Chapter 8: Dawn of the Sun

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! DON'T FREAK OUT?! HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO NOT FREAK OUT?!"

Owen flinched away from the sound of Zach's voice. He held out his arms and tried to calm him down. "Really, it's not that big of a deal." He insisted. "It's perfectly normal…"

"THIS IS NOT NORMAL!"

Owen sighed and nodded his head. "Normal for us."

Zach opened his mouth for a moment and shook his head. "Do they even work?"

Owen rolled his eyes. "Yes they work."

"Both of them?"

"Yes." Owen answered evenly, trying to keep his voice level.

Zach blinked at him, looking utterly confused and lost. "How?"

Owen stared at him blankly. "I think I'll let you figure that out on your own."

Zach frowned. And then what he said and they way it sounded slowly sank in. His eyes widened and his face reddened. "Oh my god…" He shook his head and held up his hands. "I didn't mean that! I swear!"

Owen's mouth curled into a smile and he nodded his head. "I know."

"I just…" Zach closed his eyes and breathed out slowly. "Can you explain like… why I now have two dicks?" He couldn't fight the whine in his voice. He made the discovery after Owen had gotten all cryptic and trailed off. Zach had swam to the edge of the lagoon and reached for the towel. He pulled it towards him and then started to get out of the water. Owen turned away and that's when Zach happened to look down at himself and freak out when he saw the two side by side appendages.

Owen turned and bent down, attempting to keep his eyes averted the entire time. He grabbed the beach towel and held it out towards Zach. "Cover yourself and I'll tell you."

Zach blushed again and snatched the towel. He quickly shook it and wrapped it tightly around his waist. Then he crossed his arms and breathed out. "Okay. I'm listening."

Owen sank down to the ground and sat beside the lagoon. He motioned Zach to follow and waited until the young man was seated a couple feet opposite of him. He paused and breathed out. Owen had been lucky. He never knew his dad and his mom had died when he was 9. But he and his twin brother hadn't been in the dark. She'd shown them that she was a great white shark. That their whole family had been and most likely, they would too. "Okay…" He started. "In the water, remember I said how all your shark parts had human equivalents?"

Zach nodded his head. He relaxed a bit and leaned forward, his arms on his knees. "Yeah. Pectoral fins are arms, caudal is legs, dorsal is spine. Pelvic fins… hips?"

Owen smiled and nodded his head. "You remembered the correct names."

Zach shrugged and dropped his gaze to his lap. "Something like that." He mumbled.

Owen let out a soft laugh and continued. "Okay… so… male sharks have two external appendages called claspers…"

Zach nodded his head. "They are these deeply grooved cartilaginous extensions of the pelvic fins that act as sexual organs and secretes sperm during reproduction."

Owen's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open, gawking at the new shark. "Uh… yeah…"

Zach sighed and shook his head. "My brother is a genius who likes nature documentaries and facts and has no friends because he alienates everyone." He said all in one breath and sighed. "So I spend a lot of time with him, watching whatever he's into at the time and listening to him talk about it. Sharks have always been a fascination of his."

"Your pup likes sharks." Owen smiled.

Zach shook his head quickly. "No. Terrified of them." He corrected.

Owen frowned. "Terrified?" He repeated.

Zach breathed out again and nodded his head. "Like… the get-to-know-your-enemy theory. Gray is completely terrified of them so he learns everything he can about them. I guess I just…" He paused and tilted his head. "I never realized I retained so much. It's weird because I barely graduated highschool and yet I know great white sharks can go months, even up to a year, without eating, surviving on the oil stored in their livers. Or how the cookiecutter shark, which is less than 2 foot long, has the largest teeth of all sharks, relative to body mass, and they feed on the living by latching on, taking out a chunk, and swimming away. Or sharks have no rib cages and if on land, they could literally be crushed to death by their own weight. Or tiger shark embryos have been documented eating their own siblings in the womb or blue sharks have had litters of up to 135 pups…" Once he started, he just couldn't stop. He wasn't even sure what he was talking about anymore, just spouting off random shark facts as they came to mind. "Or shark embryos can sense danger and will stop moving and breathing when a predator comes near mom or…"

"Okay, okay, okay." Owen held up his hands, interrupting. "I get it. You know everything about sharks."

Zach's eyes widened and he blinked a few times. "Not… everything…" He said awkwardly. He breathed out and sighed. "I'm sorry. I don't know what's going on with me. I'm not usually so… talkative…" Or nervous, he thought. But he didn't voice it. He bit his lip and looked down at his lap. He felt his heart beating a mile a minute. He felt it. Like he actually felt the vibrations.

