Page 19 of Voice of the Ocean

“Velluno.”

He turned his head to look at her, and her heart skipped a beat. This close, she could see he had a tiny mole on his left cheek. One that pulled as his lip curled up. She met his gaze. His beautiful dark eyes and—he turned his face away to look toward the city. They were fast approaching it now. Which, mercifully, gave Celeste something to think about beyond that mole of his. She had never seen a human city before. Even with her excellent vision, she could only make out parts of the port town, which was built into a cliffside. Despite the late hour, there were still many lanterns lit around the town, revealing winding stone streets and short square buildings. But she didn’t dare let her curiosity get the best of her. She couldn’t stay long. The Chorus would awaken and be looking for her soon, if they weren’t already.

She slowed her pace, searching for a dark stretch of beach to drop them. After traveling all night, her arms and tail were sore and tired. The wound in her shoulder had stopped bleeding, but it was still painful. Even her face felt sore. Perhaps from the wind and ocean spray. This surprised her. She never expected the wind to hurt.

A little north of the port, Celeste found a darkened beach and headed in that direction. But the closer they got to the land, the better she could see the human city. There were no humans, as far as she could see. Perhaps they were sleeping. But floating in the waters just beyond the city were many ships, like the one the prince and Bastian had been on. Most of them were significantly smaller, and some didn’t have sails and looked to only fit one or two humans, but all were connected with rope to wooden platforms that jutted out from the land.So that is how they get on their ships. There were so many things Celeste didn’t recognize or understand. It was overwhelming and thrilling all at once. Tall green plants sprang up between clusters of buildings, fat and full, but she didn’t know what they were called. They made her want to leap from the ocean and run her fingers over them. Would they be soft like algae or hard like coral?

Celeste swam into the shallows of a darkened alcove until she could feel the sand brush against her fin along a sandbar. She stopped and unwound her arm gently from the prince. Her body felt cold in his absence, but she ignored it. Wordlessly, she helped him get ahold of Bastian and the dog, both of whom had begun to stir. It took a moment for him to find his footing, but eventually the prince was able to stand, the water coming up to his chest. He looked at her, about to say something, when the quartermaster let out a long groan.

“Bastian!” he said, watching in obvious relief as the quartermaster rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. “You bastard. You slept through the whole thing.” The prince laughed, pulling Bastian into a hug.

Celeste fell back, watching the celebration from the outside. The waves pulled her, drawing her out to sea. She didn’t fight it as the two humans found their legs and stumbled to land. They raised their knees up high with each laborious step. When they finally reached the shore, they collapsed into the sand. The two gasped and laughed until they grew still. And Celeste wondered if the effort had killed them after all. So she stayed for a while, watching until she could see the gentle rise and fall of their chests. They were alive, and yet she remained. The Admiral, at last fully awake, untangled himself from the prince’s arms and shook the water from his body. He circled the men, sniffing them with his little black nose. When neither stirred, the animal paced back and forth until he, too, tired and curled up beside them.

The waves pulled and pulled, and the two humans became smaller and smaller. After a time, Bastian roused from sleep. The sky had just begun to brighten—dawn mere moments away. He turned, waking the prince beside him. The two spoke to each other, but Celeste couldn’t hear what they said. They looked around themselves, as if taking in their surroundings for the first time. And when they finally peered out to the ocean for a sign of their rescuer, she was too far gone.

Maybe it was better this way. After a day or two, they would look at each other and wonder if it hadn’t just been a bad storm. If perhaps the sirens had been a dream. And if they had any sense, they would stay well away from the ocean for the rest of their short human lives. Over time they would forget she existed. But even if they did, the Chorus wouldn’t forget. She knew what awaited her when she returned to Staria.

Her body felt numb as she bobbed listlessly in the waves. She’d had a future with the Chorus. Her family loved her, despite her flaws, and she had thrown it all away. She thought of Sephone’s laugh and her mother’s embrace. Her father’s steady presence. Shye with her fierce protectiveness and how she would braid Celeste’s hair every morning growing up. Even if Celeste was right about the humans, did it matter? It wasn’t as though anything would change. The Chorus would continue to hunt them to protect their kingdom from discovery.

