by:

Cassidy's life has been lonely and full of heartache. Abandoned as an infant, bounced from foster home to foster home. He's never found a place where he's belonged. Then one summer as his life starts to turn around, something happens that changes everything...

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Author's Note: Here we are, FINALLY. Not only do we have a new picture---thanks to the lovely Miss Ginny Gardner---we also have no more male Cass. From this point forward, I generally refer to her as "Cass" as far as the story is concerned. This is pretty much where the rest of the story starts. Prepare for some exposition on some things in the next few chapters. I can also confirm that Ch.9 will be a chapter not from Cass's POV so that's something to look forward too :D. I'd once again like to thank Nyssa for her editing and ALL my readers for bearing with me until I got to this point :D. Quick Note: I forgot to add in her bracelet originally in this chapter, I amended things now that it appears. There were a couple of commenters who pointed it out, so thank you! :D.

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6.

There was no pain.

I thought when you died there was this excruciating pain then a bright light. There was no light either. Wait, no, that was wrong. I saw a light. It was above me. I was floating away from it though. The further I floated, the further away I got. Was it supposed to happen like this? I thought you were supposed to go toward the light when you died. Maybe I didn’t get the memo. Maybe I had one of those weird souls that shunned the light and I was falling further and further into the dark void. Maybe pretending to be an Emo all these years had damaged my eternal soul and this was my new lot.

Or maybe, I wasn’t really dying.

I stopped floating downward.

Reality slowly started to pull itself around me.

I wasn’t dead.

How was I not dead?

When people fell from really high places into water, they usually died. Their bones shattered, all their internal organs ruptured. I hit the water. I felt it. That should have been it. The world even went black around me. I should be dead but I wasn’t? I started to wave my hands about, they were moving. They were human hands, living hands. My hands. There was something different about them though. They looked smaller and my fingers were thinner, maybe a bit longer. They were webbed too. How did I get webbed fingers? There was something else too. I followed my hands down my arms. My thinner arms. I followed them to slender shoulders and my chest where…

Oh my God!

I grabbed them.

Two naked orbs of flesh on my chest.

This couldn’t be real.

How was this real?

I had breasts. By the feel of them, they weren’t small either. They were plump and firm and definitely very real. Squeezing them sent a tingle through my whole body. How was this possible? How was any of this possible? I let go of the breasts and wiggled my fingers. They were definitely mine. I opened my mouth to scream but stopped myself. I was underwater. I couldn’t scream. Wait, I was in the water. I started to panic, flapping around like a fool. I’d been so preoccupied about being alive and very different that I didn’t even realize where I was. This time I did scream.

I expected to drown.

I didn’t.

The water around me started to vibrate and I hard time keeping my eyes open.

Gasping, I put a hand over my mouth.

What the hell was going on?

Still in full on panic mode, I started to push my way toward the surface. When I kicked my legs though, something felt wrong. They felt numb. In fact, I couldn’t feel them at all. Looking down, I screamed again. My legs were gone. Where the hell were my legs? Where the hell did that come from? I reached down, running my hands across the scaly thing attached to my torso. It was greenish blue, shimmered in the water and looked almost like a tail. That was impossible though. Humans didn’t grow tails. Then again, boys didn’t grow boobs either.

Boobs and a tail?

I wanted to wrap my mind around it but I just couldn’t. I was too scared to think.

I would worry about all of it later.

Now I needed to get out of the water!

Pushing faster, I found that I easily glided through the water. I had no idea how far under the water I was but when I finally broke the surface I gasped. Throwing my head back, I felt my hair whip back behind me. It felt longer again. I would worry about that later too. Right now I needed to get my bearings. I started to tread water without even thinking about it. It was a weird thing. I didn’t even know how to swim and yet here I was doing it like a pro. It was as if any fear of the water that I had before had melted away instantly. I realized the panic attack from a few moments ago was something else entirely.

Something else I would think about later.

