Pretie tossed the prince to the ground, utilizing the remnants of the ebbing waves to glide over to where Ephyra still lay limp on the sand. The mermaid's eyebrows were furrowed, her eyes pressed closed. Her lips were parted just enough to release another soft, pained noise. Pretie grabbed her hand from where it was curled weakly across her wounded abdomen. She didn't care about the dark, crimson blood dampening her palm; she didn't even care about the panting, wide-eyed boy stumbling away from the scene, stopping only to snatch a round, glittering object from the ground. 

"Good," she growled, barely sparing the prince a second glance as he burst into a run. "Go away. If I see you again..." Pretie didn't bother to finish the threat. She just turned to the mermaid lying before her. Her bronze skin was oddly dull, its color fading along with the light of the sunset.

"No, please," she whispered, twining her fingers through Ephyra's. "You can't... You can't leave, please."

Pretie didn't feel the tears streaming down her face until she saw them drip onto the sand below. She brushed her thumb across the back of Ephyra's limp hand, shaking her head. "I am literally begging you right now, you can't die on me. Not like this." She bit down hard on her bottom lip, needing something to hold her back from the full-on sobs she knew would soon wrack her body. "I'm a gods-damned princess, you have to listen to me."

She felt the mermaid's hand twitch in her grip, and Pretie's gaze darted immediately to Ephyra's face. Her eyes had opened part-way as she blinked blearily up at Pretie.

"I didn't... I didn't break... Our promise." The mermaid managed to mumble, her words so faint that Pretie had to lean in even closer to catch them. Ephyra let out a shuddering breath, grimacing with the pain the small movement must have generated.

"What?" Pretie forced a gentle smile, tracing comforting circles across the back of her hand. "What promise?"

"Like, with my scars... This wasn't... I wasn't trying to..."

"Shh," the girl whispered, her own body trembling as she fought to keep her emotions in check. "I know. This wasn't your fault. None of it was. You don't deserve this."

Ephyra managed a faint nod, her lips pressed tightly together.

"We're going to... You're going to... It'll be alright," Pretie murmured. "Please, just hang in a moment more..."

A pained smile tugged at Ephyra's lips. "Don't... Don't worry about... About me, Prettypants."

Pretie shook her head. "No. I'll worry about you if I want to, and... And I'm choosing to worry about you, because... I care about you. Like, a lot. I care about you, and that's what people do when they care about someone. They worry. When something bad happens to them, they worry, and— I've never worried like this about anyone, but... I don't want to see you like this, Eph."

The mermaid's head lolled her way. Her dark eyes were hardly more than slits; she was clearly struggling to keep them open as she threatened to tip into unconsciousness. "You don't have to... Don't have..."

"I'm staying." While Pretie could only assume that was what the mermaid was intending to tell her, she was set on her words. She leaned over Ephyra's body, pressing her forehead to hers. "I'm staying here, with you. You have me, okay? I'm not going anywhere."

Ephyra didn't respond, but Pretie listened as her breath hitched in her throat. The girl tightened her hold on the mermaid's hand. Please, she found herself silently praying. Please, gods, don't take her. You can't take her from me.

A splash made Pretie lift her head—albeit reluctantly—from Ephyra's. Melody and Krill had finally made it to shore, their eyes wide in shock as they took in the blood-stained sand and the mermaid lying atop it.

"We didn't realize— When you two didn't meet us at the center sea stack, we started to head over to the one closest to shore, where you were looking, and... We saw the blood, but we didn't..." Krill shook his head, staring at Ephyra's limp form. 

A sob wracked Pretie's body, her emotions finally overflowing as the two mermaids approached. "We found the stone, but then there was Prince Virid, and a harpoon, and I think I somehow summoned the ocean... Oh my gods, please... You have to do something. Ephyra can't— She can't be—"

"You called forth the sea. You really are a mermaid." Krill murmured thoughtfully. His brow furrowed as he scooted closer, his not-quite-electric green eyes fixed on Ephyra. "Oh, Phyra..."

Pretie watched, holding her breath, as his gaze drifted to the mermaid's wound. She didn't miss the moment his jaw clenched a bit tighter. "Please," she found herself whispering as Krill's eyes remained on the mermaid's abdomen. "She can't just leave me like this."

His gaze flitted to hers, his eyebrows twitching upward. "Almost ironic, considering you were about to do the same to her." Before Pretie could fully fathom what he meant—let alone get a word in—Krill's stare had dropped to Ephyra again. "It's... Possible, maybe, to heal her before her wound gets any worse. How long ago was she struck?"

