Sirene (Wattys 2014 Entrant)

New arrivals at the orphanage are always first questioned about their past, but when Oceana is asked by the children who her parents were she begins a wild, farfetched tale of mermaids and sea kings and underwater worlds. No one believes her until a strange, rugged man suddenly appears and sheds some truth on her story. Is she really who she claims to be? Is she really half mermaid, or is it all just make belief? And who are the two smugglers who seem determined, above all else, to take her away from the orphanage?