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CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Earth pressed upward, pushing apart the sea. Soft white beaches encircled a lush forest of perfect green. And in the center of it all, the tops of white stone arches extended from the treetops. A temple, perhaps? If it was, it looked as though it’d been built for giants. But what truly captured Celeste’s attention were the specks of light floating among the trees, glittering like stars on earth.

Celeste gasped in awe as she beheld the island. Magic hummed in the air, old as night and as wild as the sea. She slipped from the back of the Hippokamp and swam around to face it.

“Thank you,” she said, head bowed in respect.

The beast mirrored her, gently pressing its soft head to hers. Then it reared back and disappeared into the depths of the ocean. Celeste watched the frothing water before her, the only sign it’d been there at all—a stolen moment of reverence for the beautiful creature that saved her. The sky brightened, the moon sliding away from the sun as she turned back to face Lunapesce.

She dove into the water, swimming until her lungs burned and her feet touched the sandy bottom of the shore. The sand between her toes was the softest her feet had ever touched, each grain so perfectly fine and warmed from the sun. As she drew closer, she saw deep streams cutting through the island, intertwining with the land. What did the Goddess of the Ocean need an island for anyway? Celeste wondered, taking it all in. But Celeste could feel her here. Could picture the Goddess sunning herself upon the soft beach and playing with her daughters in the bubbling streams.

At last Celeste’s feet sank into dry sand.

The sound came again. The song from before. Still faint, but unquestionably there. It called to her, beckoning from deep within the heart of the forest.

The Voice of the Ocean.

She knew at once what it was. The sound was heartbreaking in its beauty. Haunting and ethereal. And—familiar. As if she remembered it from a dream. But she was certain she had never heard this melody before. The song pulled with each note. And soon the sand beneath her feet turned to soft, mossy earth. This, too, was perfect. Everything about the island was. Achingly so. In all her life, she’d never see a place more beautiful. The late-afternoon sun shone through the forest canopy, shadow mixing with the glittering flecks of light floating within the trees around her. Flowers Celeste had never seen before bloomed white along the streambeds. She followed beside, winding through the forest toward the Voice. The trees were so dense, and she soon lost sight of the white shore. But the song grew louder with each step.

A clearing appeared through the trees. Within it, an ancient temple of elegant white columns stood, glistening in the sunlight. The stream she followed disappeared under the temple. In fact, it seemed every stream on the island disappeared there. Green vines curled around the columns’ bottoms, and flowers bloomed through the cracks in the stone steps leading to the entrance, which she climbed one at a time, listening.

The song came from within.

Sending up a silent prayer, Celeste pushed against the colossal white doors. They opened easily under her touch. She stepped inside.

At the far side of the massive temple stood a statue of the Goddess. She was beautiful. Her chin tilted up in triumph toward the light pouring in from the open ceiling, covered in vines. She was crowned in stars, with her hair falling in waves down her naked back. Her powerful tail was coiled beneath her, and in her stone hands, she held her legendary golden trident, carved with swirling stars and inlaid with pearls. At the base of the statue, as if they were her guardians, were her two Hippokamps. Their bodies sat on either side of a waterfall, which cascaded down into a wide, deep pool that filled the center of the room.

The place where every stream on the island met.

And within the pool were two sirens, their voices rising together in perfect harmony.

One was old. Older than any siren Celeste had ever seen. Her skin and hair and tail were the pale green of seawater. But her eyes were as black as the darkest depths of the ocean. She had the scaled bodice of a siren from Staria, but she was so thin that Celeste could count each protruding rib. Hands like worn leather reached out and gripped the other siren at the wrists. That siren was young, her back to Celeste. Her long, slender fingers encircled the old siren’s wrists, completing the bond between them. Long rose-colored hair cascaded down her back, falling into the water.

“No,” Celeste breathed.

The noise startled the singers, who did not hear her enter. With a swish of her beautiful hair, the young siren turned around to gaze upon the intruder, leaving the song to echo half finished. And Celeste’s gaze was met with the wide, stunned eyes of her sister, Sephone.

“What are you doing?” Sephone hissed. “You shouldn’t be here.”

Five cycles. It had been five cycles since she’d seen her. And now here of all places.

“ I shouldn’t be here?” Celeste said, voice echoing. “You’re supposed to be in Ayakashi flirting with some prince!”

“You need to leave.”

“Who is that?” Celeste asked, pointing toward the ancient siren. “Who are you?” But the siren acted as though she didn’t hear her, as if her mind was elsewhere.

“Why—why do you have legs ?” Sephone said, a look of disgust plain on her face.

Celeste shifted from foot to foot, suddenly self-conscious. “It’s a long story.”

“How did you even get here with those ?” Her sister gestured to Celeste’s legs, wet pantaloons clinging to them.

“I—rode here,” Celeste said, adding, “on a Hippokamp.”

“You what ?”

“We do not have much longer, Princess,” the ancient siren said, pulling at Sephone’s hands. “We must continue.”

“Celeste, you must leave. I will explain later.” Sephone’s voice sounded so much like their mother that Celeste flinched. This wasn’t the sister she remembered. The gentle one who listened when no one else would.

“I’m not leaving. Not without the Voice of the Ocean.”

