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It was an uneventful morning and Foggy was doing chores. Most days, Foggy was at work but he always set aside time to socialise and catch up on whatever work needed doing. He consulted his to-do list.
- Buy a birthday present for Candace.
- Clean walls.
- Fix cooking bowl.
Easy enough.
He was able to haggle at the market and pick out some cool seaweed bracelets for Candy, and he packed it away in his satchel. He wandered home and set about scraping the barnacles off the exterior walls of the small cave where he lived. Damn barnacles, they kept coming back. There weren’t too many at the moment but it really strained his arms as he used a piece of stone to dislodge the little critters, one by one.
All he had left to do was fix his favourite cooking bowl. He needed clay for that. He set his satchel down outside his home and was just wondering if he should stop for lunch when something barrelled into him, making him fall against the cave wall.
“Excuse me, watch where you’re swimming, pal!” Foggy snapped at the shark who had just bumped into him. Ordinary, he’d never dream of mouthing off at a shark but this one was tiny.
The shark gurgled several times in succession, swimming frantically in circles around Foggy’s body. Oh, the poor shark was clearly terrified. Foggy’s heart melted in sympathy and he tried to dredge up his partially-forgotten knowledge of how to converse with a shark.
Foggy was a bit rusty with his language skills. He’d opted to take Languages of the Se a as an elective in college but if he was honest with himself, that was only because there was a really cute girl in his year and she’d mentioned wanting to learn languages. Had he really been so naive to believe that he could win her heart (or at least, a date) if he learned to speak in Squid and Sea Horse? But college was a long time ago.
Shark was a very staccato, aggressive-sounding language that pulled sound from the throat. It was difficult to decipher at the best of times. The shark spoke frantically in a bubbling gurgle. And he was young, very young. Practically a baby. It was hard to understand him.
“Something…no…some one in trouble? Is it a merman? No? Okay, um, I don’t know…” He glanced around but this stretch of ocean was so quiet, it could be slumbering. If Brett was here, he could help. “My friend — Brett — he’s one of the king’s guards. I could grab him and—”
No time, the shark rasped. Now.
“Okay okay. I’ll come with you,” he said firmly, making the decision there and then. He couldn’t leave a baby shark to swim headlong into danger, could he? “Lead the way.”
The shark swam resolutely, his short, squat body cutting through the water. Foggy swam along, casting water away from him until the muscles in his arms burned. He wasn’t used to swimming so fast. He normally swam in wide, easy strokes and if he was late to something, he could usually hitch a ride — he’d been so lazy once, he’d crowd-surfed on a school of fish. Fun times.
Foggy blinked water from his eyes, keeping the shark’s stout figure in his vision. Follow the shark and help whoever is in trouble. Easy, right? Foggy’s mind must be playing tricks on him. Maybe his body was casting shadows in the water. It almost looked like the shark had legs…
Eventually, the shark stopped and swam up to the surface. Foggy followed him and sucked in air. The sky was a beautiful pale blue and the air was thick with fluffy white clouds. It didn’t look like a dangerous day but he supposed appearances could be deceptive.
“I never asked your name. My name’s Foggy,” Foggy said because if he was going to be helping the shark, it was only polite to exchange names.
Jeff, the shark said in a soft growl. Foggy smiled at him and Jeff gurned back. His teeth were tiny, set in big pink gums. He really was a baby, wasn’t he?
“So, Jeff, now that we’re friendly. Why did you bring me here? Wherever here is.”
Foggy didn’t travel much, it was true. He’d gone on vacation with his family in the past. But never far and never for very long. The king set curfews and in recent years, had only become more paranoid that one of his subjects might get spotted by a human. Foggy understood and he’d never admit it, but although the king was a decent guy, his regime could feel a little stifling at times. Jeff never had to worry about stuff like that Foggy thought enviously. Fish were free to roam wherever they liked.
Jeff started to speak but was interrupted by a loud, cackling laugh. Foggy bobbed anxiously in the water, his worried gaze meeting Jeff’s black, shiny eye.
