“As they went higher and the spire narrowed, they encountered pods of enormous whales, echoing their songs into the deep. The Fish Child, tiny in comparison, clung to the spire, afraid of being swept away in their wake.”

“Higher still, the sea awakened with moonbeams, and they came to an ethereal silver eel wrapped around the tip of the spire, its tail gently swaying with the current.”

“To her great distress, the familiar fish were gone, and for the first time she was completely alone.”

“She swam uneasily around the fire in the eerie stillness, casting her silhouette along the cave walls, the shadow of her hands gliding over the fish paintings and across the artifacts. In this strange and lonely moment, like an unexpected shine in an oyster shell, her skin had taken on a faint blue luminescence—she had begun to glow.”

“The cave was layered with intricate rock formations that the Fish Child used to organize her elaborate collections. Her fossils, compasses, and pearls were housed in sea glass cases, which she had carefully embedded in the fine crevices of the cave walls.”