“So, the process of reef building,” Luhan said, summarizing Jinyu’s previous talk. “If coral does grow so slowly, it would probably take decades or centuries for something like, say, the Great Barrier Reef to form?”

“That is right,” Jinyu said, even though she wasn’t sure what The Great Barrier Reef actually was. She just supposed that it was some reef in a part of the ocean she hadn’t been to before. But surely, it was another reef, like any other one she’d encountered. She smoothed out the skirt over her knees. The wind was getting a little cold.

“So, some coral reefs must be hundreds of years old,” Luhan concluded. After spending some time biking, they had returned to the boardwalk for lunch and then proceeded to walk up the hills near the cliffs until they found a rest area with a picnic table. They had stopped there to watch the sunset. The sun was long gone now and replaced by the faint light of a crescent moon and a few lampposts.

They both sat atop the picnic table, side by side, and Luhan had gotten Jinyu started on talking about the ocean, a welcome subject for her. She had a lot to say about it, and Luhan enjoyed the way her eyes lit up when she spoke of her “deep sea dives”.

“What about the reef along here?” Luhan said, pointing to the ocean at the bottom of the cliff they were on. “There’s a coral reef here right?”

“There was,” Jinyu said. “But, I believe it is mostly algae now. There is not much coral left.”

“Why? What happened to the coral?” Luhan asked, furrowing his brows as though he were genuinely upset to find out that there was no coral on the reef surrounding his hometown.

Jinyu shrugged. In truth, she didn’t know the exact reason why the coral no longer grew. All she knew was that once, perhaps many years before she was even born, there was coral on the reef. Dead, frozen polyps and coral skeletons still lined the rocks between the algae.

“I suppose there must have been a very lush reef around these parts,” she answered. “But that was a long time ago. The water was colder back then and felt lighter. Now, it is different. Perhaps it no longer grows because of changes in the water.”

Luhan nodded slowly at her words, and then he looked out over the sea. The otherwise tranquil view of the nighttime ocean was interrupted by a harsh silhouette on the horizon. It was his family’s oil platform or one of them at least. There must be four others further down the coastline. This southern sea was rich in resources and oil, and his ancestors had struck it large when they stuck their necks into the oil industry. But every success has a price, and for the oil empire he was to inherit one day, that price was the ocean.

“Don’t I make you angry?” he asked, and Jinyu turned to him quickly.

“Angry?” she asked. “Why would I – ?”

“Because you love the ocean so much, but here I’m the son of the guy whose economic expansion is destroying it,” Luhan explained. “Aren’t you one of those environmental activist types? How could you go out with me?”

Jinyu pursed her lips and stared at the sea while she thought of her answer. Luhan waited; he hoped that he had the right things, or he hoped that he at least didn’t say something wrong. Jinyu shrugged before looking back to him.

“Maybe I hope that you will be the one to change these things,” she said softly. Luhan let her words sink into him, and then he nodded slowly once more.

Of course, he thought. Someday all this economic expansion would be his and the empire would be under his control. He had the power to bring rebuild these coral reefs himself; not overnight, of course, and perhaps not even within his own lifetime. But as long as there were people like Jinyu who still spoke for the ocean, he could make sure that they’d be heard in the years to come. He smiled.

“You really love the ocean, don’t you?” he said. Jinyu blushed a bit as she answered affirmatively. Luhan grinned. “On my part, I can’t exactly admit that I’m the biggest fan,” he said. “I mean, I did have 2 near-death experiences involving the sea. But that doesn’t mean I have to try to kill it for revenge.”

“No it does not,” Jinyu said in agreement. “I hope that someday you can love it like I do.”

“Hopefully,” he said. A silence washed over them and Luhan felt the pressure to continue talking before this silence grew too thick. There was still something he had to say to her.

“The summer is almost over,” he said. “I have to go back to the capital soon for the start of my second year.”

“Second year?”

“Of university,” he answered. “I’m studying economics at Huesman University. Second year.”

“Oh,” Jinyu said plainly, and Luhan bit his tongue, believing that he might have said this at the wrong time.

