Chapter 1
"So, are you ready for the big change?" Cleo gleamed at me. Tonight I was 18 and would become a full-fledged Siren. One of those wooing she-devils of the deep. The "mermaids" people loved so much. "I can hardly wait!" I said with a huge amount of sarcasm.
Who wants to be a half fish woman who drowns men and feeds on their flesh. Not me, but it was the family I was born into. The Sires Family, the pure-blooded she demons of the deep, and my big sister Cleo was all too proud of it. Cleo got her looks from our mother, and I got mine from our father.
Cleo glared at me for my remark. She gave me the creeps sometimes. "I don't appreciate your sarcasm Faleen," she said, crossing her arms. "You know how important this is to the family and me."
I bite my lip, feeling a tinge of guilt. I didn't want to become a siren, but I didn't want to let my family down either. I looked down at my feet, which were soon to be fins.
I shook my head, trying to knock the thought out of my head. I turned my attention to Cleo, who was burning a hole in my head. "I'm sorry, Cleo, I just don't know what to think of this." I pulled my knees up to my chest.
"A part of me doesn't want this change, and the other part of me can't help but want it." And it was true, like a bug drawn to a bug zapper, I was drawn to the water whether I liked it or not. Cleo placed her cold hands on my shoulder.
"This is who we are, and you can't change what is destined to be." she squeezed my shoulders and whispered, "If you are scared of the pain when you first change, I promise It will pass quickly, and it will only get easier," She gave me a quick hug and walked out of the room.
I stared at the door for a while. My mother would be coming to take me to the ceremony soon, where all the females of our pod would gather to welcome their new brood. Tonight's ceremony wasn't just for me, though. Two more girls were of age now, and Renya was also one of my closest friends. We grew up together. I didn't exactly know how she felt about this. I'd have to see her before my mother comes to get me.
I headed to my dresser to put something more comfortable on. For the change, we had to be unclothed in are blue robes. I put on some comfy black sweat pants and my favorite soft pink sweater. It was baggy, but I liked my sweaters that way. I tied my hair in a messy bun and started to walk down the hall to Renya's room.
Since our families were so close, they decided to coexist with one another. So we lived in a big Victorian mansion next to the ocean in the middle of nowhere for obvious reasons.
I stopped at Renya's door. It was cracked open. "That's weird," I said aloud to myself. She never leaves her door open...I pushed the door, peeping inside. "Renya? Are you here?" I paused to hear her voice, but no one answered. I walked inside. Her bed wasn't made, and her clothes were all over the place. Like she had left in a hurry. Her window was wide open and on the edge of it was a blue silk robe and a note...
