Shark'd

by Flitterpuff and Mad Maxine

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My shoes dragged through the sand as we approached the ramp across the dunes. Jamey twirled around ahead of me, his long brown hair twisting as he swayed up along the wooden path. He was barefoot already, his feet sliding along the sandy boards, and in all likelihood, collecting their share of splinters. Not that he probably noticed, given all the “pregaming” he’d been doing before our little nightly outing. 

Jamey turned around, walking up the ramp backwards, thin face breaking into a wide smile. “Don’t look so fuckin’ gloomy, man!” he shouted, needlessly loud and peppy. “It’ll be fun. I promise. Like, for real this time!”

I shook my head and sighed as my latest roommate turned back around, almost tripping over himself. My hands rose up to my face, rubbing into the skin around my eyes. Maybe he was right: I did like the beach after all, at least when it wasn’t packed full of tourists. 

And booze. Booze was good. 

“Yeah, sure, whatever you say, dude,” I snarked back. 

The last party he’d dragged me to had been shit, if I was honest—and I usually was. Some downtown apartment packed full of bodies, none of which I knew beyond my roommate Jamey. Needless to say, it did not “slap” as Jamey had claimed afterward. The guy was a party animal, and while I liked to shoot the shit and get drunk as much as anyone, I didn’t appreciate feeling like a lonely sardine. Plus he’d been chasing after some guy, as he usually was at these things.

Seeing all those college kids made me feel… old. I mean, yeah, I was only twenty-six. I was still young by any sensible yard stick. That didn’t make it any less awkward.

I made my way to the top of the little boardwalk where Jamie had stopped. 

He stared out across the beach, actually pausing for a quiet moment. “Damn, nighttime beach looks amazing, huh? We should have done this sooner.” 

Ahead of us, the grass-covered dunes faded away to flat, packed sand. A bright full moon glittered across the waves as they crashed ashore. We stepped along the last few boards, the sand beside us pockmarked with small bits of driftwood and cigarette butts.

I hope someone has a light.

Any serenity the scene might have had was interrupted by a loud ‘whoop’ and several shouts. Just around the edge of the dunes, I could see the flickering glow of a fire. Jamey turned to face me, his mouth breaking out into a toothy smile as he wagged his brows up and down. Then he shot forth down the last of the walk and onto the beach proper, nearly planting his face in the sand along the way. 

I followed behind at a more leisurely pace, trying not to get sand in my shoes. Maybe it would be better this time. I did like parties, after all. Smaller ones. Where I ideally knew people. 

“Hey! Jameeey! You made it!” some boy said, just out of view. 

My lips curved up into a smile as Jamey once more tripped over his own feet, just barely avoiding falling to his knees. “Fuck yeah I did! And Victor brought booze.”

I glanced down at the six pack in my hand. It admittedly wasn’t much; I wasn’t exactly swimming in money at the moment. 

As I stepped around the dunes, the fire came into view, contained in an old rusty barrel. Had someone brought an actual fire barrel? Around it, two guys were chugging down beers, presumably to see who could drink it faster. Several others watched on, one girl giving an encouraging shout. 

“It ain’t a lot,” I said, dropping the ring of beers into the sand. 

“Naw, it’s all good, man,” the guy said and stuck out a fist. “Dan.”

“Victor.” I bumped his fist. “Like Jamey said.”

“Cool.”

Dan gulped down the last of his beer, crunching the can in hand before tossing it off to the side. Strolling around to the other side of the barrel, he bent down to grab another, before some other guy made a random joke at his expense. Dan punched him in the arm, and the pair started talking.

Meanwhile, I stared out across the five or so people around, feeling overdressed with my shoes, shirt, and khakis. For several seconds, I stood in place, not sure what to do with myself. 

A girl swayed up to me, eyeing my face. 

I gave her a forced smile. “Yo. What’s up?” Feeling a need to do something with my hands, I bent forward and grabbed a beer.

She looked me up and down. “You look a lot like that guy, umm, Volt or Jolt or something?”

“Jolt. And yeah, I get that a lot,” I responded lamely. “He’s got less of a tan, though. And he’s shorter, I think.” 

Not only did I get people confusing me for him, Jolt destroyed my car two weeks ago. First time I’d ever seen him in person, fighting some D-rank gang. My car was “necessary collateral,” not that the insurance company gave any fucks. 

Bastards, the lot of them.

I wasn’t gonna tell the girl that, though. She wouldn’t believe me, and even if she did, she’d probably take Jolt’s side. At least Jamey’s response had been along the lines of “damn, that’s fucked, man,” rather than disbelief or sympathy for that asshole. He got to see the wrecked car, though.

The girl squinted at me. “You sure you’re not him?” she slurred out.

“I’m sure,” I sighed. “You got a light?”

With my free hand, I pulled my cigarette pack from my back pocket, opening the top and pulling one out with my mouth before shoving the pack back into my pants. I could have brought my own lighter, of course, but I knew better than to bring a lighter on the beach—especially when my plans were to get completely plastered. I’d lost lighters in the past to water, sand, or other bullshit.

