Mina balked at the idea at first, but she knew it wasn’t a demand. Her grandmother wanted to know if she could. It was so freeing to feel that heaviness and self-doubt gone that she didn’t want to change. But she did it anyway—for her grandmother.
Mina closed her eyes and concentrated. She felt as if she was being suffocated as the glamour fell over her. How had she not noticed this before?
“Good, now don’t be afraid. You can be yourself around us. It’s just a useful tool to know when you go around the human plane.”
It was such an odd conversation. Mina had been living on the human plane for seventeen years, and she was just now learning tools to survive it. She released the glamour and felt the cloying stickiness of it leave her.
Was this what it was like for Ever when she had to hide her wings? No wonder she only hid a part of herself. A glamour was not a comfortable thing to wear.
“Now, I think you have one last thing to work on.”
“What’s that?”
“Power of suggestion.”
She shivered as she remembered the giant. “I’m not real fond of doing that.”
“But you need to, so you can replicate it again.” Winona called out over her shoulder. “Kino!”
Ternan heard his wife call and came over with Kino, who bounded up and paused as he laid eyes on Mina. “Oh, Mother of the Sea, please tell me I can marry her.”
Mina blushed, and Ternan whacked Kino in the arm. “That’s my granddaughter, you sea slug”
Kino blushed and tried to dodge another attack by Ternan.
“Kino, Mina has had a chance to get to know you, and I’d like your permission for her to try and control your mind.”
Kino swallowed nervously. “But we haven’t even courted yet.”
“Kino.” Ternan warned. “He’s just teasing, Mina.”
“Why Kino?” Mina asked them. “You said he was strong. Maybe I should start with someone else.”
“Because he’s strong,” Winona said. “Ternan and I will be here to watch over the two of you.”
“Okay.” Mina looked up at Kino who ran his hands through his dreadlocks, making the water run from them. He crossed his arms and eyed her, challenging her to do her worst.
She looked into Kino’s brown speckled eyes and glanced at the darker brown siren marks across his arms. She met his eyes and tried to command him to clap his hands.
She stared at him, and he just smirked.
“Nuh-uh, sea princess. I’m not so easily controlled.”
That was right. Mina remembered. Giants were relatively dumb and hard to control. A virile young siren, one of the strongest, would be a little harder. She focused on what she wanted and thought she saw his hands flinch, but he just reached up and scratched his arm instead.
Oh bother.
“Have you gotten tired already? Am I too strong?” He flexed his muscles at her, and she grew irritated. “Maybe you need to go take a nap.”
“Oh, go jump in the ocean!” Mina snapped.
She watched in surprise as the smile fell from his face. His eyes took on a hint of golden glow, he climbed the railing, and he jumped in.
“Uh, Mina, you need to tell him to swim out now. You can’t give an order without clear directions.”
“Oh right.” She ran to the rail and saw that he’d sunk beneath the water. She couldn’t see him. He was too far down.
“Swim! Come back to me,” she demanded. A few seconds later, Kino’s head popped above the surface, and he swam back and quickly crawled up the rope ladder.
Mina stepped away from him and had to break eye contact as she worked on releasing him. It took a few deep breaths before his eyes returned to their natural color.
“I could have killed you.”
“Naw, I’m a siren. I can breathe underwater.”
“But what if I told you not to?”
Kino’s brown eyes went wide. “Well, um, yeah. Don’t do that.”
“I won’t.” Mina looked at the sky and saw that the sun was setting. “I probably need to go and wait at our spot in case Nan and Charlie get there.”
“Don’t let her go alone. We’ve been here too long in one spot. She’ll need a guard.” Ternan gave a look to Kino.
“Got it. I’ll grab Reef and Genni.” Kino took off, and a few minutes later returned with two more sirens, plus Nix and Ever. Reef was tall and slender with bright blue eyes and blue highlights and marks. Genni was short with red hair and warm honey-yellow eyes and marks, very catlike in appearance.
Ever and Nix had plenty to say about Mina’s natural look, and, after a few barbs, they quieted their jokes. Their comments didn’t faze her. Still, Mina worked to replace her glamour. It flowed over her easily. As she worked the illusion, so did the others. Genni’s hair and eyes became dull, Reef’s bright blue eyes turned a dark blue, and his highlights faded and disappeared. Their clothes shifted into casual shorts and plain shirts.