Yve rushed to Dylan, grabbing his hands without hesitation and pulling him toward the front door. "Come on," she said sharply.
Dylan stumbled a step. "What?"
"We're going to Ysa right now and getting that healed."
"Told ya it don't hurt," Dylan said, trying to slow her down.
"I don't care, Dylan," Yve snapped. "Because that is not normal at all."
Jenkins stepped forward. "Yve, wait—"
She turned on him immediately.
Jenkins paused, then softened his tone. "Let's calm down for a bit."
Yve's expression cracked. "Will you both stop telling me to calm down?" Her grip tightened on Dylan's hand for half a second before she let go like she'd burned herself. "Look, I did that, alright? Who knows what kind of infection you've gotten from me."
Her voice dropped, sharper, more unstable. "God, what was I thinking… I shouldn't have come. What have I done?"
Dylan moved fast. He caught her by the shoulder, steady but firm. "Hey. Hey—look at me."
Yve froze, then slowly lifted her gaze.
Dylan met her eyes. "I'm tellin' ya," he said, low and steady, "I'm fine. Don't worry too much, alright?"
Yve shook her head slightly, panic still sitting behind her stare. "How could I not, Dylan? Your wounds are glowing… it's like how the ocean looks at night…"
Jenkins stepped in again, voice controlled, almost clinical. "Why don't we take a rational, logical approach? We need to determine what's causing that luminescence."
"But—" Yve started.
Dylan tightened his grip on her shoulders just enough to anchor her in place. "Yve."
She stopped. Her breathing hitched slightly as she looked at him again.
Dylan's voice softened, but stayed firm. "It ain't your fault." A beat. "I don't blame you."
Silence settled.
Yve stayed still, eyes locked on him, worry refusing to leave her face—even as the room quieted around them.
After a few moments of tense silence, Yve nodded, then shook her head once like she was trying to reset her thoughts. She closed her eyes, drew in a steady breath, and exhaled slowly. "Okay… okay. Alright. Come on."
Jenkins adjusted his glasses, already half-distracted by the chaos and the science competing in his head. "I'll just unpack my stuff…" He moved toward the stack of boxes in the corner of the living room, hands already sorting through them with mechanical focus.
Yve lingered only a second longer, looking at Dylan. "Stay right there. I'm gonna call for some help."
Then she left.
The door shut behind her with a soft but decisive click.
Silence returned.
Dylan exhaled through his nose and put his shirt back on in a slow practiced motion. Then walked over to the table where Maurice's body lay. For a moment, he just stood there.
Then he spoke without looking away from the corpse. "You guys figured out how he end up like this?"
Jenkins didn't look up immediately. He was crouched by the boxes, pulling something out, but his voice carried clearly. "Uh… yeah. Seems like he's another victim of the Skindrifter."
Dylan's jaw tightened slightly. "He don't deserve this." He reached out, slower now, and tried to close Maurice's eyes.
They didn't shut.
He tried again, pressing more carefully this time.
Still open.
A faint pause passed over him before he decided to just pull the white sheet over Maurice's body, covering the face without a word.
Jenkins spoke again, quieter now. "We've tried doing that. The eyes won't close. We'd have to stitch them shut when we bury him."
Dylan stopped his hand mid-motion. "…That's messed up," he said flatly.
Jenkins pulled a microscope out of the box, setting it down carefully on the floor. He started assembling it piece by piece with practiced precision, hands steady despite everything happening around him. "It's a good thing you guys didn't leave my stuff behind," he said.
Dylan leaned against the table, arms loosely crossed. "Yeah. Figured you'd need all that once you came back."
Jenkins paused for a fraction of a second, then let out a small, humorless breath. "You guys were really expecting me to come back alive, huh?"
Dylan didn't hesitate. "We trusted Yve."
That answer landed heavier than intended.
Jenkins adjusted a lens on the microscope, focusing on it a bit too intensely. "Man…" he muttered. "I still get nightmares from that shrieker attacking me."
Dylan's eyes flicked toward him. "How you holdin' up? Bein' a siren and all that."
Jenkins gave a short, uneasy laugh while tightening a screw on the microscope base. "Oh, it's a little nerve-wracking… it makes you wonder about who you are, or what even am I?" He hesitated, then exhaled. "Kinda feel like Frankenstein's monster, to be honest."