He knew that laugh.
Sirens. He glowered, his lips instinctively pulling back in a snarl. What loathsome creatures they were. His hatred wasn’t inspired by the sight of their faces— although they were indeed very ugly. They looked like the rough approximation of human women, but no human had vicious talons that could flay your flesh off the bone.
No, he despised them because of their attitudes towards humans. Foggy harboured a healthy unease and suspicion of humanity in general. Mankind had poisoned the oceans and with their cameras and satellites and helicopters, it was only a matter of time until one of them discovered a merperson. The king had made some grim statements, predicting this very thing. But despite all the damage man had done, Foggy couldn’t find it in himself to hate them. Merfolk and man were cousins, that’s what Professor Pym at Foggy’s old college said. In the olden days, even before humans were apes in the trees, there was no distinction between man and merman. But the genes had divided in some way, evolution had taken hold of one body and not the other. And so, one creature had crawled out of the water and grown legs, and the other had stayed in the ocean and would do so forever. And that’s how mankind and merkind were born.
Sirens. And wherever there were sirens, there were—
Humans. Human come. Bad sirens. Jeff was articulate for such a young shark and Foggy had no trouble understanding him. Sirens scoured the ocean, searching for sailors, divers and even the odd drunk bachelor on a cruise ship. Oh, they thought it was a right hoot when they sang their bewitching songs, luring humans to a watery grave. The king’s guards were ordered to kill them on sight. It’s not like you could arrest a siren and throw her in the king’s jail. They couldn’t swim and would drown if pulled underwater.
Foggy had heard that humans thought sirens were mermaids. An insulting comparison and blatantly untrue. Just because sirens liked hanging around the sea, it didn’t mean they were merfolk. Merfolk had strong, scaly tails, perfect for swimming. Sirens had long gangly legs with big, clawed feet. They had wings to aid a hasty escape. Sirens were cruel but they were cowards and they wouldn’t want to risk a fight unless they were sure they would win.
Sirens hated merfolk just as much as merfolk despised them but Foggy suspected this was because merfolk were immune to their songs. All oceanfolk were, from the tiniest seahorse to the largest whale. But humans, poor, stupid humans only had to hear a few bars of a tune and they were helpless puppets. Sirens had claimed many victims that way.
Foggy looked urgently at Jeff. “Show me where they are.”
Jeff swam forward and butted Foggy in the chest with his hard snout. “You’re hurting me, stop it—” but then he realised Jeff was trying to get him to turn around. Foggy turned, swearing under his breath. Ah. That would make things different.
A vast fishing boat sat on the calm ocean like an iceberg, undulating gently with the lapping waves. Foggy squinted in the sun. How many humans were packed inside this thing? As if he’d somehow guessed Foggy’s unspoken question, Jeff burbled a response.
Three human. Three siren.
“Oh, that’s…that’s bad…” A song began; one woman’s aria in pleasingly lilting tones. Foggy ignored it. “Three sirens. We gotta get there, Jeff.” But if he rushed in, the humans would spot him. The king would be furious. Foggy would be arrested by the guards for exposing his species to the enemy. But he couldn’t leave those poor, dumb apes to die…
Somebody screamed and that decided it. He was going in. He swam in a steady stride cutting through the water with his eyes trained up at the big white boat. It was kind of beautiful in the way that a shark (not a baby like Jeff but a big, adult shark) was beautiful. White and flawless but just a bit deadly. Human design fascinated Foggy. But there was no time to muse on that right now.
Once he was closer, he could spot the sirens’ raft. Sirens couldn’t swim but they needed a way to travel the seas, so they often built rafts. Some rafts were made of wood, some were constructed from scavenged human garbage and some were constructed entirely from human bones, intricately knitted together. He was relieved to see that this was a garbage raft. He couldn’t make out the individual items that were slotted together to form the floating platform, but he could smell its stink. The odour didn’t bother the humans though.