The girl shrugged, offering him a helpless shake of her head. "I'm not entirely sure. It was all a blur." She looked at the horizon. The sun had dropped completely beneath it in the time since she'd last spared it a glance. "Oh! The sun! It hadn't set yet when the harpoon was thrown."

Krill hummed thoughtfully. The grimace contorting his features was far from hopeful. "It may be too late to do anything of value. If anything important was punctured when she was hit..."

"No." Pretie snapped. Krill's gaze leapt to hers, his concern momentarily fading to curiosity—as faint as the emotion was to detect. "We have to try. We can't just sit by and watch her..." She shook her head, unable to continue.

Melody and Krill shared a look.

"So, I guess you're new to mermaid culture," Melody spoke after a moment, her arms wrapped around herself in a tight hug. "But there's this sort of special-healing-magic thing we can do. It requires more than one of us, but, essentially, we use the magic in our cores—the same that connects us to the sea—to merge with that in the injured mermaid's core. Then, that combined magic boosts the injured mermaid's natural healing process—"

"It's a way to speed up healing," Krill translated, glancing between Melody and Pretie. "It's... Tricky, especially for someone who has never triggered it before. But, between the three of us..." His eyes drifted once more to Ephyra. The mermaid's breathing had grown fainter, her chest barely twitching with each rise and fall. "We'll give it our best shot."

"If there's a chance, then I'm in," Pretie blurted immediately. "How do we do this?"

｡𖦹 °

The ritual began with holding hands. Krill and Melody shifted closer to Ephyra, sitting opposite Pretie. They linked arms with each other, then offered their free hands to the girl before them. She swallowed, reluctantly releasing Ephyra's hand to take theirs. We're going to save you, she silently promised. Pretie hoped beyond hope that the words wouldn't be a lie.

"Reach for your link with the ocean," Krill murmured. "That's the same one you used earlier, if you were speaking truthfully about what happened while we were gone, Pretie."

The girl released a breath, meeting his eyes. "I... I don't know how. When I did it before, the water came without my trying to control it. It was pure instinct, I guess. But I'm not sure how to bring it back, now that I'm actually trying to summon it."

"Try to think back on how it felt to do it before, what you were feeling when the ocean last answered your call. You must have done something to solidify the connection." Krill tilted his head, studying her with placid interest. "Take all the time you need."

"Actually, we're kind of butting up against a hard deadline here," Melody blurted, biting her lip. "If we can't do this quickly, we'll lose our shot at—"

"I think we understand the severity." Krill reminded her gently. The gaze he offered Melody seemed almost too intimate for Pretie to see. She let her gaze drop to Ephyra.

What was I feeling at the time? She asked herself as she stared at the mermaid's slackened face. She forced herself to recall the moment she saw Virid and the second harpoon clutched in his hands, the lack of guilt on his features as he stared at the mermaid he'd wounded. He'd been prepared to finish her off—had held no regret except that he hadn't killed her in the first place—and Pretie couldn't let that happen. She remembered the anger she'd felt, the absolute refusal to allow him anywhere near Ephyra.

But why were you so mad? A voice in her head asked when she didn't feel the sea respond to her rage like it had before. What drew you to lash out at the prince? Your own search for revenge, sure, but... There was something more driving you forward. Wasn't there?

Pretie stared down at Ephyra, contemplative. I was mad because... I couldn't stand to see her get hurt. But... Why? That seemed to be the question that continued to echo in her mind, asking her to finally admit what she knew—however deep down—was true. Why? Why do you care enough to do any of this? 

It wasn't like you chose to take this form, she reminded herself. This is supposed to be a curse. You should hate this. So, why do you care?

Her eyes traced a loose hair framing Ephyra's face. I care because... As she watched the mermaid's chest shudder with a weak breath, Pretie felt a sudden swell of emotion. She'd never felt anything quite like what fluttered in her chest right then. It took her a moment to recognize the feeling. I care because... I care about her. I care about her so deeply.

Pretie hadn't known Ephyra her entire life—yet, somehow, she felt more connected to the mermaid than she ever had to anyone else. While Pretie had never believed in fate, she could almost agree that it had drawn them together. Fate, luck, chance—whatever it was, it had allowed Pretie to meet the clever, brilliant, strong-willed, beautiful being that was Ephyra. As Pretie's gaze followed the sharp cut of her jawline and the scar that marked her cheek, she felt something like a tsunami rage within her. She shut her eyes, welcoming the current swelling within her mind. The water lapping at her tail rushed up to meet her.

