Calum had been holed up in his room for two days, barely eating, barely sleeping. He had taken his pills both days, but other than that he barely took care of himself. On his wall above his desk was a bulletin board covered in pictures and articles on the supernatural, specifically those focusing on people with tails that live in the sea.
Howard knocked on the door, hoping he would finally get an answer or even an acknowledgment that his son was alive out of Calum. He was curious about what happened on the beach, but he was more worried about his son.
Calum lifted his head that was hiding behind his laptop when he heard both the knock and his dad’s voice. “Cal? Honey, please talk to me. Are you okay? Are you hurt? Jack and I haven’t heard from you in two days. We’re worried about you. Please, just answer me. I need to know you’re alive.”
Calum shook his head and continued to read the article on his computer. One of the pictures that were in the article was one of the clearest ones he had seen. The picture showed a full tail that resembled the one he saw at the beach.
Immediately, Calum began to feel the tightness in his chest strengthen, causing him to hyperventilate. He tried to do his breathing exercises, but nothing seemed to work. Calum got up, leaving his room for the first time in two days and going downstairs. Howard looked up as Calum stormed past him and out of the house. Worry overflowed Howard, but he left Calum be. He would interrogate the younger twin later.
Calum sprinted towards the beach, hoping the ocean would calm him down. The tightness already seemed to be lessening as he neared the beach. He had never experienced anything like this before. He knew this wasn’t an episode, the whining wasn’t in his ears. He just felt like half of him was missing. Calum couldn’t explain it. The closer he got to the ocean, the more he seemed drawn to it.
Calum stopped at the beach, resisting the need to strip and dive headfirst into the sea, and stared out at the crystal ocean. The tightness in his chest had dimmed down to a slight numbing. The water was clear enough to see what was underneath the surface for a couple of feet. In his mind, unknowingly, Calum wished the creature he saw to poke its head out of the water.
Nothing happened.
Calum sighed and decided to lay on the beach for a little while, hoping to finally catch up on sleep now that his chest didn’t hurt that much anymore. Before he knew it, he drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
~~~~~~~~
Aka swam back and forth as he waited for Cora to show up. They had agreed to meet up there to go talk to his soulmate together. That was two hours ago. He figured Cora had gotten sidetracked by a female. She usually did.
Aka sighed and pulled a webbed hand through his albino locks. He decided to wait another half hour before going it alone. Or chickening out. Whichever he leaned towards when the time came.
Another fifteen minutes passed when Cora finally showed up. Her face was red and her gills opened and closed quickly as if she swam there as fast as she could.
“Took you long enough.” Aka scowled at her, turning away to swim to a cliff that was hidden from the view of the beach.
“Wait…!” Cora gasped out before he took off. Aka glared at her but didn't leave. “I need…” Cora gasped in water again. “A minute.”
Aka floated in place. “Serves you right for leaving me hanging for two hours. What happened?”
Cora’s tan skin darkened and she looked away, hoping Aka didn’t catch on. He did. “Nothing.”
Aka raised an eyebrow but let it go. His anxiety was growing by the minute knowing he was about to meet his soulmate. His actual soulmate. Just thinking about that made him giddy, but spiked his anxiety tenfold.
Cora smiled at him. “Now, come on. You’re about to meet the one you were made for.” She said, pulling on his arm as they made their way over to the cliffs. It was very rocky, but they didn’t care knowing that they had survived harsher waters. The black rocks spiked up out of the crashing waves and they could barely hear themselves think over the rushing water in their ears.
Aka stopped near the edge of the cliff and grabbed onto a ledge so that he wasn't swept away by the waves. He thought about turning his tail into two human legs. It was always painful to transform into a human, it felt like his tail was being ripped in half, but he enjoyed being on land as much as he enjoyed being in the water. His sunset-colored tail split and below him are two tanned human legs.
He climbed up onto the cliff and grabbed the clothes that Cora and he always stashed away. They came up onto land so often they decided to “borrow” some clothes from a store. His clothes were comprised of a gray t-shirt for a band he had never heard of before, black ripped shorts, and black sandals. He slipped on his jacket and looked over to Cora who wore a turquoise crop top, booty shorts, and pink flip flops. She smirked at him before darting around the corner of the cliff.
He rolled his eyes at her childishness but followed her slowly. She was standing there, staring at something on the beach. He followed her gaze and gasped at the beauty before him.
In front of him was his soulmate. He seemed to be asleep. His long dirty blonde hair fell on his face a bit. His tan skin was dotted with a few freckles on his cheeks. He looked a mess, with dark circles under his eyes and his face sagged from malnourishment. A black hoodie that seemed to be a few sizes too big covered around his small frame.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Cora smiled at Aka knowingly and made her way in front of the small boy. Aka watched her cautiously. She looked back at her best friend and raised her eyebrows. He sighed and walked slowly to the redhead reluctantly.
~~~~~~~~
“-him up?” Calum woke up to hear a female voice that sounded directly above him. He didn’t open his eyes, curious about what this girl wanted with him.
“No!” The male voice that answered the girl made Calum’s breath catch in his throat. “I don’t want to scare him. He already seems jumpy, I don't want to-”
“Awww. Are you caring for your soulmate?” The girl sang, teasing the boy.
Soulmate? What do they mean? Calum’s eyes shot open and he stared at the two young adults bending over him. The girl held flip flops in one of her hands and she was smirking at the boy.
The two stared at him and he squirmed under their gazes. He locked eyes with the albino haired boy. He gasped, scooting back from the male. The eyes are a complete match with the eyes he saw during his attack and at the beach two days ago. “Wh-what-”
“You’re scaring him, Aka.” The girl glared at him teasingly. She bent down in front of Calum and gave him a warm smile. “Sorry. My name’s Cora. And that’s Aka.” She nodded her head towards the male. “You’re probably confused about what’s going on. You recognize Aka, right?” Calum nodded, not trusting himself to speak. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Tell me, what do you want to know?”
