He kept walking, kept playing.
The entire market stopped to stare as the chaos fell into a parade.
His parade.
Even the goose from earlier had somehow joined the procession, honking in time.
As he reached the harbor’s edge, Jabir paused at the last note and gave a playful trill.
The sea monkeys let out a chorus of gurgling chirps, then leapt into the water, diving and flipping with pure joy before disappearing beneath the waves.
Gone.
Peacefully.
But the symbiots… they stayed.
Twitching. Wobbling.
Waiting.
Behind him, he heard Zohar’s voice. “We’ve got the crate!”
Jabir nodded, flute never leaving his lips.
Bálint and Roam rolled a massive crate next to Jabir.
“Do it,” Bálint encouraged.
Jabir turned, took a few slow steps toward it, and shifted the melody into something low and droning—steady like a heartbeat, hypnotic as a lullaby.
One by one, the symbiots hopped, skipped, and plunked themselves into the crate. Some giggled. One somersaulted in. Another carried a stolen fork like a sword and knighted Jabir’s boots before joining the pile.
When the last one tumbled in with a hiccupping squeak, Zohar slapped the latch down with a whoop.
“Victory!” he bellowed.
Jabir played one final, sweet note.
Then lowered the flute.
A pause, filled only by the faint, joyful humming of the symbiots in the crate.
Then—
The roar of cheering.
“Jabir, that was amazing!” Phoenix called, flying toward him.
Alice clapped her hands, laughing. “That was fantastic.”
Spring barreled into him with a hug. “You’re magic!”
Amber and Jade were already inspecting the crate, babbling in unison.
“Wait—how did you do that?”
“What frequency? Did you use harmonic resonance?”
