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Calarogu Shark Media.
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Welcome to the Sirens Call a special Romance Weekly and
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Ghost Scary Stories crossover event. This is episode three Revelation.
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He opens the external seals, allowing fresh air from the
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cavern to mix with our recycled atmosphere. The improvement is immediate.
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I hadn't realized how stale our air had become. How
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did you know about this place? I press. Kai is
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focused on our life support systems, pulling access panels and
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examining components with practiced efficiency. I've explored most of the
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underwater geography around Black Rock Island. It's necessary for accurate
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acoustic mapping. But his answer feels rehearsed, incomplete. I watch
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him work, noting again the subtle webbing between his fingers,
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the way he seems completely comfortable in this underwater environment
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that should be alien and threatening, Kai, I say, softly,
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what aren't you telling me? His hands still on the
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machinery for a long moment, the only sounds are are
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breathing and the gentle lapping of water against the cave walls.
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When he finally looks at me, his sea green eyes
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hold a vulnerability I haven't seen before. More than you're
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ready to hear, he admits, more than I'm ready to
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tell you. Try me. He sets down his tools and
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turns to face me fully. In the con fine space
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of the submercible's cabin. We're close enough that I can
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see the conflict playing out across his features, Desire warring
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with caution, truth struggling against protection. The structures we saw
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down there, he begins, carefully, they're not human ruins, they're
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not abandoned. And the song you heard, what about it?
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It's not just music, Marina, it's a call, a summoning.
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Summoning what Instead of answering, He reaches out his fingers,
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tracing the line of my jaw with such tenderness that
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my breath catches. You felt it, didn't you, The pull
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of the song, the way it made you want to
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follow it no matter where it led. I nod, remembering
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the compulsion that nearly drew me into the harbor last night,
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the overwhelming desire to lose myself in the music from
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the structures. That's what happened to them, the missing cruise,
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Kai continues. They heard the call and couldn't resist it.
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They walked into the water, And he doesn't finish. How
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do you know all this? His thumb traces across my
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lower lip, sending shivers through me because I know what
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makes that sound, because I know what lives in those structures.
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His eyes meet mine, and in them, I see depths
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that go beyond human experience, because I'm connected to it
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in ways I never wanted to be. The admission hangs
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between us, heavy with implication. I should be frightened, should
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demand concrete answers, should insist we return to the surface immediately. Instead,
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I find myself leaning into his touch, drawn to him
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with the same inexplicable compulsion I felt toward the mysterious
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song connected how I whisper? Instead of answering with words,
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he closes the distance between us, his lips meeting mine
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with desperate intensity. The kiss is electric, sending waves of
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sensation through me that have nothing to do with the
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cold of the deep ocean. His mouth is warm, inviting
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tasting of salt and something indefinably oceanic. But as the
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kiss deepens, something strange happens. The world around me seems
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to shift to become more vivid, more compelling. Colours, are brighter, sensations,
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more intense. His touch doesn't just affect my body. It
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affects my mind, my will, creating a euphoria that transcends
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physical attraction. When we finally part, I'm breathless, my thoughts
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hazy and unfocused. What I start to ask, The words
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come out slurred, dreamy. Kai's eyes widen in horror as
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he realizes what's happened. Marina, I'm sorry. I didn't mean.
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I tried to control it, control what But even as
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I ask, part of me doesn't care about the answer.
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All I want is to kiss him again, to lose
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myself in whatever he's doing to me. My voice, he says, quietly,
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My influence when I feel strong emotions, when I'm not careful,
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it affects people. The haze in my mind begins to
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clear as his words sink in. Affects them? How it
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makes them more compliant, more willing to do what I
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want them to do. His expression is anguished. It's why
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I work alone, why I keep my distance from Peple,
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because I can't always control it. Reality crashes back over
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me like cold water. You're saying you can control minds,
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that you just influenced me. Not control, he says, quickly. Influence, Suggestion,
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and I swear to you, Marina, I didn't do it intentionally.
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You make me feel things I haven't felt in a
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very long time. My guard was down. I stare at him,
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my scientific mind struggling to process what he's telling me,
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while another part of me, the parts still affected by
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whatever he did, wants to dismiss the revelation and kiss
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him again. This is what happened to the missing cruise,
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I say slowly. Someone used this ability on them. Kai
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nods miserably, but not me. I've been trying to prevent it,
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to understand what's happening here before more people disappear. Then
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who others like me? He says quietly, Others who don't
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share my restraint when it comes to human life. Others
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like you? I repeat, what exactly are you?
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Kai?
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He meets my eyes, and in that moment, I see
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him make a decision to trust me with a truth
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that could change everything between us. I'm what your legends
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call a siren, he says simply, and I'm not the
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only one in these waters. The words hit me like
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a physical blow. Sirens mythical creatures that lure sailors to
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their deaths with irresistible songs, the stuff of maritime legends
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and ancient mythology. Except the man sitting across from me
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is very real, very present, and apparently very dangerous. That's impossible,
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I whisper, even as everything I've witnessed begins to make
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terrible sense. His unusual diving abilities, his intimate knowledge of
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the ocean depths, the way sea creatures seem to respond
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to his presence, the song that nearly drew me into
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the harbor, his admission about influencing minds, Is it, he
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asks gently, More impossible than the structures we just saw,
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More impossible than the music that comes from empty water.
