Chapter 5 #3
“Think of it as moving really fast. Faster than the human eye can see. Faster than light, even,” Audrey explained with a sigh as she settled herself on one of the lounge chairs.
I sat down and stared at her, waiting for her to turn her head and look at me.
“Are you seriously trying to tell me that I teleported here?”
Audrey tipped her head back and laughed. “It’s not teleporting—but whatever helps you understand it, I guess.”
I shook my head and settled into my own lounge chair, scanning everything.
The water was large enough to remind me of the Bay Area, with four different land masses being visible.
The land mass with the distant mountains, the one with more tropical foliage, the land mass that was Sammara, and the land mass that was Liam’s territory.
As we traveled, I pointed toward the mountains. “What is that place called again?”
“Lyndoruun,” Audrey replied.
“And you said it’s the siren territory?” I lifted a brow. “Where the two men who attacked me are from?”
Audrey nodded, confirming that I would not be visiting that territory anytime soon.
Then I identified Sammara and Enharra correctly, feeding off of Audrey’s excitement when I did so.
I was getting ready to ask about the tropical land mass next, as we followed the curve of Sammara’s land, exposing two massive, ancient-looking black pillars the size of skyscrapers.
They were made of stone and jutted out of the water that I was starting to suspect was more ocean than river.
The pillars stood perfectly between Sammara, Lyndoruun, and the tropical land mass.
“These are the gates to our home?” I asked Audrey. She nodded, pointing toward a couple of structures at the base of them.
“Historically, sirens have been the guardians of the Mellhawn Gates back when they were open. But no one has formally stood guard for hundreds of years due to them being closed—well, due to everyone believing that they were closed,” Audrey said.
“But now nereids have partnered with the siren government to guard them since they are open.”
I quirked my lips to the side as we approached. “Why are they open?”
Audrey tipped her head side to side as we approached one of the stone structures at the base of the left pillar. “No one knows. No one knows how to actually close them, either. Past spells and locks don’t seem to be working, no matter what the governments try.”
I frowned. “That’s unsettling.”
“Beyond destroying them, which no one really wants to do.” Audrey shrugged.
“The Hyvenmerian governments are at a loss.” Liam cut the engine to my boat as soon as we pulled up to a small dock that led to the small housing unit.
It reminded me of the fancy gates to neighborhoods that the ultra-rich lived in, in Southern California.
Where the gatekeepers had a small apartment to hang out in, as they allowed or denied passage.
A couple of men stepped up to the boat, boarding my vessel.
I tensed, hating the sight of people just sauntering onto my boat.
They held clipboards as they nodded politely at us, one of them doing a curious double-take at me, as the two men spread out and casually searched my boat. They didn’t break anything, at least.
“Grant?” one of them asked as they stepped toward Audrey and me. Audrey casually slipped hers out of her wallet, reminding me that I also needed to do that.
The man stepped forward and sat down on Audrey’s lounge chair, making me give her a confused look. She smirked, remaining relaxed.
“How are the kids, Emil?” Audrey asked. Ah, she knew him. I slowly became less tense.
He lifted a massive shoulder as he eyeballed both our grants and returned them to us. His blond hair was cropped short, and as he scratched his neck in response, I noticed a flash of pink.
Three pink lines flexed with his words as he told Audrey about school and extracurriculars his children were involved in, much like any human parent would. But I couldn’t focus on anything coming out of his mouth, because this man literally had gills on his neck.
“Finished,” the second man who boarded the boat called, exiting immediately.
Before he did, though, he gave me a harsh glare with his gold eyes.
I didn’t notice any gills, though.
Audrey waved goodbye to the gatekeeper as he stood and exited the boat, allowing us passage through the gates.
As soon as Liam pulled the boat away from the dock and toward the two pillars, a shimmer started to dance over the waves.
Keeping my eyes locked on the water, I asked Audrey, “Do you and Liam have gills, too?”
“Nope.” Audrey lifted a shoulder, not bothered at all by my questions. “Nereids have gills, fae do not.”
“Nereids are mermaids?” I asked. Audrey snorted and tipped her head side to side.
“Not exactly—but, again, whatever helps you understand them better,” Audrey replied.
“Do sirens have gills?” I asked, picturing an evil-looking mermaid. Even though the men who attacked me didn’t look mermaid-ish at all.
“If their shapeshifting is powerful enough to produce gills, then sure,” Audrey replied.
I rubbed my eyes but could see the shimmer on the water get thicker and thicker.
As we traveled through the pillars, the land around us was blurry.
Changing. Like a vintage TV screen changing channels, but instead of the grey static of a transitioning image, more shimmering sparkles coated everything around us.
I lifted my hand, shocked to see my fingers creating small waves throughout the sparkling, shimmering air.
“It’s magic, in its most visible form,” Audrey murmured.
I assumed as much at this point, but I nodded anyway to let her know I heard her just fine.
The scenery finished transitioning, and I was shocked to recognize the ocean around me, with our tiny beach town far in the distance.
When I sat up and looked behind us, a large island I had only ever admired from the comfort of my docks was directly behind us.
The unpopulated side of Catalina Island, that is.
It was as if we emerged from the large earthy edge, even though that was impossible. But a few random shimmers fading into the light of day let me know that we did, in fact, just casually emerge out of the flat edge of the earth.
As Liam steered the boat around the curve of the island for a few silent minutes, the popular tourist stop of Avalon came into view.
“Oh my god,” I breathed.
Audrey giggled as she said, “Welcome home, Van.”
I shared a shocked laugh with her as we sailed away from Catalina and toward Marina Vista, our home. One thing I immediately noticed as we made it through the Mellhawn Gates was something that I didn’t think would bother me so much.
The subtle, melodical tune that seemed to travel in the air of Hyvenmere was suddenly gone.
I tried my best to recall the details of it; how soothing it was to me.
But I couldn’t. I rubbed my chest as a weird sense of longing for the melody filled it.
I immediately pushed the feeling away, focusing on the utter relief of going home soon.
Liam’s fancy castle bed was great and all, but it wasn’t mine.
The first thing I was going to do when we got back to our condo was take a long, overdue nap. Then, if I had time, perhaps try to recall the melody I heard in Hyvenmere. If I could recreate that peaceful sound on my own, surely, I wouldn’t feel any longing nonsense for the magical realm again.