“Mommy, mommy, look!” a little girl’s voice called.

I looked up from where I sat, lounging on my rock in the sun. The light streamed down through the hole at the top of the enormous circus tent my tank was in. Well, it wasn’t really a rock, it was a platform made to look like a rock, but it was as close as I was going to get to a proper rock in the circus tent.

Sunning myself on a real rock wasn’t something I’d been able to do in a very long time.

“Oh my! How pretty!” the mother smiled down at her daughter.

“A real mermaid!” the little girl clapped her hands in delight.

This was my favorite reaction. Or rather, the one I hated the least. The little girls always had the best reaction to seeing a mermaid. In all honesty, my favorite reaction was when guests ignored me completely, but that didn’t happen very often. Merfolk were too uncommon in these parts for them to not be at least somewhat interested in me.

“I know!” The mom smiled. “Isn’t she pretty?

I smiled at the compliment. If only she knew.

As far as mermaids went, I wasn’t anything special. In fact, I was a bit common-place, even if my face and form were cute enough. That said, most of the guests that came to the circus had usually never seen many fey folk in general before, much less merfolk, so they didn’t know the standard.

Now my sister, she was a stunning, unique example of a mermaid. With long, shimmering red hair and glittering golden scales, she’d turned the heads of all the mermen. Even as young as I’d been the last time I’d seen her, I could remember that much.

I, on the other hand, had very boring blue hair and green scales, the most common combination for my people. Somewhat frumpy, really.

All that said, I was rather fond of my warm, light brown skin, and I did have very pretty cerulean blue eyes. Like they held the sea inside them. At least, that’s what my papa had always used to tell me.

“She’s so pretty!” the little girl chirped, then came closer, “Hi Miss Fishy!”

I cringed inwardly, but decided to let it go. The little girl didn’t know any better. But I was a conscious being, not a fish, despite my fins.

“Can you sing?” her little voice was hopeful.

It was a common request. Everyone wanted to hear the mermaid sing. Normally I pretended to not understand. If they were going to call me a fish, then I was going to pretend to be as dumb as a fish. But this little girl’s eyes sparkled up at me so sweetly and innocently that I felt my heart melt a little.

There was really no harm in humoring an innocent little child, right? Besides, it had been a little while since I'd sung for anyone. Well, outside my actual circus act itself, anyways.

I stretched luxuriously, twitching my tail lazily in the water, able to feel the rune-covered metal band that just above my fins bumping against my tail. It was always a little uncomfortable, of course, but impossible to remove. Not that I hadn’t tried everything I could think of to get it off before.

Hopefully the little girl I was about to sing for would never wind up like me, forced to perform against her will just to survive.

Brushing my ear back behind my ear, I smiled down at the mother and her daughter.

What was my own mother doing right now? Did she remember me? Did she miss me? Hopefully the pair standing before my tank would never be parted, like my mother and I had been.

Taking a deep breath, I pulled for a little magic. Just a little magic, not enough to enthrall anyone, but just enough to make the song really lovely, because otherwise my singing voice really wasn’t particularly good.

Channeling the magic into my voice, I sang.

At the sound of my voice, heads all around the tent turned in our direction. Customers began to wander over from the other exhibits. It was a sweet, happy sort of song, just meant to entertain and nothing more, though I could do a good deal of things with my voice.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Rowan shaking his head. His enclosure, a small corral of sorts, was right beside my tank, as it usually was.

Charlie, the dragon, hummed along happily, providing a little harmony. He swayed back and forth in his cage, his thick chains clinking as he moved. He only wore them when visitors were in the tent, but it was still a pretty sad sight.

Finishing my song to a round of applause, I dove into the water, lest the little girl ask me to sing again.

She squealed in delight as I sank to the bottom of the tank, until I was level with where she stood. I waved at her, smiling like I wasn’t being held against my will.

The kid reached out and pressed her little palm flat against the tank. Deciding to humor her again, I reached out and placed my own hand opposite to hers. Spreading out my six fingers on that hand, I showed off the delicate webbing between them. They only appeared when I was in water, much like my gills, but I knew it would be something interesting for the kid to see.

The little girl giggled in delight.

After a little while, her mother pulled the little girl away, presumably to see the other fey folk in the exhibits.

That was just the nice way of putting it, actually. We were slaves, really. Slaves put on display for any human who paid the entrance fee.