Dylan looked at him for a moment, then back at the body on the table. "How did she even turn you into one?"
Jenkins looked up from the microscope, pausing for a moment as if deciding how far back to start. Then he pointed at the tablet on the table. "Turn on that tablet."
Dylan glanced around. "This?"
Jenkins nodded.
Dylan picked it up carefully. "What's this?"
"Siren technology."
"No shit."
"Yep."
Dylan turned it slightly in his hands. "How's it work?"
"Just double tap."
Dylan did, and the screen lit up instantly. He blinked at it. "Nice," he said, tilting it closer. "Made of glass?"
"Don't know," Jenkins replied without looking up. "But yeah you can see through it."
Dylan held it out slightly like he was afraid it might break just by being looked at wrong. "What am I goin' to do with this?"
"Look for a file there that has my face on it.'"
Dylan started scrolling. "'Kay?"
Jenkins nodded again, already focused back on adjusting the microscope.
"Found it," Dylan said.
"Long press."
Dylan pressed and held.
The screen reacted immediately—expanding, shifting, unfolding into a floating interface that projected a faint holographic layer above the tablet.
Dylan's eyes widened slightly. "A hologram?"
"Yeah," Jenkins said. "You can interact with it."
Dylan moved his hand cautiously over it. The projection responded—pages shifting, data sliding, diagrams rotating as if suspended in air. He let out a low breath. "Been so long since I last touched a phone… this is awesome." Then his expression changed slightly as he continued scrolling. "What's this for?"
Jenkins finally looked up, but only briefly—then went back to his work, voice flattening a little. "That's the full surgical report of what Yve did to me…"
Dylan frowned at the holographic text. "I—I can't understand it. What's this language?"
Jenkins looked up from the microscope. "Oh… I forgot. It kinda reverts to Aelthivar." He stood up, reached over, and took the tablet from Dylan's hands. With a few precise gestures, he navigated the interface and switched the language settings.
Dylan watched closely. "Aelthivar?"
"Siren alphabet," Jenkins said simply.
Dylan blinked once. "So it has a translation system?"
"Yeah. Kind of."
Dylan tilted his head slightly. "Voice translation?"
Jenkins paused, thinking. Then he glanced at him. "Think so…"
Dylan just nodded once, like he'd filed that away for later.
Jenkins handed the tablet back.
Dylan took it carefully again, the holographic interface reforming as soon as it registered his grip.
This time, the text was readable.
He started scrolling. His eyes moved slowly at first, then more deliberately. The room got quieter the longer he read.
Jenkins went back to his microscope, but his attention wasn't fully on it anymore. He was waiting.
Dylan didn't speak for a while. Then finally, low and flat: "Radium, huh?"
Jenkins replied, "Yes. They used radium to neutralize all my human cells and expel them from my body." He paused, then added flatly, "I threw up a lot when I woke up."
Dylan frowned. "That's nasty."
"You think so?" Jenkins said, dryly.
Dylan ignored it and kept reading. "Goddamn…" Dylan muttered. "She's like Frankenstein."
Jenkins gave a small, brief chuckle.
Dylan glanced up. "She said you almost died multiple times."
"Correct," Jenkins said. "Each time she reformed my organs and reinserted them, my body attempted rejection. It was… physiologically unstable. I now feel like a cooked dish."
Dylan kept scanning the report. "How the hell did you survive this?"
"I have no idea," Jenkins said, chuckling. "My guess? I'm too handsome to die."
Dylan shook his head slightly. "Couldn't she just… brew a cure or somethin'?"
Jenkins adjusted a setting on the microscope. "She addressed that upon my awakening. She could have, theoretically, but the success of even finding one was uncertain. Not to mention, time constraints prevented it."
Dylan looked up. "What do you mean?"
Jenkins exhaled. "She placed me under the Lily Somnara's hold. Comatic stasis is what they call it. It functions similarly to cryostasis, most biological processes are suspended."
He continued, precise. "However, she stated the condition cannot be maintained beyond twenty-four hours. The Lily Somnara begins metabolizing the host if prolonged. Internally. It devours the victim."
A pause.
"So…as a last resort." Jenkins tapped his chest lightly. "This is the result."
Dylan frowned. "Well… ain't there Haelars?"
