The Enchantress of the sea

CHAPTER 5

That night I was unable to fall asleep again: my mind couldn't help thinking of any plausible theory that could explain Ari's family secret and what was going on in Dingle.  Actually, no theory that belonged to reality could explain why a boy who had no suicidal intentions before would let himself drown in the water and I could not even understand the reason why Ari had said I would hate her. Why did she say that? How could I hate such a celestial creature? She and her family looked like good people and therefore, I excluded they were killers or something. The scene I had witnessed kept coming back to me and in the end, the only plausible possibility was that there was something supernatural about her and I would not give up until I found out what it was.

The night passed slowly; time seemed to stand still, until I saw the sky burning again and then gradually clearing.

Russine made me a hearty breakfast with eggs again and announced that the whole family would be out that day.

"I'll leave you some money, in case you need anything and my number and Yagor's are next to the emergency phone."

I was ashamed that they had to lend me money, but unfortunately as long as I was recovering, I couldn't do anything.

Okay, don't worry." I reassured her.

Ari passed silently, smiling at me and in a few minutes he went out to school. She gave me another look as he closed the door behind her and I, more than ever, would have liked to run after her and hug her.

At eight in the morning the house was empty and I thought of something I could do. I thought about it and the only thing that came to my mind to find out more was a library. With the help of crutches, I entered the kitchen, where the telephone was above the cupboard. I called a taxi to take me to the nearest library. This came in about ten minutes, sounding two horns.

When I went out, the morning mist passed through me, wetting my skin and hair. The driver, a Chinese in his thirties, was kind enough to open the door and help me get on.

"Where to, sir?" He asked me from the front seat, turning his head towards me.

"I need a well-stocked library or bookstore, please."

"Schull is full of bookstores, but it's a long way from here."

 "How long will that take?"

"A couple of hours I think, maybe even longer."

"OK let's go".

As the white car went on quietly, I felt heavy eyelids: insomnia was having its consequences. I felt the sand in my eyes and the unstoppable instinct to close my eyelids, which at that moment were heavy as boulders. I laid my head on the headrest and let myself be lulled by the calm driving of the taxi driver, until I fell asleep in a dreamless sleep.

When I opened them again, I found myself on a road lined on both sides by cars and wherever I looked, there were cafes and restaurants painted in bright pastel colors and cheered by plants and geraniums next to the entrance, hanging or on the railings, take away and shops. The blue, blue and orange stood out among the rows of cars.

"Where are we?" I asked, rubbing my eyes. I yawned.

"This is Main Street and we are at destination." The driver said, looking at me from the rear view mirror.

The taxi stopped in front of a red brick building, where three pierced arches designed the outline of two windows and the door in the middle. The rectangular windows had a lemon yellow frame with an overlapping crescent.

Through the windows, I glimpsed the covers of some classic books: the blue one by Jane Eyre with a white silhouette of a woman and the dark one from The Portrait of Dorian Gray, with a man with a long red dress. The white letter sign said Chapter One Bookstore.

I asked the driver to wait for me and with his help, I got out and went inside. The shop assistant, a middle-aged and strongly-built woman, was sitting at the cash desk checking the accounts, through the small rectangular glasses. Her short, cotton hair shone in the artificial light in the platinum and orange highlights of the streaks. As soon as he heard me enter, he jumped up in his sixty meter, jingling the golden chain of glasses.

"Good morning, can I help you?"

"Hi, do you have any books about the supernatural?"

The woman looked at me slightly stunned. "Supernatural in the sense of ghosts?"

"Creatures or entities in general".

"We have legendary books on that shelf there, on the far right."

