First off thank you everyone for voting! We hit 50! Woohoo! :-D

Second, my clumsy ass managed to accidentally stab herself under the nail with a freaking fork of all things... My thumb now hurts when I type so you all better appreciate how I still finished this chapter despite the pain when pressing the space bar.

(Okay I'm exaggerating xD It hurts but I can use the other thumb obviously.)

Much love,

Robin

*

The Swim

However the next day I firmly put both of the McLaren's out of my mind and Mitch too for good measure. Though I had no phone, I usually communicated with my dad via email anyway and I had not heard anything from him via that route. If he was coming home this weekend, he certainly hadn't let me know.

I'd dressed in a bikini top, cover up and a wraparound skirt over my sandals, no panties which had me feeling super awkward. Since a test, predictably, last night had proven that getting wet with clothes on caused panties, shoes and pants to shred when my legs went from human to fishtail.

After breakfast I collected my towel and prepared to head out but paused in the den for a moment to check if anything needed to be tidied after yesterday. It was then I noticed my phone, casually lying on the coffee table as if I'd left it there myself. I stared, for a moment thinking I was imagining it but no that was really my phone.

Which could only mean that either Dev or Matt had gone to that cave and picked it up for me. But why leave it like that without saying anything? Was it because they didn't want to mention having been there?

When I grabbed it I saw that it still had battery, which meant it had been charged since I'd last seen it. It was dry, not sandy at all and seemed exactly the same as when I'd been forced to abandon it. However when I unlocked it and checked my history and such to see if anyone had used it I noticed a phone number had been added. There was no name to recognize it by, just a smiley face typed with symbols. I thought it could only be Matt who'd have done that...

Disconcerted just a little I left the phone on the coffee table where I found it while I headed outside. But any thoughts on how Matt could have gotten my phone out of that cave and why he hadn't mentioned it when he'd left it here last night fled my mind when I walked to the beach. Instead I felt my nerves tingle and excitement race through me. This time I had all day to test my swimming skills.

From our backyard there was a path to the dunes and onto the beach and just a five minute walk brought me to a relatively sheltered cove. With no one in sight I quickly stripped to my bikini top but hesitated over taking off the wrap skirt before I'd changed into a mermaid. When looking all around me assured me no one was in sight I shrugged out of that too and stashed it with my other clothes in a crevice behind the rocks. Giving myself no time to hesitate I ran into the water and dove under, letting the transformation take me fully submerged in the waves.

The wrenching shook my body but once it took hold I felt powerful. A strong sweep of my tail and I was propelled through the water at a speed I could never have managed with flippers and two legs. My eyes too worked much better underwater than they had before, allowing me to see far and deep all around me.

The next hours I spend exploring the nearby reefs and gullies in the strip of water near my home. Exploring also my ability to swim and maneuver in the water, the speeds I could reach was a lot of fun. But when I realized people were starting to appear on the beach I made an impulsive decision; I set out for Sharkfell Island.

I had to surface every five minutes or so to check my heading but there was little traffic in those waters. And no one should be headed to Sharkfell completely. I guessed that it took me nearly an hour altogether to swim to the island, it was a little farther than from the pier. I'd also gotten distracted several times when I saw something interesting on the bottom of the sea and once when a dolphin showed up and we darted around and played together for a while. That was absolutely amazing.

Once I neared Sharkfell I slowed down when I hit the reefs that surrounded the island in a half moon. Compared to what the reefs were like nearer the mainland, Sharkfell was a paradise. The reefs were so full of color and so alive with all kinds of sea creatures that I just sort of swam around in wonder, gaping at the beauty around me.

Holy crap there were a lot of different kind of fish, and so many of them sported these amazing colors. And they weren't afraid of me either, instead they came out and admired me the way I was admiring them. Some were even so curious that they let me pet them and while I'd never considered fish to be really pettable, under water like this they really kind of where. Not to mention the absolutely amazing pair of sea turtles that swam up with me for a little while, they were much bigger than I'd seen before and so agile it surprised me.

