Page 23 of Voice of the Ocean

“I will not kill myself or anything else.”

“Done.” She smiled.

“And”—Celeste paused—“I will not break any rules of my kingdom.”

Nerissa’s smile faded. “Done.” The shark paused beside its master, and Nerissa stroked it gently upon the head. “Anything else?”

There really should be more, but Celeste had trouble thinking of anything. Eventually, she sighed and nodded.

“Then we are agreed?” Nerissa rose and extended a long-fingered hand toward Celeste.

The princess wavered for a moment. “And when I am finished, would you turn me back into a siren?”

Nerissa shrugged. “If you wish, I shall return your body to its current form. But after that, our deal is finished. If you ask to become human again, a new deal must be struck.”

The Sea Witch’s hand hung in the water between them, and Celeste stared at it, heart pounding. Unable to think of anything else to add to the agreement, she closed the distance between them. They clasped their hands at the wrist. The witch’s grip was firm, and so Celeste squeezed a little harder to match it.

Then Nerissa began to sing. The Song sounded like a whispered lullaby, except in a minor key. Celeste had never heard it before. The witch’s hand cooled against her skin. In fear, Celeste tried to pull away, but Nerissa’s grip tightened, viselike around her wrist.

“Are you starting this right now?” Celeste asked.

The witch didn’t answer. She remained concentrated, focusing on her hand, which was now growing colder and more painful by the second.

“A warning would have been nice,” Celeste added. Her wrist felt as though it was burning with cold now, and Celeste hissed. At once, Nerissa finished the song and released her hand. Celeste snatched it away, cradling it against her. It was then that she noticed it. On the skin of her inner wrist, just where Nerissa’s fingers had touched, was a black crescent.

“The moon,” the witch explained in her rich, slow voice. “A symbol of promise. It will fade when the price is paid.”

Celeste brushed her fingertips across the dark shape and met Nerissa’s black eyes. “You could have said something before you branded me.”

“I could have,” she agreed.

The princess held her wrist up to the blue light. All pain had disappeared. What remained was a simple mark contrasting against Celeste’s skin. She dropped her wrist to her side.

“How does the transformation work?” she asked, deciding she preferred her information in advance.

With a sweep of her arm, Nerissa gestured toward the large shell. “It is like your healings, except instead of manipulating your skin to be mended or your blood to fight sickness, I will be singing deeper and to all—bone and skin and blood alike—to form anew into human legs, feet, muscle. After, I shall sing to your gills in the same way, closing them so you breathe only air, as humans do.”

Celeste scrunched her nose at that.

“You shall look exactly like them, except your hair?—”

Although Celeste was not particularly fond of the color, her hand flew to her head. “I prefer to keep it.”

“They may notice the color. Only older humans have such white hair.” But seeing Celeste’s insistence, she continued. “Now, are you ready to begin?”

She hesitated. A part of her wanted to go swimming home to her mother, to demand they find another way. Her mother never would have agreed to this plan, to her seeking out the Sea Witch. But another part of her had always wanted to know more about the humans. This was her chance. She could learn what there was to know, glean what information she could about why they had been in Staria’s waters, kill the prince, and return home. But despite her training and capabilities, she couldn’t imagine herself killing anyone. If it was a question of his life or hers, she clearly had chosen him. But seeing her mother broken on the floor—she couldn’t do that to her family. They didn’t deserve it.

“Will it hurt?” Celeste asked, stalling.

“Yes.” Nerissa smiled.

The Sea Witch took her hand and led her to the shell. Celeste lowered herself down onto it, marveling at how soft and comfortable the mouth of the clam was and wondering if it was in fact alive. She ran her hand along her tail. It was beautiful. The glowing light around her glittered against each shimmering silver-blue scale. She waved her fin back and forth, taking a moment to enjoy how it felt moving through the water one last time before it was taken from her.Not for good, she reminded herself.Only until you can come home.

Nerissa pulled something from a bag. What supplies would a healer need? They ordinarily used their Song and hands. Was this where her bottles came in? But Nerissa turned, and in her hands, Celeste sawcookedfish.

Celeste couldn’t hide her surprise. Cooked food was incredibly hard to come by, due to the fact it required a heat source. Beneath the sea, it was a delicacy. Even the palace didn’t receive cooked fish save for special occasions, like festivals. Celeste’s heart twisted in her chest when she remembered one particular meal, where Sephone and Celeste had eaten their food so quickly they got stomachaches. Halia had taken her daughters, laughing, to a healer so they didn’t have to miss the storytellers.

“How...?” she started to ask.

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