The Siren (A Fairy Tale)
Title: The Siren (A Fairy Tale)
Author: twilight_rush
Fandom: All Time Low; Hey Monday
Summary: Not only was he the first boy she ever saved, he's also the only one her sisters hadn't eaten.
Pairing: Jack Barakat/Cassadee Pope
Rated: PG-13
Warning: Crazy family
Disclaimer: I am the great pretender. If you're the above people RUN AWAY.
Long ago there was a couple - a man and a woman -- who went by the names of Mr. and Mrs. Pope. These two were the worst of folks. They terrorized the people of their little town with lies and abuse, stealing their things and tricking them out of their money by selling worthless junk.
However, one day they had mistakenly tried to bamboozle an old lady. But they hadn’t counted on her being a witch, and since she was so furious with them, she had them banished off to an empty island. She also cursed them. For every child they had, they would all be wretched sirens.
They had three daughters, each with dark brown wings sprouting from their backs. The two oldest had sharp nails and snake-like tongues. They were brutal, but the youngest was probably the most human-like, the sweetest.
Her name was Cassadee and this was her tale.
~
The young siren watched from a distance as her two sisters lured a ship with their tuneful singing. The sailors with their love-stricken minds drove the ship right into the rocks, crashing it.
The same thing would happen to them as the others. Her parents would steal the treasures and food off the ship, while her sisters seduced any living sailor on board before killing and eating them. “It’s how we stay young,” they told Cassadee but she never believed it.
Cassadee never had any part in it. She knew it was wrong and hated it. She wished she lived somewhere else. She wished she was human and not associated with sirens at all.
There was one time, where the weather was right, and her wings were up to it, that she had flown for a long time until she came upon an island with a populated town. She had watched the town from afar, unable to blend in amongst the folks.
She liked admiring the people going about with their day. She envied them. They were free and not bounded to a life of solitude. The thought had brought back a bitter pang in Cassadee so she had flow in search of a lone person on the beach to play some sort of joke on.
It was out of pure fun, because then Cassadee could pretend they were two best friends playing around.
She used to have a best friend (well, she considered them to be the friends. The other girl not so much). A bright-haired mermaid named Hayley who always made her heart smile. But it had been months since Cassadee last saw her and she was afraid she had disappeared into oblivion.
Cassadee spied a wiry boy snoozing on the sand loudly. She thought a moment before deciding to open her mouth and let out a song. The tune caused the boy to smile drunkenly. He rolled over and began kissing the sand. When she stopped he woke abruptly, sputtering out sand and cursing madly.
She giggled and vanished before he could notice her.
And that was the first and last time Cassadee had any contact with a human her sisters hadn’t eaten.
~
“You’re so . . . useless.” Cassadee’s mother scowled at her. Cassadee sat on the livingroom floor, picking out tiny trinkets found in the latest ship and using them to make some sort of jewelry.
Mrs. Pope placed her hands on her hips, shaking her head. “Your sisters do all the work and all you do is look dumb. And where do you run off to all the time? There’s nothing interesting on this pathetic island. You think you’re so better than us?”
The girl frowned deeply till her face ached and only allowed herself to cry inside her head. She flinched as her sisters, Becka and Ashley, snorted, agreeing with their mother.
Same routine every day and Cassadee could only go so far away from it.
The thunder blared outside and from a window they could see heavy clouds rolling about. A tiny clear bell rang inside Cassadee’s mind. She knew it also went off in her sisters’ heads.
A ship was nearby.
The two girls got up and were out the door without a word.
Cassadee followed but not with her sisters. She went the opposite direction as they flew toward the doomed ship. She flew far into the forest, where her true home laid. A place that actually had light and wasn’t full of evil people.
~
“A perfect day for a storm, eh?” the captain said sarcastically.
A young man named Jack grinned half-heartedly, stomach churning at the raging ocean. It was his first time out at sea, on an actual ship, something he’s wanted to do since he was little. He had to beg and convince his father to let him go. But in the end the only reason he let Jack go was because Captain Walker was his childhood friend and he trusted him.
Except now Jack wished he wasn’t on the ship at all.
“We’ll be all right!” Captain Walker told him as he steered the ship against the waves. “Nothing I haven’t gone against before.”
Jack said nothing, looking down at the map in his hands instead.
They were off to investigate an island that was supposed to be out there somewhere, an island where various ships have disappeared on.