Right now…

I started to look around. I was in the middle of the ocean still. It was also pitch black. Night. Had I been unconscious that long or was it something else? The moon was directly overhead, it's light like a beacon. The air smelled crisp and the water was calm. It would be almost tranquil if I wasn’t so damn scared. Right, not now. I needed to figure things out first. The helicopter was long gone now. I half expected it to be a wreck somewhere nearby. It was in pretty bad shape when I fell from it. I think it was even smoking? I looked as far as I could see, wondering if I could spot it on the horizon. I stopped a few seconds later when I realized I didn’t know where the horizon was. Cursing, I chewed my lip. Without knowing where the horizon was, it was going to make it all that much harder to get back to the beach. That is if I actually wanted to go back. Sighing, I tried to think of my options.

I only had a few.

I could continue to stay out here in the water, being some kind of weird freak.

I could swim back to shore.

I could try swimming somewhere else.

They weren’t the greatest ones but they were all I had.

I immediately knew the first option was stupid. Sure I might be some kind of weird fish freak right now but I’m not sure how long that would last. As far as I knew I was hallucinating the whole tail thing anyway. Some kind of post-trauma shock. If that was the case, it was only a matter of time before that shock wore off. As soon as it did, I’d be a sitting duck out here. Not just from sharks either. Eventually, exposure and dehydration would get me. My third option seemed pretty stupid too. I had nowhere else to go. Which left me with option number two, going back to Virginia Beach. I cursed again. It wasn’t the greatest option but, it was the only true one I had. Once there, I could get my bearings straight and figure out my next course of action. Then maybe whatever shock I was in would finally wear off and I could truly panic about EVERYTHING.

I still had one problem though.

I still didn’t know how to get there.

Turning, I looked back the way I thought I came from. All of this was so disorienting. Everything out here looked the same. In the dark, it was hard to see anything. Except for the moon. It was my one constant. It looked so massive looming overheard. Its pale light was downright peaceful. In fact, I got so lost in that glow I almost didn’t hear the boat. It was coming in fast, the sound of the motor cutting through the stillness of the night. Cursing, I dropped below the waves. It was a good thing too because it stopped. A moment later, someone on board starting shining a light at the water. Underwater, I lingered just below the surface, hoping they didn’t notice me.

I think I managed to hide and for good reason too.

“You think it’s out there?” asked a voice, male.

There was a grunt in response. ‘We found Phelps and Stewart about a mile from here.”

“That was six hours ago,” said the first voice.

“The boss wants us to be thorough.”

Crap, it was them.

So they found the two guys from the helicopter, both presumed dead. Six hours ago though? Did that mean I’d been in the water that long? If so then why hadn’t I woken sooner? A mile from here too, which meant I somehow drifted. Or their bodies possibly did? Who the hell were these people? At first, I thought they were creeps, hellbent on doing some freaky shit to me. Now though I was starting to put two and two together. That doctor wasn’t the least bit fazed by the changes in my body from before, in fact, she never once mentioned them. I thought they did it to me, but now I was pretty sure I’d done it to myself. They knew about it too. They knew a lot of things. More things than I knew for sure.

That raised so many questions. I knew where to find the answers too. I was pretty certain that I wouldn’t like how these people gave them to me.

“This is a waste of time. We should try this in the morning when there’s more light.”

The flashlight beam left the water.

“Let’s just head back to shore. Tell them we found nothing.”

Yes, head back, please.

There was a bit of back and forth arguing, but eventually, the two of them started the boat again.

A moment later, they were on their way.

Taking a chance, I decided to follow it.

I took a deep breath and with only a slight thought, I surged forward. I was quickly amazed at how fast I was cutting through the water. I’d seen dolphins swimming on TV and movies. They always used to impress me. Especially because I was always too afraid to get into the water myself. I always wondered how something could move like that. Now here I was, moving very similarly. I was faster though, much faster. It was almost as if I was using the water itself to propel me forward. Shooting through it like a bullet out of a gun except I was losing no momentum as I went.

I was going so fast I almost eclipsed the boat.

I had to slow down to keep in its wake.

After twenty minutes of following it though, I couldn’t help but smile.

