Page 21 of Voice of the Ocean

His arms released her, and he handed her a sack of rations. Then without another word, the King of Staria turned his back and swam away to return to his wife. Celeste watched him go, waiting until he disappeared from sight.

“Are you ready, Your Highness?” Helena asked.

“No,” Celeste said. “But the sooner I leave, the sooner I may return.”

Helena only nodded. She was quiet as she escorted Celeste away from her home. When they reached the border, she stopped and watched as Celeste swam on alone.

* * *

It was said only the most desperate and depraved sought answers from the Sea Witch. Which explained why Celeste found herself swimming like a current to find her. The water grew cooler as she descended, and the colorful ocean floor she knew disappeared. It was replaced by jagged dark clusters of bland rock. The light from the surface dimmed until it no longer felt like day. A shiver ran down her spine, and she wasn’t sure if it was from the cold or from fear sliding its boney fingers down her spine. Everything around her screamed,You don’t belong here. Turn back now. And if she’d believed she had any other option, she would have. But the prince had not responded to her Song, and she didn’t have any way of finding him on land. So she set her jaw, the echo of her mother’s voice ringing in her ears:I’m sorry, little star. But this is the only way.

Celeste had dreamed of adventure. Had yearned for escape. But now that she had it, she wasn’t sure it’s what she wanted after all. Not like this. She’d never felt so alone in her life. So afraid. All she had was her mission.

She had made this mess, and now she had to fix it.

No matter what she saw in the human prince’s dark eyes—the feelings he stirred within her that she dared not look too closely at—it didn’t change the fact he was a human. A threat. And his father killed her grandmother, a fact she conveniently hadn’t put together until her mother had reminded her. Celeste had only ever wanted to make her parents proud, and now look what she’d done. How she wished she could go back to how things were. If she had to sell her soul to the Sea Witch to return to Staria, she would do it.

Or at least that’s what she told herself.

A shadow passed, and Celeste whipped around to stare blindly after it. Was it a fish? A predator? The Sea Witch herself? She didn’t know what she was looking for or where to go, beyond into the Wasting Waters. Some said the Sea Witch changed shape depending on who visited her, just to manipulate her visitors and get into their heads. Sephone had always said the Sea Witch was a monster. Celeste, ever the optimist, maintained the witch was misunderstood. But all the stories said she would help anyone achieve their wildest desires. At least, so long as they could pay her price.

Celeste’s hand wandered to the strap of her spear, pulling the weapon across her torso. She let her fingers slide over the smooth leather. It was the only thing she could think to barter with. Having grown up a princess, Celeste hadn’t had the opportunity to barter or trade very often. Whatever she wanted, she could ask for.I suppose I could offer the color of my hair, or my eyes. Maybe even a precious memory, she thought as she descended deeper into darkness.

The ocean felt so quiet and lonely down there. Nothing lived in the Wasting Waters. At least, nothing that she could see. There was only empty water around her and sharp rocks beneath. She paused, her certainty beginning to waver. For some reason, she expected there to be a sort of path or clue that would appear to help lead her toward the witch’s grotto. How else could all the desperate souls find it? But for all Celeste knew, she was headed in the wrong direction entirely. Being a siren who prided herself on how well she knew the ocean, it was a disconcerting feeling. But she kept swimming deeper anyway, not ready to try a new direction just yet.

The tips of Celeste’s fingers and tail grew cold. She balled her hands into fists and tucked them under her arms. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement. Something as thin as seaweed slithered through the water. She knew at once it was an eel, but she hadn’t seen one like this before. Sensing her gaze, the eel opened its huge triangular jaw. Its head expanded, billowing into a large inflated sphere. Celeste jerked backward and watched as it writhed around, eerie and mesmerizing. It moved toward her, and her heart beat faster. The eels she knew weren’t inherently dangerous. Like most animals, they attacked if they felt threatened. She wasn’t sure how to proceed. Should she swim away? Fight? Stay frozen until it moved on?

She was in uncharted waters.

Something moved behind her. She glanced away from the eel and realized it had not reacted to her at all. Moving gracefully through the water toward them was a shark. Like the eel, this shark was a different species than those she knew, twice the length of her. The fin atop its back was down near its tail. It watched her with large green eyes on either side of its broad, flat head. The creature looked ancient, its closed mouth like an old wound pressed closed. As it moved closer, Celeste turned and saw the eel fleeing into the darkness.

