{Hi hello yes. This is a long intro so I totally will forgive any and all for skipping, as I totally just wrote a timeline at 7am. I apologize for the poor editing of this chapter and the potentially different sounding tone. Remember, review!}

You may thank the lovely lovely Laurie Forest for this chapter. A quick but not quick rundown for y'all; I started this chapter...hmm, idk, maybe right after I posted the last one? I got to the third sentence before the writers block/burnout/depression/whatever it is that's wrong stopped me. I left it alone and guilty stared at the fresh document for weeks. Flash forward to today, where I vented to my friend at at around 3pm and realized how angry I was just in general at some very small things. Like; the dishes weren't done downstairs, I had a fight with my sister a few weeks ago that everyone's ignoring how badly she hurt me, my room is a complete mess and I can't stand staring at my unpacked and somehow overflowing suitcase a minute longer, that I desperately need to read something new and great, that my internship which was supposed to be my one good news in months is just adding more grief and making me feel like I really am worthless, and finally, that I have two new books I could read tonight.

Now, I started on the other one, a book called Shear Water by an author that's on the book cover I currently cannot see from my position of sitting on my bed. I liked the prologue, but then the first two pages of the first chapter made me shake my head for some reason and therefore I put it down again. At this point, it was around 6pm, and I had taken out my frustrations on my suitcase and dirty room plus the dishes. My room was clean and outside it was just barely raining. I was sweating profusely and still kinda fuming. I wanted to jump in the pool, but my dad warned me that dinner was gonna be ready in only a minute. I stuck my feet in the pool instead and let the water completely chill me to the bones. My mom arrived and I went in for dinner. We ate as a family, it was totally fine until my sister argued with my family. I thought she was probably in the wrong, but watching her just tapping her fingers against the table in an annoyed "I'm better than this" fashion that made me grit my teeth. Then, I came upstairs. I played Just Dance, and finally grabbed the other book I could read tonight.

This book immediately grabbed my attention. I read the first three chapters and then realized I would not be able to put this book down easily. I read, and read, and read - until it was around 1am where I flung myself off my bed and desperately grabbed my laptop. I continued this chapter a little. Then I closed my laptop and read a few hours more. Then I went back to my laptop. So the cycle continued until now. It's currently 7am, I don't feel the least bit exhausted, and I have a completed chapter for you.

So yeah. Basically, everyone go read The Black Witch right now. It's an amazing fantasy that I'm in love with, and it has given me the freshest burst of inspiration I've felt in almost a year.

I'm still going through a lot, and I thank all of you for your patience. As the summer inches away, I'm feeling reflective and I want to say thank you all so so so much for reading this. You're comments, you're favorites, you're kindness - all of it really just means the world to me. I've reread the first chapters and remembered the feelings I had when that was written, and I will say that the growth of this little story and the growth of me is in a large part due to all of you.

Okay! I've rambled enough, you want to actually read the chapter chapter now, and I still need to finish The Black Witch. I've got about a hundred pages left. She's a hefty one, I love her so much haha. Thank you for hanging in there with me, and remember, review!

The voice made Shirayuki's eyes fling open. She took a steadying breath. That was a dream. She thought to herself. She had her pin, after all. No way did she hear that voce again.

"No, it wasn't. Are you awake? Can I speak to you yet?"

Shirayuki forced herself to sit up. She began to scramble around in the mess of sleeping bags to find her hairpin. She finally sat back with a cough.

"Look up."

Shirayuki winced, but did so. Her head felt heavier on her shoulders and her hair fell past her shoulders in tremendous waves.

Standing at the edge of her make shift mattress was a completely soaked, small man. He had golden hair and four wings, plus a tail. He was holding her pin, looking annoyed.

Shirayuki blinked. "I'm hallucinating."

The thing rolled its eyes. "Don't be stupid."

Shirayuki felt up for her head, brushing her hair back. "What time is it?"

"It's about three am." Her father's voice said, in a dialect she never remembered him speaking in.

She shivered and coughed. She wiped her nose and glared at the man. "That's you imitating my father, right?"

"Yes."

"Stop." Shirayuki demanded.

The man looked amused. "Forgive me, would you prefer a voice – like this?"

Shirayuki flinched at the voice of her grandfather. "No."

"How about this one?"

Her grandmother. "Definitely not."

"This one?"

She blinked. "Good impression of Kihal, but still no."

"This one, then."

Obi's voice sent a jolt down her spine. "Whatever, fine. Can't you just speak with your own voice?"

"Afraid not. I don't speak like you do."

"Well then jut pick a voice that's not hauntingly familiar and making me homesick." Shirayuki turned away to cough.

"This one doesn't remind you of home, does it?"

Shirayuki stilled. She turned to glare at the man. "That's not funny."

The man smirked. "Really? I think it's hilarious. You should have seen him earlier, doing everything he could to protect you."

"Excuse me? Nevermind, just – stop it."

The man sat, folding his legs and running his hand down the pin. "He rushed out to lead away the pirates who were coming to kill you and him. He had divine intervention, so I'm sure he'll unfortunately make it out alive. I'm surprised you don't want to here his voice. You don't want to hear him waking you up? Odd."

