Ariel's Arc

Chapter 2 of 3

Ariel finds him in the garden with a woman in a yellow dress. The woman is laughing. The man leans close to hear what she says. Ariel's throat tightens around words that do not exist anymore. She tries to step forward but her legs lock. The woman touches his arm. Ariel forces herself to move. She walks toward them on unsteady legs, her hand slipping into her pocket where the amulet rests cold against her palm. She needs him to see her, to remember she exists. But when she reaches them, the woman is already speaking again, her voice bright and easy. The man turns to Ariel for a moment, offers a polite smile, then looks back at the woman. Ariel opens her mouth but nothing comes out. The silence feels like drowning. The woman suggests they walk to the lagoon nearby. The man agrees. Ariel follows behind them, invisible. When they reach the water's edge, the woman kneels and picks up a shell from the sand. She holds it to her ear and says something about the sound of the sea. The man laughs. Ariel watches from the wooden planks of the dock, her fingers wrapped around the amulet in her pocket. It grows warm in her hand, then hot. The carved shell patterns shift and glow. Suddenly sound pours out of it—her own voice, singing. The melody she used to have. The man stops. He turns. The woman in yellow turns too, confused. Ariel pulls the amulet from her pocket and the song grows louder, spilling across the lagoon. The man's eyes widen. He steps toward Ariel, listening. But the amulet cracks in her hand, the heat searing her palm. The song cuts off. The shell crumbles to dust between her fingers. The man stares at her, recognition flickering in his eyes for just a moment before it fades. The woman in yellow touches his arm again and he turns away. Ariel looks down at the ashes in her hand. She had one chance to make him remember her voice. Now even that is gone.