Prologue
“What is she?” The speaker didn’t inquire with the repugnance Jenny had grown accustomed to but more with a sincere curiosity.
A finger poked at Jenny, stroking wet bangs from her face, exposing her features. She bore it in silence, not just because she feared a cuff for speaking out of turn but also out of awe, stunned by the beauty surrounding her. Women with the longest, most beautiful golden tresses circled her. How she envied them their silky yellow hair, especially when compared to her own greenish-hued strands, which kinked and curled wildly when dry.
“Is it a girl or a fish?”
A common question given Jenny’s upper body was ivory white and smooth while her lower body shimmered with iridescent scales. However, she had legs, not a fishtail, to her mother’s eternal shame. How many times had she heard, “Proper mermaids have a tail, fins, and gills.”? All Jenny possessed were webbed toes and an ability to hold her breath for almost fifteen minutes. Needless to say, she didn’t spend much time in the water with the other children her age. Heck, according to the midwives, she’d almost drowned at birth before they realized her affliction.
“Can she understand us do you think?” Pretty blue eyes framed in delicate lashes peered at her. “Can you speak, child?”
Jenny nodded but kept her lips clamped.
“What’s your name? Where did you come from?”
She pointed to the water lapping at the rocky beach, a sandy, wet beach she’d awoken on, alone.
“Are you from across the Styx? Did your ship wreck on the shore?”
A frown wrinkled her nose. The Styx? What was that? Her home was under the waves of the Darkling Sea. Jenny shook her head.
The pretty ladies, with legs, not tails, wearing gauzy dresses of filmy material trimmed in feathers and bright flowers, clustered, tossing the occasional puzzled glance her way. Jenny huddled tighter.
If they were attempting subtlety, they failed. She could hear their dulcet muttering. Defective mermaid gene didn’t mean she was deaf.
“Where do you think she came from? How did she get here?” the shortest one whispered.
“Does it really matter? She’s here now and without a soul to vouch for her. If she did wreck here, then whoever she traveled with either drowned or got eaten by a monster from the Styx or sea.”
“What should we do?” asked the plump one.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, should we keep her? Considering she didn’t drown, then she’s obviously a gift.”
“How do you figure that? She could just be a good swimmer.”
“Or someone intentionally dumped her here,” said the tallest one.
A single pair of suspicious eyes turned to Jenny, appraising and judging. “Maybe she’s a trap?”
Three other pairs of eyes glanced her way as the rest of them now also weighed in. Jenny hugged her knees and dropped her gaze to her bare toes.
The plump one giggled. “Oh, really, Thelxiope. You and your conspiracy theories. A trap? Really? She’s but a child. Not a bomb.”
“I don’t like it. She’s obviously not one of us.” Thelxiope didn’t even bother to hide her distrust.
“She’s not like anything,” mused the tall one. “Or at least nothing I’ve encountered in my travels or books.”
“I say we toss her back to the Styx or into the sea. Let the monsters deal with her.”
Jenny cringed. She might not know where she was, but she couldn’t help but think it would beat a swim with ferocious creatures.
Plump arms wrapped around her protectively. “Thelxiope! What is wrong with you? She’s just a child!”
A child abandoned. A child not wanted. A child who didn’t know what she was or where to go. I fit in nowhere.
A disdainful snort came from the distrustful one. “Do what you will. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“We are not tossing her out like rubbish,” the tall one declared as she crouched before Jenny, placing herself eye to eye. In a gentle voice she asked, “What do you want us to do, little one?”
They were giving her a choice? Since when did Jenny have a say?
“I know you can understand us,” the short, lovely lady with the smooth voice said. “I can see it in your face. Answer my sister, Raidne. The truth now. Tell us, what do you want us to do? Are you lost? Do you need us to find your parents?”
A vehement shake of Jenny’s head answered that question. As far as she knew, her mother was the one who dumped her. Somehow she didn’t think her less-than-loving parent would welcome Jenny’s return.
“Do you have anywhere to go?” asked Raidne.
A sad shake.
“Would you like to stay here, with us?”
Truly? Peeking around at all the gorgeous faces, not sensing any real danger, even from the one with the suspicious eyes, Jenny wondered if they meant it. The warm breeze on her skin felt so nice, especially for one used to the coldness of waves and the damp cool of the caves. The scent of something sweet tickled her nose, tempting her to find out what emitted such a lovely smell. It was so different here. So … nice.
Jenny mustered up the courage to speak softly. “Do you truly mean it? Can I stay?”
Once the rain of insects and circling gulls tapered, the ground littered with twitching bodies, and the screaming stopped—by a sailor who’d happened to row to the island while the pretty ladies conversed—it was decided Jenny could remain, but only if she agreed on some singing lessons. And to speak as little as possible while she learned some control, lest she completely destroy all the island life. Lucky for her, the sirens proved immune to her strange vocal skill.
Thus did the orphan—with the killer voice—who wasn’t quite sure what she was became an honorary siren and adopted niece to the four who lived there. While Jenny never quite managed to lure sailors to their shores to do her bidding—usually her singing sent them rowing the other way—she did manage to make many of them deaf, drive several insane, and even more beg for an end to their misery.
But at least she had a home.