Lee Sunghwan pressed the padded headphones to his ears, willing the haunting bloop signatures to get louder. He could have sworn that there was a pattern in the sounds, that it was a form of language somehow. But after years of listening to the same recordings over and over, it was getting harder to distinguish what was the signature sound and what were just the echoes of his own thoughts. He sighed, breathing in the thick smell of dusty pages and unfiled paperwork; his office also functioned as a storage area for the more recent theses which hadn’t made it into the archives yet. 

In the corner of his eye, the bright white of a lab coat made him sit up. He groaned once more, seeing Professor Im. The scientist forced himself to stand at attention when the senior professor came into his office.

“Professor Im,” he said as cheerfully as he could. “There must be a special occasion today, you never venture into the marine biology wing, and especially not into my humble office.”

“Special indeed, Sunghwan,” Professor Im said, leaning against a swivel chair. “What are you working on now?”

Sunghwan smiled politely as he took the headphones off. “Just working on retracing the bloop signatures again,” he said. The older professor nodded, and Sunghwan’s smile dwindled. He cleared his throat. “Look, Professor,” he said. “I know everyone is still waiting on some kind of breakthrough from me. But I’m getting close, I promise. These things do take time.”

“Of course, of course,” the professor said. “And there’s plenty of time for your… fanatical research on… what was it again?”

Sunghwan swallowed. “Sirenian theories, sir.”

The Professor’s eye seemed to twitch at the name. “Yes, Sirenian theories,” he said. The man cleared his throat again. “Look, Sunghwan,” he said. “You’re a very talented man. And you’re ambitious and you’re intelligent. Good qualities for any scientist. But I have to give you some bad news.”

Sunghwan’s heart sunk at the man’s words. “Sir?” he said. The Professor looked up at him with apologetic eyes,

“The Board pulled the plug on your research, son,” Professor Im said with a sigh. “We just can’t afford to continue funding this… folkloric search of yours. We appreciate what you’ve done for us, but there’s simply not enough funds to keep looking for things that don’t exist.”

“But sir!” Sunghwan said, turning the monitor towards him. “These bloop signatures! They’re the key to my research, and I know I’m close to find – ”

“I’m sorry, Sunghwan,” the man said. “But what’s done is done. You can apply for a transfer if you like. But for now, you need to clean out your office and move your things. We need the space for storage anyhow. Good day.”

And with that, the esteemed professor left the room. Sunghwan pressed his lips together, hanging his head over the desk. He gripped the edges tightly, nearly crushing his fingernails against the solid wood. Was this it? Was this how years and years of his and his mentor’s work was about to end? Forever put on hold because of a lack of funds, the simple matter of money? He pushed the lamp off his desk and tore at his hair in frustration.

No, he thought.

He’d be damned if he was about to let the Board all over his research like this. He grabbed his lab coat and documents and then stormed out of his office. “They can’t do this to me!” he yelled into the hallowed halls. 

Angry and fuming, he prepared to right up to the chairman and give him a piece of his mind. Rounding a corner, he suddenly walked into a young man.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” the boy said, putting his hands up. Sunghwan ignored him and prepared to walked to the Board room. But the boy called out to him.

“Excuse me, sir!” the boy said. “Mind helping me out?”

The scientist, without turning, yelled back in reply: “High school tours are on Mondays only, kid.”

“I’m a university student, actually,” the boy replied. “I’m looking for the East Storage Office!” Sunghwan was halfway down the hall by now and was not paying any attention to the boy. Until he yelled again.

“I’m looking to fund some research!” 

Sunghwan stopped. Slowly, he turned toward the boy. He looked much too young to be a university student, but then again, the scientist himself looked too young to be working on such research. He scoffed at the boy.

“Fund research?” he asked. “With what? Your minimum wage salary?”

The boy laughed. “Actually, more along the lines of my own heritage.”

“Your heritage?” Sunghwan said, scoffing again. “I don’t think your folks could really loan you that much, sorry.”

