Calum was woken by a large form jumping on him. “Wake up, Cal! We’re going to the beach with your new friends!” Evan was laying on top of Calum. Calum didn’t mind. He was used to this. Practically every day Evan stayed the night. His mother wasn’t the nicest.

Calum groaned. “Get off, Evan. It’s too early for this.” Calum said, pushing Evan’s face away from him. Though Evan could see the smile sneaking onto the twin’s face. Evan grinned, jabbing his fingers into Calum’s side, causing him to jerk away.

“It’s eleven so it's not too early. If anything, it's too late. Get up. We’re leaving in ten. With or without you.” Evan got off Calum’s bed, winking at the boy before leaving.

Calum sighed, knowing he was too awake to go back to sleep now, and began to change into his swimming trunks. He looked over at his bulletin board and smiled. He couldn’t believe that just yesterday he only thought of sirens and merpeople as myths and legends. Now he was supposedly a siren’s soulmate. And said siren had slept in his house last night.

Then something hit him.

Would Cora and Aka turn back into sirens when they touched water?

Calum began to freak out. He quickly pulled on a shirt and ran downstairs. Aka and Cora were sitting on the couch talking when Calum nearly threw himself next to Cora. “Will you turn back into your original form if you touch water?” Calum asked quite loudly, making sure to not specify sirens.

Cora and Aka looked at each other before chuckling. Calum looked between them, still cautious even though it seemed like the two sirens weren’t worried. Aka grinned. “It’s fine. We can change back into our original forms only through thought. If water touches us, we don’t turn back. We would’ve said no to Evan when he asked us if we did.”

Calum relaxed, slumping into the couch cushion. Evan and Jack came down a few minutes later. Then the five headed out to the beach.

~~~~~~~~

“Go away, Evan,” Calum whined, fighting off the grin that threatened to appear on his face. The five teens had been at the beach for a couple hours now. Calum was trying to stop his brother’s friend from throwing him in the ice-cold ocean. But he was failing.

Aka smiled, watching the two from his spot on the sand. Cora was next to him, laying down on the beach towel. Jack was already in the water, egging Evan on. A song came over the phone, making Aka frown. It hit too close to home for him.

Aka wiped away a stray tear. He hated feeling sad that he probably won’t have his soulmate. He may have another, but he won’t have the one. He had heard from older sirens in his pod that you are much closer with the first soulmate you have and you are less likely to argue.

Cora rubbed his back, her sea-green eyes looking at him sympathetically. She hadn’t met her soulmate yet, but she knew that it was hard to just wait for your soulmate to decide if they want you or not.

Calum, having escaped Evan’s hold for the moment, jogged over to the two sirens. He plopped down next to Cora. “Tell me more about fae or any supernatural creatures.” He said abruptly. Cora and Aka glanced at each other, smiling. They do that a lot, Calum noted.

This time, Aka decided to explain things. “Gargoyles are the worst next to demons. They look like humans, unlike those gargoyles you have on the big buildings. But they can turn into those types of gargoyles. They have gray skin, hair, and clothes. Everything about them is gray and made out of stone. They’re basically emotionless. They can’t cry, and even if they had emotions they wouldn’t be able to. They act human if you ignore that they’re emotionless.” Aka smiled at Calum. “But they’re horrible and cruel to humans.”

“So, basically what you’re saying is don’t run into them,” Calum said, using a hand to push his dirty blonde locks out of his face.

Aka nodded. “But what you really need to look out for is demons.”

Even though in every story, myth, and legend Calum had heard with demons they were evil, he still found himself asking: “Why?”

“Because if you find yourself face to face with a demon,” Aka took in a breath of air, trying to calm himself, “You’re likely to never see another morning.”