"There are," Jenkins said. "She stated they attempted intervention. However, Haelar regenerative capability does not seem to function against the shrieker virus."
He paused.
"That remains the primary anomaly," Jenkins added. "For a species capable of near-complete biological regeneration, the inability to resolve a human viral infection is…inconsistent. That's one of the cases I'll be studying further."
Dylan set the tablet down and turned it off. "Sorry, man…"
Jenkins looked up. "About what?"
Dylan didn't answer.
Jenkins paused, then seemed to misread the silence. "Don't be," he said. "My psychological state is not anyone's burden. I am simply grateful I am still alive."
Dylan shifted slightly. "So you're like… can you do what they can do?"
"I still have no idea," he said. "Every day I discover new capabilities of my current physiology." He stood up. "The previous version of me would have delegated physical tasks to any of you." He bent down, picked up the microscope, and continued calmly, "Now I just punched through a bathroom wall to retrieve a pipe that could provide you additional time."
Dylan blinked once. "Super strength… that's impressive."
Jenkins set the microscope down on the couch without much ceremony. "My sensory acuity is also enhanced," he added. "From this distance, I can clearly observe the pores and particulate debris on your face."
Dylan instinctively wiped his face. "Then why you still wearin' glasses?"
Jenkins adjusted them immediately. "It completes my aesthetic identity. I already lost my hair. I am not losing my glasses."
A short silence passed.
Then—quiet, brief—
they both chuckled a little.
Just then, the door opened.
They both turned.
Yve walked in first, followed by Ysa, Saige, Darnell, Lucas and Ava.
Ysa winced the moment she stepped inside. "Oh yeah… you're right. I can smell it already."
Darnell and Saige both visibly winced as well as they followed her gaze deeper into the room.
They all moved toward Dylan.
Yve didn't hesitate. "Take off your shirt again."
Dylan exhaled through his nose. "...Right." He pulled it off again and turned his back to them.
Yve stepped closer, eyes narrowing immediately. "There you see—" She stopped. Her expression shifted. "…Where is it?"
Dylan tilted his head slightly. "Where's what?"
"The scratches on your back," Yve said slowly. "They're gone. What did you do?"
Dylan tried to look over his shoulder, failing to see anything clearly. "I ain't done nothin'. I was just standin' here."
Yve leaned in, inspecting closely. "It's just this dried residue now… but your wounds are gone."
"I swear I didn't do anythin'," Dylan said again. "Ask Jenkins."
Ysa stepped forward. Her claws extended slightly as she carefully scraped at the residue still clinging to Dylan's skin. She collected it onto her hand and brought it closer. "It does smell like the forest…"
Darnell frowned. "And something else. It's new."
Ysa turned slightly. "Saige, smell this. Do you recognize any plant species with that scent?"
Saige leaned in, sniffed once, then again more carefully. "Yeah… it smells like a botanical life, but also something else. Something unfamiliar."
Yve's voice tightened. "Dylan… what is going on with you?"
Ysa glanced at him. "You said it didn't hurt?"
Dylan rolled his shoulders once. "No. I'm tellin' y'all, I don't feel any pain. Just sore muscles." He rotated his neck slightly. "…Actually, even the soreness is gone."
That made the room go quieter.
Yve turned sharply toward the group. "What do you think? Is it an infection? Or is it because of me?"
Darnell raised an eyebrow. "Why would it be because of you?"
Yve froze and the color drained slightly from her face.
Ysa answered casually, without hesitation. "Because she and Dylan had sex."
The room stopped.
Yve snapped her head toward her. "Heavens, Ysa!"
But Ysa didn't flinch. "Hey. You wanna figure out what's wrong with your boyfriend or not?"
A tense silence followed.
Yve exhaled sharply. "Okay. Fine." She turned toward Darnell. "Say something. You're the oldest one here."
Darnell crossed his arms, studying Dylan's back. "Well… for starters you two aren't the first different species to engage in intercourse." He paused, then added with blunt honesty, "I myself had my fair share of women in my time here." A beat. "But none of them woke up the next morning with whatever that is," he added pointing at Dylan's back.
Yve's jaw tightened. "Well, it has to be something."
Jenkins, who's been quiet this whole time, finally spoke up. "It would be significantly easier to determine causality if you guys would just establish a proper laboratory environment for me."
