The ocean held its breath.
Black tendrils licked the ship's hull before sinking back into the water, leaving the Jolly Roger creaking in the silence.
Even the sirens had vanished.
I stood on the deck, the girl trembling in my arms, my palm still wreathed in curling shadows. The feather's glow dimmed, but the heat lingered, coiled inside me like a second heartbeat.
"Boy…" Hook's voice wavered. "You've gone and woken something. I can feel it."
He wasn't wrong.
The sea beneath us wasn't just water anymore. It was alive. Watching. Waiting.
Then the first ripple came.
Slow. Heavy.
A second followed, bigger, rocking the ship. The black water shimmered under the moonlight as something immense stirred beneath the surface.
"Hook," I said, voice low. "Stay behind me."
"Stay behind—?!" He sputtered. "Boy, that thing could swallow the both of us and still have room for dessert!"
The ripple became a wave. The wave became a whirl.
From the heart of the vortex, she rose.
Silver moonlight broke across scales the color of midnight oil. Her hair spread in the water like living seaweed, threaded with pearls and jagged bits of coral. And her eyes—deep blue rimmed with gold—glowed like they had swallowed the ocean itself.
Nerissa.
The siren princess. The Leviathan's last child. Born from his sorrow.
Every story whispered her name like a curse.
She didn't hiss. She didn't screech.
She smiled.
"Dark one…"
Her voice was richer than any siren's song—sweeter, deadlier. It wrapped around my spine and squeezed.
"So… you finally here...
I tightened my grip on the unconscious girl." What do you want?"
"Her."
Nerissa's long, webbed fingers broke the surface, tracing the water as if petting a beast only she could see.
"The sea claimed her first. You can hold her… but you can't keep her."
The shadows still coiled around my hand, pulsing with the feather's faint light. "Try me."
A soft laugh bubbled from her throat. It wasn't pleasant.
The sea below erupted.
Tentacles—slick and black with faint streaks of bioluminescence—lashed upward. They weren't Leviathan's. They were hers.
Hook screamed, stumbling back as one slammed into the deck, splintering wood."BOY! That is a full-sized sea demon! A sea demon! This is above my pay grade!"
I stepped forward, planting my feet, shadows curling up my arms."If you wanted her, you should have reached her first."
A tentacle snapped toward me. Instinct—or maybe power—took over.
I thrust my hand out.
The shadow leapt from my palm, coiling around the appendage midair. It burned, sizzled, like acid against flesh. The tentacle recoiled with an ear-splitting hiss, and Nerissa's smile faltered.
"Interesting," she purred." You fight like him."
"Him?"
"The one you don't remember." Her eyes gleamed. "The one who promised me the oceans."
A cold pulse shivered through me. I didn't remember. But a part of me wanted to.
Another tentacle lunged. I rolled, still clutching the girl, and the shadow on my free hand burst wider—spreading across the deck like a living stain.
It reached for the tentacle, dragged, and the sea howled as water and darkness collided.
For a moment, I swore I heard a roar—not hers, not mine, but something older and angrier echoing from the deep.
Hook grabbed the mast, knuckles white." Boy, either marry the fish or kill it, because my ship won't last much longer!"
Nerissa's smile returned, sharper now.
The ocean held its breath.
The girl in my arms trembled once, lips moving against my chest."…Awaken," she whispered.
Shadows burst from my hand, curling up the mast and licking across the deck like living smoke. The sirens recoiled, hissing.
Hook stumbled back, face pale." Boy… you're possessed!"
The girl's silver eyes fluttered open. She smiled weakly. "You saved me…"
Then—
She dissolved.
Puff.
Mist and seawater sprayed my arms. I was left holding nothing but air.
I froze. My pulse crashed in my ears.
"What…" My voice was hollow. "Where—?"
Hook's jaw dropped." Boy… you—you saw that too, right? She just—"
The black water stilled. The sirens vanished beneath the surface without a sound. Even the tendrils of shadow curling off my skin evaporated into the mist.
The sea became… calm. Too calm.