“Yeah,” she responded. “Can I have one?”

I sighed. Couldn’t she have asked before I put the pack up? Holding back my grumbles, I passed her a cigarette and then leaned forward as she flicked her small pink lighter to life. 

“You go to BCC?” I asked, after taking a drag. 

“Nah, I’m at Bay Tech.”

I nodded, trying to think of what else to say. Failing, I instead opted to chug down half of my beer. I was not drunk enough for this. 

“Alright y'all, who’s going swimming?” Dan shouted out above the chatter and laughter, interrupting and saving me from my conversation. 

I looked out across the waves before glancing down once more at my clothes. Damn. Maybe I should have brought something to swim in after all. I just hated feeling naked in front of others. It always felt so… off. 

“Yeah!” Jamey shouted. His eyes met mine and he gave me a smile, as though to ask, “Well?”

Fuck it. 

“Sure,” I shrugged, taking a long drag from my cigarette. “So long as you don’t mind me pantsless..” 

Jamey laughed. “The fuck would I care?” Then he waggled his eyebrows at me. 

I rolled my eyes. “Weirdo.” That wasn’t homophobic, was it?

The rest of my beer went down easy, and I stomped my cigarette out on the sand. My hands clasped the bottom of my shirt, and I hesitated. It’s fine. Just gonna be casually shirtless. Totally normal. 

But why didn’t it feel like it?

Pants came off next, leaving me on a beach at night in just boxers, thankful it was warm for early spring. Some of the others revealed swimsuits when they undressed, and as I strutted forward across the sand, I found myself the last person not in the water.

“Come on Victor!” Jamey shouted. “Lots of hot dudes in here!”

I dipped a toe in.

“Pussy!” Dan shouted, earning a few laughs.

“Fuck off!” I shouted, running out into the surf.

It’s cold. I knew what it’d feel like, but the freezing waves against my bare skin shocked me awake, got my blood pumping. It was honestly exhilarating—much more so than standing around on a beach getting hammered. 

The others around me were shrieking and shouting, splashing at each other and running into waves. Meanwhile, I laid out on my back and looked up at the stars.

Until Jamey dunked me.

I came up sputtering, then smiled wickedly. Before Jamey could finish laughing, I shoved forward, scooping what felt like half a wave back at him. My roommate fell over backward into the water, still laughing, one arm up and waving in surrender as he sank dramatically.

Until the chill of the water got to us, we all played around in and out of the waves. I actually found myself getting into the swing of things, even though I hardly knew anyone’s name. At some point, someone brought a few beers out, and I began to get properly inebriated. 

By the time we started to slow down, and half the people were out drying by the barrel fire, Dan pointed toward a sandbar a short way out.

“Wanna have a race?” he asked me, Jamey, and the girl I’d gotten a light from.

“Fuck yeah!” Jamey shouted. “Vic, you in?”

I looked out at the dark lump rising out of the water. It was big enough that coarse reeds dotted the top like a fading hairdo, and it was probably a hundred yards out. “It’s pretty far.”

“Come on man, don’t be a wimp!” Dan goaded. 

I rolled my eyes. Sometimes it was almost easy to forget just how young most of the students were. Fresh out of high school. 

The girl who’d given me a light earlier stared out at the bar and back again. “It does look pretty far, but I used to be on the swim team, so I’m in.”

Jamey looked out at the reed-covered sandbar again. “What? No way! That’s like, right fuckin’ there.”

“Yeah!” Dan agreed. “If we’re all in, let’s go!”

“Go on what?” I asked.

“Go. Like, three-two-one-go,” Dan repeated as if it were obvious.

I was about to protest when Dan started.

“Three,” he said slowly.

I got into position, and the girl from Bay Tech did too.

“Two.”

Jamey bent down, loose.

“One.”

Jamey took off.

The rest of us went after, and the shout of “Go!” was lost in the chaos.

Immediately, I felt the current pulling to one side. We were already pretty far out, and I had to angle to avoid going to one side of the islet. The girl pulled ahead of Jamey, who was dog paddling surprisingly quickly given his lanky build.

Dan and I came up past him a moment later, and he kicked some water our way. All my years of swimming for fun started to pay off though, and I got ahead of Dan as he started flagging. Further up, I could see disturbed water lit by moonlight, and I followed the splashing.

I didn’t look back, but I could hear Dan and Jamey getting further away.

The sandbar hardly seemed to get closer. My arms and legs were starting to burn, but at least the feeling chased away the chill of the water. I pressed on, not wanting to lose, a sudden competitive sense rising in me.

As I swam, the surrounding chill faded, and I could swear the water brightened. In the growing light, it felt like the moon had begun to shine down on me directly.

I swam faster than I ever had before, passing the girl and pressing on toward that bright bar of sand at the end. The sounds behind me seemed to fade too as a thrumming filled my ears: my rushing blood and… something else. Was it the current?

The sandbar was getting close now, but I felt the current pick up, shifting and twisting. Behind me, I thought I heard a faint shout, and I tried to turn, squinting my eyes against the bright green light.

Green light?

My stomach knotted as the realization hit me. Oh no. Oh nononono.

