Over the next few days, Rowan's world returned to normal. Normal to him was going to university while his sea creature boyfriend spent the day in the ocean, then Rowan would meet Kaerius either on the sand or in the water. Then, they would go back to Rowan's mother's house where his father filled the hallway with his belongings. It's not just her house anymore, Rowan thought, which made him smile at his laptop.

"What're you grinning at?" Michael asked. He sat opposite Rowan at the table.

"It's just nice that you're here and mum's not threatening to beat you up."

Michael smiled. "I keep thinking it's too good to be true." They could hear Mandy humming to herself in the living room. She started throwing away her hunter gear, clothes, pictures, files. Everything related to her hunting career was gone in less than an hour. Now she was painting, painting everything.

"Is mum okay?"

"No, and I don't think she will be for a while. But that's okay because she has us."

Rowan nodded. "Yeah, and her brothers now."

"It's going to be tough for her to accept that she's lost 12 years of her life. Thank goodness I took pictures of you growing up. I tried to get your mum to look at the photo albums, but she's not ready to cry again."

Rowan thought that his father no longer looked so tired, so worn out, so beaten. Rowan hadn't noticed how much his fathers struggled until his weary eyes brightened with hope. "What if we never find out who did this to our family?"

"Pray that they don't find out that the curse is broken. They were evil enough to make such a soul-destroying curse. They'll be evil enough to come for us."

Rowan suddenly felt very cold. He shivered and pulled his sleeves over his hands. A dark cloud started to move through his mind. Rowan would have spiralled into a very anxious state if he didn't hear the front door open and feel Kaerius getting closer. He looked up to greet his soulmate with a smile, but his mouth hung open instead.

Kaerius stood with sandy feet, he was dripping wet, out of breath, and naked.

Rowan cleared his throat and failed to divert his eyes. "I've told you a million times; you can't walk around with no clothes on!"

"Not million," Kaerius scowled and crossed his arms. "Where clothes?"

"By the front door."

Kaerius groaned and stomped back down the corridor. When he returned, he had a pair of Rowan's shorts on, nothing else.

"Also, you need to start wiping your feet before you come in," Michael said, staring blankly at the trail of sandy footprints Kaerius had dragged around the floor.

"Land mortal have stupid rules," Kaerius muttered and flopped onto the chair next to Rowan. He shut Rowan's laptop.

"Kaerius, I was doing work for-"

"Silence," the Thalassic Mortal said in his deep voice. "Kaerius make Rowan Thalassic treasure." Kaerius lifted something circular for Rowan to see. "You have a lot of nervous habits, Rowan. You'll rub your wrist raw if you don't have something to fidget with."

Rowan's eyes gleamed as Kaerius slid the bracelet over his hand. He had used something green and elastic to hold all the tiny shells in place. There were flat shells and spiral shells and little stones with shimmers of reds and purples. Rowan traced it like it was made of diamonds, though it was made of something much more precious; love.

"Rowan like wristlet?"

"I love it! Did you make this today?"

Kaerius nodded. His cheeks were turning pink. "Jaiker help."

Rowan delicately kissed Kaerius's lips, not needing to build himself up to it. "You're so cute."

Kaerius, half sick with affection and half-embarrassed, pulled his head back. "Kaerius strong sea creature. No cute."

"You can be both."

"Oh." Kaerius frowned with thought. "Then I Kaerius, strong and cute. I like."

Rowan chuckled and pinched Kaerius's red cheek until he slapped his hand away. "Did you tell Jaiker and Laiken about everything that's been happening?" he asked, ignoring his dad grinning at them both.

Kaerius nodded. "I told them about coming on land. They were sceptical."

"Do you think they'll ever come on land?"

Kaerius shrugged. "I hope so. It's not as good as home, but it's exciting."

Rowan touched the cold skin on Kaerius's shoulder. "Let's sleep in the sea tonight."

"Yes," Kaerius said and revived the purple glint in his eyes.

Rowan liked how Kaerius's eyes could smile without his mouth moving. "You hungry?" Kaerius leapt to his feet and dragged Rowan to the fridge. "I'll take that as a yes. What fish do you want?" Rowan held up salmon, cod, tuna, and sardines. Kaerius picked them all. "All right," Rowan chuckled.

Michael watched from the table as Kaerius followed his son, leaving no space between them as he peered over Rowan's shoulder who prepared his fish. When Rowan first announced that he shared a bond with a Thalassic Mortal, Michael thought the goddess was cursing him too. Michael would have been content with his son finding love, even if it meant that Michael would never find it again. Rowan and Kaerius were so pure, simply watching them together made Michael happier.

* * * * *

The next day, Rowan ran along the beach with a sandal in each hand. The sun illuminated the sand enough to make him wish he had sunglasses, though the day wasn't warm. Autumn busily swept through the country. As Rowan jogged through the empty beach, he saw Kaerius swimming about in the water. The tide was out, and Rowan couldn't wait to sit for a while on the rocks. As he neared the shore, he heard familiar voices and saw other people swimming with Kaerius.

"Rowan!" Braiken beamed, scrambling over the rocks where Mandy and Michael were sitting. He swung an arm around Rowan's shoulders and ruffled his hair. "Here's my gay nephew."

"... hi," Rowan said with a funny frown.

"Where's my son?" Braiken asked, just as someone came up behind them, breathing heavily.

"Bloody hell, Solar," Jack breathed, holding his chest. "You- you run, so fast."

"I didn't realise I had to wait for you," Rowan chuckled, patting Jack's shoulder when Braiken released him.