I thanked her and ventured through the corridor that separated the shelves and reading the placeholders that classified the books by genre. I focused on the "Fantasy / Fantastic". I ignored the novels and looked for the encyclopedias. I focused on one with a removable cover, black and glossy. The title, written in golden italics, said Nordic legends and myths. I pulled it out and the image of a white boat on the waves of the sea made me understand that I was on the right track. It was a three-masted boat, between which stood a large sail. I looked at the index, where I found "Thor- the Strong God; Frigg-the lady of the gods; Hel-The kingdom of the dead "I looked at the index concerning the gods and immediately afterwards I found the list of myths and legends. I was struck by the title The Sailors' Voice and I opened the volume on that chapter. On the left there was an illustration of a greenish and flattened silhouette of a siren, whose fish tail was reflected in the water, together with the gold of the sky. The mermaid's tail intersected with some fish and a turtle. I started reading the paragraph on the opposite page.

If the merfolk is benevolent towards animals, the mermaid is an inconstant and evil creature. They are endowed with a bewitching beauty, like that of a divinity: gem-like eyes, shiny hair and a row of white teeth like ceramic. Their presence is a bearer of misfortune for men: their melodious song hypnotizes the sailors, inviting them to leave the boat and linger with them. The unfortunate poor are able to hear their song up to two hundred meters and are enchanted by it. They abandon any action and feel attracted to the water: if they don't drown, they let themselves be killed without reacting. Their dentition hides sharp teeth, with which some tear human flesh and nails, no less, resemble blades ."

Those words created a flash in my mind that brought me back to Ari's song: the moment I heard that unique melody, I was attracted to her, out of control and despite the pain in my leg, I went out to see where it came from .

Mermaids are said to be spirits of the reincarnated dead because they are repelled from the afterlife and in their new form of undead, they satisfy their blood thirst. Mermaids also have powers with which they manage to control water, such as triggering or appeasing a storm.

To contrast the sirens, albeit in their similarity, are the Ondine. Fabulous creatures of Nordic literature, the Ondines  were female genes of benevolent nature, with some exceptions.

Their element was water, for which seas and rivers lived.

The marine Undines, daughters of Ager, King of the Sea and Ran, the beautiful bride, had the task of guiding the sailors, rescuing the shipwrecked and, if possible, bringing the drowned sailors back to their mothers.

When they weren't busy protecting or rescuing sailors, they spent time playing and swimming with merfolk, dolphins, seahorses and other sea creatures. Or they stood on the rocks and promontories playing, dancing and singing, because one of their qualities was the poignant sound of the voice, capable of enchanting every creature.

They were beautiful creatures, but from the waist up, since they were hybrid creatures: half woman and half fish. They had very long hair that covered their shoulders and breasts, floating in the wind and with blue reflections, which they adorned with flowers and tiny shells.

They were immortal, but did not have a soul, so in the event of mortality, they would be barred from going to Heaven.

Everything was clear as crystal: I understood my physical attraction towards her, the episode of the cup and what could have happened in the  sea. I understood all the talk about staying away and the fact that the truth would make me hate her. With trembling hands, I went to the cash desk and handed the book to the saleswoman.

"Take this?"

I nodded, still petrified and my stomach wrapped in nausea. "It's ten lire."

When I left, the taxi driver frowned at me.

Are you feeling well? - He asked me- You’re as pale as a sheet.

"I'm just a little tired, let's go home."

Ari was not human and probably the others weren't either, but those people had saved my life and I couldn't believe they were evil. I thought in the car. Maybe Ari's nature attracted me like a fly on honey, but that evening when we spoke, I had found a person who had listened to me and who had managed to remove the boulder that I had in my stomach after my misadventure with his pleasant company; he had given me a smile again and anyone who does this cannot be monstrous.

That "girl" so beautiful as to be almost unreal, spoke of life and lived my own emotions. Thinking about her with a fishtail went beyond what my poor mind could imagine, yet her company filled me: being with her was like watching the breath of the dawn spread all over the horizon.

I went home with a tangled mind, which made me not want to take a bite down.

The trip cost me three hundred lire, almost everything Russine had given me, but I swore to myself that I would return the full sum.