Owen nodded his head slowly, his eyes never leaving the panicked mako. "It's okay." He said softly. He lifted his arm, intent on patting the younger man on the knee comfortingly. But at the last second, changed course and awkwardly patted the side of his arm. "Uh… yeah…" He paused and shook his head. "Anyways. So. Like I said, all shark parts correlate with human parts." He lifted his hands and held up both of his index fingers. He pressed them together, side by side. "Now uh… human men… we got one. So during that first transformation… it rips in half." He moved his hands apart, separating his fingers. "And forms two."

Zach's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. "Rips?"

Owen shrugged. "Sharks lack nociceptors, the sensory receptors that make us feel pain. So we process pain differently in shark form. You didn't feel it."

"Oh." Zach nodded his head slowly. "Actually I knew that. Sharks have no pain receptors and they just react when injured. They're been documented being injured and still feeding or attacking. I watched this one video where the shark was practically cut in half down the center and it was still gnawing away. They just keep going."

Owen nodded his head. "Yeah, it's something to be aware of. If you get injured and don't realize it, you'll get a painful surprise when you shift back."

Zach nodded his head slowly as he thought about it. "Still!" He exclaimed after a beat. "It ripped in half!"

"Yes!" Owen shook his head. "Stop being dramatic!"

"I think this is a dramatic moment!" Zach snapped back.

Owen rolled his eyes but there was a smile on his lips. "Anyways. So." He tilted his head. "That's probably the biggest difference. After that, the rest will seem like nothing."

"I'm glad the eyesight thing isn't permanent." Zach breathed out, happy for the moment to switch to another topic. He would freak out more about the double dick thing later. "Like the monochrome, colorblindness thing. Because the better eyesight is weird but cool."

Owen let out a laugh and nodded. "Yeah. It comes in useful. But can also be annoying. We're also sort of farsighted."

Zach frowned and tilted his head. "Really?"

Owen nodded. "Sort of." He emphasized. "I hardly notice it. Only when I try to read a book. You'll probably need reading glasses."

"What else?" Zach asked, leaning forward a bit.

"Skin is thicker, like I said." Owen continued. "Less pain receptors, faster healing. Salt water helps a lot in the healing process."

"It does?"

Owen nodded his head again. "That cut on your foot, you stepped on a broken shell in the sand."

Zach's eyes widened. "Yeah, I did. I mean… I didn't know what it was." He stammered a bit. "I was running on the beach and cut myself. I didn't know on what. How did you know that?"

Owen smiled and lifted his hand. He slowly tapped the side of his nose.

"You can smell all that?" Zach asked, his eyes wide in awe.

Owen nodded. "The whole sharks being able to smell a drop of blood in the water miles away is a thing. It's a thing that's slightly exaggerated… but only slightly. Because we can smell fresh blood about a mile away. And it depends on the concentration. Mostly I was guessing on the broken shell. It could have easily been a rock or broken piece of glass."

"You guessed." Zach sounded slightly disappointed.

"Hey, I still knew you cut your foot." He pointed out.

Zach shrugged as he lifted his foot out of the water. "You probably guessed at that, too. Kid out in the middle of the night, near the shore of a popular beach resort. Only possible assumption is an idiot out barefoot."

Owen blinked and looked stunned for a moment. "Uh…"

Zach pulled his foot up into his lap. He twisted his foot until he could see the bottom. The skin looked flawless. "Wow. Not even a mark."

"Probably just a small nic." Owen said softly.

Zach nodded and put his foot back into the water. "Okay. What else?"

Owen watched Zach for a moment. He tilted his head. Then he breathed out and shook his head and continued. "Like I said, heightened sense of smell. Better than a human, as a human. But not as good as when in shark form."

"Sharks can smell a hundred times better than a human." Zach stated. "And I believe the great white has the largest olfactory bulb of any shark."

Owen smiled and nodded. "We do."

Zach inhaled deeply and shook his head. "I'm not sure I can smell anything different."

"It takes some practice." Owen smiled. "To get used to all the new senses."

Zach nodded. "What else?"

"Well… uh… sharks are more active at night and lethargic during the day. That affects some of us."

Zach nodded his head again. "That doesn't sound too bad."

"And then there's teeth."

"Teeth?" Zach repeated. His eyebrows furrowed and he tilted his head curiously. His jaw felt different, heavier maybe, but he'd been ignoring it up until that point. Or he hadn't even noticed until Owen said anything. The latter was more accurate. But he'd seen Owen's teeth. They looked normal. And Zach had been studying that smile every second he got.

"Why don't you tell me what you know about shark teeth." Owen said, taking a different approach in their teaching session.

Zach shrugged. "Sharks have multiple rows of teeth in their mouths. Teeth fall out and get replaced by new ones. And they contain their own fluoride and don't get cavities."

Owen nodded. "Yep. That."

"What… no cavities?"

"That." He nodded and paused. "And the whole extra rows of teeth."

Zach's eyes widened. "What?"

