Page 24 of Voice of the Ocean

“There is a volcanic area nearby,” Nerissa explained proudly as she pulled some meat off the bones and handed it to Celeste. “Eat. The process is hard on the body. You’ll need energy.”

“Oh, no need,” Celeste said, pushing the offering away. “I have my own rations.”

The witch scoffed. “Eat the fish, girl.”

Celeste’s eyes flicked to the sharks, several of which were still circling the room. But somehow the sharks did not look interested.Odd. If it was a spell, Nerissa was certainly powerful, for she hadn’t sung a note since Celeste arrived, and the sharks remained docile. But Celeste guessed these sharks had been raised by Nerissa and trained accordingly. Perhaps she kept them well-fed on food much more appealing to them than fish. A shiver ran down her spine at the thought of what orwhothat could be.

Dutifully, Celeste took the fish, thanked the witch, and ate it. It was cod and tasted delicious with its smoky flavor. It seemed Celeste hadn’t realized until now how hungry she was. She couldn’t remember when she’d last eaten. The food was gone quickly, and Nerissa handed Celeste a bit more, before finishing off the skin herself. Now full, Celeste lay on her side within the clam and rested her head upon her bicep.

“Hold still,” Nerissa said, lowering beside her.

Celeste lifted her head, nervous. “Have you done this before?”

The witch ignored her and closed her eyes. The time for questions had passed. Celeste lowered her head, watching as Nerissa’s breathing deepened, chest rising and falling. Then the Sea Witch began to hum. Vibrations started in her throat and poured out of her into the water. Celeste began to feel them. The tune she hummed was unfamiliar, and it didn’t repeat. The notes rose and fell at intervals, weaving around each other until they rose again. Nerissa opened her eyes, reaching her hand to place it at the side of Celeste’s tail, near the hip.

This time her hand grew warm. It heated quickly, and soon Celeste felt a burning sensation. But she felt vibrations too. It was as if every scale beneath the witch’s hand trembled. Celeste sucked in a breath through her teeth. The pain felt like someone ripping the scales from her body, while at the same time, other scales were being pushed inside, tearing through her skin. A purple light radiated between Nerissa’s fingers, pulsing with each hummed note. Nerissa remained still, focused as Celeste was pulled and pushed apart. It took everything she had not to move or cry out.

After what seemed like a lifetime, Nerissa moved her hand down Celeste’s tail to a new location, revealing skin where there were once scales. Celeste sucked in a gasp.

“Be still,” Nerissa snapped.

Celeste fell into silence, staring wide-eyed at the patch of fresh skin connecting her stomach to her hip. The excruciating process continued down the side of her fin, leaving a trail of soft pink skin in its wake. When Nerissa began to work her way back up, the process miraculously got worse. Not only were scales being pulled and pushed and melted and reformed into skin but her tail was being ripped apart, and deep within, new bones grew. Sharp pains shot up Celeste’s tail again and again as the tip of her fin to her stomach were all remade. She turned her face away, trying to keep her composure. Her stomach rolled, threatening to be sick, but she breathed through it.

Long, agony-filled hours passed as Nerissa hummed her Song into Celeste’s body, peeling her apart and reconstructing her. Celeste closed her eyes and lost track of how many times she wished she were unconscious. She was ready to beg for it to end when finally, mercifully, the humming stopped, and the pain with it. Celeste opened her eyes, looked down, and gasped.Legs. She had legs. Two of them. They were long, with bendy parts at the middle, and ended in the horrible second pair of hands. Celeste stared at them, a smile forming on her face. It was the first time she had really seen them. And the hands were just as horrifying as she’d pictured. Where the round palm should have been, it was long and thick. And where long fingers should have been were five stubby little finger things. Celeste wiggled them and watched in glee as they moved in a wave, one after the other.

With a trill of laughter, Celeste sat up, pulling one leg toward her and bending it this way and that. It was so much stiffer than a tail, and there were two to keep track of. No wonder humans were so awkward.

Nerissa eyed Celeste, waiting patiently for the princess to compose herself.

“I still have to remove your gills,” she said, leaning back and appraising her handiwork. “But we’ll find land first.We wouldn’t want you to drown now, would we?”

Celeste did not laugh at the joke.