I went to the bathroom: all that upheaval set me on fire and forced me to spray my face and hands with cold water. I looked at my purple circles under the mirror and my reflected image was interrupted by that of Ari's eyes which pierced my mind for a second. I turned myself. She wasn't there. I sighed and went to the sofa to rest and wait for her to come back.

The news still did not bring any news on the discovery of the corpses, because the investigations were still ongoing; I began to change the channel, without concentrating, because my gaze did not stop moving from the clock hands to the entrance door, anxious hear the door open.

Ari came home around four o'clock and as soon as our eyes met, she stiffened: maybe my facial expression was an easy book to read, because she seemed to guess what had happened.

She tightened her lips and stood looking at me, waiting for me to say something to her. I would have dared to say he was afraid.

"You don't have to hide anymore" I said to her in one breath. "I think I know the truth ..."

Ari looked down at the floor, looking guilty.

"I should have noticed something strange in your song, which had bewitched me and then, you checked the liquid that came out of the cup ..." I followed.

She continued not to speak, but I noticed tears in her eyes when she found the courage to meet mine. I felt his suffering while he waited for my verdict.

"You and your family are not the age you are showing, are you?" She shook her head. She trembled.

I took a deep breath to find the courage to say what I knew. "You are a legendary creature ..." I mumbled. "A siren or ... an undine?"

"Now that you've found out I'm a monster, what do you want to do?" She asked as a tear ran down her cheeks.

"What do you mean?" I asked, frowning.

"Did you find your scoop?" Now she looked irritated.

 "Ari, are you worried about this?" I asked, offended.

"If I'm not mistaken, your job was the beginning of everything, wasn't it? You were looking for the great news! "

"Ari, now things have changed and I don't care about that stupid newspaper anymore, I would never put you and your family in danger, believe me!" I reassured her, standing up.

“And who assures me of this? That as soon as you are well you will not go public the discovery?

"Ari, I just wanted clarity, but I'll never be a threat if that's what you fear."

"Actually, as a human you have been from the first day you entered here, because I still don't know how it will end."

“You are not bad and I can't believe all things horrible that I read about your species ... "I hoped my words could calm her.

With one click he approached me "You have to believe them instead!" She snarled. - I can really kill you without you noticing. A song of mine is enough and you immobilize yourself and I can do what I want.

"No" I insisted "You look like a princess out of a fairy tale, beautiful, perfect and you are not capable of this".

She sobbed. "My appearance draws you into my net like prey."

“Ari, if you think it's just your beauty that I like you so much, you're wrong. Tonight I hoped to hear you go down those steps to feel as good as the night before. "

"But I'm not like you and I can never be." I felt in his words an infinite sadness.

"The fact is that you are on your feet, just like me." I pointed them out.

“I was in the sea when I saw you were drowning and I had to jump through hoops not to go deeper and bite you. Then I saw you slamming your leg against a rock and I grabbed you ... the frenzy was about to push me to satisfy my desire for your flesh and then I saw your face and ... I forced myself to not lose control.”

I showed half a smile. "You too give me this effect, just a little less carnal." Mine was meant to be a joke that, however, she didn't like.

"Don't joke Bryan, my danger is serious."

"Ari, you saved me ... how can you be bad?" "I did it because I refuse to be like that but ..."

"But?"

"Despite my efforts to repel you, I find myself looking for you to hear your voice and rejoice with your company."

I approached her almost to touch her, but she sprang backwards. "Come on, you will have questions to ask me ..." She said angrily. I bit my lower lip, but was silent.

"I guess you'll want to know how we manage to be here in human form."

"It is one of my many questions. Yup". I confessed.

She sighed and seemed to put the ideas in order to tell me the story to perfection.

Ager seemed to simmer in a flash, just as it had come. He took a book off the shelf above the television and began to tell.

