Claimed (4)

She looked back to confirm that he was still in the house before creeping towards the calm sea.

The breeze blew her hair off her face as the waves stretched onto the land and back into the sea. Tying her hair into a bun, she set foot into the water, hoping it would part even though she knew that the possibility of that happening was near zero. She was not Dairon, after all. She had no power over the sea.

To her surprise, a path cleared up in front of her, making her eyes glisten with hope. It worked! She thought about it and made another step, then another and with every step she made, the path grew longer before her, so much that she couldn't see the end of it. She wondered how long it would take her to get to the end of it, but it didn't matter as long as she got out of this place.

The sea got darker with every step and she could once again hear the familiar voice she had heard before in her dreams.

"My child…"

"Mother?" She called out as her eyes itched, realizing that it was her mother's voice.

She seemed to be arguing with someone.

"She has to be alive! Please keep looking. I have a feeling my daughter is still alive." She insistently pleaded with someone, choking with her sobs.

"Ma'am. I'm sorry. We have already searched all over this region and didn't find her body." A man apologized, sounding like he was in a tight spot.

"Then check further! If you didn't find her body then she is alive. Maybe she was washed away to a nearby island." Sophie continued to plead.

Why would she hear them? Were they nearby? Jasmine wondered, and just as she did, a flash of light shone in her direction and her eyes darted towards it. An image slowly started to form in her eyes. Although it was foggy, she recognized the couple who were hugging each other heartbrokenly as her parents.

"Mother, father…" She stretched out a hand to them, only to touch water.

It was as though something snapped, both in her brain and in the sea. The wet ground under her feet began to shake and before she could process what was going on, water came tumbling down on her.

"No!" A muffled scream escaped her mouth before water flooded into her mouth. Not again…

"Stop!" A commanding voice resounded, and she suddenly stopped sinking and all so naturally got to her feet, as though the water was steadying her. She stopped chocking and found her breath, almost as though her near-drowning was only in her imagination.

"Send her back." Dairon sounded annoyed as he ordered the sea, and she felt a hard shove pushing her all the way back onto the dry land before Dairon. Her clothes and hair dried instantly as though the water had been pulled off them, but her heart remained cold.

"Do you want to die so badly?" Dairon scolded her, and he was about to continue with a round of lectures when he noticed how deflated she looked. "What happened?"

"I saw them. They were looking for me." She looked up at him hopefully. "I really have to go home, please."

He observed her for a while and didn't give her any response, retreating into the house instead. He knew that she would not try to escape again after what had happened, but he was still in disbelief that she would even attempt it in the first place.

Her getting to that point was somewhat a result of him allowing it because he thought that she would be bored and want to play or go on adventures. Who would have thought that she would try to use it as a path to escape?

He set the table for dinner and when he saw that she was still unwilling to sit, he looked down at her, his eyes still full of anger.

"You have to know that the sea is 9,250 kilometres wide on this part. Unless you are willing to walk that distance, don't even think of leaving."

She looked up in shock, her eyes dimming instantly. That was wider than Clarepar Sea and any sea she had ever heard of for that matter.

Seeing as he had caught her attention, he continued to explain. "You can only leave this island under two conditions: I let you and when you are truly strong enough. You are still too weak to go back to the realm of the mortals. You will die as soon as you set foot there."

"But I saw my parents and…" She insistently explained.

"That was all in your imagination, Jasmine. Even if they were on Cannon Island, do you think you would see and hear them?"

She stared blankly when she realized that he was right. She must have imagined the situation with her family right now, which was why she thought she could see them.

"Come, have dinner. Eating healthily will help you become stronger." He urged, pulling a chair for her to sit at the dining table.

Hearing that there was a way to make her stronger so she could leave, she obediently sat at the table. Only then did she remember what he had said about the realm of the mortals.

"Are we in the realm of the immortals?" She guessed.

"You could say so." He didn't give a definite answer, but it made her realize that leaving wasn't as easy as she had imagined it to be.

"So, what are you?" She asked curiously. It was hard to ignore how shocked she was by each of his stunts. It had only been a day, but it felt like ages with how many things had happened within this short time. It would be best if she knew who she was dealing with at the very least.

"I'm a human. What else would I be?" He answered with a grin on his lips, making her wonder how serious his words were. Was he joking?

"Then you must be a witch?" Otherwise, what was with the bizarre things happening around him? Seeing his amused look, she quickly explained her speculation. "Vivian's grandmother used to tell us about witches… she said that they existed."

"They do exist but I'm not one of them." He answered flatly, knowing what she wanted to know but intentionally making her ask again.

"Then what are you?" She asked anyway, since she couldn't hold in her curiosity anymore.

He had already had enough fun messing with her, so he chuckled as he satisfied her curiosity. "I'm a demigod."

"A what?!" Her eyes went wide with shock. "Wait. Gods exist? And demigods exist too?"

"I thought you would have figured it out already." He chuckled. "Didn't your friend already mention it?"

She didn't ask how he knew that Vivian mentioned it, since he had said something about being close to them during their trip. She was still disoriented. "She did, but I thought those were merely blog posts."

"Some of them are. But Dylan and Nila…they are my grandparents." He explained, introducing his family while at it.

She rolled her eyes. And to think she had almost believed him. "You are merely saying that because you heard Vivian mention them."

"As I said, things happen the way you believe them." He gazed at her hair, sending goosebumps up her skin. "If you think you are being haunted, then you will indeed feel haunted."

As he spoke, she started feeling something trickling down her head, shocking her yet again. Just as she was about to exclaim about the familiarity of this, the water dried up after the gust of wind she had felt on the cruise ship.

"It was you!" She exclaimed, finally understanding where the water came from on that day.

He laughed instead of answering her. "It was fun to see you so riled up. However, it wasn't because you had caught my interest as your friend speculated." He admitted, making her frown at him.

"I was merely having fun when I saw a girl who looked like she so badly wanted to be teased. Who would have thought that she would become mine soon after?" His last words ruined the entire fun. "I'm not yours!"

"Oh, Jas. You may want to get used to it sooner." He laughed, finding humor in how angry she looked every time she insisted that she did not belong to him.

"Why? Just because you saved me? Then doesn't that mean everyone else you save belongs to you too?" She reasoned.

"It's only you because you and I were meant to be together. I felt that you were my other half as soon as I held your hand." He gave yet another vague and annoying answer that made her want to slap the hell out of him.

Who the hell makes decisions like that? The point was, she didn't want to belong to anyone!