The Song of the Sea

2. The 6th Master

The Siren raised his arm to shield his eyes from the glare of the lantern. He'd begun to worry that he was never going to get out of that box. That he would just be left to freeze to death.

His fear stopped him from paying attention to the men's words, but he could tell they were arguing about something. He stole quick glances at the men, trying to pick out which one would be his next master.

This would be his 6th master, and he wondered where he would fare in the list. The worst master he ever had was his first master - a pirate called Jinx. Jinx was cruel and demanding. He liked to show he was in charge with regular beatings, but to be honest, it wasn't the beatings that made him bottom of the list. It was the cruelty that made him the worst. He would put plates of lovely smelling food in front of the Siren, forcing him to look and smell it, only to then snatch it away and give him a plate of moss that had been scraped off the decks.

Jinx's favourite method of torture was when he would get his men to pour freezing sea water over him every time he fell asleep. Once, it had carried on for 4 days, with him never being allowed to close his eyes for more than a few minutes. Eventually, he passed out in exhaustion. He thought he was going to die. He wanted to die. But then he'd woken up 2 days later with a new master, Henry. He never did find out what happened to Jinx, but as long as he never saw him again, he didn't care.

Henry had been his favourite master. Not because he was particularly kind, but because he was the master to another Siren too, Hermoine. Hermoine was the first Siren that he'd ever met and the one who taught him everything he needed to know about who he was.

Because he wasn't always this way. Not before the curse.

He snapped out of his thoughts when the man with the lantern leaned in towards the cage again.

"Can you understand me?" the man barked.

The Siren remained silent. He'd learned that it was best to try to gain an understanding of his new master before he decided how much to reveal.

"I'm Captain Jacob Riley," the man tried again. "Do you have a name?"

The Siren unconsciously tilted his head to one side. This was new. He'd never had a master introduce himself by name before.

"You're wasting your time, Captain," one of the other men huffed, but was immediately shushed by the Captain.

"Are you hungry?" the Captain asked. "Are you shivering because you're cold?"

The Siren couldn't help but look at the Captain with big, wide eyes. Was he really asking because he was concerned? Or was this another trick?

"I told you. Waste of time," the man with the black beard said again.

The Captain looked so disappointed that the Siren nearly broke his rule of not speaking. He wanted to tell the Captain he could understand and that that man with the black beard was wrong.

But before he could say anything, the Captain turned away.

As the men moved away the Siren let out a small whimper. It wasn't intentional. He was just scared of being left out in the cold all night.

The Captain froze.

"Don't listen to it! It's manipulating you!" Black Beard argued.

The Captain looked back, staring at the Siren. Normally the Siren would cower in front of his master, but something about Captain Jacob Riley's eyes left him unable to look away. He was captivated. There was something about them he couldn't quite grasp. Something...