This can’t be a Vertex Event, right? The Bureau would’ve surely quarantined this place.

Assuming their claims of predicting them weren’t hot garbage. 

The warmth of the light turned into an almost searing heat that suffused through me. I need to get out. Quickly looking around, I couldn’t see an edge to the Vertex Event, although I was almost to the sandbar. Part of me knew it was already too late, but I refused to accept it.

How is she so far behind me? The Bay Tech girl must have been more than a dozen yards out and beyond the edge of the light. Doesn’t she see this?

I felt a leg cramp, then another, and I almost cried out from the sensation. Not quite pain, but altogether unpleasant: a twisting, lurching, sticking feeling. My skin burned, and I had to stop myself from clawing at it. An itch within my lungs and along my neck flared into blazing pain.

Flailing my arms, I tried to shout, but all that came out was a hoarse noise. Worse, I felt myself sinking, and no matter how hard I tried to kick and lurch myself upward, my legs refused to respond. They were numb, locked up, wrong. My jaw clamped shut, biting into the tip of my tongue. I coughed as blood filled my mouth. 

And then I slipped under.

No water filled my lungs, but I sank without air in them. My arms refused to move, floating useless at my sides, despite my attempts at flailing them.

Now fully within the water’s grasp, the eerie green light around me revealed a grassy, sandy bottom. Barely ten feet below the surface, yet plenty deep enough to drown in.

I blinked at the salty water, then blinked again, accompanied by a weird sensation along my eyelids. My vision cleared as something seemed to slip over my vision. Great, now I have a good view of my own drowning. 

Is anyone going to save me? Any B-ranked heroes, D-ranks, or even an L with a life preserver? 

Despite it all, when it came down to it here at the end, I was surprisingly calm now that the water had fully enveloped me. When my lower body hit the bottom, it kicked up a cloud of sand, and the clear, green-lit water turned opaque. My lungs still burned, and my fingers clawed at my itching neck.

Is this it?

Is this truly how it ends? 

Self-reflection wasn’t my strong suit. No moments of life passed in front of my eyes. Instead, a curtain of darkness came down around me as the ocean began to spin and blur.

Seems a shit way to go.

Finally, my lungs had enough, forcing a flood of salty water through my mouth. I coughed and gagged, spitting back out what I could, for what little difference it made. A small dark stain swept past me in the current. Somehow, my lips pressed firmly shut again, as though air still filled them, even as my nose sucked in more salty water. And then I waited. 

Waited for the end.

…and kept waiting.

I didn’t feel water in my lungs. In fact, I felt like I was still taking that same ‘breath’ that I’d started.

My mind’s haze began to clear and I opened my eyes, unsure of when I’d closed them. The fuzziness in my vision slowly faded, as blood seemed to rush through my head, bringing a brief moment of dizziness. I kicked with my legs, or tried to—doing whatever I could to get up off the bottom. But something felt weird. My whole lower body felt… different? Instead of kicking with my legs, I pushed off with my arms and then reached out, feeling as my hands slipped through the water.

Colors looked wrong in the green light; my skin appeared unusually pale and gray. Something stretched between my fingers, but I didn’t care. Somehow, I was still alive, and I wanted to stay that way. 

Up above me, I could see the moon through the water, fading back to pale white as the green light from the Vertex Event faded away around me. I still felt warm in the water. Comfortably warm, even.

Now upright, I tried to kick again, and this time I felt my whole lower body move as one, like an extension of my spine. Instead of up and down, it moved from one side to the other, and I shot upward in a rush of water.

I breached the surface, tried to breathe in, and coughed out water instead. What? Before I could even process what the fuck was going on, I heard someone thrashing in the water behind me, followed by a gurgling scream. 

Screw this race! 

I had no idea how I wasn’t drowning, but I needed to save them. Again, I kicked, and again my entire lower body seemed to move. Shooting toward the person, I could now clearly see she was the girl from Bay Tech. There must have been enough lingering light from the Vertex Event, because the moon seemed so much brighter somehow.

I knew something was different about me, but I refused to focus on it, instead keeping all of my attention on her. My outstretched arm reached the girl, and a nail scratched her when she thrashed. Immediately, the iron smell of blood flooded my senses. Smell?

Oh god, did I hit a vein? How?

Thankfully, I got a firm grip around her, my hand feeling like I had a strange, skin-tight diving glove on. I lifted her out of the water, my lower body shifting in a way that felt truly odd.

“Relax, I’ve got you,” I croaked. Or at least I thought I’d croak. My voice didn’t sound at all like I’d just been drowning: panicked, sure, but something about the tone was off.

The girl from Bay Tech looked at me, and I forced a toothy smile.

She screamed.

Thrashing around, her hands and arms smacking against me. Though with how little the impacts hurt, I knew she couldn’t have much energy left in her. 

“Monster!” I heard another voice yell from the distance. Dan? 

A pit began to grow in my stomach. No, don’t think about it; not now. 

“Sorry,” I said, before gritting my teeth. Something about the way they fit together felt weird in my mouth.