It wasn’t long before the boat started to slow. Taking a look, I saw other boats start to come into view. Many of which were moored. It had to be some kind of marina. I tailed the boat for a bit longer but soon realized that I didn’t want them to spot me. I decided to steer away from it, making sure to take note of it in case I ran into it in the daylight. I came to a complete stop a few seconds later, amazed at how quickly I was able to do so. I was amazed at other things as well. I went into full-blown swim mode without even thinking about it. It was almost as if all of it was second nature to me. Like I’d been doing it my whole life. I never once panicked either. About anything.

What was wrong with me?

I should be freaking out?

Why wasn’t I freaking out?

Not just about the whole half-fish thing either. I was a boy mere hours ago and now I was a girl. I had boobs, I should be going ballistic. Yet, I was totally calm about all of it. It made no sense. Not that growing a tail made much sense either. I was too freaked to think about it earlier but now I wanted to know what the hell was going on. A small part of me still wondered if these people had done something to me. It was clear they put some kind of tracker in my arm back on the helicopter, so they definitely wanted to keep an eye on me. It was also pretty clear now that they never got a chance to turn it on. I suppose that’s what I stopped them from doing when I went all postal cattle prod on their asses.

It made me realize there was still a lot about all of this I didn’t know.

Swimming to the surface, I made sure I stayed out of sight. At first, I thought about swimming up the marina and coming ashore there. Then two things suddenly struck me. The first being I didn’t have any clothes. In the water before, I had a vague recollection of being topless. I fondly remembered groping myself. Now it was becoming pretty clear that I didn’t have any clothes at all. Whatever I had been wearing before was long gone. That was the lesser of my two revelations. The bigger one was whether I could even leave the water anymore. As far as I could tell, I wasn’t human anymore. I had no more legs. I was a…

I sighed.

I couldn’t even bring myself to think it.

Just the idea of it was completely ridiculous.

I would have said downright crazy if I hadn’t seen it for myself.

I forced the thought from my head.

I had other things to worry about at the moment. Chief among them was figuring out how I was going to get on land with a tail. I’d seen a few movies, wasn’t there some kind of magic or something? Magic. I would have said something like that didn’t exist. That was, of course, before I spontaneously changed genders and grew a tail. I bit my lip. What I needed was a Fairy Godmother or something. I knew it sounded stupid, but at this point, I’d believe in anything. I closed my eyes and like an idiot starting to chant in my head: LEGS, LEGS, LEGS. When I opened them, I half expected it to work. I sighed when I still saw my tail. Well, it was worth a try I suppose.

That’s when I felt the tingle.

No way.

A second later, there was a slight burning sensation in my forehead.

Then I watched in awe as my tail slowly started to pull apart and grow into a pair of legs.

You’ve gotta be shitting me!

The tingling and burning sensation disappeared just as fast as it came.

I wiggled my toes, just to make sure.

A second later, I realized the tail wasn’t the only thing that changed. My fingers were no longer webbed and the bracelet was back around my wrist. Where did that come from? More importantly, where did that go? I shuddered. A second later, I realized something else.My confidence in the water was gone. It wasn’t the only thing either. I panicked. My hydrophobia was back. I started to kick and flail. My head went under. I screamed, sucking in a ton of water in the process. I pushed back up to the surface quickly, coughing. Shit. I felt the tingle again. My thrashing stopped a moment later as my legs transformed back into a tail. The panic was gone. I took a couple of deep, reassuring breaths. So that’s how it was. I wasn’t scared of the water as long as I was in this… “form”. I guess it made about as much sense as everything else.

I cursed.

Note to self: Change back closer to land.

I took a moment before I made up my mind.

Then I started to swim away from the marina a bit. There were too many lights and boats around. I didn’t want to transform with the potential of being spotted. The last thing I needed was to become a science experiment. I traveled down the beach a bit until I finally found a secure and dark place near a rock outcropping. It took a few tries but I pulled myself out of the water like Ariel. In the pale moonlight, I got my first out-of-water look at my new appendage. It was the freakiest thing ever. I ran my hand along my flat stomach, stopping momentarily where flesh and scale met. It was a weird thing. It shouldn’t be real. When I touched my tail, the scales were smooth and wet. The tail was warm to touch. I wanted to freak out, but I couldn’t. Everything felt so normal.