Jack stumbled as the waves smashed into the ship, and figured maybe he ought to go below deck.
“. . . Do you . . . do you see that? Jack?” Captain Walker questioned, pointing out into the distance.
Jack saw an outline of an island, and despite the sharp rocks surrounding it, an excited feeling still overcame him. It was real! Perhaps he would find buried treasure, or, unpleasantly, savage cannibals!
. . . But when he looked up he saw two figures flying in the air, their massive wings stretching across the clouds.
He gasped as a sailor exclaimed, “What are those?”
“Sirens,” he said. Jack’s only ever heard of them from tales the local townspeople told him, but he never believed them to be real. The maidens swooped around the ship and the sailors couldn’t help but be astonished.
Just as they were about to let out a song, a mighty wave gave one last push and poor Jack, so close the railing, fell right over.
He yelled on the way down, but screamed even louder when his body violently slammed into one of the rocks, before he flopped underwater. He floated mindlessly, pain running through as some blood seeped out of his right leg. His brain whirled and it took him a moment before he managed to, painfully, swim up to surface.
He gasped, wanting to cry from the pain and the headache, but he first had to figure how to get to safety.
He saw the ship had drifted away from and deeper among the rocky shore. He watched dumbly as it crashed into some and water consumed it. Some sailors fell and drowned. The sirens continued to fly and sing.
He tried swimming a different direction from them, but every stroke made him almost faint. “. . . I can’t,” he wheezed, the ocean pulling him away from shore and back under.
He decided to give up. He wouldn’t make it, and why put on more stress when there’s no hope?
He cried as the water covered his head.
He saw a siren overhead, but it didn’t look like the two he had seen. Jack couldn’t keep his eyes open long enough to fight her off as she grabbed his shoulder.
~
It was the same boy she had played a prank on so long ago. Now here he was, and Cassadee wasn’t sure how to feel about it. He was nice to look at but Cassadee wished he would wake already.
She snuck him to her secret spot, a comfy cave with various things arranged to make it look like a real home. She placed him on her bed, bandaged his leg and made a sling for his broken arm. She had been sickly watching him for two hours and he hadn’t woken up once.
He would’ve drowned if she hadn’t had a feeling to go and see the ship. She saw him fall and try to swim for shore.
She’s never once helped a drowning sailor. What could she do? She couldn’t keep them all and nurse them. But this one was different. She recognized him and she had to help.
But now what?
He groaned and stirred stiffly in bed. He blinked several times before fully opening his eyes and waking up.
He immediately shot up only to fall back with a yell of pain.
“Don’t do that! Your body needs to heal,” Cassadee scolded, pulling the blankets back over him. He only shuddered and tried to scoot away.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” stressed Cassadee, her wings twitching at the slightest. He stared at them. “I’m not like my sisters. I won’t hurt you.”
He saw the way her fists were clutched tight at his silent accusation.
“You saved me?” he asked, glancing at his arm.
“I did. The ocean or my sisters would’ve got you if I hadn’t.”
He nodded and gave the room a look over. It reminded him of his sister’s back home, with all the seashells and pictures hanging around. The thought of it made the sadness come, and he chose to ignore it.
“What is this?” he asked, referring to the cave. Cassadee smiled and it actually calmed him some.
“A second home. A better one. You’ll be safe here for now. They won’t find you,” she reassured him.
He glimpsed at the entrance of the cave, covered by a purple curtain. But through the slight opening he could make out the ocean, the waves much calmer than they was before.
“They’re all dead? Captain Walker and the rest?” Jack croaked. Cassadee nodded, twiddling her thumbs pitifully. His eyes began to burn, and the tears started down his face.
“I’m sorry,” she sighed, hanging her head low so he couldn’t see her face.
His crying was short-lived before he choked out, “It’s not your fault . . . what’s your name?”
“Cassadee,” she answered, looking up.
He sighed and put on a small smile. “I’m Jack . . . Thanks, Cassadee.”
The guilt drifted away so she could grin back too. She eagerly piped up, “I’ll take care of you. I’ll make sure you get better so we can get you home.”
Through the pain and sadness Jack found it in himself to laugh at Cassadee’s bright attitude. A little hope was restored in him.
(Cassadee finally got a new friend.)
~
Jack was weird but in a very sweet way. He spent days telling Cassadee of stories from back home, of him and his friends and the trouble they get into. About life there and how everything was nice.
