Page 50 of Emerge

She left us and Olivia looked up at me. "I think I need the ocean water, not tap water. How am I going to get there?" Her brows drew together in thought. "Can you carry me?"

"I can try." She was small, so it was possible I could carry her the few blocks to the ocean. Maybe there was something I could wheel her with. "We need to cover your, uh, tentacles."

I grabbed a blanket and threw it over my shoulder before bending to pick her up. I decided to scoop her up like a baby, my arms under her tentacles. What should have been a move that threw out my back was actually nothing. Had I grown muscles?

"You're strong." She grabbed the blanket and spread it over her lower half. "Riley?"

"Yeah?" I adjusted her in my arms and walked to the door with her. She really was light, and I didn't know if it was because I was stronger or because her tentacles weren't heavy. They had to be though, there were eight of them.

"What if they kill me?" Her bottom lip trembled, and she distracted herself by leaning over to open the door for me.

I wasn't sure what the tritons would do once they saw her, but there was no use in her freaking out. "They won't. This isn't your fault."

I stopped at the top of the stairs and listened carefully. Ivy said she was going to get Aiden to leave, and I wondered if she had too. It was a lot to take in. Her best friend had a tail, and now there were tentacles growing out of a teenage girl.

Surprisingly, Ivy was sitting on the couch when we got to the bottom of the stairs. "We can take my car."

She grabbed her keys and mine, and we rushed out into the crazy weather that rivaled what I had seen on television during hurricane coverage. The wind had already destroyed the Halloween decorations, and across the street, a fence was down. It was the worst storm I'd ever experienced.

A giant crack of lightning hit something not far from the townhouse and the streetlights went off, dousing us in darkness. I climbed into the back with Olivia and started taking my clothes off.

Ivy looked in the rearview mirror. "What are you doing?" She drove toward the beach parking lot. I hoped it had cleared out from the event that had gone on.

"I'm going with her. I can't just leave her unprotected." I slid off my costume and covered my chest as I took off my bra. "It will be fine."

Olivia was staring out the window at the rain and I wondered what must have been going through her head. Were there even other creatures like her?

We got to the beach and my heart sped up seeing how far the tide had come in. Even at high tide it didn't reach where it currently was, which was a few feet from the parking lot.

I looked around, making sure no one was around, and then opened the car door, stepping out. The rain stung as it hit my bare skin and I scooped Olivia into my arms.

"Where should I wait for you?" Ivy had to practically yell for me to hear her over the wind and crashing waves.

"Go home. I'll find a phone when I'm on land again!" I gave my best friend one last look and then ran to the water.

I waded out far enough where the waves were getting gnarly and put Olivia down. She stripped out of her shirt, revealing breasts that were covered like mine with patches of scales.

She scooted along until a wave caught her, and then I lost sight of her. I dove into a wave just before it crashed, and it was like hitting a frozen wall.

A surge of panic took hold as I went under and still had my legs. I bobbed to the top just as another wave crashed and I somersaulted under the water. Why wasn't I shifting?

I clamped down on my panic and surfaced, taking a deep breath. I turned back toward the shore and started swimming as the next wave crashed into me. I hit the sand underneath me and my body buzzed with the shift.

"Olivia?" I couldn't see her anywhere in the churning water.

I swam out farther where the water was still rough but the waves weren't sending sand and white foam everywhere. She was floating, looking down at herself.

I blinked. Were her tentacles longer now? I approached cautiously and she looked up at me, her eyes shining silver.

"Umm, are you okay?" Of course she wasn't okay. Who would be okay if it looked like they had tentacles growing out of their vagina?

Her head turned to look out to sea. "He's here."

She took off without waiting for me, and I cursed before following. I didn't know exactly where I was going as I cut through the water, but I knew the general direction of the Pacific City by process of elimination.

Even if Olivia hadn't seemed to know where she was going there was no reason to worry because the farther we got away from shore, the more I felt an intuitive pull.

Olivia seemed to know exactly where she was headed as I caught up to her. She looked over at me, her face blank.

---