Under the Sea ⇔ Cashton ✓

I Left My Body In A Sea Of People

As weird as it may sound, Calum has noticed how different he feels when he's in the water versus when he's on land, something he never seemed to notice until now. When he's out of the water, he feels a little less than average. Sort of clumsy, always a little forgetful, not the strongest guy around. That's how it's always been. He's just always been a little off.

In the water, it's like everything is sparked to life. His mind is clear, absorbing everything without any trouble whatsoever. His body is instantly stronger, swimming through the strong tide as though it were nothing but air. He can go hours without oxygen and his muscles never seem to tire. It's like he was born to be under the sea, surrounded by salt water and ocean creatures. He finds it almost uncanny how at home he feels in a place he's only known for a couple of days.

Calum leaves the house while Laura is at work and Michael is at school. He crosses the sandy beach, feeling the sand burn the soles of his feet as he walks steadily towards the water. He breathes in the salty air with relief, letting his eyes flutter shut as he steps toward the edge of the water. He takes off his shoes and leaves then a safe distance away from the water, checking to make sure not too many people are out in the water. He can't imagine what would happen if anyone found out. Nothing good.

Calum takes a breath before taking a few steps into the cold water, diving underneath the waves once he's deep enough. He can feel the slight tingling once he's under, the strength building in his legs as the scales appear. The transition goes faster now than it did his first time, thankfully. In less than a few minutes, Calum's powerful tail is strong and kicking against the forceful tide.

The boy swims easily through the water, dipping underneath hollow caves and around sparkling schools of fish. The sunlight streams into the sea and casts a white glow across the sea, making everything look like its sparkling.

Calum reaches the clan shortly after, knowing the way like the back of his hand by now. He swims into the small community happily, but furrows his eyebrows when he notices something off. He twists around, his mind muddled in confusion as to why nobody is around. The caves are empty, no kids or people playing in the center square. He grows nervous, worrying the Ashton guy made them leave because of him. He knows Ashton doesn't like him, but surely they didn't leave him to fend for himself, did they?

He's swimming through the water and checking inside caves when he suddenly notices the low and faint hum of a panicked voices in the distance, a few shouts standing out about the rest.

Calum stops what he was doing and immediately swims out of the clan, trying to locate where everyone is. He swims as fast as he can, which still isn't very fast, but the fear pulsating in his chest pushes him faster. He swims for a few minutes before finally, he turns a corner and finds all of the familiar faces from yesterday contorted into fear, all huddled together around something.

Calum slows down, catching his breath as he looks around with confusion.

He notices the man from yesterday looking as scared and worried as he's ever seen him, his golden wavy hair in a mess as his hazel eyes fill with concern. Then Ashton turns around and catches sight of Calum, and the concern in his eyes immediately hardens into ice.

"You," Ashton growls, swimming over in a flash and pressing his hands against Calum's chest, pushing Calum back effortlessly. "I told you to not come back."

Everyone turns around to see what had happened, and as the group disperses a little bit, Calum can see through the mass of bodies what the problem is. In the center of all the scared mermaids, sits Luke, tears streaming down his cheeks and eyes puffy and read. He's trapped, Calum realizes with a start, inside a net that surrounds him completely. He's clawing at the net with his hands, curling in on himself in fear and looking as small as ever inside the net.