The shark closed in, now only a tail’s length away, and she readied her spear. But the shark only swam past her. Celeste’s shoulders sagged in relief as she watched it continue for several feet, then pause. Strange—it didn’t seem to be hunting. Did it sense a predator even worse than itself nearby? It began swimming again, slowly. Not a predator, then. Its movements almost reminded her of sirens on patrol. After another sweep, the shark moved on.

With no better idea about where to go, Celeste found herself following. The shark did not seem to mind her as it turned south, continuing along the slope of the ocean bottom further and further into darkness. There were no longer many rocks around them, only open ocean. Despite her excellent vision, she couldn’t see anything farther than the shark’s fin in front of her. Maybe this was a bad idea. Water pressed in around her, building in pressure. Her breathing became ragged as the amount of oxygen in the water changed. Sirens could exist in deep waters, but it certainly wasn’t comfortable and took time to adjust. She swam blindly behind the shark for what felt like ages, until she finally saw something in the darkness. Some sort of blue-and-purple light. As she neared, she realized it was a cave with two more identical sharks prowling in front of its glowing entrance.

The shark she followed darted into the mouth of the cave, disappearing into its glowing depths and leaving her staring after it.

“Good tides?” Celeste called into the cave. It felt rude to simply swim in.

No response.

It can’t possibly be worse than an execution, she assured herself as she began to swim forward. But this was a lie. She knew many stories of fates worse than death. As Celeste entered the cave, she prayed this wasn’t the beginning of that sort of story.

CHAPTERTEN

“Why are you here, Princess?” the Sea Witch asked. Or rather,Nerissaasked. Celeste had almost forgotten that the Sea Witch of lore had a name. Nerissa stared at Celeste with large, liquid-black, pupilless eyes. This, too, was a surprise. Celeste had always pictured her with glowing red eyes, pointed fingers that could tear skin, and shark teeth. The shark teeth had sort of been a common theme.

The siren before her was nothing like that.

Nerissa’s skin was a dark, inky blue, like a perfect night sky. She would have blended into the darkness of the Wasting Waters perfectly, had she not been—somehow—glowing. The witch’s skin gleamed a phosphorescent blue from uneven stripes that covered her body. Dark blue hair, so dark it was nearly black, hung in a sheet behind her, rippling gently as she moved. Two webbed ears protruded from the sides of her head; the webbing moved between four points that grew smaller as they curved down her ear. Her face was all angles: high cheekbones, a sharp chin and jawline. The only remotely soft thing about her was her lips, which were full, black, and bowed. Although Celeste had seen little to no food this deep in the ocean, Nerissa’s body was full and curving all the way down to her tail, which also had the same glowing pattern as her torso. She wore no embellishment or clothing, save for a necklace holding a large pearl. The effect was otherworldly and intimidating. If the Sea Witch did have the power to look however she liked, it was clear why she chose to present herself this way.

“I need help that only you can provide,” Celeste said, trying an indirect approach.

Nerissa cocked an eyebrow at the princess, before returning to her busywork. It looked as though she was organizing hundreds of bottles that were stored on the walls of the cave. Each little jar and bottle varied in size and color. One bottle was green and sparkling, while another was purple and glowing so brightly that everything around was cast in a violet hue, and another held something red and thick as blood. Within them, the Sea Witch keptparts. Fish teeth. Scales. Jellyfish tentacles. And even what looked like siren fingers. This last one sent a shiver down Celeste’s spine. It was rare for sirens to find and keep glass. Such delicate things couldn’t last in the ocean and were often more trouble than they were worth. Celeste had never seen such a collection before. What did the witch use them for. Magic? The only magic Celeste was aware of was a siren’s Song. Could the Sea Witch be using these things as ingredients? Or were they trophies? Celeste drew her eyes away. Perhaps she was allowing her imagination to run away with her. She needed to stay on task.

The witch remained silent as she carefully pulled a bottle from her shelf, checked its stopper, then placed it in a new location along the shelf. It was clear Nerissa wasn’t a strong conversationalist. A characteristic Celeste was familiar with.

“What do you know about humans?” Celeste asked.

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