Ara

I push her off, swimming away to cower behind my father. Although I was still upset at him, he was the only familiar person I knew in the room.

"Daughter? Why do you fear me?" she wails, shifting her scaley shoulders to the side.

"Stop calling me that!" I yell through a panted breath before studying her eyes. She was a weird-looking thing. Not ugly...just strange looking.

"Ara, I do not like you raising your voice! Now come, come. Give your mother a proper hug."

Surely this woman knew how to read a room? My limbs had never been more rigid before a moment like this. She finally caught onto my cue and joins her veiny arms. "I suppose this is your doing Triton?" she accuses, sucking in the air in her cheek.

"I have not done anything Iressa." My father's tone was lethal and filled with impatience. How dare she interrupt a once so peaceful night. Well, not completely peaceful but before her arrival, it was certainly tame.

"You did Triton! You turned our daughter against me! MY daughter" she screams, challenging his calm demeanor.

"Iressa, what are you doing here? You have destroyed our kingdom, interfered with our sea barrier, ruined MY daughter's birthday party, taken---"

"And was I so wicked to remember my dear daughter and pay her a visit?" she interjects through an innocent smile.

"Would you stop calling me that!" I fume. pushing away from my father. This woman must surely be insane. She chuckles before shaking her jaw, tossing her multicolored curls to the side.

"How deeply he has poisoned your mind little one.

"Enough of this Iressa. GUARDS! GUARDS!" my father yells but many of them were fallen from the struggle that ensued just moments before; the floor was splattered with their blood.

The woman waited impatiently, lifting a pointy nail to her vision. "I am waiting? Oh? Oops!" she chuckles carelessly, "I guess my sirens went a little too hard?"

I look around the grimy waters as things were starting to settle and see Prince Fai hurt in a hidden corner. A solid metal spear was pierced through his side. "Fai!" I yelled, swimming over to his form. I press my head against his chest, trying so carelessly to feel for a pulse. He was unconscious.

I hoped.

"Wake up! Please... wake up" I shake him a few more times but he is rigid, his body now cold. "He's dead," I whisper, unable to catch the gasp that escapes my mouth.

"Ara" the lady calls. Anger replaces the confusion that once brewed in my heart. How dare she come in with gusto so brazen, ruining everything in such a short amount of time.

"He's dead! YOU KILLED HIM! YOU KILLED HIM!!" I scream, swimming up to face her odd-looking visage.

"Awww... it seems I did" she forces a pout to her lips. "Well, he wasn't that cute anyway! I will find you a more suitable suitor, better looking too. Maybe even a human one." she chimes.

My heart raced at the mention of the word.
Human. But how did she know I was obsessed? How did she know my inclinations? Either way, I didn't care nor could I ponder her now. All I wished to do was unspeakable things but knew I had no power. She had taken out half our army and a fourth of the merpeople. I peered over at my father, quickly weighing the advantage we had. His trident! Of course, why didn't I think of it before?

"Father kill her." I voice, clenching my teeth with anger. "Kill her!! She killed Fai and a majority of your men. KILL HER!!" I scream, tears hugging my gills but my father was firm in his place. "Come on father! Where is your trident? Kill her!" I say, turning to encourage him to take action. He still stood rigid in his place.

"I suppose Triton seems to have misplaced it Ara?" the woman beams through an airy smile.

"Someone has stolen it You know it Iressa. We are at the mercy of the sirens." My father announces, warning the last stragglers of merpeople to stand down.

And that is when I react, finally understanding all the chaos that unfolded before me. My fin snaps into a frenzy of swirls, my anger finally spilling to the surface of my body and I move to attack her, not caring who I collide into or strike.

And so I did it. I traveled to attack her, shifting all my weight to my upper torso to strike her but she simply laughs and pushes me aside, flinging my feeble body to the floor. I wipe the dust on my cheek, swimming again to strike her body but this time, she holds my arms, digging her nails into my skin. A fervent yelp escapes me and she stops, scanning the edges of my eyes. She takes her long finger and runs it across my face, taking in every feature.

"You're so beautiful" she whispers, savoring my features. I try to wiggle free but she forces her claws into my skin once more. "I wanted to say something at the graveyard Ara...but something was stopping me" she admitted. So I wasn't crazy! I knew I felt as if someone watching me with Tails.

I wished I could say the same for her. She was not ugly in the slightest, just peculiar looking. She had the sort of beauty that would stop you in your path. Burning golden eyes welcomed mine with perfectly arched eyebrows to match. She had fins on her jowls and another protruding from her dorsal. I could almost envision how she would have looked like if she were a mermaid but dark grey scales covered the vision. I guess the longer one inspected her, the more pleasing her features became.

