The first thing Jacob noticed when he woke up was Raephier's head on his chest. The next thing he noticed was that the rest of their bodies had also become entwined in the night.

Jacob didn't mind admitting to himself that it was a damn fine way to wake up. It had been far too long since he'd had the companionship of either a man or woman in his bed, and he'd be lying if he said he didn't miss it.

Jacob twisted his body slightly to make sure that he wasn't poking Raephier with something that would be considered inappropriate.

The sun was yet to rise, but Jacob knew it was time to get up. He'd always had a very good internal clock and could trust his body to wake up when it needed to. He would have let his men have a lie-in, but since seeing Fingers, Jacob had felt restless. He wanted to leave port before sunrise, just in case.

Jacob looked down on the boy sleeping in his arms. When he'd first seen him, he'd felt very protective over him, kind of like an older brother would. But since Raephier had revealed his true form, Jacob had started to feel the stirrings of other feelings. Feelings he'd rather bury at the moment.

He soaked in the feeling for just another minute longer, before he untangled his body from Raephier's and slid out of the bed. There was a washroom down the hall, and so Jacob snuck out to freshen up before coming back and rousing Raephier.

"Come on, we need to go," he said, patting Raephier gently on the head, just for another excuse to run his fingers through his hair again.

Raephier raised his head and took in his surroundings. When his eyes met Jacobs, he gave a soft smile.

"We'll get breakfast on the ship," Jacob said. "Come on, I'll show you where the washroom is."

It wouldn't have been difficult to give Raephier directions to the washroom, but he didn't want him out of his sight. It wasn't because he didn't trust him. It was because he didn't trust Fingers.

He let Raephier have some privacy once they were there, but Jacob stood like a sentry guard outside the door.

As soon as Raephier emerged, he grabbed hold of his hand and led him downstairs. Jacob couldn't shake the jittery feeling that he had, knowing that Fingers could be anywhere. He just wanted to get Raephier back onto his ship as soon as possible.

He paid his bill, then headed outside towards the harbour.

He breathed a sigh of relief when they stepped onto his beloved ship.

Pete was waiting for him on board. He raised an eyebrow at Jacob when he saw his hand gripping Raephier's tightly.

"Everything alright Captain?" Pete asked.

"I'll fill you in later," Jacob said, looking round the ship, pleased to see that his men were preparing for departure. "Is everyone on board?"

"They are now," came a voice from behind, and Jacob turned to see Marco dragging John and Harry, two of the younger members of the crew, onto the ship. Both looked worse for wear.

Jacob nodded at Marco, trusting that he would deal with the two lads appropriately.

"Can you arrange for some breakfast to be sent to my cabin for Raephier," Jacob ordered Pete. "I'll eat mine in the navigation room."

Pete nodded, and Jacob led Raephier over to his quarters.

It wasn't until they were shut inside that Jacob turned to look at Raephier. Jacob studied his face and couldn't help but worry at how tired he looked.

"How are you feeling this morning?" Jacob asked him. "I'm sorry, I should have asked sooner."

Raephier gave him a small smile.

"I'm feeling a lot better today," he replied.

"You look tired," Jacob said.

Raephier just shrugged.

Jacob got the feeling that Reaphier would never complain about anything from fear of being chastised for it.

Jacob walked over to his bed and pulled back the covers.

"Come on, you should get some more sleep," he said.

Raephier's eyes widened in surprise.

"I-I thought I wasn't allowed on your bed Captain?"

Jacob laughed.

"That was because you were filthy! You've had a wash now and I'm more than happy to share a bed with you."

Raephier's mouth opened in shock, and Jacob watched in delight as his cheeks flushed a lovely shade of pink.

They were interrupted by a knock on the door.

James was standing outside with a bowl of porridge.

"Thanks," Jacob said, taking it out of his hands.

James peered round Jacob to see Raephier.

"Are you feeling better Raephier?" James asked.

Jacob stood back to let James in.

"Yes thank you," Raephier replied.

"That's a relief, we were getting worried about you."

Raephier didn't reply, but looked away with a shy smile.

"I'm heading out now," Jacob told Raephier. "Make sure you eat your breakfast and lunch, and get some rest,"

"Yes Captain," Raephier replied.

Jacob opened his mouth to say something, then snapped it shut when he realised what he was going to say. He was about to tell him to call him Jacob, not Captain, but of course that would have been inappropriate.

He shook his head as he walked away, James following him closely.

"Everything alright Captain?" James asked.

"Yes, it's fine," he said, quite distracted, but then realised things weren't exactly fine, so quickly corrected himself.

"Actually I do have some concerns about something that happened on land, but I want to talk to Pete as well, so I'll just get some breakfast, then I'll meet you in the navigation room."

A quarter of an hour later, Jacob, Pete, James and Lyle were in the navigation room. Marco was still busy dealing with the members of the crew who'd disobeyed orders last night after they were discovered this morning at the local whore house.

"You said you needed to talk to us about something that happened on land?" Pete asked.

Lyle's head snapped towards Jacob, showing deep concern.

"Yes, but there's no need to get worried yet," Jacob said, locking eyes with Lyle. "My only concern was that I saw the man who sold me Raephier. He was at the tavern we stayed in last night."

Pete's eyebrows raised and Lyle's scowl grew deeper.

"Is that so weird?" James asked. "He may have just been travelling in the same direction as us, and with the storm, lots of ships in the area probably headed there."

Jacob nodded.

