Iliana stiffened, surprise flickering through the anger. “What?” 

“The fog is magicked. It was created by Inna to protect them,” Melitta emphasized. “The sirens are always singing. There are those among them who cannot communicate normally. The fog will raise over the land and the surrounding ocean when the island is approached by humans.” 

“Why?” Iliana demanded. “What human in their right mind would come here to hurt someone? The gods forbid harming sirens!” 

It was a story Iliana had heard long ago. 

Inna was the youngest of the pantheon, and therefore spoiled by the rest. So, while each god forbid their followers from harming the god’s own creation, they also forbid the harming of a siren. None wanted to see Inna cry. Not that it mattered all that much; most humans and gods’ children alike went their entire lives without ever seeing a siren. The children of song were a secretive bunch that rarely left their home. 

“Not all gods,” Melitta replied, her smile holding a wry sort of bitterness. “The followers of Kikin are denied nothing by their patron goddess. She believes that if you’re unable to keep yourself from harm, then there is no need for your continued existence. Or at least, that’s what her temples teach. Most of her people follow the same creed, viewing those weaker than them as lesser.”

“Mellita,” Calli murmured. 

She ignored him, the bitterness in her words growing. There was an almost sarcastic edge to the mermaid’s tone.“As for the others… they forbid the killing of a siren. There are endless ways you can harm a person without killing them.” 

“Melitta,” Calli repeated, managing to catch her attention this time. “I’ve told you before. You can’t make everyone understand. Especially right after the deaths of their friends.” 

The words hit Iliana like a gunshot. The deaths of her friends, he’d said.

“I can try,” Melitta replied, although her expression had softened. “I… I would want to know it, I think, if you died without me. I would like to know the why.” 

Were they all truly dead, then? Everyone? Saul, Art, Ancus, Kain… Gods, Kain. Had he died without ever receiving an answer to his proposal? Had he jumped into the sea and drowned, just like that? She’d known--of course she’d known--that there was a minuscule chance that any of them survived. But to hear it spoken aloud nearly broke her. 

Her crew was all she had left. Without them… where was she?

“Perhaps she will, too, but it’s not the most important thing right now. Or do you believe we should tell her everything on the beach and ignore her injuries?” 

She should have kept a hold of him. Why had she let him pull free? Kain might have had a few inches and quite a bit of muscle on her, but there should have been something she could have done. 

“No… no, I do not. You are right. Miss… oh, I can not just keep calling you ‘miss,’ now can I? What is your name?” 

Iliana could have tied him to the mast. Saul, too. Hell, she could have tied all of them up. She could have dragged them over to the mast one at a time and wrapped with rope. That way none of them would have jumped. If she hadn’t panicked… there would have been time for it, right? Why did she have to freeze? Why?

“Miss… miss!” 

The sharp tone of Calli’s voice snapped Iliana’s attention to the present. He still stood slightly behind her, his hand tucked to her back, but his other hand laid in front of her face. Had he been waving it without her noticing? Was that even possible? 

“S-sorry…” Iliana muttered. “I’m listening.” 

“Calli,” Melitta said, putting a finger to her lips. “I am worried. Perhaps we should not move her. You said that there was a rather horrid bump on her head, did you not?”

He dropped his hand. “You’re the one who said we should get her to them as soon as possible. I already told you I didn’t think it was right.” 

“I can speak for myself,” Iliana complained. “And I’m fine. It’s just a little bump.” 

Iliana brought her hands up to the back of her head as she spoke. The second her fingers brushed the wound on her head, she cursed. Gods that hurt. The rest of her body was bruised and weak, but that… She was honestly shocked to draw her hand back and see no blood. 

“She says she is fine…” Melitta said hesitantly. 

“I heard her,” Calli retorted. “And you heard me.” 

Melitta seemed to muse it over for a moment and Iliana spent that time pushing the images of her crew-mates to the back of her thoughts. She couldn’t handle that mess right now. Not while these two wanted to drag her off to some “good sirens.” 

“Pick her back up,” Melitta decided. “We will take her. If we were going to hurt her worse by carrying her… well, the damage has already been done.”

“I’m not going,” Iliana interrupted. “Or did you forget that part?” 

Melitta cocked a brow. “You are hurt, alone, and just a human. There are nightmares living in those trees. Do you really think you could survive on your own?” 

No. She’d already decided that wasn’t an option. 

“We are children of the sea, and soon, we will soon return to it. Otherwise, we die,” Melitta continued bluntly. “Calli and I cannot linger to help and no other intelligent species lives here. Not a human, gods’ child, or nightmare. The sirens are your only choice.” 

