The Singing Cove #3
“I’m Collin,” he said, extending a hand. “That’s Aries, and those two are Clive and Niall. We’re—really grateful. Thank you.”
“Yeah,” Aries added, shaking Logan’s hand. “You got here just in time. Sorry I didn’t trust you at first.”
“Completely fair,” Logan said. “I probably would’ve done the same.”
“How did you even know we needed help?” Collin asked.
“I heard you shouting,” Aries cut in. “You were way out—farther than I thought possible. I jumped in to get you, but I barely made it past the break before this one came charging at me, yelling some nonsense about currents—then started dragging me toward deeper water.”
Logan gave an apologetic laugh. “Didn’t mean to scare you. I just... didn’t want to have to save all of you.”
“I thought he was insane,” Aries said with a half grin. “But then something made me follow him. Instinct, maybe, or the bad eggs I ate this morning.”
Collin looked Logan over—his broad chest rising and falling steadily, arms still shaking slightly from exertion. “You’re a hell of a swimmer. I’ve never seen anything like it. And while hauling someone else.”
Logan shrugged, glancing toward Niall with concern. “Swimming’s second nature, I guess. Grew up in the water.”
He crouched beside Niall again, his voice softening. “Are you alright?”
Niall gave a shaky nod. His breath was still ragged, teeth chattering too hard to speak.
Logan glanced around at the soaked, shivering group. “I think we need a fire. You lot know how to make one?”
Collin gave a rough laugh, his throat still raw. “We may not be ocean swimmers, but we can manage a flame.”
“I’ll find supplies. There’s flint in my pack.” Aries was already on his feet, jogging toward the tree line in search of dry tinder.
Clive gently helped his twin upright, wrapping an arm around him. He turned to Collin. “Can you grab a towel from my pack?”
Collin rose with effort—his legs felt carved from stone—and stumbled toward their bags. He fished out a towel and passed it to Clive, then returned to his own things. His shirt was dry, thankfully. He shook out the sand and pulled it on with aching arms. His watch followed. Then his shoes.
Still, he couldn’t stop shaking.
The sun was lowering fast now, and the breeze coming off the water bit through his damp skin. He hadn't brought anything warmer. A towel would have to do.
He trudged back across the sand, every step a hopeless negotiation with sore muscles. When he reached the shallow pile of driftwood Aries had started, he sank beside it with a sigh and let the towel fall over his shoulders. Fire. Just a little fire. That would make everything right again.
Their quickly growing campfire crackled at the far end of the cove, nestled beneath a cliff wall that shielded them from the wind.
Though modest, the fire's warmth kissed Collin’s hands and face, drawing the chill from his skin.
He could have dozed off right there—if not for the pull of conversation and the strange, magnetic presence of their new companion.
“Again, thanks for everything.” Collin passed Logan a handful of nuts and dried apple slices, then poured water into a tin cup from his canteen and offered it to him.
Logan accepted both with a smile. “Just another day.”
Aries let his head thud back against a boulder, tossing a few nuts into his mouth. “I’ve never even heard of a riptide before.”
“Same,” Collin muttered, exhaling through his nose. “I always figured if the sea wanted to kill you, it’d do it politely. That felt more... personal.”
Clive, still catching his breath, leaned forward. “Alright, Logan—who are you, and where the hell did you come from?”
Logan laughed, clearly unused to being the center of attention. He fidgeted with a small fishing net. “I was practically born in the sea—almost literally,” he said, retrieving a few silver fish from the net and laying them over the flames. “My mother barely made it to shore before I showed up.”
Niall, wrapped deep in a blanket, managed to speak between chattering teeth. “You from Nereid?”
Logan shook his head, taking a bite of dried apple. “No, I’m from Nesaea.”
Clive handed Niall a piece of toasted bread along with some plums. “Never heard of it. Where is that?”
“Not far,” Logan said, poking gently at the roasting fish. “Follow the coast south. You’ll run right into it—assuming it’s not high tide. Land travel’s impossible then.”
That sparked something in Collin’s memory. He straightened a little. “Oh—you’re from Abyss Cove. My grandfather says it’s so remote you need a compass and a prayer just to find it.”
Logan grinned. “That’s the one. The rest of the world calls it Abyss Cove. We call it Nesaea.”
“Then Nesaea it is,” said Aries.
“Tell us about it,” Niall urged, nibbling at the edge of his bread, the fire painting color back into his face.
Logan shrugged modestly. “Small fishing village on the edge of the world. We trade mostly with Blue Isle sailors. Sometimes we show up at your autumn markets, but mostly we keep to ourselves.”
“Well, I’m glad you were out here to see Collin and Niall in the water,” Aries said, handing Collin a torn strip of smoked venison.
Collin accepted it with a nod of thanks, then reached for a slice of toasted bread. Now that warmth had returned to his limbs and the adrenaline had ebbed, hunger came back with a vengeance.
“But what are you doing out here all alone?” he asked, tearing into the venison.
“I’m on... a journey,” Logan replied, pulling a small plate from his pack and carefully deboning the fish. “Back in Nesaea, before a boy becomes a man, he has to go in search of his soul.”
“You’re working on a deadline, then?” Collin said.
Logan nodded. “Exactly.”
Collin took a slice of bread from the fire, now crisp and golden. He layered it with fish, passed it to Logan, then began assembling the next one.
Niall brightened. “How do you find your soul?”
Logan gave a crooked smile. “No one really knows. You think deeply. Look inward. Everyone’s path is different.” He shrugged lightly. “I’ve been thinking deeply for two days straight—and so far... no soul that I can tell.”
Collin chewed slowly. “And when you say you haven’t found it—how do you know? What does a soul feel like?”
“I’m not—”
Before Logan could answer, Aries cut in, still mid-bite. “Come on. We’re not soulless blobs before seventeen. I know I was born with a soul. Probably more than one.”
Collin shot him a pointed look.
Aries swallowed sheepishly. “I mean... this fish is excellent.”
Logan laughed. “Food always tastes better when you’ve survived another day.”
“How long have you been out here?” Collin asked.
“Almost a month. And I’m no closer. Maybe the soul is meant to find me.”
Collin stared into the fire. The thought snagged in his chest—the idea of searching for something invisible and unknowable, all alone, unsettled him more than he expected.
“You’ve really been here, by yourself, for a month?” he asked, quieter this time.
Logan nodded, eyes fixed on the flames. “And I’ve got nothing to show for it.”
Collin reached over and gave his shoulder a light pat. “Well, if it means anything—you saved two souls today. And taught us about riptides. That’s got to count for something.”
Aries let out a groan as he stretched his legs beside the fire. “I’m just glad I can officially cross ‘death by angry ocean’ off my personal wish list.”
Collin smirked. “So what’s left? Death by falling bread roll? Trampled by admirers?”
“I’m still hoping for dramatic heartbreak,” Aries said wistfully. “Something that makes poets cry and exes jealous.”
A ripple of laughter passed through the group. The fire, at last, felt a little warmer.