Cassadee told him about her parents and their curse, what her sisters do, her dreary life, her once upon a time friend and how she really has no one but herself.
One day Jack surprised her. He promised to take her home with him.
“I don’t care what they say,” Jack told her. “I want you with me. You don’t need to be here.” He laughed at her open mouth, and he could almost see her heart leaping about.
Cassadee questioned it. Where he’s from is far away. It’s why Cassadee only went there once; it’s why she doesn’t go there every day. Despite what others may think her wings get tired quickly. What if she drops Jack while flying, or falls and drown because her wings became tired?
“I’ll build a boat,” Jack explained. One of his friend’s dad built ships and small boats. Jack’s helped him several times, and he was sure he could make a decent one.
By now Jack walked with a limp, and though his arm was still healing he could do some work with it. He was sure he could get them off the island.
Today they sat outside, Jack drawing a picture of the boat in the dirt with a twig.
“And when we’re home,” Jack described, “you can meet my family and friends. My mom, she ‘supposedly’ has friends that deal with magic . . . if you want, maybe they can take away your wings so, you know, you won’t be a siren anymore.” His cheeks had turned pink and he was looking off embarrassingly to the side.
“Then everything will be okay and you’ll finally be happy. You won’t be alone because . . . we’ll have each other.”
Though Jack was outgoing and brave he still shyly touched her hand. He watched as her fingers linked with his. When he glanced back up she kissed him.
~
Mrs. Pope glowered intensely as Cassadee strolled in. She was done questioning where the child went off to all the time. As long as Cassadee’s not in the way she frankly doesn’t care what she does.
However, she can’t help noticing the brighter demeanor along with the longer outings. But it’s also more than that.
She sees the way Cassadee would look down at her stomach, touching it warily before looking away thoughtfully. If Mrs. Pope looked carefully, she could see the slight roundness of her stomach that was never there before, how Cassadee was becoming pudgy.
Before Cassadee could retreat to her room, Mrs. Pope slammed her into a chair. The other family members gathered around and watched as the mother integrated the girl.
“Who did it?” she questioned. “Tell me - how did you get pregnant?”
“I’m not,” Cassadee answered straightly, not blinking once.
Mrs. Pope raised her hand as if to slap her, but only shook her fist. “You lying worthless child! I know you are. Who could’ve possibly done this to you?” All the veins in Mrs. Pope’s red face bulged as she fumed.
“You’re hiding someone, aren’t you?” Mr. Pope piped up. “Some boy? Huh? You show us where he is -“
“Or what?” Cassadee mumbled.
The way Mrs. Pope glared at Cassadee had her bones shaking.
“I will cut you open, right now, and take the child out.” She made a cutting motion with her hand as she laughed. “It won’t even look like a baby. It’ll be nothing.”
Cassadee stood up so fast it startled her mother. “You’re sick!” She ran outside with the woman screaming at her, and took off in the air to find Jack.
She found him by her cave, still working on the half finished boat. “Jack!” She clutched his shirt and pulled him off the ground. “We have to leave. Now!”
“But it’s not done . . .”
“We can’t stay any longer. If we don’t go -“
Her body was suddenly slammed into and she gasped as she hit the ground, paralyzing her for a second. Ashley had her pinned down. She grinned at her sister, sharp teeth shining.
“I should’ve known,” she seethed, gripping Cassadee’s arms till her nails pierced through the skin. “I can’t believe it! You actually hid a man and decided to have a child with him!”
Cassadee spat at her before flipping her over, but Ashley wrestled her back into the dirt, holding her neck so her breath came out short and strained.
“J-Jack!” she cried, only to see Becka with her wings spread before a wary Jack. Soon her parents came up looking angrily at him.
“No! Jack, run!” Ashley choked her harder to get her to be quiet.
Jack backed slowly, his hands going to his ears as Becka beamed at him, stepping forward. She started to sing and Cassadee began to cry, believing he would soon be enchanted and then murdered.
Nothing happened. Jack merely blinked at her, his hands now going behind his back. Cassadee looked closely and saw Jack had placed sort of small item to plug his ears, so he couldn’t hear Becka’s singing.
“What are you doing? Kill him!” Mr. Pope shouted. Becka snag louder and when yet again Jack seemed unfazed, she growled and lunged at him. She thought she had him restrained when she felt something go through her chest, and wetness drip down her stomach.