“I see them,” Foggy whispered, keeping close to the ship's side. His shoulder brushed its cold metal side and he shivered. He felt colder out of the ocean than in it. Jeff stayed close to him, his nose bumping against Foggy’s elbow.
Three?
“Yeah, three human men. There’s a young guy, a slightly older guy and a really old guy. They’re all looking at the sirens. The young one is trying to reach out to one of the sirens.”
I see sirens. Ugly bird woman.
“Yeah, they’re not great,” Foggy snickered softly. “Maybe we can swim under the boat to the garbage raft. We could, I don’t know, upend it? The sirens will be too shocked to sing—”
“Meet me tonight! Feel my body’s delight! I am yearning and burning for you to kindle my fire!”
“Jetsam!” Foggy swore. Jeff shot him a reproving look. “That’s done it! They’ve started their song. Look, the young boy’s trying to climb off the ship.” He pointed it out.
It was true. The young blond man threw one leg over the side of the ship. The other two men, a redhead man with a pinched, pale face and an old man, tried to hold him back and stop him from leaping into the water. But Foggy recognised the signs and the redhead sagged, his bitter expression softening into something simpering and lovesick.
They were too entranced to worry about a merman and his shark associate, so Foggy gave Jeff a meaningful look and paddled over.
Foggy was wrong. Not all the men were entranced. The old man (he reminded Foggy of his grandfather, he had a kind face) desperately grabbed onto both the redhead’s and the young man’s jackets, struggling to keep both men aboard.
“I can help you!” Foggy yelled, surprising himself. When he’d woken up today, he hadn’t realised that his day would end with him outing his species to a human. But what else could he do? All three men would drown without him.
“Step into the sea, and find me! I will carry you in sweet serenity!” a siren crooned, breaking off to laugh cruelly.
A siren with tumbling curls leant forward and kicked at Foggy with a clawed foot. “Hello, little fish! You’re too late. Our song has started and you can’t save these men. So swim home and take your shark with you.”
“Hey, shut up!” Foggy snapped. “I’m not letting you kill people on my watch, you over-fed seagull! One of my buddies is a member of the king’s guards, yeah? I’ll summon him and he’ll grab you so fast, you’ll be—”
Foggy! The humans! Jeff burbled.
Oh no! The young man was overboard. How the fin had that happened? Foggy turned his back on the shrieking sirens and their island of garbage. He swam to the young man, whose slender body was already sinking into the water. Foggy dived down and wrapped his arms around him, pulling him up. Foggy wasn’t exactly in shape (his mother was always bugging him to attend one of her aquarobics classes and he was beginning to regret declining, in hindsight) but he held onto the young human with a death grip, crushing the cold, sodden body to his chest.
“Dumb humans. Try to get this one on the ship!” Foggy yelled out to the old guy. His shout was only received with visible confusion and it occurred to Foggy that there might be one reason why this old man hadn’t succumbed to the sirens’ song. “He’s deaf! Jeff, the old man can’t hear the sirens! Buddy, you gotta take the sirens out. I don’t think the old dude is gonna be strong enough to keep the other man on the ship!”
As the sirens sang sweetly, the red-haired man thrashed in the older man’s hold. He was younger than his friend and probably stronger. If he protested too hard, he could end up throwing both of their bodies overboard. Jeff didn’t need telling twice. He ploughed through the water, a shark on a mission, and leapt onto the garbage raft. If Foggy hadn’t been distracted, trying to keep a lovesick teen from drowning, he would have stared at the sight of the shark walking on four little legs. Jeff launched himself at the nearest siren and sank his teeth into a wing. Her song was swallowed up by her scream and she struggled with the shark, kicking her scaly legs out, catching him in the snout. Jeff fell back but was only more determined, going on the offensive.
“Hey!” Foggy managed to catch the old man’s eye. The poor old thing looked terrified but as the redheaded man sagged, he relaxed a fraction.
“I don’t…” The redhead blinked, confused, and his brow dropped into a scowl. “What happened? Gus, what happened just now?”
