"It all started with one water nymph," Nadia began. "Her name was Maya, and she fell in love with a human man. She was the belle of the seas, more beautiful than you could imagine. The sea loved her better than anyone else. When it was found that instead of exploring the depths of the ocean, she spent most of her time at the surface, staring at the man she loved, Dylan, the sea was very jealous. Yet it also wished very much for her happiness. So it spit her up onto land, to find her love, but it left her with no memories. She found Dylan just the same. They seemed to be drawn together and loved each other deeply. But the earth would not have it. The earth and the sea are always at odds. The earth does not find it fair that the sea covers so much of the earth and that it can drown out the land so easily. The earth made it its mission to drive Maya and Dylan apart. It used the one weapon they could not find against. The sea itself. Maya loved the sea, and though she could not remember her past with it, the wanting for it drove her to despair. She ran out to it, but she was a water nymph no longer and could not swim as she once had. She drowned in the waves."

I had been in a trance while listening to Nadia, but as she paused, I had time to think about the story, and how much it resembled my own life. Spit up on shore with no memories? Drawn to a certain man, but still in love with the sea? It was me all over. "But how is it a curse?" I asked.

Nadia sighed. "I can't say, exactly. Somehow the earth has cursed us, has forced us to replay Maya's fate again and again. Every fifteen years a water nymph is spit up on shore with no memories. She falls in love with a man who seems to be perfect for her, but ends up drowning in her love of the sea. You met Ava, yes?"

I nodded. "And I had a dream, a dream that she..." I shifted uncomfortably.

Nadia hung her head. "Yes, the curse had just recently been fulfilled once more. However, she endured the sea-wanting longer than anyone ever had. She got married and had a son, even."

"Brennan."

"Yes. He is from the sea, same as you. That is why it is believed that you can break the curse."

"But how?"

"Just resist it, Darya. Love Brennan, more than you love the sea. Don't let yourself fall into the familiar waves of the sea."

I nodded, hesitantly. "I will—try," I said, but the task seemed near to impossible. How could I break a curse that had been going on for who knows how long?

"And you will succeed," Nadia said adamantly.

She took another breath from her conch shell.

We stared at each other a moment longer. Then she got a startled look on her face and whipped her head around, in the direction of Brennan.

"What is it?" I asked.

She glanced at me. "You must go! Back to Brennan, and quickly!"

I was confused, and without hardly knowing what I was doing, I got to my feet and started to jump from rock to rock, back to the shore. I ran as fast as I could. I could tell that something was urgent, though I knew not what.

The rocks were rough on my bare feet, cutting into them as I lost all caution. Then I was on the sand, running through it, kicking it up in clouds around my ankles. I had to get to Brennan. It was the only thing I was aware of.

He was swimming, out far from shore. He appeared to be fine, laughing and splashing.

"Darya!" he called to me when he saw that I was looking at him. "Come and join me!"

I felt cold and numb. The sea was starting to form huge, crashing waves. I watched them toss around, breaking against each other, causing mass confusion. There was a whirlpool that could catch one in its currents and hold one under until all hope of returning to land was lost. It was farther out than Brennan, but quickly moving to the calmer, shallower areas.

I wanted to scream out a warning, but I couldn't move. I was scared. More scared than with the dreams, more scared than when I was turning into a water nymph. Brennan, my Brennan, was likely going to drown. And all I could do was watch.

Brennan could hear the waves before they got to him. He turned around and stared at them. Then they smacked against him. I could hear his yells above the deafening waves. I seemed to break out of my trance.

"Brennan!" I screamed.

I ran to the sea. I had to save him. He'd been there for me, so many times, I had to be there for him now. But I knew I would never survive the whirlpool. I stood up to my thighs in the water, preparing myself to go and try to save him anyway.

Nadia burst out of the water beside me.

I looked at her. "What's going on?" I asked her. "I thought the earth wanted to kill me, not Brennan!"

"Things are different because he is born of a water nymph. More different than we had thought. You were strong, Darya, you could have withheld the curse. I think the earth realized that, so they chose another way to hurt you. Brennan," Nadia looked downcast. "There is no hope now. The curse has succeeded."

No. No. It can't be. I remember her earlier words, Just resist it, Darya. I had to resist it. Even if it was too late. I had to save Brennan, but even if I could not, I had to save the water nymphs, my sisters, from this terrible, terrible curse.

I threw myself at the waves and swam for all I was worth.

"Darya!" I could hear Nadia shout my name, but I ignored her. I had to do this.

I swam right into the whirlpool, trying desperately to find Brennan in the swirls of water. The current dragged me down. After a while, I could not swim anymore. It pulled and pulled at me. I felt like all of the air was being squeezed from my lung. I started to feel light headed.

That's when I saw them. My sisters, the water nymphs. They surrounded me, all of them that lived in the seven seas, it seemed. They were all around me, gazing at me with their bright eyes. They seemed to give me life, breathe for me in that close knit circle of sisters, of family. I felt a deep bond with them, and more at home than I ever had. The water seemed to pulse around me, in rhythm with my breathing, for somehow I was breathing now. That was the last thing I remember about being underwater.

I woke up on the shore. The water was around me, dragging out the sand from beneath me. It was so much like all the other times. But this time there was no Korell to take care of me, no Brennan to be with me. I was all alone.

The memories flooded back to me. I cried softly, the hot tears overflowing in multitudes. I knew Brennan was lost to me forever. But I also knew I had broken the curse. It was like the knowledge had been placed in my by the water nymphs. I had resisted the curse, even though it didn't mean happily ever after. Even though Brennan had died, even though I was a human and could never return to the sea, I had at least broken the curse. For them, my sisters.

I stood up shakily and looked out at the sea. I still loved it, but not in the innocent way I had before. I had a newfound respect for it. The woman on the beach's words rang true, it's not a tame thing, the sea. It certainly wasn't. Nadia had spoke of the curse of the earth, but in the end, it was the sea that had taken Brennan from me. It was the sea that all of those water nymphs had drowned in.

I still loved it, though, I always would. It was part of who I was. A water nymph.

I looked in to shore. I wasn't all alone on an island; this was a land with people. And I recognized it. It was the village, where I had lived with Korell. I was glad to be somewhere familiar.

I looked out to the sea one last time, before preparing to go inland, to the village. As I looked, several girls came up out of the water. They had shining blue eyes, and that slippery skin. The water nymphs. They raised their hands to me in greeting and recognition. They were grateful for what I had done for them, but more than that, they were my sisters. Even if I could never be with them, they would remain my sisters forever.

I put up my hand as well, waving to them slightly. I smiled in a sad way. Their expressions were the same as mine. After most of them had ducked back underwater, I sighed and turned away. I would go home, to Korell's house. And there I would live, and think of all that had happened to me, till the end of my days.