Long fingernails beckoned for us  to come forward.

“Leave us,” said the sharp siren’s voice.

I also turned my back to leave, but Verdi, who suddenly appeared next to me, pulled my dress.

“Her majesty does not mean for you to leave,” he whispered.

“Indeed I do not,” said the queen, her voice echoing through the glass.

The others quickly went away, and I was left alone with Verdi, whom I knew not to trust, and the queen of sirens herself.

I tore my arm from Verdi’s grasp, and warily made my way around the lake myself.

“You do have some spirit,” the queen said, startling me so much that I almost tripped over my own feet.

When I reached the throne, I was met by the same woman as depicted by the station, only much more frightening. She was staring a bit at her long fingernails, as if they were more significant than Verdi and I. She wore a crown of feathers and shells around her had, in a wide range of colours, like those on the fishtail she had. She wore a lot of necklaces, bracelets, chockers, earrings and rings. They were by no means matched together. She wore a dress which was cut off just above the place where her body met the water. Small shells were sewn onto it and a velvet scarf was placed over it. Her eyes were a very deep blue, which entranced me immediately.

Her hands scraped something out of a bowl made out of sea shells, which was placed next to her, and put it in her mouth. Every time her sharp teeth made a crunching noise, I winced.

Verdi was standing next to me, and for a second he raised his hand, as if to comfort me, but he quickly lowered it when the queen spoke.

“Jane Aminta,” she said, “I do not like the name Jane. It is too ordinary.”

“Forgive me your majesty, but I am by no means special.”

“It will not please me to act humbly, Aminta.”

Her eyes narrowed when she saw me frown at being called by my middle name.

“Aminta, it is your mother’s name, is it not?”

“How does your majesty know?”

“I know this because you heard my song, after never having heard a siren’s song before. Normally, a human who hears my voice without ever having listened to a siren before will die instantly.”

“Which is why most humans, including myself, simply can’t hear it,” Verdi said.

“But I can?”

“Aminta is my daughter’s name,” the queen said.

It was very hard for me not to laugh at this ridiculous revelation. Surely, sirens existed, surely I had been brought to their island for them to do with me as they very well pleased. I had found a friend in a headstrong girl, and had escaped imprisonment by the help of the very person who had lured me into this situation, and pretended to be attached to be in the process. All of this, I had accepted, but to hear that my very own mother, who was not at all extraordinary, was presumably connected to all of this, was too much for me to bear.

And therefore perhaps it was a good thing that I had so many questions to ask, that I remained quiet.

“Which means, Jane Aminta Steffons, that you are my granddaughter.”

“Surely, they would have-”

“Told you, perhaps?” said Verdi.

I shook my head, understanding that I probably wouldn’t have told my children about my involvement with these treacherous creatures. In fear of them looking for them.

“My father met my mother on one of his travels to the south, but that she was in fact from our country, and I believed it, because she looks the part.”

“My daughter resembles me,” the queen said, “and I hope she resembles me in the love for her children as well.”

I suddenly felt very cold.

“What do you mean by that,” I said, rather hastily adding ”your majesty.”

“My daughter escaped from this island, and has not died, as only descendants of my own can. The blood of the queen makes you rather an exception to the rule. I have never known her whereabouts. I never even knew she had a child. However, I have now find my means of retrieving her.”

She looked at Verdi, he bowed.

I also looked at him, shocked. How could he have lied to me so. If I was a descendant of this queen, I never would’ve had to go to this island. And Verdi had known this.

“I suggest you start making preparations.”

I turned around, and slowly took a step backwards.

A cold laugh echoed through the palace.

“You will surely not listen to her,” I said, knowing full well that he would. I had no ways of escaping this. Verdi would retrieve me in a second –as I had already experienced inside the well- and guards were stationed all over the island.

Verdi just smirked at me.

“We have been over this. It will all be a lot easier when you cooperate.”

He raised his hand in order to make peace, but I struck it. It was the second time I had hit someone since I left home.

“Cooperation indeed!” I yelled, not even taking into consideration the presence of a queen.

“You claimed to care about me, saying it was best for me to follow you to this god-forsaken island! You lied to me!” My screeching echoed through the palace, and Verdi winced at it, as if every word hurt him.

I was distracted when the water from the lake rose up into the largest wave I had ever seen. The queen made a gesture when she saw my expression, and the wave stopped moving.

“I will tolerate no young girl’s screeching in my palace,” her blue lips were pursed, her eyes were furious. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my head.

“Escort her,” she commanded, looking at Verdi.

He dragged me by the arm, out of the glass palace. This time I didn’t protest.