With a push, I burst against the heavy current with the girl gripped tightly in my arms as she continued to flail.

I wasn’t sure how I managed to swim so well with both arms doing their best to keep her above the tide, but in what seemed like mere seconds, the land approached. Looking back, I could see Dan and Jamey both out in the water still, one approaching closer. 

I passed them so easily. 

Ignoring her coughing screams and protests, I sat the girl from Bay Tech on the beach, as the surf flowed up gently along her sides. Without meeting her eyes, I turned and felt my body slide heavily along the sand. I forced my eyes up, refusing to look down. Then a sudden swell of water rose up, wrapping around me, and I was able to fully turn around. I dove forth, sliding through the waves like I never had before. 

Something strange happened with my eyes, and once more I could see. The water was as clear as the evening sky.

Someone shouted, the sound echoing around me. I could still smell blood, or perhaps taste it in my mouth. The fact that it didn’t taste bad soured my stomach. 

Monster. 

Monster, they’d yelled. 

My teeth grit harder together until I was certain something would break. I wasn’t stupid. They weren’t shouting about something else in the water, as much as a part of me wanted to believe that. They were shouting about me. 

I swam. 

And swam further. Until the sandy floor below disappeared and all I could see was the deep blue, surprisingly clear ocean. 

I’d gone too far. 

Surfacing, I turned around, looking for something, anything to hint at the direction back to shore. Clear through the starlit night, I saw a bright pinprick in the distance. A lighthouse.

For a long moment, I seriously debated going back. Do I want to? A dark thought entered my head, unbidden. Perhaps I deserve to drown out here. I shook my head.

Just what kind of monster have I become, though?

For the first time since I changed, I looked at myself, pulling a hand up out of the water. My skin was gray on the back and white in the palm, with thin membranes stretching between my claw-tipped fingers. The claws weren’t massive, but I certainly had a wicked manicure.

I twisted my arm, seeing the pattern continue up. Were it not for the odd coloring, that at least would seem almost normal… if I ignored the lack of hair. Then my gaze traveled further.

Some part of me wanted to save it for last, to find a mirror or something, but I couldn’t. Shakily, I brought my mutant hand up to my face. My fingers felt a forehead, then eyes, all human-seeming so far. At the nose, I stopped: this was different. Not completely, but what I had now was flatter, and it somewhat prepared me for the fact that my mouth was bigger.

A good bit bigger, it felt like. My tongue slid over my teeth and felt them to be sharp and… in two rows?

Oh god, I was ugly! No wonder they’d been yelling “monster.” 

My breath quickened, and I scrunched my eyes shut. Deep breaths. It’s not like I didn’t already hate how I looked in a mirror.

I bobbed with the current for a moment, feeling uncomfortable maintaining my upright position in the water. Sliding onto my side, I went fully under. Despite being underwater, I kept breathing slowly, but not really in “breaths.” Hands moved up, fingers brushing across what could only be gills on the sides of my neck. Pushed by the current, water flowed through them, the sensation alien.

I guess I always did like the ocean. But… not like this. Can I even go back? Rent had to be paid in four days time at the latest—being officially due by tomorrow—and as comfortable as I was, I missed my bed. Logically, if I could still breathe out of water… maybe there was a way?

I opened my eyes, feeling another clear lid still over them, and turned onto my back to get the best look at myself.

Breasts.

I was not expecting breasts.

Why do I have breasts?

I stared at them with a heavy intensity, as though staring would somehow make them go away. 

It didn’t. 

Were I honest, I didn’t fully know how to feel about them. They were a surprise, certainly. But I wasn’t sure that they were a bad one, necessarily. I didn’t know why a fish monster would have them, but I wasn’t going to complain. I guess?

I bit my lip, wincing as sharp teeth pierced into it. Right. Can’t do that anymore. The scent of my own blood was different, less intense.

The distraction was enough for me to move forward, onto the next strange aspect of my new anatomy. 

I didn’t have legs.

“This is so fucked,” I said, then immediately shut my mouth. I’m breathing just fine through my gills. My voice sounded odd underwater. Muffled, of course, but also… higher and huskier?

I should hear it out of the water!

No, focus.

I looked down at my lower body again. Mermaid was the word that came to mind. Not only was my lower body far longer than my legs had been, but at the end was a distinctly shark-like fin. I turned my body and found another iconically triangular fin sticking out of my lower back.

Shark mermaid?

The idea seemed ridiculous, and yet here I was, shark tail and all. I tilted my head to the side as a curious thought flowed by. This was all the result of the Vertex Event, obviously. So do I have powers now?

I swirled around in the water, as though the movement might somehow give me a clue. Even assuming that I did, there was one major problem. How would I use them? I had no fucking clue. My mind scrambled to remember something, anything that I’d maybe read or heard about how others discovered their powers and figured out how to use them. Yet nothing came to mind.  

Sure, there were plenty of interviews from people talking about their new powers and how they worked. But I couldn’t recall anything about how they went about discovering them in the first place. 

I sighed, spinning lazily around in the water. The moon shined down, as though to taunt me. Even still, it was beautiful: a nice, calm night out on the water.