The boy scoffed again. “Then you obviously don’t know my parents at all.” The boy began walking towards him. Sunghwan stared long and hard at his face, wondering why it seemed so familiar. The boy had his hands in his pockets as he approached, and there was a fire in his eyes similar to one in the scientist’s. That was when the familiarity struck him. He’d seen the young boy in an economics magazine once, right next to the CEO of the Lu Oil Corporation.

Once he was standing in front of him, the boy bowed and then offered his handshake. “I’m Luhan,” the boy said. “I wanted to check out the Sirenian Theories department. Do you know where I can find Lee Sunghwan?”

----------

“There is a price,” the sea witch said with her voice like knives. Her eyes narrowed, and Jinyu felt her spindly fingers tightening slowly around her neck. Shaking, Jinyu wriggled her shoulders a bit to gain more freedom. 

The look the in the witch’s eyes terrified her. Something in her gaze told Jinyu that whatever the witch wanted wasn’t something that she could readily give, or at least not without some kind of pain or sacrifice. Jinyu thought about the legends; a different one was sung every full moon by the elders. Once, she had heard the frightening tale of the sea witch. 

She used to be a beautiful siren once, too. But she became selfish and power hungry, wanting more magic and more songs to do whatever she pleased. The elders placed sanctions on her, but one day she crossed the line. She used her magic to manipulate other mermaids and sirens, devouring their bodies and taking their songs. That’s what made her grow so large and so powerful. So the elders took her songs and banished her, here, into the deep black abyss.

Jinyu shivered, fearing that if she wasn’t cautious, she might wind up with the same fate.  The sea witch was circling her now; every so often, her tail would hit Jinyu. The water surrounding her became colder and as she swam, a small maelstrom would form, with the little mermaid in the middle. 

Jinyu clenched her shut a moment, thinking about her home: the warm waters, the friendly sea creatures, her sisters song, her grandmother’s tales, the moonlight. She thought of all the things she would be giving up in order to be human. As soon as doubts began to form, Jinyu pushed them back down and opened her eyes again, a new courage swimming through her.

“Tell me what the price is,” she whispered. 

The sea witch ceased her swimming and turned to Jinyu once more. “Why do wish it so desperately?” she asked. “You know of the human world and its evils. They would kill any one of you if they found out. And yet, you still want to be human. An interesting thing indeed.”

Jinyu lowered her eyes. “I - ” she began to say, but she stopped. The sea witch’s face closed in on her.

“There is a young man, is there not?” she hissed. “This is very serious, indeed.”

Jinyu felt her heart plunging. “What do you mean?” she asked. “Can you help me or not?”

“Of course,” the witch said. “Turning you human is very easy. But it is not so easy to turn you back into a siren once you become human. And what can you give me in return for my services?”

The mermaid swallowed. “I have nothing to give,” she whispered. “But… I love the boy. I have to be human. To be with him. Please.”

Jinyu gasped and froze when she felt herself being pulled into the witch’s palm. She tried to struggle free, but her tail fin was caught between her spindly fingers. 

“But there is something you can give,” the witch’s voice said, sounding like a razor once again. “Something that I desire above all else; something that only you, a siren, can give me.”

Jinyu tried her best to cease her shivering, but being caught in the witch’s hands, she could think of doing nothing else but whimpering and shaking in her fear. Her heartbeat was as loud as thunder in her ears. What had she to give the witch? She stared into the white face and the black abyss of her eyes, and she saw the answer. Jinyu’s hand flew to . 

“You… want my magic,” she said shakily. The witch’s face twisted into a demented grin. 

“I want to sing again,” the witch said. “If you give me your siren song, I will make you human.” 

Jinyu felt her heart torn into two. Her siren magic was the only thing keeping her family safe from harm, the only thing that kept that hidden and protected their secret. Sirenian songs were sacred, magical, and extremely powerful. In the wrong hands… Jinyu couldn’t even think about what could happen. But the images of a silhouetted boy in the moonlight rushed back to her. She could remember the way his hair felt between her fingers, how lovely his voice sounded when he spoke. She remembered feeling his heartbeat when their hands touched. Jinyu clenched her jaw.

“My family…” she whispered.

