The Song Beneath the Waves

I never meant to spy on humans. It happened the way waves break against rocks: inevitable and without permission.

I had been drifting lazily beneath a sky streaked with sunrise, my turquoise tail flicking lazily, eyes tracing the shapes of clouds that looked like ships, seahorses, and dreams. The salt water hummed around me, and for a moment, I felt weightless in a world where I bore heavy expectations.

That was when laughter rolled across the tide.

I dove deeper instinctively, peering through the clear water toward the shoreline. A group of young women skipped along the sand, skirts lifted above their ankles, letting the foam kiss their feet. A regal older woman called after them, reminding one named Lily not to wander too far.

Lily. That name would anchor itself in me like a hook.

Her hair was red like coral kissed by sunlight, eyes as green as sea glass. She moved with a restless joy, a quiet rebellion in every step as if she were resisting the sand pulling at her feet. I knew I should leave, but curiosity—dangerous and sweet—kept me hovering near the rocks.

The others teased her about a suitor, but Lily ignored them, gasping instead as she found a baby turtle, stuck between stones, its tiny flippers desperate for the sea. She gently freed it, whispering words I could hear, though no human could:

“You’re free now. If only I was.”

Her words tangled around my heart. What could cage a princess on land?

That question haunted me as I swam away, unaware of how often I would return to that shore just to see her walk by, her eyes scanning the horizon like she, too, was searching for something she could not name.

“You’re distracted.”

Rin’s violet eyes pierced me like spears, her golden hair floating in the water. We hovered near the coral gates of Atlantis, guarding the realm from intruders, but my thoughts were elsewhere, drifting to the surface where Lily walked.

“I’m not distracted,” I lied.

“Then why are you about to hit the cliff—”

Before she finished, the jagged shadow of rock loomed, and panic jolted through me. I kicked hard, but a current pulled me backward, and I braced for the sting of impact. A hand grabbed my wrist, pulling me forward with force.

Rin sighed, steadying me. “Prince Torrent, if you get yourself killed over a girl, I will personally drag you back from the afterlife.”

I muttered a thanks, but Lily’s eyes, laughing and sad all at once, flashed in my mind again.

Later, Tide, commander of the Sirens and my mother’s right hand, lectured me about distractions.

“We are the first line of defense, Torrent,” he said, trident glinting as we patrolled the reef. “Humans cannot discover us. War would drown us all.”

“I know, Sir.”

He narrowed his eyes, searching mine for weakness, before finally nodding.

And then the cry came: “Humans!”

A ship, sleek and bright against the horizon, approached. Tide raised his trident, and all around me, Sirens took position.

“Now!” Tide commanded.

We began to sing.

Our voices, layered like currents in the sea, reached the humans in haunting, beautiful waves. It was a song meant to protect, to urge them away, to warn them from trespassing on secrets they could never understand.

But this ship did not turn.

Instead, it drew closer, its passengers leaning over the rails, eyes glazed with wonder, pulled by our voices.

“Change the song!” Tide ordered, and we obeyed.

Our melody shifted, softening, pulling them in like a tide draws driftwood. It was the call of the sea to those who did not belong, a call that ended in the breaking of ships and the swallowing of secrets.

But then, a flash of red.

My heart seized as I saw her—Lily, on the deck, her eyes bright even as enchantment glazed over them.

“Stop!” I shouted, but my voice was lost in the song.

The ship hit the reef with a crack that split the air and water alike, wood splintering, humans screaming as they plunged into the sea.

Sirens turned away, letting the sea take its due, but I could not.

Diving, I searched the chaos until I found her, unconscious, sinking deeper into darkness, hair flowing like a banner.

I pulled her into my arms and kicked upward, lungs burning as I brought her to the surface.

I could not let her die.

Reaching the shore, I laid her gently on the sand. Her skin was pale, lips blue, her chest unmoving. Desperation clawed at me as I performed chest compressions and breathed air into her lungs.

“Please,” I whispered, “breathe.”

Nothing.

Again.

Again.

Finally, she gasped, sea water spilling from her lips as her eyes flew open, green and alive.

She clung to me, confused, but smiling weakly. “Who are you?”

I swallowed, brushing her wet hair from her face. “No one important.”

She reached up, touching my cheek. “You’re important to me.”

Voices called in the distance—her friends, her guards. She turned, and I knew it was time to leave.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

And I slipped beneath the waves.

Days passed, but Lily’s face remained with me, haunting my dreams, coloring my days.

“You’re in love with her,” Rin said one evening, arms crossed.

“She’s human,” I replied.

“You’re a Siren. She’s your distraction, Torrent. Either let her go or face the truth.”

I could not let her go.

And so, I sought Uriel, the exiled Siren who trafficked in forbidden magic.

“I need legs,” I told him.

He chuckled, swirling a vial of dark liquid. “For love, is it?”

“I don’t know if it’s love,” I confessed. “But I need to know.”

“It will cost you.”

“What?”

“Your voice.”

And as Uriel’s magic wrapped around me, pain tearing through my body as scales became skin, tail splitting into legs, I thought of Lily.

I thought of the day she freed a baby turtle, whispering that she wished to be free, too.

As I fell to the shore, gasping, I looked up at the sky and whispered a promise I could no longer sing:

“I will find you, Lily. And I will find out if love is worth the price.”

🌊 Moral of the Story:

Love asks us to risk comfort for truth, to seek freedom for ourselves and others. It may cost us our greatest gifts, but in the quest to understand love, we find ourselves.