Tetrology Of The Sea - Book 2: Until the Sea🪼

Seven

"What?" Lacy said as Jude stared down at her.
"I said that I'm breaking up with you."
The color of her face changed even under her makeup into a hue of red that Jude had never seen on a girl before.
"You dare break up with me?! What gives you the right?!"
"Uh, the fact that you're trying to control me like a puppet, threatening my friends, driving me to drink? Oh and you make my life Hell!"
"HELL?! I'LL GIVE YOU HELL!!! Is it Esper? Did she finally convince you that you should love her or whatever weird obsession you have with that idiot girl?"
"Noooo, this actually had to do with my mother. She's been wanting me to break up with you for a long time but I told her that you could change and I'd be alright. But when she saw that I was drinking, she made me see that you were turning me into my father and I didn't want to be like him. So, I'm breaking up with you."
He left, feeling a weight lift from his chest that had been there for far too long.
"What about Esper? If you break up with me, I swear I will do what I told you I would."
Jude turned to her and gave her a cocky grin.
"I'd like to see you try."
He turned back and smiled at himself, wanting to get one last drink for the triumph of breaking up with Lacy.

******************************

Esper noticed that Jude was looking a lot better and bouncier than usual. It had been a couple of weeks since the drinking incident and he seemed more like his old self. She still tried to avoid him for the sake of her sanity and feelings but it was nice to see him looking like he used to.
"Your friend seems a little different these past few weeks." Jessen said as he leaned on the lockers.
Esper smiled. "Yeah, he looks a lot better. I wonder what happened."
"If my sources are correct, he broke up with that girl he was dating." Arix said as he waved to a couple of girls who walked past and waved at him.
Jessen and Esper looked at him as he looked back at them
"What?"
"When did you become so popular with the ladies?" Esper said with a grin.
"I was asked to be on the basketball team but I'm not any good. I don't know what basketball is or what the point of it is..."
"Sooo, you're on the basketball team now?"
"No, I'm on the swim team."
Esper gasped. "The swim team?! If you-"
"I have that figured out."
Jessen rolled his eyes. "Are you sure you guys are cousins? You act like you're dating or something."
"Look who's to talk." Esper said. "People think we're dating and all you've done is just hang around me for the past three weeks."
"Is that a bad thing?" he said with a grin.
"Ugh... I'm going to class."
Arix and Jessen watched her walk off and Jessen looked up at Arix as he looked down at him. Arix narrowed his eyes at Jessen.
"I know what you are and I know what you're doing. I don't appreciate you trying to move in on my cousin."
"She's not even really your cousin; don't get your panties in a wad." He pushed off the lockers with his shoulder and then turned around. "Oh, and keeping your sex life a secret from her will only get you trouble. It'll come out sooner or later and... probably not pleasantly." He hummed and put his hands in his hoodie pocket. "Later, bro."
Arix made a face as he too went to his next class.

****************

The weekend came and Esper decided that she wanted to go for a little swim for the first time in a while. She hadn't been to the ocean and she hadn't freely let her tail out in a while. It had always been so odd to do so and it was a thrill to breathe underwater but the thought of someone finding her always kept her away.
"Hey, Dad?"
"Yeah?" he said, sipping coffee.
"I want to bring out my tail today; I feel a little whimsical."
He laughed. "Is that so?"
"Anyway, where is a safe place I can do it and not get caught or studied or whatever?"
"Uh... Hmm, that's a good question."
"I found this pretty cool cave on the west end of the beach when I was out walking with Nemo the other day. It was pretty secluded considering the cave started pretty far out in the water. I was actually thinking out going out there to explore myself." Kurai said.
"Did you want to come with me? I mean, as long as you look away when we get out there and all..."
"Of course. I don't want to see your ugly naked butt."
"May I come? I haven't experienced my other form yet and I think it would be interesting." Arix asked.
"Let's make it a family affair."
"Aw, Dad..." the two groaned.
"Oh no you don't; you promised you'd take this little girl out for Nemo Day." Shana said, putting her hands on Nemo's shoulders.
"Yeah, Daddy! Nemo Day!"
Esper could tell her father looked a little saddened that he couldn't go with them but Shana also didn't like it when they all turned into their sea creature forms. It excluded her from the family even though Travis tried to get her to go in the water with them. She couldn't form a tail but Travis reassured her that he would be there with her and never leave her side, but she said she could tell it wasn't as fun for him to stay above water level with her and so she just never went.
"Anyway, we'll be fine. If this place is as secluded as Kurai says then we'll be alright."
"Just be careful of sharks."
"Tell them you'll let your grandfather know if they cause trouble and he'll tell Crowt about them." Travis said.
"Will do!"
They all clamored out of their seats to get their temporary swimsuits on.

