Restless Waves

Chapter 56

"Did you guys not talk about families or...?" Rowan asked. Though he hadn't thought to question his mother's family tree. She always said how her brother taught her to hunt and how she hated her parents. That was all. Rowan had met Mandy's parents, his grandparents. Jack had said that he thought they might be fakes. Rowan agreed.

"Not really. I came from a family of hunters who disowned me for loving Mandy. Your mother came from a very important family who was very disappointed that she bonded to a human. When we made the decision to build that house by the beach and live together, it tore her family apart. She never spoke of them, and I never spoke of mine because it hurt too much, and we only really cared about each other," Michael said, watching Mandy as he spoke. "Which is why I knew something was up when your mother turned cold and talked about her brother a lot. Do you think it was Braiken who cursed you?"

"I don't know." Mandy had nothing else to offer. She tried to think about anything she had done to upset him so much that he would rob her of the most precious years of Rowan's life. "I had been with you for eleven years already. Why would he do that to me, to us?"

"That's what we need to find out." Michael rubbed her shoulder. "Do you not have any clue?"

Mandy shook her head to say no. "Why was Wezarian there though? What role does he have in all of this?"

"Wez has always been nice to me. I first met him when you made me go on the hunt where I met Kaerius. He's been your best hunter for years," Rowan said, wondering If Wez knew what had happened to Mandy and stationed himself on land to watch her. If that were the case, surely, he'd stop his sister from killing so many Thalassic Mortals.

Mandy leaned forward and rested her face against her hands. "There's so much to process," he mumbled, rubbing her eyes. "I'm so tired. Have I slept yet?"

"You were sleeping this morning, but I don't know what time you went to bed and if you slept the night before," Michael said, excited to sleep next to her because he had woken up alone for so long.

Rowan grew uncomfortable sitting on the couch, so Kaerius helped him up the stairs and into the bedroom. He tried to talk to Rowan for as long as he could to keep him awake, but Rowan eventually fell asleep. Kaerius freaked out and ran for Michael. They were able to wake Rowan up, so he hadn't drifted to an unconscious state.

Michael set a timer on Rowans alarm. Whenever it went off, he told Kaerius to wake Rowan to make sure he was okay.

All through the night, the alarm woke Kaerius every two hours. He shook Rowan awake, who mumbled that he was alright. When the sun was on the brink of greeting another day, Kaerius ran a cold bath with salt. He sat for a while, thinking about his life. He hadn't seen Jaiker and Laiken for a while. He wondered if they were worried about him or assumed Kaerius was having fun on land. Kaerius missed them and his simple life, but that was only because his life with Rowan was getting rather stressful. The curse, Mandy's brothers, Jack, hunters, they all span around and around in Kaerius's head. He barely went half an hour without feeling anxious about what was going to happen. He expected Hunters to barge into the house any minute and was surprised that they made it through the night without intruders.

A big part of Kaerius wanted to return to the ocean and go on land again when everything was sorted. "Coward," he mumbled to himself while splashing his tail in the water. He wanted to say that he was brave enough to fight for what was right, like Rowan. Though Rowan had been raised to fight, he had the skills needed to challenge even the strongest hunters. "Must learn," Kaerius whispered, poking his bicep. "Strong."

After a while of simply sitting in the bath, Kaerius got bored and drained the water. He waited for the human legs to return, then left the bathroom, only to bump into Michael, who had two cups of coffee in his hands.