The boat rocked back and forth in a steady rhythm. The sound of the waves crashing below me made everything feel real. The birds soaring higher than anyone could think possible. How long before they reach the end of the sky?

"Captain." My tranquility was interrupted by Davis, my second in command.

I exhale the seabreeze. "Yes?"

"Another one has been found." His voice sounded tired. Everyone was.

"So there is." I face Davis and nod my head. Behind him is a woman dragged by the arms with a man on every side. Her hair was untidy and filthy and lightened from a dark chocolate to a hazel brown whenever she was exposed to the light. There were cuts on every visible part of her. Her eyes were a celery green and had a fiery look in them. I could feel her anger towards the men. Towards me.

The men stop as I hold my hand up and lower it. I take a few steps closer, just close enough for her to hear me but far enough from her spitting distance. "How many more of you are there?"

No response.

"Why are you all so determined to stop this journey?"

Again, no response.

I breathe in and out. "You know how this will end right?"

"I am fully aware, Captain. I only wish that you would become fully aware of what danger you are heading in." Her face shifted from defiance to a plead. "Too many men have died going the same path as you, sir. Please don't continue on this pointless voyage." She drops her head as she whispers the last sentence. Davis scratches his beard and looks at me.

This is the fourth time a woman has stowed away on my ship. All of them saying the same thing. Are they bewitched? No, of course not. This isn't Salem. What dangers could motivate such actions?

I concentrate on the sea. The waves crashing beneath my vessel. The birds freely flying. Why did I start this? Right. The Queen asked me to. 

"I will not go back empty-handed. Queen Justine has asked me to bring back whatever I find including the missing sailors." I declare. Her head pops up with disbelief. "I will also not allow a woman to disturb my mission." I quickly glance at Davis and he slowly nods.

"What will you do to me?" For the first time since my encounter with her, I hear fear in her voice.

"Overboard."

Over the past three months, my crew has become restless. There is nothing that will calm them except the long awaited news. 

"Captain!" I turn faster than I thought possible. Davis had the eyes of a child who had just recieved his first toy. "We did it." Those three words were enough to throw a celebration and lively march down the wooden ramps of the ship to the golden sand of the beach.

I pull out my map ready to mark where we are. "What is this location?" Everyone looks around with confused faces. "Please tell me that someone bothered to map out where we went through." They shifted nervously.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

"Davis." I call. He stands ready. "Organize a party to send to scout the island, another to find a way out, and another to build a camp."

"Yes sir." Off he went. 

I was in the middle of being mad when out of the blue, a beautiful voice calls out to me. "Amon." I look left and right but no one is found. 

I wasn't the one that heard it either. Several men approach me saying how they feel as if they were being watched and their names being called. "Excuse me." A fragile voice came from behind us. We circle and meet face to face to a woman. 

Her hair is a vibrant orange and her eyes an icy blue. Her pale skin seems so soft... "Captain!" I'm shaken out of my thoughts by Theo, the youngest of the crew. The woman is still standing there. As if waiting for me.

"Would you like to hear a song?" She asks. I look towards the rest of my crew and see them staring blankly at her. Slowly, they nod in sync.

Theo clasps his hands over my ears. "Captain, you must leave now!" A sense of panic rushes within me. The woman's mouth begins moving and my men drop one by one. Theo is the last to fall. I cover my ears and sprint as fast as possible. I reach the end where the beach and sea meet. My hands and knees fall and I am left wondering what had just happened. 

They seemed to be in some sort of a trance? If it weren't for Theo, what might have happened to me? Who is she? Does she know where the sailors are? Stupid. She might have killed them. But how? She is only a woman.

"Are you ok?" I jump onto my feet and take several steps back. Another woman.

"Who are you?" I reach for my gun holster and realize that it has gone missing.

"You seem very tense. Would you like to hear a song?" She smiles. Her celery green eyes glowing bright and her chocolate hair turning hazel beneath the sunlight. 

"Wait-" It was too late. She sang the notes as if she had spent months praticing them for this exact moment.

"Just let go..." She whispered. I fell to the sound of her voice and from then on, nothing felt important. My only desire was to be with her forever. Her melody changed from peaceful to vengeful. I could feel anger and hate in her song. It fills my lungs and leaves a burning sensation. I can't breathe and I refuse to do so. Why am I so stubborn? Just breathe. You'll die! 

I gasp for air but it's not air that enters. The bitter tears of the siren who has waited patiently for this moment fills me. In the end, it was the beloved sea I admired that led me to Death.

Perhaps I should have listened to the plead of the sea.