“They’ll be safe,” the witch answered, still grinning. “You are making a wise choice, my dear.”

The witch let go of her, and Jinyu closed her eyes to calm herself down, but when she opened them again, she found herself no longer in the middle of the dark ocean, but in a stony grotto, where glowing, bubbling polyps and coral grew. They moved like fingers, trying to grab her tail. Jinyu swam until she was further in, and halfway thru, she finally arrived at a chamber and in the center sat the sea witch, curled around something. 

When she approached, the sea witch turned and used her fingers to hold something out to her: a small, circular vial with red liquid inside. 

“You have heard the legend, have you not?” she asked. “The difference between a human soul and a siren soul?”

Jinyu stared at the red liquid in the vial. “Yes, I have heard it,” she said. “Mermaids like me can live hundreds of years, but when our time comes, we disappear and become nothing. But humans have souls that live on.”

“Yes,” the witch said, circling her. “The vial I have given you is a spell. It will give you a human soul for twelve full moon cycles. You have that time to find your prince. You will have legs of your own. The prettiest any human can have. But only as long as you stay out of the sea.”

Jinyu thought of going on land, running and walking, dancing in the arms of her prince. And she had a year to find him. What a wonderful though.

“But,” the witch said. “He must fall in love with you, and he must kiss you. When you drink the potion, you must think of him, and whoever’s face you see as you drink, only his kiss will be able to save you. Only then will your temporary human soul become eternal. For only true human love can give a mermaid an eternal soul. If he doesn’t, your body will turn to sea foam, and your siren soul will belong to me.” 

Jinyu looked again at the vial. Her heart was louder than ever. She thought that maybe she ought to be thinking of consequences, but only thoughts that were on her mind were the ones centered on the young human boy she had saved. Never had she felt more confident about anything in her life. Her love for him was the only thing she could think about, his face was only face she wanted to see. And so she lifted the vial to , removed the cork, and pressed the vial to her lips, drinking up its contents.

It was bitter and metallic and tasted like nothing she’d ever tasted before. When she had finished it all, she opened her eyes to look around. Her vision was hazy suddenly. stung as though it’d been pierced by a sword, and she could feel her magic draining away. She felt herself drifting to the floor, and her chest was seizing up. Panic set it. She had to get to the shore quickly. She tried to swim out of the chamber, but before she could move, she felt something sharp piercing her, right through the stomach.

She let out one piercing scream, and she saw blood rushing out of her body. With her pounding heartbeat, Jinyu looked up. The sea witch had pierced her body with one of her long talons, and she came closer to her face. 

“Mermaids,” she said, in a low, ominous voice. “Are so easy to trick.”

-----

Jinyu shot up and out of her slumber, seizing up, trying to scream and finding herself unable to. Beneath her palms, she felt the plush of the cushion she’d been sleeping on. Sunlight was spilling in through the gaps of the curtains. And she was safe and sound in the house of the humans who helped her.

It was only a dream, she told herself. Jinyu unconsciously lifted a hand and placed it over her navel. Although only a nightmare, that part certainly felt real. 

“Oh good, you’re up,” said a small voice, and Jinyu turned to find the younger female human watching her. “I toasted you a bagel. It’s in the kitchen. You can get it yourself. Cream cheese is in the fridge.”

Mei plopped down on the couch with a magazine and ignored Jinyu, who was still trying to come to tears with the fact that her horrible vision had only been a nightmare. Her brother and the other boys were out with her parents working on a dolphin rescue mission. Mei had been left with the task of babysitting Jinyu for the remainder of the day. 

Jinyu pushed herself off the couch and stood still for a moment. She relished the feeling of solid ground beneath her feet. She hugged her form and looked out at the sun; two moon cycles had passed already. The time was worrying her. Jinyu made her way to the room that Yixing had explained was the kitchen. It was the room where humans stored their food. At first, Jinyu had been horrified to discover that some human foods consisted of animals which they cooked over a fire. It matched up exactly with the horror stories she’d heard as a child. But Yixing had explained that he could faithfully vouch for the fact no human, in the history of humans, had ever consumed mermaid before. 

