Chapter 19- Galen

I jogged to the beach and looked around but I didn't see Emma anywhere. Where is she? She has to be around here somewhere. I stepped into the water to see if I could sense her and immediately felt her pulse. She's close but I don't see her. I focused more on where the pulse was coming from and was surprised. She's in the water. What is she doing in the water? I looked out at the water but still couldn't see her. Is she under? I hope she's okay… I was getting a little worried at this point. I walked further into the water and went under once I was deep enough, shifting. I could feel her pulse slowly getting stronger and looked around, seeing Emma swimming towards me. "Emma!" I started swimming towards her. "I was getting worried. We couldn't find you-" I stopped, realizing something. "Emma...you…"

She stopped in front of me, smiling. "Hey Galen."

I blinked. "You…" I was stunned.

She looked down shyly, flicking her tail. "Yeah, I shifted."

"H-how?"

She bit her lip. "I'm not really sure. The ocean was calling to me. I couldn't resist so I went in but it didn't go away so I went deeper and deeper and at one point my legs started to ache so I stretched them and-" She broke off and shrugged. "And this happened."

"That's amazing." She nodded. "You look beautiful."

She blushed slightly. "Thank you…" She bit her lip.

I flicked my tail, moving closer to her. "Emma."

She looked at me. "Yes Galen?"

I want to kiss you… I cleared my throat and moved back. "We should get to your house. Cora and Cole are waiting."

She frowned slightly. "Why are they both there?"

"Cole shifted today. He needed to know."

She blinked. "He shifted?" I nodded. "And you told him everything, didn't you?" I nodded again. She sighed. "So they both know everything now." She sighed again. "Alright, let's go." She led the way to the shore but stopped once it started to get too shallow to swim and looked at me. "How do I change back?"

"Just think about it." In a minute she shifted and I did too and followed her onto the beach. She led the way back to her house and stopped outside the door, checking the mail. She looked at something and sighed. "What is it?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. Come on." She opened the door and went inside and I followed, shutting the door behind me. Cole and Cora were sitting on the couch in the living room, talking quietly. I briefly looked around and noticed that other than the couch the house was relatively bare. They stopped talking and got up when they noticed us. When they were standing side by side like this it was so obvious that they were related. Cole was looking right at Emma and Cora was looking down nervously.

Cole was the first one to break the silence. "Why did you never tell me? You fed me lies my entire life about my family and who I am."

Emma sighed. "Cole, I'm sorry. Very sorry. I thought it was what was best for you. You should know by now that I always try to do what's best for you. I didn't know how to tell you. And...and…" She was struggling for words now.

"And what Mom?"

A tear fell down her face. "I was afraid you would leave me…"

Cole immediately softened and went over to her. "Mom, I would never leave you."

Emma started actually crying and hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry…"

He held her, hugging her back. "It's okay, let's just let it go."

She nodded and pulled away, wiping her tears. "Okay…"

Cole bent down and picked up the piece of mail she had dropped and looked at it for a moment before looking at her. "This just came in today?" Emma nodded and he sighed. "Damn. They won't give you any more time?"

Emma shook her head. "No, I've tried everything but they won't listen anymore. All they care about it their money." She sounded defeated.

I was confused at this point and looked at Emma. "What is it?" She didn't answer at first so I went over to her and asked again. "Emma, what is it?"

She sighed and looked down. "It's a final notice. We have to be out of the house by tomorrow afternoon."

I noticed Cora gasp and come over but didn't take my eyes off of Emma. "Have you found a place to stay?" She bit her lip and shook her head. "So where were you going to go?"

She gave a small shrug. "I was going to figure something out. I thought we had longer to find a place. This is very sudden."

I have to find them a place...there must be something I can do… "I have some stuff to do. Stay here with Cora and Cole and I'll be back with dinner in two hours." She looked slightly confused but nodded. I said bye to Cora and Cole and left to put my plan into action.