Page 2

Chapter two

“ A m I the daughter of Poseidon or am I not!”

Thessalaniki steadied herself on the coral ledge, her heart aching for the small starfish in her palm. It was weak, dying. The dawn light filtering through her grotto, painting shifting patterns across its delicate skin as it weakly curled its arms inward.

“Poor little one,” she whispered.

The familiar helplessness she felt over her father’s illness—watching him waste away despite being one of the Divine Sea Sovereignty—crystallized into fierce determination. Here was one small creature she might actually save. Father had warned her countless times against using siren powers on sea creatures; such influence was meant only for luring humans to their doom. But what good was that? Why waste such gifts on destruction when they could heal?

Just one more time wouldn’t hurt. “Let me try,” she murmured to her tiny friend, remembering her previous failed attempts. Each one had ended with disappointment, but something felt different today—a resonance in her chest, a tingling in her fingertips.

Gathering her courage, feeling her love for this creature erupt through her, she opened her mouth to sing. This wasn’t just experimentation anymore—this was defiance against everything her people believed was wrong. The first note came hesitantly, a shimmer of sound that hung in the water around her. The starfish in her palm trembled slightly. Encouraged, she let the second note join the first, stronger now. Her copper hair began to float upward, responding to the magic stirring within her.

The melody flowed like liquid moonlight, harmonizing with the eternal song of the sea—the whisper of currents, the distant whale song, the subtle music of wave against shore. Though she’d never attempted this particular healing spell before, the melody came as naturally as if it had always lived inside her, waiting for this moment.

Each note bloomed color across the star fish’s corroded skin like sunrise on water. Thessa’s eyes widened, but she dared not stop. Heart pounding against her ribs, she poured more emotion into her voice. The delicate chains of pearls and living seaweed that marked her royal status swirled around her iridescent tail, dancing to her song. Color returned to the starfish—first at its core, then slowly spreading outward. Hope and wonder drove her. Years of secret studies, forbidden experiments, failed attempts—all forgotten in this single, miraculous moment.

With a final, triumphant crescendo, she completed the healing melody. The starfish now wriggled in her hands with newfound vigor, its movements strong and deliberate.

Thessa’s heart leaped. “It worked!” Her trembling fingers could barely contain her joy. “It actually worked!” Her stomach clenched as the full implications dawned on her. This wasn’t just about saving a starfish—this was proof that everything she believed about their powers could be true.

The Sea Sovereignty would not look kindly on it.

She’d have to hurry to scratch her notes against her cavern wall. Anything to add to her healing research. Every detail of this moment must be preserved—the precise sequence of notes, the rhythm, the flow, these feelings bursting through her. There were no other records to go by—no lore, no guidance. Nothing.

She’d made the biggest breakthrough of her short life! And no one would believe her… no one would want to. But the living proof wiggled happily in her palm, its restored brilliance a testament that her powers could be used for good!

“Are you ready to roam free, little friend?” She placed the starfish gently back on its ledge. No one could know what she’d done yet, especially her sisters—and Nephele? No, forget about it.

Thessa’s fingers found the familiar ridges of the shell necklace given her by her mother—Oh, mother! The beloved Amphitrite; they’d lost her to these strange ailments afflicting the merfolk. And now this plague had reached her father? Thessa would do anything to save him, even use this newfound knowledge.

It would break his heart. Could she do it?

Using her siren powers for healing was forbidden… all because of one sea creature who had worked with these magics—Scylla! The scourge of the Sylphorian Seas. This sinister merwoman had only used her gifts for darkness and misery.

And Thessa was nothing like her! She could resist the lure of the dark magics—at least, she had to try. Her family would never understand that she was born to lend a hand, no matter the cost. Her eyes swerved to the starfish. “But this stays between us, yes?”

Her new friend’s arms rippled in agreement. Thessa wasn’t too worried that word would get out. Starfish were naturally very loyal creatures.