It comforted her for a bit. Still, she mostly stuck to breads, fruits, and vegetables. Jinyu grabbed the bagel Mei had toasted for her and rejoined the younger girl in the living room. Jinyu noticed that Mei was always reading: a magazine, a book, or a newspaper. Jinyu thought that she must be very knowledgeable. 

Hours went by and nothing much happened. The house was dull without the three males to liven up the atmosphere. Spying a pile of similar thin, board objects under the glass table, Jinyu bent over and picked one up. The human markings on the book were indistinguishable to her. But thankfully there were pictures to satisfy her curiosity. It seemed to be a catalog of humans. The pages were black and white and had small squares with an individual human’s face in it. 

Jinyu flipped through the pages one by one, not turning a page until she had examined every single human’s face in the book. There were males and females alike, although on some pictures it was hard to tell who was who. She grinned at their hair, or sometimes they made silly faces. She wondered how these images had ended up here.

She turned a page and began examining again. But before she could go on, Jinyu froze on one picture. She smiled seeing familiar images: there was one that she recognized as Chanyeol. Although the boy in the picture had a serious expression, she could easily remember those ears. Another one was Kyungsoo, who was smiling in his picture and had a ridiculous haircut that wrapped around his head like a moon jellyfish. 

And then she saw Yixing’s picture. He, like Chanyeol, wore a serious expression as well. Something about the look on his face in the image pained Jinyu, like she wished he’d been smiling in the picture instead. He looks better with a smile, she thought to herself. 

Jinyu was about to scold herself for her thoughts when her eyes glazed over another photo, an image that she undoubtedly recognize.

“Him,” she whispered aloud to herself. Her fingers touched the corners of the picture. It was the photo next to Yixing’s. It was a boy with lighter hair and brighter eyes, a subtle smile flirting at the corners of his mouth. It was her prince! The boy she loved! The boy whose kiss would save her from her fate! 

Seeing him, even as just an image, made her heart soar. She smiled and felt like crying, almost. Finally! A sign! If the prince was in Yixing’s book, then perhaps they knew each other! Jinyu looked up and was about to ask Mei to read the markings of the boy’s name, but before either of them could even move, the front door flew open, and Mei let out a surprised yelp.

“Jeez!” she said. “Stop doing that!”

“You left the door unlocked!” Yixing scolded. “I told you! Lock the door when you’re home alone!”

“I wasn’t home alone,” Mei said, gesturing to the mermaid. “Jinyu was with me.”

Yixing looked over to Jinyu. She sat obediently on the couch with a book spread open on her lap. It was his old high school yearbook, judging from the black and white pages. A thought suddenly struck him, that he should probably, sooner or later, get around to teaching her how to read. Jinyu looked up at him, meeting his gaze with a strangely happy tinge. Yixing shrugged it aside as he made his way over to the other side of the house, opening the back door to the outer portion of the marine facility, where the pools and tanks were. 

“Did you rescue the dolphins?” Mei asked, perking up and jumping over the side of the couch. “Where are they?”

Yixing walked back to the front door. “In the vans right now. Mom and Dad are about to transfer them over to the big pool, so go wait over there.”

“Yay!” Mei said, rushing out the back door to the pool. Jinyu watched her run along and then looked back at Yixing with a shy smile. Yixing cleared his throat and smiled in return. 

“You can go wait at the pool, too,” he said. “If you want to, that is. I’ll be back.” He left out the door before Jinyu could ask him about the boy’s name. That was when Victoria walked in instead. She snapped some latex gloves on and then looked down at Jinyu with a smile.

“There you are!” she said, and Jinyu groaned. Victoria, as she learned, was the intellectual human of the group. And she always needed Jinyu’s help with something. Victoria dug into her satchel and pulled out a small bag, a bag that Jinyu began to recognize as the bag that held her needles. Victoria noticed the dying enthusiasm in Jinyu’s face and pouted.

“Jinyu,” she said, walking to the mermaid and kneeling by her lap. “I just need your help one last time. I promise that I got the combination right this time and after this, no more poking and injections. Okay?”