I closed my eyes a second later and willed the tail away again.

When I reopened them, I had a pair of legs.

Naked legs.

A cool ocean breeze hit me, whipping my hair about.

I shivered.

Naked everything.

Crap.

I needed clothes.

Double crap.

The problem with finding clothes on a beach was, well, a problem.

Especially at night.

I spent a good twenty minutes walking quietly along the shoreline. I was staying far enough away from the water so as not to have another panic attack. I was extremely embarrassed. It was like one of those dreams where you end up in school naked. Except this wasn’t a dream, it felt like a nightmare and there was no waking up from it. Thankfully, my hair was long enough that I managed to cover my breasts with it. I could do nothing about down below other than walk with my hand covering up that foreign bit. I tried my hardest not to touch it. I was scared of what might happen. I was scared about all of it actually.

I had some time to think too.

It was clear my new female body and the tail were connected.

I was also convinced that I was cursed.

It was the only possible explanation.

Or maybe I was dead after all.

It definitely happened after I fell out of the helicopter. A fall that apparently killed my assailant but didn’t kill me. A fall that left me unconscious for a little while, only to wake up underwater a mile from where I fell and a woman. It made no sense. It had to be a curse. Maybe I fell on a tribe of water fairies. Maybe I trespassed on sacred magical land. Maybe I made a dying pact with a Sea God? Each explanation was crazier than the last, but all of them made sense. Ok, so all of them were crazy but so was ALL of this. Boys don’t change into girls, especially girls who can grow tails.

I wanted to scream.

I almost did.

It was a good thing I didn’t.

I was so preoccupied with my own thoughts that I didn’t notice the fire.

It wasn’t that far away.

It wasn’t just a fire either.

There was a pickup truck parked on the beach. Next to it was a tent. Someone was having themselves a little camp-out under the stairs. Someone who probably had clothes. I bit my lip. I hated the idea of stealing from a stranger, but it was either that or find a Nudist Colony. Cursing, I slowly crept my way over to the little camp. As I got closer, I heard soft talking.

The camp’s occupants.

A man and woman.

I stopped for a second, hoping they weren’t somewhere about.

Then I realized their voices were coming from the tent.

“Lance, stop,” a girl grunted.

“C’mon, babe, I’m horny.”

I rolled my eyes.

Not what I wanted to hear.

I listened for a few seconds more as Lance tried and failed to get lucky tonight. As soon as I determined they were going to stay in the tent, I started to poke around their little camp. I started with the truck, but it was no luck. The flatbed seemed promising though. I found a duffle there, but upon further inspection, I realized it was full of Lance’s clothes. Clothes I would have been happy to find if not for the fact that they wouldn’t fit anymore. I cursed. I knew where her bag was, but I also knew there was no way I was getting in that tent. Sighing, I was about to give up when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I jumped.

I snapped around, prepared for anything.

“Whoa, sorry,” said a girl.

The girl from the tent.

When did she come out?

I took a step back, not sure what I was going to do now.

I was like a deer in headlights.

“You ok?” she asked in a soft, concerned voice.

I opened my mouth to say something, but instead, I found myself crying. I’m not sure why. A moment later, she was hugging me. It was a strange thing. She held me for a bit, telling me everything was going to be all right. I’m not sure what was happening. She led me over to the camp fire and held me until I stopped crying. I never realized how cold I was until I got close to the fire. After she was done holding me, I stared at the ground for a while.

“You want to tell me about it?”

It took me a few seconds to gather my thoughts.

I wanted to tell her everything but I knew I couldn’t.

So I lied.

“I was with this guy. We were having a good time. Then he wanted to skinny-dip, so I said sure. The next thing I knew...”

She squeezed my hand. “Men are creeps."

At that point, Lance decided to make an appearance.

“Whoa,” he said, seeing me sitting by the fire.

