A Song Below Water

Effie swims laps, feeling there is “nothing like being in the water,” and when she’s submerged, she can “hear the water” and its song (11). She feels most herself in water, though someone is staring at her: Wallace, the indoor pool’s lifeguard. She hides behind her long twists of hair, wishing she and Wallace would get to know each other beyond their polite, friendly conversations.

Although she’s attracted to Wallace, Effie has a crush on her Renaissance Faire cohort Elric, who is her betrothed in their storyline. At the yearly Renaissance Faire, Effie plays a mermaid named Euphemia, swimming in her tank and using sign-language for the audience. She takes a potion to walk on land to be with Elric, the blacksmith’s son who is in love with her. She looks forward to the Ren Faire every year, but it also reminds her of her mother, who passed away. Her mother played a role in the Renaissance Faire too, making it a special place they shared. 

After showering and changing, Effie finds Tavia curled against a wall, looking shaken with her phone. Tavia signs, “They said she was like me,” and Effie knows her use of ASL (American Sign Language) signals her “siren call is close to sliding free—or she’s afraid it is, anyway” (12). Tavia is scared to speak aloud, her throat burning; she once told Effie it was like “choking on a rock of fire that refuses to melt down” (12). With Effie’s pestering, Tavia shows her the Rhoda Taylor story. Effie knows Tavia needs her, but doesn’t consider herself the strong one of the two, and has been having nightmares again. 

Effie suppresses her issues and walks Tavia to the car, where they talk about the horrors of Rhoda’s murder, siren allegation, and upcoming trial. The girls are deeply bonded, likely because they feel there is something wrong with them, and their families know it—especially Tavia’s father, who disapproves of sirens. Effie is jealous though, since Tavia at least knows what she is, unlike her. They discuss how Tavia’s father will check her phone in his paranoia, and Tavia will blame herself for watching the Rhoda video. 

When the girls drive home, a stone gargoyle claws at the Philipses’ roof, as he has for the past three years (since Effie moved in). Tavia’s father, Rodney, opens the door and sternly tells them to get inside.

Facing her father’s reprimanding for watching a Rhoda Taylor video, Tavia sweats and experiences acid reflux. Her father acts out of fear, thinking that if she’s discovered as a siren, the prejudice against sirens may cost Tavia her life. He’s also upset about the gargoyle on the roof, who is a “beacon,” as gargoyles are sent to protect magical beings. Tavia tries to defend herself, but her father makes her feel “invisible.” She can’t appease him: “When­ev­er he gives up like this and only talks to [Mom], I feel like I’ve phys­i­cal­ly shrunk. Like if I keep it up, one day I’ll dis­ap­pear. Like may­be that’s what he wants” (17). Rodney urges her to be more careful and keep her siren voice down. 

Rodney and Geneva, Tavia’s parents, keep arguing and bring up Rhoda Taylor’s murder. Tavia knows that “according to my dad, everything’s my fault,” but his mother was the siren who passed her genes on to Tavia (19). Tavia signs to Effie that “No one should get away with murder because of what we are” (20). Rodney ignores her, upset that more bigotry and prejudice will occur now. Tavia and Effie go to their room to avoid further confrontation. 

At school, Tavia enjoys her gospel choir class. Choir is her safe space, where she can sing to release pressure from her unused siren songs. Her gospel choir group is part of the network that protects sirens. Some classmates check on her, given the news, and the conversation escalates into opinions of injustice. Tavia feels upset, since they’re acting like being a siren is the injustice, rather than Rhoda Taylor’s murder. Naema, an eloko (a publicly beloved mythological being who wears a bell necklace and has an enchanting, melodic presence), comes in late, but no one cares. Tavia thinks about how unfair it is that people love elokos, who manifest in every race, but distrust sirens, who are exclusively Black women. She recalls learning ASL and citing she has a disorder called “spasmodic dysphonia,” (26) a condition in which people lose their voices suddenly, to hide her siren voice if it threatens to erupt. 

At lunch, Tavia watches another hair tutorial video from Camilla Fox. Some friends pester her about Rhoda Taylor, since she’s one of the few Black students. Tavia barely speaks, wondering if she can find her grandmother’s song for guidance.

Effie has a repeated dream of a past incident at Triton Park, a local playground. She sees a “water mirage,” a rippling hallucination across her vision. The dream resembles a real event in which Effie was a young girl playing Red Rover with friends. In the dream, Effie runs toward her friends, hair streaming like it’s alive and hurdling into Ashleigh and Tabor, but their hands shatter, shards flying. Effie wakes up in a panic, knowing that her four friends, stuck as children, are still in Triton Park as statues. She thinks about the park incident and how she was the only child left unstoned, an unsolved mystery—though many suspect it was the work of sprites, ethereal tricksters who love to play games. Now, she’s been taken in by Tavia’s wealthy family, feeling guilty that she’s not supporting Tavia: “I get to share [this life and room] with someone who shares everything with me. [...] Tav’s who I should be focused on. The nightmare she’s living, not the one I already survived” (32).

Effie looks for her car keys, which have moved magically. She blames sprites. She finally finds her keys in a place she already looked, then complains to Tavia about her intensely dry, itchy skin, which the dermatologist says is eczema; Tavia tells her it will pass.

The girls drive to the fairgrounds to set up for the yearly Renaissance Faire. Since first grade, Effie has been Euphemia the Mer, her mother Minerva (Minnie) playing Minerva the Chosen, a pirate captain. This year, the Renaissance Faire is moving to Vancouver. Effie has practiced holding her breath, applying her shimmering mermaid make-up, and floating with her mermaid tail costume for hours. She squeals to Tavia, “It’s finally happening” in anticipation, and Tavia is happy for her, knowing the Renaissance Faire is a meaningful place with a link to her mother (37). Effie will be the main attraction mermaid and the only Black girl.

Effie takes the jar of “land walking potion” from her necklace, which her mother gave her, to walk the fairgrounds. Elric, her fiancé in her storyline, isn’t around, but he’s left Effie many gifts over the years in her tank or on the porch steps, like potions, notes, and handmade gifts. The girls enter the Cove, Effie’s tent with a water world and tank. Effie sees a water mirage in her vision, and scared sprites have come to her safe space.