"Doctor Kasian," I addressed him, "in the book you gave me, it is described what needs to be done in order for an Aquantien to become capable of living as a human. But the thing that isn't mentioned is whether it is possible to reverse the process."

Suddenly, all the chatter around us died down, as if the question I asked was more interesting than any other topic. Opal's parents, who were carelessly chatting with their daughter just a minute ago, went silent. The daughter in question also stopped talking, but her eyes widened and her ears pricked up.

Ardea's stare deepened, if that was even possible, and my parents looked at each other before they both fixated their eyes on me.

Finding it difficult to bear all the eyes upon me, I asked Doctor Kasian, "Could we talk about this someplace else? Somewhere more private?"

"Of course. Lead the way, and I will follow," he said and extended his hand, letting me step forward.

I led him to the library. No one was using it today, making it perfect for the conversation I didn't want to share with others.

"Well, can it be done?" I asked again once we found ourselves surrounded by walls of stories.

"You want to know if an Aquantien that underwent all the surgeries can ever return to the underwater home?"

"Yes. Is that possible?" I stood in front of him, looking at him with eyes wide open.

"I'm afraid not," he answered. His face became very serious. I hadn't seen him this serious since the time I was his patient and he awaited to see if I would wake up from my surgeries. "No Aquantien ever expressed the desire to go back. But even if one did want to return to the water, I don't think it would be within the bounds of possibility."

"Why?" I needed an explanation more detail than that.

"The biggest obstacle would be the lack of gills. The webbing between the fingers and toes could be reconstructed. Even the third eyelid could be recreated, but the gills... no one ever tried to create those. I'm assuming it would take years of research before it would be possible to even consider something like that. Once the gills are removed, the blood vessels are redirected to the new lungs. And you know very well that the lungs do not allow you to breathe under water."

I nodded, but at the same time saw a ray of hope.

"What if the gills never got removed? What if they were only hidden under the skin that had been sewn over them?" I lifted my humanlike eyelids to look at Doctor Kasian.

"No surgeon would do that," he answered. His forehead furrowed as he spotted the expression on my face. "That's not how it is done. It's impossible to hide the gills by stitching the skin over them."

"I told you that my question was hypothetical," I said to entice him to think in that direction.

"I suppose if someone still had gills, hypothetically, maybe it would be possible to reroute the blood vessels. But, as I said, it has never been done, so I can't guarantee that such procedure would be successful."

I nodded again and bit my lower lip. He narrowed his eyes, giving me the same look his daughter would so often use when she stared at me with those blue eyes of hers. I wondered what his eyes looked like without the contacts. Were they the same color as Ardea's?

"Will you tell me where all these hypothetical questions came from?" He interrupted my flow of thoughts.

"I was just wondering, that's all," I replied and smiled wide enough to display my reshaped teeth.

"So you won't tell me," he stated. The corners of his lips curled upwards. "I won't insist. But I want you to know, I'm there if you need me. No matter how unusual your questions might get."

I thanked him and soon after that we were heading towards the door to return to the family members that awaited us.

As usual, Opal was the one that spoke first. "Is that what you're hiding from us? You want to go back? Why would you want to go back!?"

"Go back?" It was my turn to furrow the forehead because I had no idea what she meant by that.

"Don't play stupid! Ever since that blasted book came into your life, you've been acting weird. And now you're asking Doctor Kasian if it's possible to reverse the process?" Opal's words and the stare in her eyes rendered me speechless.

"We were under the impression that you like being a part of our family," my mother said, her forehead wrinkled with worry.

That was what she looked like when I woke up in a hospital bed after my surgeries. My eyes shifted to my father. On his face, I found the same expression of worry. They got it all wrong, both of them.

"No!" I exclaimed. I had to chase away the unwarranted concern. "I don't want to go back! I will never want to go back! I wouldn't trade my new family for anything!" I rushed over to my parents and hugged them both.

"I knew you wouldn't," my father whispered in my ear and hugged me tighter.

"Wait a minute," Opal wasn't done. "If you don't want to go back, why did you ask Doctor Kasian about it?"

"Curiosity." I forced a smile and shrugged my shoulders.

"And for this you had to go speak in private!? You had your parents worried sick!" Opal leaned towards me. With her hands on her hips, she looked quite intimidating.

"Truth be told," my poor father dared to interrupt her, "we did try to tell you that it couldn't be anything that drastic. We know our Azora."

She turned to him, hips supported by the hands, and said, "Sure, blame it on the dwarf! But I told you before and I'm telling you now, this one's up to something."

"I'm not up to anything," I tried to reassure them. "I just got curious. Besides, I found out that it can't be done. An Aquantien that came to live on land, stays on land. I couldn't go back even if I wanted to. But I don't," I added after one look in Opal's direction. That dwarf really was a force of nature.

°   °  °  °  °   °   °

After parent's day, there was only one week separating us from the spring break. A week full of lies. I began to hate the person I was turning into, but I had no choice. Ms. Cyan went through so much, she was entitled to her privacy. In that matter I agreed with Ardea and Nia.

Opal, on the other hand, believed that she should find out all about my conversation with Doctor Kasian. Her questioning felt like hail storm I could not shelter myself from.

"I was just curious," I tried to convince her. "I just wanted to hear his thoughts about the matter."

She was not satisfied with my explanation, so she just kept interrogating me day in day out.

Only three more days, I consoled myself on Wednesday.

Ardea asked nothing. She didn't even have to. Her piercing eyes sometimes appeared to be more inquisitive than all of Opal's avalanche of questions.

I was pretty sure she already asked her father. In fact, I was sure he told her to keep an eye on me. Maybe our conversation led him to believe that I started to question my transition to land.

Only two more days, I reminded myself on Thursday.

I was relieved to see that Professor Cyan was teaching her class. I didn't want to arouse suspicion by talking to her again, so I just smiled at her when I'd accidentally come across her.

Only one day left.

All the students were anxiously waiting for the classes to end. Some of them were leaving the same afternoon. Ardea left before dinner time, while Opal and I stayed another night.

Our paths parted ways after breakfast. Opal had her brother's wedding to attend and I had a beach house to visit. It had been waiting for my return since September.

I would like to thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts with me.

This chapter is dedicated to my Wonder Writers Book Club partner for the month of September 2018. She is a wonderful writer who gave me so many great advice. For that, I want to thank you challoner.

If you enjoy fantasy stories that feature characters with unusual powers, you should definitely check out her Crimson Guard. You'll love it!

And if you liked this chapter of Call of the Water, leave a comment and don't forget to vote. 
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