The starfish’s arms waved in what might have been farewell, when suddenly, the current shifted—not the gentle flow of tides, but something violent and wrong. The world shook beneath her with shocking force. Before Thessa could react, a wall of terrified sea life burst through the kelp forest—schools of silversides darting like scattered moonlight.

She threw her arms over the starfish, trying to keep it from getting swept away. She was in danger of getting carried away, too. She held tighter, wrapping her arms around the coral formation in its wall of protection as the exodus threatened to sweep them both away. What could frighten the sea life into fleeing together?

Had father…? Had he succumbed to his illness?

“Thessa!” Nephele’s voice cut through the chaos, seconds before her older sister’s familiar arms wrapped around her. “We must seek shelter!”

Terror clawed at her throat, but she must know the truth. “What’s happened to father?”

“The Sea Witch!” Nephele’s voice shook. A ribbon of torn kelp twisted in the current, brushing her midnight hair with its wispy stalk. Above them, the usual gentle filter of morning sunlight had turned strange and fractured, as if the very surface of the ocean was writhing. “She’s come after all this time! Scylla offered to heal him. But of course, Father sent her away.”

Thessa’s stomach clenched. The Sea Witch was manipulative, dangerous… and was the only one powerful enough to help. This maelstrom was evidence of her magic.

The water around them churned with increased violence, sending spirals of bubbles and debris through the usually calm sea. A massive shape darkened the water. They looked up to see a manta ray, easily twice their size, tumbling end over end in the current, its usual graceful glide turned to helpless spinning.

Thessa clutched the starfish to her chest with one hand while Nephele gripped her other arm, “This way!” Thessa moved her chin to indicate the outcropping of brain coral as a school of frightened tuna barreled past, their silver sides flashing like drawn swords in the dim light.

Normally, Thessa would never take her sister to the grotto where she kept her secrets, but it was either that or get torn apart. The waters had never betrayed them like this before—this was Scylla’s power, raw and untamed, rippling through their father’s domain.

The sisters darted from cover to cover—until they reached the concealed entrance. And just like that, she tugged Nephele through the gap she’d discovered years ago and had kept hidden since then. They ducked through a natural arch draped with anemones that pulled in their tentacles as the sisters passed.

The starfish curled its arms around Thessa’s fingers, trembling. The passage widened, opening into a peaceful world all their own. All at once, the chaos of the outer sea became muted and distant. Here was paradise. Shafts of morning light pierced the surface opening far above, creating shifting patterns on the grotto walls like scattered pearls.

Nephele let out a sound of shock at the scene before them. Nature’s beauty was crudely mimicked by the treasures from past shipwrecks glittering around them—ornate chests spilling gold and jewels, delicate crystal goblets, even an ancient crown studded with emeralds.

The centerpiece? The statue of a beautiful boy king, his marbled features caught in an eternal expression of false dignity.

But what good were all these riches left to them by the humans? They meant nothing compared to her father’s life slipping away. Thessa was desperate to act. Do more. Anything than what they did now.

Nephele turned, her raven hair floating like dark shimmering silk around her shoulders. The morning light played across the curves barely concealed by her top of woven sea-kelp and shells—they both had their mother’s beauty, but where Thessa was fire; Nephele was smoke.

Her sister’s eyes narrowed at the walls, at the careful notations scratched into the stone. “What’s this? Notes?”

“I’m working on a song,” Thessa lied, feeling her pulse flutter. She gently set the starfish down on a nearby shelf.

“Whale spout,” Nephele snapped. “You know spells are forbidden! I’m worried, Thessa! You can’t just—you can’t… haven’t you heard what others say about you? You need to stop this! You’re part of the Sea Sovereignty! Our family is to be an example to our people. You know what magic has done to others. You can honor father’s memory by—”

“You talk as if he’s already dead!” Thessa’s voice cracked. “I’m not letting father die!”

