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So where was Itori?

I’m on my way back, came the immediate answer in his head.

Where did you go? Will tried to ask back.

He didn’t know if it worked, there was silence after.

Will took a deep breath, flexing his hands. They were his hands, but different. Stronger, tougher. He had more energy now than he’d had as a human. The exhaustion of his old body was gone.

Slowly, Will climbed to his feet. He was precarious for a moment on his legs, the muscles wobbly. He looked at his legs, twisting and turning to take himself in.

He still had human parts there. The skin between his legs had changed, finding some halfway point between Itori’s scales and what he’d had before, but it hadn’t rearranged him.

He was grateful. Will hadn’t wanted to change that part of himself.

Will looked at the lake again. Where was he? This wasn’t the construction site or the lake behind the grocery store.

In his head, he could almost see a map of the water. Had a sense that if he stepped farther into the lake, it would tell him where he was. Would show him the paths back to these places.

He took a step into the water, then another. An aching stretch he hadn’t realized he’d been experiencing, eased.

Will looked back at the bank. At the dry land. He took a step back toward it.

There was tension. It was small, like a tweaked muscle days into healing. Another step, and it grew.

That was more evidence of how he’d changed. Dry land was not his anymore.

Will went back into the lake, wiggling his toes in the shallow water. He rubbed the pads of his fingers together to feel the texture. He thought about what Itori had said about balance, about the cost of the change. Will would’ve liked to still be able to walk through the trees and forests, but he couldn’t regret it. Not when the exchange was this.

Everything was so–so vibrant. He couldn’t get over it. The trees were a kind of green that almost looked fake, and the water was no longer dark and impenetrable to his gaze, but kaleidoscopic in color. Everything was light and energy, pulsing in a way he couldn’t describe.

It was like he’d been living his life in a dark cave, and now he’d come into the light.

Will walked deeper into the lake. The water came over his ankles, then to his knees. He felt it caress him, wrap around him like a lover would.

And then, Will knew where he was. He could see all the waterways in his head. The way they were all connected, up and up, farther than Will had ever dared travel on land.

They’d brought so much water in. Will could see it, coiled around Five Springs like a protective barrier, filling to the brim every ditch and lake. It had avoided every building, flooding only where the dig site had been, following the natural path of woods.

Building here now would be a fool’s errand. There was so much water the town may as well be an island in the Gulf.

Good.

Across the lake, Will became suddenly aware of Itori returning. He’d come out of the spring vein, and was swimming toward Will.

Excitement flared through their connection.

Will dove into the water, and it moved under his hands effortlessly, easier than walking had ever been.

The lake was massive, but the distance between them closed in seconds. It was shocking how fast he could swim, how little the distance now meant. They collided at that speed, Itori grabbing him, swirling him around in the water. Will felt his joy in his head, and his own spilled back through the channel.

They breached the water like that, still intertwined.

And Will saw Itori in sunlight for the first time.

He had gold eyes, bright and reflective, that softened his whole face.

“My dear heart! I’m so sorry I wasn’t here when you woke. I wanted to be, to see your first steps into your new life. Are you okay? I hope it wasn’t too frightening. Are you–are you happy?”