THESE HIDDEN WINGS

[53.1] MY SECOND DEATH

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"Harvesssssssst" a low hiss came skimming towards me.

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MY BREATH HITCHED as I watched those gleaming emerald eyes. They peered up at me through the water to my elevated position. My chest was moving up and down as I slowly backed away from the edge, Mr. Ogustus's words ring in my mind,

"Sirens are meat-eaters, they are vile and very vicious, they will not spare any living thing especially when they have their claws and fangs ready to hunt, you would be lucky to escape alive."

Yep, those words were pretty self-explanatory to me. I swallowed hard trying to retain some courage, reminding myself I was safe on land. It couldn't get me here. My gaze never left it, stuck exclusively on its slippery skin, even as it slowly disappeared in the waves that mirrored the dark sky making it impossible to see through.

Finally feeling a lot better, I run a hand through my kinky locks, feeling the stress coming on, and walk down to a more leveled ground. I looked around in the darkness, the cold midnight air hissing as it buzzed past my skin. I desperately tried to find some kind of familiar path, but my brain kept reminding me that the first route I had used had only one sea outlet and sadly this was not it.

Taking a step back to look at the dark trees that reminded me I was all alone in this forest, a place I had never thought in the life of me that I'd be, my foot slipped, and just before I could fall, I managed to maintain some sort of balance even though my foot dipped into a muddy puddle. Grunting at my misfortune, as if things weren't bad already, I took off the closed sandals I had been wearing on my left foot, letting my now barefoot rest on the prickly weeds that preceded the ocean.

I glanced at my mud-covered sandal trying to flick as much mud off as I could as I waved it in the air. Not having much luck with that, I opted to drag it along the overgrown weeds, but as you could have imagined, that didn't help as much as I hoped it would. Huffing, I put my papers away in a dry area, before deciding to move towards the edge of the water, crouching low amongst the long reeds. I dipped the shoes in the water, washing them thoroughly until all the mud washed off.

Taking full advantage of this, I sat by the bank, dipping a foot in, trying to wash the mud off it. I was just about done when I heard a low hissing sound. I slowly looked out into the waters, my eyes locking onto the emerald ones of the siren this time dangerously close to me. So close, I could see every feature on her face that she had revealed quite proudly, her head to shoulders out in the open and the rest of her body drowned by the sea.

I quickly retracted my foot from the waters, but I was much too stunned at our proximity to move further, feeling frozen in her still green gaze, her dark raven hair sticking lusciously down her back, striking eyes hiding behind a few strayed strands that lingered over her face, though her straight still gaze was stuck in mine.

I swallowed hard as I stared back at her for a few more moments but when she did nothing but stare back at me with no emotion I could recognize or no forms of hostile actions taken, suggestions began to rack around in my brain, the first being, - I was lost and she might know where to find the person I was looking for.

I had no idea how to tell if she was the same siren from before as they were all identical, but I had hoped, she knew of him, after all, I was sure Harvest was a regular customer if you know what I mean.

He must be well known in the water world- I could only imagine- that's if it did exist. But that was a chance I was downright willing to take if that meant getting out of this muddy place.