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Also, thank you for your comments, and your interactions with this story! It really helps and I love reading your thoughts!

- Sian



"So... we go to mum's house really early with Jack, make sure she's there alone, then let Jack do his fairy thing, and hopefully mum's side of the story isn't so messed up that Jack puts the curse back on her," Rowan said.

Kaerius tried to look at Rowan in the dark, though he couldn't see him very well. They were lying in bed, and it was almost midnight. Kaerius was almost falling asleep, but Rowan couldn't stop repeating the plan to him. He talked a lot when he was nervous. Kaerius felt his worries, and now he could hear them. "Rowan sleep," Kaerius mumbled.

Rowan suddenly sat up and was leaning over Kaerius. "Do you think the plan will work? What if Jack backs out and mum will always be that way, and she and dad can't work through it, and-"

Kaerius covered Rowan's mouth with his fingers. He was too tired to listen, though he cared too much about Rowan to tell him to shut up and go to sleep. "There's nothing you can do right now. Just sleep, and you can tell me your worries tomorrow," Kaerius thought. "For now, just imagine what it'll be like to meet your old mum, the one you've always wanted." Kaerius pushed Rowan back down and snuggled closer, feeling his warmth and his breath against the side of his face.

"Maybe an uncursed mum would like that I'm at university," Rowan whispered and closed his eyes.

"She'd support our bond too," Kaerius thought and stayed awake until Rowan fell asleep, then he allowed himself to drift into weird dreams about fish falling from the sky instead of raindrops.

When he woke up, the sun was just peeking through the crack in the curtains. Kaerius groaned when Rowan squished him to reach his screeching alarm to turn it off.

"My skin," Kaerius grumbled. It felt so tight and dry against his bones. To Rowan, his skin looked normal, but to Kaerius, it felt like it had been stretched for miles. "Need sea."

"Come on; you can chill in the fish tank for a bit while me and my dad get ready." Rowan jumped out of bed, already awake enough to start his day. Kaerius, however, would prefer to lie and stare at the ceiling until his eyes didn't want to close every second.

"Carry Kaerius."

Rowan stopped and looked Kaerius up and down as he lay above the covers. "I know I've carried you before, but it's not exactly easy. You're not exactly light," he scoffed. "And you have legs now." Rowan patted Kaerius's ankle. "Use them."

Kaerius held his arms out and stared hard at Rowan until he rolled his eyes.

"You're twenty years old, Kaerius."

"So? Rowan got strong arms." Kaerius fluttered his thick eyelashes and glossed his purple eyes, and he was in Rowan's arms before he knew it.

I'd let him get away with murder if he looked at me like that, Rowan thought, then blushed when Kaerius raised a brow and he remembered his thoughts were shared with someone else.

"I'll remember that," Kaerius thought back.

When they reached the kitchen, Rowan felt his father's eyes following him as he struggled across to the basement door with Kaerius in his arms.

"That's far enough," Rowan breathed and put him down by the basement steps. Kaerius protested, but Rowan dropped his legs, and Kaerius almost tumbled. As the Thalassic Mortal grumpily used the stairs himself, Rowan turned to see his dad trying not to laugh. "The more I get to know him, the more I realise how demanding he is."

"He has you wrapped around his little finger already," Michael grinned.

"I know, and I don't even care," Rowan said and sat down at the table with a content sigh.

"Because you're falling in love with him."

Rowan nodded.

"Bonds are sometimes too powerful," Michael said and gave him the rest of his toast. "The best thing about them is that no matter how hard you argue, you'll always make up, and you'll always be head over heels for each other."

"I was overwhelmed at first because I thought it would be weird dating someone who was... supernatural. However, what you've just said about always being together, it makes the relationship part nice. I don't have to worry about getting my heart broken or whatever." Rowan then frowned with an odd smile. "It's so weird thinking that Kaerius will be in my life forever."

"I found that part weird with your mother too, that and the fact that I was from a hunter's family, where both of my parents were hardcore haters of Thalassic Mortals," Michael said.

"Is that why I've never met your parents?"

"Yes. Though I'm grateful that they're no longer in my life because being a hunter was awful, I needed Mandy in my life to really make a change. I'm so happy you were never interested in that stuff. It's really impressive that you managed to say no to your mother. I don't know where you got the strength."

