Page 39 of Lured By the Siren

“I..she…what?” I stammer, unable to form a coherent thought. “Murdered? Why would you keep something like that from me!” I shout. Florence tries to touch my arm, but I yank myself away, unable to stomach the thought of her touch at this moment.

“You remind me so much of her,” She chokes out, the tears finally falling down her cheeks.

“Tell me what happened.”

“She resisted.” Florence sniffles, wiping at the wet streaks on her face. “She was a strong woman. Long ago, when we first came to this island, we were suffering. We were a wandering people and our magic was dying. We needed people to listen to our songs, to keep our magic alive. Without them, we would have all perished. Though some came to visit on their way home each season, we could not convince them to stay.”

I furrow my brows, listening to this story I’ve never heard before, this history of my sisters that I did not know. We were always told that we were thriving, that the men would comeand go willingly from our shores. That we helped them. Was everything we’ve been told a lie?

“Yvette bargained with the spirit of the island, Kafigda. She made a deal with it, sharing its power to create the storms in order to lure men to our island. The storms would capture them like fish in a net, and we would save them, keeping them here on our island to restore our siren powers.” Florence closed her eyes for a moment, taking in a deep breath. “Your mother, Aurelia, was against it and tried to stop Yvette. She believed that Yvette was wrong, that the men would willingly stay if we told them the truth.”

I swallowed against the knot forming in my throat. I was anticipating her next words, even though I didn’t want to hear them, I needed to know.

“Unfortunately, Yvette had more of the sirens on her side, although they soon learned from their mistake. Yvette killed your mother, draining her of her songs as she siphoned all of our powers into her necklace, feeding them to the island and the storms.” She takes a step toward me, and I back away again, keeping my distance from this woman who I thought loved me.

“Eve, my biggest regret was sitting back and watching your mother be strong, standing up for what she believed in even as she took her final breath. I think about her every single day, and I see so much of her in you. I cherish that part of you, the part that is her. I tried my best to raise you in her image, to keep her memory alive, but you must listen to me, child. There is no way to leave this island. Yvette would kill us all before we even tried.”

It feels as if a hole has been punched through my chest. My fractured heart has shattered and turned the place where it once rested into grains of sand that slip through my fingers. I collapse to the ground—the edges of my vision blur, and my world rocks.

Murdered.

Murdered by Yvette.

Murdered for her kindness.

I don’t think I will ever take a full breath again. This feeling is too big. An ocean of emotion is brewing, and the waves are gathering, crashing against the shores of my crumbling world. I want to scream for the mother I should have had. Cry for the life that was taken. And fight the woman who took all of this from me.

“I’m so sorry, dear, I really am.” Florence cautiously places her hand on my back, and I don’t have the strength right now to push away from her touch. “You must listen to me now. Everything I’ve told you must stay a secret. Even Katarina cannot find out. Yvette would kill you and me both if word of this spread through the island.”

I get up, standing with trembling legs. “I don’t understand. You’ve always told me you didn’t know how the storms developed. That they just arrived one day and began to circle the island. So you’ve forced all these men to live here in this cage, taking their lives from them, without giving them any choice? And what of the Elixir, whose idea was that? Can’t have your precious chattel trying to escape now, can we?” I spit out with more venom than I thought possible, considering the gaping hole where my heart used to be.

“It was Yvette. We needed to keep the men here, not only for our own magic to be tended, but they were dying, Eve, you saw that with your own eyes. We had to do something.” Florence pleads. “If they were destined to a life here, isn’t it better for them to live than to die on a pointless hope of leaving?”

“Do you even hear yourself, Flo? And I’m sure the need to please and serve all of us was just a happy side effect. A perfect solution to a problem you let her create. Kai couldn’t remember his own brother, Florence. After a day. What would it be like after a week? A season? A decade? I can’t imagine how longyou’ve been feeding it to Mathius. Is that even his real name? He has no idea who he really is, does he?”

“Eve, there are things you just don’t understand, and so many things I can’t tell you for your own safety, but I will tell you this.” She stares off at the distant party with a far-away look in her eyes, like she’s lost in a memory, not here with me. “When we first arrived on this island, it was not the paradise you see today. It was a wasteland. The seas were drying up, all the fish being caught by the mainland, so we had to find a new home, a new way to survive. Living deep under the ocean, away from the eyes of men, was no longer an option. When this island rose out of the waters, we knew it was something special, but in order to make it the paradise it is today, we had to feed it magic. Our magic worked at first, but soon we all became so drained, aging faster, dying. Then a merchant fleet sailed past our shores and sought refuge on their long journey home. These men were not just men; they were elves, humans, goblins, and dwarves. The creatures we’ve only told you of in campfire stories. But when they were on the island, their magic, their being brought Kafigda to life. Trees started to grow. The Elder flower started to thrive. We discovered the secrets the island wanted to share. It wanted these men to stay, share their magic, and bring life to the island.”

I stare at her, fearing that if I blink, she will fall out of her trance and stop her story.

Florence’s shoulders sag as she picks up a handful of sand and lets it slowly fall through her fingers before she continues, always looking off in the distance, making sure no one overheard. “At first, we were able to convince the men to stay, with a little siren song here, a little dancing there, a little taste of the Elder flower. But when the singing and dancing stopped, the men realized they had lives and families back on the mainland. We tried to convince them to stay, but they left with the promise to return next season with more sailors, some who might evenbe willing to stay. Seasons passed, and the merchants continued to spend their solstice with us, but it wasn’t enough. We were still aging rapidly, and the island never seemed satisfied with our temporary guests. While a few men had decided to stay, it wasn’t enough.”

I can’t believe what I’m hearing, everything I’ve ever known has been a lie.

Florence took a deep shuddering breath before continuing, “As more men arrived and sirens were born, Yvette elected to create the Elder council with the sirens who were here when the island was just a desolate pile of sand. She proposed the idea of creating the storm to trap the sailors who landed here. They could never get past the rumbling storm clouds and crashing waves once they were ensnared in its grasp.”

I feel like I can’t breathe. All this time, they had told us nothing but a tale, making us all think we were the ones who were trapped here against our will, but it was the other way around. We were trapping the men here all along.

“You were just a child, your mother and father were so happy to have been blessed with you. Your mother was against the storm from the start. Never wanting to force someone into a life they didn’t ask for, knowing your father was one of the men who had come willingly to the island and was planning to take you and your mother with him on his next voyage home to Halvendor. They both wanted you to see the world.

“Yvette created the spell for the storm anyway and forced us to help. There’s a reason she is the head Elder. She knows our magic better than any of us.” Florence wipes away a tear as it rolls down her cheek, lost in the memory.

“And that’s what I’ve done for the last one hundred and twenty-seven years. And I will do so with my last breath. You mean everything to me.”

My body feels so raw, my limbs feel like they could sink beneath the waves and never rise to the surface again. I thought I was happy enough here, I had everything I ever needed, and I was resigned to my fate. And much as I mourned my parents’ deaths, I was happy with Florence, Mathius, and Katerina to guide me. But now, knowing my mother was murdered by the one person sworn to protect and lead us all, I start to see red.

“You said my father came here willingly and planned to leave in the next season. What happened to him? Did he get off the island in time? Did he just abandon me, his child?” I ask, hoping the answer is not another devastating lie.

“He drowned. That much is not a lie. He was one of the first groups of sailors to try to brave the storms to sail home. Heartbroken over your mother’s death, he put all his efforts into trying to find a way off the island for both of you, but he never did.”

---