Floating in the open ocean, with Velluno growing smaller and smaller in the distance, Celeste considered her options. She didn’t have many. If she chose to go home, death surely awaited. Perhaps she should flee, although it wouldn’t increase her chances of survival by much. At least she could keep her pride. She wouldn’t have to look into the disappointed eyes of her father. And her mother—a stab of sorrow pierced her heart. How could Celeste face her mother, knowing how she had betrayed her? Perhaps she deserved to rot in the Wasting Waters. Maybe the legendary Sea Witch would take pity on her and—Celeste sighed heavily. From what she knew of the Sea Witch, she wasn’t exactly one to take pity. Or help.

When Celeste was little, her favorite of her mother’s stories was always the one about the Sea Witch. She’d beg and plead to hear the tale, and eventually her mother would relent.

“Deep within the Wasting Waters, where no siren dared to go, lived the Sea Witch,” Queen Halia would say, combing her daughter’s moon-white hair. “But, once, she lived in Staria, as you and I do. She was the most powerful healer in the Southern Ocean. There was no ailment she could not cure and no wound she could not sing closed. But the Sea Witch grew tired of such simple Songs. She began to experiment.”

“And then she became a witch!” Celeste would pipe in, grinning.

“Be patient, little star,” Halia chided, but there was no bite to it. “The Sea Witch invented new Songs. Songs to change a siren’s body into anything she wished. Songs to make sirens fall in love against their will. Songs to grant dreams.” Celeste wasn’t sure she believed such things were possible. “Such experimentation was—and still is—forbidden, and so the Sea Witch was cast out, doomed to wander the Wasting Waters for eternity. But banishment did not stop her. Desperate sirens who heard of her magic went in search of her deep-sea grotto, seeking a miracle. In exchange, the witch would take things. The color of your hair”—her mother tugged gently at Celeste’s hair, making her laugh—“a cycle of your life. The texture of your lips. Or even your voice.”

Celeste broke from the memory. It was at that moment she felt them. Her reckoning. A part of her had been waiting for this. She took one last look at Port Velluno. The city hummed to life as the sun rose above it. Humans opened their doors, and fishermen readied their boats. A new day was here. Swallowing, Celeste turned her face away and dove into the waters to meet her fate.

CHAPTERNINE

“Celeste?”

The sound of her mother’s voice stirred Celeste from her deathly sleep. She felt wrung out. Despite the fact Celeste had gone with the Chorus willingly, Xandra still felt the need to bind and gag the princess, if only to keep her from knocking them all unconscious again. They had left her in the palace cell, where she cried herself to sleep. Apparently, after swimming as fast as she could for an entire night, her body simply gave up.

Days had passed. How many, she did not know, for the cells were dark, and she’d slept through most of them.

“Mother?” Celeste croaked, looking up from her place upon the sandy floor.

“You’re finally awake. Praise the Goddess.” Her mother sighed, tension leaving her shoulders. Then her brows knit in concern. “Oh, my little star. What have you done now?”

It was a phrase Celeste had heard all her life. The words were never a firm reprimand and always said with great affection. But the sound of it now cut her deeply. Celeste’s heart twisted as she gazed at her mother. Halia’s usual pristine appearance was gone. No crown or glittering shells adorned her. Behind Halia, King Tidus lingered, his face unreadable. Celeste’s hand went to her shoulder and found her wound was gone. A healer must have visited.

“Keep watch,” Halia said to her husband, resting a hand on his chest.

Celeste’s father nodded and swam down the hall, leaving his wife to unlock the prison door. It swung open with a creak, and Celeste rushed into her mother’s arms.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” Celeste cried, body trembling. Halia’s grip tightened around her daughter.

“I told you not to go,” she said into her hair.

“I’m sorry.”

Halia pulled away, holding her daughter at arm’s length. “You disobeyed me,” she said, anger flaring. The queen let go of her daughter and started swimming back and forth. “What were you thinking? You could have died! You injured General Xandra and endangered the Chorus. And, of all things, you exposed our kind to humans! Do you understand what that means? We could be held in breach of our treaty with Skalvaske and Ayakashi. I told you no, and you did it anyway.”

Celeste rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands. She loved her mother, but she knew Halia couldn’t possibly understand why she had done it. And how could she explain herself? Was she to tell her mother that she couldn’t watch the prince die after he tried to rescue his friend? That they lookedtoo muchlike sirens? Her reasons sounded ridiculous to her own ears.

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