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“Get us out of here,” I say, my Ocean Voice vibrating up my throat. “You need air. We have to go.”

A peaceful smile curves their parted lips. “You did it.”

“We did it.” I hold on tight to them, and panic seizes my tail as our eyes lock. “Now we need to go home. Me and you.”

Their essence wisps past me weakly. Too weakly.

Their wings are tattered, and they’ve depleted all of their energy to bring me here.

They close their eyes, and a bubble slips from their mouth.

No. No. No.

I cling to them, willing them to stay with me until I can figure this out.

They dissolve in my hands, a thread of silver-blue light slipping through my fingers. I snatch my broken necklace from overhead and use my Ocean Voice to call them back into the vial.

Clutching it at my side, I start swimming west.

“Cosette is gone,” I tell them. “You missed me running out on my wedding. We can be together. In the sea, in the air, on land. Wherever.”

There is no answer, only a fading light. I protect it, moving as fast as I can for hours, sensing a storm brewing above me.

Lightning cracks through a dark sky as I break through the surface, surfing on waves to bring me closer to the rocky coast of Sorciere. I roll up and dive beneath until I see amber light rippling over the water.

The lighthouse is up ahead, a beacon bringing us home.

I brace myself as a wave tosses me onto the shore, my tail automatically transforming into legs as I lie on the rough terrain. I wrap my necklace tight around my fist and drag myself to my feet, running from the breaker surging over the rocks.

“Orla.” I sprint toward the lighthouse, but Zephyr’s sister is already coming, her lantern swinging in the wind.

“What are you doing out in this storm?” She has to yell for me to hear her above the thunder.

“It’s Zephyr.” I lift the pendant, showing her the weak light inside. “They pushed themself too far. I think they’re fading.”

Rain drips off her nose, and she wraps an arm around me. “I have an idea to help them recover.”

We run to the greenhouse together, a cloudburst pummeling the glass panels as Orla takes Zephyr’s wishflower from the shelf. She sets the pot down on the bench.

The tulip’s petals are wide open, wilting and curling at their ends. I open the vial and release Zephyr, their essence eddying around the stamens as the petals lift and close around them.

“What do we do now?” I ask.

“Make a wish.” Orla touches the stem. “Maybe if it works, they’ll come back.”

That’s not what I want to hear. I want a guarantee that they’ll come back to me.

Zephyr and I have been working as a team for over twenty years.

We finally have everything we want. They can’t just disappear.

Lightning races past the transparent ceiling, and thunder rolls in, hot on its heels. The glass rattles all around us, threatening to shatter.

Without anything to dampen my Ocean Voice, I’ll have to work to soften its effects.

“Float away, little tempest.”

I breathe in, hold at the top, then release a breath as I lean my mouth close to the velvety petals and whisper a wish for a lover with moon-spun hair and wings made from the sky itself. A lover who can make themself as big or as small as they need to be. A lover who can walk through air and flit about the world like a zephyr.