Then the silence was broken. The girl was struggling against drowning. Fear could feel her terror wash over him in waves.

I don't want to die! Why did I do this? I don't want to die anymore, but I'm going to drown anyway! She was panicking.

He saw her look up, and he could have sworn that she met his eyes, her own passing him a desperate plea for help before she disappeared beneath the water once more.

He waited a few seconds, frozen. The thrashing below the surface ceased, and the girl floated. A flash of white, and he saw a different body there. The boy again.

Then it was back to her. He could see her starting to sink. There was no more time left.

Don't interfere with the humans.

Fear shook his head and ignored the voice, plunging his arm into ice cold water, taking her own white hand and grasping it in his own.

He pulled her up and lifted her into the boat. He stared at her, the figure lying in the bottom of the boat, water streaming from her hair and from her clothes. What now?

She coughed then, weakly, and then more violently, spewing water from her mouth.

Fear let out the breath he'd been holding and returned to his spot at the opposite end of the boat. It was done. She was safe. He could be done with interfering.

The girl sat up, her eyes wide. She scuttled backwards, mouth half open in shock and fear. The boat rocked with her movements, and she threw out her hand, grabbing the edge of the boat and steadying herself.

His lips parted slightly in shock. This was...unprecedented. Humans didn't see him. They didn't look at him like that.

And they certainly didn't open their mouths and speak to him.

"W-who are you?"