A Song Below Water

Tavia secretly asks Naema for help, invoking the siren “network credo” to “respond to any distress call” (98). She pleads for Naema’s help because the latter is dating Priam, her ex-boyfriend, and is connected to Priam’s father, the officer who witnessed her siren song. Naema thinks Tavia is upset that she’s dating Priam, saying she can’t stand Tavia and Effie’s drama. When Tavia shares her story, Naema says, “So you’re say­ing that while half of PDX is cov­er­ing for you so you can do this whole sad-lit­tle-pret­ty-girl rou­tine, you pur­pose­ly un­leash a call and ba­si­cal­ly out your­self to get out of a traf­fic violation” (103). Tavia argues against her conclusion.

While Naema lashes out, Tavia’s siren song builds. She remembers how she tried to choke herself at 11 years old, dreading her sirenness due to her father’s negative view: “I wanted it to end, but just that. Just my voice, and my sirenness, and my lone­li­ness, and my fear” (98). The belt buckle pinched her neck, causing young Tavia to fall unconscious. At the hospital, her parents had to tell the social worker that she was either a siren or that she’d tried to die by suicide.