“My family and I are undines, but we haven't always been like this. There was a time when we sirens lived in the ocean, in caves carved into the rocks and that were our home, we slept in scallop beds: it was a peaceful world, tailor-made for us. We have existed practically always, hand in hand with the human race, but our worlds were separate and humans ignored our existence in deep waters. When we learned that creatures on two legs from the mainland sailed the seas and appropriated fish, the sea god Ager, for our own good and that of all sea creatures, established a supreme law: we would never enter in contact with them, for no reason. Ager did not trust them, he considered them evil creatures that polluted the waters, created damage to the marine world and, consequently, forbade us to go up to the surface to get closer to them. There was no distinction between marine undines and sirens in the beginning. "

She opened the book and showed me the photo of a man with a pronounced cheekbones, thick and white hair and beard emerging from the sea with a bright trident. His eyes gave off flashes of light. The arms were powerful and the muscles shaped a turtle on the abdomen.

It was Ager, the god of the sea.

“Everything went on smoothly, without a hitch, until the moment when our lives remained parallel. Unfortunately, however, a disaster occurs. Almost fifty years ago, one of the mermaids, Milly, was too curious to know the species that had no fins, because, as you know, the more a fruit is prohibited, the more it attracts. Milly was beautiful: fiery red hair that reached her tail in a blazing waterfall and golden eyes. But her peculiarity consisted in being the daughter of King Mangor, whose power extended to our small kingdom, Marmailand, in Scandinavia. Each siren has the power to control the water, but she was much more powerful. One day, while passing a boat, she violated the law and surfaced. At that moment she noticed a beautiful sailor leaning in the bow, intent on scrutinizing the sea. Her shiny black hair and piercing eyes made him the most beautiful creature she had ever seen. She followed him for days, during his navigation, until one day, seeing him only on the beach, the splendid siren let herself be carried to the shore by the waves and began to sing for him.

The young man was speechless to discover the existence of such a marine animal.

I did not know that the sea hid such a treasure. He said, ecstatic. He came closer, touched her ivory skin, played with his hair, making her fall madly in love. However, the man was not completely sincere and immediately took advantage of the situation. He told his traveling companions everything, telling them that the siren would be an excellent chance of luck. So he called her. Milly, who had remained nearby, emerged from the water showing her shiny green-blue tail. When she saw, however, five men who pounced on her with nets, she felt betrayed by that love to which she had revealed her nature. That betrayal in the soul infuriated her so much that she could no longer control her strength. Her face deformed into a cry of pain. She tore the nets that kept her entangled and threw herself on the traitors, biting them with such violence as to tear their flesh from them. She liked the taste of blood so much that to take revenge on the outrage she used her powers to launch a curse on the whole species: from that moment, the sirens would have been bearers of misfortunes for sailors, they would have had sharp teeth with which they would feed on them, becoming bitter enemies of men. Their song would have been haunted and would have thrown humans into the seas so that they could catch them or drown them. Strange deaths and killings of sailors began to take place and, going mad, threw themselves into the water.

These strange episodes did nothing but make things worse, because they attracted more research by humans to understand what was happening.

Ager realized that the situation was becoming unsustainable and that the sirens had become too dangerous, with the risk for the whole marine world, as well as the fact that it was inconceivable that they purposely attracted humans to feed on them and pursue revenge. A war between the two worlds meant the apocalypse.

Ager then was furious at the disobedience brought to him and was then forced to make a drastic decision.

You, crooked! Because of you, our species has now been discovered! Why do you think I didn't want any contact between the two worlds? The human being is mean,  they only think  of their interests, power, money! Now I have to stop all this! You will be punished!

He turned Milly and many other mermaids guilty of killings into foam. Some of our species, however, who had not yet blemished with such repulsive acts, implored pity on the god to be transformed into human beings. They sincerely repented for their instincts, swearing they didn't want to hurt anyone.

To those few mermaids who remained and who asked for forgiveness, Ager granted them that grace, provided that they never let themselves be discovered or proved dangerous among men.

He transformed them into marine spirits, called undines, to which he gave a human body and a series of packaged memories. But we are not human: we are guests of a body that has been given to us, which separates from it as soon as we touch the water. We don't have a soul.

