(Flashback continued....)



Raephier and Jas hadn't been back for more than half an hour when suddenly the water started churning and a deep rumble shook the sea bed.

"Is it an earthquake?" Raephier heard someone ask among the panic.

"No, look!"

Raephier looked towards where everyone was pointing and could see what looked like a storm moving through the ocean towards them.

The water swirled in a moving mass, which was lit up by flashes of light.

"It's Persula!" Raephier heard someone shout, and he felt his blood run cold.

Immediately Raephier's eyes began to seek out Jas.

Their eyes locked, and even from several meters away, Raephier could see the colour drain from Jas's face.

"Oh Raephier! What have you done now," his mum muttered from beside him.

He wished with all his heart that he could snap at his mum for making assumptions that this was his doing, but if he even attempted to open his mouth to try to explain, he was sure he'd be sick.

There were screams and shouts as everyone grabbed onto something to anchor themselves down from the strong erratic currents.

Raephier would have been swept away if his mum hadn't dragged him to some nearby rocks which he then clung to out of instinct.

As quickly as it arrived, the swirling and rumbling stopped.

Raephier lifted his head to see Persula, stretched up to her full size, hovering in the centre of their gathering.

"Where is the King and Queen?!" she demanded.

There was some movement, and then the King and Queen swam out from behind a rock.

"Your Majesties," Persula said with a slight bow.

Persula may have been the most powerful being here, but she always showed the King and Queen respect.

"Persula, what brings you here?" the King asked, looking up at her.

Persula towered over him, since she'd puffed herself up to about 3 times her normal size.

Raephier could see that the King was trying not to look nervous, but everyone knew that a large Sea Witch was an angry Sea Witch, and an angry Sea Witch was something to be feared. Raephier wondered whether Jas had managed to tell his father anything in all the confusion.

"I'm here to talk to your son, and Raephier."

Raephier felt himself tremble slightly on hearing his name.

"Why do you want to speak to my son?" the King asked.

Raephier glanced around but could see no sign of Jas. He hoped that he would continue to stay hidden.

"Because," said the Sea Witch, bending down to put her face closer to the Kings, "he had the nerve to turn down my daughter!"

The King let out a slight chuckle.

"Surely that's his right and his choice. I'm sure he didn't intend to disappoint your daughter. I know that he is very fond of her."

Persula stared long and hard at the King, and to his credit he maintained her gaze until she straightened up again and started to look around.

"And where is Raephier?" she shouted, scanning around her.

Raephier immediately ducked back behind the rocks.

The King sighed.

"Raephier, could you come out please!"

Raephier wedged himself further behind the rock.

"Come on," whispered his mother. "The King has asked for you, so you need to go."

"But he didn't make Jas face her, so why should I?"

"Because he is your King and he told you so!" she said, pushing Raephier out of his hiding place.

A few others had started to stare Raephier's way so he knew there was no point in delaying the inevitable any longer.

He tried to maintain as much dignity as possible as he swam over towards the King and a rather terrifying looking Persula.

"Thank you Raephier," said the King as Raephier stopped beside him. "Now Persula, please can you tell me what Raephier is supposed to have done?"

"It's not what he's supposed to have done, it's what he has done!" she snapped. "Do you want to tell him Raephier, or should I?"

"Well?" the King asked, turning to Raephier.

Raephier kept his eyes on the sea floor.

"I-I also turned down her daughter, Your Majesty," he mumbled.

"Not the same one I hope!" the King said with a grin.

"Be careful, Your Highness," Persula grit out. "I don't share your amusement on the subject and it would be wise not to anger me further."

"I do apologise," the King said to Persula, fully aware of the powers that she had. "But the fact still remains, that Raephier has every right to turn down your daughter if he so wishes."

"Oh, but Raephier didn't turn down her advances did he? He even accepted her proposal. And then he changed his mind and turned her away, leaving her heartbroken and tainted."

"Raephier?" the King said, and Raephier felt himself shrink further on hearing the disappointed tone of his King.

