"You can trust me, Spark," Ryan said. But he did not try to stop me as I moved closer to the main entrance, instead continued while pouring himself a glass of water, "I was afraid something like this was going to happen. This is the reason I told you to stay away from me, but it was already too late. They already knew about you."

"I don't understand."

Everything was going over my head. I could understand he was related with the abduction of my family, but a little voice inside me said that he was not behind the incident. I sat on a couch and drank the water that Ryan had actually poured for me. Instead of cooling me down, the water seemed to burn in my throat. I wanted to go wherever my parents and my sister were taken away to.

Not knowing what to do, where to go— how to go, I rested my head on my palms. Who were the 'they' that Ryan was talking about? I had a gazillion questions.

"After you drank from the pond, you became connected to my world. The images you saw in your dreams were some of my memories from my Kingdom. You thought too much about those dreams and that deepened your connection with my country. If previously he could see traces of your whereabouts, now he was able to see you clearly."

"Who are these 'they' and 'he' Ryan?" I could not understand why he kept using pronouns.

Ryan sighed. He lowered his head and murmured, "My own." I barely heard him, but was able to decipher that Ryan knew the 'he'— maybe too deeply, too closely.

"Where is your world?"

Ryan did not answer my question. Instead, he said, "Come to Southampton with me."

"What? No." I barely knew him. How could I possibly go to an unknown city with him? But—but, what if they took my family to Southampton and not to wherever his world was?

All his previous seriousness left Ryan. He came closer to me and said, "Why, are you afraid of what I might do to you? Is that why you don't want to go with me, Spark?" Ryan angled his head and raised an eyebrow.

I could not believe him— my whole family disappeared and he was talking shit. Obviously he was- he had no reason, no emergency to go rescue his family. I huffed. Ryan had no compassion at all. Then why would he agree to help me? My eyes widened and I gulped down a lump in my throat—What if he really had some malicious intention?

Keeping aside my fears, I said to him in as firm a voice as possible, "You wouldn't dare to do any such thing." Something in his eyes flickered.

Ryan came closer and squatted in front of me so that we were face to face. "And why do you think so?" he asked in a low voice.

I clasped my hands in my lap, forced myself to bring a sweet smile on my face and said, "I thought you were different." My words came out through gritted teeth, contradicting the sugary smile on my face.

"Then come with me, Spark. I— I am sorry I was rude with you on certain occasions, and I know that, that might have caused you to think that I may have some bad intentions, and very rightly so. However, you must know when I am saying that I'll help you to get back with your family, I am saying that with all my sincerity."

Ryan's sudden apology prompted me to see him in a new light. Still...something nagged at my mind. No one would help someone they barely knew if they did not have their own agenda. Ryan had to have one too—one that had something to do with why he was not living in his 'world' or 'Kingdom' or whatever.

"I still need to think before going with you," I said.

"Fine," Ryan sighed, "But you should make your decision as soon as possible." As if I did not know that.

***

Instead of returning to my home, I went to Emma's and told her everything. I was thankful that I had a best friend like her in my life, who believed and supported me and was there every time I needed her.

"So, what should I do?" I asked her.

"I guess you should go but be careful. After all, he may actually help you, and if not, you could always see around the city." Exploring a city was the last thing I wanted to do.

"Please come with me," I said fiddling with a pen.

"I wish I could, but my mother is not so well these days," she said.

"Isn't James coming here to look after her?" James was Emma's elder brother. Every other week, he took out some time from his schedule to come stay with them and look after his mother.

Emma stuck a post-it on a page of her sketchbook. "Not until this weekend."

I frowned. I did not want to go alone, but waiting till Saturday— it could be too late. God knew what was being done to my parents and to my sister.

But I said, "Not a problem. We can wait till Saturday. Till then, I'll try to find some information in Cambridge only." I finally kept the pen on the table. I decided that before I hastily went to Southampton with Ryan, I needed to get to know him a bit.

"That can work," Emma said smiling, "I am going to some adventure, finally."

"Yeah, more like a trauma for me." I sighed.

"Everything will be alright. Don't worry."

***

It was late, sometime after nine, when I returned home. On a normal day, I would have enjoyed having the house all by myself but courtesy to the recent events, I did not feel completely safe in my house. I did not want to crash at Emma's, though I knew she would have never said no if I wanted to, but she already had much on her platter— having to look after her mother— and she had done me enough favours, so I did not want to impose any more burden on her.

I went to the library and spent almost four hours there— till the librarian told me that it was about to close. I told myself that whoever took my parents would have already taken me, if they wanted to and I did not have to fear anything, but still I wished I had somewhere else to go.

I was preparing myself a bath when I heard a bell and at the same time my phone chimed with a text from someone. "I am outside your house," it said.

My fingers were shaking as I wrote back, "Who are you?"

