History Literature / Watersong

->''Come now, weary traveler \\

-->'''Lyrics to the Watersong'''

Penn, Lexi, and Thea are gorgeous and charismatic -- supernaturally so. They aren't human, they're sirens from Myth/GreekMythology -- and they've come to transform Gemma into one of them, whether she likes it or not. Gemma and Harper must find a way to break the curse and restore Gemma's humanity before it's too late and she becomes a monster forever.

* TheAllegedCar: Marcy owns a thirty-year-old Gremlin, [[ICallItVera which she calls "Lucinda".]] When she gets into a car chase in ''Elegy'', Alex is surprised that the car is able to start at all, let alone keep up with the supernaturally fast sirens.
* AndShowItToYou: This trope first shows up in ''Lullaby'', when Lexi kills Sawyer by thrusting her arm through his chest and ripping his heart out, holding it for a moment before sliding her arm out and letting him fall. She then considers eating his heart, but decides that would take too much time when she has more important things to be doing. It occurs again in ''Tidal'', [[spoiler:when Penn kills Lexi in the same manner. Since sirens don't die until they both have their heart torn out and are decapitated, Penn lets Lexi take a good, long look at her heart before finishing her]].
* AntiVillain: Thea is pretty much the only siren Gemma and company have any trust for. Over the few thousand years, the sirens have killed humans and ate their hearts in order to survive; since they only need to feed about four times a year, Thea tries to stick to that (rather than four times a month like her sisters-- see VillainousGlutton), choosing only [[AssholeVictim victims that the world wouldn't mourn too much over,]] and even then, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone she feels extremely guilty about it.]] When Gemma is turned into one of them, Thea even gives her advice on how she can keep her humanity while still being a monster. By the end of ''Tidal'', [[spoiler: she finally gives Gemma and Harper the scroll, so they could break the curse (still not telling them how to, however).]]

* AttemptedRape: In ''Lullaby'', Gemma makes her first kill as a siren when a man tries to rape her.
** Happens again in ''Tidal'' when [[TheAce Aiden]] tries to rape Gemma. [[spoiler: Fortunately, Alex was there to save her before she could use her siren abilities.]]
* BigBad: Penn.

* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: How the sirens are introduced in ''Wake''. Lexi's blonde, Penn' brunette, and Thea's redhead. [[spoiler: Lexi is replaced with Liv, who is also blonde, in ''Elegy''.]]

--> '''Demeter''': I don't care if she destroys the entire planet, as long as she's miserable.
--> '''Harper''': But you lost your daughter! You know how badly that hurts! And how many other people will have to lose their daughters because of something you created? I will have to lose my sister, my father his daughter, because of a vendetta that's thousands of years old? Hasn't there been enough bloodshed? Haven't enough people hurt and died for Persephone yet?
--> '''Demeter''': I understand your pain, but the horrible truth is that it will never be enough. No matter what hell Penn goes through, it will never bring my daughter back. So no, she hasn't suffered enough. She will ''never'' suffer enough.
* DyingSmirk: In ''Elegy'', [[spoiler: Penn]] has a SlasherSmile when she's defeated and killed.
* ExactWords: When Gemma asks Demeter about ways of breaking the siren curse and brings up killing Penn, Demeter states: "If you tried to kill Penn, then you wouldn't need to break the curse". Gemma takes this to mean that Demeter is endorsing killing Penn as a solution to her predicament. However, Lydia points out that Demeter's statement could also be interpreted as saying that if Gemma tried to kill Penn, she would lose and herself be killed.

* GenderBlenderName: Penn is generally considered a boy's name.
* HorrorHunger: After being transformed into a siren, Gemma beguns to hunger for human flesh. She manages to resist it for a time, but loses control when a man tries to rape her.

* ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou: Penn develops an obsessive love/lust for Daniel because he is immune to her siren song, making him the first person in millennia to actually stand up to her. She admits she wouldn't be nearly so interested if he fell under her spell and just mindless worshipped her like everyone else.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In order to protect him from Penn and Lexi, Gemma uses her siren powers on Alex to make him hate her, which not only makes him resent her, but it makes him resent everything and everyone.
** She tries this again on her mother to help her remember the memories she had with her husband, but it only makes her miserable with a bad headache.

* PsychopathicWomanchild: ''Good god, Lexi.'' She has the mind of a spoiled 5-year old when things don't go her way, and when harming others, she acts like it's only her "fooling around."

