Page 89 of Ocean of Sin and Starlight

How did you find Nill? You were gone for so long; how do you even have a tail again?

Magic, she says with a knowing grin. Come on, let’s get you free.

How? I ask as she starts swimming along the chains, running her hands over them, her red dress swirling around her. Your claws can’t break through. I don’t think Nill’s bite could do it either.

I could try, Nill says. But I think there is a better solution.

He’s on the other side of what he called the rudder, nosing a part of the chain. I can’t twist my head back enough to look.

I can pick this lock, Maren says determinedly. Nill, I need one of your teeth.

Happy to provide.

I can’t see it happen, but I hear Nill give a small noise of discomfort and then Maren apologizes to him, having pulled a tooth from his mouth.

Won’t be much longer, Maren says as I hear the tooth scraping against metal.

Where did you learn to pick locks? I ask her. Would have been helpful to know when I was captured by Priest. Then again, if I had escaped the first chance I had, I would have never known what it was like to give myself over to someone like him. I never would have experienced those blissful highs.

Never would have experienced those terrible lows.

I’ve learned a lot over the years, she says. But my husband taught me, amongst other things.

I stiffen. The prince? I heard you married a prince. That’s why you made the deal with the witch.

I did marry the prince, she says, her voice hard. But I left him…in pieces.

Oh.

I ended up married to a pirate instead.

A pirate? I exclaim.

Almost there, she says, her attention back to the lock.

But pirates killed Asherah.

Larimar, I know, she says. As I said, we have a lot to talk about. The most important thing is getting you free and back to our ship.

Ship! Are you kept in a glass box? That’s what happened to me on this ship. I don’t know what they are planning to do with me.

I have a Syren tail in the water, but out of the water, I have legs.

How?

Magic, she says. And speaking of magic... I hear the lock click. You’re free.

The chains around me come loose and fall, rushing quickly into the depths until I can’t see them anymore.

I burst forward, swimming out of the way, and then watch as the ship keeps going, leaving the three of us behind.

Suddenly, Maren’s arms are around me in an embrace, and she holds me tight as I hold her back with as much strength as I can muster.

My sister.

I finally have my sister.

The hole in my heart I thought would never be filled is now overflowing with love for her.

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