Jinyu bit the inside of her cheek and began to rub her shoulders in the place where most of the injections took place. But if she wanted a place to stay, she’d have to keep everyone happy. So, she reluctantly nodded her head. Victoria smiled and sat on the couch beside her. 

Since discovering Jinyu’s durable mermaid immune system, Victoria set about making various vaccinations and testing them on the girl, observing the effects of the small, harmless doses of various human illnesses on her body. Mostly, it just resulted in mild stomach flu or a little dizziness, but nothing ever really serious. In mere hours, the effects of the illness were over and Jinyu would have built up immunity. Still, being injected was not fun at all.  

This time, Victoria was going to try the common cold… for the fourth time. Jinyu sat still as the girl performed her tests, which usually consisted of a blood sample, an injection, and sitting around for an hour or two to watch for effects. After an hour or so, Jinyu started to feel a little sick to the stomach, which went away soon. But even after Victoria’s test, she still felt a little tired.

So she stood around the kitchen for a while, looking for something else to eat. That was when Yixing’s mother walked in, still clad in her wetsuit.

“Jinyu!” Mrs. Zhang said, and her cheery voice caught Jinyu off-guard. She looked at the older woman and tried to smile. Mrs. Zhang frowned a bit.

“You’re not looking too well, my dear,” Mrs. Zhang said, pressing her hand to the girl’s forehead. “I’ll make something for you. Meanwhile, why don’t you join Kyungsoo and Mei at the rehab pool? The dolphins are there now! You might like them!”

Though not quite understanding, Jinyu was in no mood to argue. And she followed the woman’s directions and headed out the back door. It was sunny outside and the rays felt warm against her skin. Already, she was beginning to feel a little better. The outer part of the house was lined by a tall brownish-red fence. All around them were various rehabilitation pools. The one at the furthest end had two visitors already: Kyungsoo and Mei, and Jinyu walked over to join them.

Kyungsoo threw another fish into the pool, only for the dolphins to sniff at them and swim away. “No!” Kyungsoo yelled. “It’s over there, damnit! Eat the fish! Eat the damn fish that I throw to you!” 

He dropped the big white bucket on the floor. The dolphins they rescued may have seemed helpless out in the shallows of the bay, but now that they were in a secure rehab pool, they were livelier than ever, and their trilling calls sounded like snobby jeers to Kyungsoo. Normally, he quite liked dolphins. They seemed friendly enough at marine-theme water parks like Sea World or Atlantia. He wasn’t sure why he expected anything more from wild dolphins.

Jinyu walked up to the pool and smiled at the welcome sight. Two spinner dolphins, light grey and incredibly energetic. A smile lit up Jinyu’s face as she decidedly let one hand drift into the water. Feeling her presence, one dolphin speedily swam over to her, pressing his nose into her palm. 

Welcome, she said with her touch. Happily, the dolphin swam back, going deep into the pool and shooting upward again in a flipping salutation. Kyungsoo widened his eyes at the sight of the dolphin jumping and spinning out of the water. His sight rested again on Jinyu.

“Hey, Jinyu,” he said, lightly tapping her shoulder. “Did you see that?”

Jinyu nodded with a smile. Kyungsoo pursed his lips.

“Did,” he began. “Did you tell them to do that? Like you can tell them what to do?”

Jinyu processed his words for minute. It was easier to manipulate creatures without her song, but she could still communicate with them. So she nodded again. 

Kyungsoo whistled in amazement. He’d only ever seen dolphins behave that way at dolphinaria and other marine theme parks. And yet even that one dolphin’s jump could rival any other dolphin trick at Sea World. And he had something that other theme parks didn’t have: a trainer who could actually speak to the creatures. 

His need for money to put on his car’s down payment suddenly struck him. Jinyu was a nice girl who’d be willing to help him, he thought. The idea seized him up and he couldn’t let go. He tapped Jinyu’s shoulder again.

“Jinyu,” he said, and she turned to him. “You ever thought of being a dolphin trainer?”

Author's Commentary: Whoops, I forgot what I titled these chapters. Oh well, time to come up with new titles, then.