"I still can't believe that you are here."

Jake was in the kitchen adjoined to the dining room, stirring a pot of lobster bisque. He looked behind his back towards Ríone sitting in the dining room, waiting for an answer.

Ríone nodded. "Me too. I can't believe that I am here. It feels equal parts surreal and crazy."

"Oh yeah. I thought I was seeing things when you introduced yourself back there."

A smile emerged on her lips. She leaned against the headrest of the chair, taking in the vibes of Jake's home. It really was a home. You could feel that. The walls were wooden, unpainted, but polished. Tall shelves full of books lined the walls of the living room. Other than that, Ríone noticed that there were some sculptures and glass jars amidst the books.

The dining room, where she was seated, was smaller compared to the living room. It had a small round table in the middle and two similar chairs with a rounded headrest. To its right was the kitchen. A smell of burnt frankincense wafted throughout the house.

"Lunch is ready!"

Jake declared he came out of the kitchen with a tray in his hand. It contained two bowls full of his bisque and two plates which contained two of the croissant au beurres that Ríone had brought for him. The breads looked a bit squashed, a side effect of the bear hug they shared outside.

"Mmm," Ríone took in a deep breath, closing her eyes in bliss. "It smells awesome, Jake. I bet it tastes even better."

Jake laughed, the pinpoints of his cheeks turning pink. "I hope it is. I am not much of a soup eater, so I do not make them often." He took a seat opposite to her after putting a bowl and a plate in front of his friend.

Ríone took a sip of the bisque. Its warmth drove away the tiredness of the day. The texture was velvety, its thickness just perfect. Chunks of succulent lobster meat and herbs floated on its surface. She licked her lips in joy.

"Wow Jake! When did you learn to cook so well?"

"After mom died," he said. "That is when I took up cooking. I did not have a choice as dad used to be busy with his work." A sigh escaped his lips.

Ríone's face fell. "I... when did that happen? I mean, when did aunty pass away?"

"A year after Sean's death. She hung herself."

The atmosphere of the room immediately dipped down as if someone had poured water over their reunion. Ríone hung her head. She held her head with her free right hand. Sean's death. So many things had happened after that which she was unaware of. What had she done? Escaped. While she and her mother lived an okay lifestyle, her best friend and his father had to go through boatloads of grief.

"Hey, you do not have to feel bad about it," Jake said, noticing her pallid expression. "You did nothing wrong. Río, you of all people should not feel guilty about what happened."

"Maybe if I tried harder -"

"-you still would have failed to save Sean. Did you forget what really happened to him?"

Ríone nodded. "Yes, I remember."

"And I hope that you have not convinced yourself that your eyes were playing tricks on you?"

She nodded again. Although not sure about what to think about it, whether to believe in the existence of something in the depths of Loutham's sea, she did not want to deter Jake from speaking his mind. That was why she was here. To know the truth, that what she saw was real, as real as it could be.

Jake chewed on a piece of lobster. "Then tell me, what could you have done against a thing like that?"

"Is there no way?" Ríone asked.

"A way for what?"

"To stop this thing."

Jake put down the spoon in his bowl. "It cannot be stopped. There are certain things in this world that cannot be restrained. The guardian, or the thing as you referred to it, is one of them. You cannot stop it."

"So it will go on killing people?" Ríone asked. A frown was etched on her forehead.

"As long as people keep on living here, yes."

"What if people decide to abandon this town?"

"Then it will be free to go wherever it likes. It would no longer be bound to Loutham."

Ríone looked down into her soup bowl. She failed to understand what Jake meant. It already took the destruction of years of thought processes for her to consider the fact there indeed was something in the waters of Loutham that was responsible for Sean's death. But why was it bound to the town in the first place? Why can't it be set free if people do not desert this town?

"I know it is hard to fully fathom such things," Jake said. "For a long time, I too questioned myself about it. Am I being a fool? Are these just my delusions? But no Río, I understood it is all very real. And I am not a madman, as people of Loutham like to think about me." He gave out a dry chuckle.

"Umm, why does it kill in the first place?" Ríone asked. Subsequently, she sipped another spoonful of the bisque. "And how old is it?"

"Why does it kill? That is simple. It is to sustain itself, although I believe it does not truly need food to stay alive. Think of it as a payment. It protects the town and in return, it takes what it likes," Jake said. "As for its age... I do not think that I am the right person to understand. Truth be told, I do not know. All I can say is that this thing is ancient."

"How does it protect this place?"

"Have you ever seen storms, hurricanes, tsunamis and things of that nature happening in Loutham? It is just one of the many pieces of evidence of the protection we receive from it."

"Uh-huh." What he was saying was true. She did not remember any such things happening in Loutham when she still stayed here.

Ríone played with the lobster chunks. She swerved them back and forth with the spoon. An ancient creature living in the sea by Loutham. A creature that protects the town but takes payment as human lives. No one knows about it. They are oblivious. But how did this thing come here? What exactly is it? A part of her knew she would never get the answers to these questions, while it aroused the other part - it had to know the full truth.

She raised her eyes. An almost inaudible gasp escaped her lips as she noticed something on the upper right shelf behind Jake. Something white kept in a mason jar. Her eyes widened. These were the things she had seen in the nightmare where she was trapped underneath the sea.

"What is it?"

Getting no response from his friend, Jake turned around to see what caught her attention. As he spotted what it was, a knowing look emerged on his face. He looked back at Ríone and gave her a sheepish smile.

"It is its sheddings."