Page 113 of Voice of the Ocean

A wet nose sniffled in her ear. Little nails scraped gently against her arm. Insistent. She opened her eyes to see the Admiral staring at her, head tilted.

“Hello, you,” she said, a weak smile on her lips.

Raiden kneeled beside the pup, dripping with salt water.

“You have to get me close to the king’s ship,” Celeste told him.

He stared at her, incredulous.

“We can’t fight them,” he said. “Even without the power of the ocean on their side, they outgun us.”

“I won’t leave my sister,” Celeste insisted, using the trident for support as she pushed herself up onto her shaking legs. The image of that siren being blown apart flashed beneath her eyelids every time she blinked. Her stomach turned.

“Nerissa will have told the king what you are by now,” Raiden said, gripping her by the shoulders. “What you can do.”

“I don’t care!” She pushed him, but he didn’t move.

“Celeste?”

She whirled around, heart hammering. Kiyami was settled on the ground not far from her, propped up against a pile of barrels beside Nasir.

“Kiyami.” The trident clattered to the floor. She ran to her friend’s side. “Are you okay?”

Kiyami’s eyes were bright, alert, but the rest of her moved sluggishly. She reached out, resting her hand gently on Celeste’s cheek. And then smacked her.

“Ow!” Celeste yelped, more from surprise than pain. Behind her, Raiden laughed.

“Stop trying to get yourself killed,” her friend snapped, before slumping back against the barrel, her energy leaving her at once. Celeste rushed forward, but Nasir stopped her with a hand.

“She’s fine,” he said, squeezing her shoulder. “She just needs to rest.”

Celeste nodded, sinking back onto her heels. Then she noticed how quiet the night had become. Sephone’s song had ended. The cannons hadn’t fired again. Celeste pushed herself to her feet, walking across the ship to retrieve the trident from the floor. Its weight in her hand steadied her. With heightened vision, Celeste scanned the deck of the king’s ship until she found her sister. Her breath caught. Sephone was staring at her.

Her sister’s lips moved, forming words that looked like an apology—or a warning. The Voice spread her long fingers, lifted her hands, and pulled them down in a violent arc.

The world around Celeste exploded.

CHAPTERFORTY-THREE

Salt water crashed over her, sweeping her off her feet. No one had seen the wave coming. Her body twisted and turned at the mercy of the ocean. Splintered wood was everywhere. When she surfaced for a moment, she heard the strangled cries of her companions. Beneath her, the raging sea tore the ship apart. Celeste’s body slammed into a railing. The impact left her gasping, bringing in a lungful of bitter water. It was all she could do to keep her grip on the trident. She couldn’t tell where she was. Didn’t know what was up or down. Her body shook with each cough, lungs desperately trying to remove the water from them. But with every exhale, more flooded in.

I’m going to drown. The thought appeared before her, clear despite the chaos. But it was unbelievable. Sirens could not drown. Yet she was no longer a siren. Not without her gills. Celeste kicked, looking for the surface. The sea was so dark. She saw nothing but endless night in all directions. Faced with her impending death, Celeste did not think of her past. Did not see her choices flashing before her eyes. Instead, she thought of what would happen next. She saw how angry Kiyami would be with her for “getting herself killed.” She saw Sephone, a prisoner of the Pirate King, abandoned. She saw her parents mourning her, despite everything she had done. She knew they loved her, even if they didn’t understand her.

Then, inexplicably, she saw Raiden. His dark hair. His warm smile. And although everything told her to believe otherwise, she knew her death would hurt him. Even though he’d betrayed her and his crew for a father who didn’t care if he lived or died. She could feel his arms around her. For the last time.

Darkness crept into the edges of her vision. Her body gave one final shudder. And then everything went blissfully dark.

* * *

Celeste awoke coughing. Her eyes blinked open to see the night sky spread above her. As she sat up, salt water poured from her mouth. The ground beneath her dipped and swayed. Each gasping breath was painful, raw. When her coughing subsided, Celeste looked down to see she was laid upon a splintered piece of wood. At her feet sat a very familiar, very wet dog.

“The princess awakens.” Raiden floated in the water, his forearms crossed and resting on the piece of wood beside her.

“Oh, thank God.” Kiyami sighed.

Celeste, at seeing her friend safe and awake, felt very much the same. Nasir, Torben, and Bastian treaded water next to her. But as Kiyami struggled a little, Bastian helped her to another piece of wood floating nearby. Celeste’s shoulders fell in relief. She almost couldn’t believe they’d all survived. She nearly hadn’t. But when Celeste looked up for the king’s ship, she saw that it was far away, fading into the night. Grief pressed like a weight upon her chest.What’s the point of having power if I can’t protect the ones I love?The king had her sister. And the power of immortality itself, if Nerissa was to be believed. But why did they sink Lunapesce? And why had they left them alive?

That question promptly answered itself when she took in what remained of their vessel. TheRed Revengewas gone. The fragments of wood around them were the only sign a ship had ever been there at all. They weren’t left alive.They were stranded and left to die.

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