Soulmates, huh?  I’d forgotten that that was even a thing.  I hadn’t even learned that supernaturals had soulmates, not until I was at my first merfolk community and discovered that supernaturals could have both platonic and romantic soulmates.  Some were always just friends, some might become a lover.  I’d been told, though, that of course I wouldn’t have one because I was too pathetic and useless to actually make a connection with someone, and even if I did, the supernatural wouldn’t want someone like me.

But maybe that was why I could never quite manage to forget the twins, couldn’t give up for the longest time, no matter what those people told me about how weak I was.  Maybe that was why they could so easily walk into my life and make me forget all my promises about keeping them safe.  Maybe that was why that future with them had appeared so…fantastic.

But now that dream was gone, permanently destroyed by my own hands.

I felt tears finally break from my eyes and fall down my face, not realizing until then that the currents and waves had washed me up against a rock, down the coast from the occupied part of the cove, my head and upper chest now above the water.  I looked up at the early night sky, taking in the stars but not really seeing them.

When oceanids die, we turn into foam, bubbles upon the waves, disappearing into the ocean.  I suppose it was only appropriate, if the ocean wanted more from me – the only thing I had left to give was my body, the last bits of foam that would paint the waves tonight.

I could feel another crack in my heart.  I didn’t know how much more me or my heart could take, every beat sending such excruciating pain through my body that I didn’t want it to last much longer.  It would be easier if I just gave up, if my heart finally finished breaking.

I closed my eyes and leaned back on the rock, my dreads spreading out behind me, my tail flickering weakly beneath the water.  I just relaxed and let the waves hit me.  Let the ocean take the last of me it could claim

“What the – Morgan?”  A voice met my ears.  Then louder, more urgent.  “Morgan!”

The sound of someone splashing, then Vance grabbed my upper arms and shook me slightly.  “Morgan!”

I opened my eyes to look into his, intense, worried, and full of emotion as always.  “Ha,” I mumbled, “I thought my life was supposed to flash before my eyes, this doesn’t seem like my full life, but I suppose there wasn’t much else to it.”  My eyes drifted close again.  “But I suppose I should apologize.  It wasn’t fair to erase your memory – but it wasn’t fair to drag you into this world without being able to protect you.  I’m sorry.  At least – at least you are safe now.”  Another shudder as pain ripped through my body.

“Morgan, what’s going on?”  Vance sounded agitated, close to panic.  “Hayden!”  He yelled abruptly.  “Get over here now!  Bring a towel and first aid kit or something!”  Vance turned back to me.  “Morgan, where are you hurt?”

Hurt?  I opened my eyes a bit to see him looking at me, his face terrified.  That wasn’t an expression I remembered much, I thought it was strange that if the whole life-flashing-before-my-eyes thing was happening, why it didn’t pick better memories.  And more accurate ones.  This entire setup actually wasn’t something I really recalled at all, but then…I wasn’t sure what I could remember, either.  It was all starting to feel a bit hazy.  Maybe this was some kind of imagination instead, my mind playing tricks on me before I died.

“What the fuck?!”  Hayden’s voice reached me as he scrambled over the rocks.  “Morgan!  Morgan?  What’s wrong with him?”

I turned my head just enough to see him, his face a mirror image of his twin’s, for once.  “Maybe…I was supposed to say goodbye,” I mused to myself, just before another flare of pain swept through me, making me double over.  I could taste something metallic in my mouth and realized belatedly it was blood.

“Morgan!”  Hayden’s hand cupped the back of my head and turned my face towards him, his expression urgent.  “Where are you hurt?  Do we need to – is there a particular doctor we can call?”

I shook my head slowly, closing my eyes again.  “The sea wanted more,” I explained.

Apparently they didn’t agree that this was much of an explanation.

“What does that even mean?”  Hayden demanded.  “And – oh, fuck, Vance, his hands,” he whispered.

I didn’t have to look to see what he meant.  My hands were feeling odd, disconnected.  They were probably starting to turn translucent.

“Morgan!”  This time it was Vance who turned my face towards his, waiting until I opened my eyes slowly to look at him.  “What is happening?”

I looked at this strange image my heart must have spawned of the two of them, giving them a sad smile.  “We – we die from broken hearts.  I broke mine when I gave up on you.”  I closed my eyes again and let myself sink further into the ocean, another crack way from completely disintegrating into seafoam.

There was a moment of stunned silence, and then something happened I did not expect.