“Never mind that, help me,” Foggy panted. For such a skinny shrimp, the boy was heavy. The boy feebly protested as the old man — Gus — and the redheaded man hauled him up.
A small wave washed over Foggy’s chest and he glanced over his shoulder.
Ha! The siren raft was retreating! The three women paddled their arms through the water and their raft of garbage sailed away into the horizon. As they left, they threw a few swear words over their shoulder that would have made a sailor blush.
Sirens! Cowards, every last one.
Foggy grinned and was about to congratulate Jeff on his valour when something heavy fell down over his head. Everything went dark and when he struggled, coarse material fell over him, containing his body and limiting his movements. Strong arms lifted him up and Foggy, in his fear, fainted.
“Oh, my head…” Foggy groaned, blinking tiredly. His skull throbbed. He stretched, flapping his tail limply in the water. Instead a rush of cool ocean water to greet him, his tail barely made a splash. Had he somehow drifted into a shallow coastal shelf? Was he on land? Where was he?
He sat up and nothing was familiar. His terrified eyes roved over walls, too perfectly constructed to have occurred naturally. Human design. But the floor rocked and he knew he was in water. He was on the ship.
He was in a little room, with a low level of seawater. It barely came up to his waist when he sat down. Something nudged his arm and he jerked back in fright but Jeff’s sad eyes met his own.
“Jeff? Did the humans put us on the ship? There was a thing, over my face, a — I don’t know what it was.”
Sorry, Foggy.
“Huh? What are you saying, little guy? Why are we here? What happened?”
Jeff gazed at him with two dark eyes and burbled one word but it was a word Foggy knew and when he heard it, his heart sank.
Trap.
“Greetings, sir!” Foggy flinched but it was only himself and Jeff occupying the little room. His gaze travelled up the dark grey wall. A little square had been cut into it, he hadn’t noticed it at first. A face peered down at him. He recognised the pinched features and flaming red hair. One of the humans who had almost drowned in the siren song.
“You,” Foggy snarled.
“So, you talk? Excellent. I was hoping you would. It willl make communication easier.” His voice was as cruel as his face. Foggy pictured Jeff sinking his teeth into that arrogant countenance and satisfaction burned in his chest. “What luck to run into you. I must thank you for saving me and my men from those hideous demon women.”
“If you’re grateful for my help, let me go,” Foggy said quickly. The man laughed.
“And waste my trip? But sir, you’re exactly what I’ve been seeking. I’ve travelled the oceans for six months, searching for a mermaid to add to my collection. I was hoping for one from the myths. A figure of bewitching charm and beauty. A fat, ugly merman isn’t ideal but you’re worth your weight in gold.”
“You’re going to experiment on us, aren’t you?” Foggy stammered, afraid to his bones. Jeff shuddered beside him. That was the biggest fear for merfolk. A human finds you and you end up spending the rest of your life as a medical miracle, locked up in a laboratory, being poked and prodded and maybe even cut open. Foggy would rather be fed to the gulls than endure such torture.
“Do I look like a scientist?” the man said, smiling.”I am an artist. I create shows to entertain and titillate. And I’ll be selling more tickets than ever when my clients finally see a real-life merman. Your funny little shark can come too. You can train him to perform tricks if you like.”
“A show? What do you mean? Let us go!” Foggy roared. He tried to raise himself up but his tail couldn’t straighten up without the support of the water and he fell back down. The man laughed. “Who are you?”
“Mr Arcade, at your service. Terribly sorry but we’ll have to chat another time. The next time we meet, I’ll make you a star. Goodbye.”
Foggy screamed his rage but Arcade abandoned him in that little room. Nobody was coming. Nobody knew he was here. At least he had a friend with him.
Jeff curled up next to him and rested his head on Foggy’s tail. A big black eye looked up at Foggy, forlornly.
Jeff scared.
“I know, buddy,” Foggy said softly, pulling Jeff closer so the baby shark could take refuge in his arms. “I’m scared too.”