Page 111 of Voice of the Ocean

Thiswas the Pirate King? Captain Leonidas Sharp? The legendary King of Outlaws and self-proclaimed Ruler of the Seas? He looked nothing like the bloodthirsty pirate she’d imagined. With a laugh, Leonidas clapped his hand on the back of his helmsman, eyes shining as if he’d just told a joke. She almost couldn’t believe this man would kidnap anyone.

Perhaps she had the wrong man.

But then Nerissa strode up from the lower decks, gait smooth and purposeful. No one batted an eye to her presence.She’s been with them this whole time, Celeste realized bitterly.

She looked distinctly out of place with her siren features among the heavily built Ethorian male crew. Many of them were missing an eye, a leg, or a hand. Not a single human on their ship looked anything like Raiden, Nasir, or even Torben. Following in Nerissa’s wake, two men appeared, each of them thick as tree trunks. And between them they held Sephone. Celeste’s heart seized in her chest as she gazed upon her sister’s gagged mouth and bound hands. The siren’s tail lay limply on the deck, her eyes downcast.

At the sight of the Voice of the Ocean, King Leonidas clapped his hands together, beaming. He exchanged pleasantries with Nerissa, whose face remained expressionless. With a good-natured laugh at something the Sea Witch said, he turned at last to the siren princess.

Celeste’s stomach twisted into a knot. There was no way for them to sneak onto the ship. The king’s crew outnumbered them ten to one. And Nerissa would be expecting something. She knew Celeste was on the island. Even if she did not know of Celeste’s precarious alliance with the Chorus, it would still be a risk to ambush the ship. But did she have another choice?

The king leaned in and spoke to Sephone, the proximity making Celeste’s toes curl. She wished to move closer. To hear their conversation. But her feet remained rooted to the spot. She couldn’t risk losing sight of her sister for even a moment.

Sephone nodded solemnly, and the king grinned. The Voice did not look afraid or even angry. She merely looked resigned. With fingers covered in golden rings, Leonidas carefully untied the fabric from behind Sephone’s head and removed the gag from her mouth. With inhuman stillness, she stared unblinkingly at the king before her. He smiled, clearly pleased with her obedience. Did the man ever frown? But it was when Sephone turned to face the open ocean that Celeste saw the tears that shone down her sister’s cheeks. Her eyes stared at the sea before her. Hollow.

Dusk fell around them as Sephone lifted her pale arms and opened her mouth. The voice that echoed forth was both hers and not hers. Despite the distance, Celeste could hear it as though her sister was beside her. A haunting melody, the song had no words, and yet Sephone painted an image of the ocean itself, embodying the water using only her voice. Each note moved with the rhythm of the sea beneath her, the once crystal-turquoise waters looking black in the fading daylight. Celeste turned to see the crew listening with similar expressions of amazement and trepidation. The Voice of the Ocean echoed off the waves, creating a sort of round.

Behind her, the Pirate King watched, reverence on his golden face.

“What’s she doing?” Torben asked.

Suddenly, the waves that pushed gently against the shore began to swell. Water raced forward, covering more and more of the white sand. But the water did not ebb as it should. Did not return. It grew and grew until the beach was submerged. And still it did not stop. It rose rapidly, rushing toward the tree line.

“The ocean. It’srising,” Bastian breathed.

Sephone jerked a hand, and a massive wave leaped from the ocean’s surface, gathering water into itself until it looked swollen. Unnatural. With one brush from her hand, it careened toward the island, doubling in size. Then it crashed. Water rushed into the woods, covering the forest floor. It pooled around their legs, reaching above their ankles. Celeste stared down at the water. Something was wrong about it. It was warm. Uncomfortably so. Almost hot. Celeste tore her eyes from her sister and looked to the others.

“The island,” she said, voice shaking. “She’s drowning it.”

“Get to theRevenge!” Raiden commanded.

The crew sprang into action. They stormed through the rising tide, water splashing around their knees.

“Sephone!” Celeste cried, waving her arm in a vain attempt to get her attention, all thoughts of a plan gone. But Sephone showed no sign of hearing. “Sephone, stop!” she repeated, racing toward the king’s ship. A hand wrapped around her wrist, stopping her. She tried to resist, but the grip was too strong.

“Not so fast,” Torben growled. “We gotta stick together.”

Celeste blinked at him, shocked that Torben, of all people, held her back from a fight. And yet he was right. On theRed Revenge, they had cannons. Weapons. Even outnumbered, they stood a better chance on the ship. Yet what were they alone against the might of the king’s ships?

But they weren’t alone.

With a shrill cry, Celeste lifted her voice and sang out three notes. A summoning. And from the depths of the ocean, the Chorus emerged. The sirens were hardly discernible among the waves as night fell around them. But they had come all the same.

“Attack the crew! I think the king is immune to our Song!” Celeste shouted as she trudged toward theRed Revenge. The water had risen to her waist now.

Maeve appeared ahead of her, face pale.

“The sea is warming. If it continues, it will be too hot for us to breathe underwater.”

“How far down does it go? She can’t be heating the entire ocean,” Celeste insisted.

“I don’t know,” Maeve said. “But if it spreads far enough—all of Staria could suffocate.”

The blood in Celeste’s veins ran cold.Staria could suffocate?Sephone would never do that. But even as Celeste thought it, she realized she didn’t know what her sister would do. They hadn’t seen each other in five cycles. Celeste didn’t know this siren at all.

Torben swam up behind, pausing midstroke when he registered Maeve’s words.

“How could a sirensuffocate?”

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