Michael's nerves were in his throat when he neared the dirt road, leading to Mandy's house. He gripped the steering wheel with sweaty fingers. Mandy was always good at reading his emotions before she changed. Walking to the crooked front door was a build-up Michael didn't enjoy. Talking to Mandy since the curse was like talking to a brick wall. She didn't listen to him; she didn't love him; she didn't care at all. Michael remembered when she did care, and those memories sliced his heart every time they surfaced.
He didn't bother knocking on the door and entered. Michael scarcely dodged a bucket of cold seawater that sloshed through the door and onto the porch. Mandy and two other hunters stood in the doorway with spears. Michael was quickly pinned to the wall with a spear threatening to pierce his skin.
Michael was furious. "Is this how you would've greeted our son?" he growled.
Mandy lowered the spear. "If he was with the fish boy, yeah." She looked him up and down with stranger's eyes. "What're you doing here?"
"Fish boy?" Michael acted like he knew nothing. "To ask why I got a distressed phone call from my son who's scared to go home."
"What did he tell you?"
"That his own mother was hunting him."
"Did he tell you why?"
Michael shook his head.
"We found a Thalassic Freak with legs in this house. We took him to the base on the edge of town. I didn't go because I wasn't sleep deprived enough, but I was told that Rowan went in the middle of the night, claiming that he was soulmates with the sea creature. Now, of all the things he has done to annoy me, this is on another level. I'm so angry." Mandy scraped her blonde hair into a tight ponytail. "He took out half of the hunters there. At least he didn't humiliate me by getting caught."
Michael shook his head. He found it hard to believe that he was once in love with her, but he found it even harder to believe the memories of Mandy when she had a beautiful soul. "What are you going to do?"
"Wait here until he turns up because I know he will. Then I don't really know what I'll do." Mandy narrowed her eyes. "If he goes to yours, will you keep him there and let me know?"
Michael scoffed. "Like I'd let you anywhere near him. What if he's telling the truth about this soulmate stuff?"
"He's not," Mandy said with a scowl. "You think that fish boy with legs is a Royal?"
Michael's heart punctured, as usual. You're the Royal. Please, just remember me. Michael pushed the spear away when Mandy tried to jab him in the arm. "I don't know what I think, but Rowan has gone out of his way to rescue the Thalassic Mortal. If he does come home, you need to listen to him, and if he does turn up at mine, you need to come without your hunters and speak to him as his mother, not as his trainer or the leader of the hunters, or someone who despises sea creatures. You need to be his mother."
Mandy muttered something under her breath. "The Thalassic Mortal who broke into our house was a male. Rowan's obviously not his soulmate."
Michael shook his head. "Can you stop pretending like you know everything about our son?" The curse always made him angry when around Mandy. They were destined to argue forever.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Michael almost yelled that their son was gay, so of course, he would have a male soulmate, but he bit his tongue. Rowan hadn't told her for a reason, and Michael was sure she would not be supportive. "If he turns up here, don't you dare hurt him."
"I wouldn't hurt him," Mandy said, stepping back and twisting the spear around. "It's quite insulting that you think I would."
"Maybe you should think about the way you treat him then." Michael peeled himself off the wall. "I'm going. I might let you know if he turns up at mine. Don't bother sending your hunters to watch my house." Michael left, feeling the anger rise. If he stayed, he predicted that a screaming match was just around the corner.
As he got in his car and drove away, Michael had expected Mandy to accuse him of lying. He was sure Wez would have tracked his car and told them Rowan was near his dad's house. If Wez didn't tell Mandy, was he someone they could trust? Someone on the inside, someone whom Mandy thought she could trust too.
* * * * *
The kelp beds were like an underwater forest. Rowan and Kaerius weaved through them, and they felt slimy. Rowan wasn't sure he would enjoy sleeping among them, but for Kaerius, he would try it for at least a night. Through the kelp beds were caves big enough to completely blackout the inside. Rowan couldn't see as well as Kaerius. His eyes couldn't yet adjust.
Jaiker and Laiken were eating fish and playfully slapping each other with their tails when Kaerius emerged through the kelp plants. When they saw his bruises, they dropped their fish and swarmed him.
"What happened? Are you okay? Who did this to you?" Laiken asked in the Thalassic tongue.
Kaerius slapped their hands away, just as Rowan drifted into the open. He didn't know how to stop drifting. Kaerius held his arm, so they stayed together.