“It’s, um,” he said. “It’s quite a long way from here, actually, to be honest. And, uh… in retrospect, I probably should have warned you before this got this far. But I’ll be leaving in a few days.”

“Leaving?” Jinyu repeated, her voice laced with a little panic. “L-Leaving? But… what about – ?”

“Yeah, I know, I should have said this a lot sooner, but it slipped my mind completely,” Luhan said nervously. “So… I’m sorry that I agreed to this date thing only to have to leave a few days later. But… I’ll only be gone for a couple of months before I come back for the Holidays.”

Jinyu pressed her lips together. She wondered how things would turn out now or how she planned to pursue the spell with Luhan so far away. Luhan cleared his throat.

“Really don’t wanna go, now,” he said, chuckling nervously. “Especially not after this date. I kinda wish we planned this earlier so we had more time to hang out.”

“That would have been wiser,” Jinyu whispered. Luhan felt guilty.

“But,” he said. “I’m glad I’ll have something to look forward to. You’ll… still be around when I get back, won’t you?”

Jinyu nodded in determination although she really was not sure just how long she would be staying. She hadn’t looked at her time in a while, and she wasn’t sure how many days she had left. Whatever it was Luhan had to do so far away, she hoped that it wouldn’t keep him away from her for so long.

“Alright,” Jinyu agreed. “But you are coming back, right?”

Luhan smiled. “Of course,” he said. He held Jinyu’s gaze for a long time, assuring her with his eyes of his promise not to keep her waiting for too long. It was the first promise of this kind that he’d ever made to a girl, and something about the thought of doing so thrilled him. He wanted to leave immediately just so he could come back again and tell her that he wasn’t lying. For now, he took a deep breath and turned his gaze back to the moon.

Jinyu looked the direction of his eye and smiled at the moonlight as well. There wasn’t a ceremony for crescent moons, but these small slivers of light were her favorite kind of light to swim under. Sitting in the picnic table next to Luhan while looking up at a moon, Jinyu felt an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. It reminded her a lot about the night that Yixing gave her advice about parties. She frowned suddenly.

“Is everyone else leaving, too?” she asked. Luhan raised his brows at her.

“Huh?” he said. “Who else?”

“Like Chanyeol, and Kyungsoo?” Jinyu asked. “And... Yixing?”

“No,” Luhan answered. “Chanyeol and Kyungsoo go to the community college just ten minutes from town. Yixing… I think he’s deferring again. There isn’t a decent music school anywhere near here. His parents don’t have enough to send him, and he won’t take any money he hasn’t earned.”

“So, he’s staying?” Jinyu asked, her troubled heart slowing to a relaxed pace once more.

“Yeah,” Luhan answered. He let out a deep breath and noticed how worked up she’d been about the other boys leaving as well. “You’re close to Yixing aren’t you?”

Jinyu looked at him. “I suppose we are close,” he answered. Luhan pursed his lips.

“Really,” he said. “Uh… I hope you don’t take this as me being snoopy or anything, but what’s… like, what’s your relationship with him like?”

“My relationship?” Jinyu asked, knitting her brows slightly. “With Yixing?”

“Yeah, with Yixing,” Luhan clarified. “I mean, every time I run into you, Yixing’s never that far away or whenever we meet, it’s usually because of him or he’s involved in one way or another. What’s the deal?”

Deal? Jinyu pressed her lips together again. Well, the deal was that he’d help her get Luhan; that was the deal. But she couldn’t tell Luhan that. What could she tell him about Yixing? Jinyu sighed and supposed that all she could say about Yixing would just have to be the truth.

“He’s a very sweet boy,” Jinyu said carefully, and a small smile slipped into the corner of . “I have not been here for a very long time, but he’s the kindest to me. I think… I think that many people think that I am very naïve and stupid or childish, but he doesn’t think that about me. He’s always patient even though I think I frustrate him sometimes. Especially when I’m clumsy or when I don’t think straight and end up hurting myself or others. He is a little bit forgetful or sometimes he takes his music too seriously, but I… I like it. He’s been good to me, and I owe him many things.”