I sighed, sending a stream of bubbles up to the surface. Then with a lazy flick of my tail, I rose to the surface, and pushed myself out of the water. Arranging myself comfortably on the rock again to dry, I stretched out, enjoying the warmth of the sun once more.

The water in the tank really needed to be changed. It was stagnant and smelled kind of bad, but I probably wouldn't have the luxury of clean water for a little while longer. The circus would pack up in a couple of days to move on to the next stop, and the tank would be filled anew then, but not before.

Just as I started to squeeze the water from my long hair, an unpleasant voice jeered at me from below, “Well, lookee there, boys!”

A swift glance told me that several young men were standing in front of my tank. I returned to squeezing the somewhat foul smelling water from my blue curls. I’d learned long ago that it was best to ignore this specific genre of patron in the exhibition hall.

One of the young men wolf-whistled as another yelled, “Come on over to the edge, pretty thing!”

Gods, the male visitors were always the worst. Some of the things I’d had said to me…I shuddered as I tried not to think about them.

But no matter what they said, I had to just sit there and listen, literally a captive audience. Luckily, I didn’t have to wear my costume while we were out on display in the exhibit tent. The costume was flashy, ostentatious, kind of tight, and a little revealing, which really wasn’t my taste.

Instead, I preferred to wear a loose blouse, like the one I currently had on. It was a soft, thin material, and dried quickly. Mud, one of the goblins from the clown act, had snagged it for me from the circus’ lost and found, replacing the rough-spun shirt that I’d had to wear before.

“How ‘bout you sing us a pretty song?” Another of the gawking youths cried.

When it was clear that I was ignoring them, one complained, “Oh, come on! You sang for that little kid just now!”

Finally, one muttered, “Forget it, she’s just a stupid fish.”

Fury surged through me, but I managed to keep my expression relaxed. I wasn’t allowed to hurt the patrons who visited the exhibition hall. But what I wanted to do wasn’t exactly going to hurt them, per say. No, they really wouldn't be in any pain at all. If I was right, I should be able to do what I had in mind without getting a nasty shock from the rune-carved metal band on my tail.

Keeping my expression carefully neutral, I stretched, then pulled myself to the portion of the rock that was closest to where the young men stood, still watching me despite having started to turn away.

Pulling for my magic again, I pushed it into my voice once more. Only this time, instead of a light, pretty tone, my song was low and sultry. It drew the group of youths closer.

“Marrina…” Rowan’s tone carried a warning, but I ignored him.

Too many times I’d been gawked at, jeered at, and mocked. Sure, I’d get in trouble for this, probably a lot of trouble too, but at the moment I didn’t care.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

When no painful shock coursed through me from the restraint, I began to weave the song around them, making sure no one else could be affected by what I was about to do. The group of young men were soon completely entranced, their wills stripped from them entirely.

This was a true siren-song. Or…I had a feeling it was, anyways. I wasn’t actually sure what real siren-song was like, but from what I’d been told, this was it. It was still only a guess, of course, since I’d been really young when I’d been captured that I really didn’t know. I did know that sirens could cause boats to crash, but everyone knew that.

The fools stood there, slack-jawed, eyes glazed over, pupils completely dilated. I sang even more quietly now, and they stumbled forward, pressing against the tank and reaching up towards me.

Now I changed the song, weaving in a diminished key. This rendered what had been just an alluring tune to something truly menacing and dark. I sang of their deepest fears surrounding and enveloping them as I poured out my wrath on them. Still no shock came shooting through me, so I plunged on.

Only when the group of boys were curled up on the ground, blubbering and screaming, shaking in fear and begging for their mothers, did I stop.

Another young man walked up, and frowned, staring at them. He nudged one of his friends with his foot. “What’s wrong with you all?”

But they continued to babble incoherently. One of the afflicted stumbled to his feet, grabbing the front of his non-enchanted friend’s shirt, wearing a desperate, terrified expression.

The unaffected guy looked confused and alarmed, and looked around wildly for help.

Leaning back in the sun, I ignored the scene that was now playing out below. Feeling very pleased with myself, I tried not to smirk as I feigned innocence, indifference, and ignorance.

That had worked a lot better than I’d expected! I’d never done it before, but I’d theorized about being able to do it for a while now. The insulting idiots were currently trapped in their minds with their own worst fears. I’d have to let them go before too long, of course, since there was no situation that Meeks didn’t wind up finding out about what I’d done, but I’d let it ride as long as I could.