Calli stayed silent this time around, so Iliana focused her narrowed gaze on Melitta alone. For several minutes the two held a wordless battle of wills. Then, Iliana couldn’t take it anymore. 

“My crew is--” her voice broke, “--is dead because of them.” 

“You will die without them,” Melitta replied. 

Knowing the truth behind those words seemed to steal the fight from Iliana. Her shoulders slumped, her gaze turning to the sky. 

“I’ll leave the moment I can,” she muttered. 

“Then that will be your choice,” Melitta said. “And I will feel better knowing Calli and I did everything we could to help you.”

That said, she waved a hand towards Calli. He stepped forward, and swept her from her position in the sand. She resisted the urge to struggle, her skin once again seeming to crawl where they touched. She needed to force her mind to focus on something else. She knew if she walked on her own, it’d take double the amount of time they were forced to stand side-by-side. She was too weak. 

Still…

Iliana needed to think about something else. For example, there was how the second he was touching her, the singing stopped. 

“What’s with that?” she demanded. 

“Hm?”

“The singing,” Iliana pressed. “Why did it--”

“Oh!” Melitta interrupted, dropping her fist into her hand. “That! Calli has a charm to block it out. He may not be human, but he is a man. Even one of our kind cannot stand being around the sirens as much as we are without being affected. The charm blocks out their voices. Since you are touching him, it blocks them for you as well.” 

Iliana tucked this information away for later. There were charms that could block out a siren. If any of them men were alive, as slight a chance as that was, she would need one of those. She focused on Calli’s bare, scarred chest for the first time since waking up. Did all mermen walk around half-naked? Wait, no, that wasn’t the important thing here. What was important was the brown leather pouch that hung around his neck. 

That was the charm? It seemed so… simple. 

“Oh! I almost forgot,” Melitta said suddenly. “You never answered me, Miss. What’s your name?” 

Miss. 

Until that second, the meaning behind the siblings’ chosen form of address hadn’t sunk in. Iliana’s body grew stiff as she looked between where Melitta walked beside them and Calli’s head above her own.

“You… you know I’m a girl.” 

Melitta looked surprised. “Of course. If we thought you were a man we would not be giving you to the sirens.” 

They entered the forest at that moment. Thankfulness flooded her system as the towering trees cast dark shadows over her face. Hopefully, they hadn’t caught how shocked she was. Shouldn’t Iliana have caught this before now? Why hadn’t she? 

“How?” Iliana asked. “I… I’ve been told I’m rather… um… masculine.” 

More accurately, Iliana’s features were about as far from feminine beauty as one could get. Her skin was freckled and rough from the sun, her chest practically non-existent. Every dress and blouse she’d ever donned had hung on her the same as it might lay upon a man. As a show of rebellion when running away, she’d chopped her hair off to her chin, and kept it that way aboard the Airlea. She would’ve cut it shorter if not for the nasty scar jutting across the base of one ear. The sight of it drew more curious looks than she desired, so she kept it carefully hidden. 

Worse, however, were her hands.

Old burns covered the dark olive skin and crept up to just before her wrists; horrid scars that no amount of lotion could remove. To the ladies of the court, soft hands were a sign of wealth. To the working class, their callouses served as evidence of their hardship. Perhaps her scars were meant to show how Iliana's family had never fallen into one category or the other. 

Her father, a long-dead, noble merchant of rather notable wealth, her mother a former ward of his family who was cast-off upon his death. Her sister, the epitome of feminine beauty and grace--a mirror of their mother--had worn their former wealth like a cloak, landing her a “perfect” marriage. Iliana seemed to have inherited their father’s traits, with the distinct exemption of the proud way he’d held himself.

All of this added up to the reason that Artmeios had mistaken her as a man when they’d first met. So how… 

Calli averted his gaze, faint color appearing in his cheeks. 

“When we first found you, your clothing was not in the best shape,” Melitta explained. 

Iliana’s eyes snapped to her shirt, or what should have been her’s. The dark-blue long-sleeve she wore was a far contrast to the dirty white one she’d been wearing before everything had gone to hell. 

“Relax! Calli loaned you his,” Melitta said with a laugh. “You should have seen his face…it was red as a tomato.” 

“Thank you for the lovely commentary,” Calli grumbled. 

“You are welcome.” 

“Um… thanks,” Iliana added. “For the shirt, I mean.” 

Calli shrugged. “It was only common courtesy.” 

“He is a bit stuck on things like that,” Melitta added. “Anyways! Your name.” 

“Oh… It’s Katrakis,” she said. There was no need for her to lie, now. Not when they already knew everything. “Iliana Katrakis.”