There were sharks too and the first I saw had me freeze and stare at it, rather terrified that it would decide to make a snack out of me. But it was smaller than me and though it swam towards me it exhibited much the same behavior the other curious sea life had displayed. In the end I tentatively stroked it across its face and down one flank and then the both of us parted ways rather hurriedly, as if both feeling awkward with the exchange.

It was right after that, when I quickly darted between a few rocky outcroppings that I had the shock of my life. I was going fast and as such had quite a bit of momentum, breaking underwater didn't work the same so though I froze at the sight I still hurtled on, my abrupt fight to stop causing me to go tail over head.

In the two seconds it all happened I hadn't the chance to really see him properly but enough to make my heart pound, enough to recognize him. Matt, sporting a tail just like me. Then my momentum had me collide with him with enough force that we both blew out air in a cloud of bubbles and spun around out of control in the water. At least, I was out of control, he gripped me round the middle and then dragged me upwards with ease before we'd even fully stopped spinning.

We broke the surface and I was gasping, in shock though really I shouldn't be this surprised. "You!" I exclaimed the moment I'd dragged air back into my lungs and he smirked, not once letting go of my middle and easily keeping us afloat with minute movements of his tail. "Dani," he deadpanned, "I thought we'd agreed you'd stop greeting me that way."

My hands were on his shoulders, my bikini clad torso pressed firmly against his chest so that I could feel the ridges of his muscles and the way they rippled with the movements of his tail. I couldn't see it now but that didn't mean I didn't notice other changes on him.

For instance his dark brown eyes had huge pupils and seemed much more vibrant than was normal for a human. More notable however were his ears, which had transformed into what could only be labeled as small ribbed fan like fins. They were black streaked with several dark shades of blue and utterly stunning. What was more, three lines ran on either sides of his neck and I'd already reached out a finger and stroked a tip across one before I could reign myself in. The line quivered, opening a little and I knew at once that he had gills.

"Holy crap..." I muttered, his transformation into a water creature was much more evolved than mine. Yes I had a scaly fish tail and I probably had the changed eyes too, but though I could stay underwater really long, I had no gills and no freaky fin like ears.

"Yeah, did you honestly think you could hide this from me Dani?" he said in a low voice and when I bit my lip his eyes zoned in on that little movement. "I just didn't know if I could trust you guys, if you were like this too..." I said, sounding rather uncertain and breathless, which I absolutely hated.

"Well, I am, my entire family is like this," he shot back and then he suddenly let go of me. I slid under water since I'd been limp in his arms but trashing my tail had me up in a flash and this time I kept my head above water myself while I glared at him. "This way, we need to talk," he said, head cocked while he grinned in response to my glare. Then he did something utterly showy, lifting his body half out of the water in a manner reminiscent of a dolphin jumping from the water. When he dove back under his tail flipped up out of the water, showing me that it was much bigger than mine and as black and blue as his ear fins.

I dove under after him, simply sliding back down in the water instead of jumping and then had to hurry to keep up with him. He was clearly much more experienced at maneuvering in the water and not just that, he knew the area, new his way around.

It was magnificent to see him, strong, big and muscled, his wide shoulders tapering into a slender waist and long, agile tail. His tattoos nearly shimmered under the water and they changed him from something out of a fair tale into something much more dark and dangerous. He was carrying some kind of pack on his back made of canvas and a knife strapped in a holster to his left bicep along with a diving watch. With a strap over his shoulder he was also carrying a harpoon gun.

Unlike my tail, which ended in a ribbed fan and displayed a great variation of reds and oranges and gold. His tail fin seemed much sleeker and less frilly, manly. And when I'd managed to catch up to him I could see that his hands were webbed and clawed, making them both useful tools and weapons.

I recognized where he was taking me when I saw the two rows of coral; like hedges running towards an underwater cave opening. The cave I'd gotten trapped in and which had most likely somehow started my transformation. I was immediately excited to see it again and didn't hesitate when he gestured for me to enter before him.

*

What did you guys think of Matt with a tail?

Much love,

Robin