"Don't trust mermaids," Fabi had said. She dipped her head under the water, and came back up, diluting the tears on her cheeks. "They aren't as sweet as they pretend. Being polite is important for them, but you can get away with anything if you give a smile."
"Anything?" Someone had asked.
"Hello!" A creature sang. "How might you be today?"
Bee and Socks glanced down to the water and took in the pointed ears, the fish-like tail, the smiling face. "Hello," Socks responded, brows furrowed. Bee played absently with a knife.
"What about you? What could you get away with?" Someone had asked. "Nothing," came Fabi's response. "Existing itself was a crime."
"That's not... That's not fair though," someone said.
"I guess not." She touched the fins that decorated the side of her head. "Too much fish, I guess. Too much fin, claw, song. I could be dangerous if I wanted to."
Someone rose a brow. "You could? Really?"
"Well, I don't think I could want to."
"We heard down the creek that you had a friend of ours! We were wondering if we could see her," said the creature.
"We?" Bee asked, and watched with narrowed eyes as several tailed beings rose above the water. They smiled wide - too wide, almost - and were picture perfect in their every move.
"We have a lot of friends here," Socks told them. "I'm afraid you're going to have to be a little more specific."
Long lashes bat at them, and the smile became sly. "In the habit of stealing loved ones, are you?" The expression didn't match the words.
"Mermaids rarely say what they mean. And if they want to accuse you, they'll either do it with their hands, or just right, to make sure you never feel accused."
"Of course not. We take in the ones that aren't loved. If you're looking for one you loved, I'm afraid you're going to need to look somewhere else," Bee said. "And if one of us are who you're looking for, you should have been better."
“Perhaps she didn’t know we were still looking for her,” one that hadn’t spoken before said. “It has been ever so long since we last saw her.”
“Mermaids can’t make the same noises that Sirens can. They don’t say my name right.”
“You mean the way you taught us?”
“Yeah. It sounds more like this,” Fabi said, and dove underwater for a moment, then came back up, and made a gurgling noise, followed by clicks and pops and one sharp whistle.
“That sounds really similar to how you taught us your name.”
“Mmm,” Fabi hummed. “I suppose in the end, they tried.”
The lead creature cocked their head. They gurgled, then vocalized clicks and pops, and exactly one whistle. “Who else would we be talking about? Her family has been ever so worried.”
“They don’t have what I have. They don’t have claws or teeth. They aren’t sharp. But they’re strong, and that is so much more terrifying. I’ve seen sirens r-“ Fabi paused, curling up. “Rip- Ripped- I’m sorry.” A moment. A dip under the water.
Socks and Bee shared a glance, though it was Bee who spoke up. “I’m afraid I don’t understand what mermaids would want with a siren, other than to harm one.”
“And I don’t get what family could miss Fabi, when she has vivid memories of them being torn apart,” Socks added.
The lead mermaid stared at them, the smile never wavering. Then: “Look away, now,” they said, and the other mermaids turned away.
“So tell me,” Bee said. “What could you possibly want from our friend?” The smile went away. It was a sneer now, as the mermaid pulled themself up the shore. “You want my honesty? You want real truth? Okay. Yeah. We don’t know if her family misses her. But oh. Oh, oh, we can guess. And I think that she should join them.”
“Don’t trust mermaids,” a phrase repeated between sobs, a mantra, a reminder.
“Go away. Leave now, and never come back, and we’ll let you go unharmed,” Bee hissed, Socks kicking lightly at the mermaid in a gesture to go away.
“It’s not as though this adventure gained us anything,” the mermaid growled, then slipped into an easy smile. “I bid you both farewell, and I will see you again!”
They dove underwater, and Bee and Socks both frowned at the shine of the mermaid tails that caught the sunlight on their way down the river.
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