"Rowan," Jaiker said, astonished. His eyes trailed his tail. "My Goddess."
Kaerius felt weird at the mutter of the Goddess, despite him hearing it and saying it his entire life. Rowan was related to the Goddess, and she was cruel.
"His tail is- is... I've never seen anything like it," Laiken said, circling the boys.
Rowan couldn't understand them, but he could tell they were intrigued by his white tail with rainbow shimmers.
"Can I tell them about you being a Royal? Your tail is a big giveaway, but I can lie if necessary," Kaerius thought, eyeing Rowan.
"Tell them," Rowan said. Kaerius only just heard his muffled words.
"Yes, his tail is fit for-"
"A Royal?" Kaerius interrupted Jaiker.
"Yes." Jaiker pulled his eyes back to Kaerius and his bruises. They were healing but looked painful. "What happened to you?"
"I got captured by hunters. Rowan saved me. His fighting skills are incredible. He fought off a room full of experienced hunters with just a stick thing. It was amazing!" Kaerius didn't realise he was gushing over Rowan until it was too late. Laiken had already started to grin.
"Oh my Goddess, you're so in love with him," Laiken teased. Rowan didn't react to his words, and Laiken then knew he couldn't understand. "He in love with you," Laiken shouted, pointing to his nephew.
Rowan blushed, and Kaerius scowled and slapped Laiken with his tail. "We've only just started accepting the bond. Shut your fish mouth," Kaerius grumbled.
"Fish mouth? What are you, Larva or something?"
Jaiker pushed Laiken away. "Why is his tail like that?" he asked.
Kaerius glared at Laiken and said, "Rowan's a Royal." To which Laiken responded by laughing so sharply, a wave of bubbles came out of his mouth. "I'm telling the truth." When both Jaiker and Laiken stared for long enough to make Rowan uncomfortable, Kaerius explained everything. When he was done explaining that Rowan's parents were cursed and Mandy was the princess of the sea, Jaiker and Laiken's mouths hung open. They continued to stare until Rowan asked Kaerius if there was something wrong.
"No, they're just processing the information about your family," Kaerius thought. He felt a sense of pride. Kaerius was important, and the group of Thalassic Mortals who left them would soon regret not being so loyal.
Laiken was first to move. He drifted in front of Rowan and bowed his head. "I'm honoured," he shouted, so his voice was only just heard.
Rowan looked as awkward as Kaerius.
"It's not like that," Kaerius said. "It's not a big deal yet." Though he knew that was a lie.
"Not a big deal?" Jaiker said with eyes as wide as the entrance to the cave. "The royals have returned to the sea. Now we know why they fled in the first place. Forbidden love. This bond between you two... the bond means something."
"What?" Laiken and Kaerius asked at the same time.
"If the Goddess cursed Rowan's parents and made Rowan believe that he was raised to hate our species, then why was he given a soulmate?"
Kaerius watched Rowan's blonde hair move softly against the water. "I don't know," he said truthfully. "Maybe the Goddess is trying to redeem herself?"
"Or more importantly, why did she choose you?"
Kaerius frowned. "Jaiker, you're asking these questions like there's something wrong with me."
"Usually, Royals mate Royals, not sea creatures like us. The Goddess hasn't exactly been kind to us over the years. I'm sorry to ask this because I love you very much, but what makes you so special Kaerius? What makes our family so special compared to Rowans?"
Jaiker had made a good point. "Rowan's mother and father met the same way Rowan and I met. Maybe she'll be cruel and punish us too." The thought flipped Kaerius's stomach. He might have hated Rowan and the bond for longer than necessary, but they couldn't be ripped apart, not when they had finally noticed how lucky they were to have each other.
Jaiker noticed Rowan's worried frown. He couldn't understand their whispery words, but he felt Kaerius's emotions. Jaiker smiled to soften the mood. "Well, let's not be so negative. Let's hope that the Goddess is forming a new current. Rowan is innocent. He doesn't deserve a curse because of love, and technically, he isn't doing anything wrong. He's as much of a Thalassic Mortal as you. You can both get legs; you can both have a tail." Jaiker then frowned deeply enough for his overgrown brows to almost cover his eyes. He stroked his long grey beard. "Though the werewolves seem to think a war is coming. They tricked you into getting Thalassic Mortal poison. Maybe they are the ones with the answers."