"I-I didn't m-mean to," Raephier stuttered. "I-I wasn't thinking, and I didn't want to upset her and I should have stopped her, but she just kept touching me and I didn't know what to do."

"DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO?!" screamed Persula and she scooped up Raephier by the neck and held him in front of her face. Slowly, her hand began to squeeze around Raephier's neck.

"Stop! Stop!" Raephier wheezed out, and immediately Persula let go, and Raephier sank to the seafloor gasping.

"See! You know exactly how to tell someone to stop!" she spat out. "But instead, you just lapped up all the attention my daughter gave. Took away her innocence. Had the nerve to even accept her proposal and then cast her away like a piece of driftwood. No, Raephier, this will not go unpunished!"

Raephier began to feel his whole body shake.

"What do you propose?" the King asked.

Raephier could feel someone's gaze on him and he knew immediately who it was. He turned his head to the side and saw a familiar set of green eyes staring at him with concern.

He gave Jas a weak smile in an attempt to let him know he was alright. He wasn't alright. He was far from it, but he also knew that he did deserve punishment for what he had done. He really hadn't meant to hurt Khloe, but he had, and he deserved to pay a price. He just hoped that price wasn't too high.

"That is between me and Raephier," Persula said with a sneer before she reached down and snatched Raephier off the ground and swam away.

Raephier gasped as he felt himself being propelled through the air at a rather alarming speed.

He briefly heard Jas shout his name, but within seconds they were too far away for him to hear.

After a few minutes, Persula came to a stop and set Raephier back down.

He'd only just caught his breath when he felt the ocean begin to swirl around him. He looked over to Persula and she had her eyes closed and her hands were swirling around in the water in front of her. Her lips were moving but Raephier could hear no sound coming from them.

Then her eyes opened, and they were glowing bright yellow, like the sun, and they were directed straight at Raephier.

He felt himself drop to the floor in fear.

A voice boomed out from above him, making him jump. It wasn't the voice of Persula, but when he snook a glance, her lips were moving in time to the words, but the voice sounded much deeper than Persula's and it was like the voice was coming from the very ocean itself.

"A CURSE WILL BE PLACED UPON YOU. THE CURSE OF THE SONG OF THE SEA. THE SONG WILL LIVE IN YOU AND BE PART OF YOU AND WILL FEED ON THOSE YOU LET CLOSE. RAEPHIER, THE CURSE IS YOU AND YOU ARE THE CURSE."

There was a bright flash of light and Raephier felt like he'd been struck by a thunderbolt as he was propelled backwards, and then everything went black.

When Raepheir awoke, he sat up with a gasp. Everything around him was calm and still, and if it wasn't for the fact he was miles from home, he would have almost sworn it was all a dream.

"So you're awake then?" came a voice from behind him, and Raehier jumped back in fright.

Persula was lounging on a bed of seaweed, thankfully back to her normal size.

"W-What happened?" Raephier asked shakily.

"You've been cursed," Persula said, as calmly as if she was announcing what's for supper.

"C-Cursed? How?"

Persula laughed. It was just how you would imagine a witch's laugh to sound. Hollow and horrifying.

"How doesn't matter Raephier. What matters is what happens next."

"And what happens next?" Raephier asked, although he already knew he wouldn't like the answer.

"Well, that depends on you," the Sea Witch said, getting up and coming closer to Raephier. "I've given you the curse of the Song of the Sea. The Song now lives in you. It is both a gift and a curse. It is a gift because the song will give you everything your heart desires, but it is a curse because your heart's desires are now no longer your own."

"I-I don't understand," said Raephier, feeling like the witch was speaking in riddles.

"You don't need to understand," Persula said, stretching out her tentacles getting ready to depart. "All you have to do is sing."

And then she swam away so quickly, that the jet of water from behind her, knocked Raephier to the floor.

(end of flashback)



Sally shook her head when Raephier went quiet.

