Page 39 of When the Wicked Sing
Mariana’s brows pulled together, and she glanced between their hands and Celeste’s sincere expression. “Free?” she asked softly. “I don’t understand. You were gone. I looked everywhere for you. The little boy on the beach, hesaid—”
“The ones from across the sea took her,” Celeste finished, mimicking the boy’s voice with a strange clarity, and then gave Mariana a small, wistful smile. “Yes, I know. But I’m here now, with you, that’s all that matters.”
Mariana stared at her, unsure what to say. She was hardly able to believe she was holding her dear friend’s hand to begin with, drinking tea at her table in the middle of the night, and the familiar yet otherworldly surroundings made her feel both comforted and disoriented.
Her grip on the mug tightened, her fingers trembling. She didn’t understand why she was here, sitting across from Celeste. She couldn’t believe this moment was real, and yet, itfeltreal.
“Celeste,” Mariana whispered, her voice breaking. “I—” Her words faltered as a storm of emotions churned inside her chest. “I looked everywhere for you.”
“I know,” Celeste said kindly, her pale eyes watching Mariana with infinite patience.
“I thought you were—” The word caught in her throat like jagged glass. Her lips trembled as tears sprang into her eyes. “I thought you were dead.”
Celeste smiled gently, the kind of smile that used to make everything feel okay. “Oh, my dear girl,” she said. “You don’t need to carry that burden. You don’t need to carry any of it.”
Mariana pulled her hand back, shaking her head as a sob rose unbidden in her throat. “How can you say that? You’regone,Celeste. You just—disappeared. You left me. You left me when I—” She choked on the words, her voice cracking. “When I needed you.” The moment the words spilled from her lips,she regretted them. Celeste didn’t leave her; she had been taken from her. Taken by her own people.
Celeste’s expression softened, and for the first time, she looked sad. “Oh, Mari,” she murmured, her tone heavy with regret. “I never meant to leave you. I never would have if it were up to me.”
Mariana squeezed her eyes shut, tears streaking down her cheeks. Her chest felt heavy, like the grief she’d kept buried was finally clawing its way to the surface. She had tried to ignore it, push it away, distract herself with everything else. But now, in this strange and quiet dream, there was nothing to stop it.
She gripped the edge of the table, her knuckles turning white. “It’s not fair,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “You were the only one who … who listened to me, who let me be myself. You treated me likeme.And now you’re gone, and I—” She broke off, sobbing.
Celeste stood and moved around the table, pulling Mariana into her arms. Mariana clung to her like she was afraid to let go, her body trembling with the weight of everything she’d held in. Celeste’s embrace was warm and steady, her hands running soothingly over Mariana’s back as she whispered, “Let it out, my girl. Let it all out.”
For what felt like an eternity, Mariana cried, her tears soaking into Celeste’s shoulder. She cried for the loss of her friend, for the loss of her siren self, for the loss of everything she’d ever known.
Finally, her sobs began to quiet, though her chest still ached with the rawness of it all. Celeste pulled back just enough to cup Mariana’s face in her hands, her thumbs brushing away thetears. “You’ve been so strong for so long,” she said. “But even the strongest need to let themselves feel, Mariana. It’s not a weakness. It’s what makes us mortal—or siren, or fae, or whatever else you might be.”
Mariana let out a shaky laugh, her lips trembling. “I don’t even know what I am anymore,” she admitted.
Celeste tilted her head, her eyes sparkling faintly like the sea under moonlight. “You’re you,” she said simply. “And that’s enough.”
Mariana blinked, her tears slowing as she stared at her friend. She wanted to believe those words and cling to them, but doubt still gnawed at the edges of her mind. “I don’t feel like enough,” she whispered.
“You will,” Celeste said with a small, knowing smile. She reached out and tapped Mariana’s chest, right over her heart. “You’ve always had everything you need right here. The rest … well, that will come in time.”
Mariana frowned slightly, her mind spinning with questions. But before she could speak, the air around them began to change. The cozy glow of the cabin’s candles flickered, their light dimming as shadows began to creep across the walls.
“Wait,” Mariana said, panic rising in her chest. She clutched Celeste’s arm, her fingers digging into the fabric of her sleeve. “Don’t go. Please—don’t leave me again.”
Celeste smiled sadly, her form beginning to blur at the edges like sea foam dissolving into the tide. “I’m not leaving you, my dear. I’ll always be with you, just as I’ve always been. In the light. In the waves. In the wind.”
Mariana shook her head, her heart aching as Celeste’s figure grew fainter. “I’m not ready,” she whispered.
Celeste’s voice was soft, echoing faintly as the dream began to fade. “You’re stronger than you think, Mari. You always have been.”
The cabin dissolved into starlight, the scent of lavender lingering in the air.
Mariana felt herself falling, weightless and untethered. Then she detected something warm soothing her head. The sensation was comforting, like someone was running their fingers through her hair and pouring warm water over her scalp. She floated like that until—like the snap of someone’s fingers—she woke up.
Chapter 21
Marianagasped,shootingupward,water splashing around her.
“Shit,” a deep voice muttered. Mariana spun to find Dax crouched beside her. One of his hands gripped her arm, steadying her, while the other rested firmly on the rim of the large wooden basin she was submerged in.
Breathing deep, she lowered her eyebrows as her eyes shifted frantically over the foreign space.
