Under the Ocean Waves

“What do we DO?!” Vic was freaking out now. The booms inside the music shop were only getting louder now, and people were starting to poke out from surrounding shops. Matty was gnawing on his lip, trying to think of something to say or some course of action they could take to help Spencer. The only conclusion he could come to, however, involved running back to the ocean.

Kellin was staring at the shop, watching as the buildings started to shake. It couldn’t take more more; it would cave in soon, and when that happened, there would be trouble. “Vic,” he said, looking over at the human he’d somehow managed to form so many different feelings for. “That’s going to fall over soon, isn’t it?”

“Probably,” Vic agreed glumly. He leaned against his car and stared hard at Matty. He hated sitting here doing absolutely nothing while a struggle was happening inside.

Finally, after a few moments, Matty looked up at him with confidence in his eyes. “Drive us to the beach,” he ordered, walking around the car to get in to the seat behind Kellin, where he had been before. “As fast as you can.”

Vic would have replied, but his words were lost. Just as they were all opening the car doors, the building did cave in. It crumbled to a pile of dirt and dust - and in the middle stood to figures, both of them seething, their eyes sticking out with their respective colors gleaming through the haze of ash. Spencer was breathing heavily; his eyes were narrowed and his face was flushed. They could not see Danny’s face, but it was evident from his shaking shoulders that he was laughing. And that was definitely not a good sign.

“SPENCER, HUMANS!” Matty yelled, cupping his hands so that his words traveled. “Let’s go!” he said, and they piled in to Vic’s car, taking off down the road before Danny could get a chance to hit them and prevent them from getting to the ocean.

They could not see what Danny and Spencer did about the human situation. They were too busy driving away, and the warlocks themselves seemed to straight up disappear. “Where are we going?” Vic asked after a few moments of silence and intense, speedy driving that seemed to make both the sirens sick.

“The beach,” Matty repeated plainly.

“I’m fucking aware, but like, why?”

Matty sighed and stared out the window, up at the sky. “Because we need help.”

“I feel like there’s something you’re not telling us,” Kellin spoke up. He reached over and grabbed Vic’s hand, squeezing it as he turned around to look at Matty. “Danny can’t be this worked up over me… what else is there?”

The red-headed siren gave his knowing friend a sad look. “You’re right,” he sighed. “Ughhhh….”

“Explain,” Vic demanded.

“You humans, I’ve learned a lot about you. You recall your event - World War II, right?” asked the siren. He didn’t wait for an answer before he began speaking again. “Well, you had your nazi’s and your fascists… that would, essentially, be Danny right now. And he’s got friends. Only… rather than jews, he wants to destroy humans. Starting with you.”

“I’m… Poland?” Vic cocked an eyebrow, trying to take this all in. “They’re planning on destroying the human race, starting with me? Why me?!”

Matty shrugged and frowned, giving Kellin an apologetic glance. “Because… you’re like… a spark. I’m not sure of everything, just what Spencer tells me. You found Kellin. Danny knows. So he picked you as a starting point and there isn’t much the sirens will be willing to do about it, because we’re not the ones under fire.”

“So why are we driving to the ocean?” asked Vic as he ran another stop sign without a single care in the world. “If no one is there to help us…”

“There will be some… Don’t worry. We’ll get Danny off our backs, at least.”

“Matty, why didn’t you tell me any of this?” Kellin asked finally. Vic heard the hurt in his voice and couldn’t help but to squeeze his hand once more. He knew how hard it could be when your best friend wasn’t telling you everything; it happened a lot to him before when he was younger.

The red-headed siren leaned his head back, resting it on the back of his seat. “Because I didn’t want you to have to worry about it, Kellin. You would have freaked out. Especially since Vic is involved.”

“Don’t you think that’s all the more reason to tell me?” Kellin shot back.

“I know. I’m sorry,” said Matty, looking up at his friend. They would have gone on, but it was then that Vic pulled up to the beach, not trying very hard to park neatly. They hopped out of the car, not bothering to lock it.

“What do we do now?” asked Vic, looking out at the waves.

Matty didn’t say a word; he just started walking towards the ocean, leaving the other two behind to stare at each other in question. Vic shrugged and took advantage of the moment. He grabbed Kellin’s hands and gently pushed him back against the car.

“I’m scared of what’s going to happen,” he admitted. “I definitely did not anticipate something like this….”

“Me either,” Kellin said softly.

“Whatever happens, promise me you’ll do your best not to get hurt, okay?” Vic’s voice was almost chocked with emotion as he stared at Kellin pleadingly. Slowly he moved forward and took one of his hands away from Kellin’s to cup his face, tilting his chin upwards. He pressed their lips together for as long as he could, showing him just how much he meant every word he said.