I’ll bet Jamey’s worried about me.

They probably already called people out to look. If I stayed out here too long, I’d risk being hit by one of the coastguard’s boats. I should go back, try to at least let people know I’m alright. Or, well, alive.

Would they accept me like this? Lots of people had changes when they gained powers, but I’d never seen anyone this… extreme as a hero. Plus, this body didn’t exactly seem practical for life on land.

Am I going to be stuck in the water forever? I could still breathe air, and I didn’t want everyone thinking I was dead—not like they’d recognize me, though.

Shore it is then. There’s really only one way to know.

Decision made, I turned and went to the surface to swim back, then stopped. I don’t need to surface. Despite everything, I felt a smile spread across my face.

I wonder how fast I can swim?

I kicked my tail, the side-to-side motion already feeling unnervingly natural. Arms to my sides, I shot forward, following the pinprick of the lighthouse I could see above the water. There was no way to tell how fast I was really going, though it didn’t feel particularly fast. Even still, the lighthouse got closer at a rate that I wouldn’t have expected, and it wasn’t long before the ocean floor began its rise to meet the surface. I approached hesitantly, fearful of what the answer to my land question would ultimately be. 

In a strange way, this dash toward shore was sorta the opposite to what I’d done earlier in the night—only now I was nervous about stepping a toe out of the water rather than in. I glanced down at my lower half. Or a fin out of water, I supposed. 

I rose up, surfacing once more. Through the water in front of me, I could see distant lights of houses over reed-covered dunes. No barrel fire, though I had to hope I was close enough to the right beach. As I moved forward, my skin eventually hit sand, sliding up against it as my arms pressed downward to hold me up. 

I don’t want to get stuck! 

My eyes closed, and a primal sort of feeling hit me: I needed to be up and out. From behind, a wave swelled and pushed me forward. The sudden water took me all the way to the edge of the tide-wet shore, and I flopped out onto the sand like a sad, beached fish as the wave retreated.

I can’t breathe!

Coughing, I sucked in air through my mouth, feeling my gills close. Bitter salt hit my tongue as I retched up two lungfuls of water. Wet hair, longer than my hair had been before and startlingly white, tumbled down over my shoulders, tips landing in the sand.

I pushed up with my arms, hoping for anything even as my fear started to grow. Fuck, was I gonna die, like, again? As I watched, and as my second eyelid pulled back, I saw the gray-white of my skin and the web between my fingers fade away to a pale, pale tan.

Oh thank god.

My lower body compressed with an odd heat, and I looked back hesitantly. In place of a shark-like mermaid lower body, I now had legs.

Gorgeous, toned, hairless legs.

Wait.

I looked down. I still had breasts, now capped with a pink nipple each. My cheeks reddened, as I stared. Was it alright to look? The thought felt silly yet also not. It was as though they were mine but not at the same time, as confusing as that was. 

Are they allowed to be mine?

I shook my head, purposefully staring away down the beach. There was a bigger concern at the moment. 

I was fucking naked. In the middle of the night. 

On the fucking beach. 

I groaned, slapping a sand-covered hand against my cheek. Wet sand clung to my skin, not that it mattered. The sand was already everywhere. 

I glanced down both directions of the beach, trying to decide where to go. If I could just find the fire, maybe I could find the others or something to cover myself with. I’d hate to use clothes discarded on the beach, but I would, if I could even find something. 

And a cigarette; a cigarette would be nice too.

Something about the image of a shark having a smoke made me snort. I stood to my feet, legs feeling a bit wobbly beneath me. Even after such a short period of time with a tail, legs already felt odd to have again. I took a step forward, as though to test them, before picking a random direction—that I really, really hoped was the right way—and started to walk. 

It was cold out of the water, even on a warm night like tonight.

While still deciding what the fuck I should do next, I heard a faint voice. I paused and listened, straining against the wind.

“-tor. Victor!” the voice shouted, far off down the beach.

Jamey! Oh thank fucking god. 

I picked up the pace, my walk becoming a steady jog. It seemed my guess had been right, or perhaps I’d just been lucky. Either way, I was relieved when I finally saw a dark figure with a flashlight walking down the beach a ways ahead. 

At least until I remembered I was naked, and a girl?

This was so fucking weird. 

I swallowed, wishing that I had some nice fresh water to clear all the salt down my throat. It was time to just bite the bullet. 

As we got closer, the flashlight finally seemed to find me. Jamie shouted, rushing my way, only to slow as he got a bit closer. I couldn’t really see him, not with a bright fucking light blinding my eyes, but I could guess what he was thinking. 

I didn’t look anything like I had before. He probably thought he’d stumbled on some random naked girl out on the beach. Oh, right. Belatedly, I covered my chest with one arm; then my crotch with another. There’s nothing down there. The absence had felt less noticeable without legs.

“Umm,” I heard him mutter, clearly taken aback. 

“Jamey,” I croaked out, my throat still suffering from the salty water. 

“The fuck?” I heard him mumble, probably not intending for me to hear. Then more loudly, “Right, okay.”