“It’s not up to you! Thessa…”

Why didn’t they understand? Her sisters had Father for many years, but she was the youngest. “I’ve only weathered twenty-four seasons of storm!” she complained. “I want more time with him—some of our older sisters have had him for hundreds! I daresay you’ve had five hundred seasons at least, Nephele! You witnessed the Great Coral Extinction and the rebirth of the Western Reefs…”

Nephele colored, never wanting to talk about her age, but Thessa was beyond politeness in her grief. “You even knew Aunt Undine. What about me? I want more time!”

“Hush,” Nephele said quickly.

The Sea Sovereignty ruled all water creatures, living for eons, though none as long as Papa, who was said to have existed at Everrgold’s creation. His children counted their years in the hundreds, with many remembering the Rise of the Coral Cities. Thessa, who was the youngest of them, had only recently outgrown her pearl-woven swaddling tides—a slight exaggeration maybe—but still, she was a mere fingerling compared to her family’s exalted ages.

And yet, the power she contained could save them all! She could do more with her voice than control the humans. There had been far too much death already. “I can do good with these powers I have! Let me use them to help Father.”

“No!” Nephele’s voice softened with pain. “Others before you had your intentions, and it ruined them. Just listen to me, okay? As you’ve indelicately pointed out, yes, I’ve lived longer, seen more! Why can’t you see reason?”

Rebellion stirred in Thessa’s heart like a gathering storm. She wouldn’t give up on their father, even if everyone else had… even if he wouldn’t save himself. Only one had the power to—the thought that formed in her mind was so forbidden she could scarce speak it aloud, and yet… “We should’ve taken Scylla’s help!”

Nephele gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. A shimmer of phosphorescence gathered in her eyes to reveal her distress. “Tell that to father, to his face, if you dare—he wants to speak to his children.”

Thessa swallowed hard. “To say goodbye?”

“Sweet pearl,” Nephele’s face softened, and she drew her into an embrace. “Please, let’s not fight at a time like this. We need to come together… for—for poppa.”

Thessa’s anger drained from her like a receding tide, her shoulders sinking as she let her sister hold her. They drew strength from their shared grief.

Nephele patted her hair. “The tides will turn,” she whispered, then pulled back, glancing at the research scratched into the cave walls. “For what it’s worth—you have talent. I know you can use it for what it’s meant for.”

Against humans? With effort, Thessa held back her bitter reply.

Nephele glided toward the exit, her dark hair and tail creating graceful swirls in the shaft of sunlight as she slipped through the narrow passage.

Thessa was left alone with the forbidden.

The phosphorescence gathered at her eyes with nowhere to go, and letting out a sob, she sank onto a gilded human throne, its once-royal splendor now adorned with barnacles and sea moss. She cried, her frustrations mounting. Father couldn’t die! He just couldn’t!

Her tiny starfish friend inched up her arm, touching her cheek with a gentle pat. She opened her eyes and let out a watery sigh.

Shadows crept across her grotto from what must be clouds gathering above the sea’s surface. The overcast day matched the darkness of her spirits. Why was there so much rebellion in her heart? Her father had always taught them that power came with responsibility, with rules. A good daughter would trust in his wisdom, would honor his wishes even now…

“And yet,” she whispered to her starfish companion, “you’re better now, aren’t you? There has to be a way to make them understand—”

A thunderous crash interrupted her words. Something large plummeted through the sea—a ship’s wheel, splintered and trailing bubbles. Thessa darted sideways as it smashed into her collection, sending golden coins scattering across the grotto floor.

She straightened with a gasp, her chin tilting up. Dark shadows of ships moved above her. A muffled boom of cannon fire resonated through the water. More debris rained down like deadly snow. Cries of men were followed by more gunfire. And then, quite horribly, bodies fell into the water, swimming. Bleeding. Some sank.

The humans were warring again!

Another consequence of her father’s illness. Poseidon wasn’t there to bring order to their seas!

New anger gripped her. This violence she could end, at least! Even Nephele would approve of her asserting the might of the Sea Sovereignty upon those warmongers above. No one could stop her from using her siren’s voice now.

Setting her starfish friend safely in a small, protective outcropping of smooth coral, she shot upward through the cenote’s throat. Let them hear what a daughter of Poseidon could do!