When they pulled away, they stared in to each others’ eyes for a few minutes. “Whatever happens… together, okay?” Kellin asked finally, and Vic just nodded his head.

“Together,” he repeated in a whisper as he and Kellin began to follow Matty, who was already standing at the water’s edge. They had to run to catch up with him; kicking up sand as they went along.

“Matty!” Kellin called. “Wait, where are you - we - going?!”

Water was lapping at his feet now, and still he did not turn around. “To get help,” were the only words they caught before he rushed out in to the sea.

“Wait up!” said Vic as he and Kellin splashed in. The siren was going faster than the human - and that was why Vic noticed the battle that almost spontaneously appeared behind him. He turned slowly, with his eyes wide, and stared at the warlocks that had appeared on the beach, both their eyes blazing.

What struck out, however, was not the blue and orange flames surrounding them. It was the wound on Spencer’s shoulder that told Vic that he wasn’t going to last forever, and that whatever they were about to do under the water, they needed to do as fast as possible. It was just fucking lucky that there was no one on the beach that day.

It was physically painful for Vic to tear his eyes away in order to catch up with Kellin, who was much further out than he was. He swam as fast as he could to where he saw the siren’s head bobbing about and together, they ducked down under the waves.

Again, it was like a rush. It was dizzying and cold; but it was okay as soon as Vic felt Kellin’s arms around him, and heard his soft, soothing voice in his ear: “Open your eyes.”

The Mexican boy’s eyes flew open and were filled with calming visions of the person he’d grown attached to. As his senses came back to him, he realized how warm Kellin’s touch was, with his arms around him. “Together,” the siren smiled, and Vic smiled right back.

“Together.”

Together, they laced their fingers and swam away, searching off in the distance for any signs of Matty, or where he’d gone. Vic was practically being dragged by Kellin as the natural siren was able to swim much faster; but it was necessary. As much as Vic would like to stare at things with wonder like he usually did, things were much more dire now.

Thoughts of Josh weighed heavily on his mind as they went. The booms of the warlock’s battle rang in his ears. But the feeling that prevailed over the others was the feeling of Kellin’s hand in his own… and that was the only feeling that really mattered, because that was a feeling he wanted to live to feel again.

“There he is,” Kellin murmured, spotting Matty talking to a group of people. “That’s Alaina,” he said, pointing to a siren. She was skinny and beautiful; and though her eyes were brown, they stuck out warmly. “Next to her… his name is Austin.”

Vic’s eyes sweeped over a strong looking siren with short black hair and kind looking eyes. He didn’t look like someone you’d want to mess with; but at the same time, he appeared to be soft and gentle. He had a playful smile on his face as Matty spoke.

The pair crept forward, staring at Matty and trying to catch his eye. It wasn’t until the two he was talking to turned their attention to the human that he finally looked at them, however.

“This is the one I was telling you about,” said Matty, looking at Vic. “The human.”

“Hello,” said Alaina, her voice sounding friendly. “You’re the owner of my other necklace, I see?”

“Uh, yeah,” said Vic, looking down at the sparkling pendant hanging around his neck. He felt like he should thank her for it, considering it had brought him so much happiness.

She smiled at him and nodded, then looked back to Matty. Austin just looked them both up and down, still keeping that playful smile on his face.

“So… what are you planning?” Kellin asked after a moment of no one speaking.

Matty sighed and crossed his arms. “You’re going to kill me… but I’ll tell you later,” he said. “I uh… I still need to figure a few things out-“

“You literally have no time,” said Vic, cutting him off. “Spencer is hurt. Danny is stronger. Eventually he’s going to lose and I have no idea what that means, I just know that its really, really bad.”

“If Danny can beat Spencer there isn’t much holding him back from coming after you both,” said Austin, speaking up. “And uh… when that happens… Well, he’s going to go after your friends and your family and he’ll have help. I don’t know why you’re so important though.”

Not surprised, Vic let out an exasperated sigh. “You’re telling me,” he mumbled, rolling his eyes. It really wasn’t fair. All he wanted was the be happy with his not exactly human boyfriend. Where the fuck did this warlock dude get off trying to kill him, destroying all he’d built with Kellin?

“I’ll contact Alex,” said Alaina in a soft voice, looking at Matty. “He’ll help. And he’ll know what to do.”

Suddenly Kellin came closer to Vic, whispering in his ear and keeping his voice low. “Alex is a young warlock. That’s where Alaina got our necklaces from… Danny and Spencer are stronger than him but… he’s kind of our only hope.”

Vic nodded. All of this was extremely hard for him to comprehend. And while things seemed to be all out in the open, he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something more that they weren’t being told…