If the covenant failed, the god would eliminate us. We have always been in our village, safe, without arousing suspicion that we never grow old. "

I listened to that story in silence, without any interruption. While telling the story, she sat on the sofa, keeping, as usual, a minimum safety distance.

"But if you and your family are the ones who don't want to hurt why are you so afraid of me?"

“We refused to be bloodthirsty demons. We knew that in one way or another we could control ourselves and so we eat fish and vegetables but we are still a cursed species after that event: it takes a moment to become vindictive and be like those mermaids! To keep ourselves alive we need to separate the spirit from the human body and go into the water whenever there is a full moon and it is at that moment that our danger lights up. "

Everything then began to make sense of why they always fed on the same things.

"But those deaths ..."

“Yes, we are very worried because the deaths have started again and we suspect they are evil sirens, those who secretly rebelled and did not agree to become human at all.

"So it's not just you, of the same species."

"We don't know who else has been pardoned by Ager, but we were wrong that such killings would never happen again." Sigh. “The problem is that the sea god will soon return to punish and we fear the worst for all of us. It will not give our species a second chance. "

"But that man ... Jack ... is he a friend of the family?"

"We have known him for years and he has helped my father several times in his work ... sometimes he even brings us fish."

"So your father doesn't hate humans in particular, but only me ...".

She tightened his lips in a crooked smile. "He's only afraid of our family."

"The sea hides surprising things." I asserted, amazed to find myself in the midst of fantastic novel situations.

I'm afraid they triggered the storm that caused the ship to sink where you were on board. They can do it many miles away. " She confessed to me, trembling. He seemed to have spat out a large toad that he had been carrying for some time.

I shuddered. It was puzzling for me to find that the ship had been built improperly, but the shipwreck had also been caused by an unnatural storm.

My thoughts were interrupted by her sobs as she cried.

"I'm sorry," she muttered. "You didn't deserve this." Her sadness made me understand her nobility of mind. On the other hand, from the first day I had mistaken her for an angel. I sank my hands on the sofa and, in small movements, I approached her, not resisting the desire to embrace her.

"Bryan, what are you doing?" She murmured while I was inches away from her.

"Do you know that if I hug you it means that you are not a threat to me, but that I trust you?"

Ari looked at me with bright and moist eyes and I, without hesitation, wrapped her in my strong arms, holding her close to me. I felt her jaw tighten from the tension, but then gently touched my back.

That contact satisfied me for all the unpleasant things that had happened to me before my advent in that place. We stayed like that for several minutes in that pure, sweet union that, at the same time, excited me like a high school student in his first crush. And while I was still in the same position, I breathed in its sweet scent, a pleasant mix of rose and lavender.

"For years I have seen men attracted to me, from my face, but to dismiss them until now had been easy, but with you it is as if the other pole of the magnet attracted me to you, you understand?"I confess. She broke away from the embrace to look at me. Her eyes had narrowed to two slits from frustration.

"So if you feel what I feel, please ... don't do it." I begged her, taking her hands in mine. “Don't stay away from me. I wouldn't stand it. I think I fell madly in love with you. "

“I don't know if in my case I can call it love. My nature makes me look for you, but we don't know how to defeat this curse: we find ourselves to be soulless creatures, immortal with the risk of hurting: I saw you sink ... I was about to violate the laws and ruin everything, you understand? When I am in my true entity, it is difficult to maintain control, it is as if you are what most quenches my thirst. " She reiterated, with trembling lips. I noticed their dry pink skin, which brought out the bright red of the inside of the mouth.

"That could have been the last moment of life, I was drowning and you, instead, snatched me from death." I reminded her.

"How can you love me? How can you love a m ... "He asked me with a whisper.

I put my index finger on his lips to silence her. "Simply because it comes naturally to me to breathe and I never want to call you a" monster "again, okay?"

Finally her mouth widened into a smile and I saw her eyes regain their precious light, my favorite.

