THE SCENT OF SALT, mixed with the cold, harsh winds, creates an intoxicating harmony tonight, and its words, a warning and an ill omen exist between us like a rope that ties the ends of two distinct worlds together. 

Maybe it is one. Only tales as old as time mentioned of such specimens existing in the ocean. “Enough of this. There’s something I desire to know badly,” it moves towards me, leg inching closer to my thighs, bare chest almost brushing against mine. Our breaths intertwine and I shudder at its coldness while my cheeks heat up at its state- at our state. “Tell me dearest, what's your name?”

'Clara'.  I say inwardly but say quiet from the outside. I stare into its eyes and frown when I see a smile creeping up on its face. “Clara.” it says and I stare wide-eyed at it, “that’s a pretty name. I like the sound of it.” It inches close to me once more until our lips are almost brushing against each other and whispers, “Tell me, Clara, do you want to be claimed by the ocean?”

Something about its voice draws me in. It guides me into a trance, into a world where everything exists but is irrelevant compared to this creature’s existence. The world is silent and the only thing I can hear is the racing of my heartbeat and its slow intake of breath. I can smell the sea close to its skin where the constellations have made its home and they are blue- so blue, like the night sky. I want to trace them with my fingertips.

My hand reaches up to its skin and it pulls it towards his chest, bare and cold and moves it across the glowing marks. I stare at it, mesmerised. “You can have them too.” it whispers into the space between us, lips hovering over mine. 

“How?” I ask and frown. 

No.

What’s going on?

My frown deepens as I watch it smile once more, and something is reassuring in its smile that immediately puts me to rest but doesn’t cease the alarm bells ringing in my head. Its eyes droop down to my lips and it leans in, lips brushing against mine. I gasp, revelling in its touch but then I stop. 

Something is wrong. 

‘Nothing is. Just relax.’ the voice comes back again. 

 I snap out of the trance and push the creature away from me, hard. It groans as I clutch a hand against my pulsing lips. My heart falls to the pit of my stomach. “What have you done to me?!” 

The creature glares at me, hostility towards me swimming in its eyes. It clutches its ribs, where I possibly could’ve hit and smirks. It tilts its head and watches me with those curiously sultry eyes. 'Guess my love. What could have I done to you?'

The voice returns in my head and I freeze, realisation settling upon me. The voice, soft and familiar…

“It’s you. Why are you in my head?!” My heart throbs hard against my chest and my blood courses faster, faster until I am feeling dizzy from the rush. 

It tries to approach me but I shriek away from it making it raise its arms in mock surrender. Its muscles flex under the movement and I am momentarily in awe before I am brought back to my senses. I groan and look down at my hands. There is something terribly wrong with me. 

'No there’s not. '

I raise my head and look at the creature before me. It hoists my jacket up and wears it as if it had already figured out how to do so.  Suddenly, it sighs and looks at me annoyed. “Stop that.” it warns. “Stop what?”

It fumbles with the buttons of the shirt jacket while putting it on from the wrong side. “Stop referring to me as ‘it’ in your head. I am a man if you can’t tell that already.” it raises its eyebrow suggestively.I huff and look away. As if. I hear it sigh before I hear the voice again, beckoning me to come close to it. I didn’t want to, but it seemed as though  I didn’t have any control left over my body. I try to resist but find myself failing. 

Fix this for me. 

In a trance I did as it ordered, fingers working on the buttons as swiftly as they could. I feel its cold hand hovering over my face before it settles down on me like snow, frail, thin but sharp, and I flinch at the sensation. But it is not enough to break me out of my reverie. “Hmm…”It drawls out as it observes me intently. “Just as I thought. My song doesn’t seem to affect you the least but it seems my other tricks did.”

I blink at it, confused. It smiles gently and rubs its thumb on my cheek, gently hovering over me once again. I snap back to reality once again and it steps back, letting go of my cheeks. “...though it appears to me, they are not bound to keep you entranced forever.” It shrugs. “Not that it matters. I can do with this much.”

“You-” 

It walks away from me and heads towards the stairs. It is running its hands through the threads of his golden strands, uncaring of my temper and fear. It stops and looks back at me, “Aren’t you coming?”

“To where?”

“Your home obviously.” It points in the direction of my house and I freeze again. How did it see it from here?

The sea is a vast place, my dear mortal. Such irrelevant things could be found with ease. “Stop getting in my head!” I hiss at it. “And we are going nowhere near my home.” I declare. 

The creature’s brows disappear behind his hair and his eyes stare back into mine with a glint in them that suggests how stupid I sounded to him. “In case you’ve forgotten mortal, I can make you sway to my wishes anywhere and anytime. What makes you think that I will not force you to bring me to your home?”

 “You wouldn’t dare.” I try. But the faint blue glow that appeared in those feline eyes made me rethink it. 

I sigh. My hands clench tight by my sides and the self-satisfied smile that took over his features tells me with whom victory lay at the moment. 

THE NEXT DAY I lay half awake on the counter of the shop, rewinding the incident that happened to me last night. I would’ve just assumed it was all just a very wild dream that occurred to me from the waves of memories hitting me from the past few days if it weren’t for the creature lurking around inspecting every nook and corner of our shop with a curious gleam in its light blue eyes, that too, wearing my brother’s attire. 

Seeing the clothes that belonged to Cameron being worn by someone else made my blood boil but I had no other option before me than to let him take one of the attires from the closet. It loosely hangs on its body due to its comparatively slim figure compared to my brothers but it was doing its job properly. I can not have a man roaming around my house naked at a time when the inflow of customers is at its peak. 

It is the middle of summer when the waves are the calmest before they grow violent from the hurricanes. Most people visit the place at this time of the year due to its tranquillity and pleasantness. When Cameron was around during a period like this, the shop would be filled with customers, mostly travellers and elderly people from the town who often turned out to be the family of his friends. Cameron. 

I miss him. 

“If you miss him so much, why haven’t you searched for him yet?” the siren asks from the middle of the room. His hand is occupied with one of the wooden antiques that Cameron had designed before leaving for his sailing. 

I glare at him. “He went missing in the ocean. How am I supposed to find him in a place that leaves no trace behind?”

The siren clicks its tongue. It places the antique back in its place and picks up another. His back is turned to me so I cannot fathom the expression he is making. It shouldn’t matter to me, but he was wearing Cameron’s clothes and Cameron has never turned his back on me. 

“Look at me while I’m talking,” I say.

“And if I don’t?” 

“I’ll make you.”

The siren rolls its eyes. “I think you are mistaken my dear, ordering goes from me to you, not the other way around.”

“Now that you’ve mentioned it,” My eyes narrow further, “what exactly did you do to me? I thought sirens could only lure humans into their trap and not control them?”

The siren sighs. “That’s where you are wrong.” it turns to me, “Sirens can lure as well as trap humans into committing to their wishes. Songs lure, while” it taps on its parted lips, “kisses control. We have already kissed thrice my dear.”

“Oh.”

“Yes. Is that all?”

I stay silent. In the peaceful atmosphere with heavy silence settling down, both the siren and I listen to the sound of the waves crashing and turning. “But there is something that troubles me.” the siren starts, its tone low. “Why haven’t you turned into a siren yet?”

My eyes widen. He’s right, I realise. It always went like that in the tales, or at least, that’s how it was in my grandmother’s versions. She always tended to get strayed away from the actual story but the core of it always remained the same. The humans who get kissed by a siren will eventually turn into one themselves. Then why haven’t I?

“I- I don’t know.”

The siren stares at my face for a while. It then returns to what it was doing before and doesn’t turn back again.