The Enchantress of the sea

CHAPTER 6

Ari

The dim lights of the day filtered through the half-open balcony, hurting my eyes. I stretched and opened my eyes slowly, while the return to consciousness brought my lips to spread in a smile. The memory of my first kiss flooded my mind, making me blaze.

With one click I sat up, while looking at my image reflected on the long central mirror of the three-door wardrobe, facing the bed. I ran my fingers through my hair as I relived the memory. Still dreamy, I stole a glance at the alarm clock above the bedside table: seven in the morning. Before my father got mad, I took off my pajamas and put on a sweatshirt suit, practical and comfortable. So, I ran down the stairs, not only for the commitment that awaited me, but above all to see him again, the human with the eyes of the sea and to have the confirmation that what I had lived was not just a beautiful dream.

When I got off he was on the sofa, turned sideways, with his left arm dangling, deeply asleep. I went over to admire his relaxed expression on his rosy face. I knelt, studying every detail: the adorable dimple on the chin and a straight and twisted hair that protruded on the growing blonde beard veil. All details that, although apparently insignificant, pushed me irrepressibly and irreparably to love him.

Sensing my presence, he blinked and opened them and when he focused, he looked at me enchanted as if he had an apparition.

"I'm in heaven?" He asked, ecstatically.

"Good morning". I whispered. "I admired you sleeping."

"Oh, who knows what a show." He contradicted me, moistening his lips with his tongue. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, I would say yes." I had fallen asleep in peace and had a dreamless, restful sleep.

He yawned. “Aren't you upset? I mean, what are you going to do ... "

"I tend to take things from time to time, without worrying ahead of time" I explained to him. "Now I have to think about training."

"Instead I am anxious."

I smiled at him and kissed the tip of his nose and chin. Unfortunately not

I managed to get close to his mouth because I heard the c***k of the door and my parents enter. They were holding fresh cod for a fighter's breakfast. My father gave Bryan his usual glacial look, almost as if he were an insect to be crushed.

"After breakfast we’ll go out." He merely said. From the evening before, he had addressed me in monosyllables, with the air of someone who had been deeply disappointed.

"I'm going to prepare." My mother announced, showing as always a sunny and smiling air.

"Where do you train?" Bryan asked.

"At the sea ... fortunately today there seems to be no good weather and there will be no humans around."

"You take me with you, don't you?"

That proposal scared me to death. It was excluded that he would take risks.

"Bryan, don't even think about it!" I objected.

"And why on earth?"

"Because you might be drawn to the traps of our species."

"Nothing will happen."

"No, you underestimate our danger too much."

"Ari, if you want I plug my ears, anything just to follow you."

"But who will stay with you? Will you stay in the rain? "

"I'll cover myself, getting wet doesn't scare me."

When I told my parents, my father objected.

"I don't want any risks, I don't want any nuisances.” He snapped. This time I didn't object. I feared too much for Bryan. But then I saw his pleading eyes, look at me from the slightly open door and I felt that parting with him all day would have been too painful.

"I'll give you some wax, it will plug its ears." My mother said, wrapping my shoulder. She had understood everything, as always. My father rolled his eyes, resigned.

We fed more than we could on grilled cod and carrot juice. Although it wasn't an ideal breakfast for him, Bryan also liked it. On a full stomach I was more relaxed: I would not have been hungry and thirsty for a long time. As I bit my large portion, I glanced sideways at my sister. I feared that what awaited us upset her and instead, I saw her as voracious as ever. I certainly didn't have the power to read in thought, perhaps the privilege of other sirens, but my sensitive ear, very close to her, could perceive the fast beat of a heart that was not afraid, but, on the contrary, was electrified. Unlike Bryan's, who instead felt anxious about me. I showed him a smile, hoping to reassure him. He returned it, but the nervousness didn't diminish.

After breakfast, my father prepared his black and white Mini Cooper outside the entrance. When we went out, the acrid smell of rain hit my nostrils; the sky seemed crushed in a blanket of leaden clouds that threatened a thunderstorm.

"Great". My father mumbled, driving. Melody and I and Mum sat behind, allowing Bryan to sit in front and get off and on with more ease.

When we arrived in Ventry, the sea echoed with the energetic and pungent wind. Its waters, tinged with the dark gray reflection of the sky, rose into walls, fragmented by white ridges that seemed to lean backwards, vaporizing in a fresh spray. The wall of water came one after the other, growing, until it fell screaming against the coast. Suddenly, even the last flash of cloud was covered, followed by the roar of thunder. At that moment the sea seemed furious and capable of tearing everything it encountered, taking it away with it. Yet for me, that was the moment when we could go undisturbed in exploration, letting ourselves be lulled by the current. My father parked the car on the street, about fifty meters from the sea. Separating me from Bryan anguished me, but I asked him to stay in the car: it would begin to rain heavily in a few minutes and he would take a sickness. I also gave him pieces of wax taken from a candle.

"Put them on just in case: even just opening the window you could hear some siren's song." I frowned, waiting for him to confirm.

"Okay, I promise." And I saw him, with relief, plug his ears.

After greeting him with my hand, with a heart that was already looking forward to breaking that wait, I ran with my family towards the origin of my existence. I took off the suit and entered the water. As soon as the brackish water touched my skin, my body covered itself with goose bumps, making my teeth chatter, but in a few seconds the transformation began. I felt stripped of my human "lining" as if I were taking off another layer of clothing. I felt light, as if made of pure essence. My legs joined as if they were one and later stretched, losing the bone consistency. I felt them sway in a soft limb. And here my feet opened in two opposite directions and then stretched out, until they took on the appearance of a forked fin. The white skin was replaced by blue-green scales up to the bust. My body was no longer feeling the cold, because my temperature was one with the sea. My eyes no longer feared salt, but they widened to my immense domestic hearth, seeing through transparency. Each time the transformation was strange and its suddenness so shocking, and each time it was worth it. With a push I headed for deep water.