The water became gradually saltier as he started swimming around again. Marcus was starting to feel like an animal, stuck in a fishbowl while his owners fed him from above. He needed to ditch the gills somehow, and get back on land. Play video games, do homework, do something. He had a long tail at that point, with a fishlike or eellike fin portruding from its end. His fins, he'd noticed, were a dark blue with highlights the color of his hair, and his apparent scales were turning his skin a green color. An awkward question came to mind after a short while. He had to use the bathroom.

He raised his new claws above water to wave his mother over. She came to the edge of the pool and ducked her head in, transforming her snout, eyes, ears, and gills. "What's the matter, Marcus?"

"I need to go to the bathroom," he admitted awkwardly, not used to his new snout. "What am I gonna do?"

"Hmm. Hold your breath, and be careful of your tail. Don't worry about the water, we'll clean it up."

Marcus sighed and swam with increasing ease to the stairs leading out of the pool. He hurried to the doorway, then gave a second thought and went to the edge of the pool to take a new breath of water. He then continued on his quest toward the bathroom. What his parents ended up doing was filling the bathtub in there with water so that he could take an extra breath to get him back to the pool.

Mrs. Geraldi brought a beach ball and filled it with water for Marcus to play with. With his arms turning into webbed flippers with claws, holding things was getting a little awkward, so the ball was useful for practicing picking things up. He thought about how absurd all of this was, though at this point he had to believe his parents. Seeing all that had happened that day, what reason did he have to not believe them?

His mother saw him practicing picking up and putting down the ball, so she threw some other pool toys in to the water. A hula hoop, a rope, pool noodles, an inner tube, pool rings, and water guns were tossed into the pool at random. Marcus certainly had plenty to mess with. He especially appreciated the inner tube and pool noodles. He was sure learning how to deal with both sunken and floating objects would be highly useful for when he started going in the -gulp- ocean.

He thought this while playing with a pool ring, which he then got stuck around his snout. He panicked briefly about it, but once he got it off, his mother had brought fish. He took a deep breath and stuck his head above water. She threw the fish at him, to his surprise, and he did his best to catch it. He failed, of course, but after a few tries and new breaths of water, he managed to start catching the fish in his mouth. He found that raw fish was even better than cooked fish, as his mother had bought sashimi.

It was only a few more minutes before his sister came home. He stuck his head above water again, and managed to only barely understand what was being said.

"-heard that Marcus went home early today. Is he okay?" His sister sounded concerned.

"Why don't you come see for yourself," Mrs. Geraldi suggested, leading Meranda toward him. He watched Meranda walk cautiously and confusedly toward the pool with a curious worry. She looked around. Marcus popped his head up further above water. Her eyes fell on him as they widened. At first, she didn't say a word.

"M-Marcus?" Meranda ventured, highly uncertain and almost frightened by her brother's draconic appearance. "You're a ...dragon..."

"Yes, he is. And you are, too, my dear," their mother informed her. "A cute little sea dragon girl. Now, why don't you take a swim with your brother? He's pretty much stuck there for now, and I'm certain he's bored."

Meranda seemed unsure at first, but she had no proof that her mother was wrong. She changed clothes to be in her bathing suit and stepped into the pool. "That explains why the house is flooded," she sighed. "Alright, big bro, just don't eat me and we should do fine."

He raised a dark blue line over his eye that had likely replaced his eyebrow. He didn't seem to like that comment. He swam to the other end of the pool to avoid her teasingly. She followed him, and he swam effortlessly to the other end yet again. She huffed, and did her best to chase him, but he was much too fast. There was less doubt in her mind then that this creature was indeed her brother.

"Hey Marcus," she said, annoyed. He looked at her with curiosity. "We're in seawater. The water's so nice and salty, and I'm sure we could get sand and kelp and live stingrays in here too."

Marcus felt a large hole seemingly open up through his chest as a wave of fright washed over him. He jumped out of the pool using a tactic similar to a dolphin's, and flopped a bit on the poolside, having forgotten to hold his breath. He coughed before ducking his head underwater again.

"Alright, now I'm a hundred percent sure you're my brother. Why are you so scared of the ocean, anyway?"

He glared at her in reply. She scratched at her neck nervously. "I'm thirsty," she told him quickly. "I'll be right back."

He watched her with great curiosity as she chugged a glass of lemonade, then quickly got some water to chug that down too. She scratched at her neck, seeming confused.

"Come on, sis," he whispered to himself, feeling great concern for his sister. "Get back in the pool... Get back in the pool..."

She chugged half a glass of water and brought the other half with her back to the poolside. Marcus brought his ears and eyes above water again to listen to and watch her.

"I think I've had enough swimming for one day," she told him. "I'm gonna make some tea and go get dressed."

Marcus brought his head entirely above water and shook it rapidly. He grabbed her leg and pulled her into the water quickly. She was surprised by this, it having been very sudden, and didn't have a chance to hold her breath. She ended up breathing in a good amount of water before sinking to the bottom of the pool. Both she and Marcus felt a great wave of fear wash over them, before Meranda took another curious breath of water and exhaled the air she had left in her lungs. Marcus gave a great sigh of relief.

Meranda looked at her older brother with great confusion and slight panic. She tried to say something, but all that came out was a glubbing noise. Her ears were already turning into fins.

"So much for being done with swimming for the day, huh, sis?"