“Hey,” she yells, waving you over. “Check this out!”
You make your way to her quickly. She proudly holds up a necklace, formed of laced sparkling pearls. The center is a chunk of finely carved coral, framing a gem
that appears to be aquamarine. Water drips slowly from it, enriching its beauty.
“Wow,” you say, amazed at the beauty of the jewelry. “Where’d you get that?”
Michelle points to the ground. You notice a small puddle of water by one of the globes. “It was just sitting there.”
“Wonder who it belongs to?”
Michelle laughs. “Me, obviously. I don’t see anyone else around here, do you?”
You grimace. She’s always been a little selfish about found things. “C’mon, that’s probably a family heirloom or something. We oughta tell lost-and-found about
it.”
“I don’t remember any lost-and-found around here,” she snapped. “Besides, I’ve always wanted something like this. It reminds me of the diving trip I took with my
parents in Cancun.”
Elegantly, she slips the pearls over her head. She takes utmost care in guiding the pendant down to her chest, letting the coral rest comfortably against her skin. “It
fits me. Admit it.”
You shrug. “It does look good on you. Let’s go.”
“Now you’re talkin’,” she beams. “Let’s check out that cavern!”
She runs off in the direction of a small cavern opening. You run after her, trying hard to keep up. The sound of bubbling water looms loudly in your ears.
Michelle reaches the source of the sound before you. A gurgling pool spreads far and wide in a cavern of damp limestone. She steps tentatively to the edge of the
pool. Warmth ripples across her skin, generated by a glowing coral pendant.
You enter the cavern in time to see your friend approach the water’s edge. “Be careful!”
Michelle looks down into the water. Her eyes are filled with longing. She nods her head. “Yes. Yes, I understand.”
“Huh? Understand what?”
She reaches behind her head, seizing the neck of her T-shirt. Smoothly, she pulls it over her head, callously tossing it behind her. She undoes the straps on her bra,
still talking to no one. “That would be wonderful.”
You’re taken completely aback! Why is she getting topless here, of all places? And whom is she talking to?
She has already opened her belt before you pick your jaw up from the floor. Her jeans slide to the cool stone ground, joined quickly by her blue lace panties. “I
accept.”
You take her shoulder and spin her to face you. “Michelle, accept what? Have you lost your…”
Her lips quickly meet yours before you can finish, locking you in a deep kiss. She strokes your hair as she breaks contact. Her face betrays fulfillment and sadness
at the same time.
“I have to go. I just didn’t want to leave the surface world before I did that.”
Without another word, she turns and leaps into the pool, diving with Olympic grace.
Michelle wishes her friend could have come with her. Maybe he still can.
The coral necklace basks in the warmth of the sea. It spreads its light, wrapping the human in a nimbus of deep blue radiance.
The water carries the tang of the ocean; it connects directly to not only Atlantis, but also to every major body of water on the planet.
She knew this instinctively, as she knew what she now was. Fearless, she took a deep breath, flooding her lungs with water. There was burning for only a second.
The tissues quickly reform, adapting her body to pull oxygen from the water. The flesh of her neck opens painlessly in triple slits, connecting her new gills to her
lungs.
She glides and twirls in the water as her skin sectioned and pitted, overlapping into a network of small scales. Curly brown human hair falls away, forgotten
immediately as the current carries it away. Her nails curve and hook into long talons as the natural webbing between them expands and anchors itself to the highest
joints. Her teeth thin and sharpen, reminiscent of barracuda fangs.
Michelle pushes through the wondrous depths, enthralled with the transformation and endowment of her greatest wish. The oceans were hers now; she belonged to
them, and they to her. She gazes at the rough ocean floor through wide-pupils, protected behind her newly developed second clear eyelids.
The necklace is the link. Only one who was destined to be part of Atlantis could have found it.
Pressure swells from Michelle’s back, and she arches her body as cartilage swells and fans out, producing a long, billowing fin. Similar transformations follow at her
forearms and the center and back of her head.
She was brought here to join them, the others who had gone before her. The Atlanteans…
Her kicking synchronizes as her legs meet, her scaly skin growing together. Her limiting human bones melt away and remerge as the appendages fuse into a shapely
tail. Her feet thin and extend, blooming into delicate fins.
The nimbus fades, drawing itself back into the gem. The necklace snaps at the back, the pearls drifting apart in the water as the coral centerpiece sinks to the ocean
floor.
Michelle pays it no heed. She does not need it anymore, and shows no concern as it fades into the depths. The young Atlantean moves deftly through the water,
intent on finding more of her kind.
You are still at the pool, where your naked friend has just drowned herself. She’s been under for three minutes now! Granted, she’s a great swimmer, but she can’t
hold her breath that long. No human being can. She must have sunk to the bottom of the pool; you reach in, but can’t feel her.
What made her do that? You need answers, but more importantly, you’ve got to do something!