"MAMAAAAAAA"

Gemma winced as the book she had been reading slipped out of her hands and onto the ground. She was on her feet in a split second, and at the door in the next, ready to catch the boy stumbling over the threshold right into her arms. He was wearing swim trunks and shivering in the cool air of the AC, but he was suspiciously dry. Mama instinctively checked him for injuries before he even started to talk.

"IT WAS THERE I SWEAR IT I SAW IT IN THE WATER..."

"Shhh it's okay" Gemma knelt to look at the boy's bleached face "What did you see?"

"A shark."

"A sh... where?"

"I-in... the pool." the boy gulped "Do you think it can come out? I don't want it to come out."

"It won't" Mama sighed, standing up "I'll go take care of this. Go back to your room and put on a shirt before you catch a cold. Everything's fine."

Dammit Calley.

Mama marched down the hallway towards the back door that led to the grounds and the pool. Every once in a while, the Mansion's resident animal shifter still had some tricks up his sleeve...

Abby sunk to the bottom of the pool after the boy ran out. She had thought it would be someone she knew, though they were few several of her new friends had found her in the pool. Instead it was boy who had spotted her swimming at the bottom. When he had seen her, he fled screaming for his "Mama".

She wasn't sure how to handle the situation. She had never had people be scared of her. The old fisherman who saw her the first time told her it was possible but none of them were scared. Her Aunt and Uncle weren't scared of her. Her Aunt Teresa actually brought her to the school in the first place. The few friends she has haven't been scared either.

As she swam in circles in the deep end of the pool, the little nine year old thought hard about the new situation. How was this boy any different? Did he have a fear of water?

Abby shook her head at the thought. He had been in swim trunks so that wasn't it. Had he watched too many movies? That was possible. A lot of movies made it seem like sharks were killers. Abby herself had thought that too. Especially after the attack that caused her gifts to appear.

As Abby came to believe this new idea, she sensed some sort of disturbance on the water's surface. Popping her head up out of the water, she called out. "Hello?" she asked quietly.

>>"Hello?"

The creature in the pool was not, strictly speaking, a shark. It was also, upon closer inspection, definitely not Calley. Gemma tilted her head as she dipped her fingers into the water to signal her presence, and looked at the girl curiously as she appeared from the water.

"Hi" she said, kneeling at the edge of the pool, and smiled at the shark-girl-creature "They told me there was a shark in the pool. I am guessing that would be you..."

She did not look threatening at all. Mostly she just looked young. But Gemma was used to mutant kids, and there was not much that could surprise her anymore.

"My name is Gemma. And yours?"

>>"Hi. They told me there was a shark in the pool. I am guessing that would be you..."

Abby ducked her head further under the water at the accusation, even though true. She kept her eyes above water as she watched the adult. She seemed nice but that didn't always mean people were. Even if she was allowed into the school.

>>"My name is Gemma. And yours?"

Abby tried to say her name but all that happened was a bunch of bubbles. Sheepishly the little blonde pulled her head out of the pool.

"I'm Abbigail Clark," she told the woman. "I didn't mean to... to scare the boy. He- he left before I could do any-anything. Am I... in trouble?"

>>"I'm Abbigail Clark. I didn't mean to... to scare the boy. He- he left before I could do any-anything. Am I... in trouble?"

"He'll live" Gemma smiled cheerfully, sitting down and dipping her feet in the water. She was not especially worried about the boy. They lived in a mutant school, after all. Weird was normal.

"You are not in trouble. I just have not had the chance to meet you yet. I thought I'd come out and talk. Nice to meet you, Abigail."

She was very young for being alone in the school. Gemma wondered who admitted her, and how she ended up here. She could have skimmed her file; but she preferred to ask in person.

Abby watched Gemma sit down at the edge of the pool with interest. She seemed nice and wasn't afraid of Abbigail's gifts like the boy.

>>"You are not in trouble. I just have not had the chance to meet you yet. I thought I'd come out and talk. Nice to meet you, Abigail."

"Oh, okay. It's nice to-to meet you too," Abby stuttered before dunking her head under the water again.

Breathing through her nose and mouth while having gills hurt after some time. When the pain receded enough she rose to the surface again.

"Sorry, Gemma. I-it hurts some-sometimes. I do-don't mean to be ru-rude," Abbigail tried to explain, a hand near her neck.

The girl ducked under water, and Gemma thought she was being shy. She chuckled and waited till she came up.

>>"Sorry, Gemma. I-it hurts some-sometimes. I do-don't mean to be ru-rude,"

"Oh" she tilted her head "I should tell you, I am an adapted. Do you know what that means? It means if you come too close to me, my powers can turn off your powers."

Gemma really didn't like starting every conversation with that sizable blow to trust, but it was better safe than sorry.

"Do you want to tell me more about what you can do?"

>>"Oh, I should tell you, I am an adapted. Do you know what that means?"

Abby shook her head as she listened to Gemma. She was really nice. She even explained things Abby didn't know!  Only Mommy and Auntie did that!

>>"It means if you come too close to me, my powers can turn off your powers."

Abbigail's eyes got wide with shock. She hadn't been able to swim without a tail in forever! Would she remember how? Abby didn't think so. So she stayed where she was. She knew she could swim where she was.

>>"Do you want to tell me more about what you can do?"

Abby nodded excitedly. She didn't get to tell a lot of people what her gift was. Auntie said she could talk about it with her friends from school though.

Quickly, Abby started to tell the nice lady all she knew about her gifts. "I can swim really fast and I have really sharp teeth that sometimes hurt when I eat and I can breathe under water, but only for a few hours. After that it hurts my head. Oh! I can smell really good when I'm swimming! I smelled a lot of things when I was swimming at Auntie's work. And I know when someone else moves in the water cause that's something sharks can do, Auntie says," her words were rushed in one breath, helped by her gills. When finished Abbigail took a big gulp of air through her mouth.