Father's Lie

Lu Qi said he told a lie ten years ago.

Back then, when the Rift Tide first truly awakened, Bai Lingzhu had already obtained a fragment of the Tide-Keepers' song, and the Hunters' Guild had begun pricing mermaids as "seafood." When Lu Qi discovered this, he took the mermaid who had once saved Bai Lingzhu into the sea to seal the gate.

"I told her I could seal the Rift Tide alone and that she should return to the sea." Lu Qi's voice was ground hoarse by the black tide. "I said I'd be back before dawn."

Jiang Yue closed her eyes beside him.

Lu Wenchao grabbed his father's wrist. "And then?"

"Then the gate told me it needed a gatekeeper." Lu Qi looked at him, pain in his eyes. "Someone had to stay, to remember where the gate was, to remember not to let the song become the key."

"So you stayed."

"I thought it would only be ten years."

The words "ten years" floated in the seawater, light as foam, yet they struck Lu Wenchao's chest with crushing weight.

Lu Qi raised his hand as if to touch his son's face, but his fingers stopped midair.

"I've forgotten your mother's face," he said. "And I'm nearly forgetting your name."

Lu Wenchao gripped him tightly. "Then leave now."

"The gate is open. Someone must close it."

"I'll close it."

"You can't." Lu Qi shook his head. "You have hunter's blood. You can repay debts, but you cannot guard the gate. What the Rift Tide wants is a song—the complete Tide-Keeper's song."

Everyone's gaze turned to Coral.

Coral stood by the black tide, the fragment of song in her chest burning hotter and hotter. The Rift Tide was calling her. Not a command, but like many trapped songs begging her. She could hear all of them: the remnant song in the bottle, the melody swallowed by Lady White's pearl, the panicked clan members outside the Tide Cove Gate, and the children in White Whale Town who hadn't managed to escape.

Aunt Lan stopped her. "If you finish singing, you may never return to Tide Cove."

Coral gestured: And if I don't sing?

Aunt Lan didn't answer.

Her silence made the answer even clearer.

If she didn't sing, the Rift Tide would keep opening. White Whale Town would be swallowed by the black tide, and Tide Cove would be dragged into the gate as well. The crack Lu Qi had guarded for ten years would transform from a slit into a mouth.

A tremendous roar came from above the sea.

White Whale Town's shadow was pulled into the water—houses, lighthouse, square—all swaying in the black tide's projection. Coral saw Xiaoman leading people to higher ground on the shore, saw the red light of the lighthouse Jiang Yue had left behind being wrapped layer by layer in blue ritual threads, and saw Lady White's pearl light like a needle, stabbing from the shore into the seabed.

Lu Wenchao looked at Coral.

He wanted to say no, wanted to say I'll do it, wanted to shield her behind him like before. But the way she looked at him was no longer like a small fish waiting for protection. She was afraid, but she was also choosing.

Nothing made him feel more powerless than this.

"There's another way," he said.

Lu Qi looked at him. "There is."

Lu Wenchao's head shot up.

"Reverse Contract." Lu Qi pressed the black shell button into his palm. "Bai Lingzhu used a hunter's blood contract to link the remnant song, the silver thread, and the pearl. The debt a hunter owes can be reversed with hunter's blood. Once the blood contract is reversed, her claim on the song will be returned as debt, and the Rift Tide will temporarily lose its key."

"What's the price?" Lu Wenchao asked.

Lu Qi didn't answer immediately.

Lu Wenchao let out a cold laugh. "You all like to leave out the price."

"The price is you," Lu Qi said. "The reverse contract will recognize hunter's blood. You might be dragged away by the Rift Tide."

Coral immediately grabbed Lu Wenchao's hand.

Lu Wenchao held her hand back. "I won't let you finish singing."

Coral shook her head.

She took out the candy she had been hiding all along and placed it in his palm. The wrapper was crumpled beyond recognition, but it still held a hint of brightness.

Then she said, in broken, breathy syllables: "Live... a little... longer."

Lu Wenchao's eyes reddened. "Not enough."

Coral tilted her head.

"I want you to live a little longer too."

She looked at him, as if she understood, and as if she didn't. Then she reached out and gently touched his pocket watch. From inside the watch came a very soft tide sound—not like urging, more like waiting.

Just then, the black tide tore through the guards' blue net.

Aunt Lan and the Tide-Keepers were knocked back, the blue song net shattering into fragments of light. Lady White's voice came through the crack, gentle enough to send chills down one's spine.

"Give me the song."

The pearl light illuminated the seabed.

Lady White's figure stepped out from the Rift Tide's gate. She looked younger here than on shore, her skin pale as pearl, but black tides surged in her eyes. The earrings were no longer at her ears—they were embedded below her collarbone, like a moon that had grown into her body.

She looked at Coral with an almost greedy tenderness.

"My dear, you understand now, don't you? Everyone needs your song. The sea needs you, the shore needs you, and he needs you too."

Lu Wenchao stepped in front of Coral.

Lady White smiled. "You can't stop her. She was born to swim toward weeping."

The black tide surged again.

Lu Wenchao tightened his grip on the shell button and the pocket watch. The wound on his palm was opened by the seawater, blood seeping out in wisps. The black patterns of the reverse contract emerged on the button's surface, like a path delayed by ten years.

Lu Qi looked at him, his voice very soft. "Wenchao, don't lie like I did. You have to tell her—you want her to stay, and you want her to go home."

Lu Wenchao turned to Coral.

This time, he didn't hide his words.

"I want you to stay," he said. "But I need you to go home."

Coral's eyes welled with tears.

Deep in the Rift Tide, Lady White reached out her hand.

"Sing," she said. "Just one song, and everything will end."