The image of Vance suddenly took my face between his hands and kissed me.  Directly on the mouth.  His lips felt warm, his breath dancing in my mouth as he gently cupped my face.

“Morgan,” he whispered, his face mere inches away from mine as he broke the kiss, “you didn’t lose us.  We’re still here.”

Hayden’s arms slipped around my waist and he shifted me so that my head kind of fell onto his shoulder, looking up at him in confusion.  Then he leaned down and kissed me, too, a kiss full of fire and passion.

“She didn’t erase our memories,” he explained as he began to kiss down my neck, “she woke us up – she thought you’d regret it too much if she did it, so she gave us the option instead.  Of course we chose not to.  I was ready to give you a piece of my mind for that but – but not now.”  His arms tightened around me.  “Please don’t die, Morgan.  Please.”

Vance moved closer so he could grasp one of my hands, intertwining our fingers, and then he leaned over to kiss me again.  And again.  And then again, longer each time.

For being some sort of pre-death vision, this was fairly intense.  Hayden’s arms tightly holding me, one of his hands roaming my upper body – he didn’t seem to know what to do about the scales from my waist down – his lips against my neck and collarbone feeling like fire.  Vance was gripping my hand as if he didn’t dare let go, his mouth on mine feeling like he was breathing new life into me.

This was kind of nice, actually, for the last few minutes of my life.  I relaxed and let myself enjoy this, kissing Vance back and moving into Hayden’s touch at the same time.

I was just thinking to myself that this was a nice feeling and I wanted it to last forever, but since this was all in my head, could it last at least until I died, anyway?  That would be good.

“I’m starting to get kind of cold,” Vance murmured, his fingers tightening around mine as his words started to sink into my consciousness, “maybe we should consider going inside?”

“Not sure.”  Hayden shivered slightly against my back.  “Depends on what Morgan needs.”

Hold on….

They were cold.  And shivering.  That…shouldn’t be possible, not if this was just a pre-death vision.

My eyes narrowed and I abruptly pulled myself free, dropped back into the ocean and staring at them with just my head and the top of my shoulders above the water.

I hadn’t felt any pain in a while now.  Not since – not since Vance had first kissed me.  My hands were solid and – any my heart wasn’t cracked anymore.

“Morgan!”  Hayden splashed after me, grabbing at my arm.  “Come back here!  Don’t get too deep!”  He looked a little panicked.

I, meanwhile, was starting to feel deeply embarrassed.  This entire thing had been real and I’d just assumed it was some sort of dying imagination?

I halfheartedly attempted to squirm free when he started to pull me back towards the shallower water by the rocks.  “I’m fine now,” I mumbled.  “You can let me go.”

“You’re just fine?”  Hayden kept his grip on me, then wrapped his arm around my waist, my back against his chest.  “What does that even mean?  You were dying, apparently – now you’re fine?”

“I was, but – apparently you fixed it.”  I couldn’t quite look at either of them.

Vance slugged through the water to get to us, tilting my chin up with one of his hands so he could search my face, relief starting to wash through his.  “Really?  You’re okay now?”

I sighed.  This was…humiliating.  “I guess all I needed was to start making out with you,” I admitted reluctantly.

This seemed to bring them both up short, then Hayden laughed weakly.  “If you wanted to kiss us, you could have just asked.  No need for theatrics,” he teased.  But I could feel the relief in his body as he hugged me tighter to him.

Vance glanced down, his eyes searching the dark waters for my tail.  “Can I…touch it?”  He asked curiously.

I shifted slightly so I was resting more against Hayden and floating on top of the water, letting my tail rise to the surface.  Permission implicitly granted, Vance eagerly reached out and started running his fingers gently over it, exploring.

It was a strange sensation.  Not unpleasant, but it wasn’t something I was used to, either – having anyone touch my tail, really.

“Feels nice?”   Hayden’s voice rumbled in my ear.

“Feels different.  I’m not used to having anyone other than me touch my tail.”

Vance was exploring my more fragile tail fins now, gently touching them almost caressingly.

“We did think about all this, by the way, everything that you told us,” Hayden suddenly volunteered, “but as you might have gathered, we aren’t particularly bothered by you being a mermaid ocean thing.”

“Oceanid,” I corrected automatically.

“Yeah, that.”  Hayden reached over to tip my head back so I was looking at him, then took advantage of my face being so close to give me another kiss.  “You taste like the sea,” he murmured.