There it was, again, that light in her eyes, like the kind that lit her face when she spoke of the ocean. Luhan smirked a little and folded his hands together. He heaved a deep breath into his chest and let it out slowly.

“Zhang Yixing,” he said aloud and then laughed a little. “He’s a good guy.”

Jinyu smiled at Luhan. She may not have understood a great deal of Luhan’s human lingo throughout the date, but she definitely understood that. Anyone who met Yixing could understand how wonderful he was.

“He treasures your friendship very much,” Jinyu said to Luhan with a smile, and Luhan met her eyes with a shy smile of his own. He began to scratch his neck.

“You know, I’ll admit something to you about Yixing,” he said, leaning forward and resting his hands on his knees. He cleared his throat and said in a whisper: “I’m jealous of him.”

Jinyu leaned forward that her eyes were level with his. “Why?” she asked. She didn’t understand many things about humans and their society, but it was plain to see that Luhan was wealthy and he lived a privileged lifestyle. He was a king in comparison to how the Zhangs lived.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Luhan said. “I’m a rich boy, a blue blood, I’ve been a silver spoon for the last twenty years. Why should I be jealous? Why should I complain, right?”

Jinyu widened her eyes at how accurate his suppositions were. Luhan pursed his lips.

“Well, here’s the thing, all that is just for show,” he said bitterly. “In reality, I’m a slave to my name. I’m abused by it all the time. Ever since I was a little boy I’ve been pushed and shoved down paths that I never chose. Everything has always been planned for me, ever since day one. I was raised to be a nice boy, went to parties and gatherings, got good grades, went to university right away, studied economics, then I’m supposed to graduated, get another degree and take over the family business until I die.”

Luhan ran a hand through his hair.

“That’s not what I want, though,” he said, and let out a cynical laugh. “You’re probably thinking Oh, Luhan, stop complaining, you’ve got so much going for you already, and I supposed I do have it a lot better than most others. I could be impoverished right now, but at least then, I might be able to choose something on my own.”

He took another deep breath and continued.

“You know what I want?” he asked, turning to Jinyu with a smile again. “I think I wanna play soccer. Or maybe I could be a coach or something and teach kids in the inner city to play soccer. I’ve had enough of this rich boy gig; I want to just be myself for some time. I envy Yixing’s freedom. He might not have much, but at least he’s got his music thing going for him. He might not be in university right now, but he’s probably way ahead of anyone else in our group. Lately, when I think about him, and I think why can’t I do that? ‘Cause I’m stuck here in the Lu Oil Empire, where no one wants to know what I want. No one ever listens.”

Jinyu looked at Luhan’s eyes, which were downcast and dark, different from his usual brightness. She could see that he only shone so bright outwardly was because deep inside him was the most intense darkness, a shadow that grew out of the suppression of his natural spirit. She was touched that he had so much respect for Yixing; she wondered if the boys knew this about each other. Luhan looked back out over the sea with an expression of longing on his face, and she wondered what, or who, he was thinking of. She bit her bottom lip, her heart feeling heavy and full of compassion for him.

“I’m listening,” she said suddenly. She didn’t know why, but it felt like the right thing to so.

Luhan turned his head and looked at Jinyu. He stared at her for a very long time, his dark eyes bearing into her blue ones, and he felt a bit like a sailor braving the waters the longer he stared. He smiled gently.

“Yes, you are,” he said. Luhan lifted his hand and pressed a palm to the side of her face, tracing the bottom line of her lip with his thumb. Jinyu wasn’t sure whether to close her eyes and prepare herself or not. She was torn between feeling ready for the kiss and not ready at all. Yixing had cupped her face in a similar fashion earlier that day, but this felt different.

The intimacy of the moment was cut short by a noise in the wind, and poignant noise that sounded strangely like a voice that stretched its wings from beyond the sea. Luhan dropped his hand and they both turned their heads to look back at the ocean.

“What was that?” Luhan whispered, narrowing his eyes at the water. “It… It sounded like singing.”