*************

"Ah, this feels nice! Walking the beach is so fun." Kurai said, stretching his arms over his head. "I haven't seen my tail in such a long time I forgot what color it is."
"Me too." Esper said, looking down at her halfway decent legs. "If nothing else, at least our tails give us nice legs."
"Not to sound gross or anything but I've never seen you in your full seahorse form. I mean, I know how it is for a guy but how is it for a girl?"
"Guess you'll just have to find out!" she said, running down the beach.
The others followed her, Arix keeping up like a gazelle with his long legs.
"Hey, Arix, do you know how long your tail is?"
"I wouldn't know. I haven't turned into this form before so it will be interesting."
They finally reached the rocks that Kurai had been talking about and he pointed at the extent of them.
"The cave is at the end of these rocks."
"How do you know there's a cave there?"
"Because I climbed the rocks and walked over there. I had Nemo with me so I couldn't go swimming, so she hung onto my back as I walked it."
"Don't tell Mom about that." Esper stopped at the rock facing. "Well, let's strip."
They all took off their clothing, Esper being the quickest and she ran into the water, squealing from the cold. She braved the wave that came up though and headed more into the ocean. When she was covered up to her neck, she relaxed and allowed her body to change form. She felt her legs meld together and curl at the end and small fins begin to come out of her arms. She felt her eyes get bigger and move just a little to the sides and the dorsal fin erupt from her back. She felt it fan around to help her move about in the water.
"You look creeepyyy." Kurai said with a smile, which made him look creepier than her.
"You both look rather interesting."
They looked over at Arix who looked pretty normal up top.
"Aw, you look normal..." Esper said with a frown.
"Come on and let's go play in the cave!" Kurai said, diving under the water.
The other two followed and they went to explore the cave.

**************

Jude had broken up with Lacy almost three weeks ago and he was a free man. Today, he decided he wanted to jog the beach. He hadn't been able to do that in a long time and he missed it. He needed to figure out a way to get back on Esper's good side. Just declaring that he had broken up with Lacy wasn't going to mend the hurts he had done to her over the past two years. It definitely wasn't going to fix the issue that started it all.
Ironically as he put on his jogging attire, the movie Enemy Mine was on. He often wondered what he would have done in Dennis Quaid's situation in regards to his alien friend having a child. What would he have done about the child? He really had no idea because men didn't get pregnant but he wanted to express to Esper that he was okay with that odd fetish. Even if she dreamed about it happening to him, he was still okay with that. It wouldn't happen so...
He turned off the TV and went for his jog on the beach.

*************************

As he came across the end of the line, he saw the large rocks that separated the private part of the beach with the community beach and sighed. He didn't realize he had run so far. He was famished and decided to take a rest when he got to the rocks. He leaned against them and took out the ear buds to just calm down a little. The air had been getting crisper as the day went on so he really didn't need water, although he wished he'd have brought some with him.
He looked around at the quiet place and thought about how this would be a nice place to bring Esper to talk.
"Or to kill someone." He said morbidly with a grin.
As he said it, he looked down and saw abandoned clothing on the ground. He suddenly heard joyful yells and looked out into the water. He saw some people riding waves into shore but not on surfboards. They seemed to be caught in the actual wave and were using it as a propeller to get back to shore. He watched with a smile, kind of wanting to go swimming himself when the people washed up onto the shore.
They weren't people.
Two of them had tails like seahorses that were curled but one of them was obviously a girl since she had breasts. The other was more merman-ish but had a very long tail with a teeny tiny fin at the bottom and almost nonexistent fins that stuck out where the torso met the tail. They were all laughing and all made their way to shore and propped themselves up on their elbows. The two seahorse creatures uncurled their tails.
"That was a blast!" the seahorse guy said. "We'll have to do this a little more often."
"Yeah..."
Jude didn't want disturb them and thought maybe he was seeing things (he knew he should have brought a water bottle with him) when the girl turned over. She looked up and stopped smiling immediately.
"Oh shit."
"What?" the guy said, turning over too. He looked at Jude. "Shit."
The other guy just leaned back but seemed disinterested.
Jude could only stare at them in complete confusion.
"Esper? Kurai?" he asked, walking a little toward them.
"I can explain. I really can." Esper said, grabbing her towel and trying to dry off as quickly as possible.
"You're... not human..."
"I am! Well, I mean... Not fully... Just give me a second and I can explain okay?"
Jude didn't want to try and register anything at the moment and just walked off in a daze.