The Song of the Sea

12. Sea Witch

A/N - The Second of two chapters for you today!  I've been busy!!! 

As Raephier lay in the darkness, he began to wonder if it had all been a dream. He'd been through so many emotions in the last 24 hours, that he was sure it couldn't be real.

But if it was all a dream, how could he feel the warmth of Jacob pressed up against his back?

Just to test his theory, he tried to edge away from the warmth, but as always happened, the arm that was rested over his waist, just pulled him closer.

No, it definitely wasn't a dream. But that meant that Jacob came back for him in the night. Why would he do that? Raephier wanted to believe that it was because he was missing him as much as Raephier was missing Jacob. But he knew that was just a silly fantasy.

Maybe it had something to do with this Sally woman. Reaphier had sensed it as soon as he got near her. There was something off about the woman. And that meant she had something to do with magic. That was another side effect of the curse. He could sense when other people had magic. It took him a while to realise what the feeling was, but now he was certain. Sally had magic. But having magic didn't automatically make someone bad. Right? He wasn't a bad person, was he?

Suddenly he began to feel incredibly claustrophobic in Jacob's arms. He took a deep breath, then moved swiftly away from Jacob, sliding out of the bed.

In the faint light that was coming in through the window, he watched as Jacob's arm reached out to try to grab something, but in the end, just grabbed a handful of the blankets and pulled them in close to his body.

Raephier let out a sigh of relief and wandered over to the window. There was a small cushioned window seat, so Raephier crawled behind the curtains onto it. He leaned back against the wall and pulled his knees up to his chest.

There wasn't much of a view out of the window. He couldn't see the sea, but there were a few fields and a small wooded area to look at.

Raephier didn't even remember falling asleep but when he heard his name being called in a rather urgent manner, he realised that the sun was just coming up over the horizon.

"I'm here!" he quickly said, emerging from behind the curtain to see a rather frantic looking Jacob standing next to the empty bed.

"Oh thank god," he said, coming over and pulling Raephier into his arms.

"I'm sorry," Raephier said, feeling rather guilty. "I couldn't sleep so I sat by the window, but must have dozed off."

Jacob chuckled.

"That's ok," he said, "I just got worried when I woke up and you weren't there."

Raephier couldn't remember the last time someone had worried about him like this. The cynical voice in his head kept reminding him that he was only worried because he needed Raephier to get him home, but that voice was being drowned out by the feeling of Jacob's arms, which were still wrapped firmly around Raephier's body.

Eventually, much to Raephier's disappointment, Jacob pulled away.

"I'm going to get dressed, then I'm going to get you the biggest breakfast you've ever eaten in your life," Jacob said with a grin.

Reaphier tipped his head on one side but didn't voice any of his questions for the fear of sounding ungrateful.

Jacob seemed to read his mind anyway.

"I'm not sure I'll be back for lunch so I don't want you going hungry. Plus Barny makes the best breakfast you'll ever see."

"Barny?" Raephier questioned.