Chapter 13: Chapter 13

Laying down on the soft bed and staring into the smooth rock ceiling of what was now her room, Avril was lost in thought. Her conversation with Dakar during the afternoon was still playing through her head.

So he was trapped on the island, cursed. And hoping she would break him out somehow. She had asked him how she was going to break his curse and he said he too was clueless. She had to figure that out on her own. In order words, they both were stuck on the island until she liberated them.

“This is sick,” she muttered and turned over on the bed, lying facedown. Soon she drifted off into the land of sleep and only woke up hours later when she heard tappings on her door. She rubbed her eyes and looked out the open window, it was already dark. She stepped down from the bed, walked to the door, opened it and stared at Dakar questioningly.

“Sorry to disturb your rest but it's time for dinner. After that, we're gonna take a stroll to the beach and meet the dolphins. What do you think?” he asked and she just nodded. She was too tired to speak. After a heartwarming dinner, she hopped on his furry back with a bright lantern in her hand, and they walked into the starlit night slowly. They passed the trees, the gardens, the now sparkling waterfall with all those fireflies and reached the hill they had come in through.

“How are we going to climb up there?” Avril asked as they approached it.

“How about walking around it,” he answered.

“Now I'm wondering why you made me climb up there this morning.”

“Come on, it was fun!”

And so they trailed by the flowing stream and appeared in front of the rock. They continued walking for half an hour with Dakar doing most of the talking and Avril doing most of the pointing. They finally got to the sandy beach. Avril jumped down from Dakar's back and walked on foot beside him towards the ocean.

“They are latecomers so we better do something to while away time while we wait for them,” he opined.

“Like what?” She asked, not really in the mood to do anything.

“Fetch?” He asked and tilted his head to the left.

“You're not a dog.”

“Doesn't matter.”

“And what are you going to fetch?”

“A tree branch,” he said and ran off to cut one. He came back with a slim and light branch in his mouth. Avril reluctantly took it and swung it around her fingers.

“Rule number one—”

“—Aww! I hate rules.”

Avril ignored his whine. “Rule number one, you fetch with your mouth and not your legs or hands or limbs, whatever it is they are.”

“And what's rule number two?”

“If you don't catch it in a minute, you lose one point. And if I mistakenly throw it into water, you gain one point. How's that?”

“Sounds fun. Let's begin!”

Avril launched the stick into the air and it flew far and landed. Dakar ran and picked it in seconds. He was too fast and wasn't losing any points. Avril got frustrated when the stick kept touching water and giving him points.

“You know what, I'll throw it into the forest and you'd have to find it by sniffing it. You have to be back in a minute,” she said and they played it that way. It was more fun because he lost points more often than the first play. Avril soon lost all her grumpiness and became hyper active. She even began to do the fetching and lost almost all her points. They had to start playing it on the beach only.

The dolphins arrived and squeaked loudly, making Avril startle and almost lose balance as she ran.

“Oh, here they are. An hour late,” Dakar announced and walked to the front of the ocean but careful not to let the water touch him.

“It was a hard job. We were almost caught,” came a voice. Avril couldn't see who spoke, but she guessed the mermen were there too.

“She is the pretty girl, huh?” Came another masculine voice.

“Well, here's your package. Bye, we need to get back.” And there was a loud splash, followed by another then the dolphins dived in and out and were gone too.

“Why couldn't I see them?”

“The mermen? Yeah, they blend with the atmosphere. That's how they get things for me. Guess they haven’t taken off the magic,” Dakar replied and held the box in his right paw up.

“Let's get going. It's getting really chilly,” Avril stated and rubbed her arms.

They began to walk away silently, with only the sound of waves and the wind moving the trees. They reached the edge of the forest leading to the mountain and Avril hopped on Dakar's back. She was now holding the box that looked so small in his paw but was quite big, and the lantern was in Dakar’s jaw. He ran through the trees and past the hill, waterfall, gardens and reached the mountain. Avril wanted to come down but he conveniently took her up the stairs.

“Would you like something to drink? I still have fruit juice,” he asked immediately they got to the living room.

“Yeah. Sure,” she mumbled and sat down.

“Everything in that box is yours. And this time, they bought them for real. Not stolen,” he expressed and left. Avril stared at the box in surprise before opening it. There were books inside, biscuits and candy. And underneath it, there was a black shirt, black trousers and black boots. She liked them immediately. Dakar returned with two cups firmly held in his ‘hands’. He gave her the small one and she chuckled as she received it. She stared at him instead of just drinking like she was expecting something else.

“You are waiting to see me drink, right?” he asked with an amusing face.

“Come on, drink up,” Avril laughed and laughed even more when he opened his mouth and brought the cup up then poured in a small quantity of juice. He had no lips and couldn't hold the cup with them and sip. Avril found it highly humorous to see an ‘animal’ drinking from a cup.

Avril got up early the next morning and stepped out of her room. The lights in the living room were out and the windows were shut. She went outside and inhaled the cool and fresh morning, island air. She went and sat at the foot of the huge statue and looked around.