Shirayuki took a deep breath and leaned forward. "I don't know what kind of sick game you think this is, little man. But know I'm not one to be trifled with. I don't feel good, and I don't appreciate you're weird little threats."

The man blinked. "Oh, I'm not trying to threaten. The Prince already paid me to stop trying to hurt you. Instead, I just wanted to talk to you, as your Prince was very rude to me."

Shirayuki felt her eyes burn, with sickness or with magic, she wasn't totally sure. "I can understand why, you've been tormenting us all day. I didn't appreciate what you did to me, earlier."

The man dipped his head. "That's how I know it was a job well done."

Shirayuki wanted to vomit. She sat back. "Can you just…go back to speaking like Obi?"

The man grinned, his teeth sharper than a shark's and bloodied. "Most people like it when I speak in the voice of their lovers. Did you know, I've been paid to whisper sweet nothings to them in imitation before?"

"Zen is not my lover!" Shirayuki yelled, cutting herself off with a heavy cough. "You're disgusting. Give me back my pin or get out of my tent."

The man shrugged. "I would give you back the pin, but then you won't hear me. Listen, I want to make a deal with you."

"No, thank you." Shirayuki said sharply.

"Come on! Give me a chance here." The little man's wings flicked irritably.

Shirayuki leaned forward and made a lunge for her pin. The man jumped with surprising speed, flipping backwards out of her reach. She huffed and coughed. "I know all about making deals with magical creatures, it never works."

The man smirked. "From one magical creature to another. Fine. No point trying to play you like a human." His wings straightened and his tail dragged across the ground. "The man who hired me. I want you to find him and kill him."

Shirayuki blinked. "Wait…what?"

The man nodded once. "See, I'm a will o whisp. We aren't meant to be paid again and again, passed off from one human to another. But this man, he's got me caught. I'm so deep in his debt that even if he passes by mortal means, I'll still have to serve him."

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Shirayuki put her hands up. "Slow down. There's a lot to process there." She took a deep breath. "Starting off, what's a will-o-whisp? And why are you still talking in Zen's voice?"

He smiles again. "To mess with you." That, being the most Zen – like sentence the whisp has uttered so far, sent a chill down Shirayuki's spine. "How could you not know of us?" Alarmingly, he began to glow a chilly blue – different than that found in the ocean. "We are the keepers of eternal flames, we know the future and lead people to their destiny."

Shirayuki blinked, eyes having to adjust to the blue light. It drowned everything else in the tent, the walls blue, their sleeping bags blue, the only other color shades of black where there was not that same shade. "But you just said you were indebted, and paid off."

"Times change. We are fae, after all. If a mortal can access us and strike deals with us, then we must complete our end of the bargain."

Shirayuki shifted, feeling a little less weary that the man might attack her. "I'm a mermaid – we haven't changed for hundreds of years."

The man looked down at the pin, the pearls it adorned itself with glowing blue as well. "Ah, yes. Life Below Surface is so much slower, so much easier."

Shirayuki barked a croaky laugh. "Sounds like something someone from Above Surface would say."

The man shook his head. "We are getting off topic. Will you kill this man or not?"

"About that," Shirayuki hummed. "We are being hunted. Someone is planning to and is well on their way to destroy the ocean and potentially the Clarines kingdom. Zen and I are trying to find them and stop them. Is this man you keep referring to the same guy?"

The whisp looked thoughtful. His glow lessened, slowly fading out. Shirayuki shook her head at the change in brightness – god, human eyes were so slow at adjusting. "I…I cannot be sure. The man is powerful, he has killed many before and he will continue to kill many more. Hence why I am so indebted. I have never heard him musing of destroying the ocean or Clarines before."

Shirayuki sneezed, wiping her nose on a towel Zen had left for her. "So, you think so but you aren't sure?"

The whisp nodded.

Shirayuki took a moment to breathe. She missed the brush of the tides, physically feeling the more around her. How else would she know she wasn't alone? "God, I need the real Zen." She looked the man in the eye. "Alright. Let me ask you this – has this person you serve ever mentioned pirates or nightmares?"

The whisp shook his head. "Not to my knowledge."

Shirayuki brushed her hair back, aggravatedly taking her hands free of her hair when it was tangled in her fingers. "Alright. Whisp, I can't promise you anything. What were your orderings concerning Zen and I specifically?"

The whisp paused. Then, still in Zen's voice, but in a tone Shirayuki had never heard him speak in before; "Drive them mad. Make the girl throw herself back into the ocean and drown. Have the Prince write in agony until he cannot take it any longer and slits his own throat."

Shirayuki physically recoiled. Zen would never hiss like that, enjoy the descriptions of death and suicide so easily. A flash of anger rolled through Shirayuki, but she bit it back. "Wow." She managed instead.

The whisp nodded, then actually frowned – a pained expression glazing over its inhumane eyes. "I have killed many for this man. I have hurt and created agony and strife." The man shuddered, and sat down. "I do not like this life. I wish to return to my people, back to the safety of the deep forests – where humans cannot find us. I wish I had another chance, I wish I could take back what I have done."