As if right on cute, I heard Meeks’ voice demand, “What’s going on here?!” The circus manager charged over to my tank.

Meeks was a half-ogre idiot that was so bad at magic he could only turn into a cow.

I’d heard that half-fey folk were often mistreated by other fey folk, and normally I’d have cared very much about that, because it hardly seems fair to mistreat someone over something so stupid. But given how horrible Meeks was to me and my fellow captives, I didn’t care who or what he was, I was going to be as difficult and annoying and rude as I could to him.

Meeks seemed to channel his anger at being so inept with magic into willingly serving the circus owner, a dwarf named Bellows. Bellows, of course, was pleased for Meeks to treat us pretty badly, given how badly he treated us himself. The rune-carved band around my tail was a mark of that, binding me to Bellows’ will, and Meeks’, by extension.

All captive members of the circus and exhibits wore such bands. Rowan’s was around his back hind leg, and Charlie’s on his neck, marks of their own enslavement. What was funny, in an ironic sort of way, was that there was actually another ogre amongst us captives. Except he was full-blooded, and could turn into a lot of different things. His band was special, as it stayed put round his neck no matter what shape he took.

I guess Meeks wasn’t interesting or useful enough to warrant being a slave. Or maybe it was just that Meeks also took pleasure in lording his power over us, as Bellows did, that kept him from bearing the same shackles we did. Whatever the reason, it was stupid.

“I have no idea what’s wrong with them! I walked over from looking at the dragon and just found them like this!” the young man exclaimed, deeply concerned for his friends.

Meeks frowned, and looked up at me. I pretended I wasn’t paying any attention. “Just a moment.” Meeks told the young man, and approached my tank. “Marri.” His tone was stern.

“That’s my name.” I yawned, swishing my fins lazily in the water. “What do you want, Meeks?”

“A word, please.”

“Well, that’s three, four if you count my name, but okay.” I replied, but rolled over to face him and repeated, “What do you want? I have somewhere to be soon.” I picked idly at my fingernails. Of course, I couldn't even leave my tank without help, but my purpose, for the moment, was to annoy the manager as much as possible. Indeed the only reason I could say such an untruth was because both Meeks and I knew it was a lie, so I could reason that it was a joke. Otherwise, given that I was fey, I couldn't actually lie.

I could see the vein in his temple throbbing as he attempted to curb his annoyance, which meant I’d already succeeded in getting under his skin. Excellent! “Did you do something to those guests?” He pointed impatiently at the young men, who were still blabbering nonsensically on the ground in front of the tank.

Maybe I couldn't lie, but I could certainly still bluff and bluster and be generally disingenuous. “Who, me?” I gave him an innocent, wide-eyed look. “These are paying guests! Their fees pay our wages! Oh, wait…we don’t get paid, do we? Oh my! Well then, why should I care what happens to them, if that’s the case?” I yawned, stretching my arms and tail. “Be a dear and wake me when it’s actually something important.”

“Did you sing to them?!” he snapped.

“I sang to the little girl earlier…” I shrugged, letting my voice trail off, implying something other than the truth without actually saying anything that wasn’t true.

Meeks, as a half-fey person was also bound by the fey inability to lie. Not that we all weren’t smart enough to get around it, most of the time. That said, the horrible circus manager knew full well that I was obfuscating, and I knew that he knew. The flipside was that I really didn’t care that he knew or what he thought, if someone so stupid and cruel actually had any thoughts of his own bouncing around his empty skull.

“Then what do you suggest reduced these young men to babbling idiots?” he crossed his arms, tapping his foot like I gave a damn about him giving me a talking-to.

“How do you know they weren’t already babbling idiots, sir?” I asked, rolling my eyes. “They are men, after all.”

“You know this means no food today or tomorrow.” he said quietly, tone threatening.

“Oh no! Whatever shall I do?!” I wailed melodramatically, throwing an arm up over my head. I’d gone without food before, it wouldn't kill me.

“Undo your siren magic this instant, Marrina!” he shouted, now losing control of his temper in earnest. Not that he ever really tried to keep it in check. He loved an opportunity to shout at any of us captive fey folk.

“Siren magic?” I asked, feigning innocence again. The opportunity to annoy Meeks this much far outweighed the fact that I wouldn't be allowed to eat for two days.

