Restless Waves

Chapter 28

Rowan's eyes darted to the horizon where they locked into place, just like his lungs. "What?" he squeaked. He felt Kaerius's gaze burning into his face, but he couldn't look.

"I hoped because you were human, this wouldn't happen to you." Michael's voice was emotional, but all Rowan could hear were the words.

"I don't understand," Rowan whispered. "I really, really don't understand."

"Rowan tell me what you know about royal Thalassic Mortals," Michael said, and when his son didn't reply, he said, "Tell me what you know."

"I um..." Rowan swallowed and regrouped his scattered thoughts. "Um, royals died out years ago."

"Or?"

"Well, they either fled or died out. Nobody really knows." Rowan looked down to Kaerius who was still holding onto the rock. He didn't expect to see such a shocked expression. The sea creature looked as though he had been told his whole life was just a dream, and at any moment, he would wake.

"Your mother knows," Michael said, and just for a moment, Rowan thought he heard a vicious tone in his voice. His spine shivered.

"Are you like... drunk or something?" Rowan asked. "What you're saying doesn't make sense. Are you calling me a royal Thalassic Mortal? Last time I checked, I had legs. In fact, I have legs right now. Also, I can't breathe underwater, I don't have gills or sharp teeth or weird poisonous fingers or-"

"Rowan, you're not a Thalassic Mortal," Michael said calmly.

"Then how am I a royal and not Kaerius? Humans don't get soulmates."

"No, but you're a sovereign of the sea. Royal Thalassic Mortal blood runs in your veins."

Rowan tingled from his head to his toes. Sometime, a few minutes ago, he stopped blinking and he only just remembered to breathe. "My parents hunt the supernatural. There's no way any of this is true."

"I don't hunt anymore. I couldn't after I found out. I should have told you when you were younger, but your mother would have fled with you, and I would've lost you."

Rowan scrunched his eyes shut, and his hands turned to fists. "I don't want to believe any of this. What even is a sovereign of the sea?" Rowan knew how absurd it sounded. Somehow, hearing it from his dad made it harder to think of it as a lie.

"An understandable response," Michael said. "I really should have written you a letter."

"Has this got something to do with mum?" Rowan asked. He hadn't yet opened his eyes, but he could still feel the scorching stare from Kaerius. His silence was unnerving.

"This has everything to do with your mother," Michael said, and Rowan decided he had heard enough. He hung up the phone and pulled his t-shirt over his head.

Before Kaerius could say anything, Rowan dived over him and into the water. A big splash bubbled to the surface. Kaerius looked under the water, and his eyes followed Rowan, who swam deeper and deeper. In a panic, because he knew humans couldn't breathe in his home, Kaerius swam after him, leaving Rowan's phone, flip flops, and t-shirt on the rocks.

Rowan needed the numbing pain of the British seas to clear his mind. The cold wiped his memory clean, but it was only a temporary solution. Before he knew it, Kaerius was in front of him with big purple eyes. He didn't try to bring Rowan to the surface right away. Kaerius studied him and his emotions. Rowan was calm on the surface, but a storm was forming within.

Rowan floated a few metres below the surface. He could see Kaerius quite clearly, and he felt his tail wrap around him to keep them close.

"You're crazy," Kaerius said in the Thalassic tongue. If he couldn't breathe out of the water, he would never surface. Humans were brave to risk it all in a place that could take their oxygen forever.