Jack grunted as he twisted the blade, blood coating his hand and making him retch. He pulled it out with a noisy plop, and the girl slumped by his side. Silence came when Becka didn’t move.
Then a strained voice filled the void.
“Becka!” Ashley flew off Cassadee and trapped Jack under her. She had her teeth aimed for his face and was almost about to bite him when Cassadee tackled her. Ashley screamed at the sharp pain running through her neck.
Mrs. Pope brought her hands up to her pale face, covering her mouth. Shoulders shaking, she muttered little noises under her breath.
Jack sat up, called out Cassadee’s name. “C-Cassa . . . dee?”
Ashley had stopped moving, stopped screaming, her eyes now staring dead at the sky. Slowly, Cassadee leaned up and Jack could see the large flesh wound in Ashley’s neck, the blood dripping from Cassadee’s mouth.
The boy crawled over quickly and held Cassadee as she trembled furiously.
She wept, “I killed her.”
“It’s okay,” Jack soothed. “It’s okay.”
“She was going to kill you if I hadn’t -“
“You wench!” Mrs. Pope shrieked, stomping over, hand reaching for the girl. “Y-you little ---!”
The woman froze and winced as Cassadee grabbed her wrist and twisted it slightly. Cassadee’s eyes used to be so vivid and calm, but now they were dark and glaring evilly at Mrs. Pope.
For the first time she was terrified of Cassadee.
“I am not afraid to hurt you,” seethed Cassadee, dropping her wrist.
She grabbed Jack’s hand and stood up with him. “We’re leaving and we’re never coming back. Don’t stop us.”
The parents of Cassadee did not utter a word, nor try to stop her, as she and Jack walked away.
~
They stood on the shore. Cassadee cupped her hands to grab a handful of salty water and used it to wash the blood from her face. Jack washed his hands before taking his earplugs out. He took her hand again, and they sighed as they stared at the still ocean.
“The boat’s not finished,” Jack reminded her. “How are we going to get off?”
Cassadee took her time to answer, lost in the deep. If she stared hard enough, she could almost imagine seeing an island, Jack’s home. She was being a wimp before. Maybe she could fly her and Jack home. She couldn’t be that weak.
“Jack . . . Do you see that?” she asked confusingly, seeing a dark shadow over the horizon coming closer. “What is that?”
Jack squinted and took a step till the water covered his feet. His eyes widen and a smile presented itself. “It’s a ship!”
“. . . You think they can take us home?”
“We can ask,” he suggested. “Think you can fly us over there?”
She looked from him to the ship, before nodding vigorously, cheerful. “I can.”
Jack carefully climbed onto her back, and with a staggering start Cassadee flew them to the ship. There was a loud commotion as they landed in the middle of the deck, a bunch of sailors pointing and demanding what’s going on? and what is that? to Cassadee.
Before Jack could explain himself a deep man’s voice called him out. He looked among the sailors to see a familiar person. A rush of delight engulfed him as he ran and trapped his dad in a hug. The sailors backed away as they both cried heavily.
“Jack! We were searching for you a-and Walker . . .” the father sobbed. “You never came home. Everyone was thinking you were dead.”
Jack patted his back, trying to get his own crying under control so he could explain. “I’m sorry, Dad . . . He’s dead. They’re all dead. Sirens got them. They were living on that island.”
He pulled his son back in confusion. “Sirens?” His eyes drifted to Cassadee’s shy form. Jack spoke up before he could accuse her.
“She helped me. She saved me.” He held out his hand for Cassadee to come and hold it. “It was her sisters and parents who killed the crew. And they tried to kill us too.”
When she was by him he took a long breath and said, “This is Cassadee.”
His father looked her over and for a moment Cassadee was afraid he would yell at her to go back where she came from. Instead he pulled her into his chest and mumbled, “Thank you for helping my son,” over and over in her hair.
When he let her go Jack meekly said, “She’s having my child.”
The old man toppled over and the ship rocked.
~
The moment they made it back home, Jack was hugged and cried over by his family and friends. As he had hoped they took to Cassadee, despite her wings, despite her being different.
One of his mother’s friends had a spell to rid of Cassadee’s wings. She told them no. She wasn’t ashamed of her wings anymore, of being a siren. She decided she wanted to keep them.
Months passed and soon Cassadee birthed a baby - a sweet lovely child with no wings.
Jack, Cassadee, and their child lived happily forevermore, while Cassadee’s parents were forced into an eternity of loneliness and regret until their deaths.