"That's quite a tale you have to tell," she said.

Raepheir wiped away the tears from his eyes. When he finally looked up at Sally, he knew straight away that she already knew the rest of his story. After all, when a Prince was killed, the news didn't take long to travel around the whole of the underwater world.

"That was cruel what she did," Sally said firmly. "Sea witches are spiteful creatures, and she knew she couldn't do anything to Jasper herself, so she used you to get her revenge."

"But aren't you a sea witch too?" Raephier asked nervously.

Sally smiled, and unlike Persula's smile, Sally's had genuine warmth.

"I've been around for too long to hold that kind of anger anymore."

"Can I ask how old you are? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he quickly added.

Sally laughed. "That's alright, my little Raephier. I'm two hundred and thirty five years old."

Raephier's eyebrows disappeared under his hair.

"When you've seen and done as much as I have, you start getting tired of all the negative emotions. They take up so much more energy than the positive ones."

Raephier smiled. He liked Sally. He never thought he'd be able to say again that he liked a Sea Witch.

"So how are you finding being on land?" Sally asked.

Raephier shrugged.

"I spend most of my time on the sea, but it took some getting used to, being around humans."

"Yeah, they're quite a complicated species, I have to say," Sally replied. "And they love to touch! When you spoke of Khloe, she reminded me of a human. Always trying to grab things."

"I know!" Raephier replied. "It took me a while to get used to that. I thought at first everyone was trying to proposition me when they kept grabbing my arm to drag me places!"

"Yes, humans are much more at ease with hand holding and you even see friends embrace each other in the street."

Raephier ducked his head down a little as he felt his face flush as he thought about Jacob.

"What's that blush for, little Raephier?" asked Sally mischievously. "Have you been enjoying someone's embrace too?"

Raephier couldn't help the smile that spread across his face.

"The Captain likes to pull me close when we sleep," he said quietly.

"Oh, he does, does he?" Sally said in mock indignation.

Raephier just giggled.

"Well I hope that's all he does!" she said.

"What do you mean?" Raephier asked with a frown.

Sally laughed.

"Well I don't know how well you've got acquainted with your new body down there, but one thing I have learnt about human men is that sometimes they think with their brains, but more often than not they think with their dicks."

Raephier's eyes widened. He knew that a dick is what they called the thing between his legs that he peed from, but he had no idea it had a brain.

"And what happens when they use the brain in their....in their....dicks?" he asked, going quieter throughout the question.

Sally howled with laughter.

"Oh Raephier, you are just too innocent my love! When a man thinks with his dick, he tends to try to hide it in any deep dark crevice that it can find."

Reaphier was totally confused, and slightly horrified, but Sally was clearly highly amused, so he tried not to worry about it too much.

When she'd finally calmed down, she looked at Raephier with fondness in her eyes and said,

"I think you and the Captain are a good match. I hope you find your happiness with him."

Raephier gasped in surprise.

"Oh, no, no, no, that could never happen. I couldn't do that to him. I'm never going to have a mate. I made my peace with that a long time ago."

"And why would you say that?" Sally asked with a frown.

"Because what kind of lover would I be if I can never share a kiss. And I'm scared that if I did love someone, the need to kiss them would be so overwhelming that I'd do it. Heck, I might accidentally do it in my sleep! And I can't go through that again. I'd rather die than feel that kind of pain again."

Sally took hold of Raephier's hands in her own.

"Please excuse me for the hand holding, but I've been on land for so long now that I think more of the comfort that the gesture can bring than anything else. Now you listen to me Raephier, and you listen good. Love is not something to be shut out. Love is the most powerful thing in the whole world. Much more powerful than any Sea Witches magic. You mustn't doubt yourself, you beautiful boy. You would never harm Jacob, NEVER, you hear me? So don't go thinking that...

The door suddenly swung open, and Sally dropped Raephier's hands just before Jacob strode into the room.

He turned and looked surprised at the scene in front of him.

"Sally? Raephier? What's going on?"