A Secret Siren

Erielle's study hours were as long as her fire red hair. She worked hard to earn grades that would keep her at the top of her class. She was proud to follow in her mother's footsteps, excelling in everything she put her mind to. As head of the swim team, she had no doubt she would eventually join her mother and older sisters in leading secret, undercover missions for their country. Her plate was full to be sure, but you would never hear her complain that none of her many tasks would just pick up and wander off on their own. Rather she wore it as a badge of honor that she had no time for boys or friends or fun. 

That is until her mom didn't make it back from one of her missions. 

She idolized her mother and viewed her as indestructible. This shook her whole world and left her floundering. So when the opportunity arose to spend summer term on a study abroad in Italy she couldn't resist. She felt this would be the best reset she could imagine. She was right, but it had an entirely different effect than she had anticipated. She expected to see new places. And she did, but it was the new friends that she made in her program that she cherished. She expected to fill her mind with history. And she did, but it was the present that inspired her heart to desire more than just flipping her fins on swim team. She wanted to anchor herself.

Italy was life-changing. 

She flew into Rome. She's never forgotten the moment that she stepped out from the grungy metro station into the massive shadow of the Colosseum. It took her breath away as she looked up at one of the oldest monuments she had ever studied. For the first time in her life she felt small. She'd thought she had everything, but in that moment she was ready to explore all the wonders of this new place. They stayed in Rome for half of the Study Abroad before they migrated south to Naples. 

She quickly and easily became best friends with the two girls assigned to be her flat mates while in Italy. Ursula, a sultry beauty, went to meet exotic men. In every city they visited she found a guy to spend the night with. She didn't care who, just the first hot Italian man to call out Ciao Bella as she walked by. Deidra, on the other hand, was very shy, a bit plump, and insecure. She didn't make eye contact with anyone and hurried passed everyone who called out to her.

Erielle was somewhere in between. She wasn't willing to throw herself at every guy who thought she was beautiful. There were a lot considering how rare of a beauty she was with her red hair and bright blue eyes so deep any man could drown in them. Sometimes she found herself gaping at the cat calls, unable to even speak. Other times, she let herself flirt a little.

Their favorite place in all of Italy was Fiordo di Furore on the Amalfi Coast where they could spend all day warm in the sun. A beautiful little town with gorgeous turquoise water and sheer rocks shooting a hundred feet into the air. She and her two besties took several day trips to sunbathe warm on the sand and explore the shops. Every visit Erielle was sure to go to a charming antique shop called Pesce Piccolo. It was full of wonderful things! Not only was it the perfect place to get unique souvenirs, it also had the most dreamy young man working there with his family. 

Her last visit to his shop she told him she would be going home to America that week. She had learned Italian pretty well after living there for just four moths. He asked her for one last adventure with him. They went on a walk hand in hand down the beach to the iconic bridge. It was unusually free of tourists. Gazing into each others eyes they leaned in for a kiss.

Bash! Right in the head, a volleyball hit Erielle, knocking her to the ground. Insult to injury, the only kiss she got during the whole trip to Italy was on the back of her hand after he helped her up.

When she returned home from her trip she seemed less devastated from the loss of her mother. She was less determined to follow in her footsteps as a member of the Sirens but felt she owed it to her mother. Her three older sisters had already made the Sirens team and had gone on missions with their dad, the head of the Seal Team. 

It was less than a year after she graduated that she was already being scouted for a Sirens team. Two years after that Ursula joined her team. While she didn't have as much experience in the military, she was a sorcerous when it came to seducing men and taking control of any situation.

Three years after that they were both bridesmaids in Deidra's wedding, who would soon become a mother to a set of twins. Erielle envied her. What must it be like to be a mom and a wife. What I would give to be part of a family like that. 

One evening she was talking with her grandmother about how fast paced her life was and how she sometimes dreams of settling down and having a family.

"I want meaning in my life. Everywhere I go I am unnoticed and forgotten. I need connection."

"You're looking at it all wrong. Your life's path is just different. In the military, especially the sect of the military your family is part of, you get to save the world behind the scenes so that others can have those comfortable lives. You get to disappear as if you never existed, knowing that you actually made a difference in the world. You don't need the recognition." Her words were meant to comfort, instead they made Erielle realize she couldn't even open up to her grandmother any more.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! 

She was paged in for an urgent mission involving the mafia in Naples, Italy. She and Ursula looked at each other with nostalgic excitement. 

"We're going back to Italy!" Ursula squealed as they left the briefing.

"It's been almost ten years! I actually can't believe this is our first time to go back." There was bounce in Erielle's step.

Erielle spent most of the flight reflecting on her life and what she really wanted out of it. Could she be selfish enough to leave the Sirens team that she had spent her whole life working toward? Finally she decided to confide in her closest friend.

"Ursula," she whispered, 

"Ciao, Bella." She said with a wink.

"Can I talk to you?"

"Always. What's up?"

"Do you ever wish you had what Deidra has?"

"Stretchmarks, poopy diapers, and a fat man in my bed? No." Ursula thrived in this kind of environment. Flings in each city she visited, no real names, no real future. "I'm kidding. Well, I'm not, but there's nothing wrong with her life. It's what she wants. Are you thinking you would rather have that, too, instead of this glamorous life we have?" She gestured to the dull neutral colored walls of the cargo plane. 

"I mean," Guilt and shame flooded her body and leaked out her eyes.

"Hey," Ursula moved off her cot to kneel beside Erielle. She put her hand on her back, which helped calm her instantly.

"I just-- Going back to Italy reminds me of the happiest time of my life. And the more I think about it, that might have been the only time in my life I was truly and effortlessly happy. These missions and trying to be perfect all the time, it's taxing, you know."

"Il meglio è il nemico del bene." A phrase they learned the first time they were in Italy. It means the perfect is the enemy of good. "You don't owe anyone anything. Not your family. Not the military. Not your mom." She knew Erielle's mom had given her life in the line of duty and that somehow made her feel a responsibility to continue in her shoes. "Let me help you."

Ursula devised a plan to help Erielle disappear like sea foam in the ocean. 

"I can't just go awol."

"Ai Mali Estremi, Estremi Rimedi. Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures”

The Sirens team parachuted into the sea outside of Naples. As soon as Erielle hit the water she detached her chute and used the training and her natural gift to swim for the next three hours at which point she used the help of a handheld propeller device every Siren keeps in her go bag. Another couple hours got her to a shore. And not just any shore, she recognized the towering cliffs. Relief allowed her to float on her back and rest.

As she got closer to the landmark that she fell in love with all those years ago she saw some people cliff diving. It's the wee hours of the morning, why would they be out at this hour? She was meters away from them as she spied on their fun. Suddenly they all jumped at once. One man landed on another man knocking him out and pushing him deeper into the water. In the commotion none of the party noticed or realized until they were out of the water and clambering back up the cliffside. 

Erielle could hear their voices change from happy and excited to worried. Then they started shouting for the man under the water.

"Sebastian!"

"Sebastian!"

She dove deep, using the light on the propeller until she spotted him. She grabbed him and pulled him up to the surface. She couldn't take him right back to the crowd he was with, they would question where she came from. So she took him to the other side of the cliffs. Compressing his chest to push the water out and blowing into his mouth to push the air in. Again and again she repeated these steps. And then it worked. 

He coughed. He breathed. He lived.