"That's it," Krill whispered, giving Pretie's hand a squeeze. "You've got it. Now, let it come forward to twine with ours."

As Pretie pressed her lips together in concentration, she imagined the thrall of the sea inside her plunging down her arms to their linked hands. She could feel the moment the magic met Krill and Melody's—it was like waves meeting just before they reached the shore, throwing themselves together to hit the sand with their combined power. The rush heightened, roaring within Pretie's mind.

"Pretie, in a moment, I'm going to ask you to release my hand."

Hesitant, Pretie opened her eyes to find that Krill was staring across at her. In her periphery, she could see the water that swelled around the group, spinning to create a circle that cut them off from the rest of the world. The tide rumbled in her ears. Krill gave her a nod. "You should be the one to finish this."

"But, as you said, I've never done this—"

"Just, trust me," he murmured in a low voice. "I'm going to count you off when I've sensed the magic has built to a significant amount. On my signal, let go of my hand and set your palm atop Ephyra's chest."

"Okay," she whispered breathlessly. "Okay."

As Krill's eyes slid closed, Pretie let hers do the same. She focused on the waves swelling in her mind, the thrum of the tide reverberating in her chest. 

"Three..."

She could hear the roar in her ears. She felt a tear slip down her cheek, summoned from the mishmash of fear, longing, and desperate hope that warred inside her.

"Two..."

Pretie could feel the ocean lapping at her fins, its coolness in stark comparison to the warm sand beneath her. You can do this, it seemed to assure her. I'm on your side.

"One."

Taking a breath, the girl released Krill's hand, dropping it to rest on top of Ephyra. She blinked her eyes open for a moment—just long enough to see the way the waves spun around them, blocking off the sky above to close them into the surrounding orb of seawater—before she squeezed them shut, forcing herself to focus on channeling the tide to the mermaid lying before them. The water rained down around them as the mermaids released their hold, surprisingly gentle despite its towering swells. Pretie let her eyes slide open once again to watch as the water came together to plunge toward Ephyra. She sucked in a breath as the sea caught the mermaid up in its arms, swirling around Ephyra like it was wrapping her up in a cocoon.

Pretie stared in paralyzed amazement as the water took on a glow before her very eyes. It flickered with shimmering blue light, streaming around Ephyra in great, gleaming tendrils. Her eyes went wide as the light flickered toward the mermaid's abdomen. It bunched in the area of the wound, glowing even brighter. Pretie ignored the instinct to shield her eyes as the flickering blue blazed more intensely before it slowly faded to its previous color. The water trickled away as the glow dimmed, returning to the ocean it had come from and leaving nothing but Ephyra's limp body in its wake.

For a moment, Pretie thought nothing had changed. The mermaid was just as motionless as she'd been before the ritual, her eyes still squeezed shut. Pretie opened her mouth to voice her concern, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes, before she let her gaze drift to Ephyra's wound. It's gone, she realized, raising her eyebrows. We healed her. The only evidence the mermaid had been hurt was the sunburst-shaped scar marking her abdomen.

But why isn't she waking up?

Pretie grabbed for Ephyra's hand. "No."

"It must have been too severe," Krill murmured, grief darkening his words. "We... We did our best."

Tears pooled in the girl's eyes. She shook her head in disbelief. For someone so full of life to suddenly be... She choked on a sob, squeezing the mermaid's hand.

The mermaid squeezed back.

Pretie gasped, her gaze leaping to Ephyra's face just in time to watch the mermaid's eyes flutter open. Her eyebrows twitched, her whole face scrunched as if she was trying to remember how to use the required muscles. Finally, she managed a small smile. "Hey, Prettypants."

Pretie couldn't decide what to say. I'm so happy you're alive. Don't you dare do that to me again. I think I might be in love with— Eventually, she landed on an answer that didn't require any words. Her mind a flurry of relief and yearning and heart-stopping fear at what could have just happened, at what she was sure did just happen, Pretie tugged the mermaid up by the netted material of her shirt and pressed her lips to Ephyra's.

The mermaid responded at once, her fingers tangling in Pretie's hair as she drew closer and pulled herself into a sitting position. The girl was surprised by how right it felt to kiss Ephyra. She tasted like saltwater; she tasted like summer. 

She tasted like coming home.