I rolled my eyes slightly.  “’Course I do, I’m a merfolk.”

Then I felt a shiver run through his body and remembered what they’d been talking about earlier.

Abruptly, I pulled my tail down and shifted out of Hayden’s arms.  “You both need to get dry and warm – and we really need to stop having discussions when you’re all wet,” I added under my breath.

“Fine, but you’re coming with us.”  Hayden climbed up on the rock and grabbed a towel, which he threw at me.

“Coming?”  I asked doubtfully.

“Yeah.”  Vance hooked his arm around my waist and tugged me around the rock where I could see a beautiful beachhouse just a short distance away, mostly hidden behind the rocks.  “Bruce’s brother-in-law,” he explained.  “When we left the witch’s place, we went to find Bruce, and he got really worried and ended up sending us here.  It belongs to his brother-in-law, apparently he has a few houses in the area?  Anyway, Bruce said if he found you, he’d bring you here – it’s closer to the water than the hotel so it’d be easier for you to get here.”

Well, so much for the money on the hotel.  Whatever, I guess.

I let the twins climb across the rocks to get back to the beachhouse while I swam up to the edge of the water, wrapped the towel around my middle, then hoisted myself out.  I was aware that the wet towel was a little more clingy than I’d usually prefer for modesty’s sake, but I had more important things to worry about, like getting the boys warmed up again.

I beat them to the house, found the bathrooms, and turned on the hot water before they arrived.  By the time they did arrive, I was tapping my bare foot against the hardwood floor impatiently.

“Warm and dry,” I pointed out, when Vance moved to pull me into his arms.  He sighed, then dropped a quick kiss onto my lips before heading for the nearest bathroom.

Hayden went into the master bedroom, but came back out a moment later and threw me some clothes.

“Stop throwing stuff at me,” I complained.

“You need to get dry, too.  Err, I guess?  Anyway, you can wear some of our clothes.”  He disappeared back into the room before I could protest – or thank him.

I was glad to have the pants and t-shirt, although I noticed they were pajama pants and had to wonder if there was an intention behind that.  Whatever, it was after dark, in theory we should sleep soon, so I suppose it made sense.

Since the twins were busy getting warm, I went to the kitchen, investigating to see if any food was there.  Not much, but enough to make some quick omelets, which I carried with me into the living room, where I started a fire in the fireplace and then sat back on the couch and waited.

Had that really all just happened?  I looked down at my hand, but…it was normal.  I felt normal now.  Well, actually not quite normal, really…better than normal, maybe?  Maybe it was just because I’d come so close to dying, but I could swear I actually felt better than I usually did.

A thought crossed through my mind, what Bruce had said about me being happy, and how that was the real reason I didn’t have much magic.  Was there a possibility that was true?

The thought of Bruce distracted me, though, making me remember I should probably let him know I was alive.  Assuming he wasn’t searching the ocean for signs of me, that is.

I found a house phone by the front door and dialed Bruce’s number.  His wife picked up.  “Percy?”  She asked.

“Um, no.”  I assumed that was her brother’s name, the owner of this place – likely their phone had caller ID.  “This is Morgan – Bruce lent your brother’s place to my friends, I was calling to let him know I’m okay.”

“Morgan?”  She sounded surprised.  “Bruce went to look for you, he seemed really worried.”

“Yeah, I know.”  I glanced up to see Vance nearly rushing back into the living room, his eyes searching frantically for me before he visibly calmed down when he found me.  “If he comes back, can you tell him I’m fine, and um, not dying anymore?”  This was a weird message to give someone.  “I’m at the beachhouse with my friends if he needs to reach me.”

“Boyfriends,” Vance whispered in my ear as he slid his arms around my waist.

I ignored his correction.  “If he’s not back by the morning, call me and I’ll go look for him in case he’s still out there.”

“Okay.”  She sounded confused, but not deeply concerned.  Her husband was, technically, one of the larger ocean predators, so it wasn’t like he was in that much danger – I was just worried he was going to be upset about me when somehow, miraculously, things had turned out fine.

“Thanks for calling, Morgan,” she added.  “Tell the twins I say hi.”

Right, she had met them.  “I will.”  I hung up and turned in Vance’s arms to glare at him slightly.  “Bruce’s wife says hi, but also, it is very distracting to have someone kissing your neck while you’re trying to talk on the phone.”

Vance grinned unrepentantly.  “If you’d called us your boyfriends, I’d have cooperated better.”

Somehow I really doubted that.