Author: twilight_rush
Fandom: All Time Low; Hey Monday
Summary: Not only was he the first boy she ever saved, he's also the only one her sisters hadn't eaten.
Pairing: Jack Barakat/Cassadee Pope
Rated: PG-13
Warning: Crazy family
Disclaimer: I am the great pretender. If you're the above people RUN AWAY.
Long ago there was a couple - a man and a woman -- who went by the names of Mr. and Mrs. Pope. These two were the worst of folks. They terrorized the people of their little town with lies and abuse, stealing their things and tricking them out of their money by selling worthless junk.
However, one day they had mistakenly tried to bamboozle an old lady. But they hadn’t counted on her being a witch, and since she was so furious with them, she had them banished off to an empty island. She also cursed them. For every child they had, they would all be wretched sirens.
They had three daughters, each with dark brown wings sprouting from their backs. The two oldest had sharp nails and snake-like tongues. They were brutal, but the youngest was probably the most human-like, the sweetest.
Her name was Cassadee and this was her tale.
~
The young siren watched from a distance as her two sisters lured a ship with their tuneful singing. The sailors with their love-stricken minds drove the ship right into the rocks, crashing it.
The same thing would happen to them as the others. Her parents would steal the treasures and food off the ship, while her sisters seduced any living sailor on board before killing and eating them. “It’s how we stay young,” they told Cassadee but she never believed it.
Cassadee never had any part in it. She knew it was wrong and hated it. She wished she lived somewhere else. She wished she was human and not associated with sirens at all.
There was one time, where the weather was right, and her wings were up to it, that she had flown for a long time until she came upon an island with a populated town. She had watched the town from afar, unable to blend in amongst the folks.
She liked admiring the people going about with their day. She envied them. They were free and not bounded to a life of solitude. The thought had brought back a bitter pang in Cassadee so she had flow in search of a lone person on the beach to play some sort of joke on.
It was out of pure fun, because then Cassadee could pretend they were two best friends playing around.
She used to have a best friend (well, she considered them to be the friends. The other girl not so much). A bright-haired mermaid named Hayley who always made her heart smile. But it had been months since Cassadee last saw her and she was afraid she had disappeared into oblivion.
Cassadee spied a wiry boy snoozing on the sand loudly. She thought a moment before deciding to open her mouth and let out a song. The tune caused the boy to smile drunkenly. He rolled over and began kissing the sand. When she stopped he woke abruptly, sputtering out sand and cursing madly.
She giggled and vanished before he could notice her.
And that was the first and last time Cassadee had any contact with a human her sisters hadn’t eaten.
~
“You’re so . . . useless.” Cassadee’s mother scowled at her. Cassadee sat on the livingroom floor, picking out tiny trinkets found in the latest ship and using them to make some sort of jewelry.
Mrs. Pope placed her hands on her hips, shaking her head. “Your sisters do all the work and all you do is look dumb. And where do you run off to all the time? There’s nothing interesting on this pathetic island. You think you’re so better than us?”
The girl frowned deeply till her face ached and only allowed herself to cry inside her head. She flinched as her sisters, Becka and Ashley, snorted, agreeing with their mother.
Same routine every day and Cassadee could only go so far away from it.
The thunder blared outside and from a window they could see heavy clouds rolling about. A tiny clear bell rang inside Cassadee’s mind. She knew it also went off in her sisters’ heads.
A ship was nearby.
The two girls got up and were out the door without a word.
Cassadee followed but not with her sisters. She went the opposite direction as they flew toward the doomed ship. She flew far into the forest, where her true home laid. A place that actually had light and wasn’t full of evil people.
~
“A perfect day for a storm, eh?” the captain said sarcastically.
A young man named Jack grinned half-heartedly, stomach churning at the raging ocean. It was his first time out at sea, on an actual ship, something he’s wanted to do since he was little. He had to beg and convince his father to let him go. But in the end the only reason he let Jack go was because Captain Walker was his childhood friend and he trusted him.
Except now Jack wished he wasn’t on the ship at all.
“We’ll be all right!” Captain Walker told him as he steered the ship against the waves. “Nothing I haven’t gone against before.”
Jack said nothing, looking down at the map in his hands instead.
They were off to investigate an island that was supposed to be out there somewhere, an island where various ships have disappeared on.
Jack stumbled as the waves smashed into the ship, and figured maybe he ought to go below deck.
