Free Midnight Pearls by Debbie Viguié

really was. Then, provided he could convince her of the truth and find a way to change her back, would she even want to return?
    “Who do you think he was?”
    Startled, he looked at Faye. “What?”
    “The man, who do you think he was?”
    Kale shook his head.“I have no idea.”
    She sighed heavily.“He was so beautiful.”
    Kale threw her a sharp glance. The tone in her voice made him nervous. “Best to forget about him, Faye. Merkin and humans are not meant to interact. What happened today was an accident, and we must try and forget it even happened”
    He recognized the fire that flashed in her eyes. He had seen it there before and it had always meant trouble. He was going to have to keep an eye on his little sister.

    Kale was worried. Faye had disappeared after dinner, and now with the morning it was apparent that she had never returned home. He never should have let her out of his sight, not with what she had said about the human and the look of defiance she had given him.
    There is but one person who could have changed Adriana into a human , he thought. Faye knew that as well, and he feared that she might have done something foolish in her desire to see the human male again. There was only one way to find out.
    He had to visit the Sea Witch.

    The Sea Witch lived outside the borders of the world of merkin, and though all knew how to reach her caves, all merkin were forbidden to have any contact with her. Violation of that law could result in banishment for the merkin foolish enough to speak with her. Years before she had ruled over the kingdom of the dryads and had waged war against the merkin. Dryads were distant cousins to merkin; indeed, the two were often mistaken for one another by humans. Instead of tales, though, the dryads had bodies that more closely resembled sea serpents, long and slender. The Witch had risen to power among the dryads and eventually claimed that throne, killing many of her own kind in the process. During the great war that ensued, Kale and Adriana’s ancestors had been instrumental in defeating the Witch and sending her into exile.
    The Witch couldn’t be killed—at least, that was the legend. The best their forefathers had been able to do was help her own people depose her. She lived in exile from her kind. No one knew how strong her magic was or from where it came.
    Since he had seen Adriana as a human there had been little doubt in his mind as to how she had gotten that way. The Sea Witch, an ancient, evil crone, was the only one capable of performing that kind of magic.
    He shuddered as he thought about all the stories he had heard as a young merchild. Some said that the reason no one had been able to kill the Witch was because she was immortal and that she was actually thousands of years old and had been partly responsible for the destruction of ancient islands and civilizations. A cousin of one of his friends had wandered too near the Sea Witch’s caves, and she had cursed him so that he died excruciatingly, his scales peeling off slowly and his internal organs shifting about on their own. They said, in the end, that he had coughed up his own heart.
    Mother and Father will kill me if they hear I’ve come here, risking my life, breaking the law, disgracing my family … if the Witch doesn’t kill me first….
    As he neared the sea caves he felt a change in the water; there was a chill that wasn’t present elsewhere. All he could think about was the boy choking on his own heart. He pressed on, though everything in him was screaming to turn back.
    At the entrance to the largest cave he stopped. “Hello?” he called.
    “Come in,” a silky voice whispered.
    He floated in slowly, eyes adjusting to a dark that was greater than any he had ever known. The blackness was caused by more than the depth of the sea or a lack of light; it was a darkness that seemed to emanate from the very walls of the cave. At last he came into a sort of room and saw her.
    The Witch was hideous in