Calum wakes up the touch of Michael's hand on his shoulder, shaking him awake. Calum's not sure what time it is, but his eyes are scratchy enough to tell him it's too early to be conscious.

"You're alive," Michael states. "I'm surprised."

"That makes two of us," Calum says grumpily, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. Michael looks bewildered. He tilts his head at his best friend, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Your color is back. You look like you did before all this happened," Michael says. Calum slides out of bed, rubbing the back of his head as he walks to the bathroom. He's just as shocked himself to find how strong he is, such a difference from having to hold on to Michael or having to hold on to the walls in order to walk. He can feel Michael's eyes bore into his back as he walks into his bathroom, looking at himself in the mirror.

He knows it all has to do with what happened late last night, and he knows he has to face the problem eventually, but he doesn't know how in the world he could bring it up to Michael. Telling your best friend that suddenly, you form a tail when you get in the ocean doesn't really sound like the best way to word it.

"I feel fine," Calum says, turning around to face the pink haired boy. "Cured, honestly."

Michael freezes, hardly blinking. He stares at Calum cautiously, shaking his head a bit. "Don't say that. Don't say that to me unless it's true."

"It's true," Calum promises. "I swear on it. I'm good as new."

Michael doesn't believe it for a moment, stepping forward and looking at Calum closely. He looks cured, at least. He says he is, and he definitely seems it. Michael allows himself to smile.

"Yeah?" Michael says, and Calum nods. "Wanna go surfing after school, then?"

Calum pauses, thinking about last night. He got just enough in the water for the water to hit his waist and he immediately started to change. There's no way he could go surfing and manage not to get in the water. Calum presses his lips together.

"Maybe not that cured yet, buddy," Calum says reluctantly. Michael's face falls, but he nods anyway. He bends down and picks up his backpack, throwing it over his shoulder.

"Alright. Don't worry about it. I'll see you at three," Michael says, flashing him a smile before walking out. Calum groans, throwing his arm over his eyes and falling back onto his bed. He doesn't know how he's supposed to keep this a secret, considering he went surfing every single day before his illness. And he can't act like he's sick when he's so clearly not anymore.

Calum lets out a breath and decides to change, putting on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He hears Laura walking around upstairs, but he sneaks out the front door without a sound. He needs to find out exactly what is going on with him.

He closes the door behind him and walks to the back of the house, hurrying down the boardwalk. The tide is calmer today, much like a normal day. It's too early for people to really be out surfing or playing on the beach yet, most of the area pretty clear aside from a few runners.

Calum walks onto the beach, his heart rate speeding up as he walks across the sand towards the waves. Calum sees his shoes from where he left them last night, sandy and a bit wet. He picks them up, his breath lodging in his throat. Seeing them still here makes what happened very, very real.

Calum takes a deep breath, staring at the waves for a moment. This time, he takes off his shirt before he steps forward. He shivers at the cold water on his bare feet. Looking around, he checks to make sure nobody is looking at him before he moves deeper into the water, crashing into the waves without a second thought. He dives underwater, letting the tide pull him deeper. The tingling of his legs doesn't start for a second later, but Calum has a random urge to cry when it does. He doesn't know what this is supposed to mean, but he isn't sure that he wants it. He wants to be able to surf with Michael, wants to swim in a pool like a normal teenage boy. Instead, he gets a tail.

In broad daylight, it's easier to see under the water. He sees that the scales covering whatever once was his legs are a dark, dark blueish purple. They shimmer in the light, catching on every reflection of the sun. He touches it with his hands, pressing his lips together. This is it. This is real.

Calum's not sure what to do, so he begins swimming absentmindedly deeper into the ocean, mainly just so that he doesn't get caught by a surfer. He's not sure what he would do if someone actually saw him. He'd probably just go hide for the rest of his life.

Calum can see even more details of the underwater world now that it's morning. He's astonished at the beauty of everything. Every little thing is a vivid color, bright and alive with activity.

