A few exchanged glances, unease spreading through them like ripples in still water.
"Nerina isn’t just some lost mermaid," I continued, leveling my gaze across them.
"She’s Meris’s daughter. And if the Sea Goddess is looking for her, it means she is looking for us."
Someone cursed from a distance. Another ran a hand down his face, exhaling.
"Fantastic," muttered Kael. "Because surviving one curse wasn’t enough. Let’s just stack them up, see what happens."
Garen stepped forward, arms crossed over his broad chest. "So, what be the plan? We can’t exactly sail away from a Sea goddess."
"No, we can’t," I admitted. "But we can be ready."
And we need to be, because I have a feeling this isn’t just about Nerina running away. If the Oracle sent her away from Thalassia, it means there’s something bigger at play—something we don’t understand yet. We prepare for storms, for battle, for whatever unnatural wrath she might send our way.
"We’ve survived more than most—we’ll survive this too."
Another voice piped up from the back. "Is there any good news in all this, Captain? Or are we just taking turns getting punched in the gut?"
I smirked, crossing my arms. "Oh, there’s good news, alright. You lot get to go down in history as the unfortunate bastards who defied a goddess.Twice. Think of the stories they’ll tell. If we live, we’re legends. If we die… Well, at least we won’t be around to hear the complaints."
I exhaled, glancing back toward the cabin. "I hope you’ve all made your peace with the sea, because Meris won’t stop until she gets what she wants."
Talking to myself more than anyone.
My mind drifted to what she might unleash to get Nerina back. The ocean had always been her weapon, but it was more than that—it was her will, her reach, her wrath. The tides could turn treacherous in an instant, shifting currents into churning maelstroms. She could summon leviathans from the deep—creatures of nightmare and shadow, things older than mermaids or men. She could drown a ship without a storm, silence the wind itself, leave us stranded in a sea as still as death.
I had seen her power once before.
And if she was truly enraged, she wouldn’t just come for Nerina—she would make an example of all of us.
19
Nerina
The Black Marrow
The void swallowed me whole—endless, unyielding. Cold bit at my bones, then heat pressed close, curling around my ribs like smoke. It wasn’t emptiness; it was pressure, like the ocean bearing down on my chest, waiting to crush or cradle me. I couldn’t tell if I was floating or drowning.
My heartbeat was the only constant—loud, erratic, something wild clawing against my ribs. Then a sliver of light split the darkness like a blade, and sound followed—not words, but a memory unwinding. Something ancient stirred deep in my marrow. Older than fear. Older than language. And I followed it.
The world shifted fluidly as I stepped into the glow. A strange scent filled the air—violets and frost, the ocean fused with the heavens. The space around me hummed with quiet power, the air crackling against my skin. I had never been here before, yet I knew it—like it had always lived inside me.
Above, the sky rippled like disturbed water, stars snapping into unfamiliar patterns, their cold brilliance searing my vision. Beneath my feet, the ground was neither earth nor sea, but something in between—light and shadow woven together.
Then came pain.
It tore through me like a breaking wave, searing nerve and bone, the air screaming as the ground buckled beneath my feet. Fire raced through my veins, every heartbeat a thunderclap. The crescent mark on my forehead flared, burning as energy surged outward—wild, caged, straining to break free. I reached for it, breath hitching as it pulsed in time with the world around me.
And then I saw them.
Two paths, laid bare. One was ruin—a city drowned beneath the tides, its towers broken like ribs along the ocean floor, screams echoing through the currents. The other shimmered like a mirage, bright with promise and uncertainty.
The mark burned again—hot, insistent. The vision crashed into me with crushing force, pressing into my skull, demanding to be understood.
I woke gasping.
The remnants of the vision clung to me like mist. My throat burned, dry and cracked—like I was drying from the inside out. My body ached, exhaustion sinking deep into my bones, but beneath it lingered something else: unsettled energy, like a storm gathering just beyond the horizon.
