mermaids free. The ship was dark, and no lanterns hung lit. But I knew that didn’t mean it was empty.
“Stay crouched low and walk along the edge,” I whispered. Katrina did exactly that, and I was honestly surprised that we hadn’t already been discovered yet. Patrollers would sit on the top deck near the stern for a good view. But I didn’t see anyone up there that I could tell.
I snuck to the hatch leading belowdecks, Katrina following with featherlight footsteps. My heart pounded in my head, and I fought to keep my breaths light and silent. With every creak in the wooden floorboard or every lap of a wave against the hull, I froze to listen, afraid the sound might be more than it seemed.
But, with all our caution and paranoia, we never saw another soul on board. In the belly of the ship, we descended further. The mermaid hold would be just on the other side of the brig, where I knew my younger self would be lying cold, hungry, and hopeless on moldy, piss-stained floors. A sickness stirred within my gut, and my hands quivered as I opened the door to the hold.
I could hear the muffled whimpering of myself across the wall—the cries of a boy who believed himself much too old to cry. Me. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to refocus as Katrina stepped inside to join me. I motioned for her to lift the heavy cloth covering the coffin-like rectangles stacked against the wall.
As I expected, she stepped back in astonishment at the two sirens staring back at her in their watery prisons. One had fiery red hair, and the other, long locks that were nearly white.
The mermaids recoiled, thrashing violently in their containers and spilling out splashes of water through the pinstripe cracks at the top. Katrina pressed herself against the glass, letting them see her face. The white-haired mermaid slowed her movements long enough to focus, and I watched her body relax at the sight of Katrina.
“Can you hear me?” Katrina asked against the glass that separated them. The mermaid nodded. Soon, the red-haired mermaid steadied herself as well.
“I’m…I’m one of you,” Katrina stammered. “I want to help you. Can you help me, too?”
The mermaids looked at each other through their transparent walls, and then back at Katrina before nodding slightly.
“There’s a trident in the sea and only sirens can use it by giving up something. Do you know what that means? How would I use it?”
A sullen and broken look suddenly overtook the mermaids’ faces. The white-haired mermaid pointed to her mouth and throat and made a slicing motion with her hand.
“Valdez has already cut out their tongues and vocal cords. So they can’t use their song against him,” I interjected, a heavy, macabre feeling creeping up on me as I knew all too well his ritual. “And they can’t talk to you either.”
“I’m so sorry,” Katrina said to them, her eyes creasing with sorrow. “Have you at least ever seen the trident?”
Both mermaids shook their heads.
“Don’t take this the wrong way,” Katrina started, “but is it really true that no siren has ever tried to use it because no siren could ever be selfless enough to give it what it wants?”
The white-haired mermaid rolled her eyes and scoffed, but the redhead shrugged with a nod, pointing to her heart and closing her hands around her chest.
“You always only serve yourself,” Katrina stated softly, not in an accusatory way. She thought on it for a minute, as if figuring out what that might mean for herself. “What about crying?”
I glanced at her, unsure where her question was leading.
“Do you ever cry?” She asked.
The mermaids tightened their jaws and shook their heads, gesturing a solid “no” with their fingers.
“Not even when they cut out your tongues?” Katrina pressed.
