“He’s dying? From what?” I can’t answer right away. The knot in my throat only tightens, stealing my voice away from me. “Take your time,” she says quietly. She’s gentle with me, so gentle it almost hurts. I fear I’m the only one she’s ever saved that emotion for, that I know of.
“His scar,” I say quietly. “He got it when he was a boy. It was cursed. It’s called—”
“The siren’s curse.” Neressa finishes for me. “That’s one of the few curses that can’t be undone,” she says, her voice lingeringwith empathy. I nod, fighting back tears. “How bad is it?” she asks.
“It’s spreading. The black veins are down his arm and across his chest now. He’s had a hallucination of a siren song. I think it stemmed from the scar.”
Her expression hardens. “When you make it to the fountain—”
“Yes, I’ll save him,” I say before she can finish.
She tilts her head. “You must really love him, to give him your wish.”
I let out a low laugh, shaking my head and choosing not to reveal how many wishes we really have. “Love makes you do crazy things, aye?”
“It will be okay, love,” she says softly. “You’re strong. You’ll get there.” Then her eyes sharpen, that familiar glint returning. “Now, what are we looking for?” Changing the subject before I become a complete mess.
I lead her to my father’s quarters. When I open the door, it creaks louder than I remember. “Look for anything with a lock on it,” I say, stepping inside. “Or something that looks like it wasn’t meant to be found.”
We start rifling through everything, drawers, shelves, the desk, under his mattress. Nothing. Not a single thing. The room feels as bare as the bottom of a ship’s hull.
Then my eyes catch on the closet. His clothes still hang unorganized, untouched by time. I push them aside, and there it is, a small lock hidden in the back, built into the wood of the closet, a number dial glinting faintly in the low light.
“Interesting,” Neressa murmurs from behind me, the sweet scent of cinnamon curling in the air around her. “What do you think it could be?”
Four digits. What four digits could he have possibly been attached to? I start guessing. His birthday—zero, four, twelve.No.
His favorite number, twice—five, five, five, five.Nothing. Then I try my birthday.Zero, three, twelve.It clicks open.
“Your birthday,” Neressa says quietly.
“My birthday,” I echo, my voice barely a whisper. My eyes sting, tears gathering at the edges. I unlatch the rusted lock, the metal groaning in protest. As it snaps free, a piece of paper slips out, the final entry of his journal, aged, weather-worn, and stained with what looks like blood.
Coordinates and a letter. The moment my eyes meet them, something shifts. A calm washes over me, foreign and familiar all at once. I feel them, deep in my bones, like they’re calling me home.
Neressa places a hand on my shoulder. “I’m going to leave you now, love. This is for your eyes only. I’m here when you need me.” I meet her gaze and nod. There’s nothing more to say.
When she’s gone, I make my way to his old, dust-covered bed, the sheets still wrinkled from the last time he laid there. I sit down slowly, the air heavy with the ghost of him.
The coordinates point directly to the heart of Sapphire’s Ocean, the most beautiful and mysterious sea in existence. Known for its deep blue trenches and waters so clear at dawn, they shimmer like glass. As soon as the moon is out, the surface reflects the stars so perfectly, it feels like you could dive straight into the heavens and come back drenched in starlight. But beneath that beauty lies silence, depth, and ancient magic. It’s the least explored ocean for a reason.
I open the letter, his handwriting messy but readable. My father’s final message, one meant for the sea, but never sent. A message in a bottle.
Sirena,
I promise you, I’ll find you. My love, my wife, the mother of our extraordinary daughter. I had no choice but to put Mira above all else. She had to be kept hidden, protected. No onecould know who or what she truly was. If they did, they’d try to take her from us. Neressa is the only one who knows. I’ve made mistakes, too many to count. I’ve failed her as a father, and I know that. But one day, I pray she’ll understand the weight I’ve carried, and why I did what I had to do.
I know you're still out there. When your body returned to the sea, you likely lost your memory, but I didn’t. Not for a second. I remember everything. The sound of your laugh, the storm in your eyes, the calm in your touch. You were the fiercest soul to ever cross my path, and the sea has been colder without you.
I swear on the Soul herself, I’ll find you. And when I do, I’ll bring you back to me. I’ll make you remember. I’ve searched the entire ocean for you, and now I know where you are. These coordinates are a promise. I’m coming.
Mira will have her mother again, even if we’re separated by water and sky. She’s more like you than you know. I know she can breathe beneath the surface, she just doesn’t know it yet. She belongs to the tides, like her mother. Teach her, when the time comes. Even if you can’t be beside her, you live in her. She carries you, always.
I’ll never stop searching. Till the sea swallows me and the stars burn out.
Yours Always, Bleu
Tears burn hot trails down my cheeks as I read, my vision blurring with every word. I glance at the date. He wrote this the day he was taken by the sea, dragged into the depths by a siren. My father must have hidden the letter and coordinates when we entered the battle that took his life.