“. . . Do you . . . do you see that? Jack?” Captain Walker questioned, pointing out into the distance.
Jack saw an outline of an island, and despite the sharp rocks surrounding it, an excited feeling still overcame him. It was real! Perhaps he would find buried treasure, or, unpleasantly, savage cannibals!
. . . But when he looked up he saw two figures flying in the air, their massive wings stretching across the clouds.
He gasped as a sailor exclaimed, “What are those?”
“Sirens,” he said. Jack’s only ever heard of them from tales the local townspeople told him, but he never believed them to be real. The maidens swooped around the ship and the sailors couldn’t help but be astonished.
Just as they were about to let out a song, a mighty wave gave one last push and poor Jack, so close the railing, fell right over.
He yelled on the way down, but screamed even louder when his body violently slammed into one of the rocks, before he flopped underwater. He floated mindlessly, pain running through as some blood seeped out of his right leg. His brain whirled and it took him a moment before he managed to, painfully, swim up to surface.
He gasped, wanting to cry from the pain and the headache, but he first had to figure how to get to safety.
He saw the ship had drifted away from and deeper among the rocky shore. He watched dumbly as it crashed into some and water consumed it. Some sailors fell and drowned. The sirens continued to fly and sing.
He tried swimming a different direction from them, but every stroke made him almost faint. “. . . I can’t,” he wheezed, the ocean pulling him away from shore and back under.
He decided to give up. He wouldn’t make it, and why put on more stress when there’s no hope?
He cried as the water covered his head.
He saw a siren overhead, but it didn’t look like the two he had seen. Jack couldn’t keep his eyes open long enough to fight her off as she grabbed his shoulder.
~
It was the same boy she had played a prank on so long ago. Now here he was, and Cassadee wasn’t sure how to feel about it. He was nice to look at but Cassadee wished he would wake already.
She snuck him to her secret spot, a comfy cave with various things arranged to make it look like a real home. She placed him on her bed, bandaged his leg and made a sling for his broken arm. She had been sickly watching him for two hours and he hadn’t woken up once.
He would’ve drowned if she hadn’t had a feeling to go and see the ship. She saw him fall and try to swim for shore.
She’s never once helped a drowning sailor. What could she do? She couldn’t keep them all and nurse them. But this one was different. She recognized him and she had to help.
But now what?
He groaned and stirred stiffly in bed. He blinked several times before fully opening his eyes and waking up.
He immediately shot up only to fall back with a yell of pain.
“Don’t do that! Your body needs to heal,” Cassadee scolded, pulling the blankets back over him. He only shuddered and tried to scoot away.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” stressed Cassadee, her wings twitching at the slightest. He stared at them. “I’m not like my sisters. I won’t hurt you.”
He saw the way her fists were clutched tight at his silent accusation.
“You saved me?” he asked, glancing at his arm.
“I did. The ocean or my sisters would’ve got you if I hadn’t.”
He nodded and gave the room a look over. It reminded him of his sister’s back home, with all the seashells and pictures hanging around. The thought of it made the sadness come, and he chose to ignore it.
“What is this?” he asked, referring to the cave. Cassadee smiled and it actually calmed him some.
“A second home. A better one. You’ll be safe here for now. They won’t find you,” she reassured him.
He glimpsed at the entrance of the cave, covered by a purple curtain. But through the slight opening he could make out the ocean, the waves much calmer than they was before.
“They’re all dead? Captain Walker and the rest?” Jack croaked. Cassadee nodded, twiddling her thumbs pitifully. His eyes began to burn, and the tears started down his face.
“I’m sorry,” she sighed, hanging her head low so he couldn’t see her face.
His crying was short-lived before he choked out, “It’s not your fault . . . what’s your name?”
“Cassadee,” she answered, looking up.
He sighed and put on a small smile. “I’m Jack . . . Thanks, Cassadee.”
The guilt drifted away so she could grin back too. She eagerly piped up, “I’ll take care of you. I’ll make sure you get better so we can get you home.”
Through the pain and sadness Jack found it in himself to laugh at Cassadee’s bright attitude. A little hope was restored in him.
(Cassadee finally got a new friend.)
~
Jack was weird but in a very sweet way. He spent days telling Cassadee of stories from back home, of him and his friends and the trouble they get into. About life there and how everything was nice.