"Ryan. So you did not save my number." Ryan had given me his number at his house. I guess I forgot to save it. I took a long sigh.

"What are you doing outside my house at this hour?" I texted back.

"I am here to keep you company. Open the door."

"What the hell?"

"Fine, if you don't want company, then I am going."

I really wanted company. But admitting it— I did not want him to know how terrified I was. Still, for my own benefit I told him to wait. I could only imagine his pleasure on seeing my text telling him not to go. Taking a long sigh, however, I went downstairs.

I opened the door and there stood Ryan grinning like a fool, with his hands in his pockets. "Stop looking at me like that," he said coming inside the hall.

"Looking at you like what?" I asked gruffly.

"Like you are an idiot?"

"Like you want to kiss me—"

—We both said at the same time.

Ryan was so wrong. I narrowed my eyes at him. "Don't make me regret allowing you in my house," I said, "And as far as I remember, it was you who had wanted to kiss me."

Ryan looked down and raked his hand through his hair, a boyish grin framing his mouth. Then looking up, he came towards me...only to go past me— the back of his thumb brushed over my cheek— Ryan made himself comfortable on the sofa.

I was transfixed there for a second or two, then went upstairs to my room. My empty bed reminded me how Lindsey would come to my room, even though I always told her to go to her own room. She barely stayed at her own room. But now, it all felt so deserted and lonely.

***

We ate the food I had ordered for both of us, in silence. Then after stacking the plates in the dishwasher, we went to the drawing room where I showed him the paintings of the ocean from my dreams. Ryan was looking at those paintings like he missed the place. His mouth formed into a hard line while he studied them. It was becoming impossible for me to sit silently, waiting for some information, so I asked Ryan the very question I had wanted to ask him since I started having those dreams.

"Why were all my dreams about the undersea?" Silence. I waited for a minute before saying that I really needed to know something.

"When are you going to Southampton with me?" he asked instead. I had totally forgotten to tell him about that.

"In this weekend. Emma will accompany me. I hope it won't be a problem."

"Spark, you need to understand that this is a secret and the more you humans know about it, the more you will be in danger," Ryan looked up at me.

"What you mean by us humans? What are you exactly?"

"I'll tell you. But first tell me if I can trust Emma."

"Yes, Ryan," I assured him, "You can trust her more than you can trust me."

He then smiled at me. "Oh I don't trust you at all."

"Then why do you want to tell me your secret?"

"Because otherwise you won't be able to rescue your family." He paused, then said, "And I know you care enough about your kind that you will keep the knowledge of my identity to yourself."

He continued, "Now, you will not risk any other person's life, will you?"

"That is trust," I said, sighing, "Just a variant of it. To be able to tell me about yourself, you had to have trusted me—yes, not entirely— but if there was no trust in me from your part, you would not have wanted to risk revealing your identity to me."

Ryan was looking at me like I was some divine being— maybe I had said too much. I cleared my throat. "Do you trust me, then?" Ryan asked.

I flashed him a faint smile, that I doubted had reached my eyes. "I have no other option than to trust you."

"Now, answer my question. What are you?" I took the painting that Ryan was holding, from his hands. Then, I took a glance at it before returning my attention to Ryan. I was by no means an artist— my paintings could convey my thoughts, but only to some extent, and only because I took drawing classes when I was young— still the drawings used to be simple, very straight-forward and mostly of landscapes.

Ryan shrugged. I was starting to lose my patience, when he said, "A faerie. I am a faerie, Spark."

"I— I— How—" I was unable to form words. I had read about faeries in my fantasy novels, but never did I expect to sit with one in my drawing room.

Ryan took my hands in his. "You don't need to be afraid of me, Spark."

"I am...I am not." I was.

"Well, that's a relief then," he stroked the back of my palm with his thumb and released my hand.

"You don't have pointed ears or long, slender fingers." I noted.

Ryan laughed. A slow, lazy laugh. He casually leaned towards me and was still smiling as he said, "I do have those. This is sort of an enchantment. I have glamoured my actual appearance. But Spark, we are so much more than pointy ears." Laughter lingered in Ryan's voice as he said that.

"I need you to come to Southampton with me, so that I can show you how to see through the glamour of my land," He added.

I realized I was staring at him, when he cleared his throat. I averted my eyes and looked at the paintings. "What are you doing here? Among us humans?" I asked.

"Let's save that for later," he stood up. "I am feeling sleepy. Shouldn't you show your guest a room?"

"You may take any room you like, in the downstairs," I said and went to my room.

"Good night," Ryan called out which I ignored.

_______________

Hope you liked CHAPTER 9 of " A World of Treason and Tides". Do vote and comment😊

So, it has been revealed that Ryan is a faerie. Now, what will happen next?

PS: The next chapter will be short.