I gave her a horrified look and asked, “What the fuck? Like a computer chip?”
Audrey shook her head and replied, “No, no one is micro-chipped. It’s a type of technology-magic fusion. I guess more like a spell to become fluent in a language…anyway, language barriers aren’t really a thing here. Anyone can learn any language at any time they want.”
I gave her a blank stare, absorbing. Processing.
“Sure. Why not?” I replied. Liam chuckled at my reaction, nodding politely at people who stared wide-eyed at our little group as we walked through this, much busier, city.
Eventually, we made our way to some docks, and I smiled at the familiar sight that reminded me of home. Home. I was almost home.
I did a double-take at seeing my mini yacht, though.
“How?” I asked Audrey with a finger pointing toward it.
“Liam brought it over while you were recovering.” Audrey patted my shoulder in reassurance. “We’re leaving the old-fashioned way, as opposed to how you arrived here.”
“Dare I ask, how did I arrive here, if not on my own boat?” I followed Liam and Audrey onto my boat, side-eyeing how familiar Liam seemed to be as he held an arm toward us to enter the cabin, settling himself into the captain’s seat. How many times had they driven this thing without my knowledge?
“Lyskifting,” Audrey said.
“Bless you,” I replied.
She snorted as she dropped our bags on the interior couch before walking out to the main deck. Since Liam took it upon himself to steer, and he actually knew the way out, I followed her.
“Think of it as moving really fast. Faster than the human eye can see. Faster than light, even,” Audrey explained with a sigh as she settled herself on one of the lounge chairs.
I sat down and stared at her, waiting for her to turn her head and look at me.
“Are you seriously trying to tell me that I teleported here?”
Audrey tipped her head back and laughed. “It’s not teleporting—but whatever helps you understand it, I guess.”
I shook my head and settled into my own lounge chair, scanning everything. The water was large enough to remind me of the Bay Area, with four different land masses being visible. The land mass with the distant mountains, the one with more tropical foliage, the land mass that was Sammara, and the land mass that was Liam’s territory.
As we traveled, I pointed toward the mountains. “What is that place called again?”
“Lyndoruun,” Audrey replied.
“And you said it’s the siren territory?” I lifted a brow. “Where the two men who attacked me are from?”
Audrey nodded, confirming that I would not be visiting that territory anytime soon. Then I identified Sammara and Enharra correctly, feeding off of Audrey’s excitement when I did so. Iwas getting ready to ask about the tropical land mass next, as we followed the curve of Sammara’s land, exposing two massive, ancient-looking black pillars the size of skyscrapers. They were made of stone and jutted out of the water that I was starting to suspect was more ocean than river. The pillars stood perfectly between Sammara, Lyndoruun, and the tropical land mass.
“These are the gates to our home?” I asked Audrey. She nodded, pointing toward a couple of structures at the base of them.
“Historically, sirens have been the guardians of the Mellhawn Gates back when they were open. But no one has formally stood guard for hundreds of years due to them being closed—well, due to everyonebelievingthat they were closed,” Audrey said. “But now nereids have partnered with the siren government to guard them since they are open.”
I quirked my lips to the side as we approached. “Why are they open?”
Audrey tipped her head side to side as we approached one of the stone structures at the base of the left pillar. “No one knows. No one knows how to actually close them, either. Past spells and locks don’t seem to be working, no matter what the governments try.”
I frowned. “That’s unsettling.”
“Beyond destroying them, which no one really wants to do.” Audrey shrugged. “The Hyvenmerian governments are at a loss.” Liam cut the engine to my boat as soon as we pulled up to a small dock that led to the small housing unit. It reminded me of the fancy gates to neighborhoods that the ultra-rich lived in, in Southern California. Where the gatekeepers had a small apartment to hang out in, as they allowed or denied passage.
A couple of men stepped up to the boat, boarding my vessel. I tensed, hating the sight of people just sauntering onto my boat. They held clipboards as they nodded politely at us, one of themdoing a curious double-take at me, as the two men spread out and casually searched my boat. They didn’t break anything, at least.
“Grant?” one of them asked as they stepped toward Audrey and me. Audrey casually slipped hers out of her wallet, reminding me that I also needed to do that.
The man stepped forward and sat down on Audrey’s lounge chair, making me give her a confused look. She smirked, remaining relaxed.