"Remember I said that first shift changes you and when you go back, everything has to go somewhere."

"So… my head is full of teeth."

"Basically." Owen tilted his head.

Zach sighed. "Great."

Owen smiled and shrugged. "You can't even tell. The only thing you have to be careful of is your retractable set."

"Do I even want to ask?"

Owen let out a laugh and shook his head. "It's not that bad. It's actually kind of cool." He leaned towards Zach and flashed him a wide smile. His blunt human teeth were gone, replaced with jagged shark teeth shaped teeth. Zach leaned closer, his eyes widening and letting out a gasp. Owen tilted his head back as his shark teeth disappeared and his human teeth snapped back into place.

Zach breathed out and shook his head. "Damn." He shook his head again and looked up at the sky. The moon was still shining bright like nothing had happened, like his world hadn't just been turned upside down. Maybe it seemed a bit brighter. Or maybe that was just his new outlook on life. He smiled and closed his eyes for a moment.

Owen watched the young pup who wasn't really a pup. He wondered what Zach was thinking, what was going through his head. But he didn't ask. He wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.

"Our parents were eaten by sharks." Zach said suddenly, breaking the odd silence.

Owen's eyes widened. "Shit… that's why your brother's so scared. I'm sorry… this has really gotta suck then."

Zach shrugged. "Honestly… I… I'm kinda happy." He breathed out. "For as long as I can remember… I've felt… different." He paused and looked at Owen, meeting his gaze full on. "You know what I mean?"

Owen nodded his head slowly. "Yeah, I think I do."

Zach continued. "The ocean has always called to me. Like… literally called. Like I swear, I've heard voices and there were times I thought I was crazy." He sighed and shook his head. "I'm kinda relieved. Everything makes sense now. And Gray…" He tilted his head. "He'll be a shark too, right?"

Owen nodded his head. "The shifter gene is dominant over the human gene in every instance I've heard of. So as long as whichever one of your parents was the shark was your genetic parent, and Gray's too, then yeah. He'll be a shark."

"I don't know who it was." He said softly. "I was 7 when they died… I don't really…" He tilted his head as an image of his parents came to mind. He suddenly remembered his mom's obsession with the water. He remembered she used to sit out on the beach and paint pictures of the water when she was pregnant with Gray. He remembered her singsong voice, promising to take him swimming with her when he was bigger. Zach closed his eyes as several similar memories surfaced, hushed words and giggles leading up to the day they left that last time. Dad telling her to pack, mom laughing and saying she didn't need clothes if she spent all the time in the water, he pinched her and she stuck her tongue out, saying she didn't even feel it. Zach let out a gasp and clutched at his head. The images and memories clouded his mind for a moment. And then just as quickly, they were gone. He breathed out and opened his eyes. "My mom." He said softly. "It was my mom… but… I hardly even remembered her. Either of them."

"Maybe you blocked them out."

Zach nodded. "Yeah… but it was her. I know it was!" He paused and tilted his head. "Except… aunt Claire hates the water. And she and mom are definitely sisters. They looked like twins when they were younger. I've seen pictures."

Owen shrugged. "Not everyone takes to their animal self. The first transformation isn't controllable. It just... happens. Something always triggers it, but it can't be stopped once it is triggered."

"If I hadn't snuck out… would I have ever known?"

Owen shrugged. "You might not have."

Zach nodded his head slowly. "But she did know. Or does know. She has to! Can you… can she just… stop being one?"

Owen started to shake his head and then stopped. The movement morphed into a shrug. "You can't… stop being one. Not exactly. You'll always be half animal and all that comes with your animal. But you can control it. You can learn to control the full shift and just not let the animal out. It's hard to completely control but it's doable. If… you don't… like being… uh… it." He finished awkwardly. He shrugged again. "It's hard to explain. But yeah, if she just wanted to be human, if she really thought her sister was eaten by sharks, maybe that was just easier for her."

Zach nodded solemnly. He breathed out deeply and nodded again.

Owen saw the gears turning in the young man's head and wondered if he was thinking about the same thing, about rejecting this new part of himself. Owen felt… odd about that. He wasn't exactly sure… but… his attention was pulled away from the new shark. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Charlie!" He snapped.

The blonde teenager popped her out from a bush not too far away. She ducked her head, looking guilty. "I didn't want to interrupt." She said softly.

"Blue send you?" He asked.

Charlie nodded as she stepped out into view. She held up a canvas bag. "She said Echo had to help uncle Barry and Delta with the whale. She sent me to bring him clothes."

Owen nodded and waved her forward. "Zach, this is Charlie, my favorite."

Charlie wrinkled her nose, shook her head, and rolled her eyes, all the while trying not to laugh. "Dad, you say that about all of us."

"Well it's true. You're all my favorite."

