The Song of the Sea

6. A Deep Clean

Raephier felt many things the next morning, but the predominant emotion was shame. Not only had he cried like a baby, but he'd also flung himself at his new Master. Just thinking about it made him want to scratch his own skin off.

Another strong emotion Raephier was feeling was confusion. He'd never considered himself emotional. In the years since his curse, he'd only ever cried twice. The first being the day he was cast out by his family, and the second was his first night in captivity. Throughout his time with a Master, he had been beaten, starved, tortured and ridiculed, but never once had he cried in front of them.

But then along came Captain Jacob Riley and changed all that. Captain Jacob Riley with his kind eyes and dimpled smile.

Raephier preferred to pretend that he didn't understand why he'd broken down yesterday, but all the pieces of the puzzle were there if he'd just put them together.

Jacob was unlike any other Master he'd ever had. He was kind and generous, and had treated Raephier with respect. And despite the fact Jacob was still eating the Muntle seaweed, he'd also shown Raephier a level of trust. After just one day he'd let him out of the cage, and even let him sleep untethered in the same room as him.

So it was unsurprising that Raephier's emotions were all over the place. He liked being here. He liked Jacob. Which made everything so much worse.

Raephier mentally shook himself. He needed to get a grip on his emotions. He was not weak. He'd never been weak. And he was going to have to be stronger than he ever had been before to get through what lay ahead.

Raephier looked down at his body and shook his head. Maybe this was part of the problem. Whenever he had a new Master he took on the part of a meek, unthreatening boy. Maybe this time he'd settled into that role too well, blurring the lines between fact and fiction.

With a new level of determination, Raephier made a decision. He closed his eyes and concentrated.

"What the hell!"

Raephier's eyes snapped open to see Jacob sat up in bed staring at him with a mixture of confusion and anger on his face.

Raephier knew that he needed to fix this and quickly.

"Y-You said that you don't like lies, and I realised that my image was a lie. I didn't mean to trick you. It's what I was taught to do to minimise the amount of ill-treatment I would receive. Only in this case, I know that it wouldn't have made any difference if I'd revealed my true self. You'd have treated me with kindness anyway."

Jacob was still looking just as shocked as before, but some of the anger seemed to disappear from his face.

But Jacob's shock was not unexpected. Afterall, Raephier had just aged about 6 years in 6 seconds. His body was now about 5 inches longer, his shoulders considerably broader, and his face more angled. His hair had also changed from blonde to a honey colour. The only thing that stayed the same were his big blue eyes.

"So how old are you?" Jacob asked.

"I was honest when I said I wasn't sure. But if I were to guess I would say somewhere between 23 and 25."

Jacob nodded, looking deep in thought.

"I guess it makes sense to look as unthreatening as possible," Jacob mumbled, getting up off the bed. "Stand up, and let me take a look at you."

Raephier did as requested and kept as still as he could while Jacob paced in a circle around him. Raephier felt the Captain's gaze on his body as one would a flaming torch. He almost felt sure that there would be scorch marks left in its wake.