I need time to replace what I gave away and my hopes, they are high, I must keep them small [Caleb]

[overdrawing]

After two years, the shift is easy. It's a simple matter of wanting to be, stepping into the water. The transformation is more fluid that it was in those early days; in the space of a breath there's a sea otter instead of a man. His eyes are bright and human and his thoughts are his own but Gabe always feels more liberated in this shape.

His siren form used to terrify him but now Gabe sees it as a gift. It's proof that the world isn't what the Bible told him, bigger than his parents let him believed. He's part of something ancient and magical and it comes from inside him rather than any contracts with the devil. It's like being gay, just a part of him and not inherently flawed. It's easier to believe both in these shape. 

So he leaves his clothes and his fears in the sand and swims.

Comments

[overdrawing]

Gabe nods. "Same place." They'd had to struggle a little with the rent but they'd made it work. Mira was a big sister to him now, though not in the way he regarded his biological sisters. They had been tutors and disciplinarians, sometimes playmates. Mira's a protective big sister, the kind who'll fight for him.

It's a strange concept.

"Do you want me to talk to her?"