My eyes lowered onto Prince Fai, his lifeless body reminding me of my sisters and Tails. "Where are my sisters," I grumble, noticing their absence.

"Sisters? Oh, my precious Ara. There is so much you don't know. They are not your sisters."

I shake my head, refusing to take her words as truth. "Let go of me. I am tired of your lies!"

"Lies? Ara, it seems as if the only person that has been lying to you is your father."

"Let go!" I say again, trying to rid myself of her claws.

"I suggest you tell her Triton or I will." she snaps, pointing a claw-like finger to him. My father's silence prompts me to investigate. "Father? What does she mean?"

"Ara...she means. I mean...I was going to tell you before you touched the surface." he reveals, placing a palm against my shoulder.

"Tell me what?"

"You..you... Well, you are---"

"He is not your father!" the woman, whose name I still had not memorized, blurted making everyone in the room freeze. I couldn't accept her news and look to him instead.

"Father...say that she is lying."

"Ara..." he falters.

"Father say it! Say this... this beast is a fraud!" My father was silent.

"You are the daughter of the great and mighty Zeus. I conceived you in the turbulent silence of the abyss just 16 years ago. Your blood flows with the power of Zeus's almighty thunder and his spirit reigns within you. Ara, I am your mother."

"No...no!" I muttered. I tried not to, but I couldn't help it; I couldn't accept her words, so I cried. So the father I've known and loved for 15 years was never truly my father; and my mother was a siren who had been knocked up by Zeus?

"Ara.I wished so much to tell you but...us merfolks. We are sacred people. I knew you would want to find her if I told you."

"You've been lying to me father" It was the only phrase I could repeat.

"Ara you must understand!"

"You've been lying about everything! My sisters and our relation to each other! I bet you've been lying about the human world too!"

"He has!" my mother chimes in from behind, relishing as she watched the story unravel. I glared at her before returning to my father.

"Ara, you must give me a chance to explain."

"Just how you award me my chances father?"
Quickly, he silences.

"NO! I will not give you a chance to explain. My party is ruined, our people have fallen, and the first man who I had feelings for is dead because of a woman you decided to hide from me"

"Ara, do you not understand? This is what she wanted?"

"And now, the man who I assumed could do no wrong, has been lying to me all these years," I remarked carelessly. Her army of siren watched me carefully before turning to her. I had enough of this.

"Ara! Wait!" he swam over trying to prevent my departure but I push him off.

"Don't touch me. I HATE YOU!!" My father's eyes broke with sadness. I knew he was pained by my words but I did not care and with the lazy flick of my tail, I swam away.

____

In the secret grotto, I cry, remembering the worst day of my life. How my father scolded me and the siren who interrupted my peace. I thought of Prince Fai and the charming dimples that once carved his cheeks. Did he die protecting me? I hope not, for it was no worthy way to die. My fingers dance across the smooth white pearl that he had gifted me just hours before. It was so beautiful and pure, like his soul.

My mind wonders to that woman at the party. She was a siren but was she really my mother?
But how? I was a mermaid and she a siren? The union of a god and a siren would make another siren...not a full-blooded mermaid. There were so many unanswered questions.

My trusty companion Tails comes in squeaking before burying into my neck. "Stop it Tails" I curse, turning my head away. I knew he was trying to make me feel better but I was not in the mood, instead choosing to wallow in my sadness.

I remember my father and the truth he was forced to reveal. I knew he meant well, always rising above the norm to protect me, but anger still resonated in my heart. It was the only emotion I understood.

Everything he's been telling me has been a lie. I repeat to myself again.

Was the human world truly as menacing as he suggested? How quickly he banned me from touching the surface the moment he knew of my whereabouts.

But in that moment, I did not care what he or anyone else had to say. My day was already ruined, how much worse could it get? I refused to let my father ruin another aspect of my day.

"Tails. I don't care what he said" I whisper, using my arm to wipe away my tears.

"Squeak squeak?"

"I am going," I whisper. lifting my head to the surface of the ocean. The sun's rays were just setting, painting a scene of beauty beneath the waters.

I just turned 16, yet here I was, locked in a room.
No.
Not tonight. Tonight? I would swim up to the ocean's surface and finally see what my sisters saw.
I would see the world I have always dreamed of.
Tonight, I would make sure of it.

______

Author Note:

Hmmm, I think Ara will meet a special someone in the next chapter. 👀

Also started a new book named Patra so go check it out. Gonna be shameless plugging in every book I update so if you've seen this already, mind yo business. 🥰