My eyes widened and I swam back away from it, smacking into a wall again, then shoving to the other side as a big ugly fish with a slack jaw full of teeth and a little light hanging in front of its face swam towards me. “What are you talking about?” I asked, fear finally starting to overpower my limbs.
“Don’t be so dramatic,” the voice teased me. “It’s not hard I will give you the tools you need. All you have to do is bring the souls to me. Any 100 souls you please, and then when your two years are up, and I have my souls, I’ll set you free.”
“Free from what?” I asked, looking around for the way out, intending to just swim away.
A laugh filled my ears. “You remember that deal I asked you to accept?” it asked me. “You agreed to it without even knowing what it was, and I gave you breath. Now, you are in my debt.” My heart sank in my chest. “If you agree to help me get my souls, then I will set you free…but, if you chose to deny my request, you’ll be like that.” The monster raised up its hand and pointed to the hideous fish.
“What?” I said, unable to rationalize in my mind what was happening here.
“Idiot girl!” the voice boomed, frustration creeping into its voice. “You help me, or I turn you into whatever type of hideous creature I deem appropriate!” The voice seemed to calm, and the monster began its slow sway back and forth in front of the orb again. “You make this deal with me, and in two years, you’re back home, in his arms,” it said, Asher’s crying face appearing in the orb again. “You don’t have to do it alone. You’ll have help.” I started to question, but the voice continued. “Help me,” it whispered, the thing an inch from my face now. “I’m giving you a second chance…just say yes.”
I knew it was wrong, but I nodded my head anyway. “Ok,” I whispered, and Asher’s face vanished, the green light coming back and pulsing vigorously. “What do I do?” I asked the orb more so than the monster beside me.
“Go ahead,” the voice whispered, and my pull towards the green glow got stronger. “Touch it.”
I reached out my hand and gently brought my hand down on it. I expected it to be hard, like a marble or ball, but instead, it was gooey, the orb morphing around my hand and growing brighter. I felt a strange sensation take over my body, like electricity pulsing furiously through my veins, making my skin glow with a tinge of green. I tried to yank my hand away, but the orb held onto it, pushing its power through me, making my hair feel like it was all standing on end. I looked over to the monster and fear struck me again as its white eyes began to glow green, light shining from them through the watery darkness, and it began to laugh.
Its body was being swarmed by little green bubbles, blocking my view of it momentarily, and then they began to pop, one at a time and the woman appeared. “My circle is complete!” the woman’s high voice I heard earlier came out of her mouth and she smiled at me, her eyes still white until she blinked and there was a flash of light so bright, I flinched. On her cue the orb released me, and the woman walked over to me on human legs across the cavern floor. “Thank you, my darling,” she whispered to me as my own body stopped floating in the water and I lowered weightlessly to the cavern floor.
She’d been transformed. Her skin was all a porcelain ivory color, and her wild black hair was more tamed, and smooth as it floated around her. Her face was beautiful. Perfectly angular and youthful, her dark brown eyes pierced mine as she smiled beautifully. “Woah,” I whispered, unable to say anything else. She grinned wider, walking over to a dark spot in the cavern I couldn’t see, then reemerging with a silky-looking black robe on that didn’t seem to be affected by the water at all. It clung to her body like it would if she were walking around on dry land.
In her hand, she held a mirror. “Woah is right,” she purred as she handed it over to me.
I took it with shaking hands and looked into it, shocked by my reflection, bringing my free hand up to touch my angelic face.
I’ve never been ugly, and most would have said I was beautiful before, but now…I still looked like me, but even more gorgeous than before. My skin had a flawless glow to it, and my cheekbones were high, accentuating my big green eyes and jet black long lashes. My lips were thick and looked like they had a heavy layer of gloss over them, even though all of my makeup should have been smeared and washed off by now. I looked like an expertly photoshopped version of the me I was before.
When I pulled my eyes away from my face, I caught sight of something new around my neck.
I looked down, trying to lift the teardrop-shaped amulet from the hollow of my neck, but it wouldn’t move, like it was infused to my skin. It was on an immovable gold chain, and in the center piece was a little green stone that glowed like the orb, pulsing with my heartbeat.
“I think we’re going to make a great team,” the sea witch told me, coming to brush her delicate hand across my shoulder. When she touched my skin, I looked down, realizing that the cute cotton dress I’d had on earlier was gone, and now I was in a flowing white gown. It hung down my body just like her robe was, unaffected by the flowing water around us. It was strapless and there was a golden sash tied around my waist. I couldn’t stop thinking I probably looked like I was dressed up as a Greek Goddess for Halloween or something. “You’re not dressed up.” the sea witch said, reading my mind. “You are a goddess now My little goddess of the sea.”
“I don’t understand.” I admitted to her, still feeling really weird about being able to talk and breathe underwater like it was nothing. I caught myself holding my breath even though it was unnecessary.
“You will in time,” she assured me.
“But—” I tried to object, but she shushed me.
“Now, it’s time to meet your sisters.”
Comments (9)
See all