“It’s me, Victor.” I stated what felt like the most cliche line in existence. “Uh, well… Maybe not ‘Victor’ anymore. Vic?“

“Vikz?” Jamey said with a slight slur, having misheard me.. 

Damn, is he still drunk?

Yeah, okay. That made sense. 

Vikz, though. I… I kinda liked it.

“Sure, Vikz. Look, the Vertex Event made me into a… shark person,” I said, having no idea what to really call it. “And a girl, but only in water I guess.” I glanced down. “For the shark part, I mean. The girl part seems to have stuck around…” 

I felt like this was going terribly. But how the fuck else was I supposed to do this?

“Wait… that was you that grabbed April?”

“The girl from Bay Tech? She’s okay, right?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Dan?”

“He’ll live. Damn, it is you, isn’t it? Fuck.” Jamie eyed me for a moment. “You want something to wear?” he asked, tugging at his shirt. 

Relief washed over me. Clothes! “Oh thank fuck. Yes!”

I was honestly lucky he’d thought to put a shirt on at all. Jamie pulled it up over his head, tossing the bundled fabric the few feet between us. I caught it and hastily twisted the damp garment around, knowing full well that with my hands no longer covering things, he could see like everything. Finally, I managed to get it right-side up and slipped into it. Had I given him an eyeful? I knew Jamie liked guys, but I admittedly had no idea if he felt the same for girls. 

Not that I was one.

Jamey shrugged. “I mean, it’s your shirt.”

I glanced down and then stared at him. “Why were you wearing my shirt?”

“Mine got wet. Not like yours seems to fit you all that well anymore anyways.”

I looked down. Sure enough, the once-loose shirt was a lot tighter in the chest area. I pulled down at the bottom seam. Was I taller? The once-long shirt barely covered my crotch. I’d read plenty of stories like this—like all non-Jamey guys surely did. The protagonist always got smaller. Clothes were supposed to be looser.

“Plus, I err, thought it’d be funny when we found you.”

I looked up, giving him a glare. 

He gave me a shrug back. “I mean, all things considered, it is still a bit funny, you gotta admit.”

Jamie always had a shit sense of humor. I crossed my arms, feeling weird at how they pressed up against my chest. “Let’s just go.”

“Should we, umm, go meet back up with the others?”

I took a moment to think about it. While it seemed like the right thing to do—make sure they were okay and all—I… really didn’t want to deal with anything else tonight. 

“Can we… can we just go home?” I asked in a surprisingly small voice. 

“Yeah, sure man. Or wait, do I call you ‘man’ still? Should it be ‘girl?’”

I gave him a flat look. “I really don’t care right now.”

Jamey nodded and pulled out his phone, surprising me by pulling mine out too. He tossed it my way, and I surprised myself even more by actually catching it without fumbling.

While I checked the time, he started texting, muttering his words out loud. “Hey. Found Vic. Uh he’s fine, but shaken up. We’re gonna call it a night. Was fun I guess. Keep the beer.” He hit send and sighed. Something told me Dan and April were gonna be pissed, but that was something to deal with later. “Okay, done. Call us a ride?”

Fuck, right. A ride. “Sure, but we’d better make sure this shirt stays down long enough to look like I maybe have a bathing suit under here.” I started up the app.

“Didn’t you have underwear on?” Jamey asked.

I waved at the ocean. “Not exactly gonna be able to find it now—if it’s even in one piece.” I turned my phone’s screen off. “Fifteen minutes away.”

“Cool.” Jamey turned toward the dunes. “Think there’s a path near here?”

I looked around and spotted one almost immediately. “There.”

“Damn, I didn’t see that at all.”

I shrugged. “I’m not drunk.” Was that the only reason?

He protested, and we made our way off the beach to what was definitely the most awkward ride home of my life. Wet, sandy ass on leather, I sat beside Jamie as he tried to make dumb small talk. Sorry, driver. Though I wasn’t that sorry. I was certain that the guy kept staring back at me through the mirror. Could he tell I was ass naked on his seat? I really fucking hoped not, but a gut feeling told me he knew. Which meant he’d probably caught a glimpse. It took everything I had not to groan in mortification.

As we finally reached the university apartments, and I scrambled out, tugging my shirt down as best I could, I was certain that I could feel his eyes boring into my back. Or more likely, my ass. Needless to say, I rushed into the building as quickly as possible, smashing the elevator button and praying it wouldn’t take three years to get here.  

It didn’t take three years. But the three minutes it did take were agonizing. We were lucky it was still the middle of the night. 

I glanced down at my phone and saw the time was now 4:37AM. Or close enough to the middle of the night. Jamey was looking for me for that long?

When we got into the apartment, Jamey flicked on the lights and I bolted immediately toward the bathroom, only to be stopped. 

My glorious roomie stepped in front of me, blocking my path. His eyes met mine. 

“So, I know it's been a rough night and all,” he said, rubbing the back of his head, “but I think we should, like, maybe talk about this shit?”

I stood still for a moment before releasing a sigh. “Yeah, okay. But can I shower first?”

My hands gestured down, and Jamey’s eyes followed. Then he looked back up, very clearly confused. 

