The boy shivered as the pirate looked him up and down, he circling him. "So," the captain was saying. "You thought you could come on this ship. My ship, and not be noticed? Do you know what the punishment is for stowaways?"

The boy, Ithmah, shook his head. As an orphan, no one had ever taught him the difference between right and wrong. He didn't know this was a pirate ship. He was used to sneaking onto fishing boats or barges, but now, in the middle of the winter, he was stuck in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by pirates.

The pirate struck him. "Look me in the eye, boy!" He shouted. Ithmah obliged, shaking with fear. There was no mercy in the captain's black eyes. "We can either sell you into slavery or kill you now. I'm thinking just kill you and leave you to the fishes. Wouldn't get much pay for a scrawny runt like you."

The cold was getting worse. Ithmah's bare feet were like ice and he was inadequatly wrapped in rags that hung off his painfully thin frame. He hadn't had a proper meal in his entire life and the last thing he'd eated was a thin slice of bread he had stolen three days ago out of the ship's kitchen, which had taken all his courage.

Now, standing before the man who would judge whether he lived or died, he hardly had the courage to breathe.

"What do you think, boys?" The captain asked. "What's the fate of this one?"

"Throw him into the depths," one pirate yelled.

"Killing him would be a favor," another said.

"Who'll buy that fish bone?"

The captain smiled. "Ready the plank."

Ithmah looked up at the pirate in horror. The sea had to be ice cold at this time of year. If he didn't drown, the cold would surely take him.

The boy watched as a long, thin board was brought out and pushed a little over halfway off the deck.

The pirates stripped Ithmah down to his short, tattered trousers, which hung off him and needed to be held up by a rope. The boy hugged himself for what little warmth he could obtain. The wind bit hard and the sea spray splashed his bear skin. The captain dragged him onto the plank. He stood, paralyzed for a second, shivering. The pirate rolled his eyes and shoved the boy forwards. He pushed him a little too hard and the boy fell, hitting his head on the board, and going headfirst into the freezing depths below.

Below the dark surface, a young siren was swimming when she heard a loud splash from above. She sensed blood and almost couldn't stop herself from boltling up there and devouring whatever was leaking it. But this siren was different then the other sirens, which would have done just that. She was a veretarian, the only one of her kind. She slowly made her way to where she heard the splash and found a small boy, who was so painfully scrawny that she could count every individual rib on his bare torso. There was also a stream of fresh blood seeping from a wound in his head.

The siren grabbed the boy's wrist and felt a slight pulse. His skin was freezing to the touch. She knew humans couldn't survive without oxygen, would die if they grew too cold, and that there was too much blood coming from the wound in his head.

She decided to take the boy to her secret underwater cave. There wasn't land for miles and it would take too long for her to bring the boy there in time. If the siren was going to help him, she would have to keep him warm, keep him breathing, and stop the blood flowing from his head. She breathed softly into his nostrals to give him a burst of air, though he was unconcious, and she dragged him into the depths.

The siren's name was Serimis. She had tried several times to save unfortinate humans who fell into the grasps of the siren, but never prevailed. Once caught trying to save a human, she would be forced to kill the human then eat him. Serimis had never aquired the taste of human flesh, no matter haw much her parents wanted her to. She was simply odd.

Serimis had made it to her cave and she dragged the boy in after her. There was an airpocket in there and a place where he could rest. She pulled the boy out of the water, then she dragged herself out. This was a bit of a task, because her tail was incredebly heavy when out of water. Her silvery white hair stuck to her wet body like it never did in the water.

The boy was breathing softly,but his head still leaked blood. Sirimis took a peice of Healing Weed out of the pouch as her waist and wrapped it around the boy's head. The bleeding stopped imediatly. She left it on, just to be sure. The boy stopped shivering as vilolently and he driffed off into a calmer sleep.

Serimis smiled. I did it! She thought. "I actually saved one!"

The boy opened his eyes in alarm, awoken by her voice, which echoed off the cave walls. He sat up, but instantly groaned in pain. Serimis shoved his back, trying to be gentle. "Shh," she said. "It's okay. I've got you."

The boy looked her up and down fearfully. She was smiling, revealing her shark like teeth. Her tail was enough to shock him. He refused to lie down and slowly backed up, until his back hit the wall. He winced and realized he was trapped. "Look," he said quietly, his voice raspy from the lack of water. "If you're going to kill me, do it quickly."

Serimis laughed. "I don't want to kill you! I'm a vegetarian. And besides, I saved your life. You should be thanking me."

Ithmah glanced down at Serimis' tail. "W-what are you, exactly?"

"A siren," she said. "Closely related to the mermaid."

Ithmah shook his head in disbeleif. "You can't be real." He slowly crawled forwards. He put a tentative hand out and touched the siren's tail, instantly pulling away. "You're not possible!"

Serimis shrugged. "I didn't think there was such thing as a gentle human. What's you're name?"

"Ithmah," the boy said.

"Serimis," said the siren.

Ithmah looked around. "Where are we?"

"In a cave under the sea. You'll be safe here from my kin." Hopefully, she added to herself.

"Kin?" Ithmah asked. "What about them?"

"You don't know anything about sirens, do you?" Serimis guessed.

The boy shrugged. "Not really."

"Well," the siren said. "The thing is, I'm a vegetarian, the only one of my kind. The rest of my kin eat meat...including humans."

Ithmah grew scared again. "H-humans?"

Serimis shrugged. "I never really aquired a taste for your kind particularaly. I have more fun saving you're kind from drowning."

"Really?" He asked. "How many have you saved?"

"A few," Serimis lied. "But I've never gotten to meet one personally."

Ithmah shrugged his slim shoulders. "I'm nothing much."

"Really?" The siren asked. She grabbed Ithmah's leg and pulled it towards her. "How do these even work?"

The boy pulled out of her grasp. Her long taloned fingernails dug into his skin. "You walk on them," he said.

"Show me," Serimis said.

Ithmah felt quite foolish, getting up and showing a girl, correction, siren, her age how legs worked. Serimis' shark like teeth glittered as a smile spread across her face. "Facinating," she said.

"Okay," Ithmah said, sitting down again. "Show me how you're tail works."

"This old thing?" Serimis asked. She scooted back into the icy water with a plunk! She stayed under the water for several minutes, before resurfacing and spraying Ithmah in the face with water. He wipped it away and looked up to see her doing flips in the air, he light blue tail reminding him of ice shards. When she was done, she smiled up at Ithmah. "It's useless on land, but it works wonders in water."

The boy nodded. "That's incredible?"

The siren shrugged. "But humans can both walk and swim. You may not to go as deep, but it's still a feat."

Ithmah shrugged. "I can hardly swim."

"Yes, but your just a boy. You'll learn soon enough."

They sat in silence for a little bit. The boy hugged himself for warmth and his stomach was painfully twisted from hunger. Serimis noticed his discomfort. "Oh," she said softly. She went into her pouch and produced a different kind of seaweed then before, setting it in front of Ithmah. He looked at it skeptically.

"Oh, just eat it," she said, shoving some into her own mouth. "You're all skin and bones!" Which was a true enough statement. Ithmah looked like an extream anorexic after a few months. He took the seaweed and took a bite. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything like human bread and cheese. He thanked her for it.

"Now, I can't do anything about water or warmth, however. But if I stay in this cave, the water should stay warm. I can make it so my tail emits heat. I use it to melt ice on the water all the time."

Ithmah put his frozen feet in the water and sighed with relief. The warmth traveled through every part of his being. He leaned against the cave wall and shut his tired eyes. "Go to sleep, boy," Serimis said. "It'll keep watch over you."