The first crack appeared on my forearm at dawn—a hairline fissure in the skin, faint as a spiderweb, but glowing with a faint blue light. I stared at it, my breath catching, as the light spread outward, branching into veins that pulsed in time with the sea's distant roar.
"Another one," Lila said, her voice trembling. She held a jar of fireflies, their glow dimming in the presence of the blue veins. "They're spreading faster now."
I nodded, my throat tight. The scales had returned overnight, covering my collarbone again, but this time, they were sharper, jagged, as if my skin was turning into broken shards. The bead in my chest pulsed, its rhythm erratic, like a heart in fibrillation.
"We need to go back to the kiln," I said, my voice steadier than I felt. "It's the only place left where I can control the Deep."
Lila hesitated, then nodded. "I'll get the boat ready."
The journey was silent, the sea's surface mirror-like, reflecting the gray sky. When we reached the kiln, its doors were sealed with bone china growths, their surfaces etched with new carvings—scenes of the Deep rising, and a figure that looked like me, its body merging with the ocean.
I pressed my palm to the door, the blue veins on my arm glowing brighter. The carvings dissolved, and the doors creaked open.
Inside, the pedestal held a bone china key, its surface etched with a spiral that matched the bead in my chest.
"Is that…?" Lila began.
"The key to the Deep's throne," I said, my voice hollow. "I can feel it."
I reached for the key, but before my fingers touched it, the ground shook, and tendrils erupted from the walls, wrapping around me.
"Wake her," a voice hissed—a chorus of whispers, familiar and foreign.
The tendrils pulled me into the pedestal, and I felt myself falling, falling, into darkness.
I opened my eyes.
I stood in a vast, submerged city, its buildings made of bone china, their surfaces alive with wriggling tendrils. The Deep's shadow loomed above, but instead of fear, I felt… calling.
A figure emerged from the shadows—Xiao Xu, her face smooth, her eyes glowing with a soft light. "You're one of us now," she said, her voice echoing. "A bridge between worlds."
I reached for her, and she dissolved into tendrils, which wrapped around me, merging with my porcelain skin.
I opened my eyes.
I stood on the beach, the sun warm on my skin. Lila stood next to me, her eyes wide.
"What happened?" she asked.
I looked at my hands—the scales were gone, replaced by smooth, unmarked skin. The bead in my chest had faded.
"The Deep is… balanced," I said. "It's part of me now, and I'm part of it."
Lila nodded, her face solemn. "What now?"
I smiled faintly. "Now, we rebuild."
But as we turned to leave, a single bone china bead washed ashore, its surface etched with a single word:
"Wake."