142 Cursed in Paradise (1/2)

The full moon gave light to the stone path leading through the town. His eyes searched both directions until a faint shadow in the distance caught his attention. Running as fast as his bare feet would carry him, he closed in on her quickly. ”Jos, what are you doing? Where do you think you're going this late and naked no less?”

She didn't respond, didn't turn to face him. Instead, she continued a nearly ethereal stride through the streets of the town, her eyes focused into the distance. The chill of the fall night should have been enough to cause a reaction as her feet stepped down onto the cool sand and shells of the beach, but there was no reaction. There was no reaction when strong hands gripped her arms stopping her from entering the chilled waters.

He struggled to keep up with her in his human form but feared transforming would make things even worse especially if she was to identify him. It took a good hour, but he finally caught up with her. He paused treading water as a ship came into view. Arei's eyes quickly scanned the small vessel. His eyes widened and he swam as fast as he could toward Jos. This vessel was anchored off what was sure to be the shores of Ogygia. His eyes counted numerous canons readied along port holes of the lower decks. At the helm of the ship was a large harpoon, big enough to take down a whale. ”Jos! Listen to me, they are here to hunt YOU!” He let out a pained groan as a tentacle crashed down on him, slamming him down to the sea floor before retracting.

He was still contemplating his next move when a loud buzzing noise began to drown out the chaos of the ship. ”FUCK!” Arei yelled as he began swimming as hard as he could for land. The sirens lull wouldn't work on him, but if he couldn't shift and more that a hand full were to attack, he would be in trouble. He had just made it to shore when the buzzing noises began to shift into the lull of the song Jos had emitted the night he'd asked her to show him the pull of the sirens. He scanned the moonlit waters. His eyes widened, hundreds of ripples could be seen making their way closer to the ship. He couldn't move, couldn't look away as the men began leaping from the vessel into the waters. Beautiful creatures leaped from the dark seas to meet the falling men, then drug them down to the depths of the waters. His eyes widened as several massive tentacles came together and crashed down on the center of the boat, splitting it in half. The loud screams of the men mingled with excited cries of the feeding sirens. The beautiful melody wafting through the air only caused the scene before him to be more haunting.

He was waist deep when the glow of white hair caught his eyes. ”Jos!?!” He yelled. ”Are you alright?” He hurried toward her but realized there was another head behind hers. She was being carried… by a siren. He shook away the worry and swam out to meet them. ”Is she alright?” He asked holding his arms out.

The siren studied him for a long while before nodding and handing Jos's limp body over to him. ”She be fine by 'morrow. She be need'n sleeps 'til 'den.” The siren nodded toward the shore. ”'Der be a cave not far. Rest there.”

Arei shook his head. Reaching below the water he pulled off his pants. ”After I shift put her on my back.” He said and put the pants around his neck seconds before his body began to transform into a hybrid horse and sea creature resembling something close to a hippocampus. He waited patiently as the siren struggled to get Jos's limp body onto him. When she had finally managed, he nodded. ”Thank you.”

The siren's breath caught. ”Ye talk in that form?” Her eyes ran over the sleek black horse. ”Ye… ye be Areion, yes?”

He nodded as he glanced back at Jos's sleeping form. ”Yes… but please keep it to yourself for now.” He didn't wait for an answer, instead, he pushed forward making short work of the miles ahead, cutting the earlier trip down to a third of the time it had taken to get there.

Arei carefully shifted while still in the water, taking great care not to drop her into the shallow water. Once he had her tucked into his arms, he draped his pants over her body to hide as much of her as he could before making his way back to the inn. He pushed the doors open to come face to face with the curious eyes of the fisherman and the old inn keeper. He gave a playful laugh as he shrugged with her still in his arms. ”My bride tends to sleepwalk when in new places.” He let out a faux sigh. ”Little thing nearly drowned this time.”

The Innkeeper arched his brows in disbelief. ”And it took you nearly two hours to find her?” The man shook his head. ”We don't care for dishonesty around here. I'll have to ask you to find somewhere else to stay.” The Innkeeper crossed his arms and began to turn away.

”Wait…” Arei called out. He nodded toward the stairs. ”Show us to our room and I'll tell you all you need to know.”