“If you don’t undo whatever you did to them this instant, I’ll go and get Bellows! It’s his nap time right now, and you know he doesn't like to be woken up from his nap!” Meeks snarled, smiling cruelly.

The invocation of the circus owner’s name sent a shiver up my spine. No, he really didn’t like his naps intruded upon. It would likely mean a whipping for me, if that happened.

“Oh fiiiiine.” I huffed, not bothering to hide my annoyance.

Pulling for my magic, I channeled it into my voice once more. This time, I sang the opposite of the terrible song I’d used to put the fools into a trance full of their own worst fears. I sang a quick ditty of returning to reality.

Maybe trapping them with their worst fears had been too harsh a punishment, but I found it difficult to feel any sort of guilt. They were no better than any other man who’d ever said or done horrible things to me. Besides, they’d be fine, it’d just be like some really bad dream that they couldn't really remember.

The group of young men began to blink as they came out of the trance. I stopped singing and dove off my rock, landing in the tank with barely a splash, letting myself sink deep into the water to watch from below the surface. Meeks stood in front of my tank, watching me with his cold gaze, for a moment. I stuck my tongue out at him. He shook his head, then walked off.

Surfacing again, I decided to employ the last trick I had up my sleeve to annoy the cruel circus manager. It was one I’d been saving for a little while, and it was finally time to put it to the test

A recent bout of hiccups had somehow sent my voice flying across the room, making it sound like it had come from somewhere else entirely. The result had amused me so much that I’d learned how to do it on purpose. I’d even learned how to do it without really moving my lips at all, so I could sound like I was across the tent, without anyone seeing me talking. It was the perfect tool for mocking Meeks without having his ire directed at me.

Grinning wickedly, I threw my voice just to the side of Meeks, and mooed loudly.

Meeks started, and looked around wildly, his face immediately turning red. “Who’s that?!” he looked at the firebugs in their cages beside him, “Stop that!”

I moved my voice again, so he wouldn't direct his full anger at the firebugs, and mooed once more. I did it again and again until Meeks whirled around, trying to figure out where the noise was coming from.

The other enslaved exhibit members began to snicker, but did their best to hide their amusement.

“That’s not funny!” he screamed, spinning around, frantically trying to figure out who was mooing at him, his face beet red. Maybe if we were lucky, he’d have a coronary and die. That’d be quite the show.

“Mooooo!” I replied, though it sounded like my voice was now coming from outside the tent.

Furious, but unable to actually pin blame on anyone, Meeks stormed out.

Once he was gone, the entire tent burst into giggles.

“Was that worth not eating for two days?” Rowan asked, smiling wryly as I hauled myself up onto my rock again to sit in the sun.

“Yeah!” I sighed, wiping my eyes after having laughed so hard. “And it gave me the opportunity to try messing with him by throwing my voice. I’ve wanted to try it for a while, but never had the chance.”

“You’ve gotten really good at it.” the centaur snorted, shaking his head a little.

“Lots of practice!” I grinned at him.

“I know.” He shrugged. “It’s been fun seeing you practice.”

“Charlie likes it.” I murmured, “And the kids do, too.”

“I know. I’m glad you use your powers for good, sometimes.” Rowan smiled warmly at me, hazel eyes crinkling up at the edges.

“Just doing my job!” I told him in a serious tone as I saluted sloppily. “Although maybe, if I’m lucky, I’ll drive him to a heart-attack someday, and we’ll be rid of him!”

“Maybe!” Rowan laughed, tossing his head back, which sent his dark, wavy, chin-length hair rippling back as well.

We all hated Meeks.

“You’ll toss me a little snack later, right?” He’d basically raised me since he’d been brought to the circus, so I knew I could count on him.

“Of course. I won’t let you starve. I doubt Mud will, either.”

“Thank goodness for Mud. I don’t know what we did to deserve him.” I smiled, swishing my tail lazily through the water.

“Even he understands that it’s better if we help each other. Those of us with these cursed bands have to stick together, or it’s no good. We’d all suffer.” Bless Mud, but when the deities were handing out brains amongst the goblins, he’d been given with very little. But what he lacked in brains, he made up for in heart, and was probably the kindest person in the entire circus.

“I know.”

Despite our situation, we were lucky, in some ways. Everyone in the tent didn’t always get along, but we could always agree on one thing, that we would do what we could to support one another, and that we would stand united against Bellows and Meeks whenever we could. It was the only way we could have any sort of decent existence, given our situation.