“I’m covered in fucking sand, Jamey,” I said dryly—you know, ‘cause of the sand. 

“Yeah, alright. I guess that’s fine too,” he mumbled. “Just, uh—I’ll be waiting on the couch?”

“Sure.”

I moved around him, beelining for the bathroom. As the door shut behind me, I realized the grand obstacle that stood in front of me. 

The shower required me getting naked. Again. 

And washing my body. 

As a girl. 

“Fuck.” I didn’t think this through. 

My eyes trailed down, taking in the sight of the shirt, still tight around my chest, all the way down to my bare legs and feet. Despite how large my new boobs appeared, they did not completely hide the sight of the rest of my body, as some online stories liked to claim. Though perhaps I was overestimating their size. Small droplets of water fell from my shirt, landing on the cold linoleum below.

Alright, Vic or Vikz, you can do this. You’ve seen plenty of naked girls. 

But how many have you felt up? a devious part of my mind asked. 

My hands moved up to smack my cheeks, as though it could somehow give me courage. 

It would be fine, right? Girls shower every day. Even lesbians, I guess. And gay guys, too, although Jamey was probably a bad example, by his own admission. 

And they were also very used to their bodies, having grown up with them and everything. 

I groaned, and smacked my head against the wall to my right. Why did I have to become a girl of all things? Being half shark was one thing—this, on the other hand, involved feelings and shit. 

Right, right. I had this. I could do this. Maybe if I just kept my eyes closed it wouldn’t be so bad?

No, that was a stupid idea. Who the fuck showers with their eyes closed?

A knock rapped against the door, and I jumped. 

“What?” I asked, very much annoyed. 

“You want me to leave some clothes out here, or…” Jamey trailed off. 

I considered it for a moment. “Yeah, that’s fine… and thanks.”

“Sure thing,” Jamey replied nonchalantly, though he sounded a lot more tired than earlier.

Well, now was as good a time as ever. I gulped and took a step forward, one hand gripped tightly around the shirt—my last line of defense against the inevitable. 

Then, gritting my teeth, I tore the wet top off and over my head, wincing as I heard an actual tear. I really kinda liked that shirt, too. Just how strong am I?

Stumbling forward, my eyes glanced briefly into the mirror: a very hot woman with sharp features stared back. She—I— was tall, buff, and completely naked. My cheeks reddened as I turned the other direction, whipping my long white hair across my face.

Nope, not dealing with that right now. 

Mind made up, I took the definitely-not-dealing-with-it option of stepping into the tub. With a heavy breath, I turned the knob to the shower head, hoping a bit of freezing cold water might help. 

As the shower head shook and began pelting me with freezing-cold water, I squealed, making the girliest sound I was sure I’d ever made. 

Then something inside of me shifted. My eyes widened as my legs seemed to flow together and disappear below me, replaced by a much larger, yet significantly less stable shark tail. 

With a yelp, I fell to the side, sliding down the shower wall with a loud thump against the lip of the tub. 

I was lucky that me hitting the tub sounded much worse than it felt. Struggling for a few seconds, I managed to push my torso up along the rim. 

“You alright?!” Jamey shouted through the door after several heavy knocks. 

“I’m fine,” I said back, just loud enough that I hoped he could hear.

“Well, umm. If you need help, just, err, let me know?”

“What are you being so awkward about? You don’t even like girls!”

“Whatever, dude. That doesn’t make it any less weird, okay?” 

I sighed, almost wanting to actually call him in to help. Yet what help would he actually be? This tail had to weigh more than him…

“Just go watch something. I’ll be fine. There’s just a small, umm,” I looked down across my tail, realizing that small really wasn’t the best way to describe it. How did my legs even turn into something that much larger? “A small hiccup. I’m dealing with it.”

I could almost hear Jamey’s shrug. “Alright, if you say so.”

Another sigh slipped out. So what did this mean for me? Being splashed with water made me go shark-mode? Though that didn’t entirely make sense. I’d been wet the whole way home, never having fully dried after getting out of the water. But at the same time, it obviously wasn’t just being submerged in water that caused it either. Was there some arbitrary line somewhere in the middle? 

Was I gonna have to run indoors anytime it rained? 

Damn, that seemed like a total pain in the ass. 

My eyes closed, and I slid back into the tub, twisting awkwardly onto my back as half my tail flopped out the side and onto the cold bathroom floor. Underneath me, my dorsal fin twinged in pain as it bent to one side. While I took in the ridiculous scene of a big shark girl trying to fit into a bathtub, the water pouring down against me finally started to warm. Laying down, the fatigue and tiredness hit me like a truck. 

I really didn’t want to deal with all this right now. Truthfully, I wished I could just forget the sand and the shark thing and just sleep. 

But things didn’t work that way. I had to be responsible. Wash all this stupid sand off of me. And of course, I had to figure out how this whole shark thing worked. 

I forced my eyes back open. 

It wasn’t like I could just magically flush all the sand away with a wave of my hands. I took a deep breath, swirling my hands as though for emphasis while trying to just push all my problems off of me. 