Sephone froze. “Why are you really here, little star?” she asked, voice soft.

Celeste sucked in a breath. “Humans are coming. King Leonidas wants the Voice for himself. They will be here any second. We need to get the Voice and leave before?—”

“ Humans? ” Sephone’s once glowing face went pale. “It’s not possible.”

“We can’t leave before the ritual is complete,” the ancient siren said.

“They just want the Voice,” Celeste insisted. “If I can just leave with it, maybe?—”

Sephone’s eyes met Celeste’s, and the rest of her sentence died in her throat.

No... It can’t be...

“The Voice of the Ocean isn’t a thing, Celeste,” Sephone said. “It’s a siren . It’s me.”

“No...” Celeste breathed.

It felt as though the ground beneath her was crumbling.

“I wanted to tell you! But Mother thought it would be safer if we kept it secret. No one could know.” Sephone drew closer to Celeste at the edge of the pool. “She sent me away to train with Gala when they found out I was blessed with the Goddess’s gifts. To protect me. And for me to learn to protect our people.” She gestured toward the siren behind her. “Gala, our great-aunt, is the current Voice, but it’s time for me to accept my full powers. And the only way is to complete the ritual that passes the full power of the Voice of the Ocean to me. The same ritual the Goddess performed when she first gifted her powers to her daughter, Queen Isla.”

Queen Isla was the Voice of the Ocean? The founder of Staria? And this siren was their grandmother’s sister? Celeste’s head spun. Of course Sephone was blessed. Her magic was always extraordinary. And all this time... All this time Celeste thought she was hunting treasure. But it had been her sister all along.

And Celeste had led the humans straight to her.

Guilt twisted like a knife in her gut. “We can’t stay here.” Celeste’s voice quavered. “The humans are on their way. They’ll be here any moment.”

“There is no way for humans to find this island, Celeste,” Sephone said in that same reassuring tone she always used when Celeste was upset. “They wouldn’t even make it through the siren waters undetected. The Chorus?—”

“They did.” Celeste looked down at her hands. “Because I showed them how.”

The temple fell silent.

“You did what?” Sephone’s voice was cold.

“I thought they were only after treasure . By the time I figured it out—it was too late.” Celeste walked to pool’s edge and knelt, reaching for her sister. But Sephone backed away, face stricken.

“ Humans ,” spat Gala. “Greedy, horrible creatures.”

“They’re not all like that,” Celeste snapped, unable to stop herself.

Sephone’s face turned from shock to anger in a flash. “You’re defending them? After what they did to our grandmother?”

“We’ve killed them too! Murdered them one by one!”

“Mother was right.” Sephone sighed. “You’re too softhearted. I’d hoped with time you would grow out of it, but...”

It felt as though she had been slapped. Celeste stood, angry tears springing to her eyes. Despite everything she had learned, in the face of her elder sister’s condemnation, she felt small. There was nothing more painful than to hear the things you hated most about yourself used as a weapon by someone you love. Tears dripped down her cheeks, and Celeste furiously wiped them away with the back of her hand. They talked about her . Celeste had always thought Sephone was the one on her side. The only one who let Celeste cry. All along she’d been talking about Celeste with their mother.

But then she thought of Kiyami. The strongest female, siren or human, she had ever met. She thought of the tears running down Kiyami’s face as she helped her escape. Her hand on the hilt of the sword as she faced their captain.

“I lived with them, the humans. I know them,” Celeste said calmly, despite the tears.

At first Sephone looked surprised, but it was soon replaced by anger. “Why would you do such a thing? What were you thinking? Celeste, you could have exposed us all! Is that why you look like one of them? ”

Celeste took a breath, attempting to center herself. “I saved a human from a Chorus attack. The son of King Leonidas. I meant to kill him and make it right, but I—I misjudged the prince. And then... he used me to find this place. To find you . But the rest of his crew, they’re no different than you and me. I swear it. They’re—they’re my friends.” As Celeste spoke, her tears subsided. Her voice grew more certain. “The prince wishes to take the Voice—you—to his father. I assume the Pirate King wants to control the ocean. Please, Seph, we need to?—”

“If we leave these sacred grounds before the ritual is completed, the Goddess’s gifts will be lost forever,” Gala said evenly, swimming toward Sephone and resting a hand on her shoulder.

Sephone’s face was hard. The perfect copy of their mother. “Even if the humans have made it this far. The island only reveals itself to the Song of a siren under an eclipse,” Sephone said, a note of finality to her voice.

She rejoined the ancient siren, gripping her wrists. The two sirens began humming together, searching for a thread to continue their work. As they found their note, their voices changed, becoming the unearthly sound that had lured Celeste to them.

Footsteps sounded on the stone steps of the temple, clanging like a warning bell. Celeste turned, reaching for her knife, only to remember its loss. She sank into her familiar fighting stance, wishing she had a weapon. Wishing her sister had listened to her. Wishing she’d done things differently.

The singers’ voices joined together and broke apart in a haunting harmony. The doors pushed open. A silhouette appeared against the late-day sun. The familiar figure stepped over the threshold of the temple and stopped.

“Hello again, Princess.”

Her hands sagged. Standing before her was the Sea Witch.