The Song of the Sea

21. Sing to Me

Jas looked really heartbroken at the idea of losing Raephier, and that ignited a spark of hope in Raephier's chest. Maybe Jas liked him as more than a friend afterall?

But before he could dwell on the moment, his brain started to process the other part. The bit about being banished.

"Do you think I'm dangerous? Is this curse dangerous?" Raephier asked feeling suddenly anxious.

Jas shrugged.

"I don't know. But nothing has happened yet. And a curse about singing? How bad can that be?"

"I don't know," Raephier said unsure. "What if I don't say anything and someone gets hurt as a result?"

Jas rolled his eyes. "You're always so negative! What if we don't tell anyone and nothing ever happens?"

"I have to be negative to balance out your unrealistic amount of optimism!" Raephier shot back.

Jas smirked.

"It's not unrealistic!" he argued back. "I just don't see the point in assuming the worst, because what if the worst never happens? Then you've just wasted your life worrying about something that never happens. Live every day like it's your last. That's what everyone should do!"

And once again, Raephier found himself getting swept up in Jas's confidence.

"Ok, I won't say anything on one condition," Raephier said.

"And what's that?"

"We try to find out what this curse is. And when we do find out, if it is dangerous, then we have to tell everyone."

Jas frowned, like he wasn't happy with that suggestion.

"Ok," he eventually agreed. "But for now, just say that Persula threatened to curse you if you ever talked to her daughters again or something."

"Fine. I'll do that," Raephier said, and he was about to swim away when Jas unexpectedly pulled him in for a hug.

Raephier's whole body trembled.

"I'm glad you're ok," Jas said, and then abruptly let Raephier go and hurried away.

Raephier remained still for quite some time, just staring at where Jas had been.

He'd hugged him!!! A proper hug! What did that mean?!

Raephier never let himself believe that he had a chance with Jas. But he was suddenly wondering whether that was just his negative thinking again. What if Jas did like him that way?

Before he could get too excited, he remembered that he still had his parents to face, and despite not telling them about the curse, he still knew that they were going to be angry with him for earlier.

So he took a deep breath and headed home.

Raephier had found the following week extremely difficult. It involved repeating the same lie over and over, and the more he assured people that Persula had done nothing more than threaten him, the more he felt as though he was making a mistake.

But when the second and third week passed, and people had stopped talking about it, and still nothing had happened, it began to be much easier just to forget the whole thing had ever occurred.

Maybe Jas was right. What was the point in worrying about something he had no control over.

It was about 6 weeks after he had been cursed that Jas gave Raephier the signal to meet up at their secret spot.

When Raephier arrived, Jas was already there, and he looked excited.

"What's going on?" Raephier asked.