Free Sea Dweller (Birthstone Series) by Melanie Atkinson

with the
story I’d heard tonight, could it? I had to admit there was something special,
even powerful, about the stone. But, if the Vairdan legends were true, a jewel
like the one I’d found hadn’t been seen on the island since the arrival of
Vairda’s first settlers.
    I stared at the stone again,
immersed in its beauty and the life it exuded.
    If it really does have
powers like the legends , I asked
myself, what does it do?
    As soon as I asked the
question, a queer jolt coursed through my body. A whisper of knowledge rippled
through my blood, like a lost memory only my instincts understood.  My eyes
settled on the sea and an image drifted through my mind, so fleeting it almost
escaped before my confused brain could clamp down on it. I closed my eyes,
searching out the thought and suddenly I envisioned myself in the water, alone,
swimming as only a Vairdan could. No, swimming better than a Vairdan. I was one
with the water, one with the sea, and I had never been apart from it. In my
blood coursed the salt of the ocean and through my body ran the veins of the
Sea Gem, claiming me as kin. I was powerful in the water, as if my hands and
feet were made to control it. I was a sea dweller returning to where I
belonged.  
     I opened my eyes with a
gasp. Something had changed. I still held the stone, but it had molded into my
palm and the skin on my hand looked different in the whitewash of moonlight. It
shone, like the stone.
    I put my fingers to my face
and examined my forehead, eyes, nose, and mouth. They too felt odd. There were
no gills or fins but there was something different. A new layer. A firm,
translucent skin stretched tightly over my original skin, forming a coating.
    It began at my hair line,
molded into my forehead and temples, and spread over my face. My nose and ears
were completely covered but I was still able to open my mouth, the strange skin
having stopped at my lips. From my mouth it spread down my chin and neck, over
my shoulders and chest and the rest of my body, including under my clothing.
    I stood and turned around a
couple of times to see myself from different angles in the moonlight. My body
glistened as though wet but felt soft, like flesh. With my nose completely
encased, it took several moments to work up the courage to shut my mouth. It
was then I realized the skin produced air. I inhaled several times through my
nose, wondering if the air would run out but the new layer seemed to create
enough for each breath I took. My lips curled into a smile.
    I turned my attention to the
ocean. At night, it had always made me uneasy. Now, standing on its shore with
a Sea Gem in my hand, all sense of fear was lost. Instead, I longed to be
welcomed to its depths. 
    For a moment, I stared at the
jewel in my palm, tracing it with my fingers. Comforted by the smooth coldness
of the rock pressing into my skin, I began to run toward the water. I moved
with more agility than ever before and with each breath, a gush of sweet, cool
air expanded my lungs.
    When I reached the water’s
edge, a sound startled me. Pausing, I listened, thinking the noise of the
festival had carried in the breeze. But I was wrong. It was a lone human voice.
And it was much too near to be coming from the celebration.
    I turned to see Sai running
desperately in my direction.  He called my name once and began to sprint
faster.
    I gasped. I couldn’t let him
know about the stone! How could I trust him? And out of all people, he was the
last person I wanted to speak with at the moment.
    Ignoring him, I turned again
to the water. It had a voice now and it called out to me with every wave that
broke over the sand. My toes touched a crest and I was surprised to feel they
too seemed to derive oxygen from the strange coating.
    “Aylen, wait!” Sai hollered,
but the sounds of his feet pounding on wet, packed sand and his breath coming
in hard puffs didn’t sway me as they once would have. 
    I stepped into the surf and
it washed over my