Calum's not sure where he's going, but as he keeps swimming he recognizes the area he's around. It looks different in daylight, but he's almost positive it's the same place he found himself yesterday when that weird blonde kid showed--

"Hey, it's you!" said a familiar voice.

Speak of the devil.

Calum turns around, sighing when he sees the Luke kid swimming eagerly towards him, his blue eyes just as bright during the day. Calum's not sure why he's even here in the first place. He's still overwhelmed, not sure how to deal with this entire ordeal.

"Luke," Calum says simply.

"You know, I never got your name," Luke points out. He pouts, crossing his arms. Calum stares at the boy for a moment before giving in.

"It's Calum," he says. Luke hums.

"Nice name!" he says cheerfully. "So do you know what clan you're in? I asked you yesterday, but you swam away."

Calum has no idea what a "clan" is. To him, it sounds like some sort of gang or something. He shrugs half-heartedly, looking at the blonde boy with confusion.

Luke raises his eyebrows in shock. "You don't know?" Calum just shrugs again, not liking how the boy looked at him so curiously.

"I'll just take you to mine. I'm sure they can tell you which one you belong to," Luke says, and he holds out his hand. Calum stares at Luke's small hand incredulously, narrowing his eyes. He wants to slap his pale hand away, go back to shore and pretend none of this has ever happened. But he doesn't really know where that would get him.

So, Calum hesitantly lets Luke take his hand, and the blonde immediately begins pulling Calum off in a different direction. Calum nearly chokes on water before regaining his composure, considering Luke is a much faster swimmer than Calum is. He swims with ease, as though he has been doing it his entire life. He wonders why he hasn't seen the kid around, considering everyone in his town knows each other really well.

The two of them swim through the water together, Luke happy he finally got through to the strange new merman, and Calum wishing he never took Luke's hand in the first place.

It doesn't take long for them to reach the place Luke was talking about. They stop abruptly at the edge of the clan, and Calum's shoulder sink in surprise when he sees what is before him. He stares wide-eyed at the colony of mermaids and mermen swimming around the area, almost like a miniature neighborhood underwater. Luke leads him through the area, while Calum looks around in awe. He sees small children with tails, playing around near the seaweed. He sees men and women, and what looks to be teenagers, and they all have tails like him.

"You look like you've never seen a clan before," Luke comments.

"That's because I haven't," Calum says, his voice soft as he continues to look around in awe. Luke stops immediately, halting Calum.

"Where are you even from?"

"What do you mean where I am I from?" Calum says. "I'm from Sydney. From up on land."

Luke's eyes become wide with bewilderment, and he floats away from Calum a bit. Luke's shocked, to say the least. He's never heard of a merman going up on land before. All he's heard about the land is that it's scary and dangerous, and that he needs to stay away from boats and the shore. And here stands this weird merman who claims he's from that land. But he has a tail, so it doesn't make sense.

"Did you say you were from land?" says a voice from behind Calum. He turns around to find a woman with tan skin and dark hair staring at him. When she looks at his face, her expression softens into a gentle smile.

"Do you know him?" asks Luke from beside Calum. The woman doesn't break eye contact with the tan boy, looking as though she might tear up at any second.

"Yes, once. Long ago. Over seventeen years ago, actually," the woman says. Calum furrows his eyebrows, slightly panicked. He doesn't know what to think, other than that this woman has no idea what she's talking about. He's never seen her in his life. How could he? She's been swimming around underwater while Calum's been up on land with legs.

"How do you know him?" Luke asks curiously.

"I know him because he's my son."

---
A/N: wowza that was a lot of dialogue im sorry

calum is so hella confused lol poor thing

please tell me your movie suggestions because i'm in the mood to watch some & i know no good ones (preferably on netflix but if not that's cool too)

thanks for reading! please vote & comment. i hope you liked it??

i love you so very much. I'll see you next sunday with another update.

bye!!!!xxx