“So, I'm stuck here forever,” she muttered and supported her chin with her right palm.

“Well, I suppose I could get used to it. This place is beautiful.”

She got up again and took a long walk around the whole valley and even tried climbing the mountains. She also went to the waterfall and watched beautiful little birds, fluttering around and chirping. After about two hours of her morning stroll, she went back to the house and was surprised to see breakfast.

“Oh my! I thought you really disappeared, Avril!” Dakar exclaimed immediately he saw her. He was placing apple slices on a white plate with a spoon, a very large spoon that fitted his large paw. His fingers were longer and fatter than other wolves. Well, he was very different from other wolves.

“I'm wondering why you're making breakfast for two if you thought I really disappeared,” she grinned and sat down at the table. The lights were on already but windows were still closed.

“Okay, you caught me. But where did you go? I could scent you everywhere but didn't see you,” he replied and sat down too.

“The waterfall,” she answered and pulled a plate of avocado pudding in front of her.

“That explains why your scent was at the gardens too.”

They ate in silence and after that, Avril offered to clear the table. He directed her to the kitchen and she wasn't surprised to find out it was behind a thick wall of rock. She said the words “I'm full and need to wash the dishes,” according to what Dakar had said and the rock split open. She stepped into a large space just like the rest of the rooms.

The kitchen had carved out counters and shelves. In a corner was firewood neatly arranged. There was a local oven, local stoves and a huge clay pot in a corner. It was so big Avril could hide in it. She dropped the dishes in what seemed like a sink and moved to the clay pot. It had Dakar's wolfy face drawn on it. She opened it and found it filled with water. It was a water pot.

Avril filled some of the water that was surprisingly very cold and washed the plates and cups with a wash cloth. She arranged them in a shelf and left the kitchen.

“So, what do you want to do today?” Dakar asked her as she stepped into the living room.

“I don't know. What is there to do?”

“Fishing. We could have fish for lunch.”

“Sounds fun,” she affirmed with a smile.

“But not now. We'd go later in about an hour.”

And so Avril went back to her room and picked up a book from the box Dakar had given her. She sat down and began to read until it was time to go fishing. She excitedly closed the book and hurried out to meet Dakar, who was already pulling out a net.

“I'm out already!” She announced and beamed at him.

“Oh great! I was just about to call you. Hold that basket over there. I'll carry the net,” he said and gestured to a larger basket by the corner of the room.

“Where are we going to fish? You can't touch the ocean,” Avril stated and walked over to the basket then took it.

“The stream has a good amount of fish,” Dakar replied and threw the net over his shoulder. It was big enough to trap the whole of Avril.

“Uhm, Dakar?” She called, as they made their way down the rock staircase.

“Hmm hmm,” he hummed and looked at her.

“How many fish do you intend to catch with that…net?” she pointed at the net over his shoulder.

“About a hundred?”

“What?” Avril asked in disbelief, twitching her cheek.

“I love fish,” he replied with a shrug.

“So you're going to eat that much? You could get bigger than you already are.”

“Okay, maybe fifty instead,” he said and beamed down at her. She wasn't smiling.

“Okay, forty.”

She still didn't smile.

“Fine, twenty.”

“That's better,” she grinned and they stepped out into the sunny afternoon. The mountaintops shone brightly and Avril had to either dim her eyes or just look away from them. They began to talk about random things while making their way to the stream flowing from the waterfall. Avril plucked three or four cherries and stuffed them into her mouth on several occasions as they made their way through the garden.

Finally, they reached the noisy waterfall and Avril stopped to stare at it, always fascinated by how it flows nonstop.

“You coming or you're going to keep kissing up to the waterfall!” Dakar called from the front.

Avril chuckled “Coming!” she called back and hastened her steps. She reached the rocky part of the stream where Dakar was already positioning his net.

“Can't wait to have a delicious meal of fish soup. So good!” he muttered audibly.

After staring at his frantic fishing attempts, Avril couldn't help but wonder why she was suddenly so free with him. She wasn't scared anymore. She didn't even see him as strange anymore. She felt she had known him for long and not for 24 hours.

“Don't you wonder?” She asked him as he pulled a net full of fish, definitely more than twenty.

“Wonder what?” He asked as he made his way back to her with the net.

“Wonder why I am not terrified of you anymore,” she stated and gazed up at him. His mouth was partly opened, showing the long fangs of his.

“I don't wonder,” he replied and took the basket from her hand. He began to pour the fish into it and Avril crouched down.

“Why? Is there something else you know that I don't?” she asked and he shrugged.

“Dakar, what else did the prophecy say about me?”

“Oh come on. I don't wonder because I'm totally likeable. I'm not your regular kind of ‘monster’.”

Avril frowned “That's it? You think you're likeable? What if you're just pretending? Maybe, feeding me so I could get fat in order for you to have a hearty human dinner someday,” she blurted out.

Dakar gazed into her eyes as if trying to pick up something from them. Then he calmly and slowly said “I... I—cannot—eat—fellow—humans.”