Aka inched towards his soulmate. Calum watched the boy cautiously, a few questions coming into his head. “Um, what are you?” He began to fidget with his hoodie strings. Calum didn’t know what was going on, but he had a feeling that these two were not human.
Cora laughed loudly, startling Calum. “Yeah, that might be important.” She giggled a bit more before answering. “We’re sirens.” Calum opened his mouth to ask another question, but Cora continued. “And, no, we’re not like the sirens in the myths. We don’t lure people in with our beauty and songs, in fact, most of our kind can’t even sing. We’re basically like the ‘merpeople’ in your legends.” She used air quotes for merpeople. “The only thing different is that we can turn our tails into legs.” She looked at Aka, who was shifting his weight nervously. “We’ll explain more in-depth later.”
Calum stared at Cora, then at Aka. “What did you mean by soulmate?” Calum asked, addressing Aka more than Cora.
Aka’s sunset-colored eyes widened and Cora giggled even more. She leaned back and fell into the sand. “Oh, Aka, I think you should take this one.” She said while still giggling like a maniac.
Aka rubbed the back of his neck nervously and knelt in front of Calum. He glared at Cora until she got the memo. “Okay, okay. I’m gone. But you better tell me everything that happens.” She said, pointing a manicured finger in her best friend’s face before walking away from the two boys.
Aka rolled his eyes, watching the redhead walk away. “Um, Aka?” Calum asked, snapping the siren’s attention back to his soulmate.
“Right, sorry.” Aka sat on the sand. “This will be a lot to take in, so bear with me.” Calum raised an eyebrow expectantly. “Every non-human--er--mythical creature has a soulmate, a person who is their other half. They can be connected to anyone, a different creature, a human.” Aka paused, watching Calum carefully. The boy looked at him with curious eyes, giving Aka encouragement to continue. “They figure out that they are soulmates by touching one another. Now to me, or us, I guess. A few weeks ago, I was swimming too close to the shore and, as I was turning around, I brushed against your leg.” Aka waited, letting the news sink in. He could practically see the gears turning in Calum’s head. Calum gasped, his eyes widening as he connected the dots of what Aka was saying. “Yeah. We’re soulmates. I knew immediately, but it seems you just got the feeling. You’ve been feeling like your chest is super tight these past few days, right?” Calum nodded, wondering how the siren knew that. “That’s because you were too far away from me. We can’t be too far from each other, I don’t know the exact length, for a specific amount of time.” Aka scooted closer to Calum, making sure they don’t touch. “You can reject me as your soulmate if you want, I guess. But I would rather you not. I’ve been waiting to meet you for thousands of years. You-”
“Wait.” Calum finally found his voice again. “Thousands of years? How old are you?”
Aka blushed, knowing he’s a lot older than the human. “Uh, eighteen thousand years old.” Calum’s eyes widened and his shoulders tensed. “But, I’m only 18 in siren years!” The boy visibly relaxed. “The last thing I can think of is that to seal the bond, we have to touch again.”
Calum examined Aka cautiously. “I don’t know.” The boy said. “I’d like to get to know you for a few days before I decide anything. Not that I think you’re a bad person! I have a feeling you’re a good guy, but I would like time to think this over. Besides, I need to just process all of this.” He said truthfully.
Aka nodded. “You’re taking this surprisingly well for a human.” The siren smiled at Calum.
“Yeah.” Calum chuckled nervously. “I have always liked myths and supernatural things. Anything that wasn’t part of this real, sucky world.” Calum smiled back sheepishly, beginning to feel more and more comfortable Aka.
Cora came back from her spot on the beach. “Are you done? Can I find out more about humans?” She asked, jumping up and down excitedly.
Calum suddenly realized that the two didn’t know his name. “Uh, right. You guys don’t know my name. My name is Calum Delasti. My family and friends call me Cal.” He grinned at the female. “But, I would like to know what other kinds of mythological creatures are out there.”
“Fine, but then you have to tell me more about humans.” Cora rolled her eyes playfully. “There are so many creatures,” Cora explained. “There’s vampires, elves, werewolves, nymphs, dryads, centaurs, fauns or satyrs, gargoyles, merpeople, demons, angels, pixies-”
“Pixies?” Calum’s turquoise eyes sparkled with curiosity. “As in-”
“Yeah, but they’re not like Tinkerbell. They’re little mischievous bastards that like to play with you. They trick you and screw you over. They cast spells on you that make you hallucinate or something else. They’re as bad as imps. Fae are the real things that you have to watch out for. They team up with gargoyles and demons sometimes, and if that happens, you’re unbelievably fucked.” Cora explained. “There are more, but those are the ones that you’ll probably encounter here.”
“I can’t believe I’ve lived near so many unworldly creatures and was oblivious to it.” Calum grinned. “This is so cool.” He finally noticed the sun setting and Calum looked at Cora and Aka apologetically. “Sorry, Cora, but I can’t tell you about humans now. I should probably get back home, my dad will probably need help with dinner again. It was nice meeting you two, and finding out about you two and all the creatures. I-”
“Can we come with you?” Cora blurted out, seeing Aka’s eyes dull at the sound of having to leave his soulmate. “I mean, we kind of wanted to get to know you. And, besides, I think Aka might die if you leave.”
Aka glared at the girl, slapping her arm as she giggled. “I would not!” He denied. “But, I would like to get to know your family. If it’s okay with you.”
Calum paused, thinking it over, but eventually, he agreed. “Yeah, you guys can come. Just say that we met at the beach because technically that is true.” Calum stood and the two sirens stood as well. He headed off to his house and the two followed him close behind.