"I was slowly getting used to the idea that I should have been alone, keeping this terrible secret forever, dangerous for any male human."

I was close to taking her face in my hands and kissing her if the rest of the family had not returned. As soon as I saw them, I noticed how their skin was brighter than when I greeted them in the morning. I smiled, but the smile died on my lips when Yagor's eyes widened to see that I was holding her daughter's hand and how close I was to her. He roared like an angry lion and I swore I saw him, for a second, sparkle the pupils of his eyes.

"Honey, calm down." His wife asked him. "You know what your anger can do."

I saw him become purple and seemed about to want to devour me in one bite. His fists tightened and I felt the house tremble as if an earthquake arrived. The doors of the cupboard swung open and the cups began to fall on the floor, breaking into a thousand crumbs. I trembled in fear when I saw him approach.

It reminded me of Terminator. Melody, who was behind him, covered with his huge shoulders, stepped to the side and took his right hand.

"Dad, don't be impulsive," she said to appease him. "Let me talk."

Ari stood up and walked over to him. "Dad, he knows everything."

A vein on the forehead began to throb visibly. In a split second, without my noticing, he hit her in the face with the back of his hand, throwing her to the ground, long stretch.

I got up too quickly, without thinking about the crutches and put weight on my fractured leg. A twinge of pain clouded my brain and forced me to throw myself back on the sofa.

"Hey, how dare you ..." I yelled with greeted teeth, bringing his hands to his aching leg.

"Be quiet!" He snapped. "None of your business!"

"She is my business." I retorted, defiantly. I could also accept his hatred, but not that he treated his daughter this way.

Ari, leaning on the floor with his hands and feet, rose; then the impetus was given. In a second he was already on his feet. I was stunned. It was like watching a stuntman's scene. I saw the soft ringlets rise and fall on their shoulders. There were no signs of the blow on his face. Yet he had been violent.

"Dad, I fell in love with him." She said. She didn't seem mad at him. Quite the contrary. The sound of his voice was calm. Those words made my stomach jump with happiness for the confirmation they gave me.

"You fell in love?" The father repeated incredulously. "And now he knows all about us?"

Ari nodded. I had a terrible fear for her, of what her father could do to her because of me. Damn leg that kept me from moving.

"Tell me, did you decide to commit suicide?" He scolded her. Splashes of saliva came out of his mouth.

“Do you know what that means? Do you know what we risk if it ends badly? " His icy gaze never stopped piercing her.

"Sir, I wouldn't say a word about you" I swore with my hand on my chest. "I wouldn't do anything to hurt Ari, not even her family."

"Of course, we should trust a journalist, right?" He teased me, still furious.

"Dad, I thought so too, but now I know he won't." Ari's tone was pleading.

The father's gaze went from anger to bitterness and disappointment.

"Why did you tell him everything?"

Before Ari could answer, I intervened in his defense. "I actually documented myself" I confessed, showing the book I had bought and put under the sofa. "Ari has nothing to do with it."

"As you wanted to prove." He broke.

"No, I just wanted to clarify what's going on in this place, but not for work." I moistened my lips. "I love your daughter."

"In any case, we have an important mission and you would be in the way" he urged. “And then nothing good can come out of your story. It is too dangerous for everyone. "

Ari stood before him again. "Dad, I am with you, I will give all of me  for the mission, but I would like you to realize for once what makes me happy".

The father looked down. “Dad, I found a person who accepts me for who I am and who manages to appease my instincts. Doesn't this mean anything to you? "

Russine put a hand on his shoulder. “This young man is sincere, I feel it. Give him a chance. "

Yagor sighed, but remained silent. So he went to the kitchen.

“Tomorrow, however, we will have to prepare ourselves at the sea. There is no going back. They are coming. "He muttered.

“Don't worry, he will get over it. " Russine said, smiling and joined him.

Melody did the same.

Ari turned to me. his eyes were still bright and red.

"How's the leg going?"