“Singing,” Jinyu whispered to herself. The night was silent once more, but after a while, the singing returned.

It was the voice of a girl: resonant like a bell, deep as the sea, and twice as mesmerizing.

“Do you hear it?” Luhan asked, his voice deepening.

Jinyu’s breathing became quick and frantic. “We should leave,” she said, standing up and trying to pull Luhan away. But the boy wouldn’t move, and Jinyu gasped.

“Luhan,” she said in a pleading tone. “We must leave. Now.”

Her blood ran cold as the song grew louder, more high pitched, more haunting. She recognized this voice and she recognized this song: they were hers, after all. The song continued and Jinyu’s heart pumped rapidly. This was a siren song, she knew it. And it was her song, which could only mean that the sea witch was behind this.

Luhan couldn’t be sure how long he’d been listening. All he knew was that someone was singing a song, and the song was beautiful. The night turned quieter than a tomb in the windless calm, as though the earth were suffocating. But that song, that song, how he longed to follow it. Luhan did not feel when he stood up, nor did he feel Jinyu’s desperate tugs on his sleeve or notice the darkness in his eyes deepening at his pupils dilated. There was no sound to be heard but the song, the song and his heart.

His mind was filled with visions of the wave that had washed him away; he felt once more the freedom he felt as the water carried his body away. He envisioned arms around his chest, sand on his face, and a pair of lips on his own. Luhan took one heavy step after another, his mind turning into a haze, a silver pool of desire for absolutely nothing but the song.

It was beautiful in a way that set his heart beating and his skin ablaze. He felt terrified and euphoric all at once. That haunting sound filled his ears; there was nothing that could console him but that song. It was no less than it was sweet, tempting his spirit and his body forward and forward until he could be no closer. It lapped him up a trancelike lethargy, bewitched by the sound of it.

Luhan thought he could hear his name in the song. He reached his hands out as he walked slowly onward. His heartbeat was louder and his whole body screamed to stop moving, but he couldn’t make himself stop for the life of him. It was as though something had taken over him and was moving him forward. His breath caught, and the voice was in his head.

Luhan, he heard the wispy sound of a woman’s voice in his head, above the sound of the song, his heartbeat, and screaming. I know what you want. You want freedom. That’s it, isn’t it? You long to be free, to be your own man. I can show you where true freedom lies. Follow me. Listen!

His body froze and for a brief moment, he panicked. He had no idea what was happening. But against his control, his leg stepped forward, and he felt the crumbled of rocks beneath his feet, and his weight gave out.

“GOTCHA!” A strong pair of arms latched around his waist once more and pulled him backwards with the force of a team of oxen. His breath left his body and Luhan gasped for air.

“Don’t move!” the man said. Luhan’s breathing came out in short, frantic breaths. He could feel his violent heartbeat speeding away in his chest. Beads of sweat had formed on his hairline without him knowing it. He was sprawled on the floor, a man in a uniform beside him and Jinyu standing behind him and tearful fit of hysterics.

He felt panicked and terrified for no reason. But the wind had returned, and the song was gone. And his feet dangled just over the edge of the cliff. Panicking, he kicked his legs and pushed himself away from the edge.

“What were you thinking?” the officer said to him. “You could have fallen off the edge. There are sharp rocks at the bottom, you might have killed yourself!”

“What?” Luhan asked. His mind was running and his head was starting to hurt. What had just happened? He had no recollection of ever approaching the edge of that cliff. He had only been following a song. He heard the sound of police sirens in the distance, and an ambulance and a police cruiser stopped in front of the park. Officers and paramedics rushed in his direction. A psychiatrist was called onto the site to speak with him and ask him why he wanted to throw himself off the cliff. The answer was that he wasn’t trying to. But no one could explain why, if he did not want to die, he had been standing at edge of the cliff, staring at the sea in a trancelike state.

Jinyu gasped deeply for air; her mind was in a furious state of unrest. Her emotions were riled. No one would ever understand that way her heart stopped when she saw Luhan possessed by the death song. She had pulled and screamed at him to get him to wake up, but nothing worked. If the officer hadn’t noticed her screams, Luhan would have walked right over the edge.

