Cassie remembered none of her time caught up with the sponges. She had been unable to breathe or release the air in her lungs. After being injected with venom, she had a sense the sponges had kept her blood oxygenated. She passed out. When she woke, she was lying on the beach, weak and winded.

Had she swum there? She couldn't recall. If she did, it had been in some fugue state.

Her custodian had done well, hiding her in the scrub. Cassie trusted the man would take care of and guard her during the change. After sending Webb away, fibrous tendrils sprouted from all over her body at each of the spicule injection sites. The strands were tough like wire and grew against her, sticking to her skin, enveloping her.

She wasn't afraid. Cassie didn't try to tear away the tendrils and trusted they wouldn't harm her. She closed her eyes and relaxed. She fell into a deep sleep.

When she awoke, the tendrils had completely cocooned her. She couldn't move, but she could breathe. When she opened her eyes, she saw nothing but black as if blind. After an initial shock of panic, she experienced a sense of calm.

Her mother never had the opportunity to explain what would happen, yet Cassie instinctively understood the experience to be normal.

She was neither hot nor cold. The cocoon regulated her body temperature. Although she hadn't eaten or drunk anything, she felt no hunger pangs or thirst.

In the distance, she could hear the surf breaking against the beach. Their gentle rhythm soothed her. She closed her eyes and fell asleep.

And then...the visions came.

*   *   *

Kneeling at the water's edge, Calliope allows the sea to wash over her hands and legs. She stands and addresses her sister. "The sea speaks of ships returning from a victorious battle."

"They must not come this way!" Carillon exclaims. "The sea also speaks of a great storm. The warriors will be dashed against the rocks of Scylla."

"Or lost in the maelstrom of Charybdis."

"We must warn them," Carillon speaks with urgency.

"They will not listen," Calliope responds, "Men are possessed of foolish pride."

"Yet we must try. We will sing our warning song."

"Yes, the sea will carry our voices."

"Come, sister, come. We must climb onto the rocks, better for them to see us."

The women are slender and tall with long brown hair, pulchritudinous in their flowing white gowns.

Calliope gasps, "They come!"

"As does the storm," Carillon adds.

The fleet approaches even as the sisters sing their song of alarm. The haughty men hear, but they scoff at the warning. What do two youthful maidens know of storms and the whim of the sea? We are the conquerors and wise old masters of the water.

Except one captain hears and heeds the warning. He fills his sailor's ears with wax so they cannot listen to their companions ridicule them from the other ships. They alone sail on and away from danger.

The rest plow recklessly into angry waters, lightning, and thunder. Scylla and Charybdis claim their vessels.

The sisters disrobe and dive into the churning waters, their long tails propelling them forward at the speed of dolphins, desperate to save as many warriors as they can.

Too late. The sons of men no longer breathe air.

"We warned them," Calliope utters forlorn.

Carillon weeps. "They did not listen."

"Save for one wise Captain."

"We will be blamed."

"Yes. We are women reviled, always accused."

Cassie woke with a gasp. The vision she experienced told a different version of the classic tale. And how silly that some versions spoke of these women being able to fly! Her kind didn't fly.

Once again, she closed her eyes.

*   *   *

Young Lorelei, most beautiful maiden in Rheinland knows what she is.

"Avoid men's advances. They will spurn you after learning your secret and break your heart," her mother warns.

But she catches the eye of the Prince of Goarshausen and accepts his marriage proposal. On the morn' of her wedding, as she bathes in the river, she receives a warning carried by the angel in the waters. A malign wind is settling into the valley.

Knowing her prince will be arriving by boat through the gorge, she climbs to the highest promontory and sings out a song of alarm.

Delighted at seeing his beautiful bride silhouetted against the morning sky, he misinterprets her warning as a song of love and sails closer instead of steering clear.

In desperation, Lorelei leaps from the cliff and transforms. She swims to his rescue.

Too late, the wind drives the prince's boat into the rocks.

One man on the boat crew survives.

While Lorelei weeps over the broken body of her prince, the surviving man approaches from behind and beats her to death with an oar.

