Taken By The Shark

Erik’s face fell in stunned surprise as he stared at Mark. He blinked a few times, then asked, “Have I really behaved that poorly?”

“Yes,” all the women chimed in at the same time.

“Well, sir, I’m sorry,” he said, and his face actually went white. “I guess I kind of lost it there for a while, huh? I hope you can forgive me. I really don’t want to be cut from the team over this.”

“There’s still a few weeks left,” Mark said then. “Modify your behavior, and we’ll see how it goes.”

“Yes, sir!” he agreed. “I’ll do my very best. You’ll see.”

“Good,” said Mark with a nod. “Glad I won’t have to leave another one at the bottom.”

Everyone laughed at the expression on Erik’s face as he thought about what their lead instructor had just implied. He looked like he wasn’t sure Mark was joking or not, and the inscrutable smirk he wore gave no clue either.

*****

Another week went by, and Chelsea was going completely crazy with hormones. She was getting to the point of not wanting to go anywhere near Mark for fear that she was going to attack the man if he didn’t sate her just a little bit. But how did a girl go about telling her man something like that, anyway?

For his part, Mark was doing his level best not to let Chelsea be a distraction, but things were quickly getting to the point of no return. Yesterday, after the others had gone to bed, she had snuck back down to the docks and into his boat after just a tiny bit of cajoling on the communicators. He’d really only been teasing, but she had actually done it.

Their kisses got hot and heavy to the point that he had to make her leave just so he wouldn’t ravish the poor girl. He definitely didn’t want to do that. He had a very particular reason for avoiding s*x that had nothing to do with getting her pregnant, but how was he supposed to tell her about his nocturnal life? He may very well frighten her away completely if he did that!

Sighing, Mark stripped off all his clothes and slipped out onto the deck of his personal boat, checking to make sure he was unobserved as he did so. In another instant, he dove off the end and into the shallow water, then swiftly submerged.

As he went, his body stretched out to twice its length and darkened to gray on top and a lighter tone on the bottom. His arms and legs became fins, and his face stretched and grew several rows of teeth. The golden light that shone as all this took place was only a pulse of about five seconds. That’s all the longer it took for the transformation from man to shark.

As always, he enjoyed the speed as he quickly swam away. He had promised his father a visit before this, yet he’d been putting it off. However, since his mood hadn’t changed on the matter of the girl, there was only one thing that he could do. He needed permission to invite Chelsea to join them. It was really the only way he could ever be with her.

As he dove down to six thousand feet—further than any human could possibly go—he knew exactly what he wanted to say. He just wasn’t sure what the old man’s reply was likely to be.

King Paribdus had always been after his son to mate with one of the females and remain below with him, but that wasn’t what Mark wanted to do. He was too much like his grandfather, it seemed.

The towering wall of coral that marked the entrance to the city loomed large and forbidding before him now, but Mark was used to it, and simply continued on his way. The other sharks swished their tails in greeting as he passed, and he swished his own in return.

Beyond the coral barrier, the city itself spread out before Mark, and he could see all the magical creatures who lived there going about their daily lives. Had he tried to view this place through human eyes, of course, he wouldn’t have seen anything but total darkness since there wasn’t much light down here. However, to him it looked very much like a cloudy day would to someone up above.

“Stubborn as ever, I see,” said a soft voice from behind him. “You insist on wearing only natural forms. At any rate, your father’s waiting for you in the tubes. He’s been rather impatient all day, so I would tread lightly if I were you.”

“That’s not what I wanted to hear,” Mark replied in shark language. His mother, who was currently a mermaid, laughed and shrugged her shoulders, and then swam away again.

Mark went on into the long tubes that littered the sea floor in this place, and soon found the ancient creature he sought. King Paribdus was a creature which humans might recognize as a titan, though he hardly looked like the image their scholars had portrayed. He had also taken on mer-form, and when he took notice of Mark’s shape he rolled his eyes.

“Caerulus, my son, when will you finally learn to accept your true nature, and stop venturing to the world of man?” he wanted to know. “Mibdus did you no favors by teaching you the spells of transformation. You should be at home where a prince of the realm belongs, not up there teaching humans how to dive down to find us one day.”

“I doubt they’ll ever come down to this place,” Mark scoffed. “Not with the magical seal you’ve placed upon it.”

“Still, I cannot like it.”

“What if I were to tell you I think I’ve found a true mate at last?” he asked, bracing himself for his father’s roar. It didn’t come.

“Is she human, then?” was his only reply

“She is,” he said. “But a much superior one to the others. I don’t believe she would be at all frightened to learn the truth.”