Page 4 of Swimming With the Sharks

Foster continued.“Well, they did.They evensurvived the one that killed the dinosaurs, yet because of manwanting them for soup, destroying our environment, and so manyother factors many shark species are highly threatened withextinction.The sad thing is that people don’t understand just howimportant a shark is to all of us.Not just because they keep ouroceans clean, but because of everything we’ve gained from thembeing in existence to begin with.”

“Is that so?”Zotol asked, soundinginterested.

“Oh yes.Sharks have helped man design cars,water crafts and other things, but not just that.Did you know thatsharks bring in over three hundred million dollars a year to thosethat live on land and have created over ten thousand jobs?Takethis charter boat we’re on.People like me go to them just to getcloser to the sharks, and then you have locations that offer peoplethe opportunity to swim with sharks and just observe them.”Fosterreplied, knowing he sounded wistful, but couldn’t hide the factthat he really wished he could be one of those that got to go deepin the ocean and flow next to such a powerful beast.

“This is your greatest wish?You fantasize ofthis often?”Zotol asked.

There was nothing else Foster could do, but nodas he watched the last of the sharks disappear.

“Your wish is my command.”Zotol said as heraised his hands.

Foster turned in question to Zotol, seeing howthe man stood there with his arms held high and eyes closed,muttering something he couldn’t hear.The skies turned dark and thewaves grew high.The Captain shouted out, “Foster get below!”

As Foster went to do as the Captain asked, heheard the Captain over the loudspeaker, “All hands on deck!Allhands on deck!”

A large wave that had to be at least fifteenfeet, hit the boat and knocked Foster down.When the water startedreceding, Foster felt himself being pulled back and did what hecould to hold onto anything around him, but there wasn’t anythingstable enough for him to grip.Another large wave hit and coveredFoster, pulling him further to the edge.Foster gripped the side ofthe boat as hard as he could, but the next wave lifted him from theboat and pulled him deep into the churning waters.Holy shit!Hewas overboard!

CHAPTER 2

Jabari swam in the deep waters of the Atlanticocean.He loved the coolness against his leathery skin and howwonderful it felt to be one with the waters.It was a time he couldenjoy his friends of the ocean.Unlike those at his home lands,these creatures accepted Jabari, and knew he was no threat to themas long as they didn’t pose any danger to him.Jabari wished hispeople were as trusting, but Atlanteans were anything but that.Whowould be after what happened to them?

Swimming along, Jabari thought about howAtlantis came to be.There were so many tales about Atlantis, buthe liked his mother’s version she often told him duringbedtime.

If memory served Jabari right, Poseidon hadfallen in love with Cleito, from the island of Atlantia.He wantedher like no man had ever wanted a woman, and what the god of thesea wanted, the god of the sea got.

Poseidon called upon the waters and created atsunami like none other and sank the island.Knowing that his lovecouldn’t live underwater, and knowing her kind heart would hate himif he killed her people, Poseidon created a livable underwaterisland, and made it so the humans could breathe and swim underwateras well.He even went so far as to create many aqua-style shifters.Some were dolphins, whales, and sharks, but others were those ofmyths...mermen, sirens, and giant turtles known as Aspidochelone.Jabari’s own father was a Charonte and his mother an Adanc.It wasthis pairing that made him a pariah to his own people, since bothwere considered demons of Atlantis.

Jabari had few friends.Well he had one...Zotol.He had met Zotol centuries ago when the Jinn was travelingthe worlds, learning of all shifters and their habitats.Zotol hadswum with him often, that was until he met his mate, fell ininstant love and mated.What Jabari wouldn’t do to find his onetrue love.To have that one person to love and be loved by...tohave that one to hold at night, talk and share dreams and thewonders of life with...to have that one to care for, nurture andkeep safely by his side.Gods, he would do anything to make thatdream a reality.He often fantasized about what that specialsomeone would look like, feel like, smell like.

The soft sounds of Zotol filled the waters andgot Jabari’s attention.

Friend of the Atlantic, Jabari Hellister,hear me.Hear the great and powerful Zotol The Adventurer.Come tome in my time of need.Come to me and save the one you can callyour own.

What the fuck?

Not knowing what was going on, there was no wayJabari could ignore the call of his only friend.If Zotol neededhim for something, Jabari would be there and Zotol knew this.

Swimming faster than he had ever done before, itdidn’t take him but mere moments to get to his destination andbreak the surface of the water.

The ocean waters were rough, high waves crashingall around.At first Jabari didn’t see anything, but then a wavecrashed onto the deck of a recreation boat used to go for days out,so humans could fish and swim in the ocean.

One man stood on the stern side looking out intothe waters as three other men were scurrying about, yelling andshouting, “Man overboard!Man overboard!”

Ignoring the frantic calls, for now, Jabarifocused on the one standing and staring.It was Zotol.He wouldrecognize his friend anywhere.

Turning, Jabari looked in the same direction ashis longtime friend and noticed another man in the middle of thewater fighting the currents and waves in what looked like a losingbattle.A small lifesaving device seemed to float next to the manand he barely had time to grab it before another large wave pickedhim up, then tossed him at least twenty feet into the air, and tookhim farther and farther away from the boat.

Moving quickly, Jabari raced after the wave, butevery time he thought he was close enough another fucking wavewould come along and carry him further away.“Fuck, a god’s damnduck.Stop fucking moving!”

After they must have traveled fifty miles fromthe boat, finally the waves and ocean seemed to be calming andJabari was able to catch the man before another wave could take himaway.It took Jabari a little time to realize two very importantthings.The man was barely breathing, and he was also Jabari’smate.

Using his large bat-style wings, Jabari did theonly thing he could think to do, he wrapped his wings around theman so that he was fully protected from the waters.

His mate needed a healer and Jabari was going toget him to one.Dipping below the surface, Jabari swam fast andfuriously towards Atlantis.It was deep below the surface andJabari could only pray his mate wouldn’t die from the journey.Hismother had told him that as part Adanc he could do this, but Jabarihad never tried to take a surface dweller deep down to the bottomof the ocean before.He just prayed his mother had not been tellinghim fairy tales.

Once Jabari entered the great city, his bodybegan to shift from leathery hide skin to a tanned hue of man.Hiswings slowly changed to the arms and hands he needed to hold hismate and his long talon paws turned to feet and toes.Finally hissharp demon-style chin squared out as his fangs receded, followedby his pointed ears becoming half circles and the tiny horns justabove his temples flattened, then lastly his golden-lit eyes thatallowed him to see the dark surface of the ocean outside Atlantischanged to the deep navy blue he saw when looking in a mirror.Itwas odd when first shifting back, and often Jabari needed a momentto acclimate, however, at this moment, he didn’t have that luxury.No, right now he needed to get his mate to a safe place and bringthe healer in to help save his man.

Using his telepathy power, Jabari called out,“Great healer of our people I call unto thee.Please, I needyour help.”