Bewitched by the Sea Monster (The Bewitching Hour #11)

1. Alistair

Words are hard.

They came easily to me. Once. A long time ago. Great waves of words, spoken too quickly for most to grasp.

Now they slip away. Most I’ve let slip. They are meaningless. Noise to break the silence.

But some I’m lost without.

Indigo. My love.

Alistair. My name.

Onyx. The one who stole my words.

These I repeat as I swim in the murky waters I now call home.

Indigo.

Alistair.

Onyx.

There is little life beneath these waters. Most creatures flee. After seeing me. I am too big. They feel… fear . Of me. I can’t calm them, not when all I know are words, and they don’t understand them.

And my words slip. More each day.

Indigo.

Alistair.

Onyx.

I fear the day I lose all my words. The day I stare into the waters with nothing in my head. When all I have is feeling. The ache in my belly that tells me to eat. The restlessness in my fins that pushes me to travel. The burn of my runes when I am being called to the surface.

I fear the day I lose my words.

But I also long for it.

When all the words are gone, I won’t remember to miss them.

It will be easier. To spend the rest of my days wandering the waters as a mindless creature.

Cursed.

I am cursed.

Cursed to lose my life. My words .

Cursed to hold a broken heart that will never heal, even as my memories slip.

Cursed.