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"Have you ever known anyone who was less like a queen? I'm a mess."
"No, you're not."
I screamed and spun around at the sound of my aunt's voice.
There she stood, wreathed in blue light and smiling at me. She was dressed in her usual 'hippie dippie' clothes, as my mother would say, and I loved it. Her gray hair fell in a cascade of waves over her shoulders and chest, and she wore the smile I remembered. The one that was infinitely patient and loving. The one that comforted my broken heart, and patiently taught me how to use my gifts.
"Why haven't you moved on?" I asked. "Not that I'm not tickled to see you but you shouldn't be here."
"Oh, don't you worry about that," she waved my worry away and sat down next to me on the floor. "I'll move on in a few, but first I needed to talk to you about that spell."
I groaned and buried my face in my hands.
"I don't know what I was thinking."
"Well, you weren't. Not after that much wine."
"I'm sorry, that was irresponsible of me."
She snorted and shook her head.
"You wouldn't have tried it if you weren't drunk so it's fine. I'm glad you did that one, it's about time he was freed by one of us."
I frowned at her, sure it was my grief that muddled my ability to comprehend her. She glanced over and heaved a sigh.
"It's time I told you about where we get our magic."
"Okay..." I said slowly.
"Our great ancestor, three hundred years ago, was a Siren. But not just any Siren. She was a princess and she fell in love with a poor fisherman. For months they met in secret, until her father found out about them."
"Lemme guess, he wasn't thrilled."
"Well, not at first, no. But then he saw how much his daughter loved the man and after she begged and pleaded with him, he granted her the form of a Mundane. But the one thing he couldn't take from her was her magic."
"Aren't Sirens destructive though? They lure sailors to their death?"
Aunty waved her hand and grunted.
"Don't believe everything you read, honey. Sometimes yes they do. But they also possess deep, wild magic. As the years have passed, our blood line has become weaker, which is why only you and I possessed the gift."
"Where does the amulet come in to play?"
Her eyes twinkled.
"Well, you see, the princess was promised to a prince from a neighboring kingdom."
"There are multiple sea kingdoms?"
"Of course. The ocean is vast! What, do you seriously think one king could rule all that?" She blew out her lips and shook her head. "Absolutely not. Now as I was saying, the prince from that kingdom was very angry and very hurt. You see, he loved the princess very much and had decided to pursue to try and win her back. And at first, our ancestress was furious that he'd dared come after her. But when she looked closer, she saw how sad he was, how lonely. His father was a brutal king, and the prince had been bereft of love all his life. He'd hoped the princess would change that. So she offered him a trade, one of her descendants as his queen if he left them alone. He agreed, but begged her not to send him go back to his father. He said he'd rather live in exile than face one more day in that place."
"So, she imprisoned him in the amulet? That doesn't seem very nice."
"He slept the whole time, unaware of the passage of time. Not only that, she fashioned the spell so that everyone else in the kingdom would sleep as well. But the one person who would be left utterly alone in his kingdom was the king, punishment for his treatment of the prince and his people. From what her journal says, he was awful."
I folded my arms across my chest and arched an eyebrow.
"You do realize you just combined the 'Little Mermaid' and 'Sleeping Beauty' and called it family lore, right?"