"This fell creature with dragon's tail and bulbous eyes will lure men to their death no longer," he boasts.

"That's so unfair. It wasn't Lorelei's fault," Cassie laments.

The sentient sea whispered more visions to her, one after the other, all of them woe filled. Men throughout the ages transferring their own errors and guilt onto her beautiful, female ancestors, twisting the truth, until humankind regarded all her kin as monsters instead of their true nature as benevolent creatures.

As the ages passed and the centuries ticked away, her despised kin eventually separated themselves from menfolk who always betrayed them. They ceased bearing children. Now, only a few of her sisters remained in the world.

Cassie reached out through the sentient sea and could feel them, so few, and they were aging and fading. What would become of humankind after they were no more? Who would be the sentinels guarding the men at sea?

She pushed back with her mind. No more. I can't bear this. I just want to be a normal girl. I don't want to suffer the same fate as my progenitors.

"One more vision," the sea whispered. "Only one more secret to be revealed. Perhaps the most painful of all. Prepare yourself. Sleep, Sirena, sleep."

*   *   *

Cassie sees her mother. No, that's not quite right. Her mother is looking at herself in a bathroom mirror. In this vision, Cassie occupies her mother's body. She speaks, "Are you seriously contemplating leaving Milos for my husband's first mate?"

The woman standing alongside her mother in the restaurant ladies room is her Aunt Marnie. "I care for Milos and always will. I was always fond of him, ever since we were matched by our parents as children and expected to marry, uniting our families. He's like a brother to me, but brotherly love is not the same as true love. It wasn't until I met Ari that I truly understood the difference. Ari and I share a passion that's been missing from my life with Milos."

Cassie experiences Mya's feelings, sorrow for both Marnie and Milos, and something more, a deep sense of desperation. Something is terribly wrong. Something Mya fights with herself to control.

The two of them rejoin their husbands at their table in the restaurant. A tall, handsome man who had been holding a child on his lap hands the young one over to her.

Cassie gasps at the realization. It's her father and herself at age three.

The desperation her mother experiences bubbles up into tears. She takes her husband's hand. "Adrian, why won't you listen to me? You know I'm never wrong about these things." The sea has warned her, and now she is warning the man she loves.

He dismisses her warning with a wave of his hand. "Our vessel is state-of-the-art. Gone are the days when watercraft couldn't be engineered to sustain storms. If the hurricane comes, we'll get through it like a beachball in a bathtub."

Milos wears a look of confidence. "All of us sitting at this table respect who you are, Mya, and we know of your communion with the sea, but Adrian is right. His vessel is the safest money can buy. Furthermore, we need to ferry those poor illegals up the coast. Law enforcement is closing in, and they can't risk waiting another day."

Foolish, stupid, prideful men. "You're willing to ignore my warning and put all those souls at risk? You're willing to put my husband's life at risk?" She looks at Marnie. "And the life of Ari?"

Marnie winces at the mention of her illicit lover's name. Mya knows her sister-in-law will be powerless to influence her strong-willed husband. She'll never forgive Milos when the storm takes Ari.

Mya speaks again. "If you're counting on me to transform and save your lives as I have done for men on other occasions, know this. You'll be too far away. I'll never reach you in time."

Adrian kisses her cheek. "We won't need you; I promise."

Mya holds back her tears, knowing her time with her husband is ending. Knowing Marnie will never realize her dream of a life with Ari. She looks at the girl on her lap. Poor Cassie will become fatherless. She can make him stay. She wants to. The urge is strong. She can sing to her husband and enchant him, but that would rob Adrian of his free will. If she loves him, she will not enslave him, even if it means allowing him to rush headlong into doom.

Now we know what happened between Marnie and Milos. We also know about the tragedy that took Cassie's father and Marnie's lover. Mya exercised unfathomable restraint, refusing to abuse her powers. Will Cassie be that strong when faced with a similar circumstance? 

If you are enjoying this re-imagining of the old legends, please consider voting.

Top photo credit: Michael Vance1 http://www.flickr.com/photos/27498787@N04/49277742026 via photopin.com Creativecommons.org license