"I told you we should have left yesterday. We wouldn't be stuck in this traffic jam right now," Brooklyn hissed at her brother. She fixed her eyes, blue as the depths of the sea, on the enormous tailback ahead of them. The hot, midday sun had been burning their backs for over two hours. The light was spreading through the sunroof and the open windows of Kay's car, not even a gentle breeze blowing to decrease the heat.

    It was always hot there. For as long as Brooklyn could remember, their little town by the sea was always hot, salty and above all, plain. She knew that. She was spending every summer there for the last sixteen years. Nothing extraordinary ever happened there although the town was full of people during the summer months. That's why her parents had bought their beach house in this particular city, right next to the ocean. To chill and be chilled, as they always said. Brooklyn on the other hand thought this was their personal way to cover the extreme boredom that was flowing like a veil upon Blue Harbour. The exact same veil seemed to have her wrapped up right now; her eyes were fixed on the endless, packed with cars road, her long, red hair sticking on her back, her egg-shaped face glistening with sweat.

    "Kay, are you even listening to me?" Brooklyn asked, reaching out for one of the flyers that were piled up on the windscreen. She started fanning herself, her gaze fixed now upon her silent brother. Shades of tiredness were spreading under his eyes, making him look older than he really was.

    "I am listening, Brook. I always listen. And you always nag," Kay breathed. "Mom told you to go with them last week but you didn't want. You made your choice. Now you have to face the consequences."

    Brooklyn goggled her eyes in astonishment. Her brother was never talking to her like that. At least he didn't use to. She knew something'd been bugging him since this morning, she just didn't know exactly what that was.

    "I couldn't leave last week. Exams, remember? And besides, I wanted to go with you. Is this that bad?" she asked, her face turning red, both due to the heat and her frustration.

    "No, it isn't. It's just that you're mumbling for the last hour or so. This makes the waiting even harder," Kay said, pulling his red fringe away for his eyes. It was a subconscious move, but Brooklyn knew this was her brother's way to show  his patience had reached its limit. "After all, you don't like it here. You're the only person who's name literally means stream and you loathe the water. You could've stayed home instead," he went on.

    "Ok, that's enough! Who's the one mumbling now? You may have had a bad hair day but I can't let you keep talking to me like that! I won't!" Brooklyn snarled at him and tossed the flier back on the windscreen. "What the hell's the matter with you?"

    The cars started moving again slowly and Kay focused on his driving. Brooklyn was staring at his chest moving up and down fiercely as he was breathing in and out. His knuckles had turned white, his fingers locked around the wheel.

    "Answer me!" she growled. She could almost hear her meninges pounding, an endless buzz inside her ears. And a voice. A voice that was coming from far away. Mystical, yet sweet. Clearly hard to resist. It sounded like a song, coming from the bottom of the sea. Kay hit the brakes abruptly as the cars were stopping again, one after the other, bringing Brooklyn back to reality.

    "I'm sorry, Brook. It's just been a really long week," he murmured flatly. "And it's this headache, too. My head's  been buzzing all day. I didn't mean to take it out on you. I'm really sorry," Kay said and Brooklyn saw his face turning into a mask of pure regret.

    "Fine," Brooklyn muttered, mostly to herself. She suddenly felt exhausted.

    "We'll talk once we get to the beach house," Kay said. They both fixed their eyes back on the road. It's not that big of a deal, Brooklyn thought. But as the silence inside the car was threatening to become unbearable, the voice inside her head was becoming louder and clearer by the second.

***

    "He's coming closer! Do you feel him now?" she asked as she was opening her eyes again, facing the darkness of the cave. The boom of the waves was echoing but she didn't care. She only cared about his human heart, about him. And he'd be here, any minute now.

    "I do. I hope you know what you're doing, Thelxiope. This is dangerous territory," her sister whispered, swimming closer towards the little rock upon which Thelxiope was lying.

    "I know exactly what I'm doing!" Thelxiope sang. And her song travelled far outside the cave, towards the mortal whose heart had been broken into a thousand little pieces. The heart that she'd take with her back home. The heart that had been loved by the sea.

***

    By the time Kay and Brooklyn arrived at their beach house, the sun had almost set. Shades of pink, purple and orange were getting in a tangle upon them, painting the evening sky. An awkward silence had creeped over. They hadn't spoken since that last time inside the car. And when Kay parked the car just outside the front yard, Brooklyn jumped outside and hurried towards the house.