"Excuse me," Kaerius thought.

Rowan could feel the sea creatures gaze on him. Rowan left his bag by his dad and pulled his t-shirt off. He grinned at Kaerius who was waiting for some attention and leapt over his head into the water. The sea, as expected, was cold enough to make Rowan's whole mind and body freeze, but he loved it. When he surfaced, he shook his wet hair in Kaerius's face. "ooh," Rowan said, trying to catch his breath and not let Kaerius dunk him. "It's a bit cold."

Kaerius's webbed hands held Rowan's waist and pulled their bodies together. They hugged and kissed, and Kaerius even smiled. "This is the best part of my day," Rowan thought. "And I'm pretty keen on dinner time."

Kaerius felt Rowan's legs wrap around his tail. He held him tighter, proud to show off his soulmate, even though nobody around them was paying attention.

Wez and his soulmate swam near the rocks, Michael and Mandy sat with their feet in the water. When Rowan looked again, he saw that their tails were in the water. Oddly, it was a very natural sight. Braiken and his soulmate stood together, chatting. Jack looked into the water as though stuck in a trance.

"Are you coming in?" Rowan asked his cousin.

Jack's eyes snapped up, and he shuffled back from the edge. "I don't swim in the sea."

"Ever?" Braiken asked.

"Well, I now have memories of you taking me when I was really young, but I haven't since then. The fairy side of me masks it."

Rowan was about to ask how he was a fairy if his dad was only cursed to be one, but Kaerius pulled his head back towards him and kissed him.

"Do you think Jack's part-fairy because that's a different curse?" Rowan thought, and Kaerius frowned.

"My lips are literally pressed against yours. Think about me."

Rowan chuckled against him. "You're needy."

"No, my soul is just bonded to yours by a force greater than our existence."

"Okay," Rowan said, pulling away and biting his lip. "That's actually a good point. I just like to pretend that I'm not already obsessed with you. It's normal, though, right? Considering this bond."

"Of course, it's normal. It has been weeks. Humans take their time with everything like they've got all the time in the world."

"What if we do?"

"We could die tomorrow."

"Or we could live for another fifty years."

"Or not."

"Are you living like every day's your last, then?" Rowan asked as they swam further away from the rocks.

"I'm not afraid of death. Life's more freeing that way."

"I guess I'm just scared of the unknown."

"It's not unknown, you've just forgotten," Kaerius said, and Rowan shuddered. "Souls are ancient."

Rowan studied Kaerius until the Thalassic Mortal raised a brow. "You're a deep thinker," Rowan said, wrapping arms around his shoulders to stop them floating away. "I'd love to know more about-"

"Rowan!" Braiken yelled from the rocks. The boys turned towards him as he waved frantically. "Michael told us that you gave Thalassic Mortal poison to werewolves. They know something's going to happen."

"Like what?" Rowan asked. "They played us to get his poison."

"Wolves have very spiritual minds. If they think conflict is coming, then they're probably right."

"What if they're the conflict?" Jack asked.

"Well, I guess the only way to find out is to pay them a visit," Wez said from the water, smiling up at Mandy when she looked concerned.

"Tomorrow?" Rowan asked, and they all agreed, so he returned his attention to Kaerius, whose stare was so intense, Rowan felt a little shy. "What do you want to do now?"

Kaerius looked like he was thinking, then he splashed Rowan and dipped under the water and didn't return.

Jack sat on the rocks and crossed his legs. He eyed the water suspiciously as though he expected a wave to seep up and tickle his toes.

"You should really come in," Rowan said, bobbing chin deep in the calm water. The cold had numbed his skin, just the way he liked it.

"No, really I-"

"Yes, you should," Braiken said and slapped hands on Jack's shoulders.

"If you push me in, I'll curse you to only eat spiders for the rest of the week."

Braiken, to Rowan's surprise, looked like he weighed up his options but decided against a spider feast. "You have Royal Thalassic Mortal blood in you. The water calls you in your sleep. You feel it now, don't you?"

Jack crossed his arms and remained stubborn. Rowan swam over to his parents, staring from his father's silver tail to his mother's white tail with rainbow flecks. "I feel like I've seen you both like this before," Rowan said, staring through the sunlit water at his legs kicking about. "Will I always need Kaerius to kiss me in the water to get my tail?"

"No," Mandy smiled. "You've just not completed your bond with Kaerius yet. It'll all change after that."

"You mean just the tail thing will change?"

"No, everything will change — your relationship with him, your relationship with the water, and how you live your life. Souls among humans rarely touch. What you and Kaerius have is incredible, just like me and your father, Wez, and Braiken."

"How will my relationship with Kaerius change?" Rowan asked and pulled himself up, sitting next to his mother.

"You know how you're a little embarrassed and shy and kind of awkward around each other still?"

Rowan nodded slowly, not realising that she had studied him so carefully. Rowan assumed she avoided him because she was still trying to accept that he was her son. It made sense for Mandy to watch him. She was figuring out who he was now.

"You won't feel that way once you complete the third stage. You'll feel so at peace and not afraid to show your affection. Call it an awakening with his soul. You'll know him as you know yourself."

"That sounds nice," Rowan said with a little smile. He found it challenging to imagine suddenly changing like that, but when Kaerius had first grabbed his ankle, he had felt different then. Even now, Rowan felt Kaerius's emotions for him without even concentrating. He just knew that they existed for each other. That understanding comforted him, like Kaerius's soul had been there all his life, making sure he wasn't alone and never would be.