Marina pulled her attention away from her new changes and scanned the water for the boat dock. She had gotten much nearer to it during her dive. She angled forward and swam across the surface, her tail rising and falling just beneath the water line. She loved having new ways to swim. A part of her wanted to turn back and do some more diving, try out tricks, test the limits of her lungs underwater, anything but go back to that dumb boat and the real world.
"Real." The word rolled around in her mind. This was real, too. There was no denying that. But the reality of her new suit--her new state of being--was at odds with everything else about her life. If she couldn't find a way to get out of this thing and go back to normal, what kind of life waited for her beyond this beach?
The internet would have something for her. It had an answer for everything. Most of the time, they were wrong answers, but Marina felt savvy enough to distinguish the helpful factoids from the misleading ones. And maybe nobody had responded to her posts yet. Even better! That would give her more time to enjoy--
Her eyes went wide as she spotted it. There was another car up the gravel road leading to the beach, very close to hers. But there was no one on the beach. She would have seen them much sooner than this. She was very close to the boat now. She dipped lower in the water, keeping only her dorsal fin and the upper half of her head exposed.
Too little, too late. Her ears shot upward--they actually moved--at the gasp and the gruff exclamation from a man on the end of the dock. "What in all the world?!" From his vest and wavy-brimmed cap, it was pretty obvious Marina had just been spotted by a fisherman. He was in his forties or fifties. His hair and mustache were almost a perfectly balanced blend of brown and gray. He must have just arrived, the boat having hid him from view as he walked down the dock. In his hands were a pole and a large tackle box. It seemed heavy, as he had shifted his stance upon seeing her and still continued to wobble slightly. She had made quite the impression.
Marina froze. She was only feet away from him. There was no hiding her bodysuit at this range. The water was too clear. He could probably see everything. And even if not, her teal hair and weird ears broadcast that she wasn't a typical swimmer. She wasn't ready for this much of the real world to come crashing in. The panic that gripped her mind made her feel like she had been sleepwalking, miles from home and with no idea how she got there. She locked eyes with the bewildered man. Her mouth dropped open as she fought her panic and tried to think.