* TakeThat: At one point, Penn tries make herself busy while waiting to pick up Thea from rehearsal. When she tries to open up a game Lexi downloaded onto her phone, it takes a while, and she decides that [[VideoGame/AngryBirds "launching poultry at pork"]] wasn't her idea of fun anyway.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: Alex was a sweet boyfriend to Gemma who would do anything to save her. After Gemma brainwashes him into hating her, he's bitter and anti-social. [[spoiler: This wears off, and at worst he has a SugarAndIcePersonality]].
* [[VillainousGlutton Villainous Gluttons]]: Penn and Lexi. Justified as the more hearts of their victims they eat, the more radiant their voices become.
** Which is ''also'' why [[DefiedTrope Thea has a deeper and raspier voice than her sisters.]]
** Taken up to eleven with Liv, who is said to feed even more than [[BigBad Penn]] usually does.

-->'''Thea''': The longer you live, the more your perception of humans changes. They die all the time, over the simplest things. Life is very, very fleeting for them. The best they can hope for is a painless death, and we provide that for them.
* WingedHumanoid: Sirens can partially transform to their bird shape, growing a pair of wings without undergoing any other changes. They are capable of flying while in this form.

** Taken UpToEleven with Liv, who is said to feed even more than [[BigBad Penn]] usually does.

* EnthrallingSiren: The sirens can captivate men with their voices, luring them to be eaten. Their voices also work on women, though not as well; it merely clouds their minds rather than fully captivating them.

* GoOutWithASmile: In ''Elegy'', [[spoiler: Penn has a SlasherSmile when she's defeated and killed.]]

* GenderBlenderName: Penn is usually a boy's name.

* BigBrotherInstict: Daniel's really protective towards Gemma, particularly whenever the sirens are around.

* AntiVillain: Thea is pretty much the only siren Gemma and company have any trust for. Over the few thousand years, the sirens have killed humans and ate their hearts in order to survive; since they only need to feed about four times a year, Thea tries to stick to that (rather than four times a month like her sisters-- see VillainousGlutton), choosing only [[AssholeVictim victims that the world wouldn't mourn too much over,]] and even then, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone she feels extremely guilty about it.]] When Gemma is turned into one of them, Thea even gives her advice on how she can keep humanity while still being a monster. By the end of ''Tidal'', [[spoiler: she finally gives Gemma and Harper the scroll, so they could break the curse (still not telling them how to, however).]]

* AntiVillain: Thea is pretty much the only siren Gemma and company have any trust for. Over the few thousand years, the sirens have killed humans and ate their hearts in order to survive; since they only need to feed about four times a year, Thea tries to stick to that (rather than four times a month like her sisters-- see VillainousGlutton), choosing only [[AssholeVictim victims that the world wouldn't mourn too much over,]] and even then, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone she feels extremely guilty about it.]] When Gemma is turned into one of them, Thea even gives her advice on how she can keep humanity while still being a monster. By the end of ''Tidal'', [[spoiler: she finally gives Gemma and Harper the scroll, so they could break the curse (still not telling how to, however).]]

* BigBad: Penn

* GoOffWithASmile: In ''Elegy'', [[spoiler: Penn has a SlasherSmile when she's defeated and killed.]]

* AntiVillain: Thea is pretty much the only siren Gemma and company have any trust for. Over the few thousand years, the sirens have killed humans and ate their hearts in order to survive; since they only need to feed about four times a year, Thea tries to stick to that (rather than four times a month like her sisters-- see VillainousGlutton), choosing only [[AssholeVictim victims that the world wouldn't mourn too much over,]] and even then, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone she feels extremely guilty about it.]] When Gemma is turned into one of them, Thea even gives her advice on how she can keep humanity while still being a monster. By the end of ''Tidal'', [[spoiler: she finally gives Gemma and Harper the scroll, so they could break the curse (still not telling how to, however).]

* TheAllegedCar: Marci owns a thirty-year-old Gremlin, [[ICallItVera which she calls "Lucinda".]] When she gets into a car chase in ''Elegy'', Alex is surprised that the car is able to start at all, let alone keep up with the supernaturally fast sirens.

* TheAllegedCar: Marci owns a thirty-year-old Gremlin, which she calls "Lucinda". When she gets into a car chase in ''Elegy'', Alex is surprised that the car is able to start at all, let alone keep up with the supernaturally fast sirens.

Penn, Lexi, and Thea are gorgeous and charismatic -- supernaturally so. They aren't human, they're sirens from GreekMythology -- and they've come to transform Gemma into one of them, whether she likes it or not. Gemma and Harper must find a way to break the curse and restore Gemma's humanity before it's too late and she becomes a monster forever.

!Tropes in this series include:

* WingedHumanoid: Sirens can partially transform to their bird shape, growing a pair of wings without undergoing any other changes. They are capable of flying while in this form.