"It’s fine. Are you okay? "

"Yes, I'm not as delicate as any young girl." She replied, almost offended.

"Ah, I noticed this." Then, in a hushed tone, I added: "I'm sorry for what you had to face and I couldn't defend you."

"Don’t worry Bryan, I know my father and I know he will listen to me."

"I bet he got mad the moment you took me home, after saving me." It was finally clear to me why he had always seemed so cold and hostile.

"Yeah, he feared something like this might happen ..." She confirmed, looking down.

"And are you sorry that this happened?"

She smiled at me in his special way. "No."

She went to get a shovel and a broom to collect the pieces that her father had made and while I looked at her, observing every graceful movement of her body that she transformed into dance, I wondered what I had done because fate would give me the love of such a splendid creature. I didn't care what her father thought or what he would do to me, but I would certainly have opposed the idea of separating from her with all my myself.

Shortly thereafter, Russine said dinner was ready. I ate greedily: I hadn't put anything in my stomach all day and the hot vegetable broth delighted me greatly. As I carried the spoon to my mouth, I reviewed the looks of the whole family and noticed that Yagor's was cold and empty. He made mechanical gestures, while his mind was lost who knows where. Russine and Melody were enjoying dinner in turn, calm and quiet and Ari, or rather, my Ari, sitting in front of me, occasionally smiled, looking sideways at me.

Russine decided to speak first, to break the ice.

"Let's listen to the news, maybe there is something new." She approached the shelter above the stove and turned on the rectangular blue radio.

When turned on, the radio croaked for a slight interference, then the voice of the radio journalist was loud and clear.

"Here BCLNews, I'm Jack Smith and let's see what the main news is today" After a second of silence he continued.

“The strange deaths around the Irish coast don't stop. Near Darrynane Bay a fisherman threw himself off the cliff claiming that the sea called him to himself. The wife witnessed the incredulous scene. If it weren't for other episodes, we could probably say that he was a schizophrenic, but unfortunately the disturbing thing is that these strange suicides are involving more and more people ".

We were speechless. The two sisters looked sad.

“Tomorrow we start with training, so you will be home from school- Yagor said to his daughters, interrupting the silence with his hard and peremptory tone. - We have to intervene before the irreparable happens.”

 Having said that, he got up and left the kitchen, muttering "goodnight". He didn't even look at me for a second. It was as if I didn't exist for him.

After tidying up the kitchen, Russine also said goodnight.

"I am very tired" She apologized "And tomorrow a hard day awaits us, so don’t go to bed late."

"Yeah well, I'm going too," Melody added with a mischievous smile. She looked me and then her sister. She backed away with her arms behind his back and left. Her gesture made me tenderness. She was truly an adorable girl and I had been nice from day one.

Finally Ari and I were alone again, as in previous night meetings. This time, however, I saw her more comfortable with me. No more secrets to separate us. She came to sit next to me, with her intense gaze.

"Well, I'd say it went well, didn't it?" She asserted. I tilted my chest to move aside a lock of hair in front of her face.

"At least he didn't throw the dishes on the floor." I said ironically. A chuckle followed. Every time I heard her laugh it was a breath of vitality.

I weaved my fingers together with her hair and moved closer. The scent of her breath intoxicated me.

She stopped. “Bryan, I may not be able to control myself. You know".

"I will take the risk." My eyes fixed on her lips. Slowly I brought my face closer to hers, savoring the wait to satisfy my desire. So, I finally put my lips on hers. She, stiff at first, took my lower lip between her teeth, but did not sink them. She narrowed her mouth and relaxed, adjusting his lips to mine and with the tip of his tongue he forced me to open his mouth, as if he was knocking to come and massage mine. Her arms, which he previously held at her sides, wrapped around my neck, in what was the most wonderful kiss of my life.

"So how was it?" I asked in the end.

"Fantastic". She murmured. "I never felt like this."

"Neither did I and you didn't even bite me." She chuckled.

"I was dying to do it."

