A seagull, dozing atop a barnacled piling, flapped its wings in agitation and flew up onto the boathouse. The sound of Lori thrashing about in the water sent him stomping across the tin roof. "Has anyone bothered checking the time," he squawked over the edge. "Some of us are trying to sleep!"

Lori paused in her panic - the water was shallow enough for her to stand - and called up to the boathouse. "Hello? I'm so glad somebody's there! I, I feel so stupid. I just fell off the boardwalk. Could you help me get out?"

The seagull swooped over Lori and landed behind her on the concrete manatee's head. Lori jumped. She turned and squinted through the shadows to see what he was, then called back up to the dark boathouse. "Hey, I said, can you give me a hand?"

"I'm a little short on those." The gull shifted his stance on the mossy figure. "Couldn't even give you much of a leg up."

Lori froze. "Who said that?"

"I did."

Lori stared straight ahead. "Who's there?"

"I am."

"You, who?" She glanced over her shoulder at the manatee statue.

"My mother named me Maurice." The seagull began preening his feathers and admiring his reflection in the water.

"Maurice," Lori snorted. "As in 'Maurice the Manatee'? That's cute."

"Don't be absurd," the gull ruffled his feathers. "Everyone knows he can't talk."

"Then I suppose I'm talking to…" Lori took a deep breath. "Well, then I suppose I think I'm talking to YOU?" She raised her eyes and stared at the gull. "I'm standing here in the freezing water, talking to a stupid bird?"

"We were having a perfectly civilized conversation until you started getting snippy." Maurice opened his wings to fly off.

"I HAVE BECOME MY GRANDMOTHER!" Lori pounded the water with both fists and began hobbling toward shore.

"Your grandmother?" Maurice paused mid-flap. "Who's your grandmother?"

"Not that it makes any difference, but her name is Nancy Henderson. She owns Mom's-"

"-Bait and Snack Shack," Maurice finished her sentence. He inspected the wet girl closely. "That makes you Lorelei."

Lori nodded dumbly.

"So it worked." Maurice chuckled softly.

"Yeah, I guess so." Lori looked at him. "No, wait, what do you mean, it worked?"

"Their little plan. Brilliant, brilliant, I must say."

"Well, can you say it a little faster, Maurice? My feet are killing me."

"Oh brilliant, simply brilliant!" The gull repeated happily. "The Portal has opened and the becoming is beginning!"

"The becoming is beginning. What?"

The bird didn't reply. His body shook as he laughed quietly to himself.

"Listen, Maurice, I'd love to stay and chat for a while, but I gotta get out of these shoes…" Lori's voice drifted away as one Nike, then the other, floated up behind her.

"The becoming is beginning! The becoming is beginning!"

"Yeah, and you're beginning to sound more like some crazy parrot than a seagull." Lori stumbled in the soft river bottom.

"Look!" He nodded to the water. "The Portal has opened!"

"I know, I know, and the becoming is beginning."

"Indeed!" Maurice opened his beak and began panting.

Lori looked down. The water around her was glowing like someone had lit a big fire under her. But her legs weren't hot, they just felt strange like they were being squeezed, compressed. "You mean I'm becoming, what? Like a fish or something?"

"Or something." The bird cocked his head and studied her with its bright black eye. "Looks to me you're becoming a manatee."

"A sea cow?" Lori cried as the seams of her jeans ripped apart and a bulbous gray form surged up her body.

The bird nodded.

Lori's rapidly disappearing knees buckled. "Oh this is just great," she muttered. Buttons popped off her shirt. She clutched the front as the fabric split up the back with a loud rip.

"An ugly old sea cow! And I was named after a beautiful river nym-" Her head disappeared under the water and a large bubble burst to the surface with an indignant "-ph!"

"Well, I think she's beautiful," the seagull sighed, admiring the smooth dark shape that melted into, then vanished beneath, the black water. He gave his wings a quick flap and returned to his perch on top of the boathouse.

Enjoy more of this beautiful story by reading the book!