Restless Waves

Chapter 20

I feel like we've reached chapter 20 so fast!! There's many more on the way ;D

- Sian

"I guess I should wait for the human by the rocks," Kaerius said, not able to wait for Jaiker's return. He had to lie steady and not move around with the current too much; otherwise, he would be sick.

"Yes. You don't look well," Laiken replied, pointing a sympathetic smile at his nephew. "We'll figure this out, okay?"

Kaerius nodded, and with a big gulp of water, he leisurely made his way through the kelp bed and along the sandy floor. He waved his tail slowly because every time his abdomen tensed, he wanted to stop and curl into a ball of despair.

Kaerius's heart was not only hurting because he was far from Rowan, but his group had also left him. Kaerius had grown up around most of the Thalassic Mortals who had travelled west. They must have heard him talking about his soulmate and decided among themselves to leave the crazy twenty-year-old behind. Kaerius couldn't pretend not to be heartbroken.

When he reached the rocks, Kaerius was so caught up in the hot aching in his chest that when his head bobbed above the surface, he hadn't seen a human crouched by the edge of the rocks, scanning the water.

The human was not Rowan, and Kaerius wouldn't usually care that much because they could never see him, but this human looked right at him and even reacted at his appearance.

She gasped and reached for something arched around her back. Kaerius recognised her. She was the woman who was sitting outside Rowan's house last night.

"No, hurt!" Kaerius said and lifted webbed hands out of the water. "I-" Kaerius's small selection of words were cut short when the woman, in less than five seconds, had a spear in a device that was too complicated for Kaerius, but he knew it meant pain.

The sharp part of the spear pointed directly at his forehead, and if he didn't dive back under the water, it would have impaled Kaerius's skull. Instead, the metal part, the sharp part, sliced through the water and into the back of Kaerius's shoulder.

The Thalassic Mortal screeched from the agony of something smashing through the bone and tearing the skin apart. The sharp end protruded from the other side of him, and blood oozed instantly, dying the water around Kaerius into a deep shade of purple.

* * * * *

Rowan sat at his desk, furiously pulling at the drawstrings on his board shorts.

"Well," Michael said over the phone, making a sound like he had just sat down for the first time in days. "This is something I hoped to talk to you about one day. I never thought you'd find out like this."

"What's going on, dad?" Rowan asked. His palms felt clammy as he started to build anticipation. His father had a secret that wasn't meant to be shared, at least, the timing felt wrong.

"I have a lot to say. Are you alone? Your mother can't hear, can she?"

"No. She's-" Rowan's hand lunged to his shoulder. An ache that was severe enough to destroy his train of thought burnt right down his arms, and to the tips of his fingers. It felt as though the bone was grinding. Rowan broke his ankle a few years ago, and the hot throbbing felt similar. Rowan's hand rubbed across his chest. He felt worried and panicked, but it wasn't his own emotions. It felt disconnected like it had been injected into his lungs. "Mum's out hunting," he whispered. He didn't have to give it much thought to know that Kaerius was in trouble. All Rowan could see was Kaerius's beautiful purple eyes drowning with tears. All he could hear was Kaerius's broken English as he tried to plead for his life.