Day 4

Oh, the start of a brilliant new day. My sparkling, remodelled home is so comfortable and secure... I feel so relaxed in here.

Now I have no openings in the front door I have no need to worry about human interference while I'm home. As long as they don't have access to explosives or magic anyway... Hmm, they probably do have magic...

Well better safe than sorry. Using my new drilling method I now have several exits from the 'cage' and plenty of water flow from the tunnels to make up for the lack of holes in the door. The tunnels are all permafrost layered burrows so they shouldn't collapse easily and filter grates at the far end. Logically thinking, I haven't actually seen permafrost break or blunt and I have done some fairly crazy things with it. I have no idea what the limitations on it are. No wonder the humans treated it like gemstone; it is water made into diamond... Yes, I know the chemistry doesn't fit but neither does a barrier of nothing and instant evolution. Magic is mysterious.

Anyway a quick hunt first before I settle down to chat with Yumi the siren. I am deeply interested in magic and getting more of it... on a full stomach.

I speed over to the reef I have coined 'the ranch' and look for barrier lobsters. I am very pleased there are a lot still here. Not too bright, eh?

That said there are a few missing and apparently more than one has been eaten, by something other than me. Unforgivable.

I corral them in a thin set of permafrost bars as I sweep around the reef, forming a dome. No crayfish escapes. No one enters but me.

I take my time enjoying the delightful flavour before bugging out, so that they can't tattle on me again to Momma shark.

I don't expect to see much danger today in general so I hurry back for my apprenticeship. I love you, sixth sense!

Yumi waves as I come up to her and then firmly grabs me and tries to shove something up my vent. I'm a little alarmed by how forceful she is, but the object is blunt and round and passes easily. (No, it isn't what you're thinking, perverts...)

What was that about? I ask a little annoyed.

“Well you wanted better magic, right? That should help you.”

Lesser Icicle Squid Alpha has obtained a water spirit stone~

Alpha? Where did that come from? Is there a Beta too or is it a personality remark? I was sure I was unique... is it because I don't have a name?

Anyway that nonsense aside, a water spirit stone? What is that? Well it does feel nice, like a breath of clear mountain air on my gills.

So how do I use the thing?

“Don't know.”

What do you mean you don't know?!

Yumi shrugs. “I don't use elemental magics.”

Oh. So what kind of magic do you use?

She winked cutely. “Secret.”

Thinking about what little that comes to mind when I think about Sirens besides the man-eating thing... mind control or hypnosis inducing sounds?

“Aww. That isn't fair...”

Yes! I finally saw through her. Take that Miss Mind-reader! I had sudden flashbacks to a spiky haired lawyer.

“You're mean...” She pouts.

You shoved a rock up my metaphorical (and in some ways literal) nose.

“But it'll help you, it really will!”

In what way?

“Well... it is supposed to be a secret but if you'll show me yours, I'll show you mine.”

I'm not interested in that kind of secret from you...

A little upset she harrumphs in finger talk... who the hell does that and... how did it translate so well? “Oh, be that way, meanie squid. Do you want to squirt ink in my eyes now? Give me sucker burns? Freeze my tail?”

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Tempting... very tempting.

“You do hold a grudge, don't you...” She sighed in finger talk and shook her head sadly. “Fine. It is a trick a few of us sea creatures use to go on land. With that thing you'll never run out of breathable water.” She glanced at him. “That said I've never heard of a squid using it for this before, so there might be problems.”

Why did you do this for me? All I was interested in was just a lecture at most.

“Well you said you used to be human, so I thought...” She said shyly.

You actually believed it?

“Of course. You don't seem to be able to lie at all yet. Besides I have heard of similar cases.”

Any nearby?

“None were recent and few are alive now.”

How old are you? She clearly had a rather lengthy list of experiences and contacts.

“Seven hundred...”

Years?!

What the hell did you evolve from?!

“Well, there are a couple of rare routes...” She whisked her hair back from the side of her head showing long, pointed ears. “...I'm originally a sea-elf that became bitter after tragedy and loss from a shipwreck. I ended up spending more time in water than beside it and hating sea voyagers enough to want them to die...” She sighed. “I was a terror of the seas for a century or two... but I stumbled across a few words left to me a long time ago that ended that fury. I guess that without aggression and hatred this is what a siren is. If you meet one of us, besides me... kill her quickly. It will be a mercy.”

I had no idea...

“So compared to what I used to be and what I am now, faults and perversions included; which do you prefer?”

I'm sorry, while hardly perfect... you are better in every conceivable way.

“Thanks. I don't usually gush like that but you being trapped in a different body with a lot of stigma attached makes me feel some parallels between us.”

Stigma? I mean I'm a squid, we're slimy and I'm big and scary... but...

“You don't know about how some of you evolve into Kraken? In some places your kind are called demons of the sea, in others simply devil-fish.”

Ah, suddenly the insults from the older twin seem a lot more understandable.

Yumi decided to excuse herself and said her good-byes for the afternoon. Immediately after elaborating on Kraken.

“One of the titans of the seas.” Was all she added.

Aren't titans technically supposed to be gods? I assume that is the upper end of the evolution scale...

Well regardless, I was indeed enjoying the water stone, or whatever the thing is called. Every breath as fresh as a mountain glade... no, not the air freshener. The real thing, in oxygenated water form.

I retreated to my home and breathed deeply and freely with no entrances open to let in sea-water.

Safe and secure in my bubble dome cage.

Life is good. Fine food, good friends and somewhere safe and quiet. How could things possibly get any better?

Oh, crap. I know that feeling... I jinxed myself. In a world of magic that kind of thing is only too real.

Still I did sleep quietly with nothing but the desire to eat more crayfish appearing in my dreams.

Yumi however spent the night crooning to herself and softly crying, clinging to a lonely rock. Her voice insisting on safety and duty to all that sailed past on the breeze, so that they could return to loved ones.

Next Chapter: Squid vs Surprisingly Powerful Sea-critter (you will never, ever guess this one... but please try so I can laugh at you.) Chapter due... tomorrow.