Charlie couldn't stop the giggle that escaped her that time. She ducked her head sheepishly. "Anyways, here." She held out the bag as she stepped forward.

Zach smiled at her. "Thanks, Charlie. It's nice to meet you. Officially." He added, tilting his head.

Charlie stepped closer again and dropped the bag on the ground beside Zach. "I'm sorry your mom died." She said softly. "Our mom tried to eat us."

Zach's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open.

"Dad saved us." Charlie said fondly, looking at him.

Owen smiled and shrugged. "Just good luck."

Charlie smiled again. "It was nice to meet you." She said, looking at Zach. "Welcome to the family."

Zach smiled. "Family, huh?"

Charlie nodded. "Dad likes picking up strays."

"Okay, Charlie." Owen warned. "That's enough. Go help your sisters."

Charlie smiled at Owen. Then she turned and darted back into the bushes.

Zach tilted his head and looked back at Owen. He wondered if there was a secret, hidden agenda. But the thought was fleeting and he pushed it away. He reached for the bag and Owen turned away while Zach pulled on the too-big pants and shirt. The fabric was faded and thin but at least he was covered. He folded the towel up and stuffed it back in the bag. "So… they're really… your kids?"

Owen turned back towards him and sat down. He smiled but shook his head. "I am now. They're mine in every sense. But they aren't biological. Their mother, she was a purebred. She hated humans, hated being human and being on land. She spent as little time as she could being dry. But she did come on land, every few months. Barry and I… he's my best friend, more like my brother… anyways, we were living in this like… colony of ocean people and I met Ida…" He shrugged. "I was really young, barely an adult and… we… hung out… but then she disappeared and I was heartbroken because I thought I was in love. I went searching for her, scoured the whole ocean until I found her. And it took over a year. When I finally did find her, she was pregnant. And my first thought was the pups would be mine. And halfbreed. And… she was so lost into the animal brain…" He sighed and shook his head. "I trailed her for months and she attacked me every time I got too close. There was no recognition in her eyes. It happens sometimes with purebreds, they spend too much time in their animal bodies and the animal brains just take over." He sighed and looked away for a moment.

"Does it happen with halfbreeds?" Zach asked.

Owen turned back and shook his head. "Not that I've ever heard of. We can't go full animal like they can."

Zach nodded. "So… what happened?"

"I followed her." He answered. "She was a great white, like me. I think that's what attracted me at first. I hadn't met another one. You can carry the genes of several species in your DNA. So you can be a mako but chances are, your mother was different. Your aunt, too."

Zach nodded slowly, like he understood. He didn't, not really. But he wanted to keep the story going.

Owen smiled, as if reading him. "Anyways, even if the babies born aren't the same species as the mother, they'll gestate the same. Like… great white babies are born about 4 foot long and completely self-sufficient. They come out and immediately swim off and hunt for themselves. And they flee all larger predators, including their mother, because a hungry shark isn't picky. So I followed her because I thought I was the dad and I knew there was a good chance she'd eat them. But then they were born and they were purebred. I knew the second I smelled them that they weren't mine. But they were still people and Ida was still more animal than human at that moment and I acted on impulse. I attacked her when she turned and snapped at them. She was still weak from giving birth and she fled. I herded the pups away in the opposite direction. I…" He looked away. "Kind of kidnapped them…"

"Well…" Zach tilted his head and then shook it. "You saved them." He said softly, leaning forward. "And they obviously love you."

Owen let out a laugh and nodded his head. "Yeah. They weren't mine then, but they are now."

Zach smiled and nodded slowly. "I know how that feels. Aunt Claire wasn't exactly horrible, but she wasn't very… maternal. But… she did keep us together and she let me parent Gray. He's my brother but… he's also my kid."

Owen smiled and they continued chatting. Zach asked about the mermaid thing and Owen busted out laughing. Once he settled down, he explained that it was something only the halfbreeds can do and that it was hard to do. He promised he would teach Zach later, after he mastered his sharkself. Then Owen told him about growing up in a small human shark colony with Barry and about deciding to join the Navy Seals after an encounter with a poacher. Then Zach asked more about Owen's family, about the girls and Barry and the island.

"It's listed as a nature reserve, right?" Owen smiled. "So it's completely restricted. The only boat allowed near it is ours. Right now, it's just our small pod that lives here but occasionally we do get a few visitors. The actual owner, he's an older shark named John Hammond…"

Zach's eyes widened. "That famous billionaire wildlife conservationist from TV?"

Owen laughed again and nodded. "Yeah, that's him."

Zach shook his head slowly. "He's the narrator of most of the documentaries Gray's obsessed over."

Owen nodded. "Yeah, John's been trying to save the ocean his whole life."

Zach shrugged. "With good reason, being half a shark person and all."

Owen laughed. "Exactly."