THE CRYSTAL HOUSE

¶Femi¶

Femi wiped a hand over his mouth as he heaved the contents of his stomach over the boat for the third time. He was getting weaker by the second, and the salty smell of the water wasn't helping.

Priya rubbed his back repeatedly as he coughed out, while Ace tried to take their attention away from his sea sickness by telling them stories as he stirred on.

"...and the Royal town, Nevada, is where we're headed to now. Because it's in the centre of our country, this river separates them from the rest of Meissa. But–"

"So I'll have to cross it again when I know my family?" Femi interrupted, already feeling nauseous again. He smiled appreciatively at Priya, and leaned forward towards Ace who nodded his head and shrugged.

"Apart from whoever has royal blood amongst us, we'll have to cross. But there's another way to pass."

"Which is?" Chiara asked, running her fingers through the water.

"I'll let you know once we get there. I'm not allowed to tell you yet."

"Why?"

"Too many questions, dude." Tihan said and cocked a brow, "Here's a question for you: why are you the only one getting affected by the water?"

Femi narrowed his eyes, and swallowed down a wave of nausea. The guy had been asking unnecessary, invasive questions since the journey started and the voices confirmed that Tihan was getting suspicious.

Even at that second, they busied themselves with giving him ideas on appropriate replies but he blocked them out and decided on unawareness instead.

"What do you mean?"

"Our rivers are enchanted with healing powers, meaning that as long as you're a crisiant they should not affect you, no matter how horrible of an experience you've previously had with water." Tihan folded his arms, and frowned as he waited for an answer.

"Come on, Han. You know Meissa is losing her powers, maybe the river is not so healing anymore."

Femi turned to spit into the water, and rubbed the back of his neck as he looked down into it. A shaggy, tired looking reflection stared back at him, before quickly changing into one of him wearing a cruel smile and a black suit. So much for trying to stay calm.

He shook his head and hit the water with the back of his palm, turning back to reply Tihan's question about his abilities–while Mareike said something about cool enchanted rivers–when things quickly escalated. Something suddenly grabbed his hand and latched onto it, dragging him out of the boat and into the water.

Femi shrieked once when the freezing temperature of the water seeped into his clothes and jolted his senses, but when he saw what drew him in, the screams started.

Two brown frog-looking creatures dotted with white patches of skin broke out of the water, but one was perched nearer to the boat while the other watched from a distance.

"Oluwa mi o! What's that? Jesus!" He exclaimed, shifting backwards as much as he could while the animal gripped his hand tightly and stared at him with large green eyes that seemed to be dancing with joy.

"That's a frog. Come on, let's pull you out," Ace replied with a smile and held out a hand as he and Eryk pulled him out of the water, while the girls and Tihan sat at the other side of the boat to prevent it from tipping over.

"Ah! Frog that carried me into the water? What kind is it?" Femi questioned immediately he landed on solid wood, dripping wet as he stared at the frog still clutching his hand.

White hair now covered its brown sides, while a tail sprung out of its behind as it freed itself from Femi and began to crawl around in the boat.

"It's called a malfrog. A cross-breed between a mammal, I'm not sure which kind, and a frog. They become mammals when they're out of water, and usually hate crisiants so I'm a bit surprised that this one likes you."