Free Shifting (Swans Landing) by Shana Norris

her breath. “Whoa there, Fish Boy,” she said, laughing shakily. “Where did that come from?”
    I wasn’t in the mood to talk. “Let’s go swimming.”
    I kicked off my jeans and then pulled her into the water with me, sinking low into the rippling waves. The ache of the change started deep in my bones and I turned back to Elizabeth, kissing her again. I didn’t want to let her go as my body shuddered and we slipped under the water, my bones popping and skin shredding into scales.
    We resurfaced once the change was complete, Elizabeth coughing and gasping for air. “Some of us can’t breathe underwater,” she reminded me.
    I pushed a lock of wet hair away from her face. “Be glad you can’t.”
    Elizabeth laid back on the surface, stretching her arms out to the sides. “I thought you fish people all loved to be in the water.” She squinted in the late afternoon sunlight. “Where were you anyway? And what happened to your face?”
    I ignored her questions. “Sometimes I want things to be simple. To be one person instead of two.”
    “To be human?” Elizabeth asked.
    I shrugged. “Maybe.”
    “Being human isn’t always as simple as you think,” Elizabeth said. “Sometimes even we have to be two people, whether we want to or not.”
    I studied her, thinking of the Elizabeth Connors I saw at school and the Elizabeth Connors that swam here with me now. How many different Elizabeths were there inside her?
    And which one was real?
    “What’s this all about, Elizabeth?” I asked.
    She blinked. “What?”
    I gestured from her to me. “This. What is this about?”
    She moved toward me, slipping her arms around my neck. “Whatever you want it to be about.”
    I pulled out of her grasp. “I’m not Kyle or one of those other dumb guys that follows you around. Why are you doing this? What exactly are you getting out of playing around with me?”
    She turned her head, looking at the surface of the water next to me. I wrapped my hands around her waist, helping to keep her head above the waves.
    “I don’t want to leave the island,” she said at last.
    “Why would you leave?”
    She turned her gaze back to me, her forehead wrinkled into a deep scowl. “Because my daddy says we’ll die if we stay here. The fish are disappearing, Dylan. The tourists aren’t coming. The humans and the finfolk don’t get along. People like your best buddy Lake Westray are driving my daddy out of business. We’re going to have to leave to find work. We’ll have to move.”
    My grip on her waist went slack for a moment and she slipped under. I quickly steadied her as she coughed out a mouthful of water.
    “So you think if you mess around with me, I can convince Lake to do what? Let your daddy have all the good fishing spots?”
    Elizabeth shot me a withering look. “Don’t flatter yourself, Dylan. You’re not that important in my daddy’s eyes.”
    “Then what part do I play in this?” I asked.
    Her eyes looked red, but I couldn’t tell for sure if that was from tears or the salt water. “I’m sick of being afraid. I’ve grown up hearing my daddy tell me how bad all of you are. But Mara saved his life, and then that day at the dock, with Kyle, you stood up to him. For me.” She swallowed, blinking quickly. “I thought maybe I could find a way to stay if we weren’t all so afraid of each other.”
    I shook my head. “You have a chance I don’t have. You can leave this island and find something better.”
    Elizabeth’s jaw twitched. “I see all of you people swimming and fishing and living your lives as if the rest of us don’t even exist. It doesn’t matter if we’re here or not, all of you will still manage to survive. You’re tied to this island in a way we aren’t. It’s not fair. This is my home too.”
    I hated the way she said “you people,” as if we were completely separate from her.
    “So how do I fit into all of this?” I asked through clenched teeth.
    Elizabeth’s lips looked bluer