THESE HIDDEN WINGS

[45.1] ORIGINS CLASS 521: MERMAIDS AND SIRENS

•|•|•

Maybe I had been mistaken, maybe they were mermaids and not Sirens.

•|•|•

"CALYPSO, A FABLED Sea Nymph. She was uh- best known in The Odysseys. A tale about Odysseus," David put in, his eyes set on Mr. Ogustus.

At this point, no one was surprised he was the first to answer the question. I heard the tale of Odysseus. Dad had a lot of books on Greek mythology stacked up in our library at home, not only Greek but as well as African, the best of both worlds he would say.

I didn't need an explanation about the whole thing as I was quite familiar with Calypso but when Mr. Ogustus asked him to expand more on the tale I listened as best as I could, eyes set on the boy two seats ahead of me.

"Well," David continued, fidgeting slightly as he took a sweep of all the attentive eyes on him, "as the story goes," he continued, taking a deep breath in. I raised an eyebrow at this, he seemed a little shy from what I could tell which was kind of ridiculous. The boy was answering questions every time a sentence began with 'Can someone please tell us about-"

It was practically in his blood.

"Calypso was entranced by Odysseus and wanted to turn him into an immortal just as she was so that they could live together forever, but the problem was Odysseus was already married to a certain maiden-uh- Penelope if my memory serves me right-"

"That is correct," Mr. Ogustus replied poshly.

"He was on a long voyage and trying to get home to his wife, but he was stuck on Calypso's Island. It was only with the help of Athena who asked Zeus for help to set him free that he made it off the island," David finished.

He took a final sweep of the class and cleared his throat.

"Calypso is no ordinary nymph of the sea, she is a goddess, one of the minor ones, but immortal as most are," he trailed off, "while she is a very good example of a figure of the sea, she is not considered a creature," Mr. Ogustus explained carefully.

Well, that was a rare occurrence. The day a blue got a question wrong if only Lira was here to see. Then again, he wasn't exactly off-topic.

"We have less than ten minutes until the end of our class," Mr. Ogustus suddenly stated, prompting me to glance down at my watch for a minute.

"Therefore, I will mention a few mythological creatures that roam the bodies of water, far and wide," he continued, sitting on his desk, his cane propped in the middle.

"I shall begin with mermaids, one of the most common guardians of the sea. They are peaceful, harmless, and stay completely out of human sight. You can scan the whole ocean youngling and will never find a trace of the merfolk. Then, they are sirens, who hide in the turbulence of the unforgiving seas. Whilst the merfolk remains guardians some have been deceived by darkness and have evolved into deceptions; we call sirens.

Many a sailor has died at the claws of such a creature. And whilst you may scour the ocean and not find a trace of them, they are known to lure many a sailor, especially when one is stranded or dragged down during a storm on the sea. Either way Younglings, sirens are meat-eaters, they are vile and very vicious, they will not spare any living thing they have their claws on, you would be lucky to escape alive."

I felt goosebumps form on my skin as he explained this, my mind slipping back to Hallway Boy and his little playmates. They seemed to be quite tamed when it came to him.

Maybe I had been mistaken, maybe they were mermaids and not Sirens.

From the description Mr. Ogustus was giving, it sounded like it was quite impossible to have a mere swim with them in the dark without being eaten alive.

I had questions, questions that made my heart thunder from inside me, at the mere thought that these sirens had even touched me, and hissed in my ear. My hand flew upwards without warning as my breathing radically increased.

Mr. Ogustus stopped mid-sentence as our eyes locked. I glanced around and noticed everyone else was looking at me. His face fazed into something more understanding, a twinkle in his eyes.

"Yes, Talanda."

It felt strange to hear those words, and my hand shakily lowered. All eyes were on me and I felt very self-conscious of myself. My hand scrambled to open my book to write down the question that was eating me alive-

"Use your words, Youngling," Mr. Ogustus calmly said.

My eyebrows furrowed for a moment, freezing with the pen in my hand. What did he mean by using y words? He knew I couldn't talk. What kind of game was he playing? My eyes reached his and a wave of understanding flooded me as his voice rang in my mind.

"Use YOUR words," he echoed.

My eyebrows were un-arched, glancing around momentarily before looking back up again. Taking a deep breath in I place my pen down. Using my words, my language.

My hands shifted through the air as I signed away, carefully and slowly. When I was done there was truly nothing more rewarding than the proud look that twinkled through Mr. Ogustus' eyes.

"How does one know the difference between a mermaid and a siren?" he interpreted, he smiled down at me before his eyes trailed back to the class which allowed a shallow blush to heat against my skin, I glanced over at Claire and she gave me a large smile.

I never talked about it with anyone but I knew Claire was smart enough to figure out how self-conscious I was about my inability to speak. From the side glances I was still getting, I realized this was the first time a lot of people in my class had realized that as well, but with Mr. Ogustus's quick jump into explanations I was taken out of the center of attraction in a jiffy.

"Mermaids are more human-like. Both are beautiful and alluring, whether male or female, and both species could enchant, but one species look more creature than a human. The siren is more reptilic, with fangs, faster and stronger fins, camouflage to the surroundings, claws, and the most common feature, enchanting emerald eyes."

Oh, they were sirens.

•~•
Enjoying the story? Please leave a comment! Let me know your thoughts on the chapter. Tap the star below to vote in order to boost this book! Thank you!
•~•