Evelyn, Elizabeth, and Jack watched Tamara in silence.
She crouched close to the firelight, tearing into the roasted pork with sharp, decisive bites. Grease smeared across her fingers. There was no restraint, no table manners, no pause between bites—just instinct and hunger.
Elizabeth tried not to stare but failed. Evelyn's brows lifted faintly in disbelief.
Daniel glanced at them, unimpressed. "She's a mermaid. She doesn't know how to eat like humans."
Tamara barely registered the commentary. She chewed, swallowed, and reached for another piece without hesitation, eyes briefly flicking toward the others as if daring them to challenge her.
Daniel leaned back on his hands. "You expected refinement from something that drags sailors underwater and eats them alive?"
Jack considered that. "Fair point."
***
After the meal, they moved into the cave.
The entrance narrowed quickly, the light behind them swallowed by damp stone and shadow. Water dripped steadily from above, echoing through the hollow chamber.
Evelyn glanced around, unimpressed. "Daniel, didn't you say the Fountain of Youth is supposed to be a wondrous place? Why is the entrance hidden in a cave like this?"
She had clearly expected something grand—sunlight, ruins, something majestic. Instead, there was wet rock and stale air.
"This is only the threshold," Daniel replied as they walked deeper. "The Fountain doesn't exist in ordinary space. It's… elsewhere. The cave is just the door."
They reached the end of the passage where the rock widened into a circular chamber. A shallow pool of still water rested at the center, reflecting the faint torchlight like dark glass.
Elizabeth looked around. "So this is it?"
Jack stepped forward slowly, removing the two silver cups from his coat.
"Patience," he said softly.
He examined the engravings along the rims, brushing dirt away with his thumb. Then he turned the cups inward and pressed them together with a deliberate click.
Nothing happened.
For a moment.
Daniel crossed his arms. "Jack. Read the words."
Jack glanced down again and, with a hint of theatrical weight, spoke clearly:
"Aqua de Vida."
The air shifted.
The water at their feet began to stir.
At first it trembled like a disturbed reflection. Then it rose.
The pool lifted from the ground in smooth streams, flowing upward along the cave walls as if gravity had reversed. The liquid traced the stone in glowing lines before spiraling toward the ceiling, gathering into a suspended sphere of luminous water above them.
Evelyn stared upward in awe..
The chamber filled with a soft, otherworldly glow.
Daniel watched the water suspend itself overhead, expression thoughtful.
"Sometimes," he muttered quietly, "I wonder who built all these impossible places."
The sphere of water rippled once.
Then, at its center, light split open like a veil parting.
The suspended sphere shimmered, revealing depth where there should have been none—an entire world hidden within the water.
"Jack," Daniel said lightly, eyes on the glowing surface, "do you want to do the honours?"
Jack took a careful step back. "I find it wise, in most supernatural circumstances, to let someone else test structural integrity first."
Daniel smirked faintly. "As expected."
Without further ceremony, he stepped forward and leapt.
His hand pierced the suspended water—
—and he vanished.
The sphere rippled violently.
Jack stared upward. "Well. That's reassuringly dramatic."
"Dan?" Elizabeth called, moving closer to the hovering mass of water.
Before anyone could react further, two hands shot out from within the glowing sphere.
Elizabeth barely had time to gasp before one hand seized her wrist. Evelyn's was caught a heartbeat later.
"Hold—!" Jack began.
But the grip was firm.
With a sharp pull, both women were lifted off their feet and drawn upward. Their bodies passed through the water's surface without resistance and disappeared into the light.
The sphere rippled again.
Tamara hissed and took a step back.
The water darkened for an instant, shadows stirring within it. Then a black tendril shot downward—not liquid, not solid—and wrapped around her waist.
She slashed at it instinctively, but the grip tightened.
The tendril yanked her upward.
She vanished into the suspended water in a flash of motion.
The chamber fell silent.
Only Jack remained below, staring up at the hovering gateway.
He blinked once.
"…I was not consulted," he muttered.
The sphere pulsed again, as if impatient.
Jack sighed heavily, adjusted his hat, and looked around the empty cave.
"Well then," he said to no one, "far be it from me to be left out of history."
He took a breath and jumped.
***
On the other side—
They stumbled forward onto solid ground.
The air was different here. Warmer. Lighter. It carried the scent of fresh water and ancient stone.
Before them stood the Fountain of Youth.
It rose from the heart of a ruined courtyard swallowed by jungle. Vines coiled around broken pillars carved with Spanish script and forgotten symbols. Moss covered cracked stone steps leading down toward a circular basin at the center.
Water shimmered within it—not ordinary water. It glowed faintly from below, as though lit by something alive beneath the surface.
A narrow waterfall spilled gently into the basin from a carved stone mouth high in the ruins, its sound echoing softly through the chamber. Light filtered down from an unseen opening above, striking the fountain so that it seemed almost divine.
"Wow," Evelyn breathed, stepping forward without realizing it.
Elizabeth's eyes widened as she took in the details—the weathered engravings, the symmetry of the design, the age in every stone. "It's… beautiful."
Daniel folded his arms, faint satisfaction in his expression. "See? Didn't I say it would look special?"
*****
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