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I think about the ancient ruins on the ocean floor,
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the compelling melodies that seem to bypass rational thought, the
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way Kai moves through water as if it's his natural element.
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The missing cruise, I say, understanding, dawning. They were called
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by sirens by my people. Yes, but not with my
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knowledge or consent. His eyes are pained. I came to
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Black Rock Island to investigate the disappearances myself, to try
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to prevent them. I never expected to find someone like
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you here, someone like me, someone who could hear the
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song but resist it, someone strong enough to pull back
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from the brink. He reaches for my hand, his touch
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sending that familiar warm sensation through me, someone who makes
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me want to be better than what I am. The
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submersible's air recycling systems choose that moment to complete their
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reset cycle, filling the cabin with fresh air and breaking
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the spell of intimacy that had settled over us. I
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become acutely aware of our situation, trapped in an underwater
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cave with a man who has just admitted to being
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a mythical creature capable of controlling minds. I should be terrified. Instead,
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I find myself studying his face, looking for some of
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deception of danger. What I see is vulnerability, honesty, and
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something that looks like hope. Your people, I say, carefully,
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the other sirens. They're responsible for the disappearances, some of them. Yes,
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there's a faction that believes humans are nothing more than prey.
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They've been hunting in these waters, calling ships to their destruction,
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and you oppose them. I oppose unnecessary killing, he says firmly.
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I oppose using our gifts to harm innocence who pose
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no threat to us. But you have used your abilities
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on humans before the question hangs between us, heavy with implication.
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Kai's expression grows distant, troubled. Yes, he admits quietly. In
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the past, when I was younger, more reckless, I thought
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humans were lesser. I didn't understand what I was destroying
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when I called them to the depths. What changed? I
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spent time among humans, learned about your cultures, your art,
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your capacity for love and sacrifice, and beauty that has
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nothing to do with supernatural gifts. His eyes meet mine again.
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I learned that consciousness, that sentience, is precious, regardless of
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its form. The sincerity in his voice is unmistakable, but
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questions still swirl through my mind. The song I heard
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last night was that you number. That was one of
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the others testing the waters, seeing what humans were present
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on the island. His jaw titans. When I realized you'd
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heard it, that you'd been affected, I've been watching over
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you since then, watching over me, protecting you. The others
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know there's a human on the island who can hear
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the call but resist it. That makes you interesting to them,
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potentially dangerous. A chill runs through me that has nothing
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to do with the cavern's cool air. Dangerous. How humans
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who can resist Siren's song are rare, very rare. Most
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of my people would see you as either a threat
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to be eliminated or a prize to be claimed. The
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implications of his words sink in slowly. I'm not just
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a researcher investigating mysterious disappearances. I'm a target marked by
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my ability to hear but not succumb to supernatural influence.
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What do we do? I ask we get you off
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this island, Kai says, immediately tonight, if possible, before the
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others realize what you are. I can't leave. I'm here
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to invent, mistigate the disappearances, to find answers that might
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prevent more deaths. Marina, you don't understand. If they take you,
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then help me, I interrupt. You know these creatures, their abilities,
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their weaknesses. Help me find a way to stop them.
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Kai stares at me for a long moment, conflict clear
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on his face. You're asking me to betray my own people.
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I'm asking you to save human lives. You said yourself
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that you oppose unnecessary killing. It's not that simple. There
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are consequences for interfering in siren affairs, punishments that he
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stops shaking his head. You don't know what you're asking,
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then tell me before he can respond. New alarms sound
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throughout the submersible. This time, it's our external senses detecting
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movement in the water around us. What is it, I ask,
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checking our sonar displays. Kai's face has gone pale. We're
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not alone in these caves anymore. On our screens, shapes
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are moving through the water, too large to be fish,
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too purposeful to be debris. As our lights sweep the cavern,
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I catch glimpses of figures gliding through the depths with
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impossible grace and speed. Your people, I ask, though I
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already know the answer from Kai's expression. They've found us,
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he confirms grimly. They know you're here. Through our speakers.
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A new sound begins to emerge, not the compelling music
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I heard before, but something hi more demanding. The water
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around our submersible begins to glow with the same phosphorescent
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light we saw around the deep sea structures. What do
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they want? I ask, though part of me fears the answer.
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Kai's eyes meet mine, and in them I see resignation, determination,
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and something that looks like goodbye. They want you, Marina,
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and they want me to give you to them. The
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song outside grows stronger, more insistent. Through our viewport, I
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can see figures in the water, humanoid, but wrong somehow,
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their movements too fluid, their forms seeming to shift between
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human and something else entirely. What do we do? I
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whisper Kai reaches for the submersible's controls, his jaw set
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with grim determination. We run as our engine raw to life.
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The creatures outside respond with sounds that are definitely not human,
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calls that seem to come from everywhere at once, harmonizing
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in frequencies that make our hull vibrate and our instruments flicker.
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The chase is about to begin.
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A Siren's Call has been a production of Calaogus Shark
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Media Executive producers Mark Francis and John McDermott AI assistance
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may have been used in the series.