Cassadee told him about her parents and their curse, what her sisters do, her dreary life, her once upon a time friend and how she really has no one but herself.
One day Jack surprised her. He promised to take her home with him.
“I don’t care what they say,” Jack told her. “I want you with me. You don’t need to be here.” He laughed at her open mouth, and he could almost see her heart leaping about.
Cassadee questioned it. Where he’s from is far away. It’s why Cassadee only went there once; it’s why she doesn’t go there every day. Despite what others may think her wings get tired quickly. What if she drops Jack while flying, or falls and drown because her wings became tired?
“I’ll build a boat,” Jack explained. One of his friend’s dad built ships and small boats. Jack’s helped him several times, and he was sure he could make a decent one.
By now Jack walked with a limp, and though his arm was still healing he could do some work with it. He was sure he could get them off the island.
Today they sat outside, Jack drawing a picture of the boat in the dirt with a twig.
“And when we’re home,” Jack described, “you can meet my family and friends. My mom, she ‘supposedly’ has friends that deal with magic . . . if you want, maybe they can take away your wings so, you know, you won’t be a siren anymore.” His cheeks had turned pink and he was looking off embarrassingly to the side.
“Then everything will be okay and you’ll finally be happy. You won’t be alone because . . . we’ll have each other.”
Though Jack was outgoing and brave he still shyly touched her hand. He watched as her fingers linked with his. When he glanced back up she kissed him.
~
Mrs. Pope glowered intensely as Cassadee strolled in. She was done questioning where the child went off to all the time. As long as Cassadee’s not in the way she frankly doesn’t care what she does.
However, she can’t help noticing the brighter demeanor along with the longer outings. But it’s also more than that.
She sees the way Cassadee would look down at her stomach, touching it warily before looking away thoughtfully. If Mrs. Pope looked carefully, she could see the slight roundness of her stomach that was never there before, how Cassadee was becoming pudgy.
Before Cassadee could retreat to her room, Mrs. Pope slammed her into a chair. The other family members gathered around and watched as the mother integrated the girl.
“Who did it?” she questioned. “Tell me - how did you get pregnant?”
“I’m not,” Cassadee answered straightly, not blinking once.
Mrs. Pope raised her hand as if to slap her, but only shook her fist. “You lying worthless child! I know you are. Who could’ve possibly done this to you?” All the veins in Mrs. Pope’s red face bulged as she fumed.
“You’re hiding someone, aren’t you?” Mr. Pope piped up. “Some boy? Huh? You show us where he is -“
“Or what?” Cassadee mumbled.
The way Mrs. Pope glared at Cassadee had her bones shaking.
“I will cut you open, right now, and take the child out.” She made a cutting motion with her hand as she laughed. “It won’t even look like a baby. It’ll be nothing.”
Cassadee stood up so fast it startled her mother. “You’re sick!” She ran outside with the woman screaming at her, and took off in the air to find Jack.
She found him by her cave, still working on the half finished boat. “Jack!” She clutched his shirt and pulled him off the ground. “We have to leave. Now!”
“But it’s not done . . .”
“We can’t stay any longer. If we don’t go -“
Her body was suddenly slammed into and she gasped as she hit the ground, paralyzing her for a second. Ashley had her pinned down. She grinned at her sister, sharp teeth shining.
“I should’ve known,” she seethed, gripping Cassadee’s arms till her nails pierced through the skin. “I can’t believe it! You actually hid a man and decided to have a child with him!”
Cassadee spat at her before flipping her over, but Ashley wrestled her back into the dirt, holding her neck so her breath came out short and strained.
“J-Jack!” she cried, only to see Becka with her wings spread before a wary Jack. Soon her parents came up looking angrily at him.
“No! Jack, run!” Ashley choked her harder to get her to be quiet.
Jack backed slowly, his hands going to his ears as Becka beamed at him, stepping forward. She started to sing and Cassadee began to cry, believing he would soon be enchanted and then murdered.
Nothing happened. Jack merely blinked at her, his hands now going behind his back. Cassadee looked closely and saw Jack had placed sort of small item to plug his ears, so he couldn’t hear Becka’s singing.
“What are you doing? Kill him!” Mr. Pope shouted. Becka snag louder and when yet again Jack seemed unfazed, she growled and lunged at him. She thought she had him restrained when she felt something go through her chest, and wetness drip down her stomach.
Jack grunted as he twisted the blade, blood coating his hand and making him retch. He pulled it out with a noisy plop, and the girl slumped by his side. Silence came when Becka didn’t move.
