Restless Waves

Chapter 38

"Kaerius?" Rowan asked when the sea creatures head had dipped uncomfortably low. "Hey!" Rowan shoved him. Kaerius' head rolled back against the seat, and he groaned. "Keep your eyes open, please Kaerius. We're almost there. You can sleep when we're inside. I promise."

Rowan's voice sounded close, then really far away. Kaerius' thoughts were drifting. "The sea is rough tonight," he thought when they went over a speed bump.

"Kaerius," Rowan said again, patting his arm and speeding down the street. "You're not in the sea. Open your eyes." Kaerius opened them, but he wasn't really seeing anything. "We're almost there."

The next few minutes felt like hours to Rowan. When he ditched the car and was running down the pavement with Kaerius loose in his arms, the streets never felt so long. Rowan could have cried when he saw his dad's house. All the lights were off, which meant he could go straight to the basement and answer questions in the morning.

Rowan tiptoed through the house. Kaerius had human legs now, but he was in no fit state to make himself walk. His dad's house had always been peaceful and an escape from his crazy mother. Rowan felt terrible to disturb the peace with his own craziness, but he had nowhere else to go.

Rowan approached the basement door with successful silence. He had only ever been in the basement once, and that was the day his dad moved into the house. Rowan hadn't been allowed in it since, but right now, he didn't care about boundaries. He could apologise and explain himself in the morning.

Kaerius' head rested against Rowan's shoulder as they snuck down the stairs. Basements were not common in England, but for Michael, he had said it was a necessity. Rowan didn't look around at first. He focused on lying Kaerius on the dusty couch and tapping his cheek to see if he'd open his eyes again.

"Kaerius, tell me what to do. Should I let you sleep? Is that dangerous? You've got a nasty head injury."

Kaerius' eyes were half-open. He was caped in purple Thalassic Mortal blood which had dried and crusted around his nose and forehead. "Kaerius sleep," he mumbled. "Heal fast. Need fish. Laiken get fish." Kaerius' eyes closed, and he relaxed against the couch, breathing long and deep. He was asleep.

Rowan stared at him for a long time. Having Kaerius back was something positive, but Rowan shouldn't have had to rescue him in the first place. If his mother knew about his bond, would she have taken Kaerius? Or would she turn a blind eye and never speak to her son again? Rowan didn't know how she would react, and that made the situation much worse. He planned for the worst. With a mother like Mandy, peace was always way out of reach.

Rowan finally looked up for a blanket, and his eyes landed on something at the back of the basement. He left Kaerius on the couch and went to explore. The basement was a storing place for his dad's tools, bikes, unused furniture. All of those things were pushed to the other side of the basement. On the side that Rowan neared, a thick black curtain was pulled closed. It covered from wall to wall and hid at least half of the basement.

Rowan felt weird when he lifted his hand and touched the velvet. He shouldn't be looking in a place that was always off-limits. What would his dad have to hide? Everyone had secrets, but most were innocent. Rowan couldn't help but feel that whatever was on the other side of the curtain was waiting to be revealed.

He looked back at Kaerius, who still lay in the same position. Rowan's hand smoothed down the material. He would just take a peek then return to Kaerius. Whatever it was, he wouldn't tell his dad and would pretend like he didn't notice the curtain there because it was dark. Rowan thought it would be valuable things his dad had hidden from intruders.

I'm not an intruder. I'm his son. Rowan gripped the curtain and pulled it back enough for a dull blue light to shine through. Curiosity got the better of him, and Rowan stuck his head through the curtain.

At first, the blue light seemed to swamp everything, making it hard for Rowan to figure out what he was looking at. The longer he stared, the more his eyes pieced together glass, water, lots of water, huge buckets filled with what looked like salt.

Rowan blinked and rubbed his eyes. He pulled his head back from the curtain, adjusted his eyes to ordinary light, then looked back into the other half of the basement. He could now see with clarity, and his heart wanted to boil and melt through the rest of his body.

Rowan was staring at a huge fish tank. He guessed the size was ten metres wide and 5 metres tall. It was filled with water and plants. Sand covered a foot of the bottom of the tank. Rowan stepped through the curtain to look closer at the huge fish tank. He had never seen one quite as large in someone's home.

Rowan walked around the glass in awe when something suddenly shimmered against the blue light. He stood closer, frowning and staring until the shimmering moved and a big silver tail curled around the plants. Rowan knew it was a Thalassic mortal tail. The scales were the same size and shape as Kaerius' scales, and the fins at the bottom were similar, twisting and shimmering. The tail looked metallic with colour. Was it real?

Rowan walked around to the back of the tank, and he quickly pressed himself to the wall. There was a Thalassic Mortal in the water. Rowan could see him clearly now, curled in between the plants with webbed hands tucked against his chest, and gills on his neck, opening and closing with each gentle breath.

Rowan would have stormed to his dad to make him explain why there was a Thalassic Mortal in his basement, hidden away like some dangerous monster. He would have been furious and upset and angry at his father for keeping one in a tank so small when Thalassic mortals were used to the open seas.

But Rowan couldn't run and get his father, not when he was already looking at him.