"Yeah, I'm hoping that was the case, but I just felt in my gut that something wasn't right about it. And then Raephier had a bad dream in the night, and when he woke up he thought I was him."

"What, the man who sold him?"

"Yes. He told me that when he was first cursed and turned out of his home, it was this guy who found him, and when Raephier explained to the guy about the curse, the man sold him to the highest bidder."

"And that was you?" Lyle asked.

"No, I think he's had at least 3 other masters before me. But what this does mean is that this man has sold Raephier at least twice. Maybe more."

"Are you implying that he may steal him back to sell again?" Pete asked, looking shocked.

"That was my first thought, but when I asked Raephier if he thought he would steal him back, he said no."

"Yes, but you can't exactly trust anything he says," said Lyle. "Maybe he's in on the deal. Gets a cut of the money."

"You think that he has money?!" James asked, looking amused. "Did you see the state of him when he first came on the ship?"

"Could all be an act," Lyle said with a shrug.

"His nightmare certainly wasn't an act," Jacob added. "No one can make up the fear I saw in his eyes."

There was silence for a moment while everyone was lost in their own thoughts.

"So, just for argument's sake," James said, "if this guy is not planning on stealing Raephier back, and he wasn't in that port by coincidence, what other explanation could there be?"

"I don't know," Jacob said, shaking his head.

Jacob looked around the room to see if anyone else could come up with an explanation, but found the same confused expressions on everyone's faces.

"Then maybe it was a coincidence," Pete said.

"I don't believe in coincidences," Lyle barked back.

Jacob fought not to roll his eyes at Lyle's response.

The ship began swaying quite heavily, indicating that they had moved away from the shelter of land, and were now in deep waters again. Jacob would have preferred to have waited out the weather for another day, but both his desire to get home, and the threat he felt from Fingers were enough to make him risk riding in the tail end of the storm.

"Why don't you ask Raephier again?" James suggested. "Maybe he might have an idea?"

"You need to stop treating him like a person," Lyle shot back. "Everyone seems to be forgetting that he was bought as a weapon. He should have been left in his cage and kept in the armoury!"

"That's enough!" Jacob said, beginning to lose patience with Lyle's attitude.

Before their conversation could go any further, there was a knock at the door and young Gabriel came in.

"Sorry to disturb you Captain, but it seems that some of the cargo must have broke loose in the storm, and I need help to tie it back down."

"Thank you Gabriel. James, Lyle, get to it please."

"Aye Captain," came the response before they followed Gabriel out of the room.

Jacob could feel Pete's stare on him as soon as they were alone, but he couldn't bring himself to look at him just yet.

"There's more, isn't there?" Pete asked, clearly fed up with waiting for Jacob to say something.

Jacob sighed. It was no coincidence that he'd not asked Pete to help in the cargo hold. But even so, he didn't really know what he wanted to tell Pete.

"Do you know anything at all about Sirens?" Jacob settled on asking.

"Only from folk stories, and those seemed a little far removed from what I see when I look at Raephier."

Jacob nodded.

"Do you think it's possible...." he paused for a moment, struggling to think of the right words. "Aren't Sirens supposed to sort of bewitch you into thinking you're in love with them? Isn't that how it works?"

Pete looked thoughtful.

"I think so. But I think it's more lust than love. Aren't they supposed to shapeshift into whatever your heart desires? Kind of like a lure?"

Jacob felt a bit of his tension ease at Pete's words. If he was right, then there was no way Raephier would have appeared to him as this worn out, dirty, street urchin. Not that Jacob knew what his heart desired, but surely it wasn't that!

"Why you asking?" Pete said, looking at Jacob with a hint of unease.

Jacob let out a small chuckle.

"No, it's not like that!" he said, deciding to try to convince himself of the lie at the same time. "I just feel dead protective over him. I guess what I'm saying is that I care about him, but I can't help but be worried that this is all part of his powers. What if Lyle is right? What if he's waiting for us all to let our guard down just to kill us in our sleep?"

Pete took a deep breath and paced around the room slowly, thinking over what Jacob had said. He stopped and turned to face Jacob.

"What does your instinct tell you? Your instincts are rarely wrong."

"That Raephier is no threat to us," Jacob said without pause.

Pete smiled.

"There you go then. Trust your instincts."

"Yes, but my instinct also tells me that there's something not quite right about the guy who sold him to me. I almost feel as though both those things can't be true. If that guy is up to something, then I'm certain Raephier knows about it, so that must mean he's lying to me and so can't be trusted. So one of my instincts is wrong."

Pete rubbed his hands across his face in frustration.

"Maybe you're right. Or maybe there's something we're missing which means they're both true." Pete bit his lip, something Jacob knew he always did before he said something that he thought Jacob wouldn't want to hear.

"I know you're not going to like this, but I think you need to speak to Lyle. I think he's the only one of us who has any knowledge of Sirens."

Jacob sighed.

"I know. But I didn't want his experience to influence me in how I dealt with Raephier. Not all people are the same, so I guess not all Siren's are the same either."

"That's true," Pete replied, "but sometimes it's best to know what they are capable of, just in case."

Jacob nodded. This was why he would always choose to confide in Pete. He always saw things in a very logical way. And even when Jacob disagreed with him, Pete never judged him for it.

"Ok, I'll talk to Lyle soon. Not just yet though."

"Just..... be careful," Pete added, in a tone of voice that was for his best friend, not his Captain.

"I will, I promise," Jacob replied, giving Pete what he hoped was a reassuring smile.



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