Everyone is always so excited about their 21st birthday. It means you can drink and go out to clubs. Which are the normal things that you usually do when you finally hit 21.
Everyone is so excited except Callia Para. Who is anything but normal.
Cal...
Just before the sunsets beyond the ocean's horizon, I stand barefooted on one of our island's beautiful beaches with my parents to my right and Proteus and his family to my left. All the Sirens that are over eighteen years old and could make it tonight, gather around a large circle that was marked on the sand's warm surface, unlit torches stand evenly spaced around its circumference where Nerissa and The Council will stand in the centre of it once they arrive.
We all wear long black cloaks with the hood up, making it impossible to see our faces. All of our wings are tucked inside our backs, and will remain that way until after the Rite is over.
The slight murmuring of voices dissipates as the Sirens across from us, near the tree line, step back, creating a small walkway. At the end of the walkway stands three figures wearing white robes that seem to glow in the fading light, their heads bowed.
The Council.
The Council consists of only three Sirens that unlike the rest of our kind, contain Goddess given magic and have identical pure white wings that are rarely seen.
The Council was created by the Goddess to guide and protect all Sirens, to be the keepers of our knowledge and history, to be our healers and to be the ones to perform our Rites and Ceremonies.
Every hundred or so years, one by one, a new Council is chosen by the Goddess and will be trained by the existing members until they are deemed ready, then the old members will step down.
I have never actually seen it happen, but I will soon as the next generation of Council members will start showing themselves in the next ten to twenty years.
The ones that are deemed worthy and are chosen by the Goddess possess white wings and earn a particular tattoo like symbol on the back of their neck that is bestowed upon them once they complete their Rite of Passage. The symbol is called a Triskele which consists of three conjoined swirls that stands for each member of The Council as well as the unity between the Earth, the Sea and the Sky.
* The Triskele symbol *
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The Council move aside, revealing Nerissa standing behind them. Unlike the rest of us, Nerissa is wearing a long Greek style ceremonial dress that is same colour as the ocean at night, somehow making her dark eyes actually seem lighter than normal. Her golden blonde hair is hanging over her shoulder in a long intricate braid. Slowly Nerissa begins to make her way down the path with The Council following along behind her, one by one.
Nerissa is the first to step over the edge of the circle with The Council not far behind her.
Nerissa keeps going until she reaches the centre, and faces out towards the ocean behind me, while The Council stands evenly spaced around her.
They turn around, facing the other Sirens gathered around the circle.
And at that moment, the last rays of light disappear, leaving us in the darkness of the night, but due to our advanced eyesight we can still see quite well.