Then a strained voice filled the void.
“Becka!” Ashley flew off Cassadee and trapped Jack under her. She had her teeth aimed for his face and was almost about to bite him when Cassadee tackled her. Ashley screamed at the sharp pain running through her neck.
Mrs. Pope brought her hands up to her pale face, covering her mouth. Shoulders shaking, she muttered little noises under her breath.
Jack sat up, called out Cassadee’s name. “C-Cassa . . . dee?”
Ashley had stopped moving, stopped screaming, her eyes now staring dead at the sky. Slowly, Cassadee leaned up and Jack could see the large flesh wound in Ashley’s neck, the blood dripping from Cassadee’s mouth.
The boy crawled over quickly and held Cassadee as she trembled furiously.
She wept, “I killed her.”
“It’s okay,” Jack soothed. “It’s okay.”
“She was going to kill you if I hadn’t -“
“You wench!” Mrs. Pope shrieked, stomping over, hand reaching for the girl. “Y-you little ---!”
The woman froze and winced as Cassadee grabbed her wrist and twisted it slightly. Cassadee’s eyes used to be so vivid and calm, but now they were dark and glaring evilly at Mrs. Pope.
For the first time she was terrified of Cassadee.
“I am not afraid to hurt you,” seethed Cassadee, dropping her wrist.
She grabbed Jack’s hand and stood up with him. “We’re leaving and we’re never coming back. Don’t stop us.”
The parents of Cassadee did not utter a word, nor try to stop her, as she and Jack walked away.
~
They stood on the shore. Cassadee cupped her hands to grab a handful of salty water and used it to wash the blood from her face. Jack washed his hands before taking his earplugs out. He took her hand again, and they sighed as they stared at the still ocean.
“The boat’s not finished,” Jack reminded her. “How are we going to get off?”
Cassadee took her time to answer, lost in the deep. If she stared hard enough, she could almost imagine seeing an island, Jack’s home. She was being a wimp before. Maybe she could fly her and Jack home. She couldn’t be that weak.
“Jack . . . Do you see that?” she asked confusingly, seeing a dark shadow over the horizon coming closer. “What is that?”
Jack squinted and took a step till the water covered his feet. His eyes widen and a smile presented itself. “It’s a ship!”
“. . . You think they can take us home?”
“We can ask,” he suggested. “Think you can fly us over there?”
She looked from him to the ship, before nodding vigorously, cheerful. “I can.”
Jack carefully climbed onto her back, and with a staggering start Cassadee flew them to the ship. There was a loud commotion as they landed in the middle of the deck, a bunch of sailors pointing and demanding what’s going on? and what is that? to Cassadee.
Before Jack could explain himself a deep man’s voice called him out. He looked among the sailors to see a familiar person. A rush of delight engulfed him as he ran and trapped his dad in a hug. The sailors backed away as they both cried heavily.
“Jack! We were searching for you a-and Walker . . .” the father sobbed. “You never came home. Everyone was thinking you were dead.”
Jack patted his back, trying to get his own crying under control so he could explain. “I’m sorry, Dad . . . He’s dead. They’re all dead. Sirens got them. They were living on that island.”
He pulled his son back in confusion. “Sirens?” His eyes drifted to Cassadee’s shy form. Jack spoke up before he could accuse her.
“She helped me. She saved me.” He held out his hand for Cassadee to come and hold it. “It was her sisters and parents who killed the crew. And they tried to kill us too.”
When she was by him he took a long breath and said, “This is Cassadee.”
His father looked her over and for a moment Cassadee was afraid he would yell at her to go back where she came from. Instead he pulled her into his chest and mumbled, “Thank you for helping my son,” over and over in her hair.
When he let her go Jack meekly said, “She’s having my child.”
The old man toppled over and the ship rocked.
~
The moment they made it back home, Jack was hugged and cried over by his family and friends. As he had hoped they took to Cassadee, despite her wings, despite her being different.
One of his mother’s friends had a spell to rid of Cassadee’s wings. She told them no. She wasn’t ashamed of her wings anymore, of being a siren. She decided she wanted to keep them.
Months passed and soon Cassadee birthed a baby - a sweet lovely child with no wings.
Jack, Cassadee, and their child lived happily forevermore, while Cassadee’s parents were forced into an eternity of loneliness and regret until their deaths.