"From you, probably. I don't think I'd have the strength to continue if Kaerius and I were cursed and I remembered him, but he didn't remember the bond with me. Also, I haven't known him for that long. You and mum had a kid together. How are you not a mess?"

"My dad might be a horrible man," Michael said, "but he taught me how important life is, even when it seems pointless and cruel. I got by because I'm lucky enough to be here still, and I have you."

"I love you, dad," Rowan said and realised that without his dad's support, Rowan might have done what his mother wanted, and turned into a hunter and hated his life.

"I love you too kid. And I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about all of this sooner, and sometimes even encouraged you to please your mother and train and go on that first hunt."

They sat together for a while until they had to get ready. When Rowan was packed and so was his dad, Kaerius hadn't yet returned from the fish tank. Rowan poked his head through the curtains and smiled to himself. Kaerius had wrapped himself up in the plants and was fast asleep. His face was squished against the glass.

Rowan tiptoed to the tank and loudly tapped on the glass. Kaerius woke up with a sharp jolt. Rowan laughed until his belly hurt, and Kaerius scowled until the muscles in his brows ached.

"We have to go soon," Rowan grinned and met Kaerius halfway up the steps with a towel. "Jack's waiting for us," he said and dried his tail, so his legs appeared quicker. "I'm nervous now."

"I'm nervous too," Kaerius thought. The last time he was at Rowan's house, he was knocked unconscious and beaten at a hunter's hideout. Kaerius didn't like Mandy at all. He hoped for Rowan's sake that the curse could be lifted for good. Kaerius was curious to see who she really was. Mandy was supposed to be the princess of the sea, but he had a hard time seeing that. "Just don't get your hopes up too much. Jack might not like her side of the story and put the curse back on her," he thought and pulled on the black ripped jeans that Rowan gave him.

"I'm trying not to be too hopeful." Rowan leaned against the fish tank as Kaerius pulled a black t-shirt over his head. "I guess I'm just nervous to see the real Mandy."

"I bet your dad is too." Kaerius, Laiken, and Jaiker had lived a straightforward life in the ocean. Human lives were full of a lot of drama. Kaerius now understood why humans were such emotional creatures.

* * * * *

"Solar's," Jack said and climbed into the back seat of the car, opposite Kaerius. "Purple eyes."

Kaerius scowled and moved his glare to the window, so he could watch the streets zoom by. He stared longingly at the ocean on the horizon. They would be right next to the sea at Rowan's mum's house, but they had bigger things to deal with than going for a swim.

Kaerius soon turned his gaze to Rowan who sat in the front seat. As they neared his mother's house, Rowan started tracing his fingers over the tan line on his wrist and tapping his leg. Kaerius felt sorry for him. Anxiety riddled Rowan, and he was trying his best not to show it through his word vomiting. When they travelled down the dirt road, and Mandy's house came into view, Rowan paled.

"Let me go first," Michael said. It was barely seven in the morning. "When I know the house is empty, I'll motion for the rest of you to come inside."

Rowan, Jack, and Kaerius watched him hurry along the path that led to the porch. Michael didn't even bother knocking on the door and slipped inside. Rowan shook his head. Mandy never locked the front door.

"Are you ready, Jack?" Rowan asked.

"I guess," Jack replied, staring at the house.

Rowan turned to look at Kaerius who was already staring at him. "You can go to the sea if you want, and we'll come and get you when we're done." Rowan regretted saying that as soon as the words came out of his mouth. He wanted Kaerius by his side, but he didn't want Kaerius to be in any danger.

"No. I stay," Kaerius said, feeling what Rowan really wanted.

After a few minutes of silently watching the house, Rowan asked, "Jack, do you get a soulmate?"

Jack shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. I have Royals in my bloodline, but because of my dad's curse, and who I am, I think I've missed out on the opportunity."

"What makes you think so?"

"I'm nineteen. I think you're supposed to meet at eighteen."

"Kaerius is twenty. I think there's hope for you yet."

Jack didn't look convinced, but Michael appeared by the door and ushered them inside before Rowan could talk more. They hurried inside, and Michael shushed them. "She's still sleeping. I've checked the house. She's here alone."

Jack nodded and cracked his knuckles. "All right," he said and exhaled slowly. "Wake Mandy, bring her down here, then we'll start."