Page 16 of Drown Me Gently (Flipped Fairytales)

The magic clung to his tongue with the residual taste of metal, like iron ore and copper. Auren grimaced, trying to work some moisture into his mouth. He stirred and lifted his head. Sand coated his lashes as he blinked at the unforgiving light. He took a large pull through his gills.

Wait.

No— he inhaled.

Lungs expanded in his chest, and Auren snapped to full wakefulness, hands flying to his neck. Smooth skin met his fingertips. No gills. It had worked.

Oh, my gods. It worked. It actually worked!

The world came into focus. He was lying on warm, white sand, the breeze caressing his skin. The scent of the sea lingered, familiar. But now, it mingled with the smell of sunlight, pollen, the distant hint of woodsmoke, and… human cookfires?

Auren closed his eyes and tilted his head toward the sun.

The sun. The only constant in his life. The thing that had always been there, waiting above. Now, he could feel it without the ocean’s barrier. Without the weight of Poseidon’s power pulling him back. He sank his fingers into the sand, feeling every grain sift through his palms.

“I can’t believe it. I made it.”

He tried to roll over, to drag himself through the sand, only for two separate appendages to kick out from beneath him. He flinched, heart stuttering. Then looked down.

Holy shit.

Where his tail had been, there were now legs. Actual, human legs. He wiggled his toes experimentally.

Oh my gods. Oh my gods, oh my gods ? —

This was happening. This was real. He bent one knee, then the other.

His skin was smooth. No scales, no fins.

But also no hair. His body was hairless, unlike the men he’d glimpsed from beneath the waves.

His eyes traveled upward, taking in every unfamiliar detail of his new form.

Then he reached the apex of his thighs?—

Oh. So that’s what it looks like.

He’d imagined it, of course. Wondered. The anatomy of mammals, of humans.

If he was honest with himself, he hadn’t stopped thinking about it since Elias had offered him a viewing.

But it had all been speculation. Humans rarely stripped fully when near the sea.

He’d never seen one bare like this. Now, the proof was… undeniably attached to him.

“Well. That’s that, then,” he thought with finality, cheeks flushing at his own nudity. He’d need something to wear. He’d seen humans bare-chested, but never without covering their lower halves.

Pushing up on shaky arms, Auren used the nearby cliffside to steady himself and stand. His center of gravity was completely wrong. He swayed, limbs uncertain.

A puff of water burst in the distance. Then came the familiar, arcing rise of an orca’s back. The flash of that makeshift leather dorsal fin told Auren exactly who it was.

“Iska!” he shouted, voice hoarse.

She answered with a chirping whistle. Of course, she’d brought him here. He’d drunk the potion directly above Atlantis—too far from the beach. If not for his friend, he likely would’ve drowned right there, his body left to sink and settle on the palace roof.

He waved both arms overhead, showing her he was alright.

Iska clicked again, louder this time, then vanished into the waves with a powerful flick of her tail.

Auren stood there for a moment, chest aching.

How long had she stayed near the shore, waiting?

He’d saved her once. And now she’d saved him. His heart warmed.

A flash of white caught his eye. A washed-up tarp lay tangled in old lead lines where the waves lapped at the shore. He grabbed it, fashioning a makeshift skirt. His right hip was still exposed, but the delicate bits were covered. It would have to do.

Now all he had to do was…what?

I didn’t think I’d get this far.

His heart pounded with the weight of what came next. Elias. He had to find him. He wiped windblown hair from his face, blinking into the breeze.

Go to the port. Ask for directions. Someone has to know a human named Elias ? —

“Um. Are you lost?”

Auren spun around, startled. A human was approaching and…

Oh my gods. I can’t believe it. He found me.

Elias.

He stood a short distance away, barefoot on the sand, more casually dressed than Auren had ever seen him.

His dark hair was messy in the breeze. He wasn’t as tall as he’d appeared while Auren was on the deck of The Windless .

He was an inch or two shorter than Auren, though Auren had absolutely no reference for how tall he was, now that he stood on two legs.

Elias wasn’t rugged like some of the sailors Auren watched.

He was gorgeous, like a painting brought to life.

It might have been a coincidence. Or maybe Elias finding him was a sign from the gods. An omen that this is where Auren was meant to be.

Auren’s heart launched into his throat. Elias stared, frozen in place, recognition blooming in his eyes.

Auren opened his mouth to speak, to finally introduce himself but?—

But nothing came out. He frowned. Cleared his throat. Tried again.

Still nothing.

No. No, no, no!

Some potions had side effects. He knew that. But this ?! Now, when he was so close?! Tears welled in his eyes, stinging hot against the sun. He stared helplessly at the human of his dreams, tongue useless, voice gone. Elias took a few slow steps forward, eyes wide.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly. “You just… you look like someone I—” He swallowed. “Someone I know.”

Closer still. And with him came scent; sunlight on linen and … something else.

“I’m sorry, are you…” Elias trailed off again, uncertain.

Then Auren saw it. A faint glimmer beneath Elias’s shirt collar. He reached, fingers trembling. Elias didn’t pull away. Auren pulled the necklace free—a string of smooth seashells. His necklace. The one he’d given Elias all those weeks ago.

Auren traced the familiar shape, eyes brimming with tears.

He met Elias’s gaze—sky blue locked with ocean deep—and touched the necklace, then his own chest. Then back to the necklace.

“You’re saying…” Elias whispered. “You’re the one who gave me this?”

Auren nodded enthusiastically. He pointed to his legs, then back up at Elias with a hopeful, half-panicked look.

“Yes, I can see that,” Elias said, laughing—and gods, that laugh. It was the sound of waves against a warm shore. Auren wanted to settle deep in its softness.

He reached out, resting his hand on the necklace and, by extension, on Elias’s exposed skin. The warmth of him. The rhythm of his heart. Elias gently took his hand in his own, calloused and real.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” he murmured. “My beauty of the sea.”

Then, like a storybook prince, he lifted Auren’s hand to his lips and pressed a soft kiss to his knuckles.

“Will you…,” he hesitated. “Will you come with me? Can I show you my world?”

Auren nodded, eyes shining. He didn’t recoil when their fingers intertwined.

He leaned into it. This was everything he wanted.

Someone who saw him. Who chose him. Who loved him.

The side effects of the potion would wear off eventually.

Then they could talk about anything and everything. Then they could be together completely.

The breeze shifted, fluttering Elias’s dark hair and sending his scent into Auren’s nose again.

Salt. Sweat. Sunlit warmth. And— something else. Something trying to stay hidden. Sharp and wrong and rotten.

Decay.

Auren coughed lightly, trying to clear it from his throat.

A dead fish, maybe. Washed up nearby and carried on the wind.

He wasn’t going to let it ruin this. Not now.

Not when everything he ever wanted was finally within reach.

This was his moment. His perfect world. The one he had the bravery to claim for himself.