The song was gone now, but the effects still lasted. It had called out to Luhan specifically, which was why she was not pulled into its spell. But it affected her all the same. Traumatized, she was led to a police cruiser by an officer who offered to take her home. Luhan met her eyes as she walked away. A news crew arrived on the scene just before the officer drove her away.

The Zhang house was dark by the time she arrived there. She opened the door with a key Mei had given her and let herself inside. Jinyu sat down on the couch where she slept, and rested her hands upon her knees.

Jinyu tried to keep her breathing quiet. But deep down, she felt as though her skin were the only thing keeping her from going everywhere all at once. She was traumatized, she was depressed, she felt guilty, she was furious, all at the same time. Her eyes had widened and her heart had frozen with the realization that the sea witch knew Luhan. She must be watching her. That was the only way she could have found him.

Jinyu brooded silently in the darkness. Whenever she remembered the way Luhan’s eyes turned blank and his ears had turned deaf as he marched towards the edge of the cliff, she shuddered. She was terrified; she had endangered him, almost cost him his life just by her presence there.

And if the sea witch had come after Luhan, what was to stop her from coming after the rest of her companions? Jinyu’s breath caught and she suppressed an angry sob. What if the witch came after Victoria? Or Chanyeol and Kyungsoo? Or Mei?

Jinyu swallowed as she turned and looked at the first door in the hallway. She’d never forgive herself if anything happened to Yixing. Or anyone else in his family, for that matter. Jinyu clenched her fists so hard that her fingernails dug into her skin. She looked around the dark house and breathed in the air; this home, over time, had become her home as well. And as fiercely as she wanted to protect her ocean home, she’d protect this home as well, no matter what it took.

A single tear rolled down her face. Jinyu felt exhausted. She wanted to feel safe again; she wanted some kind of comfort. When she stood, her knees felt weak. She walked slowly toward that first door in the hallway, her footsteps quieter than moonlight on the water. When Jinyu stood in front of his door, her heart was torn. She did want to see him, but at the same time, she remembered what he said to her the last time she tried to go into his room in the middle of the night. Something about men and women being forbidden to sleep together until marriage.

Jinyu sighed. Perhaps it was best to let him sleep tonight. She reached her hand out and touched the door, eventually leaning her forehead against it and breathing in the smell of its wood. Yes, this was all she needed. Jinyu turned and sank to the floor, resting her back against his door. Just a few minutes like this and she could return to the couch feeling peaceful again. Just a flat wooden door, and already comfort was returning to her agitated bones. Jinyu closed her eyes and took a few slow breaths. Everything was quiet on the other side of the door; he must already be asleep, she thought, leaning her head against the door as well.

In the room, Yixing was in bed sleeping. But for reasons unknown to him at the time, his eyes flickered open and at first, he felt annoyed for always waking up at oddest hours of the night. But this night was different from others, and he instinctively turned in bed and looked at his door.

It was closed and hadn’t moved at all since he shut it at the beginning of the night. But he stared at it for a long time, until he realized that he could sense her at the door. He stayed in bed for a while, waiting to see what she would do, almost daring her to open it and come inside again, and when or if that happened, he’d already had a speech prepared on propriety.

But she didn’t move, and he could still sense that she was at the door. Was she waiting for him to open it? No, perhaps not. He tossed the blanket aside and stood up in the middle of his room, facing the door. It still didn’t move. Slowly, he walked until he stood in front of it. And he stood there for a very long time.

He debated whether or not to speak up and say anything. He was curious as to what happened with Luhan. Did they watch another scary movie and was that why she was here, again? Or why did the wood on his door feel overwhelming sad when he touched it. Yixing sighed quietly. He turned around and thought of going back to bed. But instead, he sank down to the floor of his room, and he quietly leaned his back against his door.

Maybe this was all she needed, he thought. Most friends would want someone to listen to them. But it was always a little different when it came to Jinyu. Maybe all she needed was a little silence to listen to, and perhaps someone to listen to that silence with her.