Page 87 of Seas the Reckoning

The note is just a note. Just words on paper.

“What does it say?” Starla calls from her place on the sand, not bothering to get up quite yet.

I focus on the writing, anticipating steps for a ritual or something, to break the curse here and now.

Wretched Descendant,

Wretched, because you are doubtless as trapped by this curse as I am. My voice hindered, its very use bringing destruction instead of the results I crave.

I cannot sing even a note now without fear that these walls will crash down around me. Perhaps that wouldn’t be so bad.

I allowed myself to be fooled. To think that someone I lured to me with my song had truly fallen for me, but it was a lie. A self-deception of the worst kind. When his real love returned, he was more than happy to leave me, along with the child he will never know.

I am left with a curse. If the witch is to be believed, it will follow my family until another siren is born. I almost hope you don’t exist. That no one ever shows up to read this letter. Maybe the witch is less powerful than she claims, but I can feel it in my own ruined magic that she might be right.

If her curse really is strong enough to linger for generations, may you have better luck than I.

If you have found me, you found the shell. I will pass it down through the family. It cost a fortune to have made, but a siren can sing a fortune to herself, and I had mine long before my song was stolen from me. A little gift, to ensure you had at least a chance of meeting the requirements for breaking this curse.

The shell can hold magic. It can contain a voice.

You must be willing to relinquish your song to the witch who holds your fate in her hands.

It’s more than I am able to do, and I cannot fathom how you will manage it. To trust a witch? To trust the witch with the power to take your voice and use it as her own forever? Unthinkable.

But I did not create this curse. I can only abide by its rules.

If by some miracle of the tides you have made it here with the shell, and the witch, you must sing into it and offer your voice to her.

Then, you must return home. This is the most important piece. The song must be relinquished here, where the curse originated, but it can only be returned in your own waters. Maybe your home is close, and this part of the task will be simple. If your fate has taken you far from these waters, you will be facing a journey, but you must wait until you’re at the correct location before the witch gives your voice back. If you do not, the song will be lost forever.

The witch decides your fate. Once in your own waters, she can give your song to you, or she can take it for herself. Another trick set by the one who cursed us. After all, why would any witch return a power this strong when she could just as easily keep it for herself?

I was unable to best my foe in this life, but I did my research. I dedicated years to it. My voice has faded, but her gifts will as well. She has tied too much magic into this curse, and her line’s key for such magic will dwindle.

Breaking the curse may also return it. If you must bribe the witch, do so with that knowledge.

Inktus

I squeeze my fists around the paper, emotions a. If the two of them could have made peace, we wouldn’t be here now. I’d have a song I was unafraid to use, and Starla might have a powerful key.

Their selfishness spilled over through generations, and there’s no way to take it back. Only to move forward.

Without a word, I pass the letter to Starla. Tears swim in her eyes as she reads. When she’s finished, she passes it back to me.

“It all comes down to your choice, Leena. Do you trust me?”

“Of course I do,” I say without a moment of hesitation.

My great-great-grandmother may have thought the terms of the curse were impossible; Starla’s ancestor probably thought the same when she set them.

We’ve already proven them wrong. The hardest step is already done.

“When this is over, you might have a stronger key. One for cursing,” I tell her.

Or maybe she’ll just have the ability to pass it on. Either way, a warlock like Azriel Taylor would care deeply about such a detail. Starla just waves the possibility off.

“Since when have I needed a stronger key to be fabulous?”