Ari raised his eyebrows. "Well, for me it was the first time but for you ... it wasn't going to be your first kiss."

"No, but the first one that made my legs tremble." I thought back to what she had said to me and I felt invaded by curiosity.

“Have you never kissed anyone? Have you never ... been with anyone? "

"As I said I always had to be careful and therefore for me, falling in love was forbidden".

She was wearing a blue blouse to which he had pulled up the sleeves. I drew the outline of her left arm.

"But didn't you also live in the sea?"

"My first year of life, before Ager chased us away, but I remember practically nothing about my home and my kingdom." I saw her gaze lost in emptiness.

"And do you miss this?"

“Well, I like my life and we go back to the sea at least once a month, with the full moon, to reinvigorate us. We always choose deserted moments and places so as not to be dangerous to anyone or discovered, when the day settles on the horizon and there we can truly be ourselves, swimming with fish ".

"It must be beautiful."

"You can't imagine how much beauty the sea can hide."

"Tell me".

She told me about the colonies of irregular branches of lophelia pertusa, some of which, she explained to me, took on various shades similar to the rainbow. There were also the pennatulae, similar to bird feathers and yellow-orange in color, which waved on the sand of the seabed. She told me that she rode dolphins, extraordinary friends since always, with whom they embarked on races and shows that would make circus performers tremble with envy. It was nice to see the water drawing blue light games on their smooth skin. The corals, then,  were different from each other and their secular colonies were the home of schools of fish and a suitable place to play hide and seek.

"It is an enchanted world, populated by sounds and colors whose existence nobody knows." She smiled. "Sometimes I feel like running across the Atlantic."

Her soft and warm voice described that mysterious world in detail, giving me a clear image.

"How long have you been in this form?"

"I'd say about fifty years old."

I was speechless to know that she, in addition to knowing the sea as her pockets, knew my world much more than me ".

"Damn, do you ever get old?"

“Er, we gradually grow and reach maturity, but then if we continue going overboard, the aging process will remain unchanged. This body, as I said, is only a wrapper. For the moment we are immortal spirits. "

It was clear that he meant if what was happening had led to this point. I was so curious that my interrogation didn't stop.

"So you've studied and taken on normal professions."

She nodded. "Well, your dad is just right to be a cop." The joke made her laugh.

"Well, as they say ... when you are inside, you have to dance and therefore we have taken life seriously, as a whole, human life, making it as normal as possible".

I became serious and asked the question that troubled me the most.

"Do you often feel the desire for meat?"

“The problem arises if they are in the sea and if there are humans nearby, because we are not controlled there as when we are human. As humans it is easier, of course, to repress your instincts, but with you it was all much more difficult. "

"And has it ever happened to ... I mean ... have you ever tasted humans?" She became serious in the face, as if I had reopened an old wound.

"Once upon a time ... a man mortally wounded by a shark was dying ... he suffered a lot from the pain, he barely breathed."

  I felt her pain, caressed her hand and my gaze involuntarily rested on the face of the wall clock. It was eleven o'clock. Time had flown by. She followed my gaze and noticed how late it was.

"It will be better to go to rest." She said. "It was a pretty busy day and a worse one awaits us."

“Yeah, the trainings”, I remembered “Can you explain what are they?”

"We decided to deceive the sirens and fight with them before Ager intervenes again. If humans undertake a search on to understand what is going on, he will be forced to take extreme measures and this time he will have no mercy. "

"But you don't know them, how are you going to deal with them?" The idea that she could collide in a fight, with her slender build, it made me shiver.

"Don't worry, fighting is our nature." She got up from his chair, leaning over me and, after placing his hand on my neck, kissed my forehead.

"Goodnight Bryan". Whisper. "Go to rest too."

Seeing her go was like the pain of a tear, burning and deep. I took the crutches and went to the sofa, eager to fall asleep immediately to shorten the time that separated me from tomorrow, when dawn would again make the angel shine before my eyes.