Chapter 39 #3
“King Orion? Dolph? I-I haven’t met them.
My dad is Prince Mandra Reykill, of the Valdier royal family.
My Uncle Zoran is the King. My friends and I came through a portal.
My cousin, Phoenix, made it.” Jabir kept his gaze low, watching his fork.
“She’s really powerful. But… something went wrong, and we got separated. ”
Cory’s voice was gentle. “Your parents must be worried about you.”
The fish in Jabir’s mouth suddenly turned to lead.
He poked at a roasted root and shrugged. “Maybe. My mom’s off visiting my grandparents with my other aunties and cousins.” He hesitated. “My dad’s… busy. He probably hasn’t even noticed I’m not there anymore; not with everything else going on.”
Jabir glanced up and noticed Jack studying his face. He looked back down at his plate.
“Anyway, they’re used to me being gone most of the time with school and everything,” Jabir added with a shrug.
Cory clicked her tongue and reached across the table, setting her paw gently over Jack’s. The gesture was simple, but it carried a wave of warmth that swept across the room like a blanket fresh from the sun.
“You can stay as long as you want, sweetheart,” she said. “There’s always room at this table.”
Jabir blinked back the burning in his eyes. His throat tightened, thick with emotion.
Jack grunted in agreement. “I can show you around the village after our meal.”
Jabir looked between them. Something shifted inside his chest. A quiet click, like a door he hadn’t known was shut
He smiled. “I’d like that.”
We could stay, his dragon whispered. If no one finds us… we could stay forever.
Jabir didn’t answer.
But for the first time in a long while, he didn’t feel lost.
He felt… like he belonged.
Later that evening, the stars blanketed the night sky like spilled diamonds, their silvery glow mirrored in the gentle ripples of the lake.
Jabir strolled through the village, the cool air brushing against his cheeks as he passed a trio of manticores lounging near an open firepit, drinking ale, and laughing.
One lifted a paw in greeting, and Jabir offered a shy smile and murmured, “Good evening,” before continuing on.
He’d spent the afternoon with Jack and Cory, laughing over stories, tasting strange treats, and wandering through the village’s winding paths. The stone huts and hanging lanterns reminded him of something out of a bedtime story—only this wasn’t a dream.
Gabby, Williston, and Mikey had left a few hours ago, bound for their part of the forest. Saying goodbye hadn’t been easy.
He’d pressed a few snack bags into their hands—crunchy, gummy, and even some freeze-dried fruit he’d been saving.
Mikey had hugged him so hard he thought his ribs might crack.
Williston mumbled something about ‘visiting soon’, and Gabby told him to keep his head down but his heart up.
Now, the village was quiet, resting beneath the double moons of this incredible world.
Jabir padded down the long wooden dock, his boots thudding softly on the time-worn planks.
When he reached the end, he dropped with a sigh, letting his legs dangle over the edge.
His feet swung above the shimmering crystal clear water, the reflections of the moons dancing like fairy lights on the rippling surface.
He smiled faintly.
Fairies.
He’d actually met real fairies today. That still boggled his mind.
His dragon let out a low, contented sigh inside him—a rare, quiet rumble of peace.
This place feel like home, the dragon murmured.
Jabir nodded silently and began to hum. The soft tune was one he always sang to calm the nervous creatures back home—shy baby Grombots, trembling Tasiers, and flustered tree-gliders.
Heck, even the pactors like the melody. The song spilled gently into the night, threading itself between the stars and water, as familiar as his breath.
He wasn’t sure how long he sat there, swinging his legs and staring out into the starlit lake, when something shimmered below him—silver and silent.
He blinked and leaned forward.
A face.
Wide, curious eyes gazed back at him from just beneath the surface—startlingly close.
A crown of long, flowing, silver hair drifted in the water like kelp spun from moonlight, each strand shimmering as it caught the glow of the moons.
Her features were delicate, otherworldly, with high cheekbones and a mouth shaped like a bow.
Pearlescent skin reflected the stars, and her eyes were the color of polished jade, deep and ancient and startlingly gentle.
Jabir’s breath caught.
She was… breathtaking.
The creature—no, girl—froze the moment she realized he could see her.
Then she darted back underneath the dock, vanishing into the shadows.
“Wait!” he called out in a low, frantic voice. He twisted and dropped onto his stomach. His boots kicked up behind him as he lay with his chin resting on his crossed arms and peered into the moonlit water. The wooden planks were cool beneath his belly, but his pulse was hot, racing.
He hummed again—just a few bars of the song.
Silence.
Then, a small ripple.
A hand emerged from deep under the dock, slender and webbed, with skin that glistened like an abalone shell. It hovered an inch beneath the surface.
Jabir’s heart thudded. Slowly, he reached down and dipped his hand into the water, spreading his fingers wide. The coolness was a shock, but he kept still, barely breathing.
The creature hesitated… and then reached up.
Her fingers brushed his.
Electricity jolted up his arm like a shooting star.
“Whoa,” he gasped.
His dragon hissed in surprise.
What that? the dragon growled, more bewildered than angry.
I don’t know, Jabir whispered silently, but I felt it too.
The siren’s eyes widened. Startled, she yanked her hand back and vanished again with a splash so delicate it barely disturbed the surface.
Jabir sat up slowly, watching the water settle. He scanned the lake, catching only a fleeting flash of silver disappearing into the deeper currents.
He lifted his wet hand to his chest and pressed it over his heart.
His pulse thundered beneath his palm.
“What do you think it means?” he whispered aloud.