CHAPTERELEVEN

Celeste sat upon the dry sand, staring at her useless legs. It had been a long time since the Sea Witch had deposited her upon the strange human beach, and she still hadn’t managed to sort out walking despite her many attempts. This was frustrating. She so wanted to get up and explore the world around her. Instead, she remained seated against a large rock.

Thus far, everything was strange. And dry. Even her hair had dried. She couldn’t stop reaching for it, marveling at how different it felt. Sand clung to every inch of her. She’d never thought about this; in the water, it just fell off. Behind her, further down the beach, Celeste saw rocks not wholly different from what they had in the ocean. Hard and tall. But these rocks were covered in green, like algae but different. And above the not-algae were the tallest plants she’d ever seen. Brown and thick on bottom and fragmenting into hundreds of little offshoots at the top. On each offshoot were leaves. But they weren’t shaped like any she knew, and they didn’t move the same way. Each time the wind blew, they rustled and fluttered. The sound of it was very pleasant.

Above her, she saw an animal sailing through the air, flapping two fins—but they weren’t fins. Nor were they arms. Were these birds? She had heard of them, even knew what feathers looked like from pictures she’d seen. But watching them soar with nothing holding them up took her breath away.

Below the birds sat a collection of squat buildings, none of which had more than two stories. The town was unfamiliar, and Celeste found it frustrating the witch had deposited her here. She only knew the names of a few human cities—Velluno, where she’d dropped the prince and his companions, being one. But she couldn’t have said anything about it to Nerissa without revealing more about her motives.

Once the Sea Witch had finished the painful process of removing Celeste’s gills from her neck, Celeste had only had time to ask if she needed to wear something more than her armor, which protected her upper body. All the humans she’d seen were almost completely covered in clothes. The witch blinked her inky eyes and said, “I’m sure you’ll make friends either way.” Which was hardly helpful. Then disappeared.

She was not looking forward to their next meeting.

Celeste’s eyes fell onto the dark form of the crescent moon along her inner wrist. She’d made her choice, for better or worse. She could only hope she was doing the right thing. The transformation from siren to human had taken so much time; she didn’t know how many days had passed. Who knew where the humans were now. A cool breeze blew, and Celeste shivered, tiny toes curling. After much asking, Nerissa had at least been kind enough to help her learn all about her new anatomy, pointing at each part and saying its name and function. One part in particular was terribly strange to talk about with the Sea Witch, not that Celeste considered herself a reserved siren.

After another cursory wiggle of the toes, Celeste planted both of her feet into the ground with the goal of trying to stand upright like a human. She curled her body into a ball with her hands flat beside her feet and pushed. Nothing happened. She tried again, this time straightening her legs as she did. When she felt steady enough, Celeste lifted her hands from the ground and tilted up her torso. The legs wobbled, but they were strong. Though havingtwoof them to look after didn’t help matters. She sort of had to move both at once, and yet separately. Some of it came naturally, but most didn’t. Celeste shifted precariously, finally standing for the first time in her life. Her right knee began to bend and turn while her left remained steady. The world tilted, and she went down, slamming her right hip into the sand. She grunted.

Eventually, she decided to use the rock behind her and was able to pull herself to her feet. But once she managed to stay upright on her legs, she wasn’t sure how to move. She’d not been paying attention to how the humans walked when she saw the ship. She’d been rather preoccupied with a certain prince’s face, if she were honest. But she knew how sea creatures walked. So Celeste lowered herself to the sand and laid on her back, bending her legs and arms until she resembled a crab. She was certain humans did not walk like this, but it was the best she could sort out under the circumstances. Celeste pressed her hands and feet down while lifting her torso, then shifted one foot to move it forward. The other foot followed. Next came her hands. And soon Celeste was scuttling down the beach at an alarmingly slow pace.

Still, it was progress.

She traveled halfway toward the town, before turning back and heading for the rock. If she were ever to fit in as a human, she needed to try walking upright again. She used the rock to stand again. This process went remarkably better than the first time. But she wasn’t able to move either foot without leaning heavily upon the rock to keep her shaking legs beneath her. The sinking sand threw her off-balance. No wonder humans were so uncoordinated and graceless. They had too many limbs. She wondered, frustration mounting, how in the Goddess’s name she expected tokillthe prince when she couldn’t even manage walking.

Celeste continued to practice until at last she could complete one lap around the rock without falling over. She was considering attempting it without the rock in order to explore more of the beach when she heard a rough voice behind her.

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