Shirayuki blinked. She narrowed her eyes. "Most magical creatures do not have morals."

The whisp snapped its head up at her. "These are not morals. This is about freedom. Fae crave it more than anything." He shuddered and hugged himself. "He trapped me in an iron cage once. For days."

Shirayuki stiffened. "H-How did you survive?"

"I flew. Right there in place, for that long. It burned my essence and I wanted to give up, but I couldn't. My debt said it was so."

Shirayuki couldn't help but feel sympathy swell. Iron burned every magical creature. Shirayuki remembered the sting on her palms from holding Zen's chains – back on the very first day she had met him and dragged him from death. "Is killing this person the only way to free you?" Shirayuki whispered. "What else can I do?"

The little man looked up at her, eyes hopeful. "You would help me?"

"Potentially." Shirayuki warned, her throat tight. "You said you were a fae. They are untrustworthy beings, we have a few who live in the shallows of the ocean. They care only for themselves and if I am not careful, you will trick me into servicing you."

The whisp rolled his eyes. "I am far too desperate to think I can gain anything from you. What would I possibly want with a mermaid trapped in legs? I want to go home."

That line, too, was too similar to Zen. Shirayuki steadied her breath. "Tell me another way to help you besides killing this man."

There was a tense silence. The man stood, hands at his sides and clutched into fists. "You could offer me some of your blood. I would use it as protection and as wards, I could use it to escape from him."

Shirayuki's blood ran cold in her arms at the suggestion. Quickly, she swiped the pin and placed it in her hair. The man looked aghast, but she heard nothing. She unsteadily stood, marching past him and out to the river. Only a slightly panicked River met her in the clearing. Thunder and Zen were nowhere to be found. Shirayuki marched over to River's side and opened her arms. He trotted over and put his head into her grasp with a huge sigh. Shirayuki heard a faint buzz and turned her head to see the whisp, flying desperately near her. He grasped his hands together pleadingly.

She snarled at him. "I will never give my blood to a fae."

The man's wings were still wet, and he missed a beat because of that. His wings brushed against each other and he tumbled to the ground, sending a poof of the gentle white blessing all over him, marking him.

That made Shirayuki pause. This creature who had tormented them earlier with such horrible thoughts…had the Moon's blessing and protection? With a sigh, she pulled out the pin and stuck it in River's mane. The horse blinked. "It looks beautiful." She reassured, although she wasn't sure if that was what the horse was asking. The once mermaid turned and knelt, looking at the whisp.

"You can have perks, too, from this deal." Zen's voice was broken and whispered. The whisp wasn't bothering to get back up from the ground. His wings glowed in the moonlight.

"Oh, the lovely perks of having my soul and personality be stolen from me forever? Yes, I would love that." Shirayuki scoffed.

"You are mistaking me for a regular fae. I don't wish for mischief or harm, I just want to go home."

Shirayuki found herself relating to that sentiment all too easily. She closed her eyes, and remembered the rush of salt, the way the ocean played with her hair. She remembered being a child, chasing her dad through the waves, laughing as he tossed her out of the water only for the ocean to swell up and catch her, then her father curling up with her and spinning around with her. She remembered dancing, dancing with Zen, laughing with Kihal. She remembered when her pod was bigger, she remembered the sea.

Tears sprung at her eyes and she angrily wiped them away. "Okay, listen." She managed. "Explain to me exactly, and with no tricks, what giving you my blood would do."

The man shakily sat up. "After given your blood, I would keep it with me in a small unbreakable vial of fire. I would return to him, announce that I could not kill you as I was bargained to not touch you. He would get mad and attempt to strike me or torture me. I would throw your blood on him, and the binding would burn him in retribution for attempting to break an fae's deal."

Shirayuki nodded. "And…?"

"Once the blood has been used, it will fade. You will know his name, but I will be free to leave. Attempting to intervene with a deal sealed by blood is-"

"I know that much." Shirayuki waved her hand. She stood up and leaned on River heavily, feeling dizzy. "I would know his name?" She asked.

The whisp nodded.

Shirayuki bit her lip. Was it just the fever, or was she actually considering this deal? "And after that? What would happen?"

"I would go home. I would be free of my debt, he would never be able to call me again."

"And for me?"

"You will know his name. You will have my eternal gratitude. And you will continue to live the rest of your life with just a scar to remind you of the deal."

"Just a physical scar?"

"Yes. Not unlike those bite marks on your shoulder."

Shirayuki instinctively reached up and touched her shoulder – where one of the electric eels had bitten her. She looked to River, who stared back into her eyes. The big brown eyes wasn't necessarily begging, but it was asking her something. She reached around and ran her hand over River's cheek. "Are you a hippocampus?" She whispered, as an afterthought.

River did not react, just stared at her with that same consistency.

"What is your answer, mer?" The whisp asked, a little bit of hope creeping into his voice.

Shirayuki took a deep breath. She lifted her hand straight up and held it open.

The dagger zipped through the air and obediently landed in her palm. She brought it down and knelt on the grass. River knelt next to her. The whisp gasped aloud.

Shirayuki leveled the knife over her palm with a shaky breath.