The brine dancing in the blustering winds sung to the song swimming in Kealie's veins. She'd sung back to it from time to time, tender and soft.

But she had gone too far.

So said the grip clutching her arm through a thick, embroidered cloak.

Kealie knew - as her mother hauled her through the dark night of fishing ports and crackling fires - she would never hear the aquatic songs again. Knew too, that the moonlight caressing her cheeks would no longer bolster the waves should she want them to roll.

Lost to every secret the tides had ever whispered to her and stolen from their soothing memories.

She'd done it this time, the nails piercing through soft fabric and into her skin told her. Kealie's mother dragged her small, stumbling frame through two different towns to the very outskirts, mumbling spitefully to herself.

The storms churned overhead, just like the pit of emotions swelling in Kealie's stomach.

Warm heat froze over as they reached a door and her mother quickly pushed through, tossing her inside.

Kealie scrambled on the floor, knees buckling when she tried to stand. Keeping her head down, afraid to look through the golden locks of hair falling before her vision, she trembled.

"Naida!" A sharp voice snapped.

"I do not care what you must do, I do not care what may happen," her mother hissed. "You are to fix her!"

Catching a glimpse of the Caster, fully clothed in various leathers, Kealie winced.

She'd begged before, pleaded with her mother not to take this strange magic away. She'd do better. She'd try harder.

She'd said those words so many times.

"Fix her?" The Caster echoed, a soft murmur now. "What must be fixed?"

"Carve it out if you must," Kealie's mother snapped, glaring down at her. "I want her Human by morning."

Kealie swallowed roughly, trembling again as the sound of boots stepping closer and closer to her small frame went from minutes to seconds away. They paused before her, the woman squatting down and taking Kealie's chin in her hands.

She tipped it up, examining her features.

"There is no such spell, no potion that can cleanse her overnight," the Caster said. "Only an enchantment, a blessing that may hide her until she is old enough to trade her Mortality."

Her mother's brows furrowed, unsure or unaware she didn't know.

Naida had heard of those who had traded their immortality, but never their mortal soul.

"She will seal herself at twenty, when the sun begins to set. Though she will be human, she will sacrifice her human lifespan in order to wash away the Nerydian blood."

"But she'll be human?"

"Yes," the Caster said. "She will be human, so long as she never speaks of it again."

Tears filled Kealie's eyes, quietly running down her cheeks and dripping onto the wooden floor beneath. Thunder began to stir, the clouds growing far darker, more ominous than anytime before.

Immortal.

Alone, without her sea.

"From this day forward, you cannot touch your magic," she instructed, speaking to Kealie now. "You will feel it, but this spell comes at a cost. It will only work should you never use or speak of it again. One slip and it's broken."

Her mother glowered at her now, searing her command into Kealie's neck without so much as speaking. So much weight lay there. An order and a sentence.

Kealie nodded, tears transforming into a muffled sob.

The woman saw this too, saw the damnation in her mother's eyes, and growled.

"Leave me," the Caster snapped to her mother. "I don't need an audience."

Her mother obeyed, leaving with nothing more than a slamming door in her wake.

The woman stood, hoisting Kealie to her feet and ushering her to a tiny stool in the corner. There Kealie was to sit in front of a standing mirror, ancient wood carved into a golden frame.

The Caster worked efficiently in the kitchen, grabbing all sorts of ingredients from her cupboard and grinding them down into a fine powder.

Kealie did not know what they were, only admiring the woman's strong arms as she pressed the pestle to mortar. She whispered to the ingredients the way Kealie whispered to the sea.

She then watched the woman take to her selection of vials and poured two straight into the powder. A crackling lifted into the air, warming Kealie's ears. It smelled of coastal storms and toasted mellows.

Her mouth began to water just as the Caster turned on her heel and brought a small wooden cup to the child's mouth, skipping over her hands.

"Drink up," she whispered, watching the girl with midnight eyes. "This shall contain the power and bind the spell."

Fearfully, Kealie pressed her lips to the cup and eyed the liquid inside. Fluorescent and swirling. Alive. She drank quickly, swallowing the embers of magic at once. She felt her veins begin to burn, felt the cold creeping through her spine.

The Caster vanished into another room, reappearing with a thin jade necklace chained in silver. She weaved through the messy room with ease, dodging past a stack of books and coming to stand behind Kealie, herself.

"You mustn't tell a single soul, young one," she said, humming quietly. The enchantment tingled in her blood. "You will not survive it."

Kealie's big eyes went wider as the Caster brought the jewelry down over her face, hesitating. Finally, the young girl watched in the mirror as the necklace clasped behind her neck.

The beautiful scales of blue and gold vanished from her hairline, the fins lining her back all replaced by flawless, pale skin. Her emerald eyes began to dim and shrink ever so slightly, fading to a pale forest green.

Her beloved waves of golden hair faded into a pale blonde sheet of tangles, straightening at the ends.

Then came her senses, vision waning and growing fuzzy.

Kealie sucked in a deep breath, savoring the last chord from the sea beyond.

It was swallowed by empty silence. 

Hi Everyone!!

Thank you for reading! Two things!

First and foremost, my current word count is 1004! Woohoo!

Secondly, this is my first time writing in the third person in likely 4 years. Normally I write in first but I really wanted to do something different this time. So in case there are minor slip-ups and such, I'm sorry but I know XD

Good luck Friends!!!