The girl rolled her eyes. “See what I mean.”

“Chloe...”

“Go back to the tent idiot,” she snapped, “And bring my bag!”

He rushed into the tent, bringing her bag a second later.

Then she made him leave again.

Behold the power of the blonde.

“We might not be the exact same size, but I think we’re close,” she said, pulling some things out of her bag. “I’m Chloe, by the way.”

“Cassidae,” I said without thinking.

“That’s pretty,” she said with a smile.

The clothes she handed me were not what I would call clothing. They were better than nothing though. I just never thought I’d be wearing a bikini. I turned away as I pulled up the bottoms. They were a bit snug but not too bad. I struggled with the top though. She giggled and helped me tie it in back. After that she handed me a pair of jean cut-offs and a tiny tank top. The shorts were snug too, and the top was definitely a bit too small. I squirmed for a few seconds then felt a tingle. A second later, everything fit perfectly.

What the hell?

She gave me a strange look. “Weird, I could have sworn you were a bit bigger...”

I shrugged. “Maybe it’s the dark?”

Or maybe it’s magic?

Did I shrink to fit the clothes?

Or did the clothes grow to fit me?

“Can I come out now?” asked Lance, poking his head out of the tent.

“As long as you’re not a lech."

He scrambled out of the tent.

Lance was the typical surfer, sandy blonde hair, a body crafted for the sun. My eyes lingered on his rippling pecs for a second before I realized I was staring, and quickly looked away.

Great.

“So who am I beating the shit out of?’ he asked, flexing.

Chloe rolled her eyes.

“No one,” I said quickly. “He’s long gone now.”

We sat around and talked for a bit after that. They offered me a ride into town in the morning. We got no cell reception on the beach so we couldn’t call from here. I was happy for the help and told them so. After that, they couldn’t stop talking about themselves. The two of them were in college. This was the end of their break before they had to head back home. Lance was a bit of a meathead, but Chloe was nice enough. She was a Biology major, coming to the beach was her idea. She thought it was awesome when I told her how to spell my name. After all, it’s not every day you meet someone named after a snail. We talked a bit more. They offered me one of their beers, but when I told them I was only sixteen, they both looked a bit sheepish.

After a while, we were laughing. It was a strange but nice distraction. Especially after the weird day, I’d been having. Not to mention the fact that I almost robbed these people. Not that I told them that of course. All throughout the laughing though, Chloe kept giving me strange looks. Like she knew something but didn’t want to say. I tried to ignore her, but it was starting to get a bit unsettling.

“Well that’s it for me,” said Lance, getting up.

He started for the tent.

“Nope,” said Chloe. “Tent is girls only, you can sleep in the truck!”

“Seriously?”

She gave him a look. He grunted and walked over to the truck, his head held low.

“You didn’t have to...”

“That boy needs to cool off, he’s too damn frisky. He and his hand will have a good night in the truck."

We both laughed.

It was strange. Chloe and Lance had accepted me so quickly. They didn’t even bat an eye when I showed up. Then she quickly started comforting me when I started to cry. I was a complete stranger and they helped me without even thinking. People surprised me sometimes. I’d been having such a hard time with everyone lately, first the Spencers, then Dr. Chambers and her people. Now here comes Chloe and Lance and they’ve been nothing but nice to me. I’d only known them for about an hour too. I didn’t deserve this. Any of it. I wanted to run, but my feet wouldn’t move.

Chloe got to her feet, she held out a hand for me. “C’ mon, you can use my sleeping bag. In the morning, we’ll take you into town and you can get ahold of someone there."

I smiled.

So nice.

I let her pull me to my feet. As I she did, my hair flopped all over the place. I was never going to get used to that.

“I love your hair by the way,” she said with a giggle. “It’s so long, like a mermaid’s”

Mermaid.

The word that had been dangling over my head all night.

Was that really me?

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Anything critical you have to say, PLEASE do so in a PM. Pointing out people's flaws or mistakes in a comment is hurtful and NOT appreciated.Thanks in advance...EOF