I don’t know, his dragon answered, a rumble of unease and fascination mingling in its voice, but I want to know more.
Jabir stared out across the lake, the moonlight dancing on the waves like stardust.
A slow smile curved his lips.
“So do I.”
The twin moons cast long beams of light through the water, turning everything they touched into a shifting tapestry of magic and shadow. The water was clear as spun glass tonight and just as fragile under the moonlight. That had been part of the problem.
The rest was that she wasn’t supposed to be here.
Beyond the kelp ridge was forbidden. The boundary marked the outer edge of her mother’s territory. The Queen of Sirens had made it clear: Nothing good waits near the docks. Nothing kind lives above the surface. Nothing soft survives long in their air.
But tonight, a call had reached her—not a siren’s song, but something else. Something foreign. Something… pure.
A voice.
A boy’s voice.
It had threaded through the still night air, rippling across the lake like a warm current.
She’d heard land-songs before. They were usually loud, coarse things—barking chants full of pounding rhythms and brash melodies.
But this song had been different. It was gentle, raw, and aching.
It had reached into her chest and wrapped around something quiet she didn’t know lived there.
So Jewel had crossed the boundary and then eased closer until she could see the singer from under the surface.
The moonlit seagrass had been a living veil she used to conceal her slender form, her pale limbs weaving silently through the gentle sway, each blade shimmering with silver as it rippled around her.
Her tail, sleek and iridescent, had twitched nervously as she watched the boy above her.
And now… here she was.
Hiding beneath the dock like a hatchling, her heart beating a panicked rhythm against her ribs.
Jewel pressed her webbed hand over her chest, flattening against the lake floor behind a curtain of reeds. Her long hair drifted in a fan behind her, catching flashes of moonlight like captured stars.
He should not have been able to see me.
Her kind were near invisible in water, especially at night. But the moment their eyes had locked—stars above—she had felt the world tilt.
His eyes had found hers.
And they were… gold.
Not just brown with flecks, but burnished gold, like sunfire.
She had always thought land-dwellers ugly, clumsy beasts with dull skin and strange legs.
But this boy—he was beautiful. His hair was dark and unruly, falling over his brow like storm clouds over sunlit peaks.
His features were soft yet strong, carved with kindness, as if the wind and water had shaped him together.
And his smile…
The moment he smiled, her fear had faded like seafoam on the shore.
She’d darted under the dock, her heart slamming.
Her breath came fast and shallow as she hovered in the shadows, unsure what to do.
She should flee. Her mother had warned her—‘If a siren is captured, she will not return. If a siren touches one of them, it will break the spell of protection. They will have power over you.’
But she had felt no threat in his soothing voice.
Only longing.
A longing that matched her own.
Above her, the wood creaked. She tilted her head, watching through the slender cracks in the planks.
He was lying on his stomach now.
His face peeked down over the edge of the boards. His chin rested on his arms. His dark lashes cast soft shadows across his cheeks. Then he began to hum again—the same song. Only softer. Slower. As if he were singing it to her.
Drawn by a force older than any spell her mother could cast, Jewel pushed forward. Slowly. Carefully.
Out of the reeds.
Past the abandoned crawdad traps.
Out from under the dock.
Closer.
His humming washed over her like sunlight warming coral. Her gaze never left his face. The way he looked at the water… it wasn’t like the others. There was no hunger to catch or trap. Only wonder. Only… hope.
His hand dipped beneath the surface.
His fingers spread. Open. An irresistible invitation.
She stared at the pale skin. She could see the fine lines of his palm, the faint scars, the way the water caressed his knuckles as he moved his hand back and forth in a gentle wave.
She shouldn’t.
She mustn’t.
But she did.
Jewel bit her bottom lip as she reached up. Slowly—slowly—her fingertips brushed his.
Fear pulsed through her at the instantaneous jolt. Her mother’s words of caution flashed through her mind.
He will destroy any protection I have.
A surge of energy—like lightning darting through the clouds—shot through her arm and across her chest. Her gills fluttered. Her pulse roared in her ears like a typhoon.
His gasp was so loud that she could hear it as if he were next to her. A low growl slipped his lips—instinctual, startled, possessive. The sound sent a shiver down her spine to the tip of her tail.
Terrified by the sensation, she jerked away, vanishing beneath a spray of bubbles. She darted back into the reeds, her heart racing, her limbs trembling.
What was that? What just happened?!
The boy was no ordinary land-dweller. He had magic. She had felt it in his touch. Not the dangerous kind, not the kind her sisters used to tempt prey—no, this was different.
It was old.
It was frightening.
Still panting, Jewel swam quickly, fleeing past the coral mounds and glowing anemones. She darted through the kelp curtain that marked the border back into her mother’s protected waters.
And yet…
She couldn’t help herself.
She slowed, her arms moving to her side as she flicked her tail. Her mind was telling her not to look back, but her heart refused to listen. Slowly, carefully, she rose just beneath the surface and peered back.
He was there, sitting at the end of the dock, a bemused smile on his lips, pressing his hand against his chest as if it still tingled. The moons painted his skin in silver, and his eyes—those beautiful golden eyes—searched the water like he was hoping she might return.
Without thinking, she pressed her hand to her chest. Mirroring him.
She stared at her own palm. It still tingled, and she swore she could still feel the warmth from his touch. With a soft exhale, she sank into the dark, curling into the embrace of the lake’s deeper layers.
Who are you? She closed her eyes. And why does your touch feel like the beginning of everything I’ve ever dreamed?