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I let out a surprised bubble. Oh, how I’d missed his voice! I had almost forgotten our ability to communicate this way underwater.

Whee!He swam in circles around me and through the shredded pieces of my swimsuit bottoms.Luminara axolotlshad a longer-than-normal lifespan, often outliving sirens by two or three generations. At nineteen years old, he was hardly more than a toddler.

His happiness was contagious, and I gave in to the moment. I laughed and spun around, my hair floating like a curtain around me.

I wished I didn’t have to choose one or the other, legs or a tail. I wanted both. But my father’s strict demands for my life meant having both was impossible.

Shaking off my frustration before it could ruin this moment, I dove forward. My tail fin caught the currents, and the membranes unfolded completely. The ocean welcomed me with a tapestry of blues and greens that sparkled in the sunlight, and I let out a trill of joy, a sound that resonated through the water.

Miles away, a pod of whales sang back, recognizing me for what I was. I couldn’t help the wide grin that tugged at my cheeks. Since this might be the last time I got to swim in salty waters for a long time, I was going to make the most of it.

Of course, it could also be the first time for the rest of my life if we were forced to leave our human lives.

Nope. No more of that. Focusing on the bright side was the only way I was going to get through this day.

Finley and I swam together, taking our time as we stretched muscles we hadn’t used in years.

Memories flooded back to me the farther we went—childhood games with dolphins, the vibrant coral gardens I had called my backyard, and the lullabies of the ocean currents that had sung me to sleep.

My heart swelled with a mixture of happiness and longing. It was a bittersweet collision of emotions that seemed to reach across time and distance. A connection to my true self spreadthrough me, like a part of my identity that had been dormant for far too long.

As I swam deeper, the ethereal glow of bioluminescent creatures replaced the sunlight. The gentle hum of currents and schools of fish surrounded me.

I knew that the human city and the people within it had changed me, leaving unforgettable marks on my soul. Yet, as I swam through the depths, a sense of homecoming rekindled the ties that bound me to the sea.

The siren who had walked the streets as a human was a part of me and always would be. But so was the creature of the deep.

Today, beneath the waves, I embraced the duality of my existence.

As much as I wanted to take my time and enjoy the reunion with my first home, I was only here for one reason. Finley could swim fast, but not as fast as a siren, so I scooped him into the small satchel I’d brought with me, along with the talisman.

With a final glance back at the sloping sand that would lead back to the beach, I dove farther into the deep. Powerful strokes of my tail took us down fast.

As the hours passed, I utilized various currents to keep from exhausting myself. Pods of dolphins, random sea turtles, and even a few whale families rushed by as I swam. Everything here felt so much more familiar than the world above, even though I’d lived there almost as long as I did beneath the waves.

At last, I saw the dark gap in the ocean floor that would lead me deeper into the trench where the sea witch kept her lair. It had taken far less time than our original journey. Thanks to my time on land, I knew the Delaware beach would bring me closer to Naftes’ territory.

Closer to home, and closer to the witch.

In the ocean, we called this trench theAvyssos—the Abyss. It was dark and bleak and perfectly suited to her kind.

My father’s land, the Naftes Kingdom, spread from just beyond the western edge of the trench to the eastern edges of North America. I had followed the northern Naftes’ border to avoid running into any patrols.

Farther south was the Thalasses Kingdom, home to King Ateleíotes, my father’s greatest enemy. Or so I had been taught, but my father had also promised my hand in marriage to Ateleíotes’ son to solidify a truce. Mend broken bridges and all that.

I only felt a small amount of guilt for putting my father in a tough spot after my disappearance. He should have known I wouldn’t go along with a forced marriage, just as my mother had been against the idea.

Far to the southwest was the Kalyteros Kingdom, a smaller territory but also one of our allies. King Cyreus had three sons, and while I would always prefer the freedom of choice, I might not have swum away from home had my father promised me to one of them. At least they were tolerable. Mostly.

As I closed in on the cliff’s edge, the haunting melody of sirens reached my ears. It was a sound that was both alluring and foreboding, and panic surged through me. I instinctively dove for cover behind a large outcropping of coral.

My pulse thrummed in my ears as I peered around the coral.

A group of four sirens emerged from the depths of the trench. Their iridescent blue and green tails shimmered like liquid silver, and their blue eyes almost seemed to glow with an otherworldly light.

Each siren kingdom had guards that patrolled their boundaries, their keen senses attuned to any intruders. But these guards wore distinctively marked whalebone armor and familiar weapons that made my heart skip a beat.

This was a Naftes patrol, some of my father’s sirens.