Chapter 4

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Hecate made her way back towards the river where she had first met the mermaid Calypso. As much as she wanted to stay curled up in her own bed, dreading what her life would end up being when she was inevitably told her parents were horrible people, her legs carried her here.

Her feet moved softly through the grass, and with each step her feet felt a little lighter. She was worried that Calypso would see this new eye color and think she was strange. Then ask questions she didn't have the answers to.

She made her way to the river before sitting in the grass just before the reeds. She exhaled deeply before hearing a splash in the water. She raised her head to look before it snapped back down, realizing that the mermaid wouldn't want to be seen. "S-Sorry. I didn't see anything."

"Of course not. I'm not in the water." Calypso answered. Hecate raised her head, finding Calypso sitting on the large rock, fully dressed in a track suit. "I got here early and got my swimming done before you could interrupt me this time."

"Oh... Good." Hecate nodded a bit.

Calypso seemed to sense the tension as she hopped off the rock and made her way over. "Are you alright? You seem a bit down in the dumps compared to yesterday."

"I just... Something happened this morning that has me nervous, and I blabber like an idiot when I'm nervous so I'm trying not to be." Hecate answered.

Calypso sat in the grass beside Hecate who placed her face into her hands for a moment, only for the mermaid to gently reach over and pull those hands away so she could smile softly at her. "Blabbering is okay. I think it's-"

"I'm cursed!" Hecate's hands slapped back over her mouth as she stared up at Calypso in horror, the realization slowly setting in as the mermaid looked back at her. As Hecate leaned back, likely to scramble away, Calypso smiled warmly.

"Me too."

Hecate blinked, relaxing a bit more as she stared at Calypso in shock. "W-What... What's yours?"

Calypso nodded a bit. "When I was little, I was a bully. I would make fun of my peers because my voice was always better, my charm always stronger." She explained. "Mermaids sing, like a hierarchy. The most beautiful voice is always the leader, or the more popular one. But that was a long time ago. But our voices are still a part of our culture, and mine was so beautiful and amazing. But I took it for granted. I made people listen and obey me, and put down people who could not sing as well as I could. Eventually, I bullied an old mermaid woman. Berating her for getting in my way. She cursed me as punishment, taking my singing voice from me." Calypso explained. "She took everything from me, my status, my titles. I was left with nothing without my voice. It... it broke me."

"Is that why you came here?"

Calypso shrugged. "Partly. I thought I could start over above ground and everything would be fine. But I also just wanted to get away from my people who knew me as that snotty little brat who thought she was better than everyone else."

"I guess... I guess it taught you a lesson." Hecate noted.

"It most certainly did... What's your curse?"

"I can't lie." Hecate answered. "And when I'm nervous my thoughts just explode from my mouth, and I can't hold them back. It feels like I'm about to explode."

"It hurts?" Calypso questioned.

"To hold back words. It... It's impossible to lie. I've tried everything to get around it. Even had a Goddess use divinity on it. Nothing." She shrugged.

Calypso's eyes narrowed almost curiously, like she saw something that Hecate didn't. "Could it have something to do with your parents?"

Hecate shrugged. "I don't know. I don't know anything about them, and Nyx is looking into something because my eye color changed today and I just-"

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