    He knew it was his fault. But he couldn't let his sister know what was really bothering him. It was too soon. Plus, she'd start making fun of him; and that would last for the rest of his life. She hadn't fallen in love. She didn't know how it felt to be used by someone; anyone. She was the one using boys, manipulating them. Making them fall for her and leaving them confused and messed up after a week. Brooklyn didn't know how his heart had cracked. And how could she? Kay's girlfriend, ex-girlfriend to be exacted, had called him just this morning. They've been together since High School. Four years together and she suddenly decided to throw everything away. Kay didn't know why. She hadn't said why.

    It was like a huge hole had been punched through his chest, leaving him empty, blank. He started walking towards his cave, his refuge since he was a little boy. He couldn't believe it himself he'd turn twenty-one in a few hours. That would be a birthday to remember, that's for sure.

    He reached the entrance of the cave and looked blankly deep inside it. He'd be safe here for a couple of hours, away from Brook's judging look and his parents' suspicious and concern ones. None of them would worry anyway. They knew how much he loved this place, how much he adored the sea.

    He walked deeper inside the darkness. It didn't matter that he wasn't able to see. He knew every angle of this cave by heart. Kay sat on a mull inside the dark shelter, feeling the salty air cooling his face and the song of the sea bewitching his entire existence. That's when he heard her. That sweet, magical voice that was consuming him bit by bit since this morning.; since the last time he spoke with his ex. She sounded desperate, her song a sweet torment he didn't want to end. She was crying out for him. And Kay couldn't resist. This beautiful, sad melody had paralysed his mind, his body, his senses. As he was standing still, unable to walk away, she appeared right before his eyes. The most beautiful woman Kay had ever seen. Her long, blond hair was falling gracefully down her waist, covering the nudity of her almost scaly torso. She had the legs of a bird and two enormous white wings were emerging from her back. Her turquoise eyes were locked upon Kay. But this was not the most magnificent thing about her; her harp was. She was playing incessantly, the music covering every inch of the cave along with her voice. She was pulling Kay like a magnet. She was calling him to adore her; to love the sea even more than he already did.

    "What the hell are you?"

    The music stopped and Kay came back to reality. He was standing on the edge of a huge rock, many feet above the ground. He took a few steps backwards and stared at Brooklyn, her face turned to stone, from astonishment or terror, he couldn't tell. Right across her, the beautiful, dangerous witch was staring at his sister viciously; like she had lost a valuable prey.

    "Well, for lack of a better term, I am a siren," the woman said, her voice still sounding like a song to Kay's ears. "And what about you? How did you come here?"

    "I heard you. What did you do to my brother? Kay, please, come down!" Brooklyn said, her voice shaking.

    "And why should he? While he could come with me," the siren sang and Kay felt hypnotised in an instant. Her sweet, deathly song started again and Kay could do nothing but to follow her voice.

    Nothing else mattered; only her. Not even his sister's shrieks as he reached on the edge of the rock again and found himself free falling the next second. But he didn't crash. The abyss didn't consume him. Instead, a jet of warm water cover him and Kay found himself hovering above the solid ground. He looked around him in puzzlement, only to realise that the jet was coming out of Brooklyn's hands.

    "What the...?" The siren's voice became shrill. The magic inside it was long gone and now Kay could see her for what she truly was; a monstrous, deadly creature. The jet of water slowly let him down. He was lying right next to his sister, soaking wet. Brooklyn's fingers were trembling, as if she couldn't realise herself what she had just done.

    "But how? You're just mortals," the siren hissed. "He should've been dead. He should've been taken by the sea. He was loved by the sea."

    She didn't manage to say anything else, nor to react. An instant later, a huge jet of water, way bigger than the one coming out of Brook's hands, squirted from the bowels of the cave and consumed her.

    The two siblings blinked and looked at each other, unable to truly believe what they had just witnessed. Brooklyn was still shaking and Kay took her in his embrace, trying to soothe her; even if he knew that would be impossible.

    "I don't know what you did, but if that's what it means to loathe the sea, I think you should keep hating it forever, sis," Kay whispered right next to Brooklyn's ear. Her muscles tensed on the sound of her brother's words and the sensation of the water drops that were coming back, towards her.

    What had she turned herself into?

© Victoria Moschou. All Rights Reserved 2017.