When Persephone was abducted by Hades, Demeter—Persephone’s mother—tasked her closest friends with finding her daughter. But they couldn’t search the sea, so Demeter gave them tails like fish so they could look for her. That’s how sirens came into existence, and over time they grew to be vengeful, dangerous creatures.” She pushed an open book toward me. “The sirens on those three tiny islands we saw on