Unexpectedly, I felt something stirring inside me and a bucket-load of sandy water practically leapt off of me. For the briefest of moments, I felt almost dry, and then the water splattered against the wall of the shower, most of it splashing back down on me.

I spluttered and shook my head. What?

Staring at my webbed hand, I remembered the wave that carried me onto the beach. Had I caused that, too? Do… do I have powers now? Part of me had known it was highly likely, given how big my transformation was, yet I’d still struggled to actually believe it.

My tailfin’s tip twitched, which was an odd sensation. Again, I felt for the water on me, but this time I just tried to lift it. Sure enough, I felt the wetness on me slide across my skin and rise up into a sphere of sandy water that rested between my breasts. I lifted higher, and the water went with it.

I’m clean—or clean enough—but I’m also mostly blocking the drain. If I let the water drop, my backside would get covered again.

Can I remove the sand?

I felt again, and this time I felt things in the water. I moved the sphere of water over the bathroom trash and tried to push the sand out. After a moment, grains of sand and small bits of wood and shell came splattering out of the bottom of the sphere.

Mostly, the mess missed the bin.

Fuck it, good enough.

I brought the sphere of water back and slid it down under me and toward the drain, letting it go. Now, only warm shower water rained down on me. Sitting at the end of the tub, I realized I could almost touch the shower head with the tip of my tail. I had to be ten feet long. Please don’t have this happen every time I get wet. Please.

After some struggling, I got the water turned off. To my relief, I felt that same warm, flowing sensation and soon I had legs again. During the transformation, I looked away. Right now I really didn’t want to know what that looked like.

Shit, I’ll think about this later. And about getting my powers registered. And a new ID… if I’m gonna stay like this.

I found myself in front of the mirror. The girl on the other side was practically glowing, with a big, dumb smile cutting across her face. With some effort, I tried to turn it into a frown, only to fail. 

Maybe I’ll stay like this just for a bit. 

A long bit.

Quietly, I snuck out of the shower and threw on the clothes Jamey left for me. When I walked into the living room, I found him sitting on the couch. The TV was on, but he was looking out the window. I grabbed a soda from the counter and plopped down next to him, cracking it open.

The can crumpled within my grip. Shit, right. Powers. Even if it’s not my actual power, I’m gonna be stronger than before.

“Hmm,” I hmm’ed. In lieu of saying anything, I took a long drink and tried to focus on the show.

“So like, fish girl, huh?” Jamie said, turning to look over at me. 

“More shark than fish,” I admitted. “But yeah, that seems to be the gist of it.”

He nodded, as though this was all totally normal. Which for Jamey, maybe it almost was. 

“Are you gonna try to get changed back?”

“I’m not always a shark,” I said, pointing out the obvious. “And it’s really not too bad.”

“No, I mean the girl thing.” Jamey waved his hand.

“Oh,” I mumbled, staring at him for a long awkward moment, and then down at my half-empty, half-crushed can of soda. “Umm, I, uh… I don’t know?”

Jamie nodded, giving me a faux-wise and smug look. “We’re going clothes shopping in the morning, then. I know just the place.” He flashed me a smile.

I frowned. “I said I didn’t know.”

“Yeah, I heard ya,” he replied with a gentle slap on my back. “Don’t worry, I got you dude. Er, sis? Dudette?”

“What? No! You are not calling me ‘Dudette,’” I insisted, tempted to throw my can at him.  

He shrugged. “We’ll workshop it.” 

“And I said that I wasn’t sure!”

“Sure, Vikz. Sure.” Jamey rolled his eyes. “Look, I need something to call you! What are you expecting me to do? Call you bro all the time?”

I opened my mouth to give a firm yes, only to think about it and close my mouth again. I didn’t really like being called bro, if I was honest. And while I looked like this, it made sense to use more feminine pronouns and stuff, didn’t it?

“...’Sis’ then,” I mumbled.

“Cool!” Jamey gave me a thumbs up. “So, new clothes and then registering your power tomorrow, Sis?”

“Don’t you have classes?” I shot back, finishing my soda in one long drag.

“I was gonna skip anyway.”

I giggled. Actually giggled. I ended it with a cough. “Uh, yeah probably. I’m betting D-rank.”

“Can’t you shapeshift?”

“Well yeah, but—”

“That’s at least ‘C’, Vikz.”

Vikz. The name was really growing on me. And if I’m C-rank, that’s the level of that Jolt jerk! Maybe I’ll get a chance to show him up. 

I smiled. “Well, shit. Think I can keep on being a loser?”

“I fuckin’ hope not! I don’t want to room with a loser!”

Room. “But wait, if you’re a guy and I’m a girl…”

Jamey jabbed a finger into my forehead. “We live in a co-ed apartment, dumbass. You signed the lease too.”

“Oh, right.” My cheeks burned. “Uh, thanks.”

“S’what roommates are for, Sis. Oh, and speakin’ of that, I ate your leftover pizza before we left. But I can give you a fiver for lunch tomorrow, so don’t whine like a girl about it,” my roommate quipped. 

“Jamey!”