Everyone turned to look at Jenkins.
He straightened up slowly from the couch, eyes sharp behind his glasses. "There is a clear logical approach to this matter," he said. "I need to examine his blood, but a microscope simply won't do. He could be dying for all of your sakes, but I will not determine that accurately unless I have a proper laboratory. Not this—"
He gestured vaguely around the room. "I've got three corpses in my living room, and all these people." His voice rose slightly. "I hate having people in my lab. What do you think I feel about my house?"
That landed hard.
Silence.
No one moved.
Ysa blinked once, Darnell shifted his weight, Saige looked down like he suddenly regretted coming.
Then finally, Lucas stepped forward. "You're right, Doc," he said. "Uh… we'll clear up the medical building for you." A pause. "Set you a lab there."
Jenkins exhaled, tension easing slightly from his shoulders.
Yve nodded quickly. "We'd also scavenge for the equipment you need."
Jenkins gave a small nod. "Thank you." Then he looked around the room again. "Now all of you get out of my house."
Everyone paused.
"It's too cramped," he continued, flatly, "and I feel like a sardine."
That finally broke the tension—just slightly—but no one argued.
He started shooing them toward the door with a firm, irritated motion of his hand.
"Wait," Dylan said. "Let me borrow your tablet."
Jenkins turned his head. "Why."
"We need the translation system."
Jenkins stared at him for a second, then walked over, grabbed the tablet off the table, and pushed it into Dylan's hands. "I have important files on there. Do not delete anything," he said firmly. "And it is not mine. It's Yve's."
Dylan nodded once. "Got it."
Without another word, Jenkins continued shooing them until they were out the door, he then stepped back and shut the door in their faces.
For a second, no one moved as they all stood outside, stunned.
~~~
As Jenkins closed the door, he let out a long breath. The house was finally quiet. Or at least quieter.
He turned—
And stopped.
Ava was still there. Standing beside Maurice's body. Her fists were clenched so tightly her knuckles had gone pale. Her shoulders trembled ever so slightly.
Jenkins frowned. "Ava?"
She didn't answer.
He took a few careful steps closer. Then he saw it.
Tears.
They rolled silently down her cheeks, her lips pressed tight as she stared at Maurice's covered body.
Jenkins' expression softened. "Ava?"
Ava sniffed hard, quickly wiping at her eyes with the heel of her palm. She immediately turned her face away from him. "Sorry."
Jenkins reached into his coat pocket. He pulled out a folded handkerchief and gently placed it into her free hand.
Ava looked down at it for a moment. Then quietly took it.
She dabbed at her eyes and nose before letting out a shaky breath. "Sorry..." she repeated. "I was just..."
"Don't be."
Ava swallowed. For a few moments she just stared at the floor. Then another sigh escaped her. A heavy one. "I shouldn't have left them," she whispered.
Jenkins looked at her. "What do you mean?"
Ava tightened her grip on the handkerchief. "Dad told me to guide the others here." Her voice wavered. "So I left with them." She looked back at Maurice. "I shouldn't have." A tear slipped free again. "I shouldn't have done that."
Jenkins was silent for a moment. Then he spoke carefully. "It's not your fault."
Ava shook her head immediately. "Yeah it is."
Jenkins adjusted his glasses. "No one wanted what happened…you couldn't have known."
Ava looked unconvinced. "That doesn't change the fact that I left them."
The room fell quiet again.
Outside, distant voices drifted through the settlement. Inside, there was only Ava's faint sob and the stillness of the dead.
Ava looked at Maurice's covered body. "God..." Her voice cracked. "I hope my sister is still alive."
Jenkins followed her gaze. For a brief moment, he remembered waking up with the certainty of death. He remembered how Yve dragged him back to life anyway. Against reason. Against probability. Against every statistic he would have trusted. "We'll find her. Even if the probability of survival decreases over time, it is not currently zero."
Ava looked at him.
Jenkins folded his arms. "The sirens saved me despite impossible odds." A faint smile touched his face. "Nothing can stop them from looking for your sister."
That earned a faint smile from Ava.
Jenkins continued. "In the meantime..." He adjusted his glasses. "You should probably focus on remaining functional."
Ava blinked.
Jenkins immediately frowned. "That sounded significantly better in my head."
A small laugh escaped Ava despite herself.
Jenkins sighed. "My apologies. I have been known to be terrible at emotional support."
Ava stared at him for a moment. Then slowly nodded. "Yeah...but you're getting pretty good at it." She wiped her eyes one last time with the handkerchief. "Thanks, Doc."
A small silence settled between them.
Then both of them looked back toward Maurice. And for a little while, neither said anything at all.
~~~
Ysa broke the silence first. "Geez… what a grouch."
Yve exhaled slowly, still a little shaken. "He's right… let's prioritize setting up a lab." Her eyes shifted toward Ysa. "Wanna go scavenging?"
Ysa tilted her head, a small smile forming. "What do you think?"
That earned her a faint smile from Yve.
Meanwhile, Dylan turned to Lucas, tapping him on the shoulder.
Lucas looked over. "Yeah?"
Dylan said, "Found a way to talk to the prisoners."
Lucas looked up immediately. "Really? How?"
Dylan handed him the tablet.
Lucas turned it over in his hands. "What is this?"
"Siren tech," Dylan said.
Ysa leaned in from the side, eyes narrowing the moment she saw it. "That's my sister's…" She took it from Lucas without waiting for permission, gripping it like it carried weight beyond its size. "What do you guys need this for?"
"Translation," Dylan said.
Ysa scoffed. "For those damn cannibals?"
Lucas didn't hesitate. "Yeah. Can you show us how it works?"
Ysa stared at him for a second, then gave a short nod. "Sure."
She turned and started walking with them, already tapping the device like she'd done it before. Mid-step, she glanced over toward Yve. "Hey, sis," she called out. "Let me borrow your tablet."
Yve barely looked up from her conversation with Darnell and gave a distracted nod.
Ysa accepted it and kept moving.
~~~
While still in front of Jenkins' house, Darnell spoke turned to Yve. "Walk with me," he said.
Yve followed without question.
They moved through the streets, the sounds seemed dull around them.
Darnell didn't speak immediately. He was watching her instead, like he was deciding how to phrase something that couldn't be made lighter.
Then—
"Hey, Yve…"
She glanced at him. "Yes?"
Darnell exhaled through his nose. "Are you sure about Dylan?"
Yve stopped walking for half a beat. Then resumed slowly. Her expression softened, but not into certainty—more like honesty she didn't always say out loud. "Yes."
Darnell gave a small nod, like he was expecting that answer. "Does he make you happy?" he asked.
Yve let out a quiet breath, almost a laugh without humor. "No," she said. Then corrected herself before he could respond. "He makes me worry." Her gaze drifted forward, unfocused, like she was looking past everything in front of her. "He makes me laugh," she continued. "He makes me feel okay being myself."
Darnell stayed quiet, letting her continue.
"All my life, I've always felt different, without a gift I felt cut off from the world…like I was an anomaly. But I don't feel that way when I'm with him."
That line hung for a moment.
Darnell finally spoke again, voice lower now. "You're aware of the risk you're taking, right? With someone who has a short lifespan. It's why connections between sirens and humans are heavily cautioned."
Yve shrugged slightly. "I know." A pause. "And I don't care."
Darnell stopped walking.
Yve stopped with him.
He turned fully toward her now, expression steady but heavier than before. "Your mother has been grieving for over a century over your father," he said. "I hope you understand the current you're choosing."
Something flickered behind Yve's eyes—hesitation, brief and sharp—but it didn't stay. "I'd rather be with him for fifty years," she said quietly, "than not be with him at all."
Darnell held her gaze for a moment longer. Then he reached out and gently brushed a strand of hair away from her face, more paternal than formal. "Alright," he said. "As long as your heart is content."
A faint smile broke through Yve's expression.
Darnell exhaled, almost amused now. "My brother would be proud of the woman you've become."
Yve let out a small chuckle. "And he'd be grateful for how you took care of us all these years."
Darnell snorted softly. "He better be."
That earned a quiet, shared smile between them as they started walking again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's Note;
Offer is still up! But once Jenkins starts analyzing Dylan's blood the contest is over. And once he FULLY figures it out, I'll announce the winner, and then I'll DM whoever the winner is for their full name (Confidentiality purposes).
You've got unlimited try so KEEP GUESSING!!!