SCATTERED PEARLS ☆ KIMCHAY AU

☠︎︎ 14. The Call of a Siren ☠︎︎

Kim secured Chay in his arms in less than a second. Pulling him back safely on the deck, he pressed his lips to Chay's temple. "Chay, darlin', look at me... look at me!"

It took a couple of seconds before Chay's eyes finally fluttered open, and a shadow of surprise and confusion appeared on his pretty face. He shuddered in Kim's arms, desperately taking a couple of deep breaths.

Kim held Chay tighter, tipping Chay's chin to look at him, "hey, hey, you aren't in the water, Chay. You are okay. Nothing happened. Bless the seas, nothing happened."

The paralyzing feeling of being unable to do anything just following what his body was doing on its own finally left Chay, letting him control his own body again. He grabbed Kim's arms tightly, eyes for a moment searching around the Scorpion before he looked at Kim again—the pure fear in Kim's eyes surprised him. Was Kim so worried about whatever it was that just happened to Chay, or was there something else going on that should terrify Chay?

"Fine... I'm fine... What just happened?"

"Congratulations," Kim nervously laughed, "that was your first time meeting a Siren."

"A Siren?" Chay mumbled under his breath. "But... but I don't remember what happened—"

"You can ask me as many things as you want to, but not now," Kim curled his fingers around Chay's wrist, cursing under his breath when he noticed another large wave coming in their direction.

"Get down," Kim's voice was firm as he said those words right next to Chay's ear and the moment later without Chay even knowing what was happening, he was lying down on the deck, face down and Kim was covering him with his own warm and strong body. Kim's hair tickled Chay's cheek, and Chay would almost swear that he could feel Kim's heart thudding fast in his chest. But then, Chay couldn't feel it anymore. He couldn't feel anything besides the stinging pain of thousands of knives cutting through his skin. The water was icy cold. It took Chay a moment to realise what happened. And when he did, Kim was already standing, giving him a hand to help him up.

"The Bay of Sorrows doesn't want us here; it might get a little bit wet," Kim explained.

"Yeah, I noticed," Chay shuddered from the coldness of the water that was still penetrating his skin and let himself be pulled by Kim up the stairs towards the ship's wheel.

"Here," Kim made Chay stand right behind the wheel, placed Chay's hands gently on the wheel and his own hands right next to them. His breath kissed Chay's neck when he whispered, "hold tight, don't ask questions, just trust me!"

Chay gripped the wheel tighter. Trusting Kim was one thing—Chay could do that, but not asking questions? He wanted to know what was happening. He needed to know! Was it bad? Were they going to be okay? Will they end up being stuck in the Bay of Sorrows the same way the Reckoning did? Was there some way he could help?

"We have to find the Reckoning," Kim said towards Arm.

Arm shook his head, "I can't see shit. It has gotten too dark."

"Yeah, dark when it's supposed to be morning," Kim pointed out. "This place is fucking with us. Just listen, listen carefully to the ocean... we ought to hear something."

Chay didn't know if Kim's words were meant for him as well, but no matter if they were or not, he held his breath as well and listened, listened intently to every note that the wind made when it buzzed around his ears, every creaking moan that the wooden body of the Scorpion made when it was rocked on the mighty waves of the vast ocean, listened to Kim's breathing caressing his ear, and the